The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-12-28
GENERAL ITEMS.

The most practical thing done as
yet under the auspices of the General Presbyte-
rian Council has been the fund of 100000 raised
for the purpose of augmenting the salaries of the
Waldensian pastors. The movement was under
the control of the Continental Committee of the
Council. 1t is sometimes said the money was
raised by the Scotch churches, but DR.. Blaikie
reports that Mr.. K. l.. Stuart of New York,
contributes. 5000, one-twelfth of the entire
sum.
DIR. John Hall made an energetic
protest on Sunday night last against the tenden-
cy to designate churches in the cities by the
name of their pastors. :" 1t has become common,
he said, to speak of his own congregation, for
example, as DR. Halls church. l tell you, my
friends he exclaimed l hate the very name.
/ am servant, and not the owner of the
church."
=" find," said Livingstone. the great
African explorer, in speaking to workmen at Glas
gov, that all eminent men work hard" Thomas
Carlyle defined genius to be the Z" infinite art of
taking pains. John Ruskin tells ms that
sentence of Modern Painters" was e" wrtten
four or FIVE times my own hand before it was
passed to the printer, good illustration of
Carlyle's definition To all this we respectfully
ask the attention of aspiring youth
-Spasmodic piety was illustrated in a
New Hampshire meeting by an incident which
met the case. A dweller in the region of sum
mer boarders, who, during the leisure of win
ter, was a constant attendant religious meet
lngs and an earnest exhorter therein, but during
the boarding season worked seven days in a
week, once remarked that if he ever went to
heaven he must die In the 'einter."
The Protestant Episcopal Church,
according to Whittaker's Church Almanac for
1882, has not gained as much in the present as
In previous years. The net increase of commu
nicants is 8, 739 There is a decrease of s 600 in
baptisms, of 80 in combinations, and of 40
candidates for orders OF err items indicate
increase. The summary is as follows bishops
Ga; other clergy, 1896; parishes, 3,O35 mission
stations, 1929; candidates for orders, 39l
standardization l39 priests lis, baptisms,
44,963; combinations, % 40l communicates
344,5S0; Sunday School feathers, 81 1868
scholars, 3o4,952 contributions, S731l,7S4
The New York Times, in some re-
ferences to the fast upper class of English soce
ty, says =" If thu upper class of England were
altogether composed of Hayes and Mandeyilles
the outlook for her would be poor indeed. Such
men are utterly useless to the body polite.
With all the advantages of birth, fJrtune and
education their only labor seems to be to kill
the time and to abandon themselves to selfish
indulgence. They arr, in fact, similar to the
class which largely brought about the first
French revolution, and they have of late years
gwen the fashionable society OF England that in
tensely low tone which il unquestionablv has to.
day. Those who have returned thence after
ten years absence are utterly amazed at the
change since the death of the Prince Consort
and the Queens retirement. Aay thing may
be done now with impunity, and almost any
thing may be talked about. For section of
fashionable society in New York this has an
ineffable charm, and the more such fellow feel.
ing takes such people off to London and keeps
them there the better for this city. 1t has some
times happened that society has been very
vicious and yet very brilliant, but the modern
tas. and fashionable set in London, as in New
York, is as brainless as it is debauched. George
~. half redeemed his vices by seeking the socie-
ty of Sheridan and Fox in his pleasures but,
unfortunately in the case of the present Prince
of Wales wits and orators are not the persons
most IN request at Marlborough House and
s Nottingham, and dull or merely smart beau
ties usually fill the places of Georgiana, Duchess
Of Devonshire, and Mrs. Grewe."