The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-02-09
GENERAL SECULAR NEWS
Domestic.

The frost destroyed Mrs Harriet
Beecher Stoves orange crop at Mandarin. Flor
ida. Oranges to the number of 100000 are rot
ting on her grounds.
DR. Edward Nathan GAM, editor
and proprietor Of the nihilist magazine the
anarchist, of Boston, has been arrested. He
gave when arrested the name Alexander Roda-
now, and Is accused of having under that name
managed swlndling watch concern in Boston
One of his friends defends his swindling, if
he has swindled, on the ground that the Jesuits
hold 1T right to do evil that good may come, and
says that CAM wanted money to promote his
revolutionary work-N. Y. Observer
"A Pennsy lvania paper says: "In
Potter county, in this State, in which no licenses
to sell liquor have been granted since 1852,
fourteen out of twenty-six townships levied no
poor tax whatever for the year 1879. The Jail
Is empty the greater part of the time. The cost
OF boarding prisoners for 1879 was $50 SO. and
the commonwealth court costs for the same year
S44S.o7 These are some of the results of doing
without rum shops.
The Hon. Stanley Matthews, who
has just been nominated to the bench of the
supreme Court of the United States, is an elder
In the Presbyterian church in Cincinnati He
was appointed delegate to the Presbyterian Gen
eral Council in Philadelphia, but was unable to
attend.
Those of our readers who attended
the sessions of the late Presbyterian Council at
Philadelphia will hear with regret that Horti-
cultural Hall, on Broad street, where most of
the meetings were held. was DESTROYED by fire
on Monday last. AS the building was in CON
slant use as public hall, it is probable that no
vestlge OF the ever memorable use to which 1t
was put In September last had been left in 1t to
be consumed. 1t seems pity to have place.
consecrated by so many pleasant and precious
recoilectlons, and whose walls had borne the
symbolism loved by many martyr and re.
former, given over to meaner spectacles-and
this is now no longer possible Thus much of
consolation we snatch from calamity of the
particulars of which the telegraph has not yet
informed us. The fine Baptist church near by,
which cost $4,000, was also, we regret to saw,
burned.-EVangeIist.
All the Maryland Academy of Scien-
ces Dr. Theobald showed species of beetle
(6oL6o Serns fdrctuS) which was observed by him
to move a tray. He gave the following figures
Weight OF beetle grains; weight moved, 5 1-2
ounces-2640 grains, or 1920 times the weight
OF the beetle. A man weighing $50 pounds,
endowed with strength in the proportion of this
insect should therefore be able to move 1885,
OOO pounds, or nearly 100 tons
Newspapers are printed in ten diff
terent foreign languages, including the Chinese,
in San Francisco.
king Kalakaua, of Hawaii, is ex-
pected IN this country next month. Some weeks
since we saw In an exchange that only one of
his subjects could be found on American soil.
We presume this one will give his sovereign a
royal reception.
"A young lady of New York, Miss
Olivia P. Stokes, has earned the title of the
Thirsty Horses Friend" Because she loves
to see the horses drink, she has had erected in
Madison Square in sight of her house, a stone
$4,000.
-Ex- Governor Alexander H. Rice, OF
Massachusetts, has purchased and presented to
the Library OF Roanoke College. Virginia, a
valuable Latin Bible, printed In 1477 1t is
beautifully printed on vellum, in black letter,
with fabricated capitals and contains 944 pages
folio very we'll preserved. Here is the quaint
closing paragraph of the title page of the work :
Here ends the Apocalyptic book of the blessed
Apostle John. In the year of our Lords incar-
nation one thousand four hundred and seventy
seventh, and the third calends of August A
very extraordinary work of the old and New
Iestaments with canons and concordances of the
Evangellsts. To the praise and glory of the
Holy and lnseparable Trinity and the impress
sion OF the immaculate Virgin Mary. In the
royal State of Nuremberg, by Antonious Co
burger, resident OF the same state, by whose
industry it was made with the utmost diligence
and SKILL it happily ends. Praise to God"
Foreign
DEATH OF THOMAS CARLYLE.-Lon-
don, February 5.-Thomas Carlyle died this
morning. He passed away without struggle.
Mr.. Carlyle was in his Seth year.
Wherever the Church of
Rome controls education, the proportion of the
Illlterate is the largest. The last census report
OF Ireland returns one-fifth of the whole popula-
ton as illterate In the province of Con
naught, of the 697, l66 Roman Catholics of five
years old and upwards, no less than 357 800
Tor 5l.3 per cent? are illiterate, whilst out of
81 $50 members of the Irish Church, only g.
409 Tor ii per cent? are returned as illiterates
and out OF 1850 Presby terians, only 100 Tor 6.6
per cent?. The Roman Catholic Church has the
education OF her people in her own hands. DR.
Lyon Playfair stated in the London Times that
992 per cent of the schools in Ireland were un-
der UNCONVENTIONAL and clerical control, and
here Is the result. The prison returns of Ire
land show that while the Roman Catholic popu-
lation of Ireland is about 81 to one, the Roman
Catholic criminals are as six to one.-EUanqe-
hst
Mr.. Gladstone is said to have one
faculty in supernatural degree-that of master
ing the contents of book by glancing through
Its pages. friend says Of him that he can
master any average book in a quarter of an
hour. He has a sort of instinct which leads him
straight to Its salient points and after a quar-
ter OF an hours study, he will be able to tell
more about 1t, and to argue more conclusivelv