The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-12-07
GENERAL ITEMS.

The POETS. Chaucer describes tbinps
as they are. Shakespeare, as thew would Re
under the circumstances supposed Spenser. as
we would wish them to be. Milton as thew
ought to be. Byron, as they ought not to be-
and Shelley, as they never can be-
-ATHE1sM.-One of the Red Republi-
cans OF 1893 was telling a good peasant of La
venice: We are going to pull down vour
churches and your steeples-a1l that recalls the
superstltlons of past ages and all that brings to
your mind the idea of God" Citizen" REPLIED
'he good Vendean, pull down the stars, then"
George P. Marsh has been our Min
ister Resident In Italy since 1851 continuously
nearly twenty one years. Five administra
lions nave passed away in the meantime
The amount of money expended in
strong drink in Great Britain is perfectly appall
lng-the grand total being about 800 900 900
year. Inc people waste this enormous sum,
and do worse than waste it.
The Princess Beatrice has given
$4,000 out of the proceeds of her Christmas
oo9k to the support of the Belgrave Hospital for
children. '0-
,-One of the young men who lately
robbed railroad train in Arkansas died in
prison few days after his committal. He was
dellrlous In his last hours and kept constantly
repeating long passages from the sensational
novels through reading which he became a
criminal 1t was the confession of those Young
men, before they went to prison, that it was
sensational novel reading and newspaper details
OF roooerles that led them to commit the crime
OF which they were then about to snffer The
penalty. The case supplies its own moral
"A curious scene lately witnessed in
Westminster Abbey is thus described in the
London Truth: Thursday, the 18th of October
being the Feast Of st. Edward The Confesoor'
the chapel where the remains of that kline arc
deposited IS on that anniversary thrown omen IN
the public. From 10 a NJ until late in tho
afternoon numbers of Roman Catholics. priests
laymen and ladies were to be seen praving
around the shrine of the saint. Some had
prayer DOCKS others rosarles In their hands and
all were evidently most earnest in their devo
uons 1t was, to say the least of it, singular
sight to witness couple of hundred or so mem
oers OF the Church of Rome, going through their
silent devotlons In Protestant cathedral"
The Congregationohst gives the fol-
lowing, which is a warning As ILLUSTRATING
the Importance of marking the date on pulnif
notices, story Is current of q stranger in a GER
tain pulpit who read the announcements of the
lunerai OF a lady buried nearly a year before
and whose husband happened to be in the con-
gregation with his second wife for the first time
The notice had been lying on a pulpit shelf ali
THIS time, and somehow got mixed with otbers
given him for that day"
The BoTToM OF THE ATLANTIC
The soundings that were made between Ireland
and Newfoundland before laying the Atlantic
cable have made the bottom of the Atlantic
almost as well known as the surface of Furone
and America. 1t is covered with fine mud
the remains OF microscopic insects which will
one day, doubtless, harden into chalk. The
bottom of the Atlantic is one of the widest and
most Prodigious plains in the world. If the ssa
were drained off, you might drive a wagon ali
the way from Valentia, on the west coast of
Ireland, to Trinity Bay in Newfoundland and
except one sharp incline, abou. two hundred
miles from Valentla, it might never be necessary
70 put the skid on, so gentle are the ascents and
descents upon that long route. Prom Valentia
toe road would lie down hill for about two
hundFed miles, to the point at which the bottom
Is now covered by seventeen hundred fatbonns
OF sea water. Then would come the cenfroi
plain, more than one thousand miles wide the
inequalities Of the surface of which wonId he
hardly Perceptible. Beyond this the ascent ON
the American side commences and graduaIIv
leads for abont two hundred miles to the New.
foundand shore
AT last, after about three wears Of
weary hunting, the body of the late dry goods
millionaire, a. i. Stewart, has been recovered
at cost OF $4,000 1t was discovered through
a prominent, though impecunious lawyer of
Oh view srk who receives as his share of this
q 00a reminding Offering, $4,000, leaving
Noble, Canada Mack, and Jen Scott bv 1oT To','
These WORTHLESS were allowed immnnitv from ~
rest, as part of their reward. The RodT, - 90,
placed in the vauIt a ruaai, =. nr-.-1-N = "'~0