The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1883-03-07
GENERAL ITEMS.


The water at Cairo last week was
ffty-two feet above low-water mark. the high.
est ever known. The levees are in good condi-
ton, and large numbers of men are on the
watch. At three points in Louisiana the levee
has been broken. and there is foot of water on
the track from Vicksburg to Monroe.
President A. M. Fairbairn, D. D.. of
Airedale College, Bradford, England, who is
to lecture at Andover on Foreign Missions has
also accepted the invitation of Chautauqua to
deliver a course of six lectures during the As
sembly next August.
-ELECTIoN.-Some one asks: Chow
am l to know whether l am elected to be saved
or lost and what can l Go in the premises ?"
Some one answers: The elect are whosoever
will the non-elect are whatsoever won't Every
man Classics himself"
One of the noblest workers of the
age is Miss Leigh, known as the Englishwo-
mans good angel In Paris. Ten years ago she
young women from this + grown an orphan
age, church and parsona.,e, mission hall, a
Young Womens Christian Association, Young
Mems Institute, a free registry, a kindergarten
and infant school, and saiatsrium.
The Roman Catholic priests of this
country have certainly made wild work in their
efforts to conduct banking institutions. Arch
bishop Purcell's sad fasco is still engaging the
attention of the law courts and now the saw
ings OF number of the faithful" have van
lshed in the failure of the Augustinian Society
IN ST. Lawrence Mass. The Society is nsoi-
vent and a number of depositors find their
funds In an invisible state.
Mr. George Cable novelist, seems
to have made a very effective speech in the
Prytania Street Presbyterian church, New Or.
leans, as one of the Trustees of the church, for
after he was done the congregation quickly
raised enough to pay an old debt on the church,
the subscriptions in the end amounting to nearly
$4,000 more than the people set out to raise.
Professor Flint, be theologian of
Edinburgh University has leen elected honorary
President of the Theological Society connected
with the Divinity Hall of the United Presbv-
terian Church of Scotland DIR. Cairns intro
duced him to the Society as one of the great
lights of our Scottish theology" and DR.. Flint
gave the young men fine lecture on Agnos-
ticism."
The Inter Ocean gives the following
picture of the moral condition of Chicago and
the relative strength OF the forces at work there
for veal or woe. 1t is we'll to let the people
O'Oi WhOi0 huOW the IdCIS, Jnat tneV NAV de-
termlne for themselves the duty of the hour.
The picture given photographs the moral con-
ditlon of many other towns and cities in our
land. Read
Chicago has 300 churches against 5,242 liquor
saloons; 400 clergymen, evangelists and lay
readers, and $500 bartenders only half dozen
art galleries, and $50 variety theatres. Out of
100000 buildings 5000 are used for immoral
purposes Sl,500,000 are spent for schools.
for coon
perhaps 100000 for religious worship and
charity; $l5,OOoOO0 for that which DESTROYS
both soul and body.
The False Prophet, the leader of the
instruction in the Soudan, has captured Obeid
Obed lies 80 far south of Cairo that there is lit
tie present danger of the False Prophet getting
into Egypt. Obeid is place with 10000 in,
habitants. 1t is the capital of Kordofan. and
hordofan lies southwest of SEMINAR The north
eTn end of SEMINAR is at the junction of the two
Niles. This junction is about 44O miles away
from Obeld in northwesterly direction. The
town during the day presents an animated APP
Pearance, but the books give startling picture
OF the place after dark. AS soon as night sets
in there is furious bowling of wild beasts.
leoPards and hyenas all round, which are kept
OIL by strong abattis of thorns, with which the
houses are surrounded, and behind which the
dogs yell them defiance. 1t is probable that if
the False Prophet wants this cheerful haven of
rest he Is welcome to stay there.
Our CATHoLic NE1GHBoRs.-We
should like them better if they were more
American, more useful, and better behaved
But large proportion of them show no respect
for our laws, for the good of society, for COM
mon morality, or for themselves The late
chaplain OF the State Prison at Concord stated
recently, that of the 656 convicts, 400 were
Catholics, chiefly Irish more than FIVE times
their due proportion according to population.
OF the go convicts in the woman'5 prison al
Sherborne, seven-tenths are Irish Catholics. At
Deer Island seventy-hve per cent Of the In
mates are Catholics. AT Suffolk county Jail OIL
2,75O commitments last year. considerably
more than half are Catholics. At Cambridoe
House OF Correction ninety per cent foreigners
/ and nearly all Irish Catholics. And essentially
such is the story at all the penal and paupei
institutions Of the State IL may be so in Other
States. Bishop Ireland at temperance con.
vention at st. Paul, Mimi, last Summer. said
the list of culprits with Irish names filing
Jails and reformatories, strikes us with horror
The Irish run majority Of the 700 liquor
shops licensed in Boston this year, and one
would infer as much from looking at the Macs
and the Os, and the Murphys, the Mullipans
Milligans, and Finnigans that figure on the
signs and door-posts Of the rum holes. Such
In its varied uginess, is the harvest which so.
ciety reaps from the boosted superiority OIL
training in Catholic homes and schools, church.
es and confessionals. For very shame THEN
bishops and priests ought to shut up.-Bostor
| Letter IN ~. y. Evangelist