Square 12mo., full cloth, 224 pp.

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Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co., Pub., Cincinnati ♦ New York.

Copyright, 1884, by VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG & Co.

Protestants obtained control of the Assembly, they took away all the rights of the Catholics in the colony.

6. Civil war followed, and lasted five years, when the Catholics regained their rights. Nearly thirty years later, another religious war broke out, and the Catholics were again persecuted. The king recalled the proprietary rights of the Lord Baltimore who was then at the head of the colony. They were returned to the fourth Lord Baltimore, and no further disturbance took place until the Revolution. 7. All the land between Virginia and Florida was granted by King Charles II. to Lord Clarendon and others. They called it Carolina in honor of King Charles (Latin Carolus).

A. D. 1663.

Definitions have to do with things and ideas rather than with words. This is not a paradox but a plain statement of the fact. Words are used to express definitions, but unless the words which are used exactly express the properties of the thing to be defined, they do not make up a definition. Words frequently have two or three sets of meanings; one which comes by descent, from its derivation, as scholar, when it means one who has leisure; one, from its use in literature, as when the word, scholar, seems to mean an erudite person; another from its common use applied to youngsters attending school, and besides these a technical or local use. The thing to be defined determines what set of words are to be used in the definition, for, when any one uses the word scholar, intelligently, he can hardly find a case in which all these meanings are applicable.

To define a thing is to lay down its limits, to bound it, to give its length, breadth and thickness, and not only to express its externals but its internals also. Not unfrequently these last, which include properties not directly apparent, are of the greatest importance. Now, of any thing to be defined, it may be asserted that the definer seldom

can make for it the limits which contain it, any more than he can make the three barley corns which "make an inch" make an inch.

The limits, bounds, enclosures, and all the hedges-in and fencingsout which belong to an accurate definition are inherent in the thing or idea to be defined, and the definer is fortunate if his notion of it comprehends all its limitations and he can use words so as to include all its properties, and at the same time exclude every other.

In this sense, a definition is the most unyielding and unalterable form of words imaginable. It is simply an accurate statement of the facts of the case and admits of no compromises. Some definitions lead to unpleasant collocations of facts and are slurred over or hidden by euphemisms; but the facts remain, and sooner or later will receive. their appropriate expression. No power, human or divine, can make a roof that does not cover something, or at least appear to do so; or a valley that does not lie between hills; or a student out of a person who does not study.

It does not follow that any man has at any time accurately defined any thing. The definitions which men employ in ordinary language are sufficiently accurate if they enable a speaker so to express his idea of a thing, that the hearer will comprehend him. It is by no means necessary for such a result that the speaker give the full idea or even a correct idea. But when ideas are to be conveyed to many hearers, in different places, and at different times, it is essential that the properties which are assigned to the "thing" in question, should be recog. nized by common consent as belonging to it, actually or by convention-actually if it be possible.

Much of the profitless discussion in which men indulge comes from ignoring this Procrustean character of a definition. It fits its bed exactly, head to bolster, toes to foot-board. Any notion which requires neither to be stretched out nor lopped off will ultimately win, as sure as the sun shines. Any other will as surely lose. Definite concepts are worth fighting about, even if they involve nothing more than the distinction between same and similar; and it may be of infinite importance to ascertain exactly what is meant by substance. battle will be soonest over if the parties concerned will agree to a definition, and, then agree to accept or reject what is included in it-or agree to disagree if the inevitable conclusion is not acceptable to both. At all events, after the noise of the battle is over, it will be possible for each side to see wherein its strength lies. For one, I have no patience with those who, "although vanquished, can argue still," nor with those who do not recognize that a discussion which has been decided, is settled; or with those who will not admit that some things

have been taken out of the arena of debate by the fact that they have already received a definition acceptable to the great majority of think

ers.

If I were to define a scholar, I should desire to include among the properties which properly characterize him, the ability to use words which express his notions clearly and sharply. Of course I think it necessary to the idea of the word, that a scholar should have notions in great abundance, but unless his notions have in his own mind their true dimensions, accurately defined, they are of no use to him nor to any one else.

student who hopes clear and accurate He may go further accuracy are of the

The upshot of all this is, that the first duty of a to become a scholar is to acquire in every study notions of the topics with which he has to do. and make his study exhaustive, but clearness and utmost importance. What shall be said of those who use, habitually, words which are meaningless to them, even though they are the accepted formulæ in the class-room? Was Agassiz a scholar? If yes, was his claim to the title due to his knowledge of Latin or of fishes? I have heard some say that he was not a scholar, meaning thereby that his studies in natural history were not such as belong to the definition of scholarship. Can the title be given to any man who is not well versed in Latin or Greek?

Very recently, quite a spirited discussion has been begun among the dignitaries in eastern colleges, as regards elective studies. Harvard proposes to widen her "elective studies" so that a man who has never studied Greek may be graduated from her halls in full honor. It is rumored that Yale has done or is to do quite the contrary, by insisting that the old time classics, humanities and mathematics shall be required of all her pupils; but leaving so loose an option in natural sciences that the coming graduate need know little or nothing of chemistry, of botany, or of physiology. Dr. McCosh, of Princeton, sides with the Yale plan, but is, to my thinking, even more conservative and old fogy. I note also that Dr. Andrew D. White wishes it to be known that Cornell University intends to strike the golden mean by making it possible for a pupil to study any course he chooses, if he will let the faculty arrange his course of study for him, or he will gratify his educational whims still further if necessary.

In which of these ways shall the scholar be trained? Is knowledge of facts scholarship? If so, is one fact of greater value than another, as, for examples, that amo means I love; that Cupid is the God of Love; that the angles of an equilateral triangle are equal; or that water is a compound containing hydrogen and oxygen?

If I may venture to state my own belief as to what constitutes scholarship, I should say that any man who has a wide knowledge of facts and ideas, and can state them clearly, is a scholar; and I see no limit to the kind of knowledge he may possess and no requirement that he must know any special set of facts and ideas. In fact, I think that many men who have had the reputation of being scholars by reason of their familiarity with Greek, or with metaphysics, were only specialists in a narrow field, and were not scholars at all.

It seems to me that the modern student can not expect to know every thing, but he can expect to become "scholarly" if his "special" do not exclude, nay, if they embrace allied and collateral sciences, and these in liberal quantities.

READING.

MISS ALTA BLACKMORE, AURORA, IND.

The study of reading, which the ancients deemed of such importance has been so sadly neglected in modern times, that it has almost become a lost art. Why this is true, it is impossible to say, still the fact remains the same, that we have strangely degenerated from the days in which they read "in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading." Therefore it is with exceeding pleasure that we witness the arousing of the people upon this subject and the efforts of those concerned to give it its proper part to play in the education of the young.

Not to speak of its value as the means by which our knowledge of every other subject is obtained, as a means of improvement in composition, for its influence in refining the tastes and ennobling the heart, the study of reading is invaluable as a household commodity. In fact it is a mystery to me how a family of children could be satisfactorily reared without its assistance. See what a vista it opens up to the parent. Into it we have not time now to enter, but can only gaze for a moment bewildered by the many paths leading to the abode of virtue and the temple of knowledge, along which the feet of youth may be guided. Perhaps if the habit of reading aloud were indulged in to a greater extent in the family, mothers would oftener be accosted with, "What shall we read to-night ?" than, "Say, ma, where's my hat?" If this custom were generally established, it would undoubtedly prove a much stronger cord than the proverbial apron string with