But Christian love beginning at home, will not be content to be confined there. It is too expansive for that. It will overleap the narrow boundary; or if it be forcibly restrained within it, it will resent the wrong by dying a natural death in its prison. That it may live and thrive it must breathe the fresh air of the world, and brace itself with exercise in deeds of mercy. lip, and the unhappy look, will produce some impression on those who witness them-an impression which will not terminate with itself; and which will verify the social fact that no one liveth unto himself. Our example may be silent and unobtrusive, but it cannot be wholly unobserved. And if the first circle of observers be small, yet each of them becomes the centre of a new circle, and our influence becomes thus What shall I do? is probably the question diffused far beyond our control and even our which has been asked by many. A question knowledge. Whatever station we occupy, which has been answered sententiously, thus: whether we live in the public eye or in the" Do the duty which lies nearest thee, which deepest privacy; whether we are ambitious to thou knowest to be a duty; thy second duty will be something, or ambitious to be nothing; it is already have become clearer." And this is only a necessity of our social existence that we can- a paraphrase of the inspried saying, "Whatsonot live to ourselves. There is no wall of ex-ever thy hand findeth to do, do it," and "do it clusiveness so thick or so high, but that the influence of our character and conduct, the influence, in short, of what we are and what we do, will penetrate through it, or climb over it. It is a solemn fact that we are under the operation of this law of social life, and that its operation is involuntary and constant. Life itself is a solemn thing. We may so use it that it would be better for us if we had never possessed it. Or we may so use it that it shall be "a thing of beauty and of joy for ever." Social life with its voluntary and involuntary contribution to the common weal, or the common woe, is doubly solemn. There may be some whom we have already unconsciously benefitted, and who have been made more strong, more holy, more happy, by some casual word we have dropped, or some casual deed we have done, of which there is no record in our own memory. There may be others whom some casual word or deed of ours has accelerated in the downward path of unbelief and ungodliness. with thy might." Christian love will find ob jects on which to expend the energy of its welldoing at the very door, lying in sin and wretchedness, in more desparate case than the man who fell among thieves in the solitary and robber-haunted defile which lay between Jerusalem and Jericho. It will find them in the furthest regions of the earth, all "neighbors" according to our Lord's teaching, everywhere needing and awaiting the application of the same Christian balm. Let it lay its hands of mercy on some of these and bind up their wounds, and pour in the oil and wine of gospel truth and love. FRIENDS' INTELLIGENCER. PHILADELPHIA, EIGHTH MONTH 17, 1867. THE INDIANS.-The communications of Sid ney Averill and Gideon Frost, in relation to Indian outrages, which have appeared in this paper, have afresh awakened the feelings of sadness and sorrow which in times past have been so general throughout our Society in relation to this suffering and deeply injured people. The apostolic words, "None of us liveth to himself," are not, however, the mere declaration of a social fact; they are the declaration of a Christian law. Our involuntary influence may be either good or evil. It may be the influence of selfishness producing selfishness. But the The thoughtful among us will remember that Christian law is, "Look not every man on his national crimes are generally followed by own things, but every man also on the things of national punishments, and will look forward others." "Ye are not your own. For ye are with apprehension to the fearful reckoning we bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit which are God's." may have to pay, when inquisition shall be made The Christian love, which forms the soul of at the hands of the perpetrators of these outthe law" no one liveth to himself," may very rages. We have received several communicaappropriately begin its social work "at home." tions on this subject in addition to the one Let Christians give it full sway in their fami- which appears in this number, urging that imlies. If there is "no place like home," let love destroy those selfish, crooked tempers which mar its peace; those tempers which break up families, even while outwardly one, into fragments, that are brought indeed very near to each other, but are not "like kindred drops which mingle into one." Let all seek within their home circle, their first and best sphere of well doing. It will amply repay their toil. mediate action may be taken by our Society, that the effusion of blood may be stayed. One of our correspondents in this city recently received a letter from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in which he says:— "The genuine spirit of Christian philanthropy has invariably distinguished the Society of Friends in all its history, and the tender of the services of Friends in the accomplishment of peace does honor to them, and is very gratefully appreciated by me." Another correspondent, in the State of New York, hopes" that Philadelphia Friends will move in the matter, and desires to contribute to sustain their action." For Friends' Intelligencer. THE INDIANS. has been directed to the condition and prospects Since public attention, within a few weeks, of the Indians in the far West, the evidences have been rapidly increasing that many of the alleged barbarities of these Indians are either acts of retaliation for wrongs inflicted by the whites, or are false accounts, manufactured for We are glad to know that Friends of Balti-natural hostile feeling, for the purpose of enthe occasion, by parties who desire to create a more Yearly Meeting, who are near the Seat of couraging the Government to wage against Government, have had personal intercourse, them a war of extermination. These misrepreand are in correspondence with the Commis-sentations are generally made by contractors sioner of Indian Affairs, and also that a number of judicious Friends have been set apart by the Representative Committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to attend to the concern, and pursue such course as the wisdom of Truth may suggest. We hope, however, that this action will not prevent individual effort, and that not only the members of our own Society, but every Christian man and woman, will do what they can in this emergency. Those who may not be able to act, may, in the spirit of prayer, desire that the Ruler of Nations may put it into the hearts of our legislators to do justice to the red man, that so the Divine judgments may be averted from our land. MARRIED, on the 18th of Seventh month, 1867, with the approbation of Horsham Monthly Meeting, DAVID FOULKE to SUSAN Y. MICHENER, daughter of Silas Shoemaker, all of Montgomery Co., Pa. -, on the 4th of Seventh month, 1867, with the approbation of Haddonfield Monthly Meeting, at the residence of the bride's parents, WM. BALDERSTON, of Burlington Co., to ANNIE H. BOGGS, of Camden Co., N. J. DIED, in Howard Co., Md., on the 30th of Seventh month, 1867, ELIZABETH BYRNES, daughter of Francis W. and Elizabeth B. Plummer, and only granddaughter of Richard Plummer, aged nearly 5 months. on the 26th of Seventh month, 1867, at his residence in York Co., Pa., THOMAS JONES, an Elder and member of Fawn Particular and Deer Creek at Salem, N. J., on Fourth-day, 31st of Seventh month, 1867, ISAAC NICHOLSON, in his 76th year. in Philadelphia, on the 4th of Eighth month, 1867, JOHN BURTON, M. D., in his 83d year. "Fear not, little flock, it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Learn thus to contemplate the sovereignty of God, as it is His delight to exert it for His people; find, in it, and not in yourselves, an all-prevailing ar. gument for grace to help in every time of need. -Goode. and Government agents, and other interested parties, some of whom have heretofore accumulated much property during the prosecution of the Indian wars, and who desire the continuance of the present hostilities for the same purpose. Official information amply justifies the peaceable Indians have been slaughtered in cold belief, that notwithstanding a multitude of blood by the whites, without provocation, still a large proportion of the now hostile tribes are willing to make peace, provided they be compensated for their destroyed property, and procroaching parties be compelled to make satisvided that railroad companies and other enfaction for land occupied without the Indians' consent, and that their annuity goods be faithfully paid to them. If a compliance with these Indian demands will adjust the difficulties, it would clearly be the duty of the Government to comply. If onetenth or one-twentieth of the money now wasted in the prosecution of the war were to be exfrom violence and their property from deprepended in protecting the persons of the Indians dations at the hands of white men, the work of permanent pacification would doubtless proceed rapidly. The testimony of the Governor of Idaho is worthy of being continually borne in mind by Friends,-that "in no case that I have examined have I found the red man the aggressor;" and yet we are prosecuting a war of threatened extermination, attended by barbarities on our part the most horrible that can be found upon the pages of history, while our own people, who are the guilty and original aggressors, are seldom or never punished. The only instance of an attempted retribution was that of Captain who was tried for the murder of four peaceable Indians, without the least provocation, but from mere wantonness; and being found guilty, was simply cashiered, or dismissed from his command. There is reason to believe that a memorial to Government, signed by as many Friends as might be convenient, asking that early measures be taken to obtain a pacification of the difficulties, by securing to the Indians the undisturbed enjoyment of all their rights, would receive an | All the more noble, therefore, is the story of earnest consideration. I am willing to press their constancy under the severest trials of the question, Is it not our duty to perform this act of simple justice? Friends are almost the natural guardians of the Indian race. It is a pleasant reflection that no jar of discord has ever disturbed the harmonious relation between them and our Society; and however vindictive towards those who have wronged them, they have been uniformly kind to us. Are there not Friends sufficiently interested in this pressing case of justice and humanity to volunteer a visit to the seat of Government, for the purpose of asking that the stroke of the uplifted sword be arrested, and that measures of pacification be substituted for those of carnage GIDEON FROST, Greenvale P. O., Long Island, 8th mo. 1, 1867. The work before us, of which the first two volumes were published in 1859, opens with a statement of the more prominent "testimonies" of the early Friends, which is succeeded by a very cursory sketch of the history of the Christian Church to the time of George Fox. Then follows a record of the experiences of that remarkable man, who for many years was a veritable apostle of the truth, a particular state ment of the persecutions to which he and his followers were exposed from magistrates, priests and people, and all other noteworthy matters relating to the society until the separation, which took place in America about the year 1828, the circumstances preceding and attending which are very fully detailed in the latter half of the fourth volume. The bulk of the work consists of more or less minute memorials of a very large number of ministers and other prominent men and women, the reading of which, it must be confessed, is sometimes a monotonous employment; but the monotony is frequently relieved, especially in the earlier part, by incidents of an heroic or sadly tragic character. The records from which the author was able to draw the material for the construction of his history were ample, perhaps more full and complete than those which have been preserved by any other sectarian body. It is remarkable that those most actively engaged in organizing the Society of Friends were young men and women, few being thirty years of age at the commencement of their ministry, and some not more than eighteen or twenty. George Fox himself was about twenty-three years old when he began to preach in 1647. "History of the Religious Society of Friends, from its rise to the year 1828. Vols. I-IV. Samuel M. Janney." Philadelphia: T. Ellwood Zell. By their faith, and it would awaken much wonder in us had we not learned in the school of experience that the little trials of this life are even harder to bear than the large ones, and that there is in every great cause an inspiration adequate to the making of martyrs. The society rapidly took form and gained adherents. The period was one of much theological as well as political activity, and there seems to have been a large class of persons denominated "seekers" who were very ready join such a movement as this. The "testimonies" of the new Protestants brought them of necessity into collision with those in authority in such troublesome times, and imprisonment in noisome dungeons, the stocks, and many stripes were the aliment upon which they thrived for many years. To those holding supreme power in the state they spoke boldly, and they do not seem to have been treated by them with especial discourtesy. It is perhaps an open question whether Cromwell did not intend to be somewhat facetious when, at the close of a conversation with George Fox, he said to the leather-clad apostle, "Come again to my house; for, if thou and I were but an hour of a day together, we should be nearer one to the other." After about the year 1720, when their persecution had in great measure ceased, the society seemed to have grown much more slowly than before. The narrative becomes less interesting to the outside reader, excepting when it touches, as it necessarily often does, upon the connection of the society or its members with the great social questions of the day. The evils of slavery and the slave-trade engaged the attention of this people almost simultaneously with their settlement in America, but with characteristic slowness, though with equally characteristic pertinacity, the question was dealt with and argued upon for eighty years before total abstinence from all connection with the institution was required of the members. In the anti-slavery agitation of the past thirty years the Quaker "testimony," renewed and vitalized by the Motts, the Hoppers, and others less famous but equally faithful, contributed powerfully to the great overthrow which could not come through peace. Against intemperance also the Friends have labored efficiently, for the promotion of education, for a juster system of prison discipline, and for many other humane objects. Their treatment of the Indian tribes in this country gains lustre from the unhappy occurrences of the present hour. If the author, himself a Friend and a schismatic, had taken too favorable a view of the position both of the society and the branch to which he belongs, it would not have been surprising, and it is probable that the record has been colored to some extent in this way. Yet there is an evident intention to write with judicial fairness; for instance, after detailing the infamous persecutions to which Friends were subjected in New England, particularly in Massachusetts, he says: "Although a regard for historical accuracy requires an impartial account of the severe persecutions endured by the early Friends in New England, the narrative cannot be continued without reluctance; especially when we reflect that among no people on earth is religious liberty, in this age, more highly appreciated or more fully secured than by the descendants of the Pilgrims." And further, after giving an account of the execution of certain Friends on Boston Common: "There can be but one opinion among all reflecting minds concerning the bloody tragedy enacted at Boston; it should be remembered, however, that a large proportion of the colonists were opposed to the course pursued, and the infamy must rest upon a few who were enabled, by the ecclesiastical features of their government, to hold the reins of power." In treating of the great separation-a difficult task-we should say that Mr. Janney has endeavored conscientiously to do justice to both parties, and, it seems to us, with a considerable degree of success. Belonging as he does to the branch called "Hicksite," to distinguish it from the "Orthodox" Friends, it is to be expected that the latter will not accept his narrative as a truthful account of the event, its causes, and the principles involved; at the same time, it must be borne in mind that the feeling of bitterness subsisting even yet between the two branches, especially on the part of the Orthodox, is such as ill comports with their peaceful and forgiving faith, and prevents that fair and equitable judgment which is to be desired. Mr. Janney frankly acknowledges, what we think must appear to any unprejudiced reader, that in regard to belief both parties had somewhat diverged, and that in opposite directions, from the position held by George Fox and his more prominent converts. Yet the belief of these earlier Friends was not uniform, and in this connection our author well says: "An attempt to enforce entire uniformity of belief was the rock upon which the Protestant reformers split, and which the early Friends had the wisdom to avoid. In the days of George Fox they were remarkably tolerant; but in succeeding times, as the bond of Christian love grew weaker, a greater reliance upon rules of discipline became manifest." The work is much of it written in a plain, simple, unpretending style, but abounds in some parts in that peculiar stilted Scriptural phraseology with which those who have often attended Friends' meetings or read Friends' books are thoroughly familiar. Sewall's "History of Quakers" has the advantage of the direct per sonal knowledge and connection of its author with many of the events which he details, it having been written between 1700 and 1720, and is attractive on account of a certain quaintness of style, but it covers a period of only about seventy years. There are other histories, but none, we believe, so comprehensive as that now offered to the public. We commend it to the reading of persons of all sects, and not least to the young, for an insight into spiritual purity and fidelity to the inner light such as are not likely to be exhibited again, certainly not in our day, in the formation of a new society. The Quaker forms and organization are perhaps declining, and may, in a few generations, become extinct. Even more on this account is their history worth studying, and their decadence may serve even more distinctly than their rise to point out the foundations of the "broad church" of the future. A PITY TO HAVE AN EMPTY SEAT. A few weeks ago a gentleman was obliged to go to a distant depot at an hour when there was no conveyance thither. So, although very weary, and not strong, he was obliged to set out on a walk of two or three miles. After he had gone a little way, he was overtaken by a gentleman and a little boy in a carriage. The fine horse was at once reined in, and his owner said with a smile, "I presume, sir, you are going but a short way; but this little fellow insists on my asking you to ride with us. I told him I had no doubt you were going to the first station; but he said, 'The gentleman is a stranger, father; it is very easy to ask him. It always seems to me such a pity to ride with an empty seat!'" Now, that ride which cost the gentleman neither money, time, nor trouble, was a real blessing to a weary minister of Christ; and he told him so when he thanked him and the dear boy who prompted the kind civility. "It is a way he has, and always had, sir," replied the father. "From his cradle, he could never enjoy what he could not share with others. If he has any new gift or pleasure, his first thought is for those less favored. is a way he got from his mother." It It was truly a beautiful "way" that boy had; and it should be a lesson to all boys, and boys' mothers too, who hear of him. Remember this, you wno have horses at your control to use for convenience or pleasure: "It is a pity to have en empty seat." Remember it, mothers, when training your boys for lives of unselfishness. The little things of to-day will grow into great things of years to come. The boy who is selfish with his toys and his comforts will be so with his money and his sympathies when a man; for the heart grows harder, rather than softer, by the flight of time.-Exchange. THE RIVER PATH. BY JOHN G. WHITTIER. No bird-song floated down the hill, With us the damp, the chill, the gloom; "And the night cometh chill with dew, (Selected.) "I have learned," says the melancholy Pestalozzi, "that in this wide world no one heart is able or willing to help another." Ob, say not we through life must struggle- That no one human heart can answer The beatings of our own. The stars look down from the silent heaven And see themselves from its dewy depths The sky, with its pale or glowing hues, And tells us no one thing in Nature Alone, amid life's griefs and perils, Left to its own unaided efforts, The strongest arm may fail; And thongh all strength still comes from Heaven, Yet we may sometimes be his angels, Then let us learn to help each other, Who sees in every man a brother, BREAD AND MILK. The incident I am about to relate, I received from the lips of the principal actor when he was a venerable and most interesting gentleman. It is a story of his wayward boyhood, which he loved to tell because it reflected honor on a mother he delighted to honor. One morning Johnny (for that was his real name) came to the breakfast table and boldly said he would not eat bread and milk that morning. "Very well, Johnny," answered his mother, quietly and without raising her voice; "I'll set it on this high shelf. You can run to school.” This run consisted of a long piece of road, and then a long tramp through a wood, which gave Johnny ample time to call up all his spunk and to strengthen his determination not to give in. 66 Accordingly, on his return, he was all ready to assert the dignity of boyhood, and when he drew up to the table and saw the bowl of bread and milk sct before him, he felt nerved to any course, and decided to die rather than eat it. Very well, Johnny," was the mother's calm remark; "I'll set it on the high shelf until you want it ;" and a decided wave of her hand sent him from the table, and in due time he was bidden by an authority he could not resist to run off to school. That run was not as spirited as the morning run had been. He felt "dreadfully hollow," and had no relish for his usual sport of pretending to be chased by a bear, climbing, in fancied terror, a tree; running out on the end of its horizontal branches, and dropping to the ground only to gain another tree and accomplish the same feat of dexterity. On the contrary, he felt a little like giving up, as he knew his mother never would, and admitted to himself that he would be glad of that bowl of bread and milk; and when he came dragging home at night, and the bowl was lifted down from the high shelf without a word of threatening or reproach, he pretty well understood the force of calm and persistent authority. Feeling well assured that he would never eat anything else until he had swallowed that oftpresented and oft-refused bread and milk, he just took it as quietly as it was offered, and ate it. And after that, he said, he never set his will |