agreement that it will be impossible for this wide-spread and rapidly growing Church to continue much longer as if one vast Province. Some relief must be obtained, and a sub-division into provinces, is the remedy which at once occurs to every mind at all familiar with church history. So far we may say there is almost unanimous agreement. The divergencies will arise when we come to arrange the various details, as to the number and size of the Provinces and their relations to the Dioceses and to the National Church (as for convenience sake we may designate the whole of our Church in the United States). It will be seen at once, that a multiplicity of questions will occur under these two heads on which great differences of opinion must be expected. Few persons having carefully studied the subject, there will be at first a great deal of crude thinking and talking. Hence, the importance of having this whole matter fully discussed by the press, that all the light possible may be thrown upon it before the Convention meets next fall.

For this reason, as well as for its own intrinsic value, we gladly welcome the "Report on the Provincial System" made by the sub-committee of the Committee appointed by the General Convention of 1877, which has just been made public. The wellknown character of the two Bishops constituting this sub-committee (Ohio and Pennsylvania) adds greatly to the importance of this report. They being of conservative tendencies, and having no pet theories to advance in regard to the subject, their report will receive the notice it deserves from men of all shades of opinion, and will be of great practical value in calling attention to the matter, and aiding in defining the especial points which need investigation. We hope before long to be able to give some history of this whole subject of provinces and our own views as to its adaptation by our Church, meanwhile we give a synopsis of this report.

1. It is very non-committal as to details, while sufficiently plain in its general recommendations. Questions were printed and sent to the Bishops, to which they were invited to return answers, but with the express declaration that no "Bishop should be considered as committing himself by these replies." This is judicious. In the present state of the question it would not be wise for any one to commit himself absolutely to any definite views.

Full replies were received from nine Bishops; indefinite ones from four; negative from three, two of these declining to consider the question. In all, fifteen Bishops expressed opinions to the sub-committee. The answers and names are not given, but the results are stated as "a drift of opinion towards agreement on the main question, and a tendency towards an establishment of Provinces, provided it will not involve all particulars of the Provincial system.' What these are is not stated, we should like to see them. The sub-committee as the result of their examination of the subject, present the following resolution, to be

RECOMMENDED TO THE GENERAL CONVENTION.

Resolved, That the following recommendations be made to the next General Convention :

1. To establish four Provinces within the territory of the United States; a Province of the Atlantic, of the Centre, of the West and of the Pacific; generally bounded by the lines of the Alleghanies, the Mississippi river, and the Rocky mountains.

2. That in all legislation respecting a Provincial system, the independence of existing Dioceses be guarded and preserved.

3. That the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America shall continue to be the Legislative body uniting the Churches, retaining the power to maintain the integrity of the Prayer Book and other Symbols, governing Provinces, and representing all the Dioceses; but restricted to general legislation.

4. That the General Convention shall meet once in nine years.

October 17th, 1879.

Respectfully submitted,

G. T. BEDELL,
WM. BACON STEVENS,
Sub-Committee.

AT HOME.

The Report of the Secretary of the Interior made at the opening of Congress, contains certain statements in regard to the Indians which are worthy of consideration, and we report some of them for future reference.

It is stated that the number of Indians in the United States is two hundred and fifty-two thousand, and of these, less than one thousand are causing any trouble. The progress of civilization and the maintenance of peace among the Indians have always gone hand in hand.

All right-minded persons must agree with the following:

"Whatever troubles and perplexities the presence of Indians among us may cause, every man who loves justice and who values the honor of the American name, will admit that it is our solemn duty to leave nothing untried to prepare a better fate than extermination and a better rule than that of brute force for the original occupants of the soil upon which so many millions of our people have grown prosperous and happy."

As regards the capabilities of the Indian for civilization, these items speak for themselves:

"According to the official statistics, the Indians on reservations are reported to have now under cultivation 157,056 acres, about 24,000 of which were broken by them this year. The products raised by the reservation Indians during the past twelve months amounted to 328,637 bushels of wheat, 643,256 bushels of corn, 189,654 bushels of oats and barley, 390,698 bushels of potatoes and other vegetables, and 48,353 tons of hay.

This exhibit does not include the products of the five civilized tribes of the Indian Territory, who cultivated 237,000 acres and raised 565,400 bushels of wheat, 2,015,000 bushels of corn, 200,500 bushels of oats and barley, 336,700 bushels of vegetables, and 176,500 tons of hay.

The raising of stock has been encouraged as much as possible. There are now owned by reservation Indians 199,700 horses, 2,870 mules, 68,894 head of cattle, 32,537 swine, and 863,525 sheep, the latter principally by the Navajoes. The five civilized tribes in the Indian territory are reported to have 45,500 horses, 5,500 mules, 272,000 head of cattle, 190,000 swine and 32,400 sheep.

The Secretary reports that the department has been very successful in employing Indians as freighters, in carrying supplies from the Missouri river back to agencies in Dakota. He says: "There are now 1,356 wagons run by Indian teamsters, and they have proved the most efficient, honest and reliable freighters the Indian service ever had. Not a pound of freight was ever lost."

He also reports satisfying progress in education. There are now 7,193 children of the uncivilized tribes attending school, an increase of 964 over last year. A large school for Indian pupils is in successful operation in the old military barracks at Carlisle, Penn., where 158 boys and girls are being taught, children of prominent men in various tribes. A similar one is to be established at Forest Grove, Oregon. These are encouraging facts, and should induce us to make renewed efforts for our Indian Missions.

ner.

AMONG THE BOOKS.

EARLY CHRONICLERS OF EUROPE. ENGLAND. By James Gaird pp. 328. $1.50. FRANCE. By Gustave Masson, B. A., pp. 370. $1.50. LONDON: SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. NEW YORK: POTT, YOUNG & Co.

Nuts are not very attractive when placed before us in all their original hardness of shell, but if some one will crack them and lay them open, and make the meat easy of extraction, then they are

by no means bad eating. But with certain kinds of nuts it needs hard cracks to break the shell, and strong picks to get out the meat. So it is with some kinds of books; very uninviting to the ordinary reader, if not absolutely repulsive, yet they contain much valuable and interesting matter under this hard exterior. But some one must exercise the skill and the practice required to crack the nut and extract the meat, before the general reader can get the good that is in them.

Now this is just what has been done for us in these books we have before us. Few readers are aware how much we are indebted for historical information to these old chronicles, or how much of interesting matter is found in them regarding medieval history. Doubtless, careless readers often wonder how the writers of pleasant histories of England and France find out all the particulars they give of events and manners and customs They little think of the hard study of dry old chronicles to which they owe these pleasant readings, with their curious information. It is well worth their while to look at these two volumes, and learn something of the sources of history. Written in barbarous Latin, or obsolete English and French, it is only when persevering toil and judicious learning select the interesting passages and give translations, that the value of these old writings is appreciated, and we are made to feel the debt of gratitude we owe to old Monks, who, in the solitude of the monastery, continued year after year to note down all they could collect from various sources, of the events of their own times and of those that were before. These volumes give a connected account of them and their writings in chronological order, down to the beginning of what may be called modern history The English to the time of Hall and Holinshed, the French to the fifteenth century. Nor are they dry reading, as from the subject might be inferred; we can say for our own part, that we have read many novels with far less interest. Not merely the names and some account of the chroniclers are given, but sketches of the times in which they lived and well chosen extracts from their works, affording us a good idea of style and matter. It adds greatly to the interest and and value of the book on France, that while in the text these extracts are translated, the original Latin, English or French are given in foot notes, thus enabling the reader to notice the changes which the languages have undergone in the course of long years. To give our readers some idea of the curious and interesting information contained in these books, as to the state of society in the Middle Ages," we quote the following account of one of the plays called Soties, acted by young men of good family, who called themselves enfants suns Soucy; the purpose of these farces being "to hold up to ridicule the different orders of society, and to state with considerable freedom what the public thought of their rulers." The play ir

question was composed by Pierre Gringore, who flourished during the fifteenth century, under the reign of Louis XII, and was "brought out, at the Paris Market-place during the carnival of 1511, in the presence of the king, the parliament, the town councillors and the whole of the population." It was called the Jeu du Prince des Sots, the subject-matter being "the opposition between the pope and the king, the temporal and the spiritual powers."

The

Two characters appear as the antagonists, namely: the Prince des Sots (the king) and La Mère Sotte (the Church), each surrounded by his court. great object for both of them is to secure the countenance and support of a third personage, Sotte Commune; that is to say, the nation, the commonalty of the realm. They are attached to the Church, as good Catholics should be; means must be devised to alienate them from the pope, and win them over to the king. By way of preface, we have first a dialogue between two or three sots, who discourse freely about the events of the day. * * By degrees the stage begins to fill; the king and his court arrive, and the conversation turns upon the prelates, whose vices, ignorance, treachery and fickleness are violently denounced. Sotte Commune joins in: What careth it for all the wars, treaties, conquests, alliances and treacheries which are made so much of? Of what consequence is it that the chair of St. Peter should be occupied by a fool or a wise man? All that the commonalty require is peace, the opportunity of earning an honest living and the assurance of not being ruined by an edict which alters the currency. Mère Sotte (the Church) then interferes, attempting first to win over by the most brilliant promises, the dignitaries of the Gallican Church; having so far succeeded, she tries, but in vain, to secure the assistance of the lay lords for the cause of ultramontanism. Defeated in this instance, Mère Sotte draws the sword, becomes gend' arme, and orders the prelates to fight manfully on the side of Rome. In the midst of the general confusion, Sotte Commune (the commonalty) goes over to the king's party, being duly cautioned that Mère Sotte is not the Church, but a counterfeit power, which, under the mask of religion, troubles consciences and endangers the peace of Christendom.

on

We at first thought that of the two volumes that on England would be of most interest; but when we turned to that France, we found ourselves unable to decide. Our advice is, read both, and thank us for telling you to do it.

THE BEAUTIFUL FACE. A Tale by Elizabeth Harcourt Mitchell. NEW YORK. POTT, YOUNG & Co. pp. 268.

If boys and girls, yes, and grown people, wish to know some. thing of how boys and girls lived in the olden times in England, just after the Norman conquest, let them read this book. They will not only find in it a good deal of such information, but also a very interesting story, combined with excellent religious and moral teaching. If inclined to criticise, we might say that the language put into the mouths of the children is rather above their position. But as the author tells us that she has not given their own words, which would not be understood by modern readers, but her own version thereof, we may excuse it Apart from this, the book is well written; and will be a welcome holiday gift to either girl or boy.