seem to listen to the fairy tales of a New World, where there are fabulous wages and no prying officials, and fortunes are accumulated in the twinkling of an eye; I can see the ardent young fellow fired by the coarse inventions of the steerage and immigration agents; it is easy to imagine the impossible paradise of the poor that he expects, for which he starves and freezes himself, and it is easy, alas! to imagine his cruel disappointment when he reaches us. He has fallen an easy prey to the first ferocious dreamer that he has met, who can rave against the social disorder in his own tongue. "It is not only the people without money who are attached to the cities-what charitable worker has not experienced the difficulties involved in tempting the poor into the country? 'Oh, ma'am, it's so lonesome here, and there's so many cows to chase you,' wailed one wretched woman, who had been taken out of a squalid tenement and placed in a clean, comfortable room, with a prospect of good wages, in a little village. She sickened for her crowded streets, and the hand-organs and monkeys, and the motley procession surging past her windowsickened as miserably as the Swiss for his mountains. "This Agreeable Man once spoke about the attachments of the poor to the great cities. 'I have felt it myself,' said he. 'I moved into the country, and came in on a train every day, but it was for the children's sake, just that. There isn't a day, especially in the evening, that I don't miss the streets. That's what I tell my wife. I don't want the children to grow up with that passion for the city in their blood. I'm raising some vegetables at great expense, so as to get them in the way of loving things that grow. But I'm too old a dog to learn new tricks myself. You see, there is excitement all the time in the street, and something to see and hear. Besides, if a fellow is not big himself, he likes to belong to something big. See? One thing I don't like about the East,' said he, 'is the expression of the working-people; they look hard and fierce. They seem to grudge giving you a decent greeting. You have an unpleasant feeling that they are your secret foes. I miss that open, kindly look there was on our Western working-men's faces. There is an entirely different feeling here between the employers and the working-people from what there is there, and the difference is all for the worse.' 999 Then the writer, after all that has passed, seems hopeful. "But as I listened to my working-man, my confidence in the tremendous, if sluggish, common sense of the American working-people grew strong and sanguine. If such men as he shall rule the unions, organized labor will conciliate rather than overawe capital; if the wilder element obtains control, such men as he will crush the labor organizations like an egg-shell. And I went out on the swarming avenue, glad that I am an American." OUR DAY. RS. JOSEPH COOK writes an interesting article for the last number of Our Day, on "Neal Dow as Guest and Host." The octogenarian was her guest at Cliff Seat, on Lake George, in 1885. "At that time Neal Dow had passed his eightieth birthday. This seemed a great age to me, and as I thought he might require special attentions, I asked Mrs. Hunt, who had preceded Neal Dow as our guest, how I could take the best care of him. All my apprehension vanished when I heard her merry laugh as she exclaimed, 'Take care of Neal Dow! You will find he is quite able to take care of himself, and you, too!' "And so it proved. He was as alert and active as a boy. Mr. Cook and I have often told our friends that, compared with our octogenarian guest, we felt aged and infirm. He ran when we walked. He sprang out of the carriage before we had hardly risen from our seats. With a wiry frame unencumbered by superfluous adipose, all his movements were quick and eager. I have a vision of him now running down the grassy hill-slope, one sunny morning, to a grove near the house, to cut his initials on a beech-tree, on which Miss Willard, a few days after, inscribed her own. "Neal Dow's health is perfect for one at his advanced age, and he is a splendid example of what temperance in all things and total abstinence from alcohol and narcotics can do for one physically. His complexion is smooth and ruddy, and his voice is so firm and resonant that he could easily be heard in a large auditorium. He is a small eater and takes simple diet. A bowl of oatmeal is invariably brought to him at the close of his breakfast and supper. He retires about eight o'clock, but in summer rises at half-past four, and in winter at six. He spends several hours of each day, when the weather permits, in the open air, both walking and driving. When the inclemency of a Portland winter confines him to the house, he uses a passageway near his study for a pacing ground, and walks briskly to and fro, as though on his way to catch a train, or to meet some important engagement and afraid he should be too late. He told us just how many turns made a mile." A wonderful man is Neal Dow. His life is a striking example of what he advocates. For many Americans are running to seed in the pursuit of pleasure or money, which they think-at least most of those who have it not-will bring any pleasure. A Creator must blush at our perversion of his great gifts. For we discard what is at hand and capable of rendering us happy and go in the pursuit of what we have not often what we ought not have. Mr. Cook's Boston Monday lecture is on "The Fiendishness of Caste," and is, as are all of his lectures, full of good things. Indeed, Our Day all through is an excellent number, and merits a wide reading. E THE ARENA. ARLY Environment in Home Life" is the subject of an interesting article in the September Arena. It is contributed by the editor, B. O. Flower. Both the heredity and prenatal conditions exert influence on the child. "It has been observed that animal organisms live by devouring others, and that spiritual organisms live by aiding others; and this broad generalization carries with it a truth of supreme importance to humanity, as it indicates the dividing line between true and false civilization. "The civilization dominated by the self idea is builded on sand; it cannot escape destruction. The civilization which rests on the Golden Rule will endure the shock of ages and grow younger with each advancing step. "Once I dreamed that I was sailing in a tropical sea; the vessel approached an island; a scene of splendor met my view. A gorgeous palace, whose gilded turrets flashed in the glory of the rising sun, rose before rare and luscious fruits hung on vigorous plants and vines; the most gorgeous flowers bloomed on every side, and amid the fruits and flowers I could see men, women and children dancing, singing and banqueting. Rich strains of music floated from the garden, and I thought this must be a vision of paradise, for all seemed so happy. I noticed, however, that the lower walls of the palace were hedged from view by closely-planted rows of trees and shrubs. When I landed on the soft, white, sandy beach and approached the palace, an old man, with long, disheveled locks, advanced from a clump of trees. In earnest tones he urged me 'not to enter the palace of folly, as the hour of its fall was at hand.' banquet-hall were thrown over the parapet with the flourish of trumpets. At such moments the hollow-eyed living supports of the palace held out their cups in shriveled hands and caught what they could of the wine and food which fell. Sometimes they set the cups in niches on the earth-wall around them and gathered wild berries which grew on the bramblebushes. I observed that whenever a statue was placed in position on the parapet, or a new vase secured on the edge of the wall, a terrible tremor went down the broad expanse, and every living brick spoke in its individual contortions, even more pitifully, of new agony experienced by each, than the wild cry that went up from a million "Is it, then, evil to be happy?' I said, despairing throats. without slackening my pace. "No,' replied the stranger, in tones so majestic that I voluntarily paused. 'Laughter should be the child of Heaven, and joy that springs from the soul is divine; but all true things have their counterfeits, and the purest gifts may become poisoned. You have noticed the clear water trickling from the snows near the summit of great mountain peaks; you have noticed water in foul and stagnant ponds. In each case it was water you saw, but one was pure and refreshing, the other noxious and loathsome. Now come with me.' "Together we neared the palace, and pausing, he pointed out, as I gazed with eyes dilated with horror, that the lower walls of the palace were built of human bodies, each unfortunate victim being rolled into a coil and held in place by a more or less pliable band. Between these human coils was earth, which partially supported the massive framework above, and from the earth grew brambles. Each captive had one liberated hand in which he held a cup. At intervals the wines and refuse of the "Transfixed I gazed, until the old man touched my arm and said: 'You see, the place so glorious at the summit is builded upon sand, and the living wall will soon move, not in the rhythmic vibration of a million regularly breathing bodies, but in its stead a convulsive tremor will be followed by an upheaval as tragic as the phenomenon of an earthquake, as irresistible as the fury of a tempest-lashed sea. Then will fall the temple of selfish greed. But there will some day arise a palace not builded of human bricks, nor reared by slaves; a palace in which each stone will be quarried by a hand made strong through freedom; a palace builded by workers made willing through the enjoyment of justice, whose minds are luminous with love, whose hearts are thrilled with hope, and whose voices are rendered musical by a great and abiding content. Then all the people will enjoy the pleasures, and life will wear a garb of mourning. Then shall be reached higher and nobler achievements than were ever dreamed of to-day. And this great gladness will come to humanity when man learns that supreme happiness falls to the individual only when he furthers that which makes for the happiness of all.' "And this, it seems to me, is the lesson of lessons for parents and educators. The civilization which is to endure must rest on the spiritual instead of the animal ideal of life. Until this thought is burned into the conscience of humanity, the most we can hope for will be temporary rifts in cloud-canopied life. Enduring civilization rests on the recognition of spiritual supremacy in the individual mind as the one and only key to pure happiness. "The chief aim of every parent and teacher should be to call into vigorous activity the spiritual or higher life of the child while it is very young, awaken the noblest and best, ere sin, passion and animality harden, crust over and incase the throne-room of the soul." In old Kentucky, noted well The Mammoth Cave ere long was found, To house some plundering giant race, That here high carnival could hold Unseen, unheard and uncontrolled." The Brownies continued their tour through the states, finally coming to Louisville, a city which merits their universal praise. A NEW UTOPIA. BY CLIFTON M. NICHOLS. The time is out of joint; O cursed spite! That even I was born to set it right! -Hamlet. HE time has been out of joint continuously, ever since Hamlet's day, and in all the ages from Shakspere to William Morris, the man who would not aspire to the service required in trying to set things right would be utterly lacking in the spirit of a philanthropist, a patriot or a good citizencertainly in that of a Christian. And yet the task appears appalling. Not that much has not been done in the line of solving the many social and political problems that are aflame with intrinsic and vital impor tance. Substantial evidences of real progress are not lacking. The trend of what we call the middle classes-the masses of intelligent, wealthy, thoughtful people-is upward. The very wealthy class is absorbed in getting wealthier, in pursuing the phantom of pleasure, in a manner of living and a line of activity that seem to be of a purely selfish nature; and the very poor are engaged in a life struggle to keep the wolf from the door and his fangs from the throats of their little ones. Our hope, as communities and as a nation, is in the honest, trustworthy, conscientious middle classes, and especially in the children and youth who attend church and Sabbath-school on Sunday and the public school on week-days. From this class came the 40,000 young people who recently assembled at Cleveland, in behalf of the cause of Christian Endeavor, in the interests of the church and of their fellow-men; from this class come the Epworth Leaguers and the Baptist Young People's organization. From this class, also, come the practical reformers of the day. Against the aggressions of anarchy, turbulence, red-handed assaults upon person and property, stand not only the armed representatives of the municipality, the state and the nation, but also this great and multitudinous mass of the plain, honest, well-disposed, patriotic, common people, as a solid wall encircling the ideas and facts of a government of the people, for the protection of the people. What can be done to make the people better and happier? How shall public and private property be protected against violence? What can we do to assist the men and the women who work for their daily bread, in all rights and privileges properly belonging to them? How shall we abolish improper class and social distinctions, interference with personal rights, corruption in political usages and practices, the lawless destruction of the property of the rich, the oppression of the poor? Is there any remedy for the existing condition of things? We have a most interesting and suggestive book, the matter of which bears on many of these points, entitled "A Traveler from Altruria," from the pen of the |