country to land here renders himself liable to a fine of $1,000 and one year's imprisonment. Further, any Chinese person found traveling in the United States without a proper certificate shall be removed to the country from whence he came at the cost of the United States, any person who may have been instrumental in bringing such Chinese to the United States being liable for all the expenses of his removal; and all peace officers of the several States and Territories are invested with the powers of a United States marshal for the purpose of carrying the law into effect. The only Chinese persons exempted from the action of this law are diplomatic officers traveling on the business of their Government, their retinue of servants, and Chinamen who arrived within ninety days after the passage of the act. The law also requires Chinese already established in the country to take out certificates, if they leave the United States, in order to prove their identity in the event of return.

Christian Association, Young Men's.-Associations of young men for Christian work have existed in Great Britain and Ireland for upward of two centuries, and also in Germany and Switzerland. In 1710 it is recorded that Cotton Mather addressed kindred societies in New England which were known as "Young Men Associated." In 1849 the societies which had been established in Germany took a wider scope, and from these associations grew the German associations of the present day. The English Young Men's Christian Association commenced in a meeting of clerks organized by George Williams in a mercantile establishment in London in 1844. The example of the British metropolis was speedily followed by the various cities of Great Britain founding associations, and in December, 1851, America caught the enthusiasm of the movement and formed an association in Montreal modeled after the one in London. Then Boston undertook the formation of one for itself, and their growth and influence since that time have been simply wonderful. They now flourish in every Protestant Christian country; and in almost every place where a colony of Christians are gathered, these associations are to be found. Christian Era. For a long period there was no fixed time from which dates were reckoned. Then followed the custom of dating from some event of national importance; as, for example, the Romans for centuries dated from the founding of the Eternal City, and the Greeks from the first Olympic games. When Christianity became predominant in the civilized world, writers began to date from various epochs in the history of the Saviour. About the middle of the sixth century Dionysius Exiguus, a Doman churchman of Scythian birth, introduced the method of dating from the birth of Christ, which, according to his computation, took place in the fourth year of the 194th Olympiad, or the 753d from the founding of Rome. It is generally admitted, however, that he placed this event about four years too late.

Christmas Day.-December 25th was not celebrated as the

birthday of Christ until A. D. 337, when St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, obtained authority from Pope Julian I to appoint a commission to determine, if possible, the exact day of Christ's nativity. This resulted in the Eastern and Western divisions of the Christian Church accepting December 25th as the date. Previous to this time Christmas had been a movable feast. By the Eastern branches of the Church it was celebrated in April or May, while days in January or other months were observed in the Western part of Europe.

Church-Bells.-From a remote antiquity cymbals and hand-bells have been used in religious ceremonies. In Egypt, it is certain that the feast of Osiris was announced by ringing bells. Aaron and other Jewish high-priests wore golden bells attached to their vestments, and in Athens the priests of Cybele used bells in their rites. The introduction of bells into Christian churches is usually ascribed to Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, in Campania, A. D. 400. Their use in churches and monasteries soon spread through Christendom. They were introduced into France about 550, and Benedict, Abbot of Wearmouth, brought one from Italy for his church about 680. Pope Sabinian A. D. 600 ordained that every hour should be announced by the sound of a bell, that the people might be warned of the approach of the hours of devotion. Bells came into use in the East in the ninth century, and in Switzerland and Germany in the eleventh century. Most of the bells first used in western Christendom seem to have been hand-bells. Several examples, some of them as old as the sixth century, are still preserved in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. They are made of thin plates of hammered iron, bent into a four-sided form, fastened with rivets, and brazed or bronzed. Perhaps the most remarkable is that which is said to have belonged to St. Patrick, called the Clog an-ead hachta Phatraic, or “ The Bell of Patrick's Will." It is six inches high, five inches broad and four inches deep, and is kept in a case or shrine of brass enriched with gems and with gold and silver filigree, and made (as an inscription in Irish shows) between the years 1091 and 1105. The bell itself is believed to be mentioned in the "Annals of Ulster" as early as the year 552. The four-sided bell of St. Gall, an Irish missionary, who died about 646, is still shown in the monastery of the city which bears his name in Switzerland. It was not until the fifteenth century that bells reached any really considerable dimensions.

Church of England.-Up to the time of the Reformation, ecclesiastical affairs would be more properly described as the history of the Church in England, as from that period the Church of England dates her existence. From the eighth to the sixteenth century the English Church was subject to Rome; but for the last two hundred years the seed sown by Wycliffe had been bearing fruit and preparing the people for a final separation, the immediate occasion for which was found in the royal caprice of Henry VIII. From 1066 to 1356 there was a constant struggle between

the civil and ecclesiastical powers. Then came Wycliffe's translation of the Bible into English and his continued war against some of the leading doctrines of the Romish Church, which led to the formation of a new sect called Lollards [see Lollards], holding views similar to those of the present Church. Despite persecutions the new doctrines spread and had many adherents. The Reformation is ordinarily assigned to the reign of Henry VIII, the two most important acts being passed in 1532 and 1534; but the main feature of these acts was the declaration of the independence of the Church in England and the supremacy of the King over that Church. They had cast off the bondage of Rome, but in doctrine the Churches were still in accord; and it was not until thirty years afterward-1563, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth-that the ThirtyNine Articles of Faith were finally reviewed and adopted and the Protestant Church of Engiand finally and fully established. In 1801, by the Act of Union," the Episcopal Churches in England and Ireland were united; but the latter Church was disestablished and disendowed in 1869. The Episcopal Church in Scotland is not, politically speaking, in union with that of England; but an Act of Parliament, passed in 1864, has taken away many restrictions imposed on Scottish Episcopalians after the battle of Culloden, and clergy ordained by Scotch bishops may now, under some slight restrictions, be presented to benefices in England.

Cincinnati, Society of, was founded by the officers of the American Revolutionary army in May, 1783. Membership is restricted to the eldest male descendant of an original member. The objects of the society at its inception was "to perpetuate their friendship, and to raise a fund for relieving the widows and orphans of those who had fallen during the war." There were originally thirteen State societies and one composed of French officers who had served in the Revolutionary War. Owing to the fact that the society was attacked as opposed to republican equality it was quietly abolished in several of the States, and there now remain only seven State societies, viz.: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and South Carolina. The Society of the Cincinnati in France has effected a preliminary reorganization, and is about to be re-established. General Washington was the first President-General and General Hamilton the second. Ex-Secretary Hamilton Fish is the ninth.

Circe, a fabulous sorceress, is described by Homer as "fairhaired, a clever goddess, possessing human speech." Round her palace in a were numbers of human beings, whom she had changed into the shapes of wolves and lions by her drugs and spells. She changed twenty-two of the companions of Ulysses into swine; but that hero, having obtained from Mercury the herb moly, went boldly to the palace of the sorceress, remained uninjured by her drugs and charms, and induced her to disenchant his comrades. He remained with her for a year, and when he departed she instructed him how to avoid the dangers which he would encounter on his homeward voyage.

Circus, Modern.-The origin of the modern circus dates back to about 1770, when Philip Astley, a discharged English soldier, gave exhibitions of horsemanship in an improvised ring at Lambeth, England. His success was so great that he shortly after built a rude circus on a piece of ground near Westminster Bridge, on the site of the present building there, which has borne his name for more than a century. Only the seats of this first structure were roofed over, the performers' ring being in the open air. He now hired several performers; and his wife, who entered with ardor into his work, went into the ring-the first female equestrian known. So popular did this circus become that he was in a few years able to build a large and handsome amphitheater, which was opened to the public in 1780. It was burned three times-in 1794, in 1803, and in 1842-each time being immediately rebuilt. The present structure, which is still known as Astley's," is one of the finest of the kind in the world.

66

Civil Service Rules, U. S.-There are three branches of the public service classified under the Civil Service Act. 1. Offices classified in the Departments at Washington are designated as The Classified Departmental Service." 2. Those classified under any collector or naval officer, surveyor or appraiser in any customs district, are designated as "The Classified Customs Service." 3. Those classified under any postmaster are designated as "The Classified Postal Service.' The Classified Departmental Service embraces all places in the Departments at Washington excepting messengers, laborers, workmen and watchmen (not including any person designated as a skilled laborer or workman); and no person so employed can, without examination under the rules, be assigned to clerical duty, and also excepting those appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Classified Customs Service embraces the customs districts where the officials are as many as fifty, including the places giving $900 a year, and all those giving a larger salary where the appointee is not subject to confirmation by the Senate. The Classified Postal Service embraces the postoffices where the officials are as many as fifty, including all places above the grade of a laborer. For places in the Classified Service, where technical additional qualifications are needed, special examinations are held. In the Departmental Service they are held for the State Department, the Pension, Patent and Signal Offices, Geological and Coast Survey, and others. Applicants for examination must be citizens of the United States of the proper age. No person habitually using intoxicating liquors can be appointed. No discrimination is made on account of sex, color, or political or religious opinions. The limitations of age are: For Departmental Service, not under twenty years; in the Customs Rervice, not under twenty-one years, except clerks or messengers, who must be not under twenty years; and in the Postal Service, not under eighteen years, except messengers, stampers, and other junior assistants, who must not be under sixteen nor over forty-five

years, and carriers, who must not be under twenty-one nor over forty. The applicants to enter the services designated are examined as to their relative capacity and fitness. The general or clerk examinations are used only in the Customs and Departmental Services for clerkships of $1,000 and upward, requiring no peculiar information or skill. It is limited to the following subjects: First, orthography, penmanship and copying; second, arithmeticfundamental rules, fractions and percentage; third, interest, dis count, and elements of book-keeping and of accounts; fourth, ele ments of the English language, letter-writing, and the proper construction of sentences; fifth, elements of the geography, history, and government of the United States. For places in which a lower degree of education suffices, as for employes in postoffices and those below the grade of clerks in custom-houses and in the Departments at Washington, the third and parts of the fourth and fifth subjects are omitted in the examination. No one is certified for appointment whose standing upon a just grading in the general or limited examination is less than seventy per centum of complete proficiency, except that applicants claiming military or naval preference need obtain but sixty-five. The law also prescribes competitive examinations to test the fitness of persons in the service for promotion therein. Every appointment is made for a probationary period of six months, at the end of which time, if the conduct and capacity of the person appointed have been found satisfactory, the appointment is made absolute. The following are excepted from examination for appointment: Confidential clerks of heads of Departments or offices, cashiers of collectors and postmasters, superintendents of money-order divisions in post-offices, custodians of money for whose fidelity another officer is under bond, disbursing officers who give bonds, persons in the secret service, deputy collectors, and superintendents and chiefs of divisions or bureaus, and a few others. Every one seeking to be examined must first file an application-blank. The blank for the Departmental Service should be requested directly of the Civil Service Commission at Washington. The blank for the Customs or Postal Service must be requested in writing of the Customs or Postal Board of Examiners at the office where service is sought. These papers should be returned to the officers from whom they were obtained.

Civil War, Casualties of.-According to the report of the Provost-Marshal General, the casualties in the Union army from the beginning of the Civil War to August 1, 1865, were as follows: Killed-volunteer officers, white, 3,357; volunteer enlisted men, white, 54,350; officers of colored troops, 124; enlisted men, colored, 1,790; regulars, 1,355; total, 60,976. Died of woundsvolunteer officers, 1,595; volunteer enlisted men, 32,095; officers of colored troops, 46; enlisted men, colored, 1,037; regulars, 1,174; total, 35,947. Died of disease-volunteer officers, 2,141; volunteer enlisted men, 152,013; officers of colored troops, 90; enlisted