issue both by a brief paragraphic report of the salient current events in the Christian world at home and abroad, and by a group of denominational outlooks surveying important occurrences in the Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, and Congregational Churches. The spirit with which this is undertaken is represented by a single sentence: "The Congregationalist feels that the emphasis to-day should be laid not so much on denominationalism as upon co-operation, federation, and unity." The Outlook need hardly say that it cordially welcomes this addition to the interest and value of a journal which has long kept the front rank among church newspapers. While, as its title indicates, the "Congregationalist" is primarily a Congregational journal, it is by no means a sectarian organ, and this new departure does not indicate any real change in the spirit and policy of the paper, but rather the adoption of a new method to emphasize the spirit and policy which have for years characterized it.

While day-schools have been Sunday-Schools advancing along the lines of educational reform, our Sunday-schools are but little in advance of their position a quarter of a century ago. It seems strange that the Church should overlook the study of pedagogical principles, for, as the report just issued of the SundaySchool Commission of the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of New York says, in theory the teaching function of the Church is her most ancient and characteristic one, and lies at the very heart of her commission. Certainly the work of day-schools demands no more serious study on the part of the State than does that of Sunday-schools on the part of the Church. The Commission therefore justly calls attention to its publications: (1) a course of lectures on the "Principles of Religious Education," published by Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co., New York-a course carried out by such authorities as Bishop Doane, of Albany, Dean Hodges, of Cambridge, Professor De Garmo, of Cornell, President Hall, of Clark University, Professor McMurry, of the Teachers' College of Columbia University, Professor Kent, of Brown, and Professor Moulton, of Chicago University; (2) a

manual on the Four Gospels, by Dr. J. L. Hurlbut; (3) a syllabus prepared by Dr. Hervey, of the New York Board of Education, to accompany Mr. Du Bois's book, "The Point of Contact in Teaching;" (4) the Normal Reading Courses, twelve in number, arranged with a view to providing the most helpful information for teachers who have never enjoyed the privilege of special pedagogical training. The Commission then calls attention to the work proposed for this year. In New York City a series of training-classes has been arranged to be held at different centers, so that teachers in varied sections may be equally accommodated. These classes are of two grades. The advanced class has a course of ten lessons, with a fee of $5 for the course. The elementary classes give five lessons each, at a fee of $2.50. The subject covered by the advanced class will be "The Principles and Methods of the Art of Teaching." It will be conducted by Professor Reigart. The elementary classes will deal with the fol lowing topics: "How to Teach," taught by Dr. Hervey; "The Art of Story-Telling," taught by Dr. Baker; and "How to Find the Point," taught by Miss Sebring, of Columbia. Outside the metropolis, the Commission sensibly suggests the study of its Course No. 1 on "The Principles of Religious Education;" but in many cases it will also be possible to enlist the interest of some public-school teacher, whose special training can be brought into requisition for the Church. The Commission will also arrange, at a minimum of cost, for the visits of highly accomplished educators to parishes outside of New York City.

Three Lay Schools

A model outline for
Bible study has just

been published by the South Church of Springfield, Mass., under the direction of the Rev. Dr. Moxom. The aim of his Seminar is "a real knowledge of the Bible: its origin, structure, authors. dates, historical value, and religious teaching." The scope of the Seminar is all the ground of knowledge which can be covered and mastered, and Dr. Moxom adds that the work is to be conducted as it has been, with perfect frankness, without prejudice, with only a supreme regard

and an absolutely fearless search for the truth. He believes, with Paul, that " we can do nothing against truth, but for the truth." There are to be thirty-six papers in the Seminar's course, on various aspects of the Psalms, such as "The Composition of the Psalter," "Are there PreExilic Psalms?""The Idea of God in the Psalms," "The Doctrine of Sin in the Psalms," "Immortality in the Psalms." To this announcement Dr. Moxom adds a valuable list of authorities on the study of the Psalms. A school for the training of women to assist in the pastoral duties of clergymen has been recently organized in Cincinnati, under the management of the Rev. A. M. Harvout, of the Central Church of the Disciples of Christ. The assistance given by consecrated women to Mr. Harvout in his pastoral work has proven of such notable value as to convince him that all city pastors should have like helpers. The aim of the school is to make it a place for practical work with a background of theological study, and, while it is under the management of the Disciples, it is not in any sense a denominational school. Those entering the school must be at least eighteen years old, trained in the elements of an English education, and ready for self-sacrificing service in the work of reclaiming men and women from sin. There is not so much difficulty in obtaining Christian workers among the poor as in obtaining trained workers. A training-school for Christian workers has just been established at 128 East Tenth Street, New York City. Such branches of practical work among the poor are taught as cooking, kitchengardening, sewing, basket-weaving, first aid for the injured, rescue work, tenement-house visiting, and Bible readings. This school has been put within the reach of almost every one by means of the low cost of tuition. The fee for the resident student, including board and lodging, is $125, and for the outside students $25 a year, or $12.50 per term. Further particulars may be obtained from Miss Charlotte A. Porter, at the above address.

significance. The stability of American institutions, notwithstanding the spread of a population largely composed of foreign immigrants from the Alleghanies to the Pacific in less than a century, is due more to the home missionary work than to any other single cause. When the Home Missionary Society began its work, our population numbered but eleven millions, with but two miles of railway, and that operated by horses. It has become the mother of 5,500 churches-1,500 of them Presbyterian, the result of interdenominational co-operation. From one of its missionaries, the Rev. Jeremiah Porter, lately deceased, the hamlet of Chicago heard the first sermon in 1833. Many strong churches from the Mississippi to the Pacific were nurslings at its breast. In this work it has expended twenty-two million dollars in cash and supplies, a total exclusive of large sums spent by affiliated societies in the States upon local work of the same kind. Out of this work have grown Christian schools, colleges, and theological seminaries at the strategic points of the westward march of civilization. The "diamond jubilee" year of such a work is of no limited denominational interest. Since the tide of population began to pour westward at the end of the Revolutionary War, all denominations have borne a part in averting the twin dangers of barbarism and irreligion. Baptists and Methodists itinerated among the pioneers. Presbyteries and Synods detailed pastors for temporary missionary service. No State Church ever undertook or accomplished so vast, so costly, so momentous a work as was done by the voluntaryisin of the American Churches in planting Christian institutions throughout two million square miles of territory, in the midst of the poverty and hardship incident to the first settlement of a wilderness. Says Dr. Bacon: "The planting of the Church in the West is one of the wonders of Church history." In the jubilee of any one of the active agents in such a work all the others have a fraternal interest. For Congregational Home Missions this is particularly true, since so much of their work has gone without a sectarian spirit into the building up of the work of others. A special effort is now making to free their work from the incubus

of debt contracted in hard times, which, though considerably reduced last year, remains at the figure of $108,000.

Some time since The Outlook Profanity called attention to an Anti-Profanity Conference in Albany, N.Y., under the auspices of the Holy Name Society, a Roman Catholic organization. The Holy Name Societies of Brooklyn recently assembled in that city, and marched through the streets in a great procession. The thousands of men in line represented no less than sixty Societies of the Holy Name, attached to as many churches. At the conclusion of the exercises a cablegram was read from Leo XIII. bestowing the Papal blessing on the members. The streets were crowded along the line of march, and the influence of the demonstration reached far beyond the considerable membership of the societies which participated in it. Why should this be an exclusively Roman Catholic organization? Have Protestants no share in a crusade against profanity?

English Ritualists

The political campaign now in progress in Great Britain has brought strongly to the fore the work of the British National Protestant League. This is an organization for the suppression of lawlessness in the Anglican Church. The leader of the movement seems to be Sir William Harcourt, who is trying to bring extremists before the courts. There are two acts of Parliament under which such a procedure may be carried out the Public Worship Act and the Clergy Discipline Act. From the From the standpoint of the League, the last named is the more practical, as, under its provisions, any one outside of the particular parish involved could be the prosecutor, and the prosecutor would be at liberty to institute any number of cases. There is one trouble with the proposed prosecution, however. Not only will the ritualists be as incorrigible as ever, but their prosecuted clergymen will wear a halo of glory as so many martyrs. The cause of ritualism, instead of receiving a check, will be the gainer. Recognizing this, many antiritualists, therefore, are concentrating their efforts not so much on the attempt to prosecute individual clergymen as to

gain political ascendency in the election now in progress. They believe that upon the test question of Protestant discipline alone they will be able to claim the defeat of a number of candidates.

The first National Convention of the Spanish Christian Endeavor organization has just taken place at Saragossa. As readers of Galdos's greatest novel know, this interesting Roman city, founded by Cæsar Augustus, has long been the chosen center of Roman Catholic devotion to the Virgin Mary. Her shrine in the sumptuous cathedral dedicated to "La Virgen del Pilar" is visited every year by more devotees than any other one in Spain. For twenty-seven years the simple Gospel of Christ has been preached almost under the shadow of this cathedral; and in this chapel of the mission of the American Board (Congregationalist) the Convention was held. The delegates to the Convention found themselves the subjects of violent comment by the Saragossa press, while the ecclesiastical authorities demanded that the Governor should prevent the meeting of the Convention. They declared that "it would be an outrage to the sentiments of the inhabitants of Saragossa, who venerated the Holy Mother of God in the temple sheltering her sacred and miracle-working image." The Governor was in sad straits. Before such a storm he could hardly do less than prohibit the Convention, which he did in a halfhearted way. But the Protestants, conscious of their rights, and knowing that he knew them, courteously acknowledged the receipt of his order and quietly held meetings through the two full days assigned in the programme-an unparalleled victory for religious freedom in Spain-and then departed in peace for their homes. Thirty-seven societies were represented by some fifty delegates.

Christian Endeavor in Spain

result of their publication in Europe was that five nuns volunteered for heroic and dangerous service to the pathetically afflicted sufferers in Madagascar. These women have now arrived at the station, and are ministering to over six hundred lepers. Father Beyzym writes that his mission is composed of a church, his own small dwelling of two rooms, and four immense sheds. These sheds are divided into small cells without flooring and without windows. There are only rush carpets for furniture. Ordinarily a room is occupied by one family. The lepers live chiefly on rice. The Government has given a piece of ground to them, but the soil is poor, and it must be cultivated some time before it will produce anything. Nevertheless, Father Beyzym was not only willing but glad to leave a comfortable home in Poland and to undertake a dreadful task, the end of which must be his own death as a leper. Despite its terrors, it is claimed that in nearly every leper colony in the world a Roman Catholic priest is to be found. Martyrs not only in the mere act of death, but martyrs throughout life, are no new thing in the Church of Christ.

know any man better fitted by conviction and experience to present the principles of what we may call moderate Republicanism than Dr. Shaw, the editor of the "American Monthly Review of Reviews," who combines in an eminent degree the qualities of reformer, statesman, and journalist; while Dr. Eliot, the President of Harvard University, is one of the best types of the American scholar in politics, and his judicial summing up of the issues of the present election may fairly be taken as representative of the views of those who regard parties only as instruments for the accomplishment of moral and political ends.

Our readers are not to regard these papers as in the nature of a political debate. No one of the writers has seen the contribution of any other. The fact, therefore, that something is said or assumed in one paper and not denied in another, is not to be taken as any indication that it is admitted. Nor have we invited these writers into our columns that we might either commend or criticise their views. We repeat here what we said last week to one of our correspondents: it is the object of The Outlook, first, to give an impartial, though not colorless, view of current

paign

We publish in this and the next week's issue of The Outlook five important articles bearing on the present political campaign-two by Mr. Charles A. Towne, presenting the Democratic view and advocating the Democratic principles; two by Dr. Albert Shaw, presenting the Republican view and advocating the Republican principles; and one, which will close this series, by Dr. Charles W. Eliot, summing up the issues, and presenting them in a philosophic or academic manner, as it may be expected they will be viewed by the historian of the future when the heats of the present election shall have passed

away.

There is no abler representative of the spirit and principles of what might be called the New Democratic party, of which Mr. Bryan is the standard-bearer, than Mr. Towne, the original choice of that portion of the Democratic party for the office of Vice-President; nor do we

It

religious; second, to give our own interpretation of the significance of these events in their relation to the well-being of humanity; and, thirdly, to secure the ablest representation we can of the views of independent thinkers where these views widely differ, and especially to do this in a time of hot debate like the present. is in order to fulfill this last purpose that we have secured these contributions on the present political issues from these three eminent writers. We doubt whether our readers can find in any other way so compact and comprehensive a statement of those issues as viewed by able men from different points of view, as they will find in these five articles, which we commend to their careful and considerate reading.

We may take this occasion to add a brief caution. It is deemed by certain leaders good strategy to endeavor to make their fellow-men think as badly as possible of the opposite party, and to paint in colors as dark as possible the perils which threaten the Republic if their favorite candidate

is not elected. Those of us whose memory of public affairs runs back to a period prior to the Civil War can perhaps recall the fact that every Presidential election has been portrayed by press and platform as a critical one, on the decision of which the destiny of the Republic depended. They can also perhaps derive some courage and hope for the future in the reflection that a Republic which endured the administrations of James Buchanan and of Andrew Johnson is likely to be able to endure any administration which the future may have in store for it.

The Republic has two safeguards which in such times as the present are conveniently forgotten by orators on the stump.

Owing to our principle of self-government, a large part of our life is unaffected by changes in National administration. Our schools, our roads, our municipal administration, our State policies, go on neither improved nor deteriorated by the results of a Federal election. Moreover, that election is itself, in the last analysis, determined by a comparatively small body of men who are never extremists. The men who hesitate between the two candidates and cast their vote finally with a certain degree of hesitation are those who determine the result, and therefore exercise a powerful influence on the policy which follows. In our past history Buchanan could neither be as ardent an advocate of slavery as the extreme proslavery propagandists, nor could Abraham Lincoln proceed against slavery with the celerity and vigor which were demanded of him by the Abolitionists. The conservative vote which sees some defects in each party and some excellencies in each, and which is ready to pass over the line from one to the other in case extremists get control, prevents political changes in America from becoming political revolutions, and gives to conservatism in both parties a power far greater than that to which the absolute number of conservatives would seem to entitle it. For these reasons, important as are the issues involved in the present election, neither the permanency of the Republic nor even the permanent prosperity of the people will be determined by it, for neither is or can be ultimately dependent upon the incident of a majority in a Presidential election,

Haste and Manners

Americans are courteous because they are kindly; the observant traveler in any part of the country notes a general desire to put people at ease, and to make conditions comfortable. It is not saying too much to declare that Americans are polite by instinct. They have been bred into great respect for women; they are tender with children; and any kind of misfortune appeals to their sympathy, and rarely appeals in vain. There is less formality in this country than abroad, but there is more courtesy, if by courtesy is meant prompt and watchful attention to the needs and perplexities of others. But this fine trait of men and women of American birth and breeding is in great danger of being lost through haste. Haste makes good manners impossible; to be in a hurry is to be unable to give others that attention which is the soul of good manners. The finer results of living in society are fruits which must be ripened by time and leisure, and are soon lost when time and leisure take flight.

The modern trolley-car, as it is run in this city, is the deadly foe of good breeding and courtesy. In the rush and haste which characterize it there is small opportunity for those smaller courtesies which distinguish civilized from savage life. Men and women are caught up and set down as if they were so many bales of cotton, to be handled with despatch but not with care. They are packed against one another in a fashion which violates every sense of delicacy, and the conductor pushes his way through the crowded passage with entire indifference to decency or comfort. In most cases he cannot do otherwise; he is required to make time, and he has no choice save to overcrowd his car. He would prefer to help his passengers on and off the platform instead of hurling them into the street or pulling them out of it; he would like room enough to do his work decently and courteously. He is, as a rule, the product of a bad system; whenever he shows anything worse than haste, he ought to be promptly reported. It is the plain duty of every passenger to report every case of discourtesy on the part of a conductor. But the system is the real cause of offense; it is vulgar izing to the last degree, and it is respon