be allowed to trample on the constitutional rights of the many? The Supreme Court of the United States--the highest authority on law in the country-has declared that "no one can claim a license to retail spirits as a matter of RIGHT. Indeed, it must be apparent to every reflecting mind, that the liquor traffic is right or it is wrong. If right,why should one man be licensed and another prohibited? If wrong, why should the State attempt to clothe it with legal protection and respectability? "The tree shall be known by its fruits;" and if any man can honestly say that he has gathered good fruits from the tree of intemperance, then let him nurse the "accursed thing" in his bosom and brave the wrath of God, who declares that no drunkard can enter the kingdom of God, and who has pronounced an equally terrible curse upon the drunkard-maker! The present laws, then, interfere with no RIGHT which the tavern keeper can claim. their opposition is prompted by selfish motives and a wanton disregard for "the greatest good to the greatest number." Friends of law and order in Pennsylvania! see: o it that this law, like other good laws, is enforced and sustained. Shrink not from your duty; not only enforce the law, but sustain men for the Legislature who will vote against repeal. Do this, and you will secure the blessing of heaven and the prayers of thousands of men, women and children who will be made happy by the suppression of the grog shops. JOHN H. WHEELER has commenced a suit in the U. S. Circuit against Passmore Williamson, to recover the value of Jane Johnson and her two boys, and damages for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained at the time of the escape of his manumitted slaves. It is said that Judge Kane's friends have counseled this prosecution as a means of giving his honor an opportunity of releasing Mr. Williamson from prison without directly compromising the consistency of the Court. CUBA. The slave trade is still extensively carried on in this island. Two cargoes were recently landed at Santa Cruz on the south coast of the island, and a considerable number of "halfstarved" Africans were found in the woods, supposed to be part of another cargo. A Havana correspondent says he is thoroughly convinced that a cer tain high personage affords aid and assistance to the slave-traders, and that if a few Africans are sometimes captured, it is only because a sufficiently large bribe has not been paid to prevent their disembarkation without molestation, or else it is done to deceive the British authorities there and in England. The present ruler of Cuba certainly does not want to suppress this infamous trade, or he would take more effective measures towards that end. ...The planters on the island are not favorable to the introduction of Chinese bond-labor, as they think the experiment would be attended with danger to the future safety of the island, by the negroes fraternizing with the Chinese, when in a few years it would be impossible to keep them in bonds. A horrible servile war would ensue and end only in the liberation and mastery of all the slaves. THE OLD WORLD. SEBASTOPOL has fallen! After a long and terrible struggle, in which thousands were slain, by war and pestilence in the Crimea, the Russians were driven from their fortifications in the south to those of the north of the city-not, however, until they had first blown up their forts and destroyed the city and their fleet. In this terrible contest the loss of the Russians is set down at 10,000 and that of the Allies 20,000. The fall of Sebastopol will prove a terrible blow to the Russians, and may have resulted before this in the capture of the whole Russian army in the Crimea. Their only hope of escape appears to be in retreating from the Crimea before their embarkation could be intercepted by the Allies. If drawn into an open field engagement, the Allies, with their 200,000 troops, now relieved from duty in their long lines of trenches, would be able to cut the Russians to pieces or compel an unconditional surrender. The greatest enthusiasm prevails among the French and English soldiers, and this will inspire them with fresh courage in succeeding conflicts. Sanguinary as the battles already fought in the Crimea have been, it is possible that the work of blood is bat fairly begun. Another attempt has been made to assassinate Louis Napoleon. The culprit was arrested and found to be insane. He was put in safe keeping. NOTES ON LITERATURE. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. By Richard Baxter. With a memoir of his life, and a fine portrait. New York: Robert Carter & Bros. 1855. This well-known book has been published in many forms; but this edition of Carter & Bros. exceeds all for beauty and completeness. We have here Baxter's own book, and not a PART of it after the fashion of abridgment and improvement by another hand, so common in these modern days. Give us the old divines as they are. Many thanks to the publishers for this complete edition of the Saints' Rest. The book was politely handed to us by Murray & Stoek. We are glad to see the disposition manifested by this enterprising firm not only to keep up but to increase their already large stock of theological, religious and miscellaneous books. Clergymen and Sabbathschools in the country can here supply themselves with the standard works of the old and late divines; with Sabbathschool books for all denominationswith the books of the various Boards, and with the current literary publications of the day, as cheap as in the seaports; thus saving freight and time. Families can here find a choice variety of Bibles, and teachers will find all the text-books generally used in schools. It is encouraging to see book stores with so large a proportion of excellent religious publications so well sustained. We can heartily recommend to our readers the stock of Murray & Stoek, in Lancaster. THE CHURCH MEMBER'S MANUAL AND PRATER BOOK. By I. Stoneberger. of Patton, Mo. Chambersburg: M. Kieffer & Co. 1855. pp. 396. This work treats on subjects pertaining to the duties and privileges of members of the church. It is instructive for the mind, devotional for the heart, and practical for the life. We think it admirably adapted to meet a want in the church. It ought to be in every family. Young professors of religion will find in it a safe guide into an active and useful Christian life. Mr. Stoneberger deserves the thanks of the church for having furnished it with a work so plain in style, correct in sentiment, and direct in aim. We hope it may be extensively circulated and read. The work is gotten up in good style. The type is large and clear, the paper is good, and the binding is neat and durable. The book has twenty-five chapters, each of which has a prayer ap pended suited to the subject treated; in this way it answers the purpose of a manual of devotion. Besides several sketches of scripture characters, it furnishes at the end a full and interest ing Life of Ulrich Zwingli, the celebrated Swiss Reformer. This alone is worth the price of the book. THE FRUIT GROWER'S HAND BOOK: A concise manual of directions for the selection and culture of the best hardy Fruits in the garden or or chard. By William G. Waring. Boalsburg, Center county, Pa. pp. 134. This is truly a useful book. No farmer should be without it. isfactory manner. Any man who wishes only to purchase a few choice trees to plant round his house ought to consult this book before he selects. It is as easy to raise good as bad fruit. Mr. Waring's Hand-Book points out the peculiarities of all the varieties of fruit-trees in the most satHe gives the time when the different kinds ripen, so that one who pays attention to his directions can select his trees so as to have some fruit constantly ripening from the earliest to the latest of the season. The book contains also much valuable instruction in relation to cultivating fruit and ornamental trees. We feel assured that if farmers who have the necessary ground would consult this little book, and expend but a small sum annually in procuring the choicest fruit according to its direction, they would in a few years heartily thank us for our recommendation of Mr. Waring's book. This gentleman, in connection with his brother who resides at Tyrone, Pa., having extensive nurseries, have every opportunity of possessing the very best practical information on the subject of fruit trees. Having had the pleasure of a visit to Mr. Waring's extensive nursery near Boalsburg, this summer, we are sure that we do our readers a favor by calling their attention to the splendid assortment of fruit and ornamental trees which are there to be found. In few earthly pursuits is talent more nobly or usefully employed than in laboring to stock our rural dis tricts with abundance of choice fruit. In this generous work Mr. Waring is engaged with an enthusiasm and intelligent zeal which does honor to his head and heart May his zeal be appreciated. THE ADDRESS of George W. Brewer, Esq., before the Alumni of Franklin and Marshall College has been received. The Euardian. VOL. VI.-NOVEMBER, 1855.-No. XI. A PRELUDE TO WINTER. BY NATHAN. "The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year, The robin and the wren are gone, and from the shrubs the jay, And from the wood-top calls the crow, through all the gloomy day. And now when comes the calm, mild day, as still such days will come, To call the squirrel and the bee from out the winter home, When the sound of dropping nuts is heard, though all the trees are still, And twinkle in the smoky light the waters of the rill, The south wind looks for flowers whose fragrance late he bore, And sighs to find them in the wood and by the stream no more." SURELY the author of this motto must have had a heart which throbbed in pious sympathy with the season, when he penned these plaintive lines. His story is so well told that it will bear repetition upon every returning autumn. Although he tells us nothing but what we see around us, this makes his sayings all the dearer to us. How vividly he calls to my mind the sportive rabbit-hunts of my boyhood. Methinks I still hear the rustling of the dry leaves as Adelphos and I, with our faithful dog, Major, pursued, with boyish enthusiasm, the inoffensive rabbit. Neither fences, ditches nor thickets could cool the ardor of the chase. And if our close pursuit would force him to seek shelter under ground, our cruel zeal would place a trap in his hole, and even deprive him of this last glimmering hope of escape. We have just had the first rude strokes of autumnal treatment. The frost has made sad havoc among the flowers. They are all bleached and blighted by its deadly touch. One is reminded of the Scythian hordes which once flooded down over the Roman Empire, and with cruel coolness demolished the most splendid works of art, covering their path with one vast scene of desolation and ruin. The other day I strolled leisurely through the garden, and like the little busy bee, as I passed from flower to flower, regaled myself by gathering sips of pious reflections. How grateful to my soul VOL, VI.-21 were their voiceless lessons. And I kept all their sayings in my heart. In the evening I thankfully laid me down to rest, thinking, of course rather presumptuously, that to-morrow would be as this day, and perhaps even more abundant. But what a dreary scene opened to my view on the morrow! There lay scattered the drooping, dying remnant of an army, that was fresh and beautiful the day before. The evening came as a thief in the night, and with one fell swoop stripped them of all their living charms. Who could help but say, "What a pity!" Still I bore my loss with philosophic patience, knowing that in this particular at least "Whatever is, is right." Frost deals with flowers as death with man. "There is no discharge in this war." There are some which, according to the course of nature, we cannot expect to keep much longer. Old age ripens them for death. These we are willing to resign to their unavoidable fate. But those which have scarcely reached the bloom of middle life, we are loath to give up. And, florally speaking, were it not for the frost, they might remain with us for many days to come. And then the little infant-bud, so full of hope and promise, whose opening petals we watch with joyous care from day to day, surely its harmless innocence and great distance from old age, should protect it against the cruel hand of the frost. But neither age nor condition can avert the fatal stroke. The tender bud can no lore its clemency nor the pretty flower evade its touch. Ev age, whose frail and feeble stem trembles with the decrepiùght of worn-out limbs, must be hurried away by the dart of this midnight assassin. The frost, like death, is a leveler of artificial grades. Here "tired dissimulation drops her mask," and all are brought to their true and natural level. What a rude disregard for the laws of floral rank and nobility! We wonder not at the neglected wildflower, unaccustomed to the usages of refined society. This has never enjoyed the smiles of favor. Like the humble poor, it blooms to blush unseen, and, alas! too often wastes its virtuous fragrance on the desert air. Few care for it while living, few miss it when dead. But the garden flower moves among the higher classes. It claims a rich parentage, possesses a good training, and moves in respectable society. Though a descendant, away back, of the same general family, it has been taught to out-bloom in proud splendor its unpretending neighbor over the garden fence. It almost seems ready to be ashamed of and disown its own kindred. Yet the frost is insensible to its superior merits. The rare exotic, that prides itself in having cost twenty or thirty dollars, is stripped of its royal trappings, and like its poor neighbor, whom no one will receive as a gift, is shriveled into an unsightly mass of decay. The grave is their common dwelling-place. The smallest floweret that blooms in unseen solitude, will there have for its peers those who in this life would have disdained its company. "The tall, the wise, the reverend head Flowers come and go like the generations of men. Some die before they have reached the limits of the season. The few that reach the period allotted to floral life, are like the robust remnant of a departed tribe, whose natures have been tempered in the school of stern and severe trials. Their foundations have never been sapped by luxury and vice. They are the hardy sons of toil, more frequently found in fields and forests than in gardens. At length these stout-hearted veterans must also fall before the frost. And yet, no battle is so totally destructive as not to permit the escape of some one to tell the tale of ruin. Some "Last rose of summer, left blooming alone;" some revolutionary soldier, that looks with calm composure towards his inevitable end. The death of flowers, like the death of friends, is not without its benefits, when properly improved. A Christian philosophy seeks relief from evil by improving the good. True wisdom, like the bee and humming-bird, can extract delicious sweets from seeming calamities. It possesses the rare virtue of transmuting apparent misfortunes into sources of joy. We can neither alter nor avert the desolation of floral mortality, but we can find a pleasant relief from its consequent bereavement, in the cultivation of houseplants. They are profitable as well as agreeable companions during the dreary season of winter. It is a pleasant triumph to raise a flower in spite of howling winds and heaps of snow. To look out upon ice-clad trees and snow-covered fields, from amid flower plants in a warm room, makes winter seem less wintery, and reduces the distance of spring. I have often wondered why so many persons are without house-plants, when there is so little labor and expense connected with their cultivation. We evince a generous hospitality when we take in these houseless strangers during the cold and inhospitable season. By this means many a one has entertained something better than a flower unawares. Their elevating and refining influence is a happy reward for the labor and care bestowed upon them. Permit a child to cultivate a flowerplant, and you give it a simple lesson in the art of doing good. A pious matron whom I always delight to visit, especially during the season of winter, has a large and pretty assortment of houseplants. Indeed I have often admired her botanical industry and zeal, which enables her to attend to so many flowers in addition to the ordinary cares of her family. And she does it with such a |