The world has grown wiser with the flight of time, and now, after the lapse of two centuries, the peace policy which Penn adopted in his treatment of the Indians is becoming more and more the policy of the nations toward one another. War has been found to be the most costly and cruel method of settling national difficulties. Besides causing the slaughter of millions of men, it has been the means of loading the states of Europe, as well as our own country, with burdensome debts which the coming generations of peace-loving men must pay. As the world becomes more thoroughly civilized and Christianized war will be looked upon as a relic of barbarism, and will be shunned as a horrid crime. National differences will be settled by arbitration and mutual concessions instead of by an appeal to arms, and the prophetic declaration that men “shall beat their swords into plough-shares and their spears into pruning hooks” will be fulfilled in spirit if not in letter. PERICLES.—A sonnet by the Rev. Theodore C. Pease: His grave, impassive face was stern and cold; Upon his brow majestic calmness sate; The fine curve of his lips, as firm as fate, Of deep resolve and fast persuasion told. No features his of coarse or common mold, But first of men in the world’s foremost state, Even at her highest,—he among the great, Excelled by brow and breast the men of old, And unto us who, through the sight of years, See men like shadows move along the dim Horizon’s verge, high o’er them all appears, Clearer than all beside, the shape of him Who gave his name to Athens’ noblest age, Whose life gave history her brightest page. EDITOR’S NOTE-BOOK. Hail the night, all hail the morn, When the Prince of Peace was born; When amid the wakeful fold, Tidings good the angel told. Now our solemn chant we raise Duly to the Savior’s praise; Now with carol hymns we bless Christ the Lord, our righteousness. —_From the German._ General Neal Dow, the famous Prohibition leader, is now about seventy-eight years old, but he is so well preserved that he does not look to be more than sixty. He is of medium height, rather stout, and wears heavy side whiskers, which, like his hair, are silvered with age. * * * * * The _London Echo_, which has been a most active sympathizer with Arabi Pasha, suggests the following lines as applicable to him: Rebel or Patriot? Well, heads or tails! Define the terms, and this is how it reads: A Rebel is—a Patriot who fails; A Patriot is—a Rebel who succeeds. * * * * *