proper for me to pass judgment upon my commanding officer, but, to my mind, he was as good a man as could be assigned to any duty at any time or in any place. He always seemed equal to any emergency, and all that he did was done with his whole soul. Had I supposed that I would be permitted to speak of my commanding officer or his conduct, I should not have allowed five minutes to pass without bearing my testimony to his worth and unfaltering devotion to duty. But words of mine are of little value beside the monument which his record has erected to his heroism and unwavering fidelity to the service and to the well-being of those intrusted to his charge.” * * * * * In compliance with numerous requests there will be a series of articles on civil law in the C. L. S. C. course of study for 1883-1884. * * * * * “Heaven knows what would become of our sociality if we never visited people we speak ill of; we should live, like Egyptian hermits, in crowded solitude.”—_George Eliot: Janet’s Repentance._ * * * * * An illustrated daily paper _for children_, to be printed on the grounds at Chautauqua, will be one of the features of the Assembly in 1883. This will be an improvement on that excellent little daily printed on the papyrograph in former years. The new paper will contain personals of little people and news from the Chautauqua world in which they live. * * * * * A statue of John Brown is to be erected by the State of Kansas in Washington. * * * * * Joseph Cook has returned to Boston, Mass., from his trip round the world. “He refused to hold a public debate with a noted free-thinker in Australia for the following tersely expressed reasons: ‘_First._—Freethought, spiritualism and infidelity in general in America, England and India, and, as far as I know, in Australia, are notoriously connected with schemes for the propagation of immorality. Several of the prominent agitators in support of infidelity and free-thought have been sent to jail for distributing infamous publications through the mails. No decent man can consent to appear on the same platform with the representatives of enterprises that have a debasing effect on the public mind. _Secondly._—I am not open to challenges of which the evident object is to advertise infidelity. _Thirdly._—Not an unoccupied nor an unengaged hour is left open to me in Australia. _Fourthly._—When infidels of any kind issue a book that goes through ten editions in ten years, at a dollar a copy, I will reply to it. I have a right to offer this challenge, for several of the volumes of the ‘Boston Monday Lectures’ have gone through ten editions in five years. _Fifthly._—Infidels can put their written inquiries, if they choose, into the box at my free question-box lectures.’” * * * * *