never knew what it was, the Puritan Sunday made men, thinking men, strong men, looked always to something beyond the approval of their fellows, felt always that there was somewhere some one who knew what they were in their hearts. It made a large part of what is worthy in our institutions and our men, in New England and New York, in Virginia and the Carolinas, and throughout the growing Union.

THE BANK OF ENGLAND NOTE. THE Bank of England note, says the Family Tutor, is distinguished:

"1. By the peculiar color of the paper, such as is neither sold in the shops nor used for any other purpose.

"2. By its thinness and transparency— qualities which prevent any portion of the printing on the note being washed or scratched out without a hole being made.

"3. By its characteristic feel, which consists of a singular crispness and toughness, owing to the fact that the bank paper is made from new linen and cotton, not from rags.

"4. By the peculiar wire mark or water mark, which can only be produced when the paper is in a state of pulp; consequently the forger must procure a mould

and make his own paper, both requiring the skill of such artisans as are not likely to be met with in the haunts of crime.

"5. By the three deckle or rough. edges. These edges are produced when the paper is in pulp; two notes being placed in the mould and divided lengthways. The deckle is the raw edge of the paper, and cannot be imitated by cutting.

"6. By the strength of the paper; a banknote will lift a hundred weight if carefully adjusted.

"The printing is of two kinds, type and plate. The paper is moistened by water driven through its pores by the pressure of the atmosphere; thirty thouand double notes are thus moistened in the space of an hour. The ink used is made at the bank from linseed oil and the charred husks and vines of Rhenish grapes. This gives a peculiar velvety black to the mark in the left-hand corner of the note.

"The notes are numbered by a machine which cannot err; and lastly, are authorized by the signature of the clerk. The banknotes are printed on the side of paper which receives the water-mark, so that if the paper be split, the unprinted surface only retains the slightest trace of that mark."

The woods and the fields and the golden grain
Of the mellow and brown October,
And the purple hills, and the furrow'd plain
Bring the days so sad and sober;
But the sigh and rustle of falling leaf,
To the pensive mind is a sweet relief.

The sunset so grand in its flaming red,

Lights the hills with a wondrous glow; Tho' the beauty of summer days has fled, And the winds of Autumn blow; The frost has nipped the flowerets fair, That we nursed and tended with so much care.

The beautiful vines that climbed so high
And hung so graceful on wall and tower
Are changing their colors, for ere they die
They bloom as bright as the gayest flower;
And we gaze and wonder so proud they seem
While passing away like a summer dream.

On the mountain side and hills are seen,
The blazing sumach and maples red,
And a host of trees in their brilliant sheen

Shimmer above when the flowers lie dead;
And a plaintive voice in the sobbing trees
Mingles its voice with the passing breeze.
And what remaineth to tell the story

Of the radiant flow'rs and summer days, When the earth seem'd crown'd in robes of glory And the song of nature like hymn of praise, Trembled along the verdant land And echoing afar on the ocean strand? Why the harvest-rich in its golden sheaves, And fruits the garden and orchard bring; And the lesson taught by the falling leaves,

That will live again in the breath of spring And though the days are so sad and sober, There's beauty and grace in brown October.

Emmeline B. Wells.

THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT. THE fac-simile of the original manuscript, which we present as the frontispiece of the present number, is of great interest to the student of Church history as it no doubt will be to our readers generally. The history of the manuscript, from a part of which this engraving is made was written by Elder George Reynolds and published in the fifth volume of the CONTRIBUTOR. From it we may fairly presume that the extract here given is in the handwriting of Oliver Cowdery and was written between the seventh of April, 1829, and the fifteenth of the following May.

The appearance of this manuscript ⚫ will be variously regarded, and it may not be amiss to direct attention to some of its features which may excite criticism. The writing is at first a little difficult to decipher, but on becoming used to it is found to be clear and regular and quite easy to read. It was penned upon paper which was good for the times, but does not compare in smoothness of surface to the ordinary writing paper of the present day, and considering that it was unruled, the lines are remarkably straight and even. There are fifty-four lines on a page, and they commence and finish as near the edges as possible, testifying to a disposition to economy, made necessary by the scarcity and expense of good writing paper so early in the century. The entire absence of punctuation marks may be accounted for by the fact that the system of punctuation as applied to manuscript was not in common use by those whose education was derived from the common schools. It was not taught by them, and indeed has found place in the course of instruction in country schools only within more recent times.

wild west, the border land of American civilization, and scholars were rarely met among the sturdy farmers and backwoodsmen. The young man who had received a common school education-reading, writing and arithmetic -in the villages of New England, stood high for scholastic learning in the border land, and such were called in winter time to lay aside the woodman's ax and take up the spelling book and ferule to teach the children the rudiments of English. They were the school teachers of those times; and among them Oliver Cowdery passed for a good scholar, notwithstanding that his spelling was not the best, that he had no accurate knowledge of the use of capitals and entirely avoided the employment of marks and signs of punctuation. However, it may not be quite just to say that he knew nothing of punctuation. The absence of these signs in the manuscript may be due to their absence on the plates from which the Prophet translated. The plates were engraved before the art of punctuation was known in Europe. As the manuscript in possession of David Whitmer is marked by the printer and the first edition of the Book of Mormon is carefully punctuated, it seems reasonable to conclude that the punctuation of manuscript was regarded at that time as among the duties of the compositor rather than of the editor or author. Or it may be that in the conscientious endeavor of Joseph to perform the task of translation, literally, as the words were pictured by the Urim and Thummin before him, he would not suffer Oliver to insert punctuation marks that did not appear, and punctuation and paragraphing were therefore deferred until a copy of the original translation should be made for the printer.

AT the commencement of another season's work the Mutual Improvement Associations have the assurance of continued encouragement, and it is expected of them that they will manifest renewed interest and energy in carrying out the high object for which they have been organ

ized. The care and cultivation of the young men and women of Zion is an important trust, largely committed to the Associations, and they will be held responsible for the part they take and the influence they wield in the formation of the characters and disposition of the youth.

We shall have a conference, called in ample time by the Apostles, on the evening of October 6th, which the young people of Zion should attend, and where an impetus will probably be given to our approaching labors that will be of great benefit and assistance to the cause.

THE POOR INDIAN.

AN interesting article on the natives of North America, suggests a few reflections on the relations of our government to the former occupants of the country. The fact has gone into the imperishable record of history that such relations, from almost their very beginning, have not been marked with the dignity and scrupulous regard to honor that are befitting a strong, ambitious nation. The Indian has been driven from his hunting-grounds and corn-fields by force, and in most cases the terms of treaties have been the dictations of a conqueror. The barbarous principle of might, imported with the better maxims of old-world polity, has prevailed in the growth of the white population, and the poor aborigine has been compelled to retire westward year after year before its selfish and persistent encroachments. Men may argue that what has been suffered by the Indians is but in accordance with the laws of progress and civilization; that the weaker elements must yield, and the fittest will inevitably survive. We may grant the influence of law in human affairs as well as in physics; but the methods adopted by men individually and as a political body, in carrying into effect measures that may be interpreted as the outcome of progress, need not transgress every canon of kindness and equity.

That was a grand salutation of the old Chief Massasoit, when the first Pilgrims

landed on the New England shore: "Welcome, white men; there is room enough in this country for you and us; let us live together as brothers." But what was the sentiment, voiced in return, of those Pilgrims, after receiving the hospitality of Massasoit and his tribe? It is fitly expressed in the reply of Miles Standish, when at a later day, the new colony had grown strong, and the question was asked, "What is to be done about these Indians?" and he said, "Exterminate them."

American legislation in Indian affairs has apparently followed the example of William Penn, in recognizing the Indian as owner of the land, and acquiring it from him by treaty, but the fact is notorious that the terms of scarcely a single treaty have been enforced in favor of an Indian tribe, and their retaliation for encroachments by settlers has usually been followed by severe and bloody conflicts, in which United States scldiers were employed to crush down the "insubordinate" native.

Now that the poor remnants of a once powerful people are restricted to a comparatively insignificant part of the vast territory that was once theirs, it is, we think, the only humane course for our government to insist that they shall be permitted to live in peace and saved from the persecutions and robbery of unscrupulous persons. By the pressure of our civilization, in its best phases and under Christian guidance the Indian must ere long lose his national character and become absorbed or lost in the great mesh of white industry and white socialism.

Red Cloud, not long ago, said in a public address: "The day of the Indian is gone. Our hunting-grounds are blotted out, our path is fenced up, there is no longer any room in this country for the Indian. He must become a white man or die. Our ancestors once owned this whole country. They were then a proud people. Now the country belongs to people who came from across the sea. They have blotted out the Indian trail and in its place they have made a new road; we must travel with them in this

new road. I have been walking in the white man's road for many years. I ask my people to follow me."

This pathetic utterance comes from a wise chief, and its admonition will be heeded by hundreds of his people. The school and the church are rapidly bringing to pass what was once regarded as impossible, the civilization of whole tribes of Indians; and it is not necessary or expedient that any coercive measure should be applied now. Its effect would not be to hasten the conversion of the Indian into a citizen, but rather to offset and neutralize much of the good work already done, bucause it would re-awaken his sense of injustice and destroy his

faith, what is left, in the integrity of the white man.

Have we not had enough of petty quib. bling in Congress over land grants and specious claims, the manifest purpose of which, in spite of the suave and plausible assurance of their advocates, is to deprive the poor red man of his last remnant of territory? Can not our great nation afford to be tolerant and forbearing toward a dying race? If not, can it afford to besmirch its record further, by repetitions of injustice? There is'certainly land enough for honest settlers for the next fifty years, and if there were not, honor should not permit the Indian to be robbed. Phren. Journal.

WONDERS OF

THE Ocean, we are taught in our school geographies, covers nearly threefourths of the earth's surface. When, in maturer years, we are better able to grasp vast ideas, science tells us that the superficial extent of the sea is about one hundred and forty-six million square miles, and its contents seven hundred and seventy-eight million cubic miles, including every salt bay or inland sea in direct communication with it, like the Persian Gulf or Sea of Aral, but excluding the Caspian and isolated inland lakes or seas.

The average depth is a little over four miles.

The bed of the sea is the counterpart of the dry land in unevenness and irregularity, and thus in many parts the ocean is only a few fathoms deep over largely extended submarine plateaus, and in other spots it has been sounded to a depth of six to eight miles. The task of sounding in the blue water is one of great niceness and difficulty, requiring a skillful observation and the most ingenious apparatus. The wire soundingline invented and used by Captain Sigsbee of the U. S. Coast Survey in surveying the deep valley in the Gulf of Mexico is a very ingenious contrivance, that will undoubtedly facilitate the taking of accurate measurements of great depths.

THE OCEAN.

The salt of the ocean comes, so far as known, from beds of the mineral at the bottom of the sea, and is also brought down by rivers. It is chloride of sodium or common salt, with a very small proportion of magnesia and lime. The quantity in solution varies, and thus the density and specific gravity of the sea is by no means uniform. This is due partly to evaporation, which is most rapid where there are strong prevailing winds. The latest investigations seem to indicate that the clearest water of the Atlantic is on the line between the Canary and West India islands, traversed by the brisk northeast trades. The heat and wind combine to produce there an enormous evaporation. As a rule the specific gravity of the sea is greater in mid-ocean, heavier in the North Atlantic than anywhere else, and more noticeable at the bottom than at the surface. The surface-water of the Antarctic Ocean sinks and then moves northward in a cold sub-current. It may be a surprise to some to be told that the sea contains a very appreciable quantity of silver,sufficient to leave a deposit on the metal sheathing of sunken ships. The amount is roughly estimated at two million tons.

The ocean seemed to be divided, as regards the fauna which dwells there,