to the purchasers of tickets, that they should be entitled to a share in the distribution of property to be made by any mode of mere accident or chance, then the concern was a scheme of chance within the meaning of the law. The jury returned a verdict of guilty. The same principle of law would apply with equal force to the "gift concerts" and other schemes of chance, which are got up to evade the laws against lottery gambling. The laws of Pennsylvania declare all and every lottery "and device and devices in the nature of lotteries" unlawful. If these gift or prize concerts are not devices in the nature of lotteries, then the legal force of the English language, in statute law, is certainly very ambiguous and obscure. All such schemes have a pernicious moral influence and should be abolished.

An act repealing the tavern license laws of this State has passed the House and will no doubt pass the Senate also. It makes it a misdemeanor, punishable with fine and imprisonment, for any person to sell liquors and allow them to be drank on the premises; or, in other words, it will completely break up all the public drinking houses but will not affect the sale of liquors by those selling by measure. So far as it goes, the friends of Prohibition regard it as a step in the right direction.

The ten hour law is the subject of much interest and discussion at the present time. The act of 1849 having been found inefficient in establishing the desired reform in factories, a new bill has been introduced into the House of Representatives, which, if passed, will prevent the employment of all minors in factories for a longer period than ten hours a day. A number of large and enthusiastic meetings of operatives and mechanics have been held in the different manufacturing districts of the State, and resolutions adopted urging the enactment of the proposed law.

A new and more stringent prohibitory liquor law has been passed by the legislature of Maine and received the approval of the Governor. The Senate passed it unanimously. In the House the vote on its final passage was 90 yeas to 29 nays. A majority of those voting nay expressed themselves in favor of the principle but were not. prepared to endorse some of the details of the new law. Those violating its

provisions are liable to imprisonment for the first offence-for the fourth conviction, $1000 fine and one year in the State Prison-the intermediate penalties ranging from three to nine months imprisonment, with fine and costs.

A bill prohibiting the sale and im portation of liquors has passed the Nova Scotia House of Assembly by a vote of 21 to 17. This goes a step farther than our States, under the laws of Congress, have power to go on this question.

The recent township and borough elections in this State have shown a general breaking up of old parties. The candidates elected appear to be of all political shades, and no party can claim a general triumph. This shows a refreshing determination of independence on the part of voters.

THE OLD WORLD.

THE great event of the past month in the history of Europe has been the death of the Czar Nicholas, Emperor of all the Russias and King of Poland. His death is reported to have taken place on the morning of the second of March. He had been suffering with an attack of influenza and the immediate cause of his death is reported to have been pulmonary apoplexy-although surmises are afloat that he was assassinated. He died in the fifty-ninth year of his age and the thirtieth of his reign. He succeeded his eldest brother Constantine in 1825, who renounced his right to the throne. Constantine died in 1831. Nicholas married Charlotte, daughter of the King of Prussia, in 1817. The issue is Alexander, Grand Duke and hereditary prince, three daughters, and three other sons, Constantine, Nicholas and Michael, Grand Dukes. Prince Alexander, the heir to the imperial throne, was born April 29, 1818, and is therefore in the thirtyseventh year of his age. The news

of the death of the Czar has given rise to much speculation, both in Europe and America as to its probable effect upon the war in the East. The general impression appears to be that the prospects of peace will be increased by the event. Our intelligence from the seat of war is more favorable for the allies. The troops generally were in better condition and in higher spirits. The works were progressing and more confidence was felt in the ultimate capture of the place. The Turks under

Omar Pasha had achieved a victory over the Russians at Eupatoria. With the assistance of the allied navy and its effective shells he drove back 40,000 Russians with a heavy loss on their side, losing only fifty men himself. A thousand of the Czar's troops had also perished in a snow storm. These events tended somewhat to discourage the Russians, as well as to revive the spirits of the allied troops-an effect which would no doubt be materially increased when the sad news of the Czar's death reached the camp. The weather had moderated, and sickness consequently diminished. Louis Napoleon had signified his determination to repair to the Crimea and be present in person at the final fall of Sebastopol.

NOTES ON LITERATURE. COMMENTARY OF DR. ZACHARIAS URSINUS on the Heidelberg Catechism. Translated from the original Latin by Rev. G. W. Williard, A. M. Second American edition. pp. 659.

Dr. Ursinus stood high among the Reformers. He attended Melancthon at the conference of Worms, 1557. He afterwards presided over the Academy at Breslau. In 1561 he was appointed, by the Elector palatine, to the chair of Theology in the University of Heidelberg. He was also still later Divinity Professor at Newstadt, where he died in 1583, aged 49. In 1763, the Heidelberg Catechism, composed by him and Casper Olevianus, was published. He having borne the principal part in the authorship of this pacific symbol of faith, is of course the best expounder of its sense. This fact, as well as its intrinsic merit, makes this a very important work. Mr. Williard has performed an enduring work for Christianity in giving this standard commentary to the public in English. The translation is a good one; and the mechanical execution of this large volume is all that eye and taste could desire. He that buys this books will possess a treasure of sound scripture

truth.

THREE HOURS SCHOOL A DAY-A Talk with Parents. By Wm. L. Crandel. New York: Fowler & Wells, Publishers. 1855.

The author of this volume, whose death has been recently announced, was appointed by the New York Legislature, to prepare a report upon the state of education in that commonwealth, and 'he results of his researches under that ppointment are embodied in this excellent work. We desire for the present

merely to call attention to it as a work of the highest importance, and well worthy the attention of every one interested in the culture of the rising generation-reserving a more extended notice of the points embraced for another occasion. The ideas of the author, which are elaborated through many pages, may be embraced in the following four points:

I. A "sound mind in a sound body" is the proper end of education. But health of body and vigor of mind are both assailed and impaired by a daily confinement of six hours in the schoolroom.

II. Even with the best ventilation no school-room in which a score or more of persons are daily collected CAN be so healthy as the open air. No pupil, therefore, should be kept in school longer than his attention can be absolutely fixed upon, absorbed in, his lessons. And experience has proved that three hours per day is as long as such attention can unflaggingly be given.

III. The first duty of every child is to grow. It is of course a primary duty of every parent to see that the amplest facilities of growth and development are secured to his children. To this end the constant, or all but constant, enjoyment of pure, fresh air, unconstrained attitudes, ample exercise, exhilarating play, &c., are indispensable.

IV. The mind naturally loves Knowledge, seeks it, receives it with delight, and assimilates it. Each child is a natural seeker, and absorbs Truth as naturally as the growing plant or tree imbibes carbon. We should so adjust

our educational machinery as to preserve this thirst for intellectual acquirement fresh and keen through life. But most children are stupefied and stultified by the mephitic dens in which they are confined through six hours on each school-day-they are overtasked and wearied, until, by reason of these abuses, the very thought of school becomes abhorrent--and, having for years been driven to study what they did not comprehend and therefore could not relish, they retain through after life, the disgust and hatred of study which have been excited or implanted.

BATTLES OF THE CRIMEA is the title of an interesting work on the present war in the East. It is chiefly compiled from the graphic accounts of the correspondent of the London Times.