Orphans’ Friend.
Price, $1 a year.)
OXFORD, N. C., JULY 6, 1883.
BOBEBT E. LEE.
BY FATHER RYAIC,
Go, gldry 1 and (orever guard
Our chieftain’s hallowed dusf.;
And, hon )r! keep eternal ward ;
And, fame 1 be this thy trust.
Go 1 with your ’cright, emblazoned
scroll,
And tell the years to be
The first of names that flash your
roll,
Is ours—great Robert Lee,
Lee wore the gray! Since then
Tl’is right’s and honor’s hue;
He honored it—that man of m. n—
I |Asd wrapped it round the true.
Dead I but Ms spirit breathes j
Dead! but his heart is ours ;
Dead! but his s uny, sad land
wreathes
'His brow 1 irith tears for flowers.
A statue for h's tomb !
Mould it of marb e white—
For wrong, a spectr; of death and
doom—
‘ Ab' ahgel of hope and right.
But Lee has a thousand graves
In a thrusand hearts, I ween,
And tear-drops fall from our eyes
in waves.
That will keep his memory green.
Ah! muse, yon dare not claim
A nobler caan than he ;
Nor nobler man hath less ot blame.
Nor blameless man hath purer name,
Nor^urer name hath grander fame,
Nor'^i^ine—another Lee,
CBZMIKAL EBFOBllATIOn.
In the year 1877 a new de*
parture was taken in the treat
ment of criminals in this State
by the establishment of the
Elmira Reformatory. It had
Ibfig been felt that an injus^-
ttee vTBii done to young and
susceptible offenders by im
prisoning -them along with
naitd^ned criminals, and the
Iftw'under’’which this institu
tion was created undertook for
the fft’st time to separate the
two ({I'ASses, and give the for
mer a satisfactory chance of
reformation. Under the act
the oodrts cannot fix or limit
the period of imprisonment,
and the release of prisoners
by the managers is to be when
and only when, there is a
strong or reasonable proba
bility that they will if re
leased live at liberty without
vidlating the law. To guard
against undue detention it is
provided that the term of im
prisonment ‘‘shall not exceed
the toaximum term provided
by law for the crime for which
the prisoner was convicted.’
and sentenced,’ The law en
acts'also the principle of cons
ditional feloase. Whereby tlie
prisoner is released on parole
—an arrangement similar to
the English ticket of leave.
The duration of his deten
tion thus depends upon him
self. A ‘mark’ system pre-'
vails in the institution, and if
his conduct as indicated by
the marks be deserving, ho|
may be released conditional-
lyJLwhatever the gravity of;
his original offence—in one
year, and absolutely in a
year and a half. In this way
a powerful incentive is sup
plied for the prisoner’s hearty
and willing co-operation with
the law, and the chronic an
tagonism which naturally ex
ists in ©very prison between
the convict and his keeper
finds here no place at all. The
idea, indeed, is not that of a
prisoU) nor even a juvenile
reformatory; but rathe: that
of an industrial school in
which the young men are
criminals and the training
compulsory. The efficiency
of the school is limited, it is
true, by the inadequaev of its
curriculum. In thejudgment
of the Superintendent, there
are too few branches of labor
taught, and they are either
unremunerative when follow^
ed in free life or are unsuit-
able for many of the men.
But this may be remedied, as
the Superintendent suggests,
by erecting another building
fitted with facilities for the
instruction of the inmates in
such useful arts as promise
for the pupil respectable as
sociations and reasonable in
come.
After five years’ experiment
the results accomplished by
the Institution in the way of
the protection of society can
be measured with some accu
racy. Of the 1,205 felons
entered in the Reformatory
since its establishment, socie
ty enjoys good protection
against 91.3 per cent.; while
of the 646 sent out on parole,
81,2 per cent,have become
with reasonable certainty aud
permanence self-supporting
and law-abidino citizens.
This is certainly a gratifying
exhibit, especially in view of
the character of the subjects
and the previous conditions
out of which they have been
developed. As a rule the
Superintendent’s report states
they ‘come from the classes of
society that breed crimi
nals.’ Thirty per cent, he
estimates have had, ‘if not
criminal connections of one
grade or another, then such
criminal contact and conduct
as carries them beyond the
ruhicon of crime, while sixty
per cent. ’ are contaminated
and criminally inclined, and
the remaining ten per cent,
are so constituted as to be
come easily contaminable.’
Under these circumstances the
success of the Reformatory
during its brief history is the
more marked, and we cannot
but concur in the Su])erinten-:
dent’s conclusion, that ‘a un'-
fied and effectual administra
tion of the reformatories of
all grades, together with laws
applying the principles and
practice of the law of 1877 to
all the prisons in the State
would, within a few years,
materially diminish the vol
ume of crime as now shown,
by the criminal records of the
Commonwealth.’"—JV; Y. Obs.
I read of three brethren who
had to carry on a college
when funds were running
shert. One of them com
plained that they had no help
ers, and could not hope to suc
ceed; but another who had
more faithjsaid to his brother,
‘Do you say that we are so
few? I do not see that we are
few: for we are a thousand t
least.’ ‘A thousand of us!’
said the other, ‘how is that?’
‘Why,’ replied the first. ‘I
am a cipher, and you are a
cipher, and our brother is a
cipher; so we have three
naughts to begin with. Then I
am sure the Lord Jesus is one;
put him down before the three
ciphers and we have a thou
sand directly.’ Was not this
bravely spoken.—JS^wyeon.
From the New York Observer.
THE USELESS HANE-WASHING
‘Oh, I say, Aunt Sallie, do
please tell us a story,’ said
James Horto'i as he rushed,
in boisterous boy fashion, into
his aunt’s room.
A fair-haired, bright-eyed
woman looked up smilingly
and said, ‘Why do you want
a story? I thought Robert
and you were to spend this
rainy afternoon in the play
room, teaching your sister
Beth how to use her parlor
‘So we did and we all went
right up there after lunch, and
oh, Aunt Sallie, it was real
fun, you just ought to have
seen how Beth toddJed along,’
and Jamie burst into laughter
at the remembrance of his sis
ter’s ungraceful efforts.
‘I hope you did not laugh
at her and hurt her feelings.’
‘Of course I didn’t make
fun of her ’
Aunt Sallie’s stories were
always interesting to the chil
dren. She was a woman of
an honest, wholesome, kindly
nature, which was strengthen
ed'by a strong religious faith,
and so was always ready to
do all the good that she could
in the world. She kept the
warmest corner of her heart
for those helpless little mor
tals, for whom there seems to
be not much room in many
homes. Often has she made
upon children’s minds the
clearest distinction between
good and evil, between the
wisdom of a rich choice and
the folly and unhappiness of
a wrong one,- simply by an
apt story.
‘What shall I tell you? Oh,
I know,’ said Aunt Sallie,
glancing at Jamie’s dirty fin
gers, ‘I’ll tell you of a man
who carefully washed his
hands but could never make
them clean.’
‘Who on earth could that
be,’ exclaimed Jamie, all the
more astonished as he saw a
serious look steal over his
aunt’s face, ‘I don’t believe I
ever heard of him !’
‘You will know about thatj
better when you have listened
to the story,’ replied his aunt.
‘They must have been very:
dirty!^ said Robert.
Soon the children were in]
their accustomed seats in their,
aunt’p room.
‘We must take a long iour-j
ney first, for this man did not,
live in America.’
‘Oil, will we go to Europe?’,
said Beth, with delight, for
Europe had been a fairy land;
to lier ever since she had re-:
ceived a beautiful Paris doll.|
‘Yes, to Europe, but far
away from Paris, and this
time we would have found no.
dolls there, for down in that'
queer boot-shaped piece of
land was Rome, the great city;
of the world then, and what
we call France now, was then'
only a wild country, whichl
had been conquered by
Rome’s greatest soldier—’
‘Julius Caesar,’ said Jamie,
‘I know all about him.’
“Yes, but he had been kill
ed years before this and an
other Oaesar was ruling the
world. He had sent a Ro
man governor to this small
land where we shall stop, still
farther to the east. In the
largest city of this country
one day the governor sat in
his judgment hall and before
him stood a prisoner bound.
He was a poor man, and all
his relatives and companions
were poor people, but he
seemed to have great influ
ence upon his followers, and
the people 'said, ‘NbVer man
spake like thi^ man.’ He walk
ed about through the Streets
and fields alwaj^s doing good-
Onee a man, who had been
I'Orn blind, met him and beg
ged that he would restore his
sight, for he had heard of the
wonderful things which he
hadg® done. This good man
listened, and put clay- on the
poor^sfaut feyes and said, 'Go
wash in the pool of Siloam.’
The man obeyed and came
back seeing. Some said that
he could heal the sick and
could even raise the dead to
life, and while many believed
on him, tliere were others who
were rich and proud and jeal
ous and wicked, who did not
like to hear of these wooder^
ful things.
‘Beside all this lie had
preached in their synagogue,
and had explained their holy
books as their priests could
never have done, and had said
that he was the Saviour who
had been promised thousands
of years before. All this Vvas
making excitement in the land,
so these people who hated
him tried to find some way to
kill him. They asked the
blind man, ‘What he did to
thee? How opened he thine
©yes?^ The poor man only
answered, ‘I know not. One
thing I kn’Ow, that whereas I
was blind, now I'See. If this
man Were not of God, he could
do nothing.’
‘Of course these wicked
men could find no answer; for
that, nobody can. The sim
ple truth can never bo'con
quered. So they tried in'many
ways to take him, a :.datla8t
found that a thief had joined
with the company who ' fol
lowed this good man, and for
a few pieces of silver he told
them where he was. Even
then they had to get the Ro
man governor’s permission to
kill him, and they brought
him to the judgment hall.
‘The governor asked, ‘What
accusation do you bring
against this man?’
‘They said, ‘If he were not
a bad man we would not have
brought him to you.*
‘Then the governor’ ^aid,
‘Take him yourselves and
judge hinn.’
‘But they had no power to
kill him, and they were de
termined that he should die,
so they shouted to ‘Crucify
him, crucify him,’ like a wick
ed, cruel mob. The governor
‘knew that for envy they had
delivered him,’ and he saw
‘no harm in him,’ His wife,
too, sent to him in his judg
ment-ball, and said: ‘Have
thou nothing to dp with this
just man, for I have suffered
many things in a dream this
night because of him.’ Yet it
was all of no use. The people
were strong in their hate, and
they cried, ‘If thou let this
man go, thou art not Csesar’s
friend.’ This man had said
plainly, ‘My kingdom is not
of this world; for this cause
came I into this world, that I
should bear witness of the
truth.’ But what if a false
story should go to Rome, and
Gsesar should take away his
power, perhaps punish him?
Ah, then the Rbmau governor
was a Coward, and he dared
not protect the innocent, god
like man, but he pitifully took
water and washed his hands
before the multitude, saying,
*I am innocent of the blood of
this just person.’
‘Now, can you see how his
hands might be forever wash
ed, yet never clean?’ said
Aunt Sallie to her group of
listeners.
The children quietly bowed
their heads, silenced by the
sad old story.
‘And was he innocent?’
‘No, no, no,’ were the earn
est answers; ‘he knew better,’
‘Yes, he knew better. And
what was the name of this
wicked, cowardly man?’
‘Pontius Pilate,’said Jamie,
soberly, ‘Of course I knew
about him, only somehow I
never thought of his washing
his hands before.’
‘In all these eighteen hun
dred years since it happened,
many people have thought
about it, Jamie. In Switzer
land, from the shore of the
beautiful Lake of Lucerne,
there rises a mountain so grim
and stony it has been called
Pilatus. There is a story, too,
that in the stormiest nights,
when the thunder rolls and
sharp lightning flashes around
its summits, from the lake near
by there rises a pale, human
form that seems to be washing
and rubbing its hands in ago
ny.’
‘Oh, Aunt Sallie, do you
s’pose really it does?’ whis
pered Beth, fearfully.
‘No, my dear, that cannot
be, but let us all remember
that we also do wrong when
we know better, and the stains
of our sins can no more earily
be washed away than were
Pilate’s. It is only through
repentance and faith in that
same prisoner, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and by the renewing
of his Holy Spirit, that we
can be made clean.
Bittersweet.
All beauty of thought, pas
sion, affection, force, sound,
color, and touch, whatever
stirs one’s mortal and immor
tal frame, not only comes
from, but is centered in, God,
in his unspeakable perfection^
This we believe to be the only
morality, but in its widest
sense, philosophically true, as
the white light fd,y& itself out
into the prismatic colors, mak
ing our world what it is—as
if all we beheld were the
spectrum of the unseen Eter
nab- -Dr. John Brown.
What roandabout ways people
take to raise money for the Lord’s
cause! We read of missionary
calves, and missionary hens. Ev
ery man who gives the Lord a calf
or ox ought to take out a life insu
rance on the beast, so that the
Lord will not lose anything if it
should die. This way of dealing
puts oft the giving,and puts on the
Lord all the risk ot loss. Put your
hand in yonr pocket and take out
the mouey that the Lord has put
into it and devote at least a tithe
of it to his cause.
Rum is the only cure for ruin
with some people; there is nothing
but the recoil which comes ot dis
grace that will save a man from
vanity and egotism.
(VOL. IX, NO. 7.
NEGLECTED,
A member of Congress not
long since quoted in a speech
part of the sublime descrip •
tion of the fall ot Babylon in
Revelation, and was surprised
to hear from a fellow-mem
ber,—
‘Gome,come, G ! That’s
enough of your Emerson
now!’
At a dinner-party in New
York, a gentleman, apropos to
some story which was told,
said, ‘Charity bearetli all
things, believeth all things,
hopeth all things, endureth all
things,’
His neighbor,a brilliant and
well-known woman of the
world, listened eagerly, and
exclaimed. ‘That’s very good,
Mr, A ! Really, that is
very fine! I never hea d you
so epigrammatic before!’
‘It is not my own wisdom,’
stammered Mr A- . ‘It is
Paul’s.’
‘Paul ? Oh, William, I sup
pose? Now, I always thought
that Paul family rather stu
pid!’
This story, which we know
to be true, is more surprising
from the fact that the lady
has achieved a good deal of
notoriety from her writings.
At a club meeting, where
most of the members of the
senior class of one of our larg
est colleges were present, the
question of the authorship of
the first two books in the
Bible was started, and not one
the men present could answer
it.
Such incidents as these are
constantly happening around
us, ?'nd prove how much the
Bible is neglected in the home
training of American children
in the present day. Every
middle-aged man and woman
of the better class, can recol
lect how constantly the Holy
Book bore its part in their
daily lives when they were
boys and girls.
There were the morning
and evening chapters read at
family worship; there were
the texts which they repeated
in turn at the same time: there
were the chapters committed
for Sunday school and Sun
day evening at home.
No doubt these tasks were
irksome at the time But
words thus made familiar in
youth are never forgotten,and
the boy and girl with this chil
dish training, entered mature /
life having in the main correct
views of the truth which
Ghrist taught, and with a store
of these oracles of divine wis
dom in their minds, ready to
give them strength in tempta
tion and comfort in trouble.
Nowadays the child is usu
ally sent to Sunday school,aud
there learns from strangers a
smattering ot religious truth,
or of Jewish history, which is
not all the same thing. But
at home even the mother's
Bible too often lies unopened
on the shelf Yet these moth
ers profess to believe that
JeSus Ghrist came to save
their chilcLen from sin and
from its penalties. How cun
He save them if they do not
know Him? And how can
they know Himot whom they
are never tnld?—Youth's (Jom--
joanion,
‘I
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