cross” and tlio Holy Crown of Thorns brought 
back from Jerusalem by “ good ” Saint Louis. 
Notwithstanding the deference paid to religious 
traditions and forms iu Franco, it is not a good 
place in which to grow iu grace. 
1 mot a day or two ago a young American lady, 
daughter of a Pennsylvania farmer, who had 
come hero to study art, having already achieved 
at homo rather nattering success in that lino, 
who declared with great emphasis that “ Amer¬ 
ica was Gun’s country and this the devil’s.” 
She had arrived at the conclusion that 
To oome to Europe to pursue the Study of 
Art was all Nonsense. 
The rudiments of nrt. are bettor taught hero. 
seen so many, and have so many arches and 
statuo and saints and altars mixed up In my 
head, that I am alarmed for my taste, and fear 
I shall not fall down in adoration before St. 
Peter’s when l get to ltome. I liko to bo over¬ 
whelmed, and St. Peter’s is the only thing 1 have 
to fall back on. I went to tho 
Russian Church 
here on Sunday last with a Greek friend. One 
sees there tho Greek and Russian embassies, 
and tho church Itself, nblaxe with gilt, is worth 
seeing while the music is the most serious 
ami solemn of any I have over heard, and no¬ 
body knows where it comes from. The church, 
in the form of a Greek cross, is carpeted with 
NEW PUBLICATIONS 
EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENCE. 
Paris, Dec., 1872. 
The remark made by that gifted French 
woman, Madame Dk Stake, that nations receive 
the sort of government they merit, applies Itself 
to the minds of thinkers in France to-day as 
forcibly as then. W hen the Communists allege 
in self-defense that it was tho emissaries of 
Napoleon who fired tho palace of the Tutlerles 
and tho Hotel do VUlo (In which as in no other 
public building of Franco bo 
many memories wero gath- y u mpsa G m® ?- 
ered), Instead of themselves, 
to conceal the details of ids 
administration of public af¬ 
fairs, their assertion Is not 
unreasonable. One can no¬ 
cord to i t at least tho merit, of 
one 
The Atlantic Almniiuc, I.N73. Boston: James 
K. Osgood A Co. Price SO cents. 
This beautiful annual has a very handsomely 
illuminated cover, and is filled with lino engrav¬ 
ings and pleasant articles from original sources. 
A beautiful work of art, worthy a place in all 
homes, _ 
lien tit il'n I Snow. Illustrated. Ity J. W. Watson. 
Philadelphia.: T. B. Peterson & Brothers. 
This is a. new edition of a 
■ famouspoem,as well as other 
poetical works from Mr. WAT¬ 
SON'S pen, gotten up in n. 
stylo of richness Boldotn sur¬ 
passed. Tho lino illustrations 
aro from tho pencil of Ei>- 
I ward L. Hen nv. 
cleverness. But when 
hears, as now and then, a ru¬ 
mor to tho effect that a lie" 
plot to finish the precon¬ 
ceived destruction of I ho city 
by fire Is nightly to bo dovel 
oped, there is room for nei¬ 
ther reason nor cleverness. 
It Is simply diabolical, and 
brings one back to Madame 
possibility of another Ilona- 
partlst reign. Liberty may he 
a universal human right, 1ml. 
like the truest and most, pre¬ 
cious gifts,noodasome special 
fitness for its reception and 
exercise. Ho, because half the 
people of Franco do not at 
once lift themselves to the 
plane of Republicanism, tho 
other half cries out fora king 
oromperor; and to this latter 
half must bo added Franco- 
they like l ho splendor of roy- 
good servants; and employ- 
orseverywhere complain I hat 
Republicanism ii being the 
ruin of tho working classes. 
(he time and llo drunk the 
other half. Rut nobody sees 
drunken man la walked off 
to jail. Drunkenness is a 
crime, and I think no one in jsipipySki 
Franco ever talks about tom- I &S 
peraneo societies or rumsoll- 
ing. Moral suasion is excel- jjfc tv 
lunt; but law, in its strong ^ 
and overawing souse, is bet- '~ r -, 
tor. But whatever may have 
boon tho inflammatory state 
of the hearts of the Destruc- 
tlnnUts the last few weeks, 
I he operations of nature have 
been of an opposite charac¬ 
ter. It has rained almost in- 
iiotii ends, would have made 
but little headway. So, while 
water has challenged fire, 
President Thiers, 
in tho Assembler: Nationalc, 
has been dealing out death¬ 
blows to Bonapartism, lie is 
the sort of a President Arac- - 
cleans never have, and Judg¬ 
ing tho future by the past 
may never hopo to have a statesman aud a 
scholar. lie Is an old man of sovonty-llvo,years 
now, and notwithstanding tho sarcasms of his 
enemies and tho tremendous obstacles he ho* 
encountered, ho lias succeeded In commanding 
tho respect, not only of nations, but that more 
difficult thing, of his own countrymen. Do baa 
nothing of military glory in his history, llis 
weapon has been Ids pen, and ono cannot but 
hope and bollovo that tho Drains which have 
boon Its motive power will do for Franco In the 
future what lire and sword have failed to do Ip 
the past. 
A month of rain has furnished ample time for 
reflection. I always think whon It rains that 
tho Loud knows we have ueed of it in a moral 
souse. We are all apt to run away from our¬ 
selves, to look everywhere but within our own 
consciousness, so whon a rainy season comes 
wo ore fairly driven to having what Aunt Chi.oe, 
In Uncle Tom's Cabin, called a ” roglar ciarin' 
up time.” One of my ralny-weathor reflections 
has rosultod In tho belief that 
Sight-Seeing la a Croat Bore, 
and ospoclully European sight-seoing. I think 
the people who g<> one year to boo . ..igara Falls, 
another to hear a Jenny Lino sing, another to 
California, New England, or New York, to hoc 
tho “sights,” behave rationally; but hero ono 
secs so much of everything. You visit a picture 
gauery, and you despair of getting through with 
it. You enter a tiulcn of Bculpturo and go in 
raptures over tho first statue, are delighted with 
t he second, pleased with the third, but before 
you get to the fiftieth you would not give a row 
of pins for the whole. If one could go on from 
glory to glory, finding each successive thing ex ¬ 
celling the last, It would not be bo tiresome. 
It is the same thing with ehurches. I have 
Doitilicy n ml Sou. By OKAS. 
Dickens. With 52 Illustra¬ 
tions, by W. L. 8HKPPARP. 
Now York; Harper & Bro.'s. 
Tuns Is a volume of tho 
beautiful " household odi- 
tion” of l he works of tho 
great romancer than which 
we have seen nothing liner, 
handsomer, or more general¬ 
ly to ho commended. The 
letterpress Is beautiful, tho 
Illustrations aro superb, and 
tho binding Is handsome. A 
Set of these works would 
make a magnificent Now 
Year’s present. 
Every Mini his own Paint¬ 
er. By IT, B. GARDNER. 
New York: S. R. Wells. 
A small, compact volume, 
giving the methods whereby 
satisfactory results are ob¬ 
tained In plain and fancy 
painting, Including all its 
branches. The book Is filled 
with valuable receipts, and 
sells at a price placing it 
within ttin reach of all. 
Poetical Works ol'.lolai t». 
Whittier. Boston: James 
It. Osgood ft Co. 
A (.Alton and handsome 
volume of double * column 
pages, containing tho com¬ 
plete works, tip to this time, 
of tho favorite poet whose 
name heads this notice. No¬ 
thing finer of tho kind could 
he desired. Mr. Whittier 
has many admirers, and his 
readers will lie glad to got a 
copy of this household edi¬ 
tion. Price $2.00. 
The Artist's Love. By Mrs. 
South worth. Phlliulel- 
phla: T. B. Peterson & Bros. 
A new romance by tills 
very prolific writer, which 
needs no further notice from 
us. It makes a volume of 
179 pages. 
■ The Htraage Adventures of 
a Phaeton. By William 
Black. New York. Harper 
ft Brothers. 
This is a sovont.y-Jlvo cent 
novel, by tho author of that 
I popular work “A Daughter 
of Iloth,” which all who have 
road admire. Tho present 
story is not below tho ono mentioned in Interest 
and beauty. It is sure to please, and tho author 
is rapidly rising in fame. 
GRONIEE. 
because more boldly and efficiently, but in look¬ 
ing at tho pictures of tho “old minders ” ono | 
learns but ono thing, and that the simple fact i 
that they adhered strictly to nature, and ono ciui 
do that In America as well as In Europe. And 
it is the same tiling with everything else. I 
think all clear-sighted Americans must, go home 
prouder than over of their country and its In¬ 
stitutions, and converted to tho doctrine of free 
trade. Wo have nothing to fear from It, and 
much to gain. 
Parle Amusements. 
Everybody In Paris goes to tho theater. Night 
after night its twenty or thirty theaters are 
packed from pit to dome, and one never gets 
home earlier than midnight. Tho ushers are 
all women, very neatly dressed in black, with 
caps trimmed with pink or bhio ribbon. 1 have 
seen eight or ten plays and half as many operas, 
and every ono has embodied the betrayal of 
virtue and tho summary p. Ish' ent of tho be¬ 
trayer,—pictures from ever:, b“t transferred 
to tho stage. Tho morale Is always good, and tho 
moral of the play itself usually bad. In Amer¬ 
ica tho pulpit has t he upper hand of tho theater, 
but here the theater Is everything. Tho church 
I is a placo In which to count olio's rosary and 
confess, but from tho stage one Imbibes his 
an India carpet; there are no seats, a few 
chairs for such as care to own t hem, hut. nearly 
all remain standing through the long service, 
at such moments when the service requires 
save 
kneeling, which tho women do to excess, going 
clear down on their faces. 1 say women, be¬ 
cause I saw none of the men, who occupied Hie 
rear of tho church exercising themselves dnvo- 
tlonally. Most of tho women wore In magnifi¬ 
cent attire, whUetho place of honor seemed to 
bo accorded to tho young Princess Ohi.okf, 
daughter of tho Russian embassador, film tuul 
on a black velvet robe, with a long train, elabor¬ 
ately trimmed, and ribboned and jewelled ap¬ 
propriately. When tho sendee was over, each 
In turn kissed a gilt cross held by ono of tho 
priests. 
At ono end of tho transept of tho church was 
a line painting of Christ feeding the multitude 
by tho seaside; at tho other, of Christ walking 
on tho soa. On ono of the altar panels F was 
delighted to see a painting of the infant Christ 
that commanded my respect, being tho first 
and only one l have beheld with pleasure. The 
statues and pictures one finds here In represen¬ 
tation of the Saviour aro to me most absurd 
aud ridiculous. A man must bo an idiot, in tho 
first place, to attempt a representation, and, to 
speak in mild terms, it is very disgusting to (too 
these caricatures of a being whoso Imago wo 
carry in our hearts, and whoso beauty is beyond 
tho reach of a painter’s daub or a sculptor’s 
chisel. 
Tho beat use l have seen made of any church 
decorations 1 saw nt Notre Dame tho other day. 
In front of the church is a row of mon-atatues 
among other things, and In tho bosom of one, 
believed to bo St. John, a bird Had built her 
nest. Notre Dame is an immense church, and 
contains among its treasures a bit of tho “ true 
A Library of Famous Fiction. With nil Intro¬ 
duction by Harriet Beecher Rtowe. Illus¬ 
trated. New York : J. B. Ford Ac Co. 
This great work of 1006 pages, embracing the 
nine standard masterpieces of Imaginative liter¬ 
ature, viz.The Pilgrim's Progress, Robinson 
Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travels, Elizabeth, Undine, 
Vicar of Wakefield, Paul and Virginia, Plcclola, 
Vathck, and Tales from tho Arabian Nights. 
The whole ore finely Illustrated, and handsome¬ 
ly bound. In her introduction. Mrs. Stowe 
makes a graceful pica for works of fiction. 
The book will make a handsome holiday pres¬ 
ent. 
Livingstone nn«l bis African Explorations. 
New York : Adams, Victor & Co. 
A handsome, readable, and Interesting narra¬ 
tive of the explorations of this great traveler, 
together with an account of the various search 
expeditions, Stanley's Included. Tho book Is 
edited from tho latest authentic documents. 
The story of Livingstone Is told mostly in his 
own words, «<> the narrative has a personal in¬ 
terest. The book can bo had of tho trade gen¬ 
erally. 
Off in I he Geysers. Edited by 0. A. StepheNB. 
Boston ; James R. Osgood & Co. 
Few countries aro of so much Interest to tho 
reader and traveler ils Iceland. This handsome¬ 
ly Illustrated volu mo presents anew to the young 
reader tho novel trip among the Geysers. It is 
written In tho form of a narrative, which makes 
it all the more interesting. 
