more beautiful ones, as for instance, the sum of the angles of the triangle equal to two rtght angles; the square of the hypothenuse equal to, and so forth, a triangular pyramid the third part of a triangular prism, &c.; and excepting such propositions as are of a peculiarly transcedental nature, and therefore useful in preparing for the calculus, as for instance the propositions to find the circumference and the area of a circle. In this course the old method of studying the conic sections should be entirely abandoned, because they have to be better investigated in analytical geometry. And analytical geometry is almost the only branch of geometry that the practical mathematitian requires the discipline of, as well the mere knowledge of the headings of the proposițions. Even a large part of the headings of descriptive geometry may be taken on faith, like we spoke of taking the headings of plain and solid geometry.

The col

The practical mathematician is a calculator of the highest kind. He needs no "mensuration." He mensurates by higher and more easy methods. Intesest and discount are nothing to him but little propor tions and little ratios. He wants but little arithmetic, except the first four rules, then fractions, and the extractions of the square and cube root. But he must be thoroughly trained in algebra. Nevertheless many or most of the processes given in the common algebras are hardly ever used in practical life, and they are tedious to study and not easy to remember, and ought to be sorted out and put in special tables at the end of the algebras, like as the mensuration rules are put at the ends of arithmetics, for selection and use by each profession in whose particular cases they may happen to be needed, just as the various tables of facts for each profession have to be used. lege training in the technical courses is to train the student to be a thorough practician of mathematics first, and next a library of the facts of his own peculiar branch. He must be thoroughly trained in the science, both in its results and in its processes, both in generals and in details; and the higher the branch the more familiar he must be with it. But with the philosophy of the science he need not trouble himself much. He will have a large part of his professional-life to ruminate on his processes, and can hardly escape a life-long contemplation of the philosophy of mathematics. Let him rather at college study any or all other kinds of philosophy, especially of morals and of language. Nevertheless he needs but little mental philosophy, because as mathematics is the form of all science, and science is the highest exhibit of mind, so the mathematician constantly has a synoptical view

of metaphysics involved in his own science. The kinship of the two sciences exists in their very high abstractness, so that for purposes of discipline, metaphysics, including logic, is partly a substitute for mathematics, and vice versa.

THE GUIDE'S STORY.

"A tawkin' 'baout fishin' an' huntin' fur deer,-
The durn'dest thing 'curred last December two year;
(Ye've heard guides a blowin' an' lyin' like fun,
But I never blow as ye'll see 'fore I'm done.)

"Wall, I tell ye what happened to Jack Braown an' me :—
We was huntin' that winter on Loon Pond, ye see,

An' bein, most mighty hard pushed fur some game,—
A hankerin' fur it seemed rayther too tame.

"I dont 'zactly knaow haow long we was gone,

But we'd biled the last steak, an' we'd chawed the last bone,
So we hauled up alongside an old ranch we struck
The season afore, where I shot the big buck.

"Ye know up this way in the Adirondacks,
The lakes all freeze over in winter, an' tracks
Of deer is quite plain arter light squalls of snow,
An' they lay thick as bees, most, wharever ye go.

"Wall, we follered a fresh trail in hopes of a saddle,
(Fur'n that time of year th'aint no water to paddle ;)
An, bein' sum dry, Jack jest scooped out a sink,
An' laid on his stomach to suck up a drink.

"The minit his mouth touch'd the hole, fore I turned ;—
Ef a traout didn't jump fur his nose, I'll be durned ;——
He giv' a side-yank an' lit aout on the ice

A feller as weighed thirteen pound, in a trice.

"Jack kep' on a drinkin' an yanking' them fish,

Till enough was jerked aout fur to make a good dish.
(I aint giv' to lyin' nur blowin', I say,

So ye needn't keep grinnin' an' winkin' that way.)

"We dont hev' much riggin' to bother us here
A spreadin' the table and cheers with sich keer,
But we jest squat right daown an' go in fur pot luck
All the same ef it's venison, traout ur a duck.

"Wall, of all the tall eatin' that ever ye seen,

I guess we did most, ur my name aint Hank Green;
But them fifteen traout kinder looked mighty sick,
When we stretched ourselves outside the hull batch, so slick.

"'Bout a week arter that we was campin' below;
Me an' Jack an' a sportin'-lad, who's name was De Foe;
We sot the dogs aout on the track of a deer,
An' planted ourselves by the haouse, in the rear.

66 Purty soon we could hear such a saour-doe clatter,-
Afore we could knaow what the deuce was the matter,
An old doe cum past us, a rippity-smash

An' then she was into the woods with a crash.

"But the haounds they kep' arter, Old Drive on the lead, (An' I aint seen another could tackle his breed) A snortin' an' hollerin' 'sef they was mad,

An' they run that old doe till they tuckered her bad.

"We follered the saound jest as tight as we could,
Till arter a bit we got clear of the wood;
An' of all the durned sights that I ever behold,
I wouldn't missed that one fur boat-loads of gold.

"The dogs was a jumpin' an' bayin' to bite
But they wouldn't run in fur the old doe showed fight;
'Twas a white yearlin' doe, 'bout as near's we could see,
With her head pinted down, an' her rump 'gin a tree.

"Wall, I never seen nothin' as did me more good
For our stomachs was empty an' clam'rin' fur food,
An' a good holler stomach wont show much compassion
When thar's suthin' araound in the way of a ration.

"I hev' often heerd say a white doe was bad luck,
But a good appetite will giv' men lots of pluck,
An without no compunctions we aimed at her flanks
An' shot all our catridges ;--mought's well been blanks.

'S'help me Davy, that deer stood as still as a stun,
While we all pegged away till, our bullits was done,
An' then, I'll be blowed, ef she didn't turn raound
An' walk slowly off, 'thout a scratch ur a saound.

"Then I says, says I, 'Jack we're euchred, by Gum,
We mought as well track it a bee-hive fur hum,
Fur ye cant kill the devil so what be the use

Of wastin' your powder? That doe's cooked aour goose."

Wall, I dont know as ever I seen her agin,

But what I hev' told ye is jest true as sin;

Ef ye don't b'lieve my story, why just ask Jack Braown,
ye the same, an' I never let down."

He'll tell

E. X.

COLLEGE SECRET SOCIETIFS.

BY H. G. M.

Much has been said and written of late upon secret societies at college, and surely no words of mine, be they of encomium or detraction, could add very much to the already well riddled subject; but I wish now to briefly notice an article which appeared some time ago in the Boston Watchman and Reflector, and which has been extensively copied by other journals. Throughout, the article is exceedingly "waspish," and from its very tenor we would take it for Bostonian effusion. The writer seeks to show that these secret societies or fraternities are exerting a bad influence, not only upon colleges where they exist, and upon the students gathered there, but that this enervating and disastrous influence also works itself out into the busy life of the world. His-we take the writer to be a he-knowledge is based "upon a very intimate acquaintance, having ourselves been members of two or more of them." Surely, then, his words ought to have credence, but we at once remember that in our college days the man who courted his memberships almost by the score, was not a very reliable person; indeed, he was worse than the politician who bartered his party for gain, who went as the wind blew victory to opposing factions. No wonder he becomes disgusted with their workings, for the societies that so belittle themselves as to receive members that have been forced to leave others, either from expulsion or the men's own narrow-mindedness, are weak and puny. Taking this assertion as a premise, we will know the weight to be attached to what follows.

The article objects to these societies because they "are exceedingly costly, exposing students to temptations, and involving their parents in expenses which it is hard for them to meet." No wonder they are 'costly" when a young man is so ambitious as to belong to "two or more of them." But are they costly? We think not. At the joining of a

society an initiation fee is paid, which is not so much that the wealth of Croesus is demanded to pay it ; fees are probably paid during the members continuance, but only such as he would pay to the open literary societies or christian associations; indeed, we have noticed that where two men are relatively situated as to finances and society, the one a member of a fraternity, and the other not, that the expenses of the latter during the college course are more than those of the former.

This is occasioned by his wanting to enter pell-mell into every thing that presents itself, which the fraternity man does not have occasion for. And if the parents would examine the budget of expenses, sent home monthly by their sons, they would find that the largest amount does not come from fraternities. Instead of exposing young men to temptation, the very reverse is the case. Outside of fraternities, where no restraining influence is had save that of the college itself, young men are led into dwarfing and annihilating debaucheries which mar them during the whole collegiate life, and long after this. I admit there are some students lost, who are members of these societies, but the average is no greater than in the other case.

Let me instance one fact in regard to the great religious revival at Lafayette, three years ago. Some of the most earnest workers there were fraternity men, and their influence was marked. How? Not on the college as a whole, not on their classes, so much as on their brothers. A student has an influence here that cannot well be shaken off; and as was the case then, young men were approached and led to Christ, where, under other circumstances, it would have been impossible to reach them. Indeed, fraternities then had prayer-meetings and I doubt not many were brought out from the "world" through this persuasion.

The writer then goes into a tender appeal to republican and christian principles, to which these fraternities are in antagonism; he tries to show that a spirit of caste is engendered; that non-fraternity men are despised and their qualities not appreciated; orders and ranks. are had, where the rampant spirit was that of intense hostility, and a deep-seated contempt of each other. He instances one of his many fraternities as an example, "which prided itself upon its very superior character. It was exclusive and severely select. It rested its claims, not upon any moral or intellectual excellence, but upon its social and pecuniary business. Its members, in the excess of conceit, looked down with pity and contempt upon members of other societies and those of no society," etc. That of course was not owing to