too great a sacrilege to allow the march of so-called "improvements" to obliterate this spot which should remain sacred forever to the memory of American liberty, and one can well imagine the comments of future ages, upon a generation of Americans who allowed this spot to disappear. As one patriotic writer has suggested: "No spot is more indelibly connected with the Revolution and the days that tried men's souls than Valley Forge. It was there that the tide of misfortune went down to its lowest mark, and it was there also that the great leader of the army appeared in his noblest and highest manifestations of faith and courage. Let the patriotic orders of the country send in their protests at once and ask to have the sale withheld until they can take measures to save this relic of the Revolution, either through purchasers who will agree to keep it intact, or through some action of the people at large or of the government which will secure control of it as a national park."

A. M. HENRY, who was owner of a part of the land upon which the first battle of Bull's Run was fought, relates the following interesting incident: I did not see the battle. I

returned from Alexandria soon after that event, and witnessed the second battle at this point. My mother was killed in her bed with a shell from a Federal battery at the first battle. She was blind, aged and helpless at the time, and as the battle raged about the house it was as safe to remain indoors as on any other spot. General Sherman and Senator Cameron visited here a few years since. Sherman had not been on the field since the battle in July, 1861. He asked no questions. He seemed to know every point of interest and the several positions of troops. During his stay he made but one wrong observation. He said "Mr. Henry, I was in your house during the battle." I said no "No, General; the house then standing was destroyed." "O yes" he replied, "I remember there was a wide hall in the house and this one has none." I recite this to demonstrate Sherman's careful attention to details. General Sherman asked me if I would sell my property. If I cared to part with it he knew a man who would buy it. I learned subsequently that the intending purchaser was Senator Don Cameron. Senator Cameron's uncle was killed at the head of the Seventy-ninth Highlanders a few rods from my house. Generals Bee and Barton of South Carolina were also killed forty rods distant, and a quarter of a mile distant was killed Col. Fletcher Webster, of the Twelfth Massachusetts Volunteers, son of the great Daniel Webster, in the second battle of Bull Run. It is a singular coincidence that the second battle ended on the same spot that the first engagement ended.

THE midsummer meeting of the Histor

ical Society of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was held at Yardly, on July 21, and was an event of some interest. The place chosen for the gathering was appropriate. Thomas Yardley, the founder of the settlement, emigrated to this country either with or shortly after William Penn, and purchased from the Indians the tract of land on which the present village stands. In his will he bequeathed a large piece of land to the inhabitants, to be used as a graveyard. This burial ground is one of the most interesting features of this settlement, and inscriptions on tomb. stones show date of more than 200 years. Hundreds of people visit it yearly, and not a few of whom, it is stated, are Indians from the West. Only recently, a young and civ. ilized red man was interred there, and doubtless others of his tribe lie with him, although their graves are not marked. An old Bucks county resident, himself quite a landmark in the township, said that many Indians are established in the neighborhood and do work upon the farms. Relics discovered by the Historical Society in their researches show that at one time the neighborhood was the hunting ground of a large tribe.

In this gathering General W. W. H. Davis, editor of the Doyelstown Democrat, and president of the society, was in the chair, and requested the Rev. D. K. Turner, D. D., of Hartsville, to deliver the opening essay. The subject was a "Sketch of Joseph Bonaparte," whose home was for many years at Bordentown. Mr. Alfred Paschall, Secretary of the society, read a paper entitled "Scraps of History," being abstracts from the society's records. In his essay Mr. Paschall described the history and growth of the Bucks County Historical Society. It was founded, he said, in the month of January, 1889, for purely local purposes, and as a branch of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. General Davis, who was and is the first President, has never missed a single meeting and has contributed many valuable

papers to the society's records. In 1885 the society was granted a charter, and a room was procured in the public buildings at Doylestown, where the archives and collections are kept and where the regular meetings are held. The present membership is 48. Dr. George H. Larison, of Lambertville, gave an interesting account of "Coryell's Ferry in the Revolution." This ferry is situated at New Hope, ten miles away, and has recently been located as the spot where General Washington recrossed the Delaware on December 26, 1776. General Davis brought the meeting to a close with a description of the two Makefields, the townships, between which Yardley lies.

THE Kingston, New York, Argus, relates the following anecdote of President Martin Van Buren, and vouches for its authenticity, on the authority of a now aged resident of Kingston, who was present on the occasion referred to: In the year 1846 I resided in Kinderhook, Columbia county, and two miles from that quiet village resided Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States. His home was known as "Lindenwald." I saw him nearly every day, as his custom was to come to the village on horseback after his mail. He was a strict attendant of the Dutch church. He invariably rode the same horse, and as invariably walked into the sanctuary when the sermon was nearly at its center. The minister bore with his distinguished hearer until he evidently made up his mind that "patience had ceased to be a virtue," and he would give "Matty" even if he had been president of the United States, a delicate hint that this thing must be stopped. One Sabbath Van Buren appeared late as usual. As he entered the door the dominie ceased preaching. When the ex-president was seated he said: "I trust, dearly beloved hearers, that none of you will be too late to enter the kingdom of heaven." He then resumed his text. A faint smile came to

Van Buren's face, and after that he entered the house of God on time.

GENERAL Charles W. Darling, corresponding secretary of the Oneida Historical Society, never appears before the public without something of interest. In his recent address before the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, there occurred some references to Horatio Seymour that are worthy of reproduction. In his brief review of the late governor's life, he referred to the time when he left Hobart College, entered the law office of Bronson & Beardsly, married a daughter of John Rutger Bleecker, became a member of Gov. Marcy's staff, and, as Governor of the state of New York, occupied a commanding position in National and State affairs. While holding this high office, the war of the Rebellion was in progress, and the movements of the rebel forces in Virginia showed that Gen. Lee was advancing with his army to invade the States of Maryland and Pennsylvania, At this critical period, Secretary Stanton requested Gov. Seymour to inform him if New York State would furnish 20,000 militia, in answer to a special call, to serve as volunteers, without bounty, and to be credited the draft. Gov. Seymour promptly replied that he would spare no efforts to send forward, without delay, the necessary troops. He fulfilled his promise, and the thanks of the President of the United States, and of the Secretary of War, were returned to Gov. Seymour for his prompt action. At a later period in the war, while volunteers were rapidly enlisting, the Administration at Washington decided upon adopting the method of resorting to forced levies of men by conscription; as the records showed that many of the men enrolled never reached the army. The draft was ordered first to take place in New York and Brooklyn, and the districts in which the poorer classes of people lived were charged

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with nearly three times the number of conscripts demanded in other districts with equal population. Gov. Seymour resolved to protect the poorer classes at the hazard of being arrayed against the Administration, and charged with disloyalty, He performed his duty so plainly that the President appointed three persons to look into the matter. They reported the quota to be unequal and unjust, so a deduction was made of 14,000 men. Suffice it to say that the Secretary of War approved the report, and a Republican Assembly, in a formal resolution, tendered its thanks to Gov. Seymour for his wise action in procuring a correction of those errors in the apportionment of the quota of this State.

THE first installment of the famous Scharf collection, which has been presented to the Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore, has been received at that Institution. It consists of nearly 15,000 manuscripts, pamphlets and books, which will be classified and arranged for convenient access without delay. Colonel Scharf has agreed to have the collection catalogued, and it will take several months to prepare it for the use of students and historians. The books and papers will be given a special room like that allotted to the Bluntschli library, and the rarest treasures among them will be mounted for hanging on the walls.

THIS immense edition to the materials for Southern history, has already stimulated research into that hitherto inaccessible field. Professor Ely says he desires his students to prepare a number of works relating to Southern financial history from the new collection, including a treatise upon the finances of the Confederacy, and a history of Confederate money. The collection contains large packages and scrap-books filled with specimens of nearly all the certificates and money ever issued by the Confederacy, including many of the rarest and at present most valuable notes. Says a writer, in continuation of

the above: "Only two other collections of Southern historical material in existence are equal to that now in the possession of the University. One is in the British Museum and has been gathered up by agents who have devoted their efforts especially to discover available material in the South. The other is owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society. One of the objects of Colonel Scharf's gift was to stop the flow of material to the two former centres and draw it to a Southern institution in a Southern State."

"TEN of the unpublished manuscripts are considered to have especial value because written in Richmond before the Confederate archives and records were destroyed. They are from the pen of James D. McCabe, who was employed in the Confederate War Department at Richmond during the war, and edited the Southern Home Journal, afterwards changed to the Magnolia Weekly. Mr. McCabe wrote a history of the Confederacy covering the first years of the war, and collected materials in manuscript for its completion. The history embraces about twenty volumes of manuscript, and scarcely any of its sources can now be reached. There are also the original papers of General William H. Winder, who commanded the Maryland Department in the War of 1812 and defended the territory around Washington when the city was burned by the British in 1814. One faded and dusty document is the original agreement entered into by merchants of Baltimore, June 22, 1769, not to import British goods. An extremely valuable paper is the original plat of the battle of Long Island, made by General William Smallwood, commander of the Maryland line before that memorable conflict, in which the Marylanders displayed such gallantry. It is the only plat of the kind in existence, and has been eagerly sought by the New York Historical Society."

PRESIDENT GILLAN, of the University, has

written a letter to Colonel Scharf, in which he says: "From all that I hear that you have brought together, at a large outlay of time, money, and energy, I feel assured that you are doing a great service to the public by placing these valuable collections where students and men of letters may have access to them. It has been my hope from the beginning that Baltimore and the Johns Hopkins University would become attractive to Southern students in large numbers, because of the libraries, museums, lectureships, professorships, and plans of study here established."

A RECENT meeting of the Western Reserve Historical Society at Cleveland, was entertained by a paper from Prof. Edward Claypole, of Akron, who spoke of the plants of the ice period, still to be found in the valleys of Northern Ohio, and their identity and similarity to those of Europe. He spoke of the physical charges of the geography of the earth, and said that the geologists were now tracing these changes by life. Certain vegetable forms were found in the Cuyahoga Valley far from the surroundings where it would be expected to find them. The cool moist glens of the valley furnish a refuge for plants which would starve and die in the open country. Professor Claypole said that the Cuyahoga Valley from Cleveland to Akron was of preglacial origin, but the valley from Cuyahoga Falls to Akron had been formed since the ice period, The former is millions and millions of years old, while the latter has been in existence probably but a few thousand years.

He then spoke of the hemlock, spruce, arbor vitae, and other trees and shrubs which grow in these valleys, but which are not found in the open or table lands. This, in his opinion, proved that their home was farther north, and that they were forced south during the glacial period. If the Cuyahoga Valley reached to Canada, the problem of how the trees migrated could

be easily solved, but the lake at present cuts off communication. Geologists have found the leaves of the red wood of California, and the tulip imbedded in rocks within The twelve degrees of the north pole. lecturer thought that the hardier trees flourished about the pole and that that region was covered with verdure before the glacial period. Trees do not migrate as men and animals do. When they migrate they die and their seeds is sown further to the south. This would show that the migration of trees and flora from the Northland to the Cuyahoga Valley was very slow, and also prove that the glaciers moved slowly.

A RECENT issue of the Lawrence Journal announces that a new departure has been taken by the State University, at Lawrence, Kansas. Among the options recently advised by the faculty and accepted by the regents, is one which will doubtless cause much comment in the educational world, as well as in other circles. For the first time in educational history, it is believed, is the condition of women to be assigned a place in a university curriculum; and is such a study to be given prominence and value as part of a liberal education. It seems quite fitting that The Status of Women in the United States' should first be a subject for investigation, from the historical and practical standpoint, in the University of Kansas, in which from the opening of its doors no distinction of sex has ever been tolerated, but coeducation has been absolute and complete."

Professor James H. Canfield, in whose department of American history and civics this

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new work falls, has been striving to secure this option for several years-but financial and other reasons forbade until now. The course will include at first three conferences each week of the second term; but will become a full term study as soon as the library facilities will warrant this extension. It will open with a brief review of the condition and position of woman in all countries and in all ages, down to about A. D. 1550. Then will follow a more careful study of woman during the century preceding the colonization of America-to determine what may be called fatherland influences. man in America will next claim attention, in colonial, revolutionary and early nineteenth century periods. The course will close with a careful examination of the legal, political, industrial, educational and professional status of woman in the several States of the American Union. The proposed course has already attracted much attention. Miss Frances E. Willard writes very warmly, and calls it a "a lever of the finest Bessemer steel-the greatest single step yet taken in higher education;" and others are equally strong in their expres sions of approval. A special alcove will be set apart in the university library, in which Professor Canfield hopes to place a large and unique collection-the best books by the best women, and the best books about women, in all languages. He wishes to push this collection more rapidly than the finances of the university will permit-and therefore asks for gifts of either money or books from those interested in this work. He also hopes to secure the founding of a scholarship in this connection. All correspondence should be addressed to himself, State University, Lawrence, Kas.