Three Thousand Dollars
in prizes is offered by the Youth's Companion for the best short stories either for boys, for girls, humorous stories, or stories of adventure, to be sent them before May 20th, 1884. The terms and conditions of the competition are issued in a circular—for which all who desire to compete are invited to send.
Sin is very much like the ordinary North American mule. It may be very tame and docile at the front, but in the rear there is always a sly kick hidden away and you'd better be on your guard.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
ARIUS THE LIBYAN: An Idyl of the Primitive Church. Author unknown. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Chicago: Jansen, McClurg & Co. 12mo. Cloth. Price, $1.50.
This is a romance of the church in the latter part of the third and the beginning of the fourth centuries. The scene is laid near Cyrene, A.D. 265. It is an exquisitely written idyl of primitive Christian life, and can not fail to attract a great deal of attention, especially now that the public mind is being turned in the direction of early church history. It deals in a powerful, yet simple, manner with that subtle question, the Trinity of the Godhead, and gives the reader many new thoughts in connection with it. The characters portrayed awaken an unusual degree of interest, being as they are, persons eminent in history, both secular and religious. As one follows the story to its close he can not but agree with the author, that Arius, the hero and arch-heretic of the Nicene age, was "one of the grandest, purest, least understood, and most systematically misrepresented characters in human history." The latter portion of the book brings out, prominently, the real character of Constantine, stigmatized by Arius as "that unbaptised pagan, the flamen of Jupiter." The noble plan of the book and the grave importance of the questions that agitate the characters, combine to make it a valuable production to both believer and skeptic.