Algona, Iowa.
I come to you for a little light. In Abbott’s “Life of Cleopatra” the author states that in early times the Bible was not kept by the Jews as any other than a vulgar history. I should like to know whether there is any authority for the assertion.
Laura A. Barslow.
Answer.—For hundreds of years before the birth of Christ the books of Moses and other works sanctioned by the prophets (whose duty it was to guard the people against spurious writings or the loss of what was genuine) were regarded by the Jews as so sacred that “no one dared to add to or omit or alter anything;” so Josephus tells us. An authentic copy was kept in the Temple, while others copied from it were circulated for use in the synagogues of different places. A Jewish tradition ascribes to Ezra, after the return of the Jews from the captivity, and the college of learned men called the “Great Synagogue,” the collection and selection of writings which form the Jewish and the present Protestant Old Testament canon. There is no good authority for the statement in your question.
SHOOTING NIAGARA.
Kansas City, Mo.
Did any steamboat ever go through the great whirlpool in Niagara River with anybody on board and without being wrecked?
Controversy.
Answer.—The little excursion steamer Maid of the Mist, which used to ply on the Niagara River, between the falls and the whirlpool, ran through the seething rapids and the great whirlpool of that river in 1861, with the captain and two companions on board, one of whom was hurt on the passage. It was a foolhardy feat, and came near ending in the wreck of the vessel and the death of all on board.