8
UNIVERSITY COURIER.
run the countries around him. We may infer from this that at the approach of the catastrophe which was destined to swallow up Atlantis, and which probably did not occur without long preparations and numerous forewarnings, the inhabitants may have been able, at least a great portion of them, to quit their menaced country and take refuge in the adjacent continents; some in Africa and Europe and others in America.
The account of Atlantis from Plato was abridged over two thousand years ago, and an exactly similar one has been found in Central America. In this account they mention Atlantis as the Empire of Vibalda, but the general argument of the account is wonderfully striking, mentioning the same kings, extension of domination, great catastrophe and disappearance. The Indians of Yucatan say that people came from the East; if so, we can account for the temples and such discoveries that are now being made in America. The mound-builders are wrapped in mystery, but it seems a very clear solution of the problem, if Atlantis once rested between the great continents with its mountains in the north and its low lands on the south and east; for who but a people from a sinking deluged country would think of securing all that was sacred in and upon vast mounds; and the student of history will have observed that the mounds are situated upon the lower lands of our own country. Then, too, we can account for the ruins of temples and palaces in Arizona and Central America, which so closely resemble the old Carthagenian architecture. The conquered Carthagenians may have fled to Atlantis which was just across a narrow channel; or by the intercourse of the two nations in such close proximity the inhabitants of Northern Africa and Atlantis may have had similar customs and architecture.
When Atlantis disappeared, those who fled to America were cut off from all possible communication with the Old World, and in this way we can easily account for the difference in their habits, which the eastern discoverers found when landing upon our shores.
The Peruvians thought their ancestors were descendants from the sun, but it is more likely they came from Atlantis or from beyond.
The early discoverers wondered at the civilization and splendor found in Peru and Mexico, but when we admit that Atlantis was a peninsula of South America, or even an island, the shadowy veil of doubt and mystery, which has so long hung over the past, will be removed, and we can gather up the missing links in the historic chain, and can see as never before how all mankind descended from one common parent and filled the earth.
LILLIAN BELL.
TOPICS.
THE NEW STUDENT.
We bought him a trunk for his books and things, And answered his merry chat. And he looked the brightest and best of kings, Under his new straw hat.
We handed him into the railway train With a troop of his young compeers, And we made as though it were dust and rain Were filling our eyes with tears.
We looked in his innocent face to see
The sigh of a sorrowful heart;
But he kissed us good-by with eager glee,
As the train began to start.
'Twas not that he loved not as heretofore, For the boy was tender and true; But the parent's love the love that is old And the children, the love that is new.
And we came to know that love is a flower Which only groweth down; And we scarcely spoke for the space of an hour As we drove back from the town.
JAPAN.
A.
Twenty years ago Japan was but semi-civilized. She had the Chinese conservatism without the Chinese intelligence. With the accession of the present Mikado a new era began. The civil feuds of the petty princes were quelled. A standing army was organized which now numbers 120,000. The navy now consists of twenty war vessels. A new and better code of laws has been established. The many railroads are chiefly superintended and worked by natives. Four thousand miles of telegraph are controlled by eighteen hundred operators, but ten of whom are foreigners. The Japanese postal system equals ours. The jails have but few inmates. Capital punishment has been abolished. The government public schools have over 2,500,000 pupils. Tokio University enrolls two thousand students. The foreign commerce is fast increasing. Japan is civilized. These results are due to the present Mikado. He is an absolute despot, but to his honor be it said, he has used his supreme power on the side of right. The people of Japan are industrious, polite and calm. They are now civilized and intelligent, able to govern themselves, and if their good era is to continue they must learn to do so by practice—they must become a Republic. Wise despots rule well, but after this just tyrant, who next? The present government is controlled by a cabinet of thirteen, presided over by the Mikado. A national parliament is being organized, thus paving the way for democratic rule.
OUR SCHOOLS.
Now what ought to be the aim and the result of public schools in a Republic? Ought it not to be the education of good and useful citizens? I say the education in its derivative sense; the leading out of that which is best, most useful, in every character. It will be answered, that to do this involves separate individual training that is too slow and too expensive for public institutions; but that is not what I mean. I mean an equal advantage as to lessons, but a cultivation outside of text-books which shall teach the scholars that true principle of a republic—so overgrown, so forgotten, in ours—that all honest work is respectable; that a seamstress, a domestic helper, a writer, a voluntary or an involuntary worker in the field of the world, are each and all, if they are thorough and earnest in their work, just as respectable as a teacher; that the miller, the carpenter, the mechanic of any kind, the clerk, the porter, the gardener, the hodman, can be as good a man, as true a gentleman, if he will, as the lawyer, the doctor, or the clergyman; that the disgrace of life and living is to be dishonest, dishonorable, superficial, and idle in any sphere. Rose Terry Cooke, in Christian Union.