NECROLOGY.

April 14. Edwin C. Morse, born in West Natick, 1817, Judge of the Natick Police Court, died at Natick, Mass.

April 14. George F. Emery, born in Portsmouth, N.H., in 1812, died in Boston. He had been U.S. General Appraiser for New England, also paymaster; and was treasurer of the Union Institution for Savings.

April 15. Anson K. Warner, of Greenfield, died from the effects of injuries received at the West Deerfield railroad disaster. Mr. Warner was closely connected with the institutions of his town, and held many offices of trust. His will bequeaths $50,000 for the education of Greenfield boys and girls.

April 18. Hon. Stephen H. Gifford, Clerk of the Massachusetts Senate, died at his home in Duxbury. He was born in Pembroke, Mass., July 21, 1815, and while a boy earned his living on a farm. He learned the shoemaker's trade, and still later attended the academy in Hanover, N.H. Subsequently he became a teacher, and established a private school in Duxbury, in which he continued until 1885, excepting a year or two in which he was engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1850 he was a member of the House; in 1851 was appointed an inspector in the Boston Custom House. During a few weeks in 1854 he was Assistant Clerk of the Senate, and the next year he was chosen as Assistant Clerk of the House. The Legislature of 1855 elected him as Auditor of Accounts, for which office he was nominated by the Republicans the same year. The party was defeated at the polls, and Mr. Gifford shared the fate of his friends. In 1857 he was again appointed Assistant Clerk of the House. In 1858 he was elected Clerk of the Senate, and held the office until his death. On March 10, 1882, a complimentary dinner was tendered Mr. Gifford in testimonial of his twenty-five years of clerkship.

April 19. Hon. Charles Adams, Jr., formerly State Treasurer, died at his home in North Brookfield. Mr. Adams was born at Antrim, N.H., Jan. 31, 1819, and his long life since has been a most busy and useful one. In 1816 his father removed from New Hampshire to Massachusetts, settling at Oakham, and in the district schools of this town Charles Adams received the most of his early education. When sixteen years of age he began business as a clerk in a country store at Petersham, and there remained five

years. He then became bookkeeper for J. B. Fairbanks & Co., at Ware, but after a year's service in this position left it to enter the employ of T. and E. Batcheller & Co., at North Brookfield, as their bookkeeper. For twenty-eight years he remained with Batcheller & Co., the last nine years being a partner in the firm. Mr. Adams was active in State and national politics, and served seventeen years at the State House in various capacities, as member of the Legislature, Senate, and Council, and as State Treasurer from 1870 to 1875. He was married May 8, 1834, and on May 8, 1884, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the marriage. Of late years he has given his attention to genealogical and historical matters connected with the town of North Brookfield. Mr. Adams was an upright, honest man, enjoying the highest confidence of the community in which he lived.

April 22. Deacon Nathaniel Hatch, of Bradford, Mass., died suddenly of heart disease. He was a graduate of Bowdoin, class of 1844; had been a teacher and a business man.

April 23. Hon. John Phelps, who was born in Hubbardston, Mass., in 1824, died at New Orleans. He went South at the age of twenty-two; was one of the founders, and became President of the New Orleans Cotton Exchange, and later President of the National Cotton Exchange.

April 24.- Death of Maj. Albert L. Richardson, for thirty years postmaster of Montvale, in Woburn, Mass.

* **

April 24. Mrs. Wendell Phillips died at her home on Common Street, Boston. She was married to the great abolitionist orator about fifty years ago, but before that time she had espoused the antislavery cause.

April 25. Hon. Edmund Wilson, of Thomaston, Me., died. He had been prominent in the political affairs of his section, and was also for the past ten years a member of the Democratic National Committee.

April 26. Joseph Weld Morrison died at Campton Village, N.H., at the age of sixty-nine. He was an extensive dealer in lumber.

April 27. Henry H. Richardson died at his residence in Brookline, Mass., at the age of 48. Mr. Richardson had achieved a wide reputation as an architect, his rank in that profession being variously estimated from that of one of the first in this country to that of the first in the world or the age. Probably the most conspicuous example of his genius is Trinity Church in Boston.

April 29. Col. Ezra J. Trull, a well-known citizen of Boston, died at his home in Charlestown at the age of 43. He served in the war with the Fourth Battalion of Rifles, the 13th Massachusetts Volunteers, and the 39th Regiment. At the close of the war he joined the 5th Regiment, of which he became colonel. In 1855 he was elected commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery. He was also commander of the Boston Light Infantry Veterans, and a member of the Loyal Legion. Col. Trull was also connected with various societies of civil, military, and masonic character. In civil office he served in the Boston Common Council in 1875, 1876, 1877, in the Massachusetts Senate in 1884 and 1885, and was a Director of Public Institutions.

May 1. Chas. M. Shepard, professor at Amherst College, died at Charleston, S.C., at the age of 82.

May 3. Hon. John Boynton Hill, for many years a leading lawyer in Bangor, Me., and more recently of Mason, N.H., died at Temple, N.H. Mr. Hill was born in Mason, Nov. 25, 1796, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1821. Among his classmates were Governor Kent of Maine, Charles W. Upham of Salem, Senator Barnwell of South Carolina, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

May 4. Rev. Francis A. Foxcroft, one of the oldest Episcopal clergymen in the State, died at Cambridge, Mass., at the age of 77.

May 7. William R. Patten, of Winchester, a soldier in the Civil War, and later, Judge-Advocate, died in Concord. He was born in 1837.

May 8. - Death of George W. Ray, a citizen and a manufacturer in Springfield, Mass.

LITERATURE.

IN Scriptures, Hebrew and Christian,' the task has been undertaken of rendering the Bible narrative in a form which shall be convenient and readable for young readers. Such an idea does not wholly please us, for it does not seem possible to rewrite the sacred history without losing the spirit of the close translation from the Hebrew and Greek. There is an excuse for simplifying Bible stories for young children, but this work seems adapted only to those who must be mature enough to fully understand the reading of the Scriptures themselves. Yet, for those who can profitably employ such a book, this work could hardly be better. It is evidently prepared with great care. The first volume, which is at hand, contains the Hebrew story from Creation to the Exile, and for it one must commend the writers for their conscientious and painstaking work, which, without doubt, will prove to be of value to many.

HISTORY is a subject so vast and complex that it requires great skill to properly present even an outline of the whole in a single volume. Such compendiums have, however, been made, and have had a useful purpose. Professor Fisher is a man who has extensive qualifications for such a task, and he has given us a work which should have a place in every public and private library, and be in the hands of every student. The whole subject, from the earliest to present times, is outlined in a manner which has rendered it readable and interesting, a rare quality for such a condensed work. We like the arrangement, which does not treat each country always by itself, but the whole plan of the book is, in general, chronological, by which the condition of different countries at any given period is readily compared. By the use of different types in printing, a notable convenience is afforded the reader. For instance, the general thread of narrative is carried on through the coarser type, while in another type one may read of contemporary literature, art, science, etc. In fact, the record of these subjects is one of the valuable features of the work. The typography is excellent, a matter of special importance in such a book.

1 Scriptures, Hebrew and Christian. introduction to the study of the Bible.

Arranged and edited for young readers as an
By Edw. T. Bartlett, A.M., and John P. Peters,

Ph.D. Vol. I, pp. 545. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.

2 Outlines of Universal History. Designed as a text-book and for private reading. By George Park Fisher, Professor in Yale College. pp. 674. New York: Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co.

3

A CONCISE monograph, lately translated from the German, is interesting as an argument in favor of gas as against electricity for artificial lighting. The author is impressed with the fact that the triumphs of electric lighting have been overestimated, and that its healthful, legitimate development has been retarded by the hosts of speculators. Dr. Schilling quotes many statistics, from both European and American sources, to show that many of the claims for electric lighting are unfounded, and that gas has been the subject of numerous false assertions as to its danger, etc., simply to glorify the electric light. The author seems disposed to fairness, in general, but when, after admitting that the electric light has a future before it, he declares that "gas will remain in future, as it always has been, the universal means of illumination," he is at least injudicious. "Universal" and "always" are too broad; certainly, as far as the past is concerned, if not the future. Those who are interested in the subject will find it worth while to read this book. The translation has been carefully made, and it is clearly printed.

LYNN, Mass., has long been famous for its boots and shoes, but from a comfortably sized book' in hand, we are led to believe that the town has something interesting about it besides heels and soles. This volume is, according to its name, a series of sketches of the history of the town, well interspersed with anecdotes, most of them from the storehouse of the author's own memory. Although he spent, as he declares, twenty years on the shoemaker's bench, he has not limited his knowledge to his trade. He has evidently been a keen observer; and his command of Anglo-Saxon, together with what may be called the genuine Yankee language, has enabled him to relate his stories and make his comments in a clear and vigorous style. It is, indeed, a very pleasant variation of the regulation town history; a volume of information and good-natured wit; such a book as we imagine every citizen and native of Lynn would delight to read.

8 The Present Condition of Electric Lighting. A report made at Munich, September

26, 1885, by N. H. Schilling, Ph.D. 55 pp. Boston: Cupples, Upham & Co.

4 Sketches of Lynn; or, The Changes of Fifty Years. By David N. Johnson. Pp. 490. Lynn: Thomas P. Nichols, printer.