Extract from a Sermon preached at the Consecration of a Churchyard by the LORD BISHOP OF MANCHESTER, June, 1870. "Teach your children always to behave themselves solemnly and reverently in a Churchyard. It is painful to see, as one does see sometimes, children scrambling over the graves and playing, it is true, innocent and harmless, but still thoughtless, games there. The Churchyard is not a place even for children's games. My dear children, remember that when you come into your Churchyard there are some lying there that are very dear to you, perhaps a father or a mother, or a brother or a sister, or a school-fellow. You would not wish to think slightingly of their graves; and so, whenever you come into the Churchyard and face the grave, think that it is the place where you, young and strong, and full of life and spirit as you are now, will one day be lying. Let that thought sink into your hearts, and make you solemn and serious when you are in the Churchyard. There is no danger in the Churchyard, there is no superstition belonging to it; there are no ghosts walking about it; but it is the place where we lay the bodies of Christian brethren who have fallen asleep in the faith of Christ, and whom we hope some day will rise again, as the prophet Daniel says, 'each one in his lot,' to receive the judgment that we shall all have to receive from the great Master whom we serve. A Churchyard, my friends, for all of you whether old or young, is a place that it does good to come to now and then, for meditation in quiet moments, on some quiet summer evening, after we have done our day's work, and everything is still. There will be no great harm done to your souls, perhaps there will be some good impressions left upon them, if you were to come to your beautiful Churchyard, and sit awhile under these green trees, to meditate a little upon the four great things which, in the busy hum of the world, we are so apt to forget, death, judgment, heaven, and hell. Little as we know about these things, we know enough to make us serious, to make us pause in the care of daily life, and ask ourselves whether the life we are leading is a life that will bring us peace at the last." SCHOOL FEAST. On Tuesday, July 26th, the Feast of the Sonning, All Saints' and Woodley Schools took place as usual in the Vicarage Garden. There were 210 children present. The day was all that could be desired. The heat had abated, and everything went off as well as possible. July 10th,-Ellen Caroline, daughter of Robert and Eliza Norman. Charlotte Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob and Caroline Webb. George Edward, son of George and Hannah Dalton. Susan Elizabeth, daughter of William and Elizabeth Douglas. July 17th,—Louisa Jane, daughter of Richard and Antoinette Eaton. 20th,-Agnes Mary, daughter of Edwin and Georgina Emma Catharine Waterhouse. ALL SAINTS': July 10th,-Richard Charles Holloway, son of Charles and Sarah Earley. MARRIAGE. July 11th,-At Sonning, Joseph Luker, to Sarah Davis, both of Woodley . THE WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND PRUSSIA. French opinion about the War. "Everywhere amongst all ranks the feeling grows stronger and stronger that the reigning family have used and abused France only for their own purposes. Very recently I insisted upon the deep and serious reprobation of this war which existed among all the thinking classes of society. I said that all these feelings would come uppermost and shew themselves with the first reverses, and now my words are coming true to the very letter. One would almost say at this moment in Paris that no one had ever been in favour of the war at all. The indignation and exasperation are universal. The accusation against the Emperor is this: You have rashly precipitated,' they say, 'a war for which it now appears that you were neither as well prepared as you believed yourself, or led us to believe, and in the conduct of which both yourself and the Generals appointed by you, and who enjoyed your confidence, have displayed the grossest incapacity. The consequence is that you have disgraced our arms and brought the enemy upon the soil of France." This is the accusation, and though it is, and will be allowed to sleep while the foe is at the gates, it will be brought up again hereafter and a strict account exacted, let what may happen." The Secret of Prussian Success. "Look at the Prussian army as it now appears engaged in the actual work of war. The rank-and-file are of admirable quality, but they constitute only as it were the central bulk of the mighty machine. There is a moving power of officers and generals to set the engine at work to the greatest advantage. The subsidiary departments are organised to perfection, as far at least, as such completeness can be attained in war. Nothing can exceed the regularity and order with which supports and supplies of all kinds are brought up to the troops. Look, again, at the training given to these troops themselves. They are, for the most part, young soldiers, and yet in some school or other they have learnt in all its essentials the true art of war. They accomplish long marches under heavy loads with incredible endurance. They go into action with the utmost bravery, and yet with the most judicious economy of life. The troops are not spared while success is to be won, but no lives are heedlessly or unnecessarily exposed. The men avail themselves of every species of cover and every advantage of ground. They know how to intrench themselves, and how to storm the intrenchments of an enemy. Never before was such an illustration given of the saying that genius is only a transcendent capacity for taking trouble. The trouble taken in planning this campaign, and preparing for the execution of all its details appears almost inconceivable. Those who led the troops were acquainted with every inch of French ground, every road, every defile, every forest, and every river, far better than the French themselves. A French writer has said that they knew every goat-path through the woods and over the hills, and never once in their steady advance have they been found at fault. One of the facts reported is curious in the extreme. The experience of the Prussian soldier had been very limited, and he had never seen either a Zouave or a Turco. It was thought desirable by the military authorities that he should be familiarized with the aspect of these troops, and accordingly coloured prints of Turcos and Zouaves in fighting costume were served out to the army. What wonder if such prodigious solicitude was rewarded by success? " Prussian organization in another view. "The infantry marched strongly and steadily forward in long snakelike columns. Artillery, ammunition waggons, provisions carried in carts, and live self-transporting provisions in the shape of oxen came next; then more troops; then after the destructive columns, the sanitary columns, and finally what may be called the spiritual columns. Everything is organised here. There is even a corps of grave diggers, dead-buriers they are called, who are under command and have to do their duty like every one else. The sanitary and spiritual columns give almost a religious aspect to the warlike procession, which as it moves away over the hills, looks here and there when the red crosses of the sick bearers, and the black and white dresses of the Sisters of Mercy, strike the eye, more like a procession of pilgrims approaching a holy shrine than of soldiers invading a hostile country. Besides the Sisters in black and white, there is a corps of Sisters who wear dark slate-coloured dresses and white hoods, and like the sick-bearers, display round the left arm the red cross on a white ground. These admirable women have already done excellent service. They were on the field of battle on the night of the 6th, before the firing had ceased, and this morning as the clock struck five, I saw a party of them walking through the streets on the way towards Forbach, beyond which town there will soon be more work for them to do. All the sisters march on foot, each little company preceded by a priest or pastor. Most of the sick-bearers also go on foot, but a few of them ride in waggons in charge of the litters and medical stores. The litters are of two kinds, some portable, pieces of canvass six or seven feet by two, stretched over a couple of slender poles, others on large light wheels furnished with a hood like a Bath-chair, with cushions for the head and shoulders and holes for the heels, and so light that they may be lifted with ease over ditches, or carried by two men over heavy ground. It is satisfactory to see that the art of solacing the wounded, in some measure keeps pace with that of maiming the whole." A Village in time of War. "I had left some little property in the Inn in the morning, and about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the battle being apparently over, we descended into the village to try and recover it. We had scarcely got into the village however, when we found ourselves under Prussian fire, shells bursting round us in all directions, and bullets whistling over our heads. French soldiers too and villagers were tearing madly up the street in such a way that I never doubted the Prussians were close at their heels. Perhaps they were, we did not stay to find out, but fled with the rest, a panic stricken crowd. When we reached the summit of the heights and were actually out of immediate danger of Prussian shot and shell, when in fact, the poor people could think of something beyond the instant peril of life and limb, they seemed suddenly to realise the entire ruin which had fallen upon them; they also began to think of their families and friends who were all scattered, flying in desperation through the deep woods, where the darkness was deepening with the falling night. Such scenes of anguish and misery I never saw before, and hope never again to see. Mothers who had lost their children seeking for them with frantic cries and gesticulations, old tottering men and women stumbling feebly along, laden with some of their poor household gods, silent with the silent grief of age: little children only half conscious of what all these things meant, tripping along, often leading some cherished household pet, and seeking for some friendly hand to guide them; husbands supporting their wives, carrying their little ones on their shoulders, and encouraging the little family group with brave and tender words, the woods ringing with shrieks and lamentations and prayers. It is impossible to describe in language the sadness and the pathos of that most mournful exodus. If all the world could only catch a glimpse of such a scene, I will venture to say that war would become impossible." German Hymns. "At Baden, the Grand Duke announced the news of the victory of Woerth, from the balcony of his Palace, and when the cheers had subsided, asked the excited multitude to sing, "Nun danket alle Gott," the German Te Deum laudamus. All present responded to his call, and the still night resounded with the solemn strains of the ancient hymn.' * * "The first batch of prisoners were just on the point of quitting Berlin when new rejoicings were heard through the city from one end to the other, and everybody streamed towards the Linden to hear and tell of the victory at Woerth. The masses rushed to the front of the Royal Palace, and there Governor General Von Bonin appeared on the balcony and read the despatch announcing the victory: cries were raised for the Queen, and as she stepped forward and bowed on all sides, all those underneath, as if by preconcerted arrangement, sang with one voice Luther's famous hymn, "Ein feste Burg is unser Gott." It was an indescribably beautiful scene. "It will be interesting to our readers to know that our Hymn book contains translations of both the hymns mentioned: "Now thank we all our God," No. 306, is Nun danket alle Gott, and “A tower of strength our God doth stand," No. 179 is “Ein feste Burg is unser Gott." August 14,-Samuel, son of Joseph and Elizabeth East. ALL SAINTS'. Alice Ada, daughter of Henry James and Jane Packer. August 14,-Susannah, daughter of Ambrose John and Mary Ann Haines. MARRIAGE. On August 7th, at Sonning Church, John White of Play Hatch, to Mary Ana SONNING. Newbury, Dunsden. BURIALS. July 27th,-Frederick Godfrey Lay, Woodley, aged 11 months. ALL SAINTS'. August 20th, -William Hall, Henley. |