d" was his third thought; that is, Jack's
all right. Thus it was two for our Jack, and one for all the hundreds
who perished! It may be pointed out, too, that "Thank God!" comes in
the wrong place; where it stands it seems to thank God for the calamity.
Yes, so it does, if we look at the mere composition; but the order of
the ejaculations is all right, if we look at the sentiment, the pious
sentiment, of the person who wrote the telegram. He followed the logic
of his personal feelings, like everyone else who "thanks God" and
talks of Providence.

Season and personal feeling often do not coincide. In this case, for
instance, it requires a very slight exercise of the intellect to see
that, if Providence saved "Jack," Providence drowned the rest. "No,"
some will reply, "Providence did not drown them, but only let them
drown." Well, that is exactly the same thing. Superficially, it is the
same thing; for Providence, like men, is responsible for omissions
as well as commissions. If you let a blind man walk over a precipice
without warning him, you are his murderer, you are guilty of his blood.
Resolving not to do a thing is as much an act of will as resolving to do
it. "Thou shalt" is a law as imperative as "Thou shalt not," though
it does not figure in the decalogue. Profoundly also, as well as
superficially, Providence, if it saved Jack, killed those who perished;
for, as Jack was not visibly fished out of the water by Providence, it
can only be held that Providence saved him on the ground that Providence
_does everything_, which covers the whole of our contention. "I the Lord
do all these things." So says the Bible, and so you must believe, if you
have a God at all.

SMIRCHING A HERO.

"He who fights with priests may make up his mind to have
his poor good name torn and befouled by the most infamous
lies and the most cutting slanders."--Heine.

The great poet and wit, Heinrich Heine, from whom we select a motto for
this article, was not very partial to Englishmen, and still less partial
to Scotchmen. He had no objection to their human nature, but a strong
objection to their religion, which so resembles that of the chosen
people--being, indeed, chiefly modelled on the Old Testament
pattern--that he was led to describe them as modern Jews, who only
differed from the ancient ones in eating pork. Doubtless a great
improvement has taken place since Heine penned that pungent description,
but Scotland is