General News.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 4035, 3 December 1881, Page 4

General News.

It is impossible, says the Daily News, to overlook the historic interest of the proceedings of the Methodist Conference now sitting in London. Nearly a century and a half ago, when political corruption was rivalled :by the corruption of the clergy, and when private and public morality were alike rare, a few young Oxford students joined together in a strenuous effort against the religious indifference of the^ day. ,The leaders; of ...these'' ypung.^men, .whose- regularity of life and of religious observance won them the title of " Methodists/ were Whitefield and the brothers Charles and John Wesley. Whiten 1 eld's wonderful preaching, which stirred all England and wonthe admiration of Horace Walpole, who generally knew how to admire real talent when he saw it, did much for the new movement. The sweetness and beauty of the hymns of Charles Wesley diet much for it. Butj as has been truly said, John Wesley was the movement itself. To his eloquence, but still more to his life long perseverance and untiring devotion, the, organisation and earlier triumphs of Methodism are due. According to one of the speakers at the Conference, Methodism now numbers some four millions and a half of followers in England, and over twenty-three millions in different parts of the world, being particularly strong in America. Yet in 1738, when Whitefield and '.'■■ the two Wesleys first came from Oxford to London, they and their few Oxford friends were the only Methodists! It would be difficult to overrate the debt which civilization owes to a movement which came at a terrible period of religious decay, and stirred the pulses of national life and duty. . The Portsmouth Gazette publishes the following extraordinary story:—"MissE. Mainwaring, 20 years of age, was buried in Portsmouth Cemetery on Monday. The deceased, who was the daughter of an officer in the army, was about to be married, her trousseau, and that of her bridesmaids having been provided; but she was seized with fatal illness, from .which she succumbed a few days ago. It was,-therefore, arranged to go through as far as possible; the marriage ceremony, before her body was interred, and several wedding Carriages were provided for the accommodation of the friends, the coffin being conveyed from Southsea to Poly' Trinity Church, Port- j sea, followed by her friends in wedding costume, the deceased's wreath of orange blossoms.being placed at the: head of-, the coffin. Theßev, T. D. Platt and other clergymen officiated, and after reading the marriage service, that for funerals.. was proceeded, after which the cortege proceeded to Portsmouth Cemetery, where the interment took place.".; ,v;, n ■ ■ ;

A rather>«eedy-166kirig v 'bustomer came into a restaurant on Austin Avenue and said to,the proprietor: "What do you ask for nicely cooked beefsteak, well done, with onions?" "25 cents." "AndUhie gravy." " Oh, we don't charge anything for gravy." " Youdont. That's liberal. How do you charge for the bread ? " "We throw in the bread." "Is it good bread?" "It is." "So you throw in the bread and gravy ?", " Certainly." " Then bring me some bread and gravy. It is not healthy to eat meat in summer." £ It having been remarked that cigarettesmoking is killing thousands of young men, the "Chicago Tribune" savagely says that the kind of young men' who smoke cigarettes can all be spared. The fittest would still survive.