A MEMORY. Through the merry song of the Christmas-bells its shadow steals. DEATH stands at the helm of the boat on the river, The rower looks out where the white palms are waving, O my country, bend low in thy pitiful sorrow, And weep for the hero now passing away, Hush the song of the birds, and the glad rushing waters. Let a requiem sound through the day. First in the rush and the din of the battle: O my country, his country, the dark boat is waiting! Farewell to the soldier we honored in glory, Farewell to the ruler we'll welcome no more, Farewell to our brother, 'midst sobbing and sighing, The boat moves away from the shore. R. PRACTICAL VIEWS OF THE CIVIL SERVICE. IN the March and May numbers of THE UNITED SERVICE for the present year I have attempted to demonstrate the necessity of some action being taken by the Executive which shall bring within the scope of power delegated to the Civil Service Commission by Congress the regulation, and, so far as possible, the enforcement of some organized system of promotion in the civil service, which shall be based upon such principles of justice and merit as to leave no possibility of unjust and unmerited advancement by mere political or personal preferment. Such a system is beyond question as important in the establishment of reform as the law which governs the admissions to the departments; and the consummation of such perfection as is hoped for in the civil service, by the law which places beyond the power of corrupt influences the admission, cannot possibly be attained while any portion of the service is abandoned to the very influences which that law was made to defeat. The first great object of this law having been quite successfully attained, and its enforcement indorsed and sustained by the Executive, the principle upon which it is founded cannot fail to elicit the commendations of all citizens regardless of party. Having been now so firmly established as to place it beyond the hope of successful assault by its enemies, it but remains to perfect, as far as possible and consistent, the machinery by which its functions are performed. In doing this, it is most essential that while remaining wholly within the bounds of absolute safety, the system should be so far practical in its demands as to not hopelessly exclude from its benefits, and from the possibility of service in the civil branch of the government, those of its citizens who have not been so highly favored as to have received classical or superior educations, but whose competency and valuable qualifications in many respects would certainly fit them to be most capable servants of their government, could they enter the service through such competition as should require from them a fair and honest test as to their ability to perform the work which would be actually required of them in such department as they desired to enter. The writer of this article has no desire to comment unfavorably upon the methods adopted by the Civil Service Commission in their examinations, nor is he actuated in the suggestions he makes by any motive but that of the hope that improvements may be reached in the operations of a law the principles of which he most heartily approves. If it were not possible to make such improvements in the examinations as should render access to the various departments of the service less difficult to people of ordinary business education, I should suggest no plan which could by any possibility remove the safeguards against the former methods of appointment; but there could undoubtedly be such reasonable modifications made in the examinations for ordinary clerkships as to in no sense imperil the object of the law, and which should at the same time offer some degree of hope to the great mass of capable and deserving people who are excluded by too rigid requirements from entering the service. The point which is most generally assailed by the enemies of the civil service law, and which it must be conceded is the most vulnerable point of attack, is the matter of the examinations. The opponents of the law hold up to ridicule the methods and nature of the examinations as being in no degree practical or applicable to the duties which would be required of the applicant, should he be so successful as to reach above the minimum in the examination. While it is undoubtedly true that in a few branches of the service technical information pertaining to the work to be performed would be perhaps indispensable, yet the greatest number of places to be filled occur among the ordinary clerkships or subordinate positions. For such positions, it must be confessed, there could be, without the slightest danger, some modification and relaxation of the rules which should render the examination less formidable, and more practical. The examinations are necessarily left to the Commission to arrange, but they are really to a great degree in the hands of the chief examiner and his assistants, the boards of examination in various places. The inference to be drawn by the outside public generally, who have no special information as to the duties of an ordinary clerkship in the government service, is, that the work required must necessarily be of a very difficult and special nature, involving the application of all the knowledge necessary for a successful examination. I do not wish, by any sort of expression or implication, to undervalue the position of a government clerkship; but as I am myself one of those people, I feel that I may be allowed to represent such facts as I am familiar with without hazarding such respect and dignity as the place may be worthy of. After a service of ten years in two of the largest bureaus of the government, and with much experience in various branches of work therein, as well as familiarity with and observation of the methods and requirements of all grades of clerkships, I am free to confess that between the requirements of the examinations as they exist and the education indispensable to the performance of clerical duty of any grade there is a very vast gulf. The most convincing proof of this statement is shown in the fact that there are at present great numbers of very capable and efficient persons performing clerical duties in the departments who could by no possibility pass a successful examination for the very positions they hold. While so much importance is attached to the civil service law, in its application to admission to the clerkships of the government, there are still left to the old political methods of the past one or two branches of the civil service which it would certainly seem equally important to have included in the provisions of such a law. I refer especially to the consular service. It has been a constant source of ridicule to this government from other nations, as well as from our own citizens traveling abroad, that in a vast number of instances, in all parts of the world, our government has been wofully disgraced by its representatives in the consular service. These positions have been more eagerly sought, and more persistently demanded, than any others under the government; and, being wholly outside of any law or regulation in the matter of appointments, have become to a great degree the reward to decayed politicians and unprincipled adventurers for services rendered in political warfare in times past. There is very much in the examinations for clerkships which could with much more practical propriety be applied in the test for consular appointments. A knowledge of geography, together with familiarity with the political history of our government, while of no special use to a clerk doing machine work day after day at a desk in a department, would be essentially important information to a person in the consular service. The importance of reformation in that branch of service cannot be too strenuously urged, and it is to be earnestly hoped that at a very early day the benefits of the civil service law may be extended to that branch, and remove it from the degrading influences of political and personal favor. I. E. VAIL. THE CRUISE OF THE UNITED STATES SLOOP-OF-WAR VINCENNES," CIRCUM- (Continued from page 585.) CHAPTER III. MARQUESAS ISLANDS. Noukahiva Bay-Beautiful Scenery-Chief Obooia-Visitors-Scanty Costumes of the Ladies-Prince Manoo-First Day Ashore-Queen Paytania-The Palace -Marital Items-Nude Girls-Rancid Unguents-Naked Fops-Sight-seeing -Native Minstrels-A Widow's Weeds and Vigil-Ladies' Day on BoardCommodore Porter's Experience-Toilets with Sun-rays-Buttons for FavorsWhale-teeth in Exchange for Provisions-Visit from Royalty-A Unique Dinner-party-Lamentations and Tobacco-Mark of Royalty-Coiffures-The Gospel declined-Happa Valley-A Domestic Coffin-A Desiccated Warrior— Fairy-land and Nude Copper-colored Fairies-Polynesian Luncheon-Cannibalism-Eating the Sacred Pig-Murder of the Eater-Our Search for the Murderer-Inducements to Settlers-Commodore Porter on the Morals of the Marquesasans. WE left the coast of Peru July 30, and sailed nearly a due west course for twenty days, before the southeast trade-winds, averaging one hundred and sixty miles per day, and made the Marquesas group of islands August 18. Hood's Island was the first we saw, and in two hours we were near Noukahiva. The day being too far advanced to get into port before dark, we hove-to during the night. On each island a fire blazed all night, lighted by the natives, to guide us. The next morning we ran down to Noukahiva and coasted along the shore. We were all on deck enjoying the beautiful scenery of towering mountains, rocky cliffs, and deep, narrow, verdant valleys. As we approached the Noukahiva Bay, which was Commodore Porter's headquarters during the war of 1812, a whale-boat met us with a pilot, which we welcomed as a slight evidence of civilization. With the pilot, who was an English sailor, married to a native, came a chief of the Typee Valley, named Obooia, husband of Queen Paytania, of the Noukahiva Valley. The chief's dress consisted of a narrow strip of native cloth passed between his legs and made fast round his legs. In lieu of other |