place. The present Committee, therefore, had only to carry out this contract. They deserve neither the credit of it if it is a good plan, nor the blame of it if it is bad. The change, at first, does not strike one pleasantly. We have left large and sunny rooms for a smaller one, into which no sun enters. But perhaps this loss will be more than balanced by the fact of greater accessibility, and by the concentration of our denominational interest around a good business centre. The new room is not unpleasant either, and promises to become a centre of usefulness. May it prove so! The Secretary is usually at the office a little after one o'clock every day. He has continued to attend to the affairs of the Association, has kept the records and conducted the correspondence, has written a hundred and twelve letters on business of the Association during the last three months, and made arrangements for conducting this Monthly Journal. The Executive Committee has held its monthly meetings as usual. The places of Dr. Stebbins, who declined serving, and of Mr. Thomas Hill, who has gone to Antioch, have been filled by the election of George Livermore, Esq., and Rev. William Newell, D.D. In closing this Quarterly Report, and looking back upon the past year, we cannot but feel that the year has been, in some respects, one of discouragement. We have lost from the denomination two excellent men, Mr. Coolidge and sorry when such Dr. Huntington. We cannot but be men leave the independent position which they have hitherto occupied to go where their minds must henceforth be limited by the requirements of a dogmatic system. While with us, they were free. There is nothing of true and good in the spirit and substance of Orthodoxy which they could not believe and teach. Was it worth while to leave this independent position for the sake of calling them selves technically Orthodox? No doubt, they have gone where they have a larger field; but is it as good a one? Their field before was the world: their field now is the church. Before, they could preach to those who did not believe their thoughts: now they preach to those who already believe them. We think they have made a mistake; and, though they will work hereafter attended with more sympathy from the religious world, their real success will be less. Henceforth it will be their business to take care of the ninety and nine sheep who have not gone astray, not to search after the one lost sheep; for only those who belong to the heretical sects have full access to the sceptical mind of the land. For our own part, we find work enough to do among the Unitarians, and ask no better place in the vineyard than this. All which is respectfully submitted. JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE, NEWS FROM THE CHURCHES. WE shall occasionally publish under this head such extracts from our letters as may interest our readers. We give an extract this month from friend Ames, who has lately begun a society and church of Christian believers in Bloomington, Ill. : — "JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE. "BLOOMINGTON, Ill., Dec. 4, 1859. "Sir and Brother, I beg pardon for so long delaying to report myself to you, as I know how genuine is the interest you feel in all that concerns our enterprise here; and I am also mindful of how much that enterprise owes to your efforts and kind words. Perhaps I might have been still longer negligent; but my wife just suggested, that, by writing immediately, I might put you in a way to say a cheering word as from Bloomington in January's Journal. "The Free Congregational Society is doing finely, and well maintains all its early promise for usefulness and thrift. Not that I can speak of it as deeply or thoroughly religious; but there are cheering proofs that the members do somewhat hunger and thirst after righteousness for its own blessed sake. We number sixty-nine names. Our meetings were resumed on the last sabbath in October; and though, for several sabbaths, we have had unfavorable weather, the average attendance has been about a hundred and seventy. Last sabbath was fair. Present in the morning, two hundred and ten; evening, two hundred and twenty-five. Our hall is pleasant, favorably located, and large; so that we can remain in present quarters, and still grow. "Our sabbath school was organized, two weeks ago, with an efficient superintendent in the person of Dr. Willard, former Professor of English Literature in the State Normal University. There are some over fifty in the juvenile classes; and a still larger number gather in the conversational Bible classes, which we hope to make a leading feature of the school. Our library and hymn-books- the gift of Unitarians in Massachusetts will be of great service. "A'Sociable' or Mite Society, once a fortnight, promises to be a blessing, and to make us know each other better. And I ought not to forget, that we have a choir of about twenty-five persons, which comes nearer congregational singing, to say the least, than your fashionable folly of quartet and organ. "So, taking it all in all, you will see that we have made a good beginning, unless it should prove that we are starting at the top of the hill. Need I add, that not one of the other religious societies in the city seems to know of our existence ? "In haste and love, VOL. I. 3 "C. G. AMES." BOOK NOTICES. Almost a Heroine. By the Author of "Charles Auchester" and "Counterparts." Boston: Ticknor and Fields. Whatever else may be said of this book, it certainly cannot be called commonplace. The characters are almost all so exceptional as to be impossible. They give one no idea of living persons, but seem like the figments of a dream. They "Come like shadows, so depart." They are painted, too, with all the minute touches which one frequently sees in a vivid and feverish dream, when every thing seems very real, and, at the same time, quite incredible. First we have a virtuoso, who passes his life in collecting a museum, which, together with his large fortune, he leaves to his servant, as great an oddity, by the way, as himself, and one wholly without the sphere of American experience. Then comes a benevolent nobleman, who gives his time to the practice of medicine and the keeping of a private madhouse; to which asylum several of the characters (not without cause), in turn, repair for treatment. This noble practitioner is the Deus ex machinâ; and, whenever any of the dramatis personæ become too deeply involved in the toils of fate or the fangs of disease, enters Lord Lyndfield, and, either in the way of regular treatment or by magnetic influence, the cure is effected. The book is in the form of an autobiography; and one may read it half through without being quite able to decide whether the author is man or woman. And as to the title, "Almost a Heroine," we are at this moment unable to say if it belongs to Horatia, who married Arnold Major, or to Erselie, who did not marry Ernesto Loftus. The leading topic of "Charles Auchester" is music; that of the present work seems to be the healing art. At first sight, there does not appear to be much connection between them; but, upon reflection, it occurs to us that Apollo was the patron deity both of music and medicine. Sword and Gown. By the Author of "Guy Livingstone." Boston: Ticknor and Fields. This volume describes the contest between an English Churchman and a fierce dragoon for the control of a brilliant belle, called, for her many triumphs, "The Refuser." Any one who has read "Guy Livingstone" will anticipate that the sword carries the day. Like that work, this one is written in a terse and vigorous style. The sketches of character are very graphic, and the dialogue is easy and natural. Nothing vague or indistinct here: the author goes to his mark as straight as a rifle-bullet. Like Walter Scott and Charles Kingsley, this is a muscular writer. He delights in battle; his combativeness is immense; and his heroes, whether with fist or sword, are invincible champions. If novel-writing at this day is to perform the function of the drama in Shakspeare's time, "to hold the mirror up to nature, to show Virtue her own feature, and Scorn her own image," then vigorous and well-drawn pictures of life, though deformed sometimes by weakness and sin, may not be useless. Among the faults of the book is a tendency to a pedantic display of Greek, Latin, and French; the more unnecessary, as the writer knows so well how to use the English tongue. True Womanhood: A Tale. By JOHN NEAL. Boston: Ticknor and Fields. Some of us, who are old enough to remember the days of Andrew the Dictator, can recollect the earlier novels of John Neal, such as "Randolph," " Logan," "Seventy-six." Belonging, as we do, to that elderly class, we read those works when published; and our impression of them is, that, although written with some power, they never were popular books. After a long silence, Mr. Neal comes again before the public as a writer of fiction; induced by reasons which he gives in the preface, such as the request of friends, and a laudable desire to bear his testimony to the belief that women have souls. To |