KNIGHTING OF THE BLACK PRINCE. in good earnest to discharge their bolts. The English archers waited their time; then, when the signal was given, after their wont, each one stepped forward one pace, and drew his bow to his ear. From this moment cloth-yard shafts snowed upon the Genoese. Their cumbrous and ill-jointed armor was pierced. They flung down their crossbows and fled precipitately. Philip was enraged; he cried: "Kill me the scoundrels, for they stop up our road without any reason!" The French knights did this, and cut down the Genoese as they came back. EDWARD III., pursued by Philip of France, knew that when once he had crossed the River Somme, the cavalry would be sent forward to harass his march; so he stopped at a place called Cressy. He selected a good position, a gently sloping hill, topped by a thick wood; there he drew up his men. The wood covered their rear, and on the flanks he dug deep ditches.. The ground he stood on had been part of his mother's dowry; he let his men know that, and thereby stimulated their determination to hold it. The Prince of Wales, called the Black Prince, from the color of his mail, the flower of European chivalry as long as he lived, who was now only in his seventeenth year, commanded the first line, having two old earls to help him; this was his first battle. Two other earls commanded the second line, and the King himself commanded the reserve. Each of the three lines contained about the same relative proportions of bill-men, men-at-mounted knights. The tumult was at arms and archers; the latter arm constituted nearly half of the whole force. He The French came on eagerly, secure of their victory. Philip was only afraid that Edward would escape him. winded his whole army in his hurry to overtake the English; and they were so excited that, when the front was ordered to halt, and stood still, it was pushed forward by the rear right up to the English front. Philip galloped about. madly, and at last got a sort of half order established; he, too, divided his army into three lines. The English had been sitting down in the ranks, quietly eating their dinners, and watching the surging sea of perspiring Frenchmen down below; but their practiced eyes saw the gradual restoration of order, and they jumped up and handled their weapons. Philip put foremost fifteen thousand of his Genoese bowmen. They had a taste of English fighting before, and at first they confined themselves, as a weapon of attack, to yelling discordantly. Then, when they came near enough, they commenced Meanwhile the English were pressing forward, and began to pick off the French knights as they struggled up the hill, over the down-trodden Genoese. A perfect confusion ensued, the wounded horses plunging madly amid the crowds of Genoese; and Welsh and Cornish men, armed with dirks, skulked into the mêlée, and stabbed the dis last in some degree abated. A blind man, the king of Bohemia, commanded in the front of Philip's army; he requested his squires to lead him into the thickest of the fight. They ranged themselves thickly around him, and he had knights on both hands. Those next him attached hand-reins to the bit of his charger, and then they all charged abreast upon the Black Prince and his men. Their second line supported them close behind, and the prince was very hard pressed. The Earl of Warwick sent off a knight at full gallop to beseech the king to bring forward the reserve. He was standing at the top of a windmill, studying the progress of the battle. When the messenger came up he said: "Is my son dead, unhorsed, or so badly wounded that he cannot support himself?" "Nothing of the sort," was the reply; "but he is in so hot a fight that he has great need of your help." "Tell him, then," answered the king, "to expect no aid from me. Let the boy win his spurs; for I am determined that, if it please God, all the ASSOCIATION INTELLIGENCE. glory and honor of this day shall be given to him, and to those into whose care I have entrusted him." The prince | did win his spurs; he held his ground against the fresh men of the French second line, under the Duke d'Alencon, and taking up the offensive, beat them right back on their reserve. That part of the French army, as yet unengagedfor its efforts to pass over the choked and narrow ground had been fruitlesswas now attacked by the heroic boy. They were broken and dispersed. Philip was pitched from his horse, and fled with only sixty companions; thus the battle of Cressy was gained. The French lost in it, one king, the blind monarch, twelve hundred knights, and English historians say, about thirty thousand soldiers. After the battle the king embraced his boy, and said: "Sweet son, you have this day shown yourself worthy of your spurs, and the crown for which you have so nobly fought. God grant you good perseverance!" Never did knight more royally receive the accolade.-Selected. LAUGHTER. Frequent and loud laughter is the characteristic of folly and ill-manners; it is the manner in which the mob express their silly joy at silly things; and they call it being merry. In my mind, there is nothing so illiberal and so illbred, as audible laughter. True wit or sense never yet made any body laugh; they are above it; they please the mind, and give a cheerfulness to the countenance. But it is low buffoonery, or silly accidents, that always excite laughter; and that is what people of sense and breeding should show themselves above. A man's going to sit down in the supposition that he has a chair behind him, 287 and falling down upon his breech for want of one, sets a whole company laughing, when all the wit in the world would not do it; a plain proof, in my mind, how low and unbecoming a thing laughter is; not to mention the disagreeable noise that it makes, and the shocking distortion of the face that it occasions. Many people, at first from awkwardness, have got a very disagreeable and silly trick of laughing whenever they speak; and I know men of very good parts who cannot say the commonest things without laughing, which makes those who do not know them take them at first for natural fools.-Chesterfield. it. Small talk-a baby's prattle. If you want knowledge, you must toil for it; if food, you must toil for it; and, if pleasure, you must toil for Toil is the law. Pleasure comes through toil, and not by self-indulgence and indolence. When a man gets to love work, his life is a happy and contented one. As we cannot judge of the motion of the earth by anything within the earth, but by some celestial point that is beyond it; so the wicked, by comparing themselves with the wicked, perceive not how far they are advanced in their iniquity; to know precisely what lengths they have gone, they must fix their attention on some bright and exalted character that is not of them, but above them. When all moves equally, says Pascal, nothing seems to move, as in a vessel under sail; and when all run by common consent into vice, nonė appear to do so. He that stops first, views as from a fixed point the horrible extravagance that transports the rest.-Colton. ASSOCIATION INTELLIGENCE. QUARTERLY CONFERENCE. A Quarterly Conference of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations was held in the Tabernacle, Ogden, on Sunday evening, April 17, 1881. The house was crowded. There were present on the stand, President Jos. F. Smith, C. W. Penrose and the Presidents of the most of the societies in the Stake. Superintendent Joseph A. West presiding. After singing and prayer, reports were given of the condition of the Associations, which indicated a favorable growth and a season of prosperity among the young. An interesting statistical report was read by the Secretary. There are twentyone Associations in the county, with a membership of eight hundred and thirty; eight libraries, with a value of three hundred and sixty-four dollars, and eight manuscript papers. During the past year, sixty-six thousand one hundred and twenty-eight chapters have been read, seven hundred and eighty three lectures given, and six hundred and thirty-five testimonies borne. Elder C. W. Penrose addressed the audience, giving choice instructions to the young on the efficacy of prayer and the existence of God. He was followed by Prest. Jos. F. Smith, who, relating anecdotes of Job, Abraham, Daniel, and the Hebrew Children, beautifully illustrated how implicit faith in God ends in blessings, welfare and prosperity. The Stake Association officers were sustained as formerly. The choir sang an anthem, and conference adjourned for three months. E. H. Anderson, Secretary Weber Stake Y. M. M. I. A. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. "AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND POEMS," by Hannah Cornaby. For sale at Spanish Fork, Utah Co., and at the Exponent Office. Price $1.00. This new literary home production is one deserving public recognition. The Autobiography is quite interesting, presenting familiar scenes in the journeying of the Saints from abroad, and their experience as pioneers, in the unmurmuring spirit of patience and devotion that God gives His people in their hours of trial. The Poems breathe the same kind feeling, and though mostly of a personal nature, intended for the comfort of individual friends, are meritorious, and may be read with pleasure by all. "A STRING OF PEARLS," and "LEAVES FROM MY JOURNAL," published at the Juvenile Instructor Office. These are the second and third books of the Faith Promoting Series, and are full of interesting and profitable matter for young readers. Price 25 cents each. The Youth's Companion comes regularly from the publishers, Mason, Perry & Co., Boston. It is altogether the finest. weekly juvenile journal published in America. We have never yet seen an article in its pages with an objectionable moral. "HOW WE FED THE BABY," is the title to a small work by Dr. Page, of New York. It is one containing very many valuable suggestions to parents on dieting their children and feeding them regularly and properly, from the earliest hours of infancy until grown. Its arguments are apparently based on the belief that "more deaths occur from over feeding than from starvation;" a statement in which we have undoubting confidence. Published by Fowler & Wells, New York. Price 50 cents. "A CENTURY OF DISHONOR," by H. H., is a sketch of the United States Government's dealings with some of the Indian tribes. It is a work of very great interest to the sympathizers with the poor aborigines, whose unjust and inhuman treatment at the hands of Government and modern civilization calls for the liveliest interest from humanitarians and philan thropists. We hope the book will exert the influence it is designed to, and lead those in power to modify their methods in the management of Indian matters. The people of Utah, who understand the Indians, will be much interested in this book. Published by Harper Brothers, New York, and for sale at Jos. H. Parry's book store, Salt Lake City. IV. HISTORICAL EVIDENCES CONSIDERED. IN the preceding number we traced the historic migrations, from the old to the new world, of Votan and the seven families whom he led by divine command to this continent. We likewise made brief extracts from the Book of Mormon, showing that a similar commandment had been given by the Lord to the brother of Jared, who led, under divine instruction, a small colony to America. The two accounts evidently refer to the same persons and circumstances; the account of the peregrinations of the one colony being almost, if not entirely, identical with the other. In this number we desire to make further comparisons, and to briefly note the historical account of this remarkable character and founder of the Votanic dynasty, under which the first peopling of America was accomplished. "The achievements of Votan in the new world were as great as any of the heroes of antiquity. His great city, named Nachan (city of the serpents), from his own race, which was named Chan, a serpent. This Nachan is unquestionably identified with Palenque." De Bourbourg fixes the founding of this city shortly after the journeyings of Vo- | tan, 1000 B. C.; while Garcia Pelaez states that Votan founded Culhuacan, or Palenque, in the year 3000 of the world. "The kingdom of the serpents flourished so rapidly that Votan founded three tributary monarchies, whose capitals were Tulan, Mayapan, and Chiquimula. The former is supposed to have been sit uated about two leagues east of the town of Ococingo; Mayapan is well known to have been the capital of Yucatan, and Chiquimula is thought to have been Copan, in Honduras. Votan deposited a great treasure at Huehuetan, in Soconusco, which he left under the vigilant care of a guard directed by one of the most honorable women of the land. Finally, he wrote a book in which he recorded his deeds and offered proof of his being a Chane (or serpent.) This ancient document, which is claimed to have been written by one of Votan's descendants, of the eighth or ninth generation, and not by himself, was in the Tzendal language, a dialect or branch of the Maya, spoken in Chiapas and around Palenque. Its history is, however, quite checkered, and the information which it contained comes very indirectly. For generations the Votanic document was scrupulously guarded by the people of Tacoalya, in Soconusco, but was finally discovered by Francisco Nuñez de la Vega, bishop of Chiapas. In the preamble of his Constituciones, sec. xxx, he claims to have read this document, but it is probable that only a copy, still in the Tzendal language but written in Latin characters, had come into his possession. He fails to give any definite information from the document except the most general statements with reference to Votan's place in the calendar, and his having seen the Tower of Babel, at which each people was given a new language. He states that he could have made more revelations of the history of Votan from this document but for bringing up the old have typified the lifting up, or crucifixion of the Savior. So that, as in the wilderness, those who were bitten unto death had life again, by looking up to the emblem which was raised in their midst to secure their temporal salvation; so, in like manner, all who die from the effects of the bite inflicted by the serpent upon Adam shall live again through the atoning blood and redeeming power of Jesus. idolatry of the people and perpetuating it. ] temptation of the serpent; and we also With the zeal of a true Vandal, the bishop committed the dangerous documents, together with the treasure which he claims Votan to have buried in the dark-house, to the flames in 1691. There seems to have been other copies, however, of this remarkable manuscript, for about the close of the eighteenth century, Dr. Paul Felix Cabrera was shown a document in the possession of Don Ramon de Ordoñez y Aguiar, a resident of Ciudad Real in Chiapas, which purported to be the Votanic memoir."-Short, pp. | 205-7. In connection with this brief extract there are several important points which demand the careful attention of the read er. First, let us consider the evident ruling desire of Votan to perpetuate, in his own name, and in that of the capital city of the extensive empire founded by him, the greatness and glory typified by a serpent; which, throughout the entire history of the Quichés, Olemecs, Toltecs or Nahua races, is found to be an emblem of power. The vivifying force in nature, "the god of the harvest and of the air," "the vapor clouds and vernal showers with their refreshing and fructifying influences," giving life, light and being a deity as personified by Quetzalcoatl among the Nahuas, Gucumatz among the Quichés, and Cukulcan among the Mayas, each meaning, when translated, identically the same thing, namely, "feathered," or "plumed," or "winged" serpent. When Moses led the children of Israel from bondage into the wilderness, we learn that they were on a certain occasion grievously afflicted by fiery serpents, whose bite inflicted death. God, however, commanded Moses to make a serpent of brass, and to lift it up upon a pole, in the midst of the people, so that all who had been bitten might be healed through the exercise of faith prompting obedience to the commandment requiring them to look upon the brazen serpent which was lifted up, that they might not perish. In this we find represented the death wrought by Satan in the Garden of Eden, when our parents yielded to the With this view, it would hardly seem reasonable to suppose that Votan, who had led a colony from Babel to this land, had written a book to prove that he was the descendant, or the representative of the powers or excellencies of an ordinary serpent, or common reptile. He, having acted under divine command, is it not far more reasonable and consistent, and more in harmony with the leading idea of the primitive inhabitants of the continent, that he sought to perpetuate, in his own name, and in the name of his great capital, the healing, redeeming, revivifying, characteristic powers of Christ Jesus our Lord? Recent explorations, by Charnay,at Palenque go far to prove that it was built, if not entirely, almost wholly as a city of worship-a place for the performance of religious ordinances and ceremonies. When we consider this fact in connection with the testimony already herein given of the bishop of Chiapas, "that he could have made more revelations of the history of Votan from this document but for bringing up the old idolatry of the people and perpetuating it," we can readily understand that Votan was not only a hero, an empire founder, a great leader, but was more than all these-a deeply religious character. As to what the early Catholic bishops and clergy were pleased to consider the idolatry of the Indians at the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico and Peru, we, need only mention how they endeavored to account for the remarkable knowledge, with which they found the primitive inhabitants familiar, pertaining to Jewish laws, customs and ceremonies, and pertaining to the Gospel plan of human redemption, namely, “that the devil, seeing the effects of these |