Our Archaeological Corner.

word " weeds meant clothing , as is the case with "widow ' s weeds" now-a-days ; " tide" was " time , " aud so it is now , as witness Whitsuntide ; but it used to mean the times aA which the sea ebbed and flowed rather than the waters which so ebbed and flowed ; " edify" used to mean to buildso

, it does now in a sermon , and " edifice" still means a building . The book is not very original , but it is suggestive , and inclines one more and more to think about such words as have shifted their meaning . There are still rustics who don't know the

antithesis of " quick and dead , " nor the legitimate meaningof the word " prevent , " the common proverb " Prevention is better than cure" having helped to divert the meaning .

" The Dunmow Flitch , ' contended for now with revived form and ceremony , like a good many other ancient customs that had begun to go out with the going out of village fairs , finds chrimauts in all jiarts ; - and this year the Isle of Wi ght has gained the prize . A clergyman and his wife who

had sent in their names did not appear , so Ventnor , Isle of Wight , carried off the flitch and the credit . Did the clergyman quarrel with his wife after he sent in his name ? Of course ] < ot ; but he shunned to tell in the world ' s market-place that he could live

, as if it were a wonderful thing , for a year and a day in domestic peace . This Dunmow Flitch celebration is a good thing one way ; it must smite the consciences of many married people after their first

quarrel . Ah , that first quarrel ! How many are there that never had a first quarrel . If they never had a first they never had a second , " Homely wisdom . " Yes , sir , and sn intended Solomon and Solon , to say nothing of Socrates ( whose wife was a tartaryou

, remember ) , might have penned something harder and wiser , but they would not frown upon homely sayings . "The custom was founded by Juga , a noble lady , in 1111 , and restored b y Kobert de Fitzwalter in 1244 ; and this

custom was that any person , from any part of England [ poor Scotland and poor Irelaud !] going to Dunmow , in Essex , and humbly kneeling on two stones at the church-door , may claim a gammon of bacon

Our Archaeological Corner.

if he can swear that for twelve mon ths and a day he has never had a household brawl or wished himself unmarried . " The oldest of all newspapers is the Pekin Gazette , which was a newspaper before

William the Conqueror was a king . It has a yellow cover , ten pages of matter , but no pictures , stories , advertisements (" ads" they ' re too often called in these abbreviating days ) , marriages , or Subscribers 1 It is simply a Government paper of notices and an official chronicle .

NOUNS OF MULTITUDE : RATHER PUZZLING . A little girl was near the picture of a number of ships , when she exclaimed , " See what a flock of ships ! " We corrected her by saying that a flock of ships

was called a fleet , and a fleet of sheep was called a flock And here we may add , for the benefit of the foreigner who is mastering the intricacies of our language iu respect of nouns of multitude , that a flock of wolves is called a pad ; and a pack of

, thieves is called a gang , and a gang of angels is called a host , and a host of porpoises is called a shoal , and a shoal of buffaloes is called a troop , and a troop of partridges is called a covey , and a covey of beauties is called a galaxy , and a galaxy

of ruffians is called a horde , aud a horde of rubbish is called a heap , aud a heap of oxen is called a drove , and a drove of blackguards is called a mob , and a mob of worshippers is called a congregation , and a congregation of engineers is called a corps

, and a corps of robbers is called a band , and a band of locusts is called a swarm , and a swarm of people is called a crowd , and a crowd of gentlefolk is called the elite , and a miscellaneous crowd of city folk is called the community or the public .

Address Of P.G.M. Bro. Honrichard Vaux, At Centennial Of American Union Lodge.

ADDRESS OF P . G . M . BRO . HONRICHARD VAUX , AT CENTENNIAL OF AMERICAN UNION LODGE .

( Continued from payc 141 . ) When God spoke to Noah and taught him the Truth he was to learn , and all the generations after him , the testimony and