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\ V. r t-;-, ' I IlTTLE M 5K !c A CHILD OF | :::::: by b. l. CHAPTiSR I. 1 How Thomas Dexter Made His Money. jmOOQirelS age was fifty-seven; hers If a i I se*en an<* a half- His $ K-J ^ name was Thomas Dexter; w* hers Little Make-Believe. , 5?5I6<6<6*>k He was a crooked, ugly, pock-marked little man; she a crooked, ugly, pock-marked little girl. He was a general dealer; so was she. His.shop was situated in the heart of Clare Market, which some people with fastidious notions call Lincoln's Inn Fields, The persons thus fastidiously in?1 ' > ><3 " ^ 4- V? r? w? n}> ArlrtO 11T7 I'UIJCU itUU WliU Li-l UO, U1CIUpJJVl *VU*JJ , turn up their noses at Clare Market, are dwellers therein, and being .genteelly inclined to wish to disguise the fact, resembling in this respect other persons .higher in the social scale who reside in Bayswater and call it Hyde Park, to the confusion of the simpleminded cabmen (if any such exist) and unsuspicious friends from the country, j Thomas Dexter gave himself no such airs. Clare Market was good enough for him, and his ambition, in a residential way, did not extend beyond it. j St} , \ . Thirty-three years had passed over his head since, with his own hands, he painted on his shop windows the words, "Dexter, General Dealer," there not being room for "Thomas." Time and dust had eaten into this Bign and quite obliterated it, as in due course they would eat into Thomas Dexter and quite obliterate him. When the painted letters of the legend on his shop windows were fresh and bright Thomas Dexter, also fresh and bright, commenced business with exactly ?14 in gold, which be found, on the evening of his father's funeral, tied y np in an old nightcap, in.a hard lump flose to the tassel. He had come home sad of lace and r. *t heart from the churchyard in which his old friend and relative lay buried. He .was not given to sentiment, but lie and his father had been comrades for many a long year, and it was natural that he should feel melancholy in his loneliness. ! There was another reason for sadbeartedness; he had spent his last shilling on his father's funeral. "Tom," his father had said to him in , his dying moments, "there's something nrAWhinrr nn m v mlnr? 19 V? ?J ? "Out with it, father," said Thomas Dfexter, "if it'll ease yer." * \ "I was born in this here neighbor, tiood," continued the old man, "and so iwas you, my boy. Lord, don't I remember the night you come into the (jvorld! And now I'm a-going out of it It was a Saturday night, and I was two mile away with my barrer in Tottenham Court road, where I had a pitch. The old woniaivwas with me, looking arter the tin, and she sed to me about it).o'clock: 'Father,' sed shev, 'I feel a bit queerish; I think I'd best go home.' 'All right, old girl,' sed I,''trot off; I'll Manage without yer.' 'Don't worry About me,' she sed, smiling at me a6 Bhe walked away; 'it's only a spasm.' 'That was you, Tom?you was the *pasm. It was past 12 afore I got tiame, and I no sooner put my head in at the door than I knew I was a father in real earnest, for you salooted me (with a squall which you kept up, on and off, for a matter of three months, I should, say. You and the old woman iwas laying on this very bed, in this pery room. It's rum to think on, ain't it? It was sharp work, but your mother was sharp at anythink she set her mind on. She'd hardly time to throw herself on the bed afore you rras born. The room was dark, to?? almost as dark as it is now." f , "Why, father," said Thomas Dexter, v "it's broad* daylight and the sun's a-shining right into the winder!" "You'll allow me to know/' murmured the old man, with a fretful sigh. r.<. "I can see when it's dark and when it'g light. I ain't dead yet, my boy. Tom, I've a sort of notion that I'm wandering. Where was I, my bey?" . ?ii... in IMS room, wnere muiuer confined." "No?afore that! Whore was I afore \ I come home that night?" "In Tottenham Court road, with the Uarrer." "No, no, no! Afore that! Give a cove n leg up. What was I saying fust of all?" "That you was horn in this here neighborhood." "That's it?that's what's weighing on my mind! I was born in Clare Market, and there ain't a mau, woman or child hereabouts as don't know me, and as won't know presently that I'm a dead 'un. Tom* I shouldn't like to be taken out of the workshop in a shabby i eort of way. Don't shove me under *he turf as if I was a pauper. Do it 5n style, old pal, and bury me with feathers!" The thing -was done. The old man (was buried with feathers, and Thomas Dexter experienced a solemn satisfaction as he gazed at the sable plumes, emblems of trumpbant woe, which nodded at him in approval of his dutiful regard to his father's last wish. In the evening he looked over the old man's clothes to decide which to keep for personal wear and which to dispose of for a new start in life. Under the mattress was his father's nightcap, which, as he moved the bed. fell v?ph a thud upon the floor. Picking it up quickly and loosening the knot with bis '?' . leetb, fourteen pieces of bright gold came into view; also a paper, upon which was written: "For my boy, Tom. If lie's buried me with feathers, they'll bring him luck." Deliriously delighted at the discovery of the treasure. Thomas Dexter clapped the old-fashioned nightcap on his head and danced about ihe room to a tune of his own composing, the music being the jingling of the- sovereigns in the hollowed palms of his bands. ^ ?Tbe next morning, being in a mere KF-RFIIFVF1 L 1 1 -I?I J?/ A? J? I J_ad R JL^ 111 THE SLUMS. 1 farjeon. :::::: |JJJ composed frame of mind, he toot th shop down stairs, which happened t be let, and set up as his own master. He attended auctions and bough odds and ends. Nothing in the regula way at regular prices. He knew a trick worth two of thai He had a craze for the antique. Any thing in that line?chipped and crackei china, never mind how chipped am cracked; rickety old furniture, neve mind how rickety; miscellaneous lot? the more miscellaneous the better'these were his hobby. And sorqe kirn nf imnrt liic.t or cood ludement. or botJ combined, stood always at his elbow invisibly guarding bis interests. These ugly, crooked, pock-marke< little men generally prosper, especial); if they live on bread and salt butter, o bread and no butter, with an occs sional herring ,and an ample supply o potatoes, with perhaps, at Jong inter vals, a little bit of meat; wisely seleci ed, and bought on the political econom principle. And what finer spot in all the wid world for living economically is ther than Clare Market, where the cheat ening process goes on unceasingly th whole year through, from early in th morning till late in the nfght, when th grease and tar lamps are flaring in th wind? Little Maae-Believe could have tol you something about that. She was 'intimately acquainted wit1 all the entanglements and tortuou windings of Clare Market, and, youn as she was, had grown in the habit o lingering by the side of pale-face< women who stood before the butcher' board striving to coax the man in th I V.1 ? ? nnpnn +/% +olja O VlfllffYPnTl' U1 UC iiaiiUCi apiuu IV lunv m -( a pound les6, or at least to cut off i little of the superfluoos fat with whicl the meat was fringed?efforts whicl were very rarely successful. When Little Make-Believe witnesse< the conclusion of such a bargain sh would run to some convenient window sill, wbere with ai? imaginary knlf< , she would cut away ail the imaginar; fat from an imaginary piece of meat and band it to an imaginary poor worn an, saying, with the air of a trade: who is doing a splendid stroke of busi ness: * * "There! Will that suit yer at tup pence a pound * Never mind the money Pay me when yer like!" ? At the end of thirty-three years .yoi might have multiplied by fourteen thi fourteen sovereigns Thomas Dexte found in his father's old-fashione< nightcap, and have multipled tha again by fourteen, and you would stil have fallen short of the extent of hi riches. Not that he had any idea how mucl he was worth. That he had no dispo +/\ nnnnt a rH tr] fiat nvpr hi] OIUV/U IV VVUUW MUV? ? ? money and possessions was a sufficien proof that the grain of his nature wa not mercenary. He was simply a man engrossed ii his business, and he attended to i patiently and shrewdly until his sho] became crowded with the stranges collection of odds and ends that weri ever gatherel under one roof. He took premises at the back of hi ! shop, and almost before he could lool around they became crowded also. 01< armor, old brasses, old carvings, oli lace, old enamels, old furniture, fillet every nook and corner,' and when i certain erratic taste for anything an cient and hideous came into vogue i was as good as a little fortune to him Prosperity did not change him in th least. From a crooked, ugly, pock marked young man, he grew into : crooked, ugly, pock-marked middle aged man, and further on into i crooked, ugly, pock-marked old man. Despising everything new, he neve from the day he set up as his owi master wore a new coat, a new hat, o a new pair of boots. Anything secom hand in the way of clothing suited hir if it was large enough, and as it wa not the slightest consequence if it wer many sizes too large, his appearanc generally wa? that of a clumsily done up bundle. As for the money he accumulated, h kept it anywhere except in a bank?ii corners of his shop not accessible t customers, under the flooring, in th broken ceiling, in the walls, in ol< fiddles, in cobwebbed crevices, tied u] in bits of old calico and canvas an< chamois leather bags. Some of these packages looked lik diminutive legs of mutton; some lik fingers and thumbs with large breai poultices on them. He bad the greatest difficulty i: squeezing himself of a night into th 1 little room at the back of his shop i which he slept, so packed was it wit valuable oddments. Suspended over his head, in the shap of a net, by means of pieces of strin tied to the bare rafters of the oeilinj V*%c? f o 4 V> /->?.* o >iurl\i/inn O 11 lO 1UIUUI O iJ 1 j-, JJ LVt\ J7, luv. IUOOV1) H you looked up, being the first part of j that met your eves. 9 * A man of imagination might hav conjured up the outlines of old Dexter' ghost standing on his head in his nighi cap in reversal of the laws of natur< with his legs sticking upward throug the roof. Into this nightcap Thomas Dexter fc many years had.been in the habit c throwing an odd piece of gold or silve upon every occasion of hi.s making good bargain, and it was now so heai iFy weighted that, as he lay abed ga: ing at it, there was really a danger c the strings giving way and of its fal ing upon his crooked nose and ma kin it crookeder. But he did not'attempt to remove thi constant source of danger. He r< garded his father's nightcap with sr perstitious reverence, and he had a fea that if he shifted its position, even b a hair's breadth, it might change hj luck. He lived all alone, -without chick c child. Be washed and cooked and di (everything for himself. If Cupid hafl ^possessed a rusty antiquated arrow, hi? might have sent it in the direction of Dexter's shop; but Cupid's arrows are always new and brightly polished, and 'such shining articles would have been completely wasted upon this dealer in oddg and ends. One arrow, indeed, bad found its way to Thomas Dexter's heart, but that was many years ago, and he was now fa6t growing to be an old man,\without a soul in tJbe world to love or take care of him. As for an occasional kiss from or upon a pair of fresh young lips, he had forgotten the tasto of such a thing?assuming, of course, that he ever had enjoyed it. Kissing, indeed! What time did any G person'stippose Thomas Dexter had for 0 kissing! ^ * ' CHAPTER IT. r Vhomas Dexter's Romance, t. The slight reference to the arrow - which many years ago had found its 1 way to Thomas Dexter's heart fur[1 nishes material for detail?which shall r be brief as woman's love. Yes, Thomas Dexter had had his ro mance. & The scene was Clare Market, the time I) twelve years ago. He was treating himself to a cheap stroll through the j busy thoroughfares when, stopping for ! d a moment at.s. vegetable stall, his J y eyes suddenly met the eys of Polly t Cleaver. 1 i- She was no stranger to him, being a f native of the locality. He must have ! - 6een her thousands of times, and he ( ^ t- had never given her a thought; cer- 1 y tainly it never entered his mind to pay ] her the slightest attention. e But his time had now arrived?and \ e the woman. A magnetic spark flashed ] >- from Polly's eyes into his. Thomas i e Dexter's heart was lost, and Polly 1 e Cleaver was the winner/ ( e Love is blind; but to be blind is not e necessarily to be foolish. ' Mortals deprived of sight are, as a J rule, shrewd enough. Some are cun- j ning; some are cruel; few are thor- j h oughly simple. i s Love is an exception, however, being t g frequently foolish as well as blind, f Of course it was Saturday night. If I any prince in disguise wished to seek s for adventure in London street, let him e select Saturday night for the enter- i y prise. | < ji Then come out the toilers and moil! ers, the pleasure-seekers, the pain- J a reapers. 1 Girls who have been at work all the 1 week flit about like butterflies, and en- j e joy blissful moments, meeting their . lovers, and helping to fill the theatres , e and music halls. ^ y The streets and public houses are thronged; the sky is lurid with the re- , . flection of myriad gas jets. j r From - the garrets 'and the cellars f _ creep strange' figures into the light?the old, the decrepit, the solitary drinker, i the stranger among millions, the man o whom nobody knows, the child whom s nobody owns, the wretch in hiding, the 1 3 undiscovered murderer. It is the holiday hour of the week. * Polly Cleaver was not alone. Her ? j father was by her side, with a glass or two, or more correctly speaking, the j contents of a pewter pot or two in him. r In which respect Polly was his match, * and therefore, prudence might have ? suggested, no match for Thomas Dexter. But when was love prudent? t g The girl was not even pretty, and she a t and her family were certainly not re: spectable. All sorts of queer stories of ( Polly's "goings on" were current. I Thomas Cleaver did not think of this ; t when he went home on that Saturday | c night with the image of Polly Cleaver ' j. in his mind's eye. r g Polly Cleaver?Polly Cleaver! He could ' think of nothing but Polly : I Cleaver. i t What eyes she had! What a com- * j plexion! What a laughing mouth, ^ wnat large wmte teetn. tie laeanzeu j every feature in her face, every movement of her body. The man was possessed. ^ He passed a bad night, and he might ! have had a fever had he not found his e way to Polly Cleaver's lodgings on the following day, which in the natural a order of time was Sunday. Mr. Cleaver, who had been all his life R a carpenter out of work, met Thomas Dexter on the stairs', as that love-lorn mortal was mounting to the second a floor back, in which the Cleqvers rer sided. (j "Hallo!" cried Mr. Cleaver. "What Q brings you here?" g What could Thomas Dexter reply to e this straigbf thrust except, "I've come e to see how Polly is." (To be Continued.) Holt Conceal! Automobile Number*. e The new proprietor of a popular a roadhouse in Warwick has been great0 ly annoyed by the idle curiosity dis? played by some automobilists as to 11 the identity of others who patronize p his place. ^ It is quite natural for a man who, being out for a turn in the evehing e with his wife, drops into the resort in e question for a coo'.ing drink or a little lunch, to prefer to remaining incognito. But when the automobiles run n under a shed from which the rege istry number shines forth for all to n see, like a good deed in a naughty ll . .L,... it. _ wonu, it is ine easiest iujuk ju iuc world for some other party to drive up, I e look over the numbers and when out A ? on the road pull out a registry book. ? find out thf names of the persons who c s owned tbe machines and cause them a e good deal of discomfort over the telephone the foliowing day. < e This, according to the roadhouse * s keeper, has been a favorite pastime ; ever since he took hold of the place, and he gave a good deal of thought to j 11 meeting the difficulties. Finally be ( evolved a scheme. Nowadays, when j ?r inquisitive people ?eek to learn, by \ if looking at registry numbers, who is i r in the hotel, thoy find the number > a plates covere<l with a bag, which effectually thwarts their sinister de- < s- signs.?rrovidenee Journal. i > a | ' 1- She Conlrt Supply the Need. i 1 g "I have a handsome home." he sag1- ; ! gested. is "With all the modern conveniences?" s- she asked. ( l- "No?o,'? he answered slowly; "not tr all. One is lacking." 4 y "What is it?" she inquired, is "A wife," he replied. 1 Then she managed to convey the as-i i >r surance to him tbat one was to be had < a (or the asking. 1 n > HIM EVENTS OF rHEEIj' "WASHINGTON. j Tn the Senate the hill ftrMhe govern- i mcnt of the Panama Canal zone, abu!- ' isbin? the present commission, was*] 3 passed. Washinston reports stat?? that one 01 I President Castro's political foes is it i New York getting the sinews of wni for the revolt against Venezuela's i President, long predicted. It is alleged that Government officials have evidence to prove that the West ern railroads entered into a conspir- ] ac.v with the Beel' Trust to shut out 1 competition. 1 Representatives of the Department I , of Justice in American ports on the j Gulf of Mexico have been instructed 1 to closely guard against the clearance I < of any filibustering expeditions against j j Guatemala. This was done at the re- j ; cjuest of the Guatemalan Government, j . General Morteza Xhan. who succeeds i l General Isaac Khan as Persian Minis- | ! ter to Washington, was formally re- | ; ceived at the White House by Presi- j dent Roosevelt. j 1 i | OUR ADOPTED ISLANDS. The House of Delegates of Porto : ! Rico, sitting at San Juan, has passed | 1 in eviction law which will bear very j severely upon certain tenants. Several : ] meetings have been held to denounce j ? the bill, and other popular demonstrations have been made against it. j ; Major Carrington, who was convict- , I ?d of falsifying vouchers of the Phil- j < ippine civil government to the amount ; ; sf $1500, was sentenced at Manila to a ! i total of sixty years and five days' im- . prisonment. ! \ Lurid flames and dense volumes of ! 1 :hick smoke poured from the crater | . Rilniion nofii- T-Trmolnln H T and the i ' nbabitants at tlie foot hills of the j . mountain were alarmed lest they be I } )verwhelmed with a sea of molten lava, j The Porto Rico Legislature has j aassed a law. which Governor Win- : :hrop will approve, for the maintenance of a permanent representative n the United States, with headquar- ; :ers in New York, to promote the oomnercial interests of the island and. paricularly, those of coffee growers. \ ___ j DOMESTIC. | The .bill intended to abolish the j 'fake" Raines law hotels was favor- | tbly reported from the Senate Cities ! Committee at Albany. N. Y. I Amendments to the Metropolitan | Slection law were introduced in both j louses at Albany, N. Y. Russian naval officers who were pa- j oled after their capture at Port Ar- j hur arrived in New York City. |, The heavy ice gprge in the Ohio at j ilaysville went out, doing serious dam- i j Seventeen young men arrived in New ' fork City from Argentine Republic to >ursue studies in various colleges for j our years. j The Court of Appeals at Albany, N. {., granted a postponement in the case if Albert T. Patrick to enable his coun- 1 el to prepare new evidence, based on j ? eceiit medico-legal investigation. I Johann Hoch was held without bail j >y a coroner's jury in Chicago. 111., on j i charge of murdering Marie Welker j loch, his next to the last wife. , For the purchase of a site for a mu- j licipal electric lighting plant, the j sTew York Board of Estimate and Ap- j (ortionment authorized an appropria- j ion of $600,000. A new Grand Jury investigation of j lie Iroquois Theatre fire, was started j it Chicago.. About fifty cents on a dollar will be laid creditors of the East tfnd Savings Jank, at Columbus, Ohio. The Federal Grand Jury, at Mont:omery. A!a? returned a. number of inlictments for peonage and white cap>ing. With 110 reason known for the deed, 'olonel Charles S. Arnol, one of the est known insurance men or me j t; >outh, killed himself by shooting, at | Ltlanta, Ga. : Collector of Customs Loach an- | lounced in Cleveland that he had | ound $30.00(1 in jewels belonging to Irs. Chadwick upon which duty had lot been paid. Twelve hundred children were taken . afely from the Juvenile Asylum in s'ew York City, when it caught fire, he drill being perfect. Dr. William Osier, of Baltimore, reicated his declaration that men more han forty years old have passed the leriod of usefulness to the world. j FOREIGN. ! The Russian Government has sus- | (ended the circulation of the news- j taper Russ. j Iron workers renewed the strike in j he Russian capital, and troops were j ailed into action. i Warsaw and Lodz were cut off from | < Europe, all train service being sus- ' J >ended. I j The crisis between Sweden and Nor- | i vay was reported as daily coming , ? tearer. ' . ' Emperor Nicholas has decided that ; he war must go on, and German court | ircles have been advised to that effect. A special Lisbon dispatch announced I he death of Sir Martin Gosselin. Brit- * sh Minister to Portugal. Sir Thomas Wemyss Reid, well j 1 mown as an author, and editor qf the ' -.ondon Speaker, died. One policeman was killed and two , vere fatally injured by mobs at War- < ;aw. The employes of the gas works lave quit work. Severs snowstorms prevailed in Northern Spain and railway traffic vas delayed. At an auction .sale in London a rock | ; irystal ewer and cover from the An- ! ] ;lesey collection brought $21,000. | j The Czar has held an important ] J ouncil at Tsarskoe-Selo. at which It i > s reported the possibilities of peace I 1 vere discussed. | 1 The Dominion Government has en- i ' ovoil into o cnnti'nft xvitll lll?? Allnil I Line for a .steamship service between j Canada and France. The ports of.call j n France will be Havre and Cher- ' ' jourpr. In Canada thi? summer ports I ivill be Montreal and Quebec and in I i winter Halifax and St. John. N. B. i < The trial of thirty-one Christians ac- ^ used of the murder of a Jewess * lamed Spiwok in the anti-Semitic iots ended at Kishineff. Nine of the lefendants were acquitted, while :wenty-two were sentenced to a month n prison. Railway employes in Italy will put J ^very obstacle in the way of the Government's plan of taking over the man- 1 igement of the line?, according to a :rif>c!:il Hisiuitfh frritn Tlntnp. The unveiling of the statue of Marti, the Cuban patriot who organized the revolution which ended with the jverthrow of Spanish power in Cuba, I fnnlr nlnr-o in Pontvol P?"V Hdtiiiio i I rKE SUNDAY SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS FOR MARCH 26. Review of the Twelve Preceding lengoiw For the FItm Quarter? Kea?l John vl. 35-51 ? Golden Text, John II., 31? Summary. Lesson I. Topic: The wonderful divine Saviour. Place: Ephesus. John's gospel ivas written between 80 and 90 A. D. Jonn was the only apostle living at that time He refers to Christ as the Word of God; ill things were made by Him; He was the I-*- ??Af 'Q^/ironr>c* 10 maHfl UiC a LIU IUC il&llU ui II 1C.1J J 1W1W?WMW *? ?*? ?". to John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ; He was "not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light;" Jesu? was the true light. II. Topic: The believer's true attitude toward his Lord. Place: Bethabara. A crisis had arisen ia John's ministry; the Sanhcdrin sent a deputation from -Jerusalem to ask John who he was; John said he was not the Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet about whom Moses had written, but lie was merely a voice crying from the wilderness, "Make straight the way of the Lond." John baptized with water; Christ would baptize with the Holy Spirit; John testified concerning Jesus and called Him the Lamb of God; John did not know Christ until the time of his baptism when the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove lame upon him, and the Father said, 'This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." III. Topic: Jesus wins His first disci!les. Place: Bethabara. John pointed esiis out to two diiciples who followed Tesns; Jegus turned ana said, "What seek re?" They asked Christ where He dwelt: Jesus said, "Come and see;" Andrew found bis brother Simon and brought him to Jesus; it is sinjposed also that John found his brother James; Jesus found Philip: Philip found Nathanael; when Philip told Nathanael that they had found the Mes* ?ah, Nathanael raised an objection; Nathanael was soon convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. IV. Topic: Christ's first miracle. Place: Dana of Galilee. A wedding feast was be ng held; Christ's mother had been invited, ind Christ ?-iid His disciples were invited; they needed wine at the feast; Christ's mother called His attention to the fact; Ee instructed the servants to fill six water pots with water; they were then told to 3raw out and bear to the governor of the Feast; the governor praised the wine; in this miracle Christ showed forth His glory; the disciples believed that He waa the Messiah. V. Topic: Gateways into the kingdom >f God. Place: Jerusalem. Nicodemus lame to Jesus by night; the subject of miricles was introduced; Jesus said, "Ye nu6t be born again;" Nicodemus failed to mderstand; Christ brought an illustration )f the wind; also referred to the serpent MoseB made in the wilderness; said that the Son of Man must be lifted up that whosoever believeth in Him should have Jternal life. VI, Topic: Vital laws of spiritual work. Place: At Jacob's well in Samaria. Jesu* >oes through Samaria; stops at Jacob's ivell; meets a woman; asks a drink; she ?xpresses surprise; Jesus speaks of the gift )f God?living water; she desires it; Jesus isks her to call her husband; she says she las rone; haa had five; calls Jesus a proshet: asks about place of worship; true worship must be in spirit and in truth. VIL Topic: Christ's power to restore So life. Place: Cana in Galilee. The GaJ eans received Christ gladly. A nobleman )f Capernaum heard that Jesus had come nto Galilee and hastens to Him to enTeat Him to come and heal his son; Jesuj told him to return and that his son was sealed; the man believed Christ's words; the son began to recover at the very hour lesus had said, "Thy son liveth." VT'fT T o Uir\ Tocv.. Dhrist. Place: Jesus went to Jerusalem :o attend the feast of the Passover- Jesus ?aw an infirm man at the pool of Beth?sda, who had been sick thirty-eight years; isked him if he desired to be made whole; ;he man replied that he had no one to put lim into the pool; Jesus told hirn to rise, :ake up his bed and walk; the man did as ie was commanded. IX. Topic: Jesus supplying human need. Place: Near Bethsaida on the northeast ihore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus and His Jisciples went into a desert place to be ilone; great multitudes followed them; fesus taught them and healed their sick; n the aftenoon the disciples suggested that ;he multitude should be ient away to buy 'ood; Jesus decided to feed them there; a ad was found with five loaves and two ishep; five thousand men were fed besides sromen and children. X. Topic: Jesus proves Himself the 2od-Saviour. Place: Jerusalem. It was ;he last day of the feast of the Taberna!ks; there was a great ceremony in conlection with bringing water from the pool >f Siloam; near the close of the ceremony resus cried. "If any man thirst, let him :ome unto Me and drink;" He spake of the fift of the Holy Spirit. XI. Topic: Christ's teaching respecting lin. Place: Jerusalem. Jesus delivered our discourses during His stay in Jerusaem at the time of the feast of the Taberlacles; this discourse was delivered in the :ourt of the women, and may be divided nto two parts: 1. Christ is the Son of jod. 2. He has supreme authority even tbove Abraham. Those who accept Jesus Christ will know the truth, and the truth vill make them free. The world-Saviour's loctrine respecting sin. 1. Sin leads to lypoerisy. deceives men, is slavery, is con;rarv to God. 2. It is cured by the word >f Christ, by the truth of Christ, by the jlood of Christ. XII. Topic: Jesus Christ the light of nen. Place: Jerusalem. Jesus saw a blind nan; the disciples asked Christ who had iinned, this man or his parents; Jesus relied* that neither this man nor his par>nts had sinned: makes clay of spittle; inoints the blin/1 man's eyes; commands :he man to go to the pool of Siloam and yash; he obeys; comes back seeing; his leighbors are stirred; he gives an account >f his healing; is taken to the Pharisees; fesus accused of desecrating the Sabbath, rhe world-Saviour is the life and light of nen. The lesson shows that light (1) is leeded. (2) is offered, (3) is received by lome, (4) is rejected by some. (5) should clearly reflected by those who have it. Prlc*x For OI?l Cninaware. At a recent auction at Amsterdam, Holland, the following prices were realized for some ancient chinaware: rwo flower pots of the times of Emperor Ching-Hwa, $17SO apiece; Ave small vases, $1140; two teapots (feuille i'Artemisel), $71:0 the piece; a polychrome service (of the Kaugshi period), $4750; a small enamled teapot, P0S0; a large vase. 23'? inches in diarniter, style "famille rose," $1783, etc. ?20,000 For fervanti. "Under the will of the late Rev. Dr. William Edmoml Roope, of Under Uock. Bonclmrch, late of Wight, a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, munificent bequests of ?10,000 each are made to his two servants, Ruth BJaza *nd Cecily Guy. To the latter he also left a life interest in his freehold louse. Under Roc'.v, and he appointed int'i Mi! pviifiitvirps nf his will Thin Bomb a Hoax. A supposed bomb was discovered at (be entrance of a hotel in Paris, Krdnce. It was examined at the municipal laboratory and found to contain Duly coal dust. What had been supposed to be a fuse was merely a piece )f blackened string. Peculiarities of Neapolitan BeggarR. Charles Lever, the novelist, said that when he threw out a hanclful of small :-oins to the Neapolitan beggars the blind were the first to see it, the parllyzed to run for it, the maimed to pick t up, the naked to put it in their poek;ts and the dumb to blaspheme. Replace* Wooden Celling*. Stamped, sheet zinc is rapidly coming into use for metal ceilings in place THE GREAT DESTROYER SOME STARTLINC FACTS ABOUT THE VICE OF INTEMPERANCE. Poem: Th? Drunkard"* 'Wife?Traced j fVi <* VaIIawoH o KT?? Kriplanil Father's Vote For a "Change"? Hi* Swift I'ne of Another Chanc?? /n a hosjfital ward a woman lay Painfully gasping her life away, So bruised and beaten you scarce could trace Womanhood's semblance in form or face. Yet the liu'r that over the pillow rolled In a tangled mass was like threads of gold; And never a sculptor in any laftd ^folded a daintier loot of hand. Said one who ministered t.) her need: "Could none but a coward do tljis deeo, And what bitter hate codd have nerved the ami That a helpless creature like this could harm?" Then the dim eyes, hazy with death'i eclipse. Slowly unlock and the swollen lips Murmured faintly: "He loves me wen? Mv husband?'twas drink?be sure and When he comes to himself?that I forgive: Poor fellow?for him I would like to live." A shudder, a moan as the words were said. And a drunkard's wife on the couch laj dead. 0 fathers, who your daughters rear, Sonebody's daughter is lying here! 0 brothers of sisters, come and see ? Whit the fate of your precious one may be! 0 Man! however you love your home, Be it palace or cottage 'neath Heaven'i blue dome. This demon of drink <*an enter in. For law strikes hands and bargains witfc &in. You have legalized crime, you have th? gold," Now hand them over, the sons you sold? Keep pushing them forward. Drink, boys, drink! Your fathers are paid for your souls, thej think; v And in the great mart where mammon strives Cheapest of all things are human lives. ?'Chicago Inter-Ocean, OiDcbt in the Trap. In a certain New England city the license forces gained the victory by a a majority of thirteen. That overturn was an astonishment to the citizens ol "no mean city." From a majority ol hundreds for no-license for a series ol ten years the opposition had won by a very small margin. What did 11 mean? , Just this: The sense of security or the part of many who had helped wir the victory for a decade. They failed to go to the polls, believing that the large annual majority could not, or. al least, would not, be overcome. And thus did they make their great mistake, ,They forgot that 'etefnal vigilance is the price of liberty." Then again, there were others whe "a*1, voted year after year for no-license .d thought they would change and vote the other way; for uo good reasor to be sure. Some tried to persuade themselves that it might be a good thing for the city; that the license fees would increase the city's revenue; thai certain desirable "improvements" could thus be secured without additional taxes! , , And so the pendulum, lifted to a high poinf on one side, swung far ovei to the opposite point, for there was a transfer of 574 votes that year frona the no-license to the license column. When that saloon victory was announced and the people came to realize what had happened, a gloom seemed tc settle upon the city, and this was intensified when the 6aloon really arrived. One workman, who had secured a peasant home, and put $1000 in the bank, got enamored of the saloon, and in twelve months his bank deposit was J4- + Vin WimCflllop'Q till 11 WClll iuiv l-uc 1UIUUW1V1 U U... A president of a Christian Endeavor society went down in the general wreck during that year. One of the voters who thought a "'change" might be desirable, at the opening of the saloon year, had two sober and promising sons. When his ballot was cast establishing the saloons he seemingly never took into consideration the possibility of danger coming to hii own home. But, alas! Those boys knew that father had "voted for license." and why should they not visit an "institution" which he had favored and helped to establish? And so they did visit it again and again, unbeknown to that I fothor' One night, or nearer morning, they . were both brought home drunk. It would be quite impossible to picture the chagrin, the shame, the sorrow of that father. His boys, the/pride of his life, had been caught in the saloon-trap, and he had helped to establish It! It was, to him, a grievous sorrow, and his distress and persistence came to be known generally. In the midst.of his wretchedness he was heard to say, "Give me another chance, and I'll be swift to vote against the saloon." And he did, and many others with him. for the meager majority of thirteen for license was wiped out the following year by a no-license majority of 2130. It is the general conviction that the last triumph has come to stay!?The Rev. 0. W. Scott, in Ram's Horn. Bad ltlaki. Life Insurance companies of New fork report that drinking men are bad risks. In the last thirty-six years, out of 104.847 deaths on which insurance was due. 57.891 were drinkers and 46.950 were teetotalers. The London Lancet, probably the, leading medical I journal of the world, recently reviewed * * - * 1 j xne results ui Mpcnuicuim <??? ..? ! on the effects of alcohol, and illustrates ! it by this pithy comparison: Sea water may be used in the boilc: of a steam engine, and the steam from Its evaporation will transmit the energy of the fuel to the revolving wheels, but its corrosive action on the steel forbids its usd except i.^nstrgfccies. A Partuerihip. For twenty-five dollars the United States Government will sell a tax-receipt, even in prohibition territory, which gives the purchaser permission of the United States Government tc retail liquor?which he does so frequently in direct defiance of the State or county law. It is true that the United States tax-receipt does not protect the holder from any actien which the State or county may take; but il ~ no for as (h* nation is SUJJL'UUliO lillli 44.3 * *& *%w ~ ?, concernerL A Canteen Straw. A writer in the Arena tells cT the saving effected by ihe abolishment o 1 the canteen in the Leavenworth Soldiers' Home where in three years 122C old soldiers were treated and 724 senl I yMi+ nwoin ennnnrf themselves, and V H t IV Uj^UiK v. ? ? . ? a. r in the case of nearly 20<), their families aleo. Estimating their support at the cost to Kansas of thos? in th? Home, it shows that $93,(555 is annually saved to that one commonwealth in the .way described. f On Temperance Sunday 324 Sundayschool scholars in one church in Omaha ' Bigned tie temperance pledge, * - \fl Jjncflfe I the preceptor. h J BT CLIKTOH fiCOLLAKD. g f set my eves on tbe face of duty; -,B| "Master," I said, "Jet be! let be! BIB Life will lose all its golden beauty BB If I must follow thee!" jBBj Ah, but the ways that we trod were weary! _ IttB Ab. but the paths that we followed long! HH Dreary the wan of the sky. and errie The sound of every song. I * 2 And yet. as though through some christmo I wonder, - ' After the lapsing of sunless days, 1 The grim gray veil seemed to melt and - sunder - * Like the rifted morning haze. Then I set my eyes on the face of dnty; I "Master," I said, "at last I see That life has gained a more hallowed ' beauty Since I have followed thee!" , ' ?Svfnday-School Times. A ForgotUn Beginning. The Chicago Assoeiation'was holding it* annual session with one of the churches which had grown to strength in a dozed I years, and were happy in the completion! ot its large new house ot worsmp. in ana mh , out among the pastors and delegates, of Bfl the hundred churches represented moved a little old lady in black. Every one knejn |H j her as the widow of a retired minister who had died a few months before. They tw? had regularly attended these gatherings together; a couple short in stature, andAI slender besides, whose active work lay so'^H many years back that only the oldest of H| the delegates knew much of it. There had , been some little mention in the papers of Hg their golden wedding, and not long afterward there had been obituary notices not lacking in sincere cordiality, but the old fl| u couple had gone in and out among a gener- V3 ation who had small Txa-sonal knowledge ef H what their lives had been. 99 At the noon intermission tSe widow proached the moderator of the meeting I and asked if there would be any time when H she could read before the gathering a tribute to the Tnemory of her husband. It was BS an unusual thing to ask, and the more KM fraught with uncertaihtv because she asked for fifteen minutes and the .program was overloaded. There was a consultation, and it was arranged that in the interval be- H tween the afternoon and the evening sea* Hj sions, immediately after supper, she should have the time she desired, and the reading was awaited not without some anxiety/ , She rose when the time came, and readJ^H o nnirto txraa nftt. atlYiTiff. J1C1 JKllAil lu a IVIW w>u. .. m . but aid not tremble. There was no appealHi 1 for pymnathy or thrusting of her sorrows upon others. She gave as the reason for : asking the pi-ivi!ege -the fact that the 1 church where the -meeting was held was in the district where she and her huBban^^K | had spent six vears. beginning thirty-five |H years before! She said; <Hi "This is counted a new district in tbe^H > city, but it was both new and old even s thirty-five years ago. An old stage route H I ran out Milwaukee avenue, and there L a small settlement here from early days, fl) > At that time there was a movement ofHj j population this way, arid we came'together j^B to organize a church. Houses were wide'yBB ! scattered over the prairie, and from two^H miles east the parish extended far out UK ' westward across the fields." 19 > She told how they succeeded in erecting a church building, which was soeedily^H wrecked by a tornado, and how in the hot- H test of hot summers they walked through shadeless streets, soliciting money to re- Sj build it. After it was done the tide of i population turned in another direction. The settlement languished and dirmmaked,Hg i in,I i.'tpr civ ve?r? of faithful effort thel^B work had to be given ud. Now, after year?H| j of waiting, the tide had returned, and^H with it the beautiful church had come into flj Simply but touchinply she told the story ? of those early beginnings, and the picture jfl > which she gave of her husband, and uncon- flj [' sciously of herself, awoke a thrill of admir- fl ; ation in all who heard her. She' had II brought to men the knowledge of six for- Ml gotten years of heroic service. Warm res- H olutions of thanks, of sympathy and of af- B . fectionate memory were adopted by the HI t meeting, and the incident fastened itself HI upon the mind of every one present. Then .HI it began to be whispered among the dele- flj gates -that she had just given $10,000 to JU various charities in memory of her hus- fl band, for although It's salary had never jfl been lar^e. his habits had been careful and^H his years had been many, but all agreed'^H that no other tribute could have beep so H beautifj] as that Vbirh she read, of the ^fl rccord of fifty years which they bad spent H together before the servant of the Master H went to his reward.?Youth's Comp&nioivjW \ 1 ? Bj How to Save Toortelf., MB J T" w/wli-in/r tr> c.ivp nthei\s we do most good to ourselves. An Emrliehnin^HI who was going to drown himself foundBj two sovereigns in his pocket, and thinking^H it was a pity to waste so much gave thenl^H to a poor woman who was starving for^H bread. When he saw how happy thaaH pieces made the mother and her children, M he bethought himself of how much happi- HI ness he could occasion by all the hoards o? Hi gold and silver he had in his cellar. He H gave up the idea of suicide and devoted HI the rest of his life tn dointr good. By sav- HI ing others he saved himself! HI Llk? Produce* Like. 81 ATI things develop according to their H own nature under the operation of fixed, H laws, yet in ali things there is infinite vat riety of individual development. The acon^H 1 invariably produces an oak; it cannot bj|X any chance produce a pine or a willow; H yet no two oak trees are exactly alike, and H it is even said that no two leaves on any H tree are exactly alike. The invariability of H nature's laws does not. therefore, prevent, H but necessitates a large measure of free- H dom of individual development, evpn ia H [ the lower forms of organic life. H [ God Looked at the Up art. t HJ \Yhat a stress does the Bible lay everr? ?1 ?? *>?/? Tf would n wuere ujjuii tuc ? -- -? 1 make Hie highest demand upon man it ' this, "Give Me thy heart!" (Prov. 23: -fl !> 26). If He asks our service?it is servic^^B l from the heart in singleness and sinceriJMH I of the heart. (Eph. 6:6). If He corl?mn our worship?it is nizh Him with oar lips and hono^* with our month, but our hearts are 1 from Him. (Matt. 15:7. 8). And \vhe_^H He pronounces His greatest blessing, it i^H this: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for H I tbay see God."' (Matt. 5:8). Caterpillar aa ? Weather Prophet. H An aged farmer. Jiving near Colum- I , bus, Ohio, has, for a number of years, I watched the color of the caterpillar I aud th? way it changes with the B weather. The color of that insect, late I ( in the fall, he claims, is a correct index K | of the-weather for the coming winter. H nofiirnillnr trot* /Io**lr of XUIA jcai liiC vaivi^'Jiiui I? uo c* ?* ; either end. but very light in the mid! die, showing, according to his theory, the fore part of the winter to be cold, I the middle warm, or mild, and the lat' ter cold. Last year, he says, the cater1 pillar was dark all over, und, as proof of his theory, this aged farmer points^ to the severity of la?t winter's weather. ' fit Graduate nt ^evenfy-tlire*. Mrs. Jane Fan?, a negro, seventythree years oiJ. was graduated from the elementary grade of the Hillhousu t Evening School at New Haven, Conn.,j. with honors. Mrs. Evans is an ex-3 slave. For many years she has been*j very anxious -to learn to read, and reJ cently applied ct the evening school for instruction. She was a diligent, student and faithful In attendance With a child's primer she made goo5 progress, so that she now is very pro&a to uv wujc vv j*r*iu ucr jjiujx: auu M~JrJr 1 ' j>a?era__ ; ofc, H ^tu '