The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, March 16, 1887, Image 1

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of , ^ One copy vear J ~" ~ S| VOL. XVII. LEXINGTON, S. C., WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 1887. THE OFFERING. Daily with/feeble, care-worn hands I trim The lajrfip of life, and with unceasing prayer I offer its poor, flickering flame to Him Who doth our burdens bear. Long, long ago, its brightness slowly wan^d. Long, long ago, I ceased to hold it dear ; Nor saw I aught of gladness to be gained From year, slow following year. Yet, for my Master's sake, who bids me wait Until His coming, still I trim my*fight ; And still it burns, as now the hours grow \ late ; _ . \Ajld deopea into night. Not mine to ask why He doth will it so ; Not mine to quench this faintly burning fire : > Hi'ae but fco-wmt in patience, and to know -Tfe? faithful heart w fj^nr^rP^ dpsirp. DI. TALMAGES SERMON. y /. THE HORNET COMES NOT FROM THE DEVJL, BUT THE LORD. It Takes Just So Much Trouble to Fit Us for Usefulness an J for Heaven?Shall AVe Take It In Bulk or Pulverized and Granulated? f Brooklyn March IS.?At the Tabernacle his morning the Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, >. D., expounded appropriate passages of , icripture. Ifo then gave out the hymn be puniug: Must Jesus bear the cross alone, And all the world go free?. No.' there's a cross for every one, And there's a cross for ine. The subject of his discourse was " Stinging \anoyances," and his text Deutoronomy vii, HO: " The Lord thy God will send the hornet.* Be said: It seems as if the insect world were determined to war against the human racey Jft Is every year attacking the grain fields' and the orchards and the vineyards. The Colorado beetle, the Nebraska grasshopper, the - New Jersey locust, the universal potato destroyer seein to cany on the work which , was begun ages ago when the insects buzzed out of Noah's ark as the door was opened. [ In my text the hornet flies out on its mis1 adorn. It is a species of wasp, swift in its moI tion and violent in its sting. Its touch is tors' mor> Ar Ko . C* WftkoVA ftl 1 SAAM thft K MU V M/ limn V4 W ?? ? I cattle run bellowiag from the cut of its lan1 cet In boyhood we used to stand cautiously - looking* at the globular nest hung from the K tree branch, and while we were looking at the wonderful pasteboard covering we were 9| struck with something that sent us shrieking away. The hornet goes in swarms. It has captains over hundreds, and twenty of them Bn attacking one man will produce certain death. ^HBThe Persians attempted to conquer a ChrisRKBten city, but the elephants and the beasts on HHu the Persians rode were assaulted by HHMBBhoraets, so that the whole army was up and the besieged city was rescued. HHR^Burning and noxious insect stung out the ana Canaanites from their country. Kt the gleaming sword and chariot of war not accomplish was done by the punc^HD^Bb of an insect. The Lord sent the hornet. friends, when we are assaulted by ^J^HHpoths of trouble?great behemoths of KHBc?we become ckivalric, and we assault i,, j'1'1 mettled steed of t mm andlif a charse 5 Bfe?tnese j. W-. v. ' and tLo "lodges, and the flies, and the the hornets! In other words, HgHBEfl^Rbe small stinging annoyances of our drive us oat and use us up. Into ^HH^Kest eonditioned'lifc. for some grand and HH*gS^Bcrus purpose/Crod sends the hornet. |HMH^nark in the first place that these small, annoyances may corns in tho shape HHflj^BH&tive nervous organization. 'People B pj-ostrated under typhiod fevers or j^BBH^Broken bones get plenty of sympathy, HBHBo pities anybody that.is nervous? The I^^^BpBrs say, and the family says, and every-. ^^B^ody says,."Ok!^ she's only a little nervousj? that's* ail." The sound of a heavy foot, the ? harsh clearing of a throit, a tiisoord in music,' a want of harmony between the shawl and the gloye on the same person, a curt answer, a passing slight, the wind from7 the east, any one of ten thousand annoyances opehs the doqr tor the hornet. The fact is that the vast majority Of toe people m cms country are overworked, and their nerves are the first to give out. A great multitude are under the strain of Leyden, who, when he was told by his physicians that xAie did not stop working while he was in such p5or physical health he would die, responded, "Doctor, whether I live or die the wheel must keep going around." These persons of whom I speak have a bleeding sensitiveness. The flies love to light on anything raw, and these people are hko the Oftnaanites spoken of in the text or in the context?they have a very thin covering ana Are vunerable at all points. And the Lord ?ent the hornet Again, these small insect annoyances may ? .come to as in the shape of friends and acquaintances who are always saying disagree. .able thing*. There are some people you canmot be with for half an hour but yoil feel cheered and comforted. Then there are other i people you cannot be with for five minutes before yjfcxfeel miserable. They do not mean to distorb }bu but they sting you to the bone. They gainer up all the yarn which the gossips .spin, antf^peddle it They gather up all the atfcfferse ie<fticisms about your person, about - yoar business, about your bome, about your , church, and they malic your ear the funnel , into which thoy pour it They laugh heartily when they tail jfou, as though it were a good . joker ?nd you laugh too, outside. These people are brought to our attention in the Bible, in the book of Ruth: Naomi went forth beautiful and with the finest of wordly prospects into another land, but after a while she came back widowed, and sick and "poor. What did her friends do when she came Back to the city? They all went out, and instead of giving her common sense consolation, j wiiat did they do i Read the book of Ruth i find out. They threw up their hands and J said: "Is this Naomir_a?. entered very pale for years, and BHkejwry year, for four or five years, a hundred HHBA^nes a year, I was asked if I was not in a DBP^^surnprion. And passing through the room HHfl^L:>uklsometimes bear people sigh and cry: not long for this world!" I resolved ^H^B^Kose times thai I never, in any con^ersawould say anything depressing, and by i ^nB|He]p *>f God I have kept tbe resolution. pe )ple of whom i speak reap and bind Vvo^V< great harvest field of .'discouragement. days yon greet them with a hilarious _ morilin^t" auJj ijiey come buzzing at ^GrOOVh some depressing information, The * yV)i0?nt the hornet, astonishing how some people prefer to ^^^rrite and to say disagreeable things. That %ras the case when years ago Henry M. Stanley returned after his magnificent exploit of finding Dr. David Livings lone, and when Mr. Stanley stood before the savants of Europe, j and many of the small critics of the day, under pretense of getting geographical informa- , j tion, put to liim most insolent questions, he ( folded his arms and refused to answer. At the very time when you would suppose all f decent men would have applauded the hero- ] ism of tbo man there were those to hiss. The t Lord sent tbo hornet. And when, afterward, , that man sat down on the western coast of j Africa, sick and worn, perhaps, in the grand est achievement of the age in the way of geo- , graphical discovery, there were small critics j all over the world to buzz and buzz and cari- 1 cature and deride him; and when a few ( weeks after that he got the London papers, , as h* opened them out flew the hornet. _ When I see that there are so many people j ~3fc ? .. t A . ? ii 11 ?nil in the world who like to say disagreeable i things and write disagreeable things I come , almost in my weaker moments to believe what a man said to me in Philadelphia one j Monday morning. I went to get the horso i that was at the livery, and tho hostler, a plain j man, said to me: "Mr. Talmage, I saw that j you preached to the young men yesterday." I I said "Yes." He said: "No use, no use; ' man's a failure." The small insect annoyances of life sometimes come in tho shape of a local physical trouble, which does not amount to a positive prostration, but which bothers you when you want to feel tho be6t. Perhaps it has been a sick headache which has been the plague of your life, and you appoint some occasion of mirth or sociality or usefulness, and when tho clock strikes the hour you cannot make your appearance. Perhaps the trouble is between the ear and the forehead, in the shape of a neuralgic twinge. Nobody can see it or sympathize with you, Kit just at the time wbon you want your intellect clearest and your disposition brightest you feel a sharp, keen, disconcerting thrust. The Lord sent "tlio hornet. Perhaps these small insect annoyances will come in the shape of a domestic irritation. The i?rlor and the kitchen do not always harmonize. To get good service and to keep considerateness of employers; but whatever be the fact, wc all admit there are these insect annoyances winging their way out from tho culinary department. If the grace of God be not in the heart of the house keeper, sue cannot mainuuu nor wjumbrium. The men come home at night and hear the story of these annoyances, and say, "Oh! theso homo troubles are very little things." They are small, small as wasps, but tboy sting. Martha's nerves were all Tinstrung when she rushed in asking Christ to reprove Mary, and thore are tens of thousands of women who aro dying, stung to death by these pestiferous domestic annoyances. Tho Lord sent the hornet. Theso Small insect disturbances may also come in the shapo of business irritations. There are men hero who went through 1857 and Sept. 24, 1SC0, without losing their balance, who are every day unhorsed b)' little annoyances?a clerk's ill manners, or a blot of ink on a biL of lading, or the extravagance of a partner who overdraws his account, or tho underselling by a business rival, or the whispering of business confidences in the street, or the making of some little bad debt which - was against, your judgment, just to please somebody elsa It is not the panics that kill tho merchants. Panics coznoonly onco in ten or twenty years. It is the constant clin of these everyday annoyances which is sending so many of our best merchants into dbervous dyspepsia and paralysis and the grave. When our national commerce fell flat on its face, these men stood up and felt almost defiant; but their, life i-s giving way now under the swarm of these pestiferous annoyances. The Lord sent the hornet. I have noticed in tho history of some of my congregation that their annoyances are multiplying, and they have a hundred where they used to havo ten. The naturalist tolls us that & wasp sometimes has a family of 20,000 wasps, and it does seem as if every annoyance of your lifo bred a million. By the help of God to-day I want to show you the other side. The hornet is of no use ? Oh, yes! The naturalists toll us they aro very important in the world's economy; they kill spiders and they clear the atmosphere; and I really believe Godsends the annoyanco of our life upon us to kill tho spiders of the soul and to clear the atmosphere of our skies. These annoyances are sent on us, I think, to wake us up from our lethargy. There is nothing that makes a man so lively as a uest of " yellow jackots," and I think that these annoyances aro intended to persuade us of the fact that this is not a world - ?"* 4-iv ?+rvr\ 1 f ll'O VtOS? ft rif ofortr. I 1W U?> W 3tV|/ i^i. O.A. ?rv ? vv?? V4 V ? V J J thing that was attractive and soft - and easy, what would we waut of heaven i ;You think that the hollow ?ve .sends the^ hornet. or you gymnasium you find upright parallel bars? bars with holes over each other for pegs to be put in. Then tho gymnast takes a peg in each band and he begins to climb, one inch at a time, or two inches, and getting his strength cultured, reaches after a while the ceiling. And it seems to me that these annoyances in life are a moral gymnasium, each worry a peg by which wo are to climb higher and higher in Christian attainment. We all love tp see patience, but it cannot be cultured in fair weather. It is a child of the storm. If you had everything desirable and there was nothing more to get. what would you want with patience? The only time to culture it is when you are slandered and cheated, .and Jack and" half dead. "Oh," you say, "if I only had the circumstances of some well to do man I would be patient too." You might as well say, "If it were not for this water I j would swim;" or, "I could shoot this gun if it were not for the caps." When you stand chin deep in annoyances is the time for you to swim out toward the great headlands of Christian attainment, and when your life is loaded to the muzzle with repulsive annoyances?that is the time to draw the trigger. Nothing but the furnace will ever burn out of us tue clinker and the slag. Tiiftve formed this theory ia regard to small annoyances?nd vexations: It takes just so much trouble to fit us for usefulness and for hefi'ven. The only question is, whether we"shall take it in the bulk, or pulverized and granulated. Here is one man who takes it in the bulk. ^His back is broken, or bi^ eyesight put out*, or some other awful calamity befalls him; while the vast majority of people take the thing piecemeal. Which way would you rather have it?. Of course in peacenueal. Better have five aching teeth' than one broken jaw. -Better ten fly blisters than an amputation. Better twenty squalls than one cyclone. There may be a difference of opinion as to allopathy and homeopathy; but in this matter of trouble I like homeopathic doses?small pellets of annoyance rather than some knock down dose of calamity. Instead of the thunderbolt give us tho hornet If you have a bank you would a great deal rather that fifty men should come in with checks less than a hundred dollars than to have two depositors come in the same day each wanting his ten thousand dollars. In this latter case, you cough and look down at iin at- t-Ka eei'linc before von look I VUQ U Wi U4IU ??*V ^ ^ into the safe. Now, my friends, would you not rather have these small drafts of annoyance on your bank of faith^than some allstaggering demand upon your endurance? I want to make you ao strong that JXSI1 B^vlh surrender to says, there was an invasion of rats, and these small creatures almost devoured the town and threatened the lives of the population, and the story is that a piper came out one day and played a very sweet tune, and all the vermin followed him ?followed him to the banks of the Weser, and then he blew a blast and they dropped in and disappeared forever. Of course this is a fable, but I wish I could, on the sweet flute of the Gospel, draw forth all the nibbling and burrowing annoyances of your life, and play them down into the depths forever. How many touches did the . *' artist give to his picture of "Cotopaxi," or his ''Heart of the Andes?' I suppose about 50,000 touches. I hear the canvas saying, j "Why do you keep me trembling with that peqpii so long? Why don't you put it on in ona' "No." savs the artist. tlI know how to mako a pointing; it will take 50,000 of these touches.r And I want you, my friends, 3 to understand that it Is these JO,000 annoy- < auces which, under God, are making pp the \ picture of your life, to be hung at last in the galleries of heaven, lit fcr angels to look at. God knows how to make a picture. I go into a sculptor's studio, and see him shaping a statue. He has a chisel in one hand and a mallet in the other, and he gives ? very gentle stroke?click, click, click! I say, "Why don't you strike harderP "Oh!" he replies, "that would shatter the statue. I can't doit that way; I must do It this way," So he works on, and after a while the features come out, and everybody that enters the studio is charmed and fascinated. Well, God has your soul under process of devel- ] opment, and it is the little annoyances and j vexations of life that are chiseling ou< your immortal nature. It is click, dick click; \ wonder why some great providence does notcome and with one stroke prepare you for heaven. Ah, no; God says that is not the way. And so he keeps on by strokes of little vexations, until at last you shall be a glad spectacle for angels and for men. You know that a largo fortune maybe spent in small change, and a vast amount of moral character may go away in small depletion. It is the little troubles of life that are having more effect upon you than the great ones. A swarm of locusts will kill a grain field sooner than the incursions of three or four cattle. You say, "Since I lost my child, since I lost my property, I have been a different man." But you do not recognize the architecture of littlo annoyances, that are hewing, digging, cutting, shaping, splitting and interjoining your moral qualities. Rats may sink a ship. One lucifer match may semi destruction through a block of storo houses. Catherine de Medicis got her death from smelling a poisonous rose. Columbus, by stopping and asking for a piece of bread and a drink of water at a Franciscan convent, was led to the discovery of a new world. And there is an intimate connection between trifles and immensities, between nothings and every things. Now, be careful tp let none of those annoyances go through your soul unarraigned. Compel them to administer to your spiritual 11 'is&miiiX I'-yi times produces lockjaw and the clip A! ii UliWi' infinitesimal annoyance may damage you forever. Do not let any annoyance or perplexity come across your soul without it making you better. Our national government does not think it belittling to put a tax on pins ami a tax on buckles and a tax on shoes. The individual taxes do not amount to much, but in tlio agtci millions and millions of dollnrc And 1 would have you, O Christian man, put a high tariff on every annoyance and vexation that come through your souL This might not amount to much in single cases, but in the aggregate it would be a great revenuo of spiritual strength and satisfaction. A bee can suck honey even out of a nettle; and if you have the grace of God in your heart, you can get sweetness out of that which would otherwise irritate and annoy. A returned missionary told me that a com- | pany of adventurers rowing up the Ganges river were stung to death by flies that infest that region at certain seasons. I have scon tho earth strewed with the carcasses of men slain by insect annoyances. The only way to get prepared for tho great troubles of life is to conquer these small troubles. What would you say of a soldier who refused to load his gun or to go into tho conflict becauso it was only a skirmish, saying, '"I am not going to expend my ajnmunition on a skirmish; wait until there comes a general engagement, and then you will see how courageous I am, and what battling I will do." The general would j say to such a man, "If you are not faithful in j a skirmish you would be nothing in a general engagement." And I have to tell you, O j Christian men, if you cannot apply the prin- j ciplesof Christ's religion on a small scale, you will never be able to apply them on a large scale. 4 had have' you possess ? the sides, as the dipped hall in joWr an the table, kni have th^HH^HH^DH^^^^B| you 150 pain or ach<i^^^^^^HflBNj^H|^n^U one of these thin^^HHHHH^^HB us best picture in house. God m^H^u ^J$Mae vestibule of hea^W/tka^g._ax g^iefy of the universe toward^J'ajcli wa^r aspiring. We must not bave^ff^o^^W^fc^m^^Lor we Polycarp death. The fastened around him, II^^HH^MhH^H^^^^H us tho canvas a ship flames, instead of only a wall betweei^HP^Pn^^oem^. They had actually to a?troy him with the pbniard; the flames would not touch him. "Well, my heajser, I want you to understand that by God's' grace the flames of trial, instead of consuming your 90uf, are only going to be a wall of defense and a canopy of biess- ' ing. God is going to fulfill to you the blessing and the promise, as He did to Polycarp: "When thou walkest through the fire thou shaltnot be burned." Now you do not understand; you shall know, hereafter. In heaven you will bless God even for the hornet. Two Original Entertainments. Paris has been enlivened lately by \wo original entertainments, writes Townsend Percy. One was a bird's head dinner party, at which one of the ladies had her head arranged to represent that of a peacock, with the crest represented by an aigrette in diamonds, emeralds and sapphires. The most original bead was that of an owl, and the most tasteful that of a turtledove. The otiier entertainment was that of a bezique party, at which the game was not played, but was represented by the guests, who were dressed as a pack of cards. Care had been taken to have the king and queen of each suit represented by a married couple, so that uniformity of costume tfould bo preserved. The queen of hearts was arrayed in ruby velvet and rose colored satin, and the queen of clubs in black velvet and silyr tissue. The guests who personated the common cards of the pick were dressed either in black or scarlet, the gentlemen each having fcie card fastened to a lapel of the coat, while each lady wore'hers attached to her Corsage. Both entertainments were a great success in every way.?New York (|japliic. ' Now that she has goaejJj&aggig-jSJjJ New Yorl^i^g' that are the delight of all lucky enough to be bidden to them. JFhe Proper Attitude. A local boss had instructed his henchmen to occupy an attitude of dignified neutrality in regard to a political measure. "When approached by a friend of the measure, the henchman looked cunning and said: "I don't know what I can do for you. The measure isn't ours, and I guess it will be best for our side to preserve a dignified brutality."?Boston Beacon. Casualties in the Mail Service. i There were 211 casualties in the railway mail service last year, more than double j the number of the preceding year, but for i the first in many years no clerk was killed. The seriously injured numbered fifty-six, and the slightly injured were sixty. ? Chicago Eerald. Experiments by throwing corks in the cu> rents of the North Atlantic made by Admiral Srye indicated a daily rate of motion of from two to six miles. Push and Knergy in Georgia. During the past few weeks charters have i been granted in Georgia for twelve railroad j companies, four large street railway corpora- i tions, two mineral paint, four marble, one j oil, eleven large manufacturing and 6ix land j companies, whilo thirty minor inanufactur- ! tng companies have applied for charters.? j Boston Transcript. I vhas took notice dot eafery mans haf bis ! weakness. Befoije we pitch into him pecause j be falls let us consider how it vhas dot we ! shtand oop.?Carl Duuder in Detroit Fre? j pre* ' -y v_ j PEOPLE PUBLICLY MENTIONED. *T ! 1 What tho Jiowrpapers Are Saying About .r Persons W^?o Are Well Known. C Ada Pwchan usd to be a school teacher in ! Bridge''?ort, Com- . Ic Gen i Shermai smokes a briar root pipe *'< which solaced hi; i during the march through j 1 Georgia. 't ilea *y Wattes on has become a total ab- : J, ! staincx since liisiicknees, and turns down his wine glasses at doner parties. -* Mr; Wilson Ba rett says he is always rer^" 1 nervebus when heyoes on the stage, and pers- ; pires ?until he cannear the sweat drops from i his f J|ce patter on' ho floor like rain. I Mrtp- J- W. Smib. of Orange, N. J., is a j famctfos Iricyclist. 'During the past year she b rode *2,G43 miles, 2ps of which wero with her i husband on a tandmmachine; the other 415 worel^ono- V > -a" Jemnie dlin0 s*n the women ofvdl na> ^ \ 1 tionsj and bas road?,p her mind that Ameri- ,? can |won;en stsmd ? the head for. htegk L coni|*Jex^OT1? taste id good temper. She < belie that America men shouldpatrouize hoin J enterprise. J TJ7 Qu'ieen Margaret <; Italy jg exceptionally suscelP*^? to cold^od seldom. is without a heavjy wrap, even j -well wanned rooms. " Her Pvvu apartmentsh the Quirinal are kept - -a^^MW'iwitiire-whfa is to most people oppmf ively hot. , , , pjVrtry Clews, thKVall street broker, re- I marfccs that "the ma^wbo can't make milk : aT1(i motley to lire on out of the prosperity > whic*1 is S?'M? to prevail throughout tho j countV>' for tbe entir. year of 1887 ought to | ^j0ftSrtho benefit o'bis'family." When a I inaJ1 .has a few mi|*ns to begin with the -j I crop niiI^ an(* 4,ney is very easily hari vestetr Ljjl 10 Stuck, the j .year-old daughter of the i/ennsylvania sfye librarian, composed the wfon^s an<* musi' of a "Slumber Song." Her tnnsio teacher adjised her to allow him t0 j^fcairange and pub'sh it, as he said it was so ^ltricatc, so dolic^e, and so difficult of rendition that ordinal^- singers could not do * justice to it. She cjclared she would riot liavfc tho score change^ saving she had made j j jt vmusually difficult or a special purpose. js >pb<en she sent it to Ad.hna Patti, signing an. S ' aft.;umed name. A ft / Jays ago she heard h trc>in Mme. Patti's prrvato secretary that the 1 jj.va was singing the ^ lumber Song" in con- i cpris in the west. ? j . A strange case of absent mindedness came 1 J tp light in the office c- the recorder of deeds1 J Washington roc ^ly. In July, 1884, a gentleman had a doc-, made of record, also a jleed of trust, Frederick Douglass at the time being recorder.. Subsequently a deed of release was secured, bid Monday the papers were returned for l further record. In examining the dewdit'(,-as dated as of record 'July 10, 1884, and orj the back signed "James I G. Blaine, recorder <,f deeds," fn the handwriting of Mr. DqUgiaSs, showing that the recorder was at the t time absorbed in mind> " about tho Blaino boqm to such an extent as to write that gentleman's name where the recorder's should have appeared. Mrs. Martha Cravens, residing near Clark's Fork, Cooper county, has in her hennery .quite a curiosity ijj"the shapo of a young chicken which was) hatched from what is I as a double jt has four perfectly >v aild f^t and two heads pointing^ /other, but only ono body./ B^uc bill pecks the food at a! seems almostrlif^ss wbeu> ,. In running . . the two heads^^^^^^Hl & HH^Hl and pair of the other % thinks freak Hfl^HWmvji she wiil ^H^HTeer old par^ Wen?^.ontb^l^^^^HjflHB i 1T^.;'ved I ?iglflVc^t pear orchards' rrr - ?< nmi^^HEj^^^D f alvthe fruit to tho poor?proof ]|^Fi ! eccentricity. Soma time agfi he uWJP^f < I ' telegraph all the crowned heads of Europe to t dine with him, but, like a great many iivited 1 guests nearer home, thev didn't "get there." i k. 1 \ ' I '? Birds, Dogs and Monkeys. y' I Opened into a bird store a few nr?rn[ ings ago. Tho proprietor of the establish- ' Lraoutf is an odd fellow of about 60, who has "been in the bird, dog and monkey line lor 1 nearly half alcentury. He has lived in the midst of barks, howls and squeals so long that he actually appears to detect harmony in tho bedlam of sound continually going on about him. "Yes, there are fashions in animals as well as in other things," he said. "Now take monkeys for example. Sbqnetipies we have .a dreadful run on monkeys; can't get enough of them to supply the demand. Somehow, though, the craze for monkeys never lasts long. You see, monkeys are apt to wear out their welcome in pretty short order, and when a lady buys ono she is usually glad to sell it back again for about anything she can get insido of a week or so. Monkeys and well ././...lnfarl familiAC nflinr (rat. nlnnc well to io^" ? a ? pother. ^ "Fashions in dogs? Oh, y?s. Just at present the black poodle is the proper dog to own if you want to be in style. Tbey come high, but I find some people must have 'em. The 2 bull terrier is a pretty fashionable dog just now. and I notice that old favorite, the black and tan, is coming back into favor again. In the line of big dogs the setters hold their own against every other, and no wonder, considering their beauty and intelligence. Parrots have had a good run this winter, and may be considered the fashionable birds just now. It's rjafcy business buying parrots unless yon get 'em pretty young. You see you nevef can tell how the infernal things have been brought , up. Now, I sold a parrot last week to a minis ! ter on the hill. That bird was as meek mid polite as a dude, but the minister brought him back the next day and gave me a terrible setting out The parrot commenced swearing like a boodle alderman the moment he got his ugly beak inside the parsonage That's the reason I'm always delicate like N about handling parrota."?Brooklyn Eagle. of Bad > . _*ierr "Zipferl, why is it that you every now and then put a small coin on the table?' "Oh that is op account of a bad habit of mine! You see, I want to cure myself of the bad habit of using so many foreign words in conversation, so I fme myself five pfennigs every time I use one." "Then I suppose you contribute the sura for some charitable purpose?" .Not much! mat money pays for my beer before I go home."?German Joke. Hit the Wrong Man. When Macaulay was an undergraduate h? attended an election meeting in Cambridge, and was rewarded by a dead cat being thrown in his face. The man who hurled the offensive articlo apologized by saying that ho had no wish to hit Mr. Macaulay, as ho intended it for Mr. Adeane. "I wish," replied Mr. Macaulay, "you had intended it for me and hit Mr. Adeane."?Exchange. Then and Now. Twenty-five years ago there were but two places along the Jersey coast of any importance?Long Branch and Cape May, Then tbo total valuation of the seaboard was less than $7,000,000, while the last report of Comp- \ troller Anderson gives the astonishing valuation of over $100,000,000.?Chicago Times, "Wilkie Collins* Manuscript. Wilkie Collins has sent to the Buffalo library tbe manuscript of his "Two Des- < tinies," handsomely bound at his own exerpense. Mr. Collins1 writing is coarse and i very distinct; his manuscripts h^ve many i erasures and interpolations, but are withal unusually legible.?New York Graphic. The Reason. Boston Mamma (to little boy)?Waldo, dear why do you make so much noise 1 Little Boy?It must be because I am ft Hub-bub, mamma.?New York Sun. ITEMS? OF GENERAL INTEREST^ " A quartet of Soneca Indians are giving con*>rts in New York. if any cattle are dyihg in the cattle ranches >f Victoria, B. C. Heno, Nev., complains that the sawdust in Truckee river has produced much disease in hat towp. A woman at Santa Cruz, Col., has sued lcr husband for divorce, the chief ground of omplaint being that he neglected to say race at his meals. r~' ? Five hundred gallons of wine have just ?een received in Chicago from Jerusalem. It las been more thaatwo months on the way. will be used for Pdpsover purposes. (Minister (at baptisuttal font)?Name, please? lother?Philip Fettiinand Chesterfield Ran(blph Livingstone. Minister (aside to assisfcint)?S^r. Kneele^ a little more water, 1^bere^a grea^derpandfor Mexican mate to paint upon.-. The'.material is used for 'rertetKn greeaftfiifofryfl also as an aaiiistableuo^SBBf#^& rnftic or summer fqrnfehing. Rabbit hurting ry moonlight is now indulged in by ranchers in tho vicinity of Lexington, Ora The destructive animals pay nocturnal "risits to haystacks in largo droves, where the huniors Be in wait for thorn. T^ie Japanese wilt soon permit foreigners to dwell and do business in any part of the empire. "When this occurs a foreign language will be necessary to supplant the native language for official purposes, and it is said that the Mikado and tlx# leading statesmen favor the {English, whichjhas long been used in the Orient. v Six miles from Mackinaw, Ills., is a bit of ground.about eighty foai square that is alfrays so warm that snow melts as soon as it falls upon it. It is said that when the earth there is <listurv*x3 it flashes like burning powder, and that "U- i>eculiar gas comes up ffona tho ground which so far has shattered avery vessel in which an effort has been made Icf confine it A ball was given by deaf mutes in Baltimore recently. The Baltimore American >ays it was a curious affair. They danced very well and generally kept time with the fiusie. Waltzing gave them more trouble than the square dances, though some showed themselves to be ax pert and graceful in the mazy whirl. A little girl danced the fisher's fjpeopipo, which was unexpected, and several couples arose and danced a slow waltz to the lively music of a hpxnpipe. tXa foion'^c nniri Vow York teachers are scarcely princely, when one considers the cost of living here, The salaries of the male assistant teachers range from $2,016 to $1,080. Tie salaries of the female assistants range fiom $1,116 to $633 in male grammar schools, fiom $1,0SG to $603 in mixed grammar schools, from $1,056 to $603 in femalesgramnar schools and from $900 to $504 in primary <Je?artments and schools. Principals' salaries run up as high as $3,500 or $4,000. All male assistant teachers of less than one year's experience receive $720 the first year and females $408. The apprehensions of war have afforded throe English officers of the Salvation army in Paris an opportunity which they availed themselves of in their own manner. One aftejsioon recently three men, dressed. uniform by this time familiar to ev^>v^H| were walking along the Rue de Rr<? v,-> ktg big placardsT&i which werj ?> "War is Declared." jAv indigni ?> af gathered around* them, tore up ther^ ^ J3, jjju \^ould have ifi trfeated the officer^^^ ^ttimelyf^r^val of policemen, ^^ ^hem^^d/.aarche<lthese salvationi m bank cashier. the mcnmtains as a man of rare pluck, besides being considered of exceptional ability as a financier. His first notable sucjesses were at Deadwood, where, during the troublesome times of that wild region, he contrived to keep the value of bis securities far n excess of his loans without making enemies In tie banking experiences of a mining town this is unusuaL Yet, strange to say, Mr. Wood is noted for seeming extravagance in his concession to emb&rrased friends. The explanation is simple. His judgement of men is almost unerring. A story illustrative of his character is told by Black Hills ncmirers. It was said of him that he refused heney with such suavity and grace that the applicant usually left with an involuntary vnn" Ms lins ffna^av fhnnrrh It. Wood found his persuasive eloquence ad explanations vaiD. A logg haired bullvhacker from Sidney, Neb., who insisted on tb immediate cashing of a draft of $500, refoed to complete his identification or deposit th draft for collection. UI am sorry," said 211 Wood, his patience finally exhausted, "hit you will have to more along. I have biiness to attend to." Well, seo here, Sir. Cashier," exclaimed, th^idney man with a round oath, "you'll just ten to my business first or Til give you these SECills." Tie cashier looked down the mu^zlo of'an *Clirevolver. He neither moved nor paled. "bn'fc do anything in a hurry; you might nev< nave time to regret ray friend," said he. !f you will gently pass your finger along the m of the counter there you will find the mouUpf a double barreled shotgun; it is loadefljrith slugs. I have my finger on the triggtt , Get. or I will let her go at you." Thelullwhacker, his-pistol hand trembling and kfcjjes bulging from their sockets with fright,^xplbred the counter mechanically with hi. disengaged hand, finding a gaping hole in pjfc of where he stood he dropped his weapon ud didn't stop to say farewelL The conceale shotgun was one of the precautions of frontr hanking.?New York Star. ) r : xearat "Five Seconds. I was stitig with a police official at hi* office, ancjrve were discussing some fantastic Story, wli(i an employe came in and sat down besip us, leaniyg with bis elbows on the tabfell Icoked nt>, and said to him: "You ha*% forgotten to make the soup." "j>o, no; *ene vrim me. v> e went out together, gadg ncroa ions: corridors, I waiting behind "where I had been bcoughi TlgAiwnt into a wing of the house whicW knew well, and which led to the class rotns. Under the stairs he showed me a stovo :m which stood an oyster shell >*fth a litte white-^Klnt in it (I had been mixing waer colors' the evening before). ttBr.t y?n btfe forgottni the vegetables. Go ft) the ptJrte, at the (Aher end of the courtyard;, you ill fine? deni there on a table." I waited foia long time: at last I saw him making sigriat me that ho had found nothing. "It is i the left hand side," I shouted, and saw hi; cross the yard, coming back with an inuense cabbage .1 took a ldiife from my po<et, which I always kept there, and at the jomeut when 1 was going to cut the vegetabU was awakened by the noise of a bowl of sap being put heavily on the marble top of tletable next to my bed. It appear) to me that the idea of soup was suggested t<mo by the smell, at the moment when the ?or w?s opened by tho servant bringing inhe soup while I was asleep, and it takes fiveocondsat the most to walk from the door to tie bed.? Revue Soientifique. A Had rrtctice Indeed. In his aiicle on 'Loeksley Hall and the Jubilee" Ml Gladstone referred to th-> ancient oustonof the government of opening private lettes at the j<stofllee whenever it saw fit. "THs bad practice," he wrote, "has died out." t is a pity be did not add that he himself had leen the last minister to indulge in the "bad practice," *iich he did, in spita of Postmasth- General fciwcett:s earnest opposition, as lately as February, 1881. He at that time ojinied and reai all the letters that passed throtgh the postffice fer and from three of the chief Irish l^ders in parliament. ?The Argonaut Fato or a Mr. J. D. Redding, a mu$eap enthusiast and a musician of rare talent;-"while serving the state as fish commissioner, conceived the idea, it is said, of getting up a frog opera. He made the rounds of the restaurants, and, after much time and trouble, secured a tenor frog, a ljasso frog (the bassos wero numerous), a l>aritone frog and soprano and alto frogs. iHo then locked himself up in his room for three days, refusing food of any description, with the exception of chicken tamales and crayfish salad, a diet which is said to have a peculiarly stimulating effect upon the musical faculties. When at the expiration of that-time the door was opened aad the composer released his best friends would not have recognized him, so emaciated had he be# come from the strained mental effort. He had done the opera, but the faithless member of the Bohemian club, in whose care he had left the opera company, regardless ot the sanctity of his trust, had yielded to his base appetite and eaten them. Whereupon Mr. Redding, it is maliciously alleged, tore up his opera in a rage, and refused to listen to any apologies. ' The tenor was .tougli," said the wretch, "but, Joe dear, the baritone and soprano would melt iu the mouth." .It was a pity that this catastrophe should have taken place, for the frog is by uo means unmusical, and in skillful hands might have astonished the community. "It was light but pleasing," said Mr. Redding, referring to his opera, "and might have raked in a j>ot of money if put on immediately after 'Polar Star.' However, the man who ate my company is punished. Ho has got the gout, and the betting now is that it gees to tho stomach and kills him, and I hope it will."?San Francisco Call. It Cured Him. Apropos of a fashionable craze, the following story illustrates itself: A little Detroit boy was sick, and his mother sat up at night with him and sung him to sleep. The next night singing had lost its charm, so she told him stories, and, being an amateur elocutionist, recited the poem, "Rock of Ages," with such dramatic effect that he went to sleep and did not wake until morning. The following night he w as worse, and in-, sisted that his mother should "pway" with him. She began "Our Father," but was peremptorily stopped by a little hot hand laid against her liDST Then she essayed "Now I Lay Me," but it threw the baby into a feverish rage. "Pway, Mamma," he commanded, "pway Wock of Wages' all over the room, the way 1 you did last night."?Detroit Frso Press. > The IUce Betrayed Him. A young man, wearing a tall black hat, i walked into a Clark street sample room yesterday afternoon and called for somo liquor. When ho had emptied his glass ho drew a handkerchief from bis overcoat pocket and wiped his mouth with a flourish. As he did t so, howovor, hundreds of kernels of rice fell ' upon the floor "Been getting married?" said the man back of the bar. "How do you know?" inquired the man with the pln^Mt. "Sa J kerc h ief." the old upon leaked look a hadn't seen ^ bh, I'm (bridegroom C^^ll right in his * ^0,( bat you know how it r? is. A fellow doee. vant to look too much ! liko one when h<? .way from home. Look Iiko an old timer, ddnt I? Thanks. Let's all have a good drink."?Chicago Herald. i beits me," ai ihe egg re-j Iked when it saw the spoon. ? caa'TTTB-a mrious world," my barber , said yesterday ; "nobody ain't satisfied. TWjr ?De in my grease A rm.It, BDU IUO re carl his to pass the afternoon witff^Hr3octor's little daughter was given two pieces of candy. When he returned bis mother inquired if he gave the largest piece to the little girl. "No, mother, I didn't; you told me to give the biggest piece to the company, and I was the company over there." A gentleman in New Orleans was agreeably surprised to find a plump turkey served op for his dinner, and inquired of his servant how it was obtained. "Why, sab," replied Sambo, "dat turkey war' roostin' on our fence three nights ; so dis mawnin I seize him for de rent of de fence." "What pretty children you have," said the new minister to the proud mother of three little ones. "Ah, my little dear," said he, as he took a girl of five on his lap, "are yon the eldest of the family?" "No, ma'am, re- ' sponded the little Miss with the usual | accuracy of childhood, "my pa's j { i older'n mo." j j I heard a gentleman ask au old j j 1J I.I.a Via /tnnld Vlfl va ! , W0U1U mac, ^lUflUCU UO kuuiu UUIV | L any three things he wonld wish for. j The old darkey replied : "Well, j boss, de fuss ting, I take a fifty-dollar cote in money, den a fine suit of clothes, and next a barrel o' rice, j Den, boss," he continned, "if you let me take another wish I'd take four gallons o' good whiskey." f "What's the matter, Mrs. Tompkin ?" asked Flamly of his landlady. "You seem down in the month." j "Matter enough. The new boarder <3 has gone off without paying a cent of j g board. He owed me for four weeks. | v But I don't regret that so much as I do that I let him have his board for six dollars a week when I should have j charged him seven. I'll never make a B redaction again." The Sunday-school teacher was tl impressing upon her class the im- ^ portance of honoring the parents, p "Now, children," said she, "when you are naughty and cross, your mamma d does not want you to be near her q where she can see your naughty ways. S But when you are good she loves' to have you by her. Now Tommy, when do you think your mamma loves you A best?" "When I'm asleep," replied p Tommy, stoutly. "She says so." h Hovr tbe Ail Old Negro Man's Plans His Wife. la the Negro-American, a large anS ambitious magazine jast started in Boston in the interest of the colored race, is the following "How the Strike Ended," by Uncle Rnfus : "He was one of the Sons of Rest, and from the day that he became a member his wife has had to support not only four small children, but their father as well. It was early in the morning, and the wind was howling oatside, and the thermometer 10 degrees below zero, when he said to his wife as he tncked the bed-clothes around him : "Wife, I'm heartily in u? ntriL-ova whn arfi tSy Willi iud ovuavftw ?? now asserting their rights all over the country agaiDst the grinding heel of monopoly.' " 'Indeed,' said the wife, with a strange light in her eyes. " 'Yes, 1 am. The time has come when we laboring men are forced to protect ourselves; and I've half a mind to join 'em for the sake of the great principle involved, if for no other reason.' "'So you're in sympathy with the i great striking element, are you ? Well, it strikes me that the clock is striking 7 ; so you just strike out of bed and strike a light; then strike out for the wood pile ; strike the ax into some of it ; then strike a fire in the kitchen stove, and, then strike for the well and get a pail of water. By that time I'll strike out and get breakfast ready, and after you've strack that it strikes me tbat yon bad better strike out and strike a job, and see how it will strike you to earn some clothes for your ragged youDg od68 to wear.' "And as she strock out of bed be struck for the door, and thus ended one of the most threatening strikes of history.'" < Girls. by a boy. Girls are the most unaccountable thiogs in the world?except women. < Like the wicked-iifi'^."'1-! imj ujjiUT iHmn nrw tlljj j I can't cypher out a girl, proper^! improper, and you can't ^either. The only rale in arithmetic that hits their case is the doable spifc-of two. They are as full of Old Nick as their skin can hold, and they would die if they coaldn't torment somebody. When they try to be meun they are as mean as pasley, though they ain't as mean as they let on, except sometimes, and then they are a good deal meaner. The only way tc^get along with a girl when she comes at you with her dooQflnan in tr? tior tif. for fcf- nn<3 *, ? ft* ?V, that will flummux her, and when yon get a girl flammaxed she is as nice as a new pin. A girl can sow more wild oats in a day than a boy can sow in a. year; bat girls get their wild oats sowed after a while, which boys never do, and they settle down as calm and placid as a mad paddle. Bat I like girls first rate, and I gaess the boys all do. I don't care how many tricks they play on me? and they don't care either. The hoity-toitiest girls in the world can't always boll over like a glass of soda. By and by they will get into the traces with somebody they like, and pall as steady as any old stage horse. That is the beaaty of them. So let them wave I say ; they will pay for it 1 A - J 3ome day, sewing on uuctoos ana | trying to make a decent man of the feller they have spliced nn ftfid ''** ^ujuu aib tfch Lu one li they don t jet the worst of it.?Ex. He Blamed Moses. "Vhell, sooch lock as my brudder Closes has bad in Chicago vhas j snongh to discourage an hone-t j nan/' he said, as he shook out and olded np another pair of paDts. "Trade bad ?" "Trade vhas so flat dot two dollar rests go begging at six shillings, bat lot vhas all right Moses vhas a ;ood man to hole on. Dsr trouble ash be got bnrnat oudt." ' "And no insurance ?" 1 "More ash four tonsand dollar. 1 lot der company breaks down dot 1 ame day, nnd so he lose eaferyting.'' i ' Tnn bad. If Moses had known j 1 hat the company had failed there ; rouldn't have been any. fire, I sup 1 086?" j? "Of course not. I blame Moses I 1 ot he doan look in der daily papers I J nd keep himsef posted."?Wall i ? 'Ireel News. Some women are awful "tetchy." ^ . widow Dot long ago stopped her j aper because it said her husband j ad "gone to a happier home." i ^ 7 day last summer^^^^necongW|P^^W^M : tioo was drowsy. The preacher was V H a long talker, and after his sermon j bad been spread out over the better i part of au hour the congregation was - ' ..j drowsier. Heads began to drop on fj i the ^respective chests thereunto appertaining, ancTToog, deep breathing? became noticeable in various parts of the church. Then the preacher began to lower his voice gradually. Step by step he reduced his elocution from a fortissimo tenor pitch to a low, soothing bass until eventually his voice died out altogether. He looked carefully over the congregation. All was still l ? a.t. "XT? ? ? #*/) All moro j as ueaui. x>U uuo gmiou. aii noiw nodding. Then the optics of the indignant servant of the Lord filled with gore. He leaned over the pnlpit, away over, waited an instant in that position, and then saddenly he yelled 'Fire! fire!" in a voice which sent its reverberations through every nook and comer of the edifice. That brought the congregation to life as though a bomb bad burst under them. One old deacob jumped up and yelled : ''Where? Where ?" That's where the gag came in, and the minister shrieked in tones of thunder: 'To bell! In hell, for all you sleepy sioners!" Only strangers sleep in that church dow.?From the Pittsburg Press. A Bad Scare. A good story was told of a certain young man of Schley connty, who is living on A. L. Beckwith's place. He went to bed ,a few nights ago, after having heard ghosts talked for an hour or two, and went Some time about midnight bis room awakene<J->diij5^,^^8^^^^^^^H TfihMI ^'aud I 7 liguaij aioeif^bl^ IM chasing each other up and down spinal column, and he began to jy" "Oh, Lordy! please let me off/Y? A single barreled gan was near\^ ucu c*Lili uu icauucu luiiu ula uauu to get it; casting bid eyes toward the window, be tboagbt be saw a form B| moving abont and beard a noise Wt under tbe bed. With a yell of terror the young fellow dashed through the door, breaking it from the hinges and rushed into the hall, where he met a litte negro whom be capsized, ' and rushed out in his night clothes. It is said he ran four miles before he was overtaken by some laborers on 1 the place, and carried back. What 1 the noise was that caused his fright, 1 was not ascertained, but it is supposed that a rat was gnawiDg about the room, and the unfortunate young fellow took it to be the clanking I bones of his ghostship as he strode about the room. He has left for other quarters so we learn.?Sumter (Ga.J Republican. Love in Forsyth. A young man from Jackson county brought a blushing girl into town last week, too young for the license law, bat after two days and a night of anxious efforts, he came and halted in front of the store^^kich ^ manded to be "cemented." Now the 'Squire is a strict observer of propriety, and withal an exceedingly modest man, hence protested against a street ceremony. "Bat I want witnesses," argued the young man. "I want witnesses, und er heap uv 'em. Yer see, they've all bin fightin' it, her main UDd my mam, her dad uDd my dad. Mam wanted me ter marry a grass widder with no back hair, 'cause she has a muly cow what works iu harness und brings twins every year ; but I don't want no stock in that sort?I don't. I'd rither live with this gal und eat turnip tops UDd cow peas, I had ; and now we wants to be cemented right here in the 3treet" Bat the weaver of nuptial knots finally prevailed on ihe couple to come in doors, where the ceremony 5va8 performed after the most approved pattern, when they made a :*sak for the highway, the groom rorgetting marriage fee or even a ro al lhauk'ee.? Gumming (Ga.) Cor'espondent Atlanta Journal. That the oyster is nutritious, Quite exquisitely delicious, is a statement that can never be denied, But ha suddenly grows vicious ; Toward your stomach quite malicious, rVlten he's fried. ; / r /. jJ