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HLER PER1XE(T LOVERI. "I had a lover once," she sigbed; "Yes, just before I mairled you. Who listened when I spoke and tried To answer all my questions to(). "So courteous and so kind-so goo He'd never think a man could be As thoughtless and indeed as rude As you too often are to me. "The jewel of my love once won, le used to swear, could ne'er grow dini, He could not dream that any one Could whistle when I spoke to him. "If be had faults, he kept them hid. I should have married him? Yes, true, And that's exactly what I did. My perfect lover, sir, was-you." "RUTH TEMPLE, SPINSTER." Ruth Temple slowly turned the pages of the red-backed, large-typed book, ostentatiously labeled in gro tesque gilt letters "The Report and General History of the Lebanon Meth odist Episcopal Church," and the rust ling of each leaf as it fluttered through her thin fingers waS a harmonious ac companiment to a plaintive little sigh that seemed to issue from the inner most recesses of Miss Ruth's being and a ombled away in piteous undula -tion. (a the unsympathetic atmos phere of her little sitting-room. The last ten pages of the book con tained complete plans and specifica tions of the church, from the founda tion to the weather-vane, and a full fledged directory of all its members, 4ogether with their addresses and any explanatory remarks . anent their spiritual or material welfare, past, present or to come, that the commit tee might see fit to append thereto, for it wa's one of the tenets of the Lebabon Methodist Church that there should be no hopes and aspirations in the hearts of its flock too sacred to become the common property of the committee on the report and general history. When she had turned the pages till she came to the directory she laid the book on the table before her and let the index finger of her right hand run slowly down the membership list till she came to the 's, There it was in the rediculously large, black type af fectatiously employed by the commit t-e-"Ruth Temple, Spinster." The delicate, blue-veined hand rested there and the index finger beat a quiet tat too on the old-fashioned name with its one qualifying word, and as she looked the full red lips curved them selvesinto an expressive smile peculiar to her lips alone. Ruth Temple had lived in Lebanon only a year. She was a Methodist by birth and by education and by gen eral inclination, but in spite of that for six months after her removal to the place she had declined to unite with any church. At the expiration of that time, however, the pillars-of the Methodist Episcopal congrega tion, whose services she had attended with t regularity, got after her with the persuasive power of their combined forces and her will was bent down before the overwhelming tide of their eloquence without one feeble spurt of opposition. Three months before the issuing of the latest report and general history she, got her letter from the Kansas City church under whose guidance she bad passed through youth and the early years of maturity and gave her self up unreservedly to the tender mereies of the committee, with the result that hers was the most conspi cuious name in the whole membership directory, for among its 200 odd wor s'vr she was the only one who was entitled to be called a spinster. On that Monday afternoon when the blue-veined index finger quietly kept time to the evolutions of hex' brain, there was a strange, new shad *ow of perplexity in _Miss Ruth's smile indicative of the disturbing train of meditation that had found a foothold in her mind. The unusual fermenta tion of her thoughts dated from the morning sermon of the day before. The Rev. Israel Weston, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a man the greater portion of whose life had been spent in the study of the word and the cultivation of an effec tive style of delivering its messages and a practical demonstration of its theories so far as human nature would permit. Ruth Temple had always been impressed with his earnestness and pehaps it was his few well-chosen worsof encouragement more than anytnnelse that had brought her wti- fold. Un til that particular Sunday he had never nreached a ser mon whose theme could not safely be set down as a guide-post in her spirit ual life to which she could turn with confidence. But that day he had struck hitherto unsounded keys, and the notes jarred on her painfully. "I shall speak to day from Genesis ii, 18, "It is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helpmeet for him.' " The Rev. Israel Weston had pre faced the announcement of the text with a conscientious cough and a com prehensive sweep of his long, white hands, and then had launched into a discourse, every caustic sentence of which seemed to be a missile aimed directly at Ruth Temple, and which burned its way into her heart and brain. Monday afternoon the scars still throbbed and ached, ani she bowed her head over the report and gnrlhistory, and let the tears tric le out through her heavy lashes and blot the nage whereon the history of Ruth Temple, spinster, 'was briefly given to all who might choose to read. "It was a shame for him to talk so," she said at leno-th, raising flher head and looking at tie name again. "'He meant me, anybody could see that. The sermon from beginning to end was a monument to injustice. I don't believe it, that text was meant for wo men as much as for men, and that the woman who fails to marry misses the great part she was expected to play in life and falls sho:rt of the requirements of the elect. Every woman can't marry, and he ought to know that. He had better take his own prescrip tion and hunt a wife for himself. It was cruel. He had no right to make me the target for his burning philip pics, wnich doutless are expressive of whatever disappointment and ill-feel ing there may be rankling in his own heart on the subject. I thoroughly detest him and the whole congrega tion, and I'll withdraw from the church tomorrow." But her vexation wore itself away in tears and by morning her forgiving sprt had acquitted Israel Weston of the charge of deliberate calumny. Throughout the week she attended prayer meeting and held up her end of the aid society and the numerous other anxiliary societies and did her work with such becoming meekness that the minister had no conceptioa of the tempest of heartaches his ser mon had stirred up. The following Sunday the purport of his text was similar to that of the preceding and he pointed out in terms that were terrifying to the guilty the awful fate that was sure to overtake the woman 'who disobeyed divine com mands and refused to'take upon her self the responsibilities of a wife and perfect homemaker. Every man, woman and child who had wandered into the Metodist Epis copal Church that morning had read or heard of that portion of the report and general history in which Ruth Temple was desio'nated a spinster, and they nuded se other and nodded significantly toward Ihe Temple pew and tacitly agreed that the theological amtiuniciation was intended for none other than Ruth herself. There was a bright red spot glowing in either cheek as she walked out of the church at the end of the sermon and her eyes had taken on themselves an unusual brightness. Everybody wondered how she would take it and thev ranged themselves along the edge of the aisle she would have to pass through and gathered in knots in the vestibule to see if she showed any visible signs of perturbation, and their unanimous verdict was that "she was game. There was an official meeting of the various church boards and commit tees the next Tuesday evening, and just before their adjournment the Rev. Israel Weston read to all the pil lars and lights there assembled a letter from Ruth Temple in which she for mally expressed a wish to sever her connectiod with the Methodist Epis copal Church forthwith and forever. They pondered the matter and set forth all the reasons as to why they should and why they shouldn't com ply with the request. and the upshot of their deliberations was that they decided to let her go her heretic way in peace if she could give some well orounded reason for wishing to cut 'oose from her present church rela tions. The minister was appointed a committee of one to call on her and probe her feelings on the subject. He chose the following afternoon to per form the duty assigned him. Miss Ruth sat by the west window, with the report and general history in her lap when Israel Weston, under the chaperonage of the landlady's little girl, tapped at the door for admit tance. She laid the red-backed book, open at the T's in the membershin directory, on the table, and let hii in. The minister rubbed the palms of his hands together with a gentle friction which served as a sort of lubricant for the flow of his words, which never came quite so readily in house to-house vis iting as in the pulpit, and then he said abruptly: "At the meeting of the church di rectors last night I presented your letter as you requested. It is needless to say that it produced not a little surprise among us all. I have under stood that your relations with the congregation were very pleasant. Nevertheless, we have decided to grant you a letter of withdrawal in good standing if you can give us a satisfac tory explanation of tis extraordinary move on your part. Why do 'you wish to leave us, Miss Temple?" The crimson spots that had burned in her cheeks the previous Sunday flamed into sudden life again and her sensitive lips trembled. "When a woman whose only crime is that she has never seen fit to give herself wholly into the keeping of any man is assailed promiscously by both her pastor and his parishioners for that one grievous fault I think it is about time for her to cast her lot with some other denomination which will be willing to take her just as she is without constantly reprimanding hei in public for committing the error of remaining in single blessedness." The Rev. Israel Weston crossed his lono les and coughed nervously. " erfiaps you allude to my last two sermons, Miss Temple," he hazarded, with an uneasy smile. "I do," was the emphatic reply. "And this also," she added, takin i the red book from the table and hold ing it out before him while her index fing-er ao'ain pointed to the tear-blotted namae, M'iuth Temple, Spinster." "And you think-"he commenced, looking at her half-wonderingly, half pityinigly. "I think," she cried, letting the book fall to the floor with a crash and choking down a sob of mingled grief and ano-er, 'that the committee that got up tiis report are a lot of precious numbskulls. I may be unduly sensi tive about some things, but I have my reasons for feeling so, and I can't help it, and I think you are equally obstuse and far more unfeeling han tey, for you publicly set me up as an object of ridicule because I hold a station in life the whys and wherefores of which you nor anybody else has any busi nessio pry into." The munister had arisen and stood staring at her in silence at the end of her impassioned outburst. "But can't you see?" he said ait length picking up the book from the floor and turning it round and round mechanically, "I thought you would understand." "I do see," she retorted; "I do un derstand, and that is the reason I ask for a letter from the Methodist Episco pal Church." His o'wn face flushed faintly. "You do not see or understand," he said deliberately, "and that reason the letter cannot be granted." "But for all that I am through with both you and your church," she said decisively, and there the interview ended. -Ruth Temple's name was not erased from the membership - list, but she lived up to her hastily made vow and kept away from the Methodist Church. Perhaps Israel Weston's sermons were quorted more frequently and with more accuracy during the following month than they had ever been before or ever will be ao-ain, for all Ruth Temple's intereste<I friends considered it their bounden duty to recall to her every idea of each discourse at so much sen sation per sentence, and she was kept as we l informed of all matters in which she had still been a regular at tendant at the meetings. " 'He's eternally harping oin the mar riage question." said Miss Temple's landlady one day, critically. "'Some times he gets his text from the Old Testament. sometimes from the New. What on earth he means by it I don't know. He must have an object. but what it is not one of the congregation is smart enough to find out." "Perhaps he will make his meaning plain in his own good time and way," Ruth answered with her quiet smile, "and in the meantime I don't suppose it matters much- to us what he is driv i at. bunday .after Sunday when Israel Weston took his place in the pulpit his glance wandered inquiringly to wards the Temple pew from which the calm, demure face was now absent. and Sunday after Sunday a tide of bit ter disappointment pulsed through his heart and lingered there to the detri ment of all other sentiments hie tried to call into activity. One day he came to a sudden determination. All morn ing the thoug'ht of her intruded and had hopelessly tangled itself with the half-formed outline of his next sermon Shortly after noon he closed his desk and started towards Miss Temple's home.- She was alone and her face expessed-considerable surprise when he entered. "I came to tell you why I have been p reaching on the text, 'It is not well for man to be alone,' " he said, sitting before her and fumbling awkwardly with his watch chain. "I meant it for you in a certain sense, but the mesage has far greater significance for myself. Can't you see, Ruth? I pre ached at both of us. I thought would strike a responsive chord in your owni heart and that you would understand intuitively. Perhaps it was not manly f I have hurt you I pray you forgive me and let me repeat the text with no listuer buat vou." He said it aoain: alone. I will make him a help meet for hirn.' Can vou say it with ien he added gravely. Her pretty lips curved into their quiet smile, but she shook her head. "Not to-day." she answered, -but I'll think it over, and if ever I can I will let you know." It was two months before he sa w her again. One day when he came home from a call he found a note awaiting him which would have seemed an un solvable enigma to any one but him. "I say it now.- the line read. "Do you wish to hear it ? When Isreal \Veston returned to his study that evening he destroyed the half-finished outline for this next sermon and plun ged head first into a semi-religious essay on political ambition, and from time on he has never been known to preach on mirrying and giving in marriage. Last month the committee got out a new report and general history of the Methodist Episcopal Church. . The name "Reth Temple, spinster," was conspicuous only by its absence, and away down at the end of the member shiplist is another on which her index finger often rests and its owner reads it with a simple-"Ruth Weston." Chicago News. SIX PERISHED, ONE ESCAPED. Tragic Death of a Gang of Gas men in Prov. Idence. PROvn)ENCE, R. I., Sept. 4.-Five employes of the Providence Gas Com pany went to their death in the cellar of the Westfield street gasholder about 1:30 o'clock this afternoon, as phyxiation the cause. The niames of the dead are: James Colton, aged 26. single, Bird street. John Reiley, 45, married, Borden and Mary streets. Lawrence Burnes, 11) East Provi dence street. John McNamee. 36, single, Brook street. The accident was a peculiar one. For several days leaking gas has been detected in the holder, and to-day the company sent six men and a fore man to repair the leak, which proved to come from a defect ive valve connecting the four-inch main which supplies the Westfield street holder with gas from the main holder on Globe street. The men had just returned from dinner at 1 o'clock. and going down the wooden stairs which led from the entrance of the holder to the cellar below, beg-an to work on the broken valve. They disconnected it and tied a cloth bag about the large main extending in from the street, when the bag gave way and an immense volume of -as rushed out. In less time than it takes to tell it, all were overcome with the exception of one, who managed to grope up the stairs, where the fresli air enabled him to recover sufficiently to reach the street. Immediately after it became known that the men were there and unable to get out, willing hands attempted to oo to the rescue, but nothing could be one while the escaping gas rushed up the stairs. Foreman Charles Allen did all he could, but there was no cut off in the street and he knew not what way to turn. The police were quick ly on the spot and roped off West field street, and Medical Examiner Palmer stood in the doorway to pre vent any ody from. going down the stairs. At the foot of the stairs lay one of the men who had almost reached the bottom stair when he was over come and sank back, with a look of anguish on his countenance. Soon after 3 o'clock the gas company sent a gang of men to dig up the street and get at the main shut off fourther along, it be ing understood that noiother means of shutting off the gas could be attained this evening and it meant two houjrs work. Foreman Allen took a hand in the excavation and was overcome before the digging had proceeded far. He was taken to the Rhode Island hospital in the ambulance, which ar rived a short time before. His life is despaired of. Road Building. The following from the Manufactu rer's Record, in view of the interest that is being manifested on all sides in the good roads agitation, will be of in terest to our readers: The construction of macadamized roads around Charlotte, N. C., is still being pushed, and in view of the ef fect of good roads upon Mecklenburg county, the following data with refer ence to road building in that county, given by the engineer in cha:ge of the work, will be of interest: Most of the stone is furnished by the farmers. the county paying forty cents per cubic yard for the stone piled on the road at designated places. A small propotion of the stone is quar ried by the convicts. The roads cost about $2,800 per mile. The county now has about thirty three miles of first-class macadamized roads. The number of convicts now en gaged in road building is about 80. It costs the county about twenty six cents per day for each convict maintained and worked on the roads. This cost includes food, clothing, shel ter and guarding. The shelter is a cheap structure of wood and canvas, something better than a tent. The advantages of- using .convict Ia bar are: 1. That an oro-anized force can be better maintainead than could be done with free labor for road building. 2. It is cheaper than free labor would 3. It frees the country from the ex pense of. keeping prisoners without any return value. 4. It engages convict labor in health ful occupation without bringing it in competition with free labor. 5. It is the best possible punishment for the common criminal. 6. It cures the tramp nuisance. 7. The result (good roads) is a bene faction. The county owns a crushing plant, consisting of a stone crusher, a 40 horse power engine boiler. It also owns a heavy steam roller, screening aparatus, carts, mules. etc. Lands in the county have been ma terially increased in value as a result ot the improved condition of the roads. Many new settlers have been at tracted by the new roads. Considerable capital hasbeen invest ed in enterprises in Charlotte because of the good impressions made by the ood roads leading out of the city. *The, road-building is done entirely by conivict labor, except only a'few skilled workmen... Slew His sister. PARKERsBURG, WV. Va., Sept. 5. Frank Cross, near Cornwall's drove his wife from home this morn ing and in the evening sht and killed his, sister, Mrs. Cam Talor, in whose house his wvife had taen refuge. Cross was intoxicated and went to his sister's house and be gan to curse~ his wife. His sister up braided him. She was holding her infant in her arms, when Cross fired suddenly at short range. The ball pierced her hear-t. Cross then turned upon Mrs. Delancy, a guest of his sister, and threatened to kill her, drove her and Taylor's two children fromi the house. ~He appeared at Cairo and surendered, pleading thatt the shonotinug was ac-cidental. Threats of lynching ma hard. ClRIST IS THE CfIEF, REV. DR. TALMAGE ON THE MOST CONSPICUOUS FIGURE IN HISTORY. A Sermon that Must he Full or insz;piration to Christians Everywhere--Chris.t the Object of Faih ani Loe :ud lope Treasures in Hleaven. Nhw Yozx. 'Sept. 1.- -For his ser mon for this forenoon, Rev. Dr. Tal mage selects a topic which must prove full of inspiration to Christians every where. The title of his discourse is, "The Chieftain," and the text "The chiefest among ten thousand." Canti cles v, 10. The most conspicuous character of histor,- steps out upon the platform. The finger which, diamonded with light, pointed down to him from'the Bethlehem sky, was only a ratification of the finger of prophecy, the finger of genealogy, the finger of chronolo gy, the finger of events-all five fing ers pointing in one: direction. Christ is the overtopping figure of all time. He is the "vox humana" in all music, the gracefulest line in all sculpture. the most exquisite mingling of lights and shades in all paintiog, the acme of all climaxes, the dome of all cathe draled grandeur and the peroration of all language. The Greek alphabet is made up of 24 letters, and when Christ compared himself to the first letter and the last letter, the Alpha and the Omega, he appropriated to himself all the splend ors that you can spell out either with' those two letters or all the letters be tween them. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." WTat does that Scripture nican which savs of Christ, "He that cometh from above is above all." It means after you have piled up all Alpine and Himalayan altitudes the glory of Christ would have to spread its wings and descend a thousand leagues to touch those summits. Pelion, a high mountain of Thessaly: Ossa, a high mountain, and Olympus, a high mcuntain, but mythology tells us when the giants warred against the gods they piled up these three moun tains, and from the tops of them they proposed to scale the heavens, but the height was not great enough, and there was a complete failure. And af ter all the giants-Isaiah and Paul, prophetic and apostolic giants; Raph ael and Michael Angelo, artistic giants; cherubim and seraphim and archangelcelestial giants-have failed to climb to the top of Christ's glory they might all well unite in the words of Paul and cry out, "Above all"' "Above all "' But Solomon in my text prefers to call Christ "The Chieftain." and so today I hail him. First, Christ must be chief in our preaching. There are so many books on homiletics scattered throuo-h the country that all laymen, as wel as all clergymen, have made up their minds what sermons ought to be. That ser mon is the most effectual which most pointedly puts forth Cbrist as the par don of all sin and the correction of all evil-individual, social, political, national. There is no reason why we should ring the endless changes on a few.. phrases. There. are those who think.that. if ans exhortation or a dis course have frequent mention of justi fication, sanctification,' covenant of works and covenant of grace, there fore it must be profoundly evangeli cal, while they are suspicious of a dis course which presents the same truth, but under different phraseology. INow I say there is nothing in all the opu lent realm of Anglo-Saxonism, of all the word treasures 'that we iiiherited from the.Latin and the Greek andi the Indo-European, but we have a itight to marshal it in religious discussion. Christ sets the exampl. His illustra tions were from the grass, the flowers, the barnyard f6wl,~ the crystals of salt, as wvell as from the seas and the stars, and we do not propose in our Sunday school teaching and in our pulpit address to, be put on the limits. I know that there is a great deal said in otur day against words, as though they were nothing. They may be misused, but they have an imperial power. They are the bridge between soul and soul, between Almighty God and the human race. What did Christ write upon the tables of stone? Words. What did Christ utter on Mount Olivet? Words. Out of what did Christ strike the spark for the illu minationr of the universe? Out of w'ords. - Let there be light," and light was. .Of couirse, thought is the cargo, and wor-ds are only the ship; but how fast would your cargo get on without the ship?.-: What. you . need. my friends, in all your work,,.in your Sabbath school class, in your- reform atory institutions and what -we all need is to enlarge our vocabulary when we come to sp)eak about God and Christ and heaven. We ride a few old wvords to death, when there is such illimitable resource. . Shakes peare employed 15,000 different words for dramatic purposes; Milton em ployed 8,000 different words for poet ic purposes; Rufus Choate employed over 11,000different words. for legal purposes, but the most of us have less than 1,000 words that we can manage, and that makes us so stupid. When we come to set forth the love of Christ we are going to take the tenderest . piiraseology wherever w~e find it, and if it has never been used in that direction before all the more shall we use it. 'When we come to speak of the glory, of Christ the con queror we are going to draw our sim iles from triumphal arch and oratorio and everything grand and stupendous. The French navy have 1S flags by which they give signal, .but those 18 Ilags they can put into 66,000 di:.fer ent combinations. And I have to tell you that these standards of the cross may be lifted into combinations in fin ite and varieties everlasting. And let me say to these young men who come from the theological seminaries in to our services, and are, after awhile, going-to preach Jesus Christ: You will have the largest liber-ty and un limited resour-ce. You only have to present Christ in your own way. Brighter than the light.fr-esher than the fountains, deeper than the seas, are all these gospel themes. Song has no melody, Ilowers no sweetness, sun set sky no color compar-ed with these glorious themes. These harvests of grace spring up qiuicker .than we can sickle them. Kindling pulpits with their fire and producing revolutions with their p~ower, lighting ' up) dyi-nlg beds. with their glory, and they are the sweetest thought for the poet, and they are the most thrilling illustration for the orator, and they offer the most intense scene for the artist, and thcv are to the embassador of the sky all enthusiasm. . Complete pardon for di rest guilt. Sweetest comfort for ghast liest agony. Brightest hope for grim mest death. G randest resurrection for darkest sepulcher. Oh, what a gospel to preach: Christ tile chief. His birth, his suffering, his miracles, his parables, his sweat. his tears. his blood, his atonement, his intercession -what glorious themes: Do we ex ercise faith ? Christ is its object. Do we have love? It fastens on Jesus. Have we a fondness for the church? It is because Christ died for it. H1ave we a hope of heaven: It is because Jesus went there, the herald and the forecrunner. The r-oyal rob~e of D~eme t.;us was sO cosly. so beautfurl, that after he had put it off no one ever dared to out it On, but this robe of Christ, richer than that, the poorest and the w,-akest and the worst may wear. "Where sin abounded grace may much more abound." "Oh. my sins, my sis, said Mar tin Luther to Staupitz, "my sins, my sins:" The fact is that the brawny German student had found a Latin Bible that made him auake, and noth ing else ever did make him quake,and when he found how, through Christ, he was pardoned and saved, he wrote to a friend, saying: "Come over and join us great and awful sinners saved by the grace of God. You seem to be only a slender sinner. and you don't muci' extol the mercy of Go(: but we that have been such very awful sin ners praise his grace the more now that we have been redeemed." Can it be that you are so desperately egotisti cal that you feel yourself in first rate spiritual trim, and that from the root of the hair to the tip of the toe you are scarless and immaculate: What you need is a looking glass, and here it is in the Bible. Poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot. full of wounds and putri fying sores. No health in us. And then take the fact that Christ gathered up all the notes agaiinst us and paid them, and then offered us the receipt! And how much we need him in our sorrows' -We are independent of cir cumstances if we have his grace. Why, he made Paul sing in the dun geon. and under that grace St. John from desolate Patmos heard the blast of the apocalyptic trumpets. After all other .andles have been snuffed out, this is the light that gets brighter and brighter unto the perfect day: and af ter, under the hard hoofs of calamity, all the pools of worldly enjoyment have been trampled into deep mire, at the foot of the eternal rock the Chris tian,from cups of granite Illy rimmed. puts out the thirst of his soul. Again, I remark that Christ is chief in dying alleviations. I have not any sympathy with tne morbidity abroad about our demise. The emperor of Constantinople arranged that on the day of his coronation the stonemason should come and consult him about the tombstone that after awhile he would need. And there are men who are monomaniacal on the subject of departure from this life by death, and the more they think of it the less they are prepared to go. This is an unman liness not worthy of you, not worthy of me. Saladin, the greatest conqueror of his day, while dying, ordered that the tunic he had on him be carried after his death on his spear at the head of his army, and that then the soldier, ever and anon, should stop and say: "Behold all that is left of Saladin, the emperor and conqueror: Of all the states lie conquered, of all the wealth he accumulated, nothing did he re tain but this shroud." I have no sym pathy with such behavior, or such ab surd demonstration, or with much that we hear uttered in regard to de parture from this life to the next. There is a common sensical idea on this subject that you need to consider -there are only two styles of depart ure. A thousand feet underground. by light of torch, toiling in a miner's shaft, a ledge of rock may fall upon us, and we may die a miner's death. Far out at sea, falling from the slip pery ratlines and broken on the hall iards, we may die a sailor's death. On mission of mercy in hospital, amid broken bones and reeking leprosies and raging fevers, we may die a phil anthropist's death. On the field of battle, serving God and our country, slugs through the heart, the gun car riage may roll. over us, and we may die a patriot's death. But, after all, there are two styles of departure -the death of the righteous and the death of the wicked-and we all want to die the former. God grant that when that hour comes you may be at home. You want the hand of your kindred in your hand. You want your children to surround you. You want the light on your pillow from eyes that have long reflected your love. You want your room still. You do not want any curious stt angers standing around watching you. You want your kind red from afar to hear your last prayer. I think that is the wish of all of us. But is that all-? Can earthly friends hold us up when the billows of death come up to the girdle? Can human voice charm open heaven's gate? Can human hand pilot us through the nar rowvs of death into heaven's harbor? Can any earthly friendship shield us from the arrows of death, and in the hour when satan shall practice upon us his infernal archery: No, no, no, no: Alas, poor soul, if that is all. Better die in the wilderness. far from tree shadow and from fountain, alone, vultures circling through the air waiting for our body unknown to men, and to have no burial, if only Christ could say through the solitudes, "I1 will never leave thee, I will never forsake thee. Gordon Hall, far from home, dying in thei door of a heathen temple, said "Glory to thee, O God:"' What did dying Wilberforce say to his wife? 'Come and sit beside me. and let us talk of heaven. I never knew what happiness was until I found Chr-ist." What did dying Ihannah More say? "To go..to heaven, think what that is: To go to Christ, who died that I might live ! Oh, glorious grave! Oh, what a lorious thing it is to die ! Oh. the love Zof Chrmist, the love of Christ:" What did Mr. Toplady, the great hymn maker', say in his last hour? "Who can measure the depths of the third heaven ? Oh, the sunsnine that fills my soul: I shall soon begone, for sur'ely no one can live in this - world after such glor'ies as God has manifested to my soul." 'What did the dying Janeway say: "I can easily die as close my~ eyes. or turn my eyes or tur'nmy head in sleep Before'a fewhours have passed I shiall stand on Mount Zion with the one hundred and forty and four thousand, and with just men made perfect, and we shall ascribe riches and honor and glory and majesty and dominion unto Gsod and the Lamb." Dr. Taylor', con demined to burn at the stake, on his way thither broke away from the guardsmen and went bounding and Ieaping and jumping toward the l ire, glad to go to Jesus and to die for hun Sir Chai-les IIare, in his last moments. had such r'apturous vision tha; he cried, "L'pwvard, upward. upward! And so great was the peace of one of Ch ist's dici ples that he put his iings. uponu the pulso in his wvrist and c->un ted . ni observed it, and so great was. .s plac'idity that after awhiil.' he said. "Stopped 2" and his life had end ed he~re- to begin in heaven. But grander thanu that was the tetimiony of the worniout :irist missionary. wheinm the Mantine d angeonI he cr'ied : "'I am now ready to be otl'ered, and the time of ,ny deirture ii at hand. I hiave liisfied my course, I have kept the faith': henceforth there is laid up for mie a cro wn of righteousness, which the Lord. the righteous judge, will ire mne in that that day, and not,, to. nc only. but to all .them that love his appearing:" Do you not see that Chsist is chief in dying alleviations: Toward the last hour of our' earthly residence we are speeding. When I see the sunset I say, "(>)ne day less to live" Whlen I see the spr'ing blossoms scattered, I say. ".inout season gone rmorvr7' When I close the liible on Sabbath night I say, -Another Sab bath departed." When I bury a friend I sav, "Another earthly attraction gone forever. What nimble feet the vears have: The reobucks and the hlightnings run not so fast. From de (cade to decade. from sky to sky, they go at a bound. There is a place for us, whether market or not, where you and I sleep the last sleep, and the men are now living who will, with solemn tread, carry us to our risting place. Aye, it is known in heaven whethe our departure will be a coro nation or abanishnent. Brighter than a banqueting hall through which the light feet of the dancers go up and down to the sound of trumpeters will be the supulcher through whose rifts the holy light of heaven streameth. God will watch you. He will send his angles to guard your slumbering dust, until, at Christ's behest, they shall roll away the stone. So also chief in heaven. The Bible distinctly says that Christ is the chief theme of the celestial ascription, all the thrones facing his throne, all the palms waved before his face, all the crowns down at his feet. Cherubim to cherubim, to sera phim, remeemed spirit, shall recite the Saviour's earth y sacrifice. Stand on some high hill of heaven, and in all the radiant sweep the most glorious object will be jesus. Myriads gazing on the scars of his suffering, in silence first, afterward breaking forth into acclamation. The martyrs, all the purer for the flame through which thay passed. which they passed, will say, 'This is the Jesus for whom we died." The apostiles, all the happier for the ship wreck and the scourging through w iich the scourging through which they went, will say, "This is the Jesus whom we preached at Cor inth, and at Cappadocia. and at An tioch, and at Jerusalem." Little chril dren clad in white will say, "This is the Jesus who took us in his arms and blessed us, and, when the storms of the world were too cold and loud, brou.ght us into this beautiful place." The multitude of the bereft vill say, "This is the Jesus who comfort us when 'our hearts broke." Many who wantered clear off from God and plungee into vagabondism, but were saved by grace, will say: "This is the Jesus were lost on the mountains and he brought us home. gnilty, and he brought us home. We were guilty. and lie has made us white as snow." Mercy boundless, grace unparalleled. And then, after each one has recited his peculiar deliverances and perculiar mercies, recited them as by solo, all the voices will come together into a great chous, which will make the arches echo and re-echo with the eternal reverberation of triumph. Edward 1 was so anxious to go to the Holy Land that when he was about to expire he bequeathed $160, 000 the have his heart, after his dece ase, taken to the Holy Land in Asia Minor, and his request was complied with. But there are hundreds today whose hearts are already in the Holy Land of heaven. Where your treasures are, there are your hearts also. Qua nt John Bunyan caught a glimse of that place, and in his quaint way he said, "And I heard in my dream, and, lo! the bells ofthe city rang again for joy, and as they opened the gttes to let in the men I looked in after them, and. lo! the city shone like the sun and there were streets of gold, and men walked on them, harps in their hands, to ring praises withal, and af ter that they shut up the gates, which wvhen I had seen I wished myself am ong them ____ Earthquake at Sea. l'HILADELPHIA, Sept. 2.-Capt. Hen drickson, commanding the Norwegian steamship Gurley, which to-day ar rived here from Port Antonio, Jamai ca, reports experienceing, at an early hour yesterday morning, when about thirty miles South of the Winter Quarer lightship, the earthquake. At the time it was "dead calm," and sud denly the sea rose up and the ship dived down deep into the water. The waves thooded the decks over all and the sea boiled an bubbled up in a fu rious manner. .All hands were ter rified and the commotion lasted for fully thirty minutes before it settled. At first the ship quivered from stem to stern. The American Line Steamship Belgenland arrived here to-day from Liverpool, with 158 saloon and 613 steerage passengers, after an un usually perilous passage, having, when between longitude 37 and 43, passed through a terrific cyclone. All the passengers were badly frightened and many of the women went into hys terics. For hours seas leaped com pletely over the vessel from all sides, out she escaped injury. The cyclone was first experienced on August 26 and lasted until the following night, when it moderated down to a gale. Attempted Outrage. Bar CrrY, Mich., Sept. 3.-While Annie Shultz, a German girl, 18 years of age,' was walking on Columbus ave nue at 5 o'clock this morning, she was seized by two young men, who threw her into a buggy, and drove into the suburbs. There was only one house near. that of Thomas Wilson, a long shoreman Miss Shultz was prevent ed from crying aloud by one of the men who held his hand ovrr her mouth. At the corner of Eleventh and Johnston streets. the girl man aged sb jump out while the horse was trotting. She ran to a fence, where she held on and yelled for help. The men gagged her and were about to outrage her when Wilson came to her rescue. A fter knocking down Wilson with a blow on the head with a club, the men escaped. The girl is pros trated with excitement. The police have been scouring the city, but have failed to make any arrests. Anl Were Pioinedt. CuATTnsOO;aa, ' Sept. 1.-Many guests at a birthday party given last night at the'home of James Reed, in London county, were poisoned by something they ate. Members of the Reed, Simton and Abbott families are very ill and one or two will die. Howv poion got into the food is a matter of conjecture. One theory is that Reed had loaded several watermelons with arsenic to catch thieves who have been getting into his patch and that some of these melons were eaten. Another theory is that a custard had been allowed to stand some time in the brass kettle in which it was cooked. By the use of antidotes. all but one or two of the eleven victims were gotten out of danger. Killed by Lightning. 13ENNETTsv'ILLE, S. C., Sept. 2.- On Saturday afternoon, during an electric stor-m, Mrs. Andrew Deas was struck by lightning and instantly killed. The family were sitting on the front porch, and Mt's. Deas got up and went into a room for something, and went near' a window. There were scars on her nose and the side of her face and her shoe was torn entirely from her foot.e -Register. tHc U-.ed the 'ihackles~. IH LLY SP'uN ;s, MIss.. Sept. 5. Sheriit Robert A. McWilliams comi mitted suicide today in thre court house. lHe fastened a handcutf on his hand and locked it to a table. He also shaekled Ihis feet tight together, aid thteni with a razor cut his throat, serving every veitn. The only cause kownr is mencital depression, caused POWDER Absolutely Pure. A cream or tartar Darng powder Highest of all in leavening strength.-La test United States Government Food Re port. Royal Baking Powder Company, 106 Wall St..N. Y. SEVENTY-SEVEN MILLS REPORTED. Indications for a Season of U-nprecedented . Prosperity. BALTDIORE, MD., Sept. 5.-The Manufacturers' Record says that the announcements of new cotton mills projected in the South during the last three months exceed that of any simi lar period in the history of cotton mill building in this section. There were reported 77 mills, which will have an aggregate of over 300,000 spindles. which added to the 500,000 spindles to be put into mills that had been report ed prior to May 31st, makes a total of about 800,000 spindles to be added to the number now in operation in the South. If these mills are all built as indications promise, the aggregate in vestment will represent something over $15,000,000. A large majority of these mills are already under construc tion, or contracted for, so that the per centage of. those that are never built will be very small. Mills reported during the past week were a 2,600-spindle mill at Douglas ville. Ga.; a $100,000 mill at York ville, S. C.; 2,300 additional spindles to a Mooresville, N. C., mill; 2,300 additional spindles to a Harmony Grove, Ga., mill.; 15,000 additional spindles to a mill at Laurens, S. C.; a $55,000 addition to a Knoxville cotton mill. Among other enterprises reported for the week were the completion of a $100,000 coke plant in Alabama; the starting up of large car works at An niston, Ala-, which have been idle for several years; a $500,000 gold mining company, and the enlargement of fur naces. In Arkansas the development of bauxite, a paint plant; $100,000 fertilizer works and $22,000 water works improvement. In Georgia a $300,000 water works plant, proposed; and electric works, construction com pany, $40,000 of water works im provements, and a flour milL In North Carolina a $50,000 shoe factory, gas plant, saw mills, oil mills, and a $100,000 construction company. In South Carolina a $80,000 water power plant, projected- 250-barrel flour mili, - brick works, an a shuttle mill. In Tennessee coke ovens and a furniture factory. In Texas a cotton compress', broom factory, irrigating plant. In Virginia the sale of a tin mining com pany for developments, a 250-barrel flour mill, a tobacco factory and machine shops. In West Virginsa. several extensive oil and gas compan ies, and in other States a number of miscellaneous enterprises, covering a diversity of industrial interests. The rapid expansion of the textile interests of the South and the phenom enal activity prevailino- in. iron ands__ coal matters, coup1e with an in creasing demand for farm lands for - settlement by Western people, is bringing about an unusually healthy business condition throughout this entire section. With the continuation of high prices for cotton, the enormous grain crop which has been produced, and these conditions in industrial in terests, the South bids fair to have the most prosperous season which it has enjoyed for many years. King Cotton Stil Eules. - NEW ORLE~As, Sept. 3.-The total of Secretary Hester's annual report of the cotton crop of the United States have been promulgated. They show receipts of cotton at all United States ports for the year of 8,006,177 bales. against 5,940,092 last year; overland, 1,087,111,. against 931,706; Southern consumption taken direct from the in terior of the cotton belt 8,07,973, against 678,019, making the cottori crp of the United States for -1894-95 amount to 9,901,251 bales, against 7, 749,17 last year and.6,700,365'the: year before. The excess shown over the largest crop ever marketed before -that of 1891-92, when the total was 9,035,379-is 865,872 bales. Mr. Hester has been making an in estigation into the consumption of cotton by every mill in the South, in cluding woolen~ mills that have used cotton, and the results show a total of 862,3S bales: but of this. 54,865 were. taken from our ports, including port receipts. This total shows that the mills of the South have used up over 144.000 more than during 1892 93. He makes the actual cotton crop of. Texas, including Indian Territory, 3, 273,58 bales, or say 216,798 more than last year, and states that tbe actual production of Indian Territory was 120,982 bales. His report on the crops of the dif ferent States is given as follows, in thousands of bales: North Carolina, 456; South Carolinia. 800). Georgia, 1,300; Alabama, 1.00(1: Florida, 60; Mississippi. 1.200: Louisiana, 600; Arkansas, 850: Tennessee, etc., :35(3; Texas, :3,276. Total crop, 9,901,000. The crop of Oklahoma Territcry was included in the Tennessee., t~c, and - amounted to 14,i584 biles. M-. Hester's full report contains in teresting facts in relation to the in crease in the spindles of Southern mills and to new mills which will come into operation during the conm ing year. lHe will state that, with anythig like fair trade, the South will require 1,000,000 bales to feed .her. spindles during 1895-96.. In reference to the overland. ,Mr. Hester includes two roads which form-. erly hardly ranked as cotton carriers, but which this season have handled over 80,000u. bales. . He- mak-es--.the average weight of thec'rop9~ 1 2'pounds per bale -more than last, season, and. says that it e-quals 10:089,000 bales of last year's crop and 10,099,0030 bales of the growth of 1899, when the total was 9,035,000) showing that the South has actually p)roduced this season 11.: 1)64,000 bales more than the largest :ommeri crop previously on record. Massacre of Insurgents. NEW YoRK, Sept. 5.-Reports were received at Cuban headcquarters in this city today of the massacre- of a body -of insurgents at the town of Bayamo in the province of Santiago de Cuba on August 31, by detachment >f Spanish soldiers. Not only were men butchered in cold blood, but wo men and children wer-e not exempt from the fury of the Spanish troops, and several women were killed . out right. The news was conveyed to the Junta in this city b~y means of a letter received by Enrioue Trujillo, editor of El Porvenir, a Ctiban journal in this BEFORE JUDGE SIMONTON. Di-pell-ary Cases Likely t-, he kelded iVn Favor of the State: GREENVILLE. S. C.. Sept. 4 -Judge I Simonton today heard areument in the ase of Lowenstein vs. Evans and others. the State Board of Dispensers. The suit was brought for damages un der theanti-monopoly Act of Congress of July. 1890. Farrow and Murphy made elaborate arguments urging that the Dispensary is a monopoly, in restraint of inter state commerce: that the law is un constitutional and void, and that per sons claiming to act under it were simply individuals attempting to en force an unlawful monopoly and liabh to action for damages. The State's dernurrur denies that the State is a person, corporation or association, and urges that the law of 1890 can only be applied to persons or bodies coming under one of those descriptive terms. The Attorney General said the State would be ready to meet the monopoly question on its merits in the Hanahan case, which will come up in Novem ber Mr. Murphy was arguing the mono poly question at some length, when Judge Simonton stopped him, and said: "The'contention of the attorney General is the State is not a person. corporation or association and cannot therefore be brought unde'r the terms of the Act of 1890." Mr. Murphy: "This action is against individuals claitning to act under the .authority of the State." Judge Simonton said if the State had created a corporation and.attempt ed to give it a monopolv the act would be fatally defective. In this -case the Attorney General's contention was that the State was herself the actor, h-r agents being merely machines, re gulald by statute and without author ity. Mr. Murphy: "But surely the State cannot do for herself what she cannot authorize others to do." Judge Simonton: But is the State a person, corporation or association?" Mr. Murphy: "The testimony of the Governor of the Stace is valuable on that point. In his application for a copyright for the palmetto trademark he discribed the State as a corporation engaged in the liquor business, and particlarly desirous to engage in it with Canada and the Indian tribes. The State engages in the liquor business as a corporation." Judge Simonton: "The distinction between a corporation and a corpor ator is very wide. The Attorney General: "May it please your Honor, the application and affidavit for the trademark said one tbitig, but the court said another, holding the State not to be a corpora tion legitimately engaged in busi ness." These expression of Judge Simonton are taken to mean that the State's de murrer will be sustained. He took the papers and privately stated that he will probably give a decision in a week. In the contempt case; affidavits on both sides were read, and the matter referred to J. T. Barron, Columbia, to take testimony and report on the facts whether the liquor seized it the Co lumbia Club was brought into the State, and kept for personal use, and whether the Constables had a reason able motive for those facts, and wheth er the liquor was stored and seized at a place where persons habitually re sorted for drinking.-Register. When Niagara Ran Dry. Congressman Dan Lockwood, of Buffalo. says that within his recollec tion the great waterfall at Niagara was suspended, and that many people passed over its rocky places dry shod. He says that the miracle was wrought in 1848, during the month of March. To be exact, it was on the morning of March 29, 1848, and for several hours the wonderful torrent did cease to flow, and the river ran dry. The pre ceeding winter had been a severe one, and the ice which had formed in Lake Erie was of phenomenal thickness. There came on March 27, a sudden warm spell of weather, which melted the snows and a warm rain poured down in torrents during the entire day of March 28. The ice was loosen ed, and a strong east wind drove it far out in the lake during the night. But at sunrise on the 29th the wind came from the west and as the sailors say it was "blowing great guns." This ter rific gale drove the immense mass of ice into the mouth of the Niagara river, where it was gorged and pied up from shore to shore, hermetically sealing the river from damming the waters back into the lake. Thus it happened that Niagara ran dry, its falls became black, barren rocks, and its mighty thunders were put to sleep). Within.four or five hours tiny streams of water began to trinkle through the gorge. The tremendous power back of those streams accelerated their flow ing, and in a short time the ice dam gave way, and there never was such a wild, roaring mad iood in Niagarad before or since, and thus the cataract becane itself again. The Year's Crop of Cotton. NEW ORLE.NS, Sept. 2 .-The Cotton Exchange of this city makes the fol lowing statement of the cotton crop of the United States for the year ending August 31, 1895, the figures being iven in round thousards: North' Carolina, ets., 465,000 bales; South Carolina, 80)0,000; Georgia, 1,300,000; Florida, 60,000; Mississippi, 1,200,000; Louisiana, 600,000; Arkansas, 830,000; Tennessee, etc., 350,000; Texas, :3,276, 000. Total crop, 9,901,000. The Texas crop, which amounts in exact figures to :3,275,858 bales, includes 120.98S2 bales grown in Indian territory. The statement of overland this year in cludes 80,u00 bales by two railroads that have not hitherto been considered as cotton handlers. The cotton crop of the United States for the year end ing August 31, 1895, giving port re ceiptsoverlandand Southern consump tion, is as follows: Port receipts, 8, 00,177 bales; Southern consumption, 807973 bales; overland, 1,ii87,101 bales. Total crop. 9.901,251 bales. The total Southern consumption was 802, 858 bales, and inicluded 54,815 bales taken fronm and counted at Southern ou-t ports. Demand Rtecognition. CENTRALIA, Ill., Sept. :3.-The two school buildings set apart by the school board for the use of the negroes were empty today as they were yesterday when the school commenced. The buildings are in eve-y way as well equipped as those of the white schools and provided with competent teachers, but the negroes will not use them. The blacks demand admission to all schools and thr-eaten suits for dam ages for interfering with their rights of citizenship. The whites threaten retaliation by refusing employment to black mens.I Neither Women or Child renn Spared. ST. P~ETERSBtUR", Sept. 4.--The No voc Vremya's correspondent at \iadi vostock writes that the Formossan in surgents are conducting a successful warfare against the Japanese in which women share equally with the men a determined resistance. Though the army is .decimated by sickness, the Japanese will grant no quarter and sp~na neither women nor children.