Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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GEAJH I -OF IALMA E Makes Appropriate Reprinting iS FAMOUS SERMO Considered by Many the Mas terpiece of the Great Pulpit Orator "On the Choice of a Wife." Marriage rot For All-Multitudes Who Never Will Marry, Who Are Not Fit to Marry-Some Eininent Blunderers Avoid 31atchmakers-Eesential Qualil ties-Beauty a Tienedictlion. WASHINGTON, D. C.-The following discourse is one A a series of sermons on domestic life delivered several years ago by the late R.v. Dr. T. De Witt Talmage. and by many admirers is considered his pulpit masterpiece. In commemoration of his death it is now republished. It was founded on the text, Judges xiv, 3: "Is there never a woman among the daugh ters of thy brethren, or among all my pe-ple, that thou oest to take a wife of - the uncircumcised P hilistines?" /1' Samson, the giant, is here asking con sent of his father and mother to mar riage with one whom they thought unfit for him. He was wise in asking their counsel, but not wise in rejecting it. Cap tivated with her looks, the big son wanted to marry a daughter of one of the hostile families, a deceitful, hypocritical, whining and saturnine creature, who afterward made for him a world o: trouble till she quit him forever. In my text his parents forbade the banns, practically saying: "When there are so many honest and beautiful maidens of your own country, are you so hard put to for a lifetime part ner that you propose conjugality with this foreign flirt? Is there such a dearth of lilies in our Israelitish gardens that you must wear on your heart a Philistine thistle? Do you take a crabapple because there are no pomegranates? Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take -a wife of the uncixcum cised Philistines?" Excuseless was he for such a choice in a land and amid a race celebrated for fe male loveliness and moral worth, a land and a race of which self-denving Abigail and heroic Deborah, and dazzling Miriam. and pious Esther. and glorious Ruth, and Mary, who hugged to her heart the blessed Lora, were only magnificent specimens. The midnight folded in their hair, the lakes of liquid beauty in their eye, the gracefulness of spring .morning in their posture and gait, were only typical of the ter brilliance and glory of their soul. ewise excuseless is any man in our time who makes lifelong alliance with any one who, because of her disposition, or ,heredity. or habits, or intellectual vanity, or moral twistification, may be said to be -if the Philistines. The world never owned such opulence of womanly character or such splndor of womanly manners or multitudinous in stances of wifely, motherly, daughterly sisterly devotion, as it owns to-day. I have not words to express my admiration for good womanhood. Woman is not only man's equal, but in affectional and re -- ligious nature, which is the best patof the'increased opportunity opened for feale education. the women of the country are better educated than the ma '%m jority of men- and if they continue to advance mently at the present ratio, be \fore long the majority of men will have difficulty in finding in the opposite .sex enough ignorance to make appropriate consort. If I am under a delusion as to the abundance of good womanhood abroad, consequent upon my surroundings sine the hour I entered this life until now, I hope the delusion will last until I embark from this.planet. So you will understand, if I say in this course of sermons some thin ~that seems severe, I am neither cyia nor disgruntled. There are in almost every farmhouse in the country, in almost every home of the get town, conscientious women, worship flwomen, self-sacrificing women, holy women, innumerable Marys, sitting at the feet of Christ: innumerable mothers, helo ing to feed Christ in the person of His sufferin disciples; a thousand capped and spectacled grandmothers Lois, bending over Bibles whose precepts they have fol lowed from early girlhood: and tens of thousands of young women that are dawn ing upon us from school and seminary, that are going to bless the world with good and happy homes, that shall eclipse all their nredecessors, a fact that will be acknowledged by all men except those who are struck through with moral decay from toe to cranium; and more inexcusable than the Samson of the text is that man who, amid all this unparalleled munifi cence of womanhood. marries a fool. But some of you are abroad suffering from such disaster, and to halt others of you trom going over the same precipice, I cry out in the words of my text: "Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncir cumcised Philistinies?" That marriage is the destination of the human race is a mistake that I want to correct before I go further, There are multitudes who never will marry, and still greater multitudes who are not fit to marry. In Great Britain to-cday there are nine hundred and forty-eight thousand mnore women than men, and that, I un erstan.d, is iAbout the ratio in America. matFieriEtidaI and inexo~i-bTe law, yo~ see, millions of women will never marry. The supply for matrimony greater than the demand, the first lesson of which is that every woman ought to prepare to take care of herself if need be. Then there are thousands of men who have no right to marry, because they have become so corrupt of character that their offer of marriage is an ins.ult to any good woman. .&Sciety will have to be toned up and cor rected on this subject, so that it shall realize that if a woman who has sacrificed her honor is unfitted for marriage. so is any man who has ever sacrificed his puir ity. What right have you, 0 masculine beast! whose life has been loose, to take under your care the spotlessness of a vir -in reared in the sanctity of a respectable home? Will a buzzard dare to court a dove? But the majority of you will marry. and have a right to marr-, and as your re ligiouis teacher I wish to say to these men. in the choke of a wife first of all scek divine direction. Ahout thirt-live ve're ago, when Martin Farquhar Tupper, the English poet, urged men to prayer before they decided upon matrimonial association, people laughed. And some of them have livtd to laugh on the other side of their mouth. The need of divine direction I argue from the fact that so many men, and some of them strong and wise, hive wrecked their lives at this juncture. Wit ness Samnson and this woman of Timnathi: Witness Socrates, pecked of the historica: Xantippe! Witness Job, whose wife had nothing to prescribe for his carhune:es but allopathic doses of profanity! Witness Ananias, a liar, who might perhaps have been cured by a truthful spouse, yet mnar rigas great a liar as himiself-Sapphira! men that ever lived, united to one of the 3 most outrageous and scandalous of women, I: who sat in City Road Chapel making b mouths at hira while he preached! Wit- a uess the once connubial wretchedness of n John Ruskin. the great art essayist, and Frederick W. Roheitson. the great preach- n er. Witness a thousand hells on earth IV kindled by unworthy wives, termagants ec that scold like a March northeaster; fe- m male spendthrifts. that put their hus bands into fraudulent schemes to get j money enough to meet the lavishment of ti domestic exoenditure: opium-using wo men-about four thousand of them in the s United States-who will have the drug, C though it should cause the eternal damna- n ,ion of the whole household; heartless and n verbearing, and namby-pamby and un- A reasonable women, yet married-married es per'.a 3 to good men! These are the wo- a men who build the low club-houses, where at the husbands and sons go because they can't stand it at home. On this sea of w matrimony, where so many have wrecked; t am I not right in advising divine pilotage. t Especially is devout supplication needed, n because of the fact that society is so full w of artificialities that men are deceived as n to whom they are marrying, and no one ti out the Lora knows. After the dress- w maker, and the milliner, and the eweler, n and the hair-adjuster, and the dancing master, and the cosmetic art have com- s: pleted their work, how is an unsophisti- p cated man to decipher the physiological a hieroglyphics, and make accurate judg- I ment of who it is to whom he offers hand w and heart? That is what makes so many sl recreant husbands. They make an honor- I A able marriage contract, but the goods ae- t livered are so different from the sample t by which they bargained. They were t swindled, and they backed out. They t mistook Jezebel for Longfellow's Evange- s iine, and Lucretia Borgia for Martha Washington. i Aye, as the Indian chief boasts of the scalps he has taken, so there are in society c to-day many coquettes who boast of the v masculine hearts they have captured. And :hese women, though they may live amid i -chest upholstery, are not so honorable en is the cyprians of the street, for these : idvertise their infamy, while the former :>rofcss heaven while they mean hell. There is so much counterfeit woman- n hood abroad it is no wonder that some I :annot tell the genuine coin from the base. n [' you not realize yok neei divine guid- a mnce when I remind you that mistake is t "ssible in this important affair, and, it b made, is irrevocable. n The worst predicament possible is to be i mhappily yoked together. You see it is z impossible to break the yoke. The more b you pull apart, the more galling the yoke. t 'hUminister might bring you up again, f( and and in your presence read the mar- t riage ceremony backward, might put you u )n the opposite sides of the altar from A where you were when you were united, e might take the ring off of the finger might %v rend the wedding veil asunder, might tear a ut the marriage leaf from the family Bible ii record, but that would fail to unmarry g you. It is better not to make the mis take than to attempt its correction. But a men and women do not reveal all their t characteristics till after marriage, and d how are you to avoid committing the fatal p olunder? There is only one Being in the ri aniverse who can tell you whom to choose, a and that is the Lord of Paradise. He t made Eve for Adam, and Adam for Eve, U and both for each other. Adam had not t a large group of women from whom to Ea select his wife, but it is fortunate, judg- d ing from some mistakes which she after ward made, that it was Eve or nothing. a There is in all the world some one who b was made for you, as certainly as Eve was b made for Adam. All sorts of mistakes t ccur because Eve was made out of a rib e irom Adam's side. Nobody knows which 3 af his twenty-fon ribal was taken for the W auleus. If you depend entirely upon U roursef in the selection ofL a wife, there t tre-tweiy-three' possibilities to one-dhat ro will select the wrn rib. By the fate, f Ahab, whose wife in need him; to steal - 5S by the fate of Macbeth, whose wife pushed aim into massacre; by the fate of James '2 Ferguson, the philosopher, whose wife o ntered the room while he was lecturing ti and willfully upset his astronomical, ap- V aratus, so that he turned to the audience h and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I have C the misfortune to be married to this t. woman;" by the fate of Bulwer, the ovelist, whose wife's temper was so in- I :ompatible that he furnished her a beau- ti iful house near London and withdrew t' from her company, leaving her with the t' lozen dogs whom she entertained as pets;- t by the fate of John Milton, who married t termagant after he was blind, and when , some one called her a rose, the poet said: ii "I am no judge of flowers, but it may be b so, for I feel the thorns daily;" by the s' late of an Englishman whose wife was so b letermined to daa on his grave that he d was buried in the*a ; by the fate of a e village minister whom I knew, whose wife ii threw a cup of hot tea across the table I because they differed in sentiment-by all h these scenes of disquietude and domestic n alamity, we implore you to be cautious g and prayerful before you enter upon the p :onnubial state, which decides whether a s' nan shall have two heavens or two hells, e a heaven here and heaven forever, or a c hell now and a hell hereafter.n By the bliss of Pliny, whose wife, when y her husband was pleading in court, had y nessengers coming and going to, inform s her what impression he was making; by a the joy of Grotius, whose wife delivered t him from pr-ison under the pretence of v having books carried out lest they be in- i jurious to his health, she sending out her I hus'and uno'bserved in one of the book- ii :ases; by the good fortune of Roland, in i Louis' time, whose wife translated and t composed for her husband while Secretary d of the Interior-talented, heroic, won- g lerful Madame Roland; by the happiness ni of many a man who has made intelligent si hoice of one capable being prime coun- a selor and companion in brightness and in b rief-pray to Almighty od, morning, noon, and night, that at the right time a and in the right way He will send you a e ood, honest, loving, sympathetic wife; or v if she is not sent to you, that you may be A ent to her. p At this point let me warn you not to 0 let a question of this importance be set- ' Ied by the celebrated matchmakers flour- 0 ishing in almost every community. De- - pend upon your own judgment divinely e illumined. These brokers in matrimony a are ever plaiming how they can unite im ornvamu innocence to an neiress, or en- T eate woman to millionaire or marquis, and that in many cases makes life an unhap pi- r i:ess. How can any human being, who a knows neither of the two parties as God v knows them, and who is ignorant of the r future, give such directions as you re- s uire at such a crisis? Take the advice of the earthly match- t maker instead of the divine guidance, and a you may some day be led. to use the words o Sooihn, wh6s'e #ip~-iehed in home iife f vas as ael ancholy as it was multitudinous. f One day his palace, with its great wide } -ooms and great wide doors and great wide hall, was too small for him and the t :oud tongue of a woman belaboring him e about some of his neglects, and he re-i r ~ated to the housetop to get relief from a the fungal bombardment. And while there .1 he saw a poor man on one corner of the p oof with a mattress for his only furni- s cure, and the open sky his only covering. t And Solomon envies him and cries out: "It is beter to dwell in the corner of the r housetop than with a brawling woman inr : wide house." And one day during thei iainv season the water leaked through I the roof of the palace and began to drop n a pail or pan set there to catch it. And at one side of him all day long the water i went drop! dr'op! drop! while on th' aher side a female companion quarrehin. nbout this, and quarreling about that; the a ccrinious and petulant words falling on '1 iis ear in ceaseless pelting-drop! drop: t drop! and he seized his pen and wrote- r ry and a contentious woman are alike." Solomon had been as prayerful at the !ginning of his life as he was at his ose, how much domestic infelicity he ould have avoided? But prayer about this will amount to >thing unless you pray soon enough. ait until you are fascinated and the uilibriu-n of your soul is disturbed by a agnetic and exquisite presence, and then u will answer your own prayers. and >u will mistake your own infatuation for ie voice of God. a If you have this prayerful spirit you will tl irely avoid all female scoffers at the bristian religion; and there are quite a e mber of them in all communities. It n ust be told that, though the only in- d 7nnce that keeps woman from being Si timated and treated as a slave-aye. as brute and beast of burden-is Christi- e: iity, since where it is not dominant she l2 o treated- vet there are women who U' ill so far forget themselves and forget ieir God that they will go and hear lec .rers malign Christianity and scoff at the ost sacred. things of the soul. A good oman, over-persuaded by ber husband. Lay go once to hear such a tirade against ie Christian religion, not fully knowing e7 hat she is going to hear; but she will oj t go twice. A woman, not a Christian, but a re yecter of religion, said to me: "I was ersuaded by my husband to go and hear t0 a infidel lecture once, but going home said to him: "My dear husband. I tI ould not go again though my declination iould result in our divorcement forever" T .nd the woman was right. If after all g :at Christ and Christianity have done s] >r a woman, she can go again and again hear such assaults. she is an awful crea- P :re, and you had better not come near ti :ch a reeking lenress. She needs to be q ashed. and for three weeks to be soaked earholic acid. and for a whole year imigated. before sie is fit for decent 0 iciety. While it is not demanded that a n: oman be a Christian before marriage, a ie must have regard for the Christian re gion or she is a bad woman and un- p -orthy of being your companion in a life tl iarged with such stupendous solemnity tt d vicissitudes. What you want. 0 man! in a wife. is a rt a butterfly of the sunshine, not a a rgiine ronentity. not a painted doll. si ct a gossiping gadabout, not a mixture of 0 rtificialities which leave you in doubt as > where the humbug ends and the woman a egins. but an earnest soul. one that can- a rt only laugh when you laugh, but weep u hen you weep. There w'll be wide. deen raves in tour path of lire, and you will S oth want steadying when you come to S ie verge of 6n.em, I tell you. When your p >rtune fails you will want some ore to ti ilk of treasnres in heaven. and not charge pon you with a bitter. "I told you so." Ii .s far as 1 can analyze it, sincerity and SO trnestness are the foundation of all tc orthv wifehood. Get that. and you get 11. Fail to get that, and you get noth- i ig but what you will wish you never had p :t. If Don't make the mistake that the man f the text made in letting his-eye settle ie question in which coolest judgment a irected by divine wisdom are all-im ortant. He who has no reason for his ifely choice exceot a pretty face is like man who should buy a farm because of ie dahlias in the front dooryard. Beauty Y a talent, and when God gives it He in- b tds it as a benediction upon a woman's tl ce. When the good Princess of Wales ismounted from the rail train last sum er. and I saw her radiant face, I could b nderstand what they told me the day al efore, that, when at the great military I ospital where are now the wounded and ie sick from the Egyptian and other eA ars, the Princess passed through, all the hi ek were cheered at her coming, and those b ho could be roused. neither by doctor nor rse from their stupor. wol get up on C eir elbows to look at her, andgan and .t natd' lips jrsayed an audThle. Drayer: at od bless the Princess of Wales. Doesn't e e look beautiful?" But how uncertain is the tarrying.of ti atv in a human countenance! Explouion ai a kerosene lamp turns it into sacrifica- iI on and a scoundrel with one dash of triol may dispel it, or Time will drive ~ is chariot wheels across that brirht face. I. itting it up in deep v-uts and gullies. But s ere is an eternal beauty on the face of >me women, whom a rough and ungal- " nt world may criticise as homely: and bl iough their features may contradict all ga e laws of Lavater on physiognomy. ,yet icy have graces of soul that will keep 2em attractive for time and glorious u irough all eternity. - S There are two or three circumstancesg Swhich the plainest wife is a queen of auty to her husband, whatever her cc ature or orofile. By financial panic cr trayal of business partner. the man goes al >wn, and returniu:e to his home that I rening, he says: "I am ruined; I am , Sdisgrace foz:ever: I care not whether b) live or die.' It is an agita4ed story he is telline in the household that winter s< ght. He says: "The furniture must 3. the house must go, the social P >sition must go," and from being o, uht for obsequiously they must be tl ld-shouldered everywhere. After he rases talking, and the wife has heard all I silence, sh'e says: "Is that all? Why. 01 au had nothing when I married you, and 13, >u have only come back to where, you u arted. If you think that my happiness ad that of the children depend on these si -appings. you do not know me, though g e have lived together thirty years. God not dead, and the National Bank of [eaven has not suspended payment, and you don't mind, I don't care a cent. 7hat little we need of food and raiment li 2 rest of our lives we can get, and I og on't pronose to sit down and mope and t: coan. Mary, hand me that darning edle. I declare! I have for-gotten to I t the rising for those cakes! And while c4 e is busy at it he hears her bumming o, ewton's old hymn. "To-morrow." The husband looks' up in amazement, ad says- "Well.'well. you are the great- Il it woman I ever saw. I thought you b~ -ould faint dead away when I told you." . .d as he looks at her all the glories of 0 hysiognomy in the Court of Louis XV. ii the modern fashion plates, are tame as ti ympared with the superhuman splendors tl that woman's face. .Toan of Arc. Mary .ntoinette, and La Belle Hamilton. the s achant'ent of the Court of Charles II, o: re nowhere. a: There is anothe- time when the. plainest t -ife is a queen of beauty to her husband. he has done the work of life. She has ~ eared her children for God and heaven. tl nd though s'me of them may be a little o -ild they will yet come back, for God has romised. She is dying, and her husband ands by. They think over all the years b their companionship, the weddings and f: a burials, the ups and the down, the accesses and the failures. They talk r ver the goodness of God and His faith- s ilness to children's children. She has no o ar about going. The Lord has sustained tl so many years she would not dare to istrust Him now. The lips of both of C em tremble as they say good-by and en- al aurae each other about an early meeting ~ 1a better world. The breath is feeblert nd feebler, and stops. Are you sure of it? ist hold that mirror at the mouth, and I e if there is any vapor gathering on~ the s rface. Gone! As one of the neiehhor.s ikes the old man by the arm gently anud iy<: "Come, you had better go into the I e'xt room and' rest." he sayt *Wait a t oment; I must take one more look at hat face and at those hands!" Beautiful! M friends, I hope you do not call tha . s eath. That is an autumnal sunset. That il ;a crystalline river pouring into a crs a sea. That is the solo of human life verpowered by hallelujah chorus. That is queen's coronation. That is heaven 'hat is the way my father stood at eighty wo. seeing my mother denart at seventy ie. Perhaps so your father and mother I .en. I wonder if we will di a rell. w ei A tUICIJb1 URAlL u, True Test of a Cow. a A high record for seven days is not a ways a good one, so far as showing al ie actual viuc of the cow is con- a !rned. The true test of a cow is the t umber of pounds of Lutter she pro- a! aces in a year and its cost. The re l1ts for a single week may be from cessive feeding, with extra cost for bor; but such cows, however, are sually capable of giving good results r a month or year also. Potash in Plant Growth. It said that tobacco contains a larg amount of potash than any other e our common crops, or about forty arts in a thousand, forage beets or angels thirty-five parts, potatoes venty parts, sugar beets eighteen irts, clover hay nineteen parts, beans irteen parts and the cereals five parts. o this we will add that the cereat tl rains of a well-grown crop usually,. 01 iow about four times as much of r )tash in the straw as in the grain, sl ms as the straw is the heavier, re- at airing twenty-five to thirty parts of e otash for each one thousand parts i, grain, beans and peas require much al ore in the stalk than in the seed, d, ad the potash in the stalk of the et >tato is a greater proportion than in b ie tuber, but the weight being less, le whole does not vary much from the ro bove estimate. The tobacco gives di better leaf for cigar making when al llphate of potash is used than when w uriate or some oP the cheaper grades a re used. On certain soil the sulphate lso produces a better potato for table se, while on others there does not em to be much difference in results. w ome of our sandy soils are well sup- lil Lied with the silicate of potash, but ? iere is apparently a greater difference it t the ability of different plants to t !parate the pot.sh from the silica or ly use them together. We need more ui tvestigation in regard to the use of to otasi, but we can rest assured that fe used freely it does not evaporate, f3 ach away or caange to-an unavail- to ble form.-The Cultiv;tor. f Ui Mixed Grain and Cut Bone. fE My exper'ence with cut bone for six fi ears is that the oest results will not tt e obtained from any flock, either in w ie show room or in filling the egg re asket, without i. It can be fed with pl enefit three times a week. I usually o; low what I call a small handful to a to Olf dozen birds at one time. it is n( isy to tell after a little experience rc )w much the fowls need. Most of our sE )ne cutters now shave the bone, and e= re should be taken in placing bone in rc e. machina so -tat the.-anives cut: it 3ross Instead of lengthwise. If qi it lengthwise, splinters, and some- if mes long, sharp pieces, will be found si zd gobbled by the fowls. And this, continued, even if good grit is fed, rc ill surely produce crop bound fowls. p1 fresh bone Is not to be had, a sub- mn itute of beef scrap or beef meal fe ixed with corn, oats, middlings and cl can for one feed each day, gives w yod results. UJsualiy the scraps are th~ >t used more than three times a fa eek. Fowls must get two feeds of ti< und grain each day besides the fe ound feed, but It need not be all cr >rn. Mixed grain g!ves best results. cr With regard to utility and fancy, I ty ways found the finest show birds vi my yards to be the best utility at rds. This talk about cross-breeds m all bosh. Of course, there may be cr me who may get the tail end of a as are breed nearly exhausted for want ni care. From such they would not get in i results expected, hence, would say ni ure breeds were no good. On the in her hand, where such are intelligent- ni bred and properly cared for, they ni sually make the ideal fowl both for ta 2ow room and market.-Thomas Gog- ai in, in Poultry Farmer. ,m Pointers That Mean Progress. A good farm paper In the house is ke bank stock that pays a dividend, e Srather, perhaps, like tested seed E iat yields sixty or a hundred fold. , :is the experience of the best farmers, p ndensed and In convenient form, for s r special guidance. When you put ti iyour wheat crop do not scant seed. tc upress this upon your memory in Ig letters. I remember a large field tl wheat that yielded about half what i should, because the planting was in usted to a boy, and he carelessly set ie seeder too low, and of course the tand of wheat was poor. The cost e plowing, seeding and reaping was tc s much as for a good stand, and the t reshing little less. So for a lack of o few more bushels of seed wheat, ol 2ere was a direct loss to the farmer a e perhaps two hundred bushels'.c And right here is a good time to is ring up the worn out subject of resh seed. I have a neighbor who hnted an acre of onions. A certain torekeeper had a large quantity ofs nion seed, which he offered far below C ae regular price. My neighbor pur- el ased from him, and after waiting tl proper time concluded that he had lated too early, and bought from be same lot of seed and planted again. l 'or the third planting he purchased eed from a. reliable dealer nt the ustomnary price. But instead of hay- s ag an early crop, as he had planned, his third planting put him several reeks behind the latest of his neigh ors. I once lanlhted a lot of expen ive greenhouse seed in the same man-b er, and after waiting about four reek-s for them to germinate. discov red that my bargain was not a bar :ai at all, for besides losing what c had paid it was too late to replant. s: N-nm theeand mny other experi- Id ices, both of myself and neighbor. have concluded that in seeds at leasi rgain hunting is an expensive lus y.-F. H. Sweet, in The Epitomist. A Device For Catching Vermin, Get a common box, remove the to, d one side and put them togethe at e and fasten with a hinge a a. Fasten a spool, c, in the end o board, b, and nail it to the back o e box. Then bore a one-inch hol >om six inches from the bottom o :f. Y1, A BOX TRAP FOB VERMIN. e box, and at h cut a notch in th, tside of the end board. Sharpe1 ick, g, at each end. The stock, 1 i ould be twelve inches long, notche k, so as to balance Ia the hole. Th d, 1, should be pointed, and the eni notched and pointed. Fasten a strinj m, bring over the spool at c, an wn to g. Have the string shor ough so that when set the door wil wide open, about eight inches ace bait of any kind on . When : bbit or other pest sniffles it he wil slodge stick, g, by moving it at i td the cover will drop. Sometimes eight can be used on the cover t tvantage.-Farm and Home. The flotation of Crops. The land gives the greatest crop hen the farmer provides plant food )erally and rotates the crops grown hen the farm is forced to yield t fullest capacity there is taken fron e soil those elements that principal constitute its riches or fertility, an iless the soil is provided with ma rials containing those elements o rtility it will, in the course of time it to repay for the labor and cap] 1 required in its cultivation. Man, rmers are aware of that fact, an e barnyard manure and commercia rtilizers in order to supply the de ency. The farmers have withi eir power, however, the means b, hich the soil can be recuperated an stored to fertility, and every enter sing farmer takes advantage of snec portunities in order to bring his farn the highest degree of productive ss. The practice of some system o: tation of crops is now considered es ntal to good farming, and experl ice teaches that nothing will equal taton of crops in maininingr ferti Inl proportionr to cost, aRthougl ricker methods may be resorted ti the expense is not a matter of con leraton in the work. [t s not difficult to understand hov taton of crops benefits the land, fo: ants, like animals, differ ift thel odes of existence and capacity fo: eding. When a field is occupied b; ver the growing or matured crop ben plowed under or fed to stock or e farm, and then returned to the rm in the form of manure, adds addi al plant food to the soil. WheI d to animals only a portion of the op s returned, but when the ,whol op is plowed under then the quanti is large. If a crop of clover is to< luable for plowing under there is th< ~vantage of the sod and roots addIng are fertility to the soiL Clover Is op that demands both lime and pot i, and requires but little applie trogen to make growth, but by shad g the soil and utilizing the fre trogen of the air, assisted by bacteri the soil, it returns to the soil mor trogen than do those crops to whic trogen must be applied. As clove L-es from the soil considerable lim Ld potash, when the crop Is plowe der then these mineral elements ar better erndition for use by th It crop, while a larger proportion o trogen Is also left in the soil thai :isted before the clover is growi perience has taught farmers tha heat and corn are capable of fillini aces in the rotation, and hence ol me farms there is a system of rota >n by which grain, clover and pot~ es are used, wheat and corn beini ~arly always grown when cloveri e mainstay cf the source of fertilit; the rotation. Rotaion is also intended to destro: eeds on farms. In some sections th 'actice Is to have a hoe crop; that I addition to the use of the cultiva r the hoe Is used at least once ove e cornfield in order to more thor ighly eradicate weeds, but farmer ject to the labor of hoeing cor id resort to the growing of potatoes bbages, turnips or carrots if the ho necessary. Those who 1:se the ho the cornfield claim that, while th ist of labor Is greater, yet the weed -e more completely removed. But n stem of rotation can be said to b mplete, however, that does not ii ude some kind of crop that require t hoe, such as carrots or potatoes hile in some countri,es, such as Eni! ad, the rotation also Includes th irdlig of sheep on the ground, tu: ps and rape being grown for the anj als to feed ofr the land. Farmer iould not, therefore, use a narros -stem of rotation, but aim to emplo: many crops as possible, as the lan ll then suffer less from loss of plan >od and the fertility of the soil wi Smore easily maintained.-Philade ala Record. In nearly every street in Japanes ties is a public oven where for naIl fee housewives may have thel nners and uers cooked for then n7 vf.rr -OF HUMO. f Happy, Nevertheless. Oh, he was a trusted employe, e 'With a life in obscurity spent. He found 'twas his lot To be wholly forgot, 'Cause he never embezzled a cent. -Washington Star Not Well Done. "SLe's awfully stuck up.' "Awfully! I never saw any o-. make a worse botch of trying to ap- r r pear high-toned."-Philadelphia Bulle--' tin. Repartee. "That girl can't talk a little bit. "Is that so?" "Quite true. The only thing she said to ^'e the whole evening was 'No,' and _ -ad to propose to her to get her tow say that."-Tit-Bits. i First Aid to Automobilsts. He-"We are thirty-two miles fron home and this automobile is a wreck.. , 1 There's only one thing to be done." She-"And that?" He-"Why, seek shelter in the near t est parsonage!"-Puck. Iugenuity in a Flat. Alyce-"What a lovely cozy corner;, Mayme-such a pretty couch:" Mayme-"Isn't it? It's made out of five trunks and a hatbox, seven p1 lows, two bolsters, and an old piano D cover."-Detroit Free Press. Sang With FeeUng. "I thought you said she never sang: s with any feeling?" s "She doesn't. "Pshaw! In that last song she wasp " feeling the key more than half the - ' time."-Philadelphia Bulletin. Household Economics. Husband-"My dear, this is awful f last year we had accounts with two firms and now we have with ten." Wife-"But don't you think it a good idea to distribute our obligations o:er a- wider field?"-Brooklyn Life. Her Opinion. "In some of the oriental countries woman feels disgraced if she aIlo 7 her face to be seen in lie." "Yes," answered Miss iCyenne;" after seeing some of their faces Iqui 1 agreed with them."-Washington Star. showing InteIt. . .o TheKid"Wo ye lokn fr i The Kid-"Say,tel ewtdti an' gimme me a quarter an' I'll find one fer you."-New York Journal. The Housing Problean. -House-Agent -"Have you any chil dren?" House-Hunter-- "Yes, but they are very quiet and well-behaved." SHouse-Agent-"~Oh, but I mean have you any children living, maam?" Judge. Unsy:npathetic. "Bunkins takes life very easily." "But he is always telling hard-luck stories." "Yes; that shows his shrewdness. It Ihe put in all that time telling funny stories people would say. he was loaf ing."-Washington Star. p He Had. "Haven't you any occupatio?" asked the woman at the kitchen door, -after listening to his tale of woe. "Yes, ma'am," replied Toffold Knutt. 'm a hunter." '"A hunter? Of what?" "Grub, ma'am."-Chicago Tribune.. e Bad FamnHy Exarmples. Brown-"I don't like to read tales, which show how geniuses were oncer runruly children." Jones-"Why not?" Brown-"They merely encourage lazy L,parents to believe that their unruly ,children will all turn out ganiuse." eDetroit Free Press. Not the Modern Kind. "She's not what youd call an -ad,. 'vanced woman?" "Oh, no." "Has no mission In life, I suppose?" "Oh, I believe she claims -to have one but it's nothing of any import ance." "What is it?" "Just a mission to make some good man happy, I understand."-Chicag@ News. V A Studio Secret. '"Sometimes," sighed the weary papa, as he tried in vain to quiet the turbu *~lent infant, "I wish I was a photogra Ijpher." "And why?'' nonchalantly as)e namma, as she turned to another e hapter. "Because a photographer seems to be the only man on earth who can Lmake a baby look pleasant when 7 esn't wish tn "..Chicago News.