University of South Carolina Libraries
ppPnPreaches on Human Inconsistency. MAKES y^?-0F~ AN ANCIENT w - Epigram to illustrate the Folly of Mankind. Prone to Magnify Small Things Heedless of the Great. T-r? + k rt7G/?AnrSA. .'founded on an an cient epigram repeated by Christ, Dr. Talmage illustrates the folly of being very particular about insignificant things while neglectful of vast concerns The text is Matthew xxiii, 24, ::Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." A proverb is compact wisdom, knowledge in chunks, a library in a sentence, tfco /iloofrifiifcv of many clouds dis charged in one bolt, a river put through a mill race. When Christ quotes the proverb of the test, he means to set forth the ludicrous behavior of those who make a great bluster about small sins and have no appreciation of great ones. In my text a small insect and a larg-* quadruped are brought into comparison?a gnat and a camel. You have in museum or on the desert seen the latter, a great awkward, sprawling creature, with back two stories high " - {} and stomach having a collection 01 reservoirs for desert travel, an animal forbidden to the Jews as food ana in many literatures entitled "the ship of the desert." The gnat spoken of in the text is in the grub form It is born in pool or pond, after a few weeks becomes a chrysalis and then after a few days becomes the gnat as we recognize it. But the insect spoken of in the .text is in its very smallest shape, and it yet inhabits the water, for my text is a misprint and ought to read "strain out a gnat." My text shows you the prince of inconsistencies. A man after long observation has formed the suspicion that in a cup of water he is about to drink, there is a grub or the grandparent of a gnat. He goes and gets a sieve or strainer. He takes the water and pours * it through the sieve in the broad light. He says, "I would rather do anything - almost than drink this water until this larva be extirpated." This water is brought under inquisition. The experiment is successful. The water rushes through the sieve and leaves against the side of the sieve the grub or gnat. Then the man carefully removes the insect and drinks the water in placidity. But going out one day, and * 1 - Hungry, ne devours a sniy ert,''the camel, which the Jews were forbidden to eat. The gastronomer has no compunctions of conscience. He suffers from no indigestion. He puts the lower jaw under the camel's forefoot, and his upper jaw over the hump of the camel's back, and gives one swallow and the dromedary disappears forever. He strained out a gnat, he swallowed a camel. ' While Christ's audience was yet ? J rrrir /vP smiling at tne appositeeess ?uu nm ^ his illustration?for smile they did, unless they were too stupid to understand the hyperbole?Christ practically said to them, "That is you." Punctilious about small things; reckless^ r.bout affairs of great magnitude. No subject ever winccd under a surgeon's knife more bitterly than did the Pharisees under Christ's scalpel cf truth. As an anatomist will take a human body to pieces and put the pieces under a microscope for the examination, so Christ finds his way to the heart of the dead Pharisee and cuts it out and puts it under the glass of inspection for all generations to examine. 'Those Pharisees thought that Christ would flatter them and compliment them, and how they must have writhed under the redhot words as he said. "Ye fools, ye whited sepulchers, ye blind guides, which strain out a gnat and swallow a camel." There are in our day a great many gnats strained out and a great many camels swallowed, and it is the object of this sermon to sketch a few persons who are extensively engaged in that business. First, I remark that all those ministers of the gospel who are very scrupulous about the conventionalities of religion, but put no particular st ess upon matters of ^ast importance, are photographed in the text. Church services ought to be grave and solemn. There is no room for frivolity inreligious convocation, but there are illustra^ T VVUa Kl./s lions, ana mere are uy yviuvwo nn.t tliat of Clirist in the text that will irradiate with smiles any intelligent audience. There are men like those blind guides of the text who advocate only those things in religious service which draw the corners of the mouth down and denounce all those things which have a tendency to draw the corners of the mouth up, and those men will go to installations, and to presbyteries, and to conferences, and to associations, their pockets full of fine sieves to strain out the gnats, while in their own churches at home every Sunday there are 50 people sound asleep. They make their churches a great dormitory, and their somniferous sermons are a cradle and the drawled out hymns a lullaby, while some wakeful soul in a pew, with her fan, keeps the flies off unconscious persons approximate. Now, I say it is worse to sleep in church than to smiJc in church, for the latter implies at least attention, while the former implies the indifference of the hearers and the stupidicy of the speaker. In old age, or from physical infirmity, or from long watching with the sick, drowsiness will sometimes overi . l \ ? !___ J.-L . power one, dui wnen a minister 01 tne gospel looks off upon an audience and finds healthy and intelligent people struggling with drowsint^s it is time for him to give out the dosolt^gy or pronounce the benediction. Tfee great fault of church services today js^not too much vivacity, but coo much somnolence. The one is an irritating gnat that may be easily strained out, the other is a great, sprawling and sleepy eyed camel of the dry desert. In all our Sabbath schools, in all our Bible classes, in all our pulpits, we need to brighten up our religious message with such Christlike vivacity as we find in the text. i take aown irom my library tnc biographies of ministers and writers of the past ages, inspired and uninspired, who have done the most to bring souls rte Jesus Christ, and I find that, without a single exception, they consecrated their wit and their humor to Chrsit. Elijah used it when he advised the Baalites, as they could not make their god respond, to call louder, as their god might be sound asleep or gone a-hunting. Job used it when he said to his self conceited comforters, "Wisdom Trill die witfc you." Christ not onlv used it in the lest, but' when | he ironically complimented the ccrrupt i Pharisee, saying, "The whole need not ( a physician," ana when, by one word, | he described the cunning of Herod, i saying, <;Go ye. and tell that fox." J Matthew Hesry's commentaries from Lthe first page to the last corruscated ! with humor as summer clouds with heat j lightning. John Bunyan's writings are as full of humor as they are of saying truth, and there is not an aged man here who has ever read '"Pilgrim's Progress," who does not remember that while reading it he smiled as often as he wept. Chrysostom, George Herbert, Robert South, Geor<re 'Whiteaeld, Jeremy Taylor, Rowland Hill, Ashael Xettleton, Charles G. Finney and all the men of the past who greatly advanced the kingdom of God consecrated their wit and their humor to the cause of Christ. So it has been in all the ages, and I say to all our youcg theological students, Sharpen your wits until they are as keen as I o ?nr! <-Vi.-.n tnl-A tKfim into this holy war. It is a very short bridge between a smile and a tear, a suspension bridge from eye to lip, and it is soon crossed over, and a smile is sometimes just as sacred as a tear. There is as much religion, and, I think, a little more in a spring morning than in a starless midnight. .Religious work without any humor or wit in it is a banquet with a side of beef, and that raw, and no condiments and no dessert succeeding. People will not sit down to such a banquet. By all means remove all n T 2 ,11 ?,1 J ?n invouty anu an piiiacs uuu an ana vulgarity. Strain them out through the sieve of holy discrimination, but, on the other hand, beware of that monster which overshadows the Christian church today?conventionally?coming up from the great Sahara desert of ec elesiasticism. having on its back a hump of sanctimonious gloom, and trnTiorr>onflc rftfllKft to SWolloW that j camel. Oh, how particular a great many people are about the infinitesimals while they arc quite rockless about the magnitudes! "What did Christ say? Did he not excoriate the people in his time who were so careful to wash their hands before a meal, but did not wash their hearts? It is a bad thing tc have unclean hands. It is a worse thing to have an unclean hears. How many people there are in our time who are very anxious that after their death they shall be buried with their faces toward the east and not at all anxious that during their whole life they should face in the right direction, so that they shall come up in the resurrection of the just, i - > xi v? wmcnever way mcj aiv uuijlcu. iiun many there are chiefly anxious that a minister of the gospel shall come in the line of apostolic succession, not caring so much whether he comes from Apostles Paul or Apostle Judas! They have a way of measuring a gnat until it is larger than a camel. Again, my subject photographs all those who are abhorrant of small sins while they are reckless in regard to magnific-ut thefts. You will find many a merchant who, while he is so careful that he would not take a yard of cloth or a spool of cotton from the counter without paying for it, and who, if a bank cashier should make a mistake and send in a roll of bills $5 too much, *-- ? T_ _ i T _ _2 would ciispatcn a messenger m not nasie to return the surplus, yet who will go into a stock company, in which after awhile he gets control of the stock, and then waters the stock and makes $100,000 appear like $200,000. He only stole $100,000 by the operation. Many of the men of fortune made their wealth in that" way. One of those men engaged in such unrighteous acts that evening, the evening of the day when lie watered the stock, will find a wharf rat stealing a daily paper from the basement doorway and will go out and catch the urchin by the collar and twist the col | lar so tightly the poor fellcw has no power to say that it was thirst for knowledge that led him to the dishonest act, but grip the collar tighter and tighter, saying: "I have been looking for you a long while. You stole my paper four or five time.-, haven't you, you miserable wretch?7' And then the old stock gambkr, with a voice they can hear three blocks, will cry out, "Police, police!" That same man the evening of the day in which he watered the stock will kneel with his family in prayers and thank God for the propsperity of the day, then kiss his children good night with an air which seems to say, j "I hope you all will grow up to be as good as your father." Prisons for sins insectile in size, but palaces for crimes dromedarian. No mercy for sins animalcule in proportion but great leniency for mastodon iniquity. A poor boy slyly takes from the bosket of a market vvoman a choke pear?saving some one else from the cholera?and you smother him in the horrible atmosphere of Raymond Street jail or New York Tombs, while his cousin, who has been skillful enough to steal $50,000 trom the city, you make a candidate for the state leglaturc. There is a good deal of uneasiness and nervousness now among some people in our time who have not got unrighteous fortunes? a great deal of uneasiness about dynamite. I tell them that God will put under their unrighteous fortunes something more explosive than dynamite?the earthquake of his omnipotent indignation. It is time that we learn in America that sin is not excusable in proportion as it declares large dividends and has outriders in equipage. Many a man is riding to perdition, postilion ahead and lackey bepf ac 1 Ann r?r\r\\7 /vf o -nntrrcno_ JlliLiU* JL \J V/UV V v ?* UVIIU]/V? per is a gnat to steal many thousands of dollars is a camel. There is many a fruit dealer who would not consent to steal a basket of peaches from a neighbors stall, but who would not scruple to depress the fruit market, and as long as I can remember we have heard every summer the peach crop of Maryland is a failure, and by the time the crop comes in the misrepresentation makes a difference of millions of dollars. A man who would not steal one basket of peaches steals 50,000 baskets of peaches. Go down into the public library, in the reading rooms, and see the newspa per reports of the crops from all parts of the country, and their phraseology is very much the same, and the same men wrote them, methedically and infam\ously carrying out the huge lying about the grain crop from year to year and for a score of years. After awhile there will be"a "corner" in the wheat market, and men who had a contempt for petty theft will burglarize the wheat bin of a nation and commit larceny upon the American corn crib. And some o the men will sit ia churches and in reformatory institutions trying to strain out the small gnats of scoundrelism while in their grain elevaj tors and in their storehouses they are j fattening huge camels which chey ex pect after awhile to swallow. society has to be entirely reconstructed on this subject. We are to find that a sin is inexcusable in proportion as it is great,, i I know in our time the tendency is to charge religious frauds upon good men. They say, '"Oh. what a host of frauds you have in the church of God in this ! day Anc K-hcn ac elder of ? canrch, ; j or a dcscon. or a minister of the gospel, j J or a superintendent of a Sabbath school ! I turns out a defaulter, what display ; I heads there are ia many of the newspa- j' ' pers! Great primer type. Five line [ pica. "Another Saint Absconded. ' ! "Clerical Scoundrelism." "Religion at i - t\; i !? i j a -L/15CUULIL, WlUiC LL1C1C illC a. luuuj- j ana scoundrels outside the church to j i one inside the church, and the misbe- ; havior of those who never see the inside of a church is so great that it is enough to tempt a man to become a Christian to get out of their company. < But in all circles, religious and irreii- ' gious, the tendency is to excuse sin in j proportion as it is mammoth. Even , John Milton in his "Paradise Lost," while he condemns satan, gives such a < grand description of him you have hard work to withhold your admiration. Oh, ] this straining out of small sins like < gnats and this gulping down great iniq- ; uities like camels! This subject does not give the picture of one or two persons, but is a gallery in which thousands of people mav j see their likenesses. For instance, all ; those people who, while they would not rob their neighbors of a farthing, appropriate the money and the treasure of the public. A man has a house to sell, and he tells his customer it is worth $20,000. Nest day the assessor comes ^ s\y* Ort T-?c 1 ? lO TT? AT f 1*1 4 itX CUiiU Hi.LIU Luc unuci caj o i? xj nvnu , $15,000. The government of the ] United States took off the tax from personal income, among other reasons be- ] cause so few people would tell the truth, and many a man with an income of hundreds of dollars a day made statements which seemed to imply he was about to be handed over to the overseer of the poor. Careful to pay their passage from Liverpool to New York, yet smuggling in their Saratoga trunk ten silk dresses from Paris and a half dozen watches from Geneva, Switzerland, telling the custom house officer on the wharf, there is nothing in that \ trunk but wearing apparel." and putting < a five dollar gold piece in his hand to < punctuate the statement. i Described in the text are all those ] who are particular never to break the ? law of grammar and who want all their , language an elegant specimen of syn- , tax, straining out all the inaccuracies of speech with a fine sieve of literary : criticism, while through their conversa- ' tion go slander and innuendo and pro- j fanity and falsehood larger than a whole caravan of camels, when they might j better fracture every law of the lang- ( - uage and shock their intellectual ta . ; < and better let every verb seek in > ;;.. i j for its nominative, and every noun Kr its government, and let every prop -i- tion lose its way in the sentence, :: .d ( adjectives and participles and pronouns ^ get into a grand riot worthy of the ] Fourth ward of New York on election \ day, than to commit a moral inaccuracy. < Better swallow a thousand gnats than , one camel. Such persons are also described in the test who are very much alarmed about the small faults of others and have no alarm about their own great transgressions. There are in every ' community and in every church watch- ] dogs who feel called upon to keep their ] eyes on others and growl. They are i full of suspicions. They wonder if this , man is not dishonest, if that man is not ' unclean, if there is not something 3 wrong about the other man. They are < always the first to hear of anything ( wrong. Vultures are always the first \ to smell carrion. They are self ap- < pointed detectives. I lay this down as j a rule without any exception, that ] those people who have the most faults < themselves are most merciless in their 1 watching of others. From scalp of j head to sole of foot they are full of j jealousies and hypercriticisms. They j spend their life in hunting for m uskrats | and mud turtles instead of hunting for j Rocky mountain eagles, always for some- ] thing mean instead of something grand. 1 They look at their neighbors' imperfec- , tions through a microscope and look at I < their own imperfections through a tele- i ] scope upside down. Twenty faults of j their own do not hurt them so much as j one fault of somebody else. Their < neighbors' imperfections are like gnats, < and they strain t'aem out; their own im- < perfections are like camels, and they \ swallow them. I But lest too many might think they ( escape the scrutiny of the text, I have j to tell you that we all come under the j divine satire when we make the oues- ^ tions of time more prominent than the | ] questions of eternity. Come now, let 1 us all go into the confessional. Are < not all tempted to make the question, j Where shall I live now? greater than < the question. Where shall I live forev- ] er? How shall I get more dollars here? < greater than the question, How shall I ? lay up treasures in heaven? the ques- 3 tion, How shall I pay my debts to man? j greater than the question, How shall I ( meet my obligations to God? the ques- j tion, How shall I gaiD the world? ( greater than the question, What if I j lose my soul? the question, Why did j God let sin come into the world? great- ? er than the question, How shall I get : it. extirpated from my nature? the ques- , tion, What shall I do with the i'-) or jit j or 70 years of my sublunar existence? \ greater than the question, What sha.il l , do with the millions of cycles of my i past terrestrial existence? Time?how j small it is! Eternity?how vast it is! 2 The former more insignificant in com- j parison with the latter than a gnat is T insignificant when compared with a t camel. We dodged the text. We said, ^ "That does not mean me, and that docs c not mean me," and with a ruinous be- r nevolence we are giving the whole .sermon away. But let us all surrender to the charge. What an ado about things heie! What poor preparation for a great eternity! 1 As though a minnow were larger than i a behemoth, as though a swallow took t wider circuit than an albatross, as 1 though a nettle were taller than a Leba- < non cedar, as though a gnat were great- * er than a camel, as though a minute * were longer than a century, as though t time were higher deeper and broader than eternity. So the text which flashed with lightning of wit as Christ 1 uttered it is followed by the crashing ] thunders of awful catastrophe to those ' nrTin moto +T10 nf timA crrr>ntr>r ( "iW 1?? than the questions of the future, the 1 oncoming, overshadowing future. Oh! < Eternity! Eternity! Eternity! Killed by a Wall. A dispatch to The State from Pied mont, S. C., says: "G. W. Sheltyn was killed here this morning. Joseph Austin and W. B. Bryant were ]>rob*- * bly fatally injured. R. A. Po: tor had j his leg broken. Robt. Freeman had ( his shoulder dislocated and arm broken. Calaway Smith, N. P. Fleming and Jack West were painfully injured. , They were all at work on a warehouse J being built for the Piedmont Manufacturing company when at about 11 o'clock the centre brick wall, which ? was fully 30 feet high, suddenly caved j in, burying Shelton, who was instantly [ killed, and mulcting injuries on cne ; , the oihers as abpve stated. AH that I medical skill can do" is; being done for j the injured. " The verdiet'of.the coroner's jury was that G. W. Shelton came } to his death by the accidental falling J of the fire wall."' THE CHOPS AND WEATHER. What the Department of Ajtricultur* Says About Them. At the beginning of the week end tug July 17th the temperature wa: iower than usual, but with steadily increasing heat up to Saturday (15th) or tvhich date it rose to from 96 to lOi iegrecs except on the immediate coast. Hie extreme maximum of 105 is the highest ever recorded f.t Columbia, rhe tropic heat continued to the clos< of tne week. "With the exception of quite genera; out light showers throughout the State >n the Stli. and in m few places on the LOth. there has been no rain of anj jonsequcnce in two weeks, and ovei the greater portion of the State the need of ruoisture is urgent to maintaic :he condition of the various crops; indeed, over the central ?.nd westerc counties, crops are fast failing undei the comuincu influence of prolonged uUrnu Li*ydii anu jAiiyme uijueas. n <ilcj courses arc very low, and steck watei is becoming scarce. Des'cating winds, too, aided in drying the soil and vegetation, but made the heat more endurable for animals. For the first time this season, the aoajoritv of the reports are unfavorible on cotton, relating that growtl lias practically stopped, that the plants ire losing their prryious healthy color, md are shedding leaves and squares, ind are blooming to the very top. Generally they are well fruited with bolls, [a Marion, Marlboro and Cherokee joanties the crop is unimpaired. Ses island cotton continues to do well, bu! in placcs is blighting. Old corn is suffering severely froir Lhc dryness, and much is injured be ^oad recuperation even should it rair soon. At a few points only is corn ui to an average condition. Young corc lias not reached its critical stage oi growth and generally maintains its jolor. but i: not making seasonable zrowth. Tobacco lias improved. Gathering iad curing has made rapid progress, Phe crop is yielding well, and sonu Gelds excellently. Nearly all but the very latest plantings of rice have been laid by,, and a< caterpillars arc no logger troublesome. : he crop is in fine shape. Upland ric< is, however, suffering for rain. Melon vines are failing. Peas dying, md a^eage reduced. Pastures and gardens are lurning up. Pears, apples. ?rar>f>s and fics are Dlentiful in Char ie? ton, but the commercial crop oi Fruit throughout the State is Sir.all, drapes are ripening over the casterr jounties. Tlie Value of Cornstalks. The farmers have reason to re6arc a-ith aversion our numerous tariff-prC' tected trusts, but the farmers on th< prairie lands of the West at least wil probably view with favor the fifty-mil lion-dollar cornstalk trust which is be ing organized, it is stated, to make i market for the 250,000,000 tons of corn stalks that go to waste every year. Tb< 3ornstalk is to be developed by'thenev trust into a commercial commodity, a< ;otton seed were a few years ago, anc it is believed that "there are millions in it." According to the New Yorl Commercial our farmers have hithert< oeen throwing away $900,000,000 a yea: in stalks. The yield of stalks aver iges three tons to the acre, the acreage averaging SO,000,000, and but a frac ion of this is utilized as fodder. Dur lug the last twenty years our larmerj tiave destroyed, it is estimated by the 'Commercial,' $18,000,000,000 wortl )f their product?a value equal to th< sum total of their mortgages plus th< public debt. This sum the new trusi proposes to enable the farmers to pul in their pockets during the nest scon )f years. Six different commodities ire now being manufactured from corn ;talks?namely, cellulose, worth $400 j :on, used by the Government as an an :omatic hole-stopper for battleships, excellent cardboard, a fine grade of paper, an unequalled foundation for dylamite, a patent cattle food, and a superior glue. The value of the cellulose ining for warships is well known, When a leak develops the cellulose swells in such a manner as to automatcally close it. With fifteen tons ol stalks, worth $90, one ton of such eel.ulose is made, for which, as already stated, the Government is now paying it the rate of $400 a ton. Two factories?one in Rockfort, 111., and another n Owensboro. Ky.?are now making iomstalk cellulose, together with othei products of less value. As respects the jornstalk cattle food, it is stated that ;lie stalks, when ground to a coarse neal, cooked, sweetened with molasses, md pressed into cakes, form one of the nost nutritive and valuable foods yet placed on the market. The absorptive ->ower of cellulose dust fits it admira' >!y for the manufacture of dynamite bj nix in? with nitrodveerine. such dust if-lni' superior even to gun cotton. :'ive l'acLuiio.-, says the Commercial, ire to be at once erected, in additioc ,o those already in operation. The nore the better It is the good fortune of the proposed combine that it fill, if successful, have for its object tc snlarge. or, in fact, create, an industry, lot to stifle it. Street Car Strike. New York and Brooklyn are now havng to contend with a strike of conside able magnitude from the operatives oi ,he rapid transit lines of the city, and lundreds of policemen are constantly sailed into service to quell alleged disurbances from the strikers. It seems ,he strikers have much sympathy from ,he public. The Grand Army post at Sprinelill, Kas , is getting blasphemous. Recently it adopted a resolution that 'it is just and proper to invoke a just Jod to remove a president that retains rl. Clay Evans as pension commission;r.'? When God "removes" a muu he s dead. This Kansas post, therefore, vants the death of the president. But t shr.nld be uiore specific. Harrison imi ciud during office from nat r.tl nauses. Lincoln and Garfield bv as sassination. Does the post want the ^resident promptly murdered or does it nerely want some mortal disease to smite him? The first honor man of the South Carolina College this year is J. E. jwearingen, a blind man and a nephew )f Senator Tillman. Mr. Swearingen s totally blind and studied his lessons >y getting his college mates to read to lim. He is said to be posssessed of a wonderful mind, and he proposes to )ecome a lawyer. ''Marvelous, indeed, is the age in vhieh cowless milk is sold from horseess wagons, exclaims the Chattanooga Kews. j THE DISPESSA3Y SYST2M. I ; j "What a JTorthem Visitor Has to Say About It. Paul Standisli writes as follows to the j 5 Boston Transcript regarding the dispen- j sarv ovstpm: i South Carolina's legislation in two ; particulars stands out in bold contrast to that of all other states of the Union. 5 First. It has no divorce laws, and . no divorce has ever been granted in the ? history of the state. Second. Its liquor law is utterly unlike that of any other , in Christendom. The writei recently spent five months in the city of Aiken ! and had abundant opportunity to study ! the character and working of the dis[ pensary law. He came awiy an unhe sitating convert to its wisdom and ' practicability. Aiken has a resident 1 population of 3,500, with 1,000 Northern visitors in the winter. More than ' half the residents are Xegroes, and the ; average Negro is far from being a teeto[ taller, and yet in five months of continued observation I aid not see five intoxicated person. Stand with me a half hour in the Aiken dispensary and see what transpires. The establishment is on the main street, and is a single room 100 5 feet long by perhaps thirty wide. A small space opposite the door, shaped | like the letter V with its apex cut off 5 is for the public; all the rest is for the 1 dispenser and his goods. The s; ace fori 1 customers is not more than ten feet losg by six at its widest end; a high fence encloses it, save at its apex, where ! the customer makes his purchase. No [ seats of any sort welcome the visitor. * There is no counter 10 lounge upuu? the fence prevents. 1 No glasses wait to be filled?no pictures-hang on the wall?no crackers and 1 cheese speak the pleasant language ot ) hospitality?no tempting odors salute | the nostrils. Only bottles (sealed ones) ; adorn the shelves. Th<*re is no paraJ phernalia for mixing drinks. There is * no display of goods in the windows. All is plain, unattractive, inhospitable. > Wait?here comcs a customer. Watch ' him! He walks to the hole in the ' fence, says to the dispenser, i:I want a pint of whiskey," names the grade he wishes and signs a blank lorm put dc' fore him. 1 The dispenser passes him a sealed 5 bottle which the purchaser puts in his pocket and immediately walks away. 1 Two men come in together. Each makes his purchase and pays for it and 1 they go out together. Qow striking ; the contrast between this matter-of-fact c commercial transaction and the way ' things go on in a typical Boston saloon! 1 No treating here; no longing; no clicking of glasses "ad drinking of health: * * ' n ,i no ciubroom tnis ior me young men 01 . the village; no insidious attractions to 1 tempt the boys. It is the use uf ?,!co holic liquors as a beverage rid of all the > gilded trappings that are responsible i for at least a half of all the intemperance of the land. It is said that no man ever pays for his first drink. - Somebody always gives it to him. i Abolish the abominable treating cus. torn and you immediately reduce drinking enormously. Abolish the saloon, ' that is, its social attractions, and you ' reduce drinking as much more. The ? dispensary does both. "What are the i -fnnrl-am^nf-n] nrimiirtles of this UniflUe ' law? They are only three, yiz., these: " First, the sale of pure liquor only by I the state alone; second, payment of r fized salaries to the men who sell; third, no drinking on the premises. Remove ' either of these and the whole structure falls to the ground. Retain all, and " there is only one more step to take, and ' that is the absolute destruction of the 5 traffic. I Selling liquor on a salary and selling ' for a profit are as unlike as light and ' darkness. Into the last comes the I mighty factor of avarice, only equalled " in its strength by that other resistless \ impulse, appetite. License brings into 5 working contact these two forces, and the result is inevitable and dire disas1 ter. Under the dispensary system avar!no noococ +0 Off TViata 1<? Tin ITldnftft 1 ment whatever to the dispenser to increase his sales. Should he do so he would simply work harder for the same money. Appetite, alone and hamper! ed is thus the main factor in the prob[ lem. Is it not plain upon the face of ! it that such a system must greatly rej duce the sale of liquor? Do the varied and seductive attractions of the saloon count for nothing?the tempting window displays, the brilliant lights, the > lunch, the comradeshio? [ Is it any wonder the arrests for drunkenness in 18 cities and towns of ; South Carolina were 57G during the last six months under license, and only 2S3 ! during the first six months under the ' dispensary? Who can doubt that sim1 ilar effects would follow similar causes in this and other states? The regula! tions imposed upon the dispensers are ' most salutary. No sales arc permitted ! to minors, intoxicated persons or hab| itual drunkards, or between sunset and ' sunrise, or on Sundays or holidays, and ' no loafing is permitted. If the dispenser is warned by one member of a family and does so, his 1 bondsman can be mulcted ?200 for ! each offence. The dispensary law has suffered attacks more bitter and more ' powerful perhaps than any legislation 1 in the history of our country, but has triumphantly withstood them all, and practically silenced all, Ridicule and argument?the shot guns and the courts (all but the highest) have struck it blow after blow. A . year ago it looked as though it had re ' ceived its death blow in the repeated decisions of Judge Simonton, United - States Circuit Judge, who emasculated . the law by his injunctions and opini ions, thereby flooding the state with t "0. P." (original package) shops, run by "agents" from other states, and making ridiculous the state dispensarie?. But the final appeal to the highest authority, the United States su . preme court, resulted in a magnificen. victory for the dispensary. The de ' cision upheld the law; closed every 0' P. shop in 24 hours; routed the ene" mics of the dispensary in tumultuous fight, and established the right of a , I boverex^u SLclCC tu the liquor traffic?yes, even to monopolize it for the public good. A fair specimen of the style Df criticism which the dispensary has been ! made the subject of may be found in | the September, 1893, number of the North American Review, where Mayo Chaffee, of Aiken, bitterly attacks the law. characterizing it as paternalism run mad; as an abominable injustice to the liquor sellers, who were entitled to compensation when thus driven out of a business in which, naturally, they ex1 pectea to remain for life; as a serious 1 blow to the prosperity of the state ' since merchants (especially wholesale 1 and retail liquor dealers) had moved to other states. But his sense of justice compelled him to say at the end of his ^T?%a -r\s\rrr crcfnTTl ATTATTOr lfl 1CIIC1- JL liU U^TT UVIIVTV1) AM ' not totally bad. There has been a marked decrease of drunkenness since it went into operation. In the munici ! pnniy oi vmicli the "writer is tuc cinei executive oficer the police hare not u:ad&an arrest for drunkenness since July 1st-.." THE STATE MILITIA. Adjutant General Floyd Issues a Very Important Order. The Columbia State says: A great many difficulties have been encountered in the eSort to bring the State militia up to a creditable standard and much time has been consumed in getting the various organizations to understand what would be expected of them under the reorganization. The following general order issued "Wednesday, however, shows that the time has arrived to shape things and that Gen. Floyd proposes to have a militia force that will be a credit to the State or rone at all. The last two paragraphs of the order make such provisions: Columbia, July 20. 1S99. n i /^v 3 v _ 4 ueneraj uraer ^?o. *. Par. 1. I he mustering of the State volunteer troops and national guard that have not been mustered into service, and the annual inspection of companies that have complied with general orders Nos. 2 and 3, will commence Aug. 10, 1899, and continue until completed. Par. 2. Companies will be inrpected at their respective places o' meeting and timely notice of the arrival of the inspecting officer will be duly forwarded to all companies enrolled. Par. 3. The comanding officer of companies are hereby ordered to have all State property, funds, books, etc., on hand ready for inspection together with a complete inventory of same in order that delay mr.y be avoided. Par. 4. In conducting the approaching inspection companies arc hereby warned that unless a creditable knowledge of the manual of arms, evolutions, etc., is clearly demonstrated at the in spection, and a mark or (jO attained disbandment of companies failing will be ordered. Par. 5. While geographical conditions and the distribution of companies according to the statutes of the State must and will be duly considered, nevertheless the report of the inspector as per paragraph four will be strictly adhered to, and assignment of companies to the active or reserve branches of the service thereby determined. By order. Gen. Floja. Official: John D. Frost, A. A. and I. Gen. TWO FAITHFUL DOGS. The Coroner of Bichland Had an Exciting Fight With Them. William Ric'. ardson, a colored man, was found dead Wednesday evening a few miles below the city. He was alout 55 years old and has been very feeble. Notwithstanding the protests of his wife he went out in the morning to shoot a young rabbit as a relish for dinner. The old single barrel gun he carried hai been patched up by having tin twisted and nailed about the barrel and stock, .hvcn witn the smallest charge of powder and shot it was a dangerous weapon to fire. Probably if he had come across i young rabbtt the coroner woulv. have had to hold an inquest anyway and the rabbit would have been safely ensconced in its bed. But he hadn't gone far when his physical nature naturally gave way and the old man naturally fell to the ground on his face, his gun being under him- He had two dogs of dogs of m ean lineage with him. one being a half setter, and the other a common cur "yellow dog." But they both kept vigil over the body of their master. The first man to discover the body ^as a Negro who approached it, but the two dogs attacked him favaselv and he ran. Thev did cot follow bat went back to guard the body. Coroner Green was notified and with Dr. C. C. Johnson he went to where the body lay. A man named Wiih'ams was with them. Mr. Green jumped from his buggy and started to the body, when the two dogs made a vicious onslaught on him. He defended himself with his whip and notwithstanding the lashes he gave them, the dogs still advanced and the coroner was retreating. It looked for ^ moment as if the dogs would tear :dm to nieces, and he called for assistance. Neither of those with him comiDg to his aid, he i i r _ i .ii _i? 1- J . _ tooK me DUtc 01 ms wnip auu aicer a fight with the dogs, lasting full fifteen minutes, the coroner succeeded in beating them off. He now has great respect for the much maligned "yaller dog" end believes a man has no better friend, when they once become attached to cne. The body of the dead was brought to the colored hospital last night and, after a post mortem examination, the jury returned a vcrdict that the defeased came to his death from heart disease.?Columbia Record. A Good Showing. Reliable poultry statistics that are of practical value are aiificult to get, for the reason that not one poultry raiser out of a hundred in this section even i. 2. x.l ,1 XT_ 1> l._ preiciius lu Keep a. iuuuiu. 1*11% Inman. of Yorkville, however, gave the reporter of the Enquirer recently some figures that are quite interesting. "Since January last up to today," said Mr. Inman, "I have had 26 Brown Leghorn hens, and in the time mentioned they have laid 225 dozen eggs. A great many of these eggs, I have sold at a dollar a setting, but at 12V cents per dozen the gross income would have amounted to $23.12i. During this time, the hens have cost on account of feed and other expenses $11.SO, leaving a net profit of $16.32, and the hens practically of the same value as at the beginning of the j'ear." According to these figures it would seem that chicken raising is a pretty good business, especially if the chickens are leoked after properly, and accorded intelligent attention. The Enquirer ?ays there are several other poultry raisers in Yorkville who are in the business as extensively as 3Ir. Inman, and perhaps some of them may be able to report results even more satisfactory. The Lexington Dispatch meets the proposition of The State to consolidate Richland and Lexington counties with ridicule. The Dispatch will find that ridicule will not do in this case. Look at the State's proposition from any standpoint you please and there is merit in it. \Ye would therefore advise The Dispatch to treat the matter more seriously, andhu nt up some facts } to off-set the ones presented by The < State. The proposition cannot be j rediculecl out of existence. It will take j stubborn facts, and plenty of them, to kill it. Can the Dispatch array them? The latest wonder to have been discovered by Kansas is the "raspberry, stawberry/' grown by one P. IL Hartman. "It is a beautiful red borry," says the Kansas City Journal, "'looks very much like a stawberry. It has n flavor resembling a mixture of strawberry and rastberry. It is easy of cul- ; tivation, and is a very handsome fruit. : - f | AN OLD SUPERSTITION- | l Tn'any Stories Prove That Rats Will Leave j an Tuseavrcrthy Vessel. The old superstition, which has I grown into au adage, that rats desert ! a shin which is no longer seaworthy, Liddeil to., Charlotte, jN. v;. A. B. Farquhar Co., Ltd., York, Pa. Eagle Cotton G-in. Cg., Bridgewater, Mass. Straub Machinery Co., Cincinnati, 0. M Keeley 126 SM.TH STKEET, COR. YANDEBHORST, ||||| D" CHARLESTON, S. C. ** V if they could. But nature lovers, devout, silent, open-eyed, alert, looking and listening "with love, sitting still here and there for hours or days, as their genius directs, find no lack of inhabitants in these mountain mansions, and they come to them gladly. I Not to mention the large animals or the small insect people every waterfall has its ouzel, and every tree its squirrel or tamias, or bird?tiny nuthatch , threading the furrows of the bark, cheerily whispering to itself as it deftly pries of loose scales and examines the curled edges of lichens, or Clarke crow, or jay, examining the cones, or some singer-oriole, tanager, warbler, resting, feeding, attending to domestic affairs. Hawks and eagles sail overhead, and grouse walk in happy flocks below, and the song sparrow'sings in every bed of chaparral. There is no crowding, to be sure. Unlike the low Eastern trees, those of the Sierra in the main forest belt average nearly j 200 feet in height, and of course' many I moIrck mnnli nl' sl I JJii UO CLX C7 AU.AA \j\J. CV v?. show in them, and many voices to filJ them. Nevertheless, the whole range / from foothills to snowy summits is shaken into song every summer; and though low and thin in winter, the music never ceases. Prompt Mr. Scott. A certain Mr. Scott, of Exeter, Eng., : whose business required him to travel i constantly, was one of the most famous characters for punctuality in the kingdom. By his methodical habits, ^ TT-c-f- r-Tr liA cunxumeu WILLI. uunwim wuiuu;, JU.V accumulated a large fortune. For a great many years the landlord of every inn in Cornwall and Devon tiiat lie visited knew tie exact day and hour he would arrive. A short time before he died, at the advanced age of eighty, a gentleman -who was making a journey through Cornwall put up at a small inn at Port Isaac for his dinner. He looked over the bill of fare, and found notching to his liking. He had, however, eeen a fine duck roasting on the fire. "I'll have that," said he. "You cannot, sir," replied the land lord, "it is for Mr. Scott, of Exeter." "I know Mr. Scctt very well," replied the traveller. "He is not in your house." "Very sorry," said the landlord, "but six months ago, when he was last here. , he ordered the duck to he ready for him this day, exactly at 2 o'clock." And to the amazement of the traveler, who chanced to look from the window, the old gentleman was at that moment entering the inn yard, about five minutes before the appointed time. A Curious Collection. One of the most remarkable collections or souvenirs ever made is a collection of male opera liats by one of the actresses of a London company. She owns no fewer than 216 of these articles, for it. was her whim to make M-onr vnnrier man trho was introduced to her give her his opera hat as a souvenir. She not only keeps them in their pristine condition, bat converts them into all sorts of other things, such as photograph frames, work baskets, and some are even used for the purpose of holding flower pots. The Chinese are said to remove the pulp from oranges and substitute various jellies. Tie closest examination 1 fails to reveal any opening or incision 1 in the skin, of the fruit. ?LIFE? A vegetable for Mild. curef?rLiv- the Pleasant", er, Kidney & LIVER Sure. stomach troubles, and 25. 50. $1. , ?KIDNEYS? Sold wholesale by? The Murray Drug Co. Colum bia Dr. H. Baer, Charleston, S C, Macfeat's , School of SHORTHAND . ?AND? TYPEWRITING ? COLUMBIA, S. C. 1his School has the reputation of being the . b$fit business institution in the State. Graduates are holding remunerative positions in 1 tfiercantile houses, banking, insurance, real "estate, railroad offices, &c., in this and other eta tea. Write to "W. H. Macfeat, Court Stenographer Comulbia, 8.C. for terms, etc I J _ . j ii ii mi ? i Tii iTn i niir i? itftiin?>r?i'?ViK^ All We Ask of nrYOOim S*?i? ANYTHTOS xxeeu ui ?* m Machinery " Mill Sapply Line j Is that yon give us an opportunity to submit our prices and make fl comparisons. We ask this be- ^Bj cause we believe we can make it to ^ YOUR advantage. TRY US. We make a specialty of equipping IMPROVED MODERN GINNERIES OF ANY CAPACITY WITH THE SIMPLEST AND MOST EFFICIENT COTTON HANDLING 'APPARATUS IN EXISTENCE-THE MURRAY SYSTEM. Correspondence with intending purbcasers solicited. W. H. Gibbes & Co.. COLUMBIA, S. C. SOUTH CAROLINA AGENCY is still an article of faith with, the fresh "water sailors of the great Jakes. Sundry -well-authenticated instances seem to justify this belief. The Vernon was a three-master, "which did a j tramp business. Built in Buffalo in 1S50, she "was for many years regarded as one of the best craft on the lakes. I^ate in the fall, about fifteen years ago, she unloadeu a cargo of grain in j Buffalo, and reloaded "with package . 1 freight for Chicago. She was about to sail one rough November night. Just before the lines were let off, one of the seamen, saw a rat run. over the hawsers to the wharf. In a moment another was- seen. The seaman called others of the crew to see the unusual sight. Between fifty and seventy-five rats poured out of the ship and took i refuge along the wharf. The crew refused to sail, but the captain was obstinate, shipped a fresh crew, and sailed forthwith. The ship was lost with all hands. The Idaho, a fine passenger steamer, foundered in Lake Erie in November, 1897. Out of her crew of twenty-one men nineteen were drownT -i-t 4-1^ a ?? <-iff.nl 1 "n c*t* CU. O LCI U1UIC C11C iWi-V uvi ings a swarm of rats crawled over the < hawsers to the wharf. This was known to part of the crew, and four men de- , seried at the last moment. Similar stories are told of other wrecked vessels, and an old lakeman says: "It has been proved a hundred times. There are a whole lot of things in this world that we don't know anything about. Rats live in the very filers of a ship. They see what we can't see. i "WTien the timbers are hollowed and the seams open, these little animals know that the ship is unsafe, and they desert it." : Music in the Sierras. I Travelers in the Sierra forests usu- ' ally complain of their want of life, es- I pecially of birds. "The trees," they say, "are fine, but the empty stillness is deadly; there are no animals to be seen, no birds. We have not heard a J j song in all the woods." And no won- 1 i der, going in large parties with mules ' and horses, making so much noise, | dressed in outlandish, unnatural colj ors, every animal shuns them. Even i the frightened pines would run away ; ALCOHOL MORPHINE OPIUM TOBACCO CIGARETTE USING ^ Produce each a disease having defin ite pathology. The disease yields sa3ily to the Double Chloride of Gold Treatment as administered at the above Keeley Institute. N. B.?The Keeley Treatment is administered in South Carolina ?iL/ CHARLESTON. '4 ' I ' T---~pyk L, L&K NOTHING LIKE IT FOR Constipation, Indigestion, ?? Regulator & Kidneys. WTIAIpmIP KV? ~ THE MURRAY DRUG CO., Columbia, S. C. \ Dr. 5. BAER, Charleston, S. C. Ginning 1 ?Machinery. o a <-T% D? /% ? tnrk ClS/lfl A-n J.JL1C OJJLU.OJJ. JL iiOULUaUiU kju.viu.yu. Elevating, Ginning and Packing System Is the simplest and most efficient on the market. Forty-eight complete outfits in South Carolina; each one giving absolute satisfaction. Boilers and Engines; Slide Valve, Automatic and Corliss. My Light and Heavy Log Beam Saw Mills cannot be equalled in design, efficiency or price by any dealer or manu facturer in the South. Write for trices and catalogues. V.C. BadHam, 1326 Main Street, COLUMBIA, S. C. _ It is tll8= = ==Custom vi . - SgS! Bat a ?er? po-r ooe. to wait unjil the ginning seamen is jn king to eee w b.'ii-ft-x TTiei^h is in Now is the time to HURRY YOUR GIN TO THE HiidT m RFPilR WORKS 1 bkhlW Hill llkil mil II VIftllVI Do not delay and thea 3sk us to let you have it at occc, for thorough work cannot be dene ia a hurry. The attention given ^ this matter now will more than repay you when the cjtton is white in the fie'ds iiid the gin house crowded. Tbe work ia comiag in already, so &h.<p at once to the undersigned, located at the old electric light engine house. References by permission:?W. H Gibbes ? Co , V C. Bad ham, Jno. A Willis ?S?*iIar!? your name and shipping point jn work sent and prepay the freight. a III EHiitt Ilia iprfjfft,' : W. J. ELLIOTT, Proprietor, Xo. 1314 Gates Street, COLUMBIA, S. C. To get strong and healthy use one bottle Mur ray's Iron Mixture. Price 50c TH 1U1B4Y DRUG :'W r,-:.-vS