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nriLUBiri nmoi BRAWN AND MUSCLE CONSECRATED. Text: "And Samson went down to Timoath."?Judges, xiv., 1. There ai*e two sidei to the character of Samson. The one might administer to the grotesque and the mirthful, but the other side Of hi3 character is fraught with lessons of solemn and eternal import, and it is to these graver lessons that I ask your attention. I suppose that in early life Samson gave inti mation of what be was to be. It is almost always so. There were two Napoleons, tho boy Napoleon and the man Napoleon; but both alike. Ihere were two Howards.tho boy Howard and the man Howard; but both alike. Two Samsons, the boy Samson and the man Samscn; but both alike. I have no doubt that he gave indication of his strength, that he was the hero of the playground, that nothing could stand before his exhibition of youthful prowess. At eighteen years of age he was betrothed to the daughter of a Philistine. On his way down to Timnath a lion came out to devour him and the young giant, although weaponless, took the monster by the mane and shook It as a hungry hound shakes a March hare, and left its bone? cracked, and its body bleeding by the wayside under the smiting of his hand and the grinding of his foot One time passing along this place ha went into the thicket to see the remains of the lion that he had slain; but under the hot. sun of that climate all the perishable parts of the carcase had gone, ami under the washing of the rain and the shining of the sun the bones of the skeleton were white and clean and pure and sweet as is a vaso of porcelain. Tije bees found this skeleton and made it a hive, and then brought (he sweetness from the grass top3 and the juices from the pomegranate and the aroma from the wild woods where the flowers stood in the gloom of the forest, like pale nuns in nature's oonvent. Afterward he made a very foolish riddle about the honey gathered in this skeleton, a riddle so foolish that it has been recorded as a warning to all thoso who attempt facetiousness without any talent for it. Through the betrayal of his wife the riddle was found out,and Samson was so outraged that he slew thirty men. Still further to vent his rage he sot on fire 3)0 foxes, and these affrighted creatures ran into the corn shocks and the hay mows until all tho land was ablaze with desolation. One day, surrounded by oJU men, Samson took a jawbone fronrthe roadside and hewed down these J armod men as in a harvest field the full . . - ^ !.!? .....1? ?1 ? ? I neaaeu gram troiuuies unutii uicmuiij; ut ? I sickle. There he stands looming up above ; other men, a mountain of flesh, his arms | .bunched with muscles, strong enough to lift i a city gate?h6 stands there in an attitude defiant of everything. His hair has uever been cut, and it rolls down in seven great plats over the shoulder, adding ferocity aud terror to his appearance. The Philistines want to conquer him and they must find out the secret of his strength. There is an unprincipled woman in Sorek, Delilah by name, who is made the aeentin tho case. She coaxes him to tell tlio secret of his great strength. He says: ''Well, if you should lake seven green withes sui-h as they bind wild beast-; with and bind mo, I should be perfectly helpless." So he is bound with these* seven green withes, and Delilah elapps her hands and says: '"They come, the Philistines!" Sam-on walks out as though he ' bad no impediment. She keeps on I coaxing him, to tell the secret * of his Strength, and he says: "Well, if you should lathe seven new rop*s that have never been used, and bind me last, I would be iu the hands of my enemies." So he is bound with these seven ropes, now ropes, and De!ila!i claps her hands and says: "They come, the Philistines!'* Sampson walks out without anv hindrance. She keens on coaxins him i to "tell the sevret of his strength, and he says: "Well now, it' you should take tiles? sewn long plaits of hair and with a ho :se-Iooni weave them into a web, 1 should be just like ether men." So the house-loom is brought up, the seven long plaits of hair are woven into a web and Delilah claps her hands and says: "They come, the Philistines:" Samson walks out dragging part of the loom with him. iiut Delilah after a while coaxes him to tell the real tr-fch, and ha says: "If you should take a razor or scissors, or shears and cut o!r those long locks all my strength would be gone." Saiiigom sleeps, and you know the oriental barbers have such skiil in manipulating the head that instead of waking one that is asleep they will pat one wide awak9 sound asleep under the process. I hear the grinding of the blades of the scissors, and I see the falling off of the large locks. What the house loom and I/Liugitn;ji ?uuw ami tuu new I up.'s uuum not do, lias been accomplished now by . the razor. Delilah now claps her ' hands and says: "The Philistines be upon j thee, Samson!" He struggles to get up. His strength is all gone. His enemies ru-h in. 1 bear the giant groan as they bore out his eyes, and then 1 see him going on in his blindness, staggering on toward Gaza, and a prison door opens, and he sits down and puts his hand on tno mil! crank that with hasty motion goes day after day, and week after ?reek, and month after month?work, work, work I The consternation of the world in captivity. The giant with his eyes out grinds corn in Gaza. Behold first of all that physical strength is not an index of moral power. That this man was mighty the lion found out, and the Philistines found out, and all the people who had anything to do with him found out, and jret he was the subject of petty revenges, and was ungianted by base passion. I say nothing against physical stamina. I do not ilynk there is any particular glory in a delicate and sickly constitution. I have not any special admiration for weak nerves and sick headaches. I think that all the institutions which propose to make men and women athletic ought to meet with the favor of good citizens, as well as good Christians. Gymnasiums may havea mission positively religious. Good people sometimes ascribe to a weak heart tlmt which belongs to a slow liver. The body and the soul are such near neighbors that they often catch each other's diseases. The man who has a clear head, who has stout nerve3 and who in the cradle displayed the Hercules will have far more to answer for than all those who all their life struggled with physical infirmities. That man who can lift twice as much as vou can, I walk twice as far and endure twice as much will have just twic? the amount of account to give, if a clear head is better than one dizzy with p3rpetual vertigo, if muscles with the play of health in them are worth mora than those drawn up with rheumatism, if an ?ye quick to catch a passing object is better than one dim and uncertain?then if you have stout ph}rsical health, the greater and more intense will be your account. Yet how manythere are who have stout physical health, and it Is no indication of moral power with them. Men use their great health in luxuriant ease, when they ought to have their coat off and their sleeves rolled up, tugging away with all their might trying to lift the sunken j wreck of a world. They are like ship* woll 1 manned and well rigged, and capable of vast j fAnnorvA o *"?/-! ziAnnk'A AM/IWHIUM ?> ?.? 4 I vvima^U) cum vopoutc V/JL OIIUIU ?1 UdlSUA:?3 | of weather, yet rotting at the docks; when j these men ou^ht to be crossing and recrossing ; the great ocean of human suffering j with God's suDDlies of mercv. Alas! I tnac so many oi cue stout and healthy men i of the world are doing absolutely nothing for God or the betterment of the world's condition. Oh! it is a shamo that so much of the work of the church and the world has been done by invalids, while the stoutand the healthy men, like greet hulks, were rotting In the sun. llichard Baxter, spending his j life on the door of the tomb, yet writing a ! hundred volumes and starting unconverted | people on their way to the Saint's Everlasting i Rest. Edward Fay son, never knowing a well day in all his life, but starting a vast , multitude of people toward that j place which ho called a sea | of glory. Robert McCheyrie, a walking : skeleton, and yet you know what he did at ?)undee, and you know how In shook all Scotland with his zeal for God. William Wilberforce, told by the doctors he must die in two weeks, starting right out for grander philanthropies. Philip Doddridge advised by his nrit*. fc:f-?i/lv? fni* +.V??* V\ar?o 11ra he was so ill, going right on until he was thy j cause of the riso and progress of religion in the church of Jesus Christ. Robert Hall so much an invalid that oft-times in the midst of his sermon he had to lie down and rest on the sofa, and then getting up again and preaching about the wonders of heaven until tho splendor seemed to drop up >n tho auditors, and doing tho work of ten or fifteen ordinary men of his day. Is it not simply a shame that a vast amount of the work done for tho Christian church and do:ie for t'.io betterment o: tho world's condition has been done by invalids, while such a multitude of inon with vast physical endurance have accomplished nothing for God! Achievements for invalids, of course? achievement* of patience, achievements of faith, achievements of endurance; but I caii liiis day upon men of muscle, men of nerve, and men of physical power to consecrate themselves to the Lord. Giants in body be giants in soul. M v subject also impresses me with the fact that strength inay do a great deal of damage if it is misdireetod. To pa}' one miserable bet which this man had lo3t he robs and slays thirty people. As near as I can tell much of his li'fb vas spent in wickedness, and he is a type of a large class of people in all ages who either giants in body, or giants in mind, 01 giants in social position, or giants in wealth, use that strength for making the world wnrsB instead of makinir it better. Those small men in a community who do wrong effect but little evil. Ihose small men who go through your store, your shop, your factory, your ban king-house loafing and swearing and befouling the air with their breath and insulting your door with iheir iniquitous saliva and denouncing God and denouncing the church, they do not do much harm, thoy are so insignificant But these powerful men who stick their pens of sarcasm and hato into the Christian religion, these men who throw vitriol on our Jitora'ure, these men of wealth who sanction crima and iniquity and make honor and truth and justice bow before their golden scepters?look out for them! I suppose there were hundreds of infidels in Paris, E iinburgh and London in the middle and the latter part of the last century, but they did not do a great deal of harm. There were giants in those days though, who did harm. Who can estimate the soul havo:: wrought by Rousseau going forward with the very enthusiasm of iniquity, and with his fiery imagination affecting all the impulsive nature, of his tim?2 Or wrought by David Hume, who spent his lifetime as a spider spends the summer in weaving silken web> to r.ot-r'Vi tho iinwBi'v! Or hv VnltairB who mar shaled a host of sceptics in his time and led them on down into n deeper darkness/ Cr wrought by Gibbcn who showed in hi* writings an uncontrollable hats against Christianity, and in that book which gives a faseinatiug account of tLe decline and fall of the Roman empire throws all his genius into an attempt to exaggerate the faults of the Christian disciples while he gives a sparseness of attention to the Christian heroes of whom the world wa3 not worthy, a sparseness of attention to those noble men and women for which that author can never be forgiven. I want men of nerve' men of muscle, men of social position, men of financial power to know that that strength may be made a crown tor them 011 earth and be a crown for them in heaven, while those who bedraggle that power into sin and tbose wno use tneir muuenco for iniquitous purposes, God will at last thunder his condemnation upon them on the day when millionaire and pauper and master and slave and king and subject shall stand side by side, and money-bags and judicial ermine and royal robe shall bo riven of the lightning of the Lord God Almighty. My subject also impresses m? with the fact that a giant may be overthrown by a sorceress. Delilah started all those evil influences which terminate ! in the bringing of the temple of Dagon down around Sampson's ears, and in all the ages how many giants" through impure fascinations have been ungianted? It seems to me that it ia time that the pulpit and platform and printing press speak out more distinctly against the impurities of modern society. Prudery and fastidiousness say, "Don't speak at all l'or you might arouse adverse criticism; you might make things worse instead of making them bettor. If you touch the subject at all do so in glittering generalities, for the themi is not appropriate for polite carswhile from the heavens a voice comes saying, "Crj aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet. Show my pe:ip'e their transgres sions, and the house of Egypt their sins." The trouble is that when people writa or speak on such themes, they throw over them the fascinations of belles lettres and make attractive that which oughl to be repulsive. Lord Byron in Childe Harold adorns this crime until it looks like a May queen. Michelet, the French author, in his essays treats of the crime until it glows like the rising sun, when it ought to be niado loathsome as -a smallpox hospital, 'i Here are influences abroad to clay which if unresisted by pulpit and platform and printing press will turn New York and Brooklyn into a Sodoin and Gomorah, lit only for the storm of flro and brimstone that overwhelmed the cities of the plain. Whila you sit in your quiet Christian homes compassed with all moral restraints, you do not realize that there is a gulf of iniauity surrounding you north, south, east and west. This moment while I speak there are hundreds of men and worn n going over the awful plunge of an inipuro life, and while I cry to God for mercy in their behalf, I charge all Christian men and women to marshal all divine and gracious influences for the dofence of the homes and the churchas and the nation. There is a banquetiug hall that you may not have heard described. You know all about the feast of Ahasuerus with a thousand lord?. You know all about the carnival of Bel-ihazzar, where the blood of the murdered king: spurted in tho faces of the banqueters. You know all about the wassail and the intoxication and the rioting of the feast over which presided Esopus, before whom was brought a plate of food that cost four hundred thousand dollars. But there is another banqueting hall, and its ceiling is fretted vith fire, and its floors are tesselated with fire and its walls are buttresses of fire, and its songs are songs of lire, and Solomon referred to it when he said: "her guests are in the depths of hell." We are in American society to-day reaping the harvest of Froo Lovis:n which was sowed ten or fifteen or twenty years ago, the gospel of Free Lovism which was preached on all tho platforms in America, or nearly all of themj and alas! in some of the pulpits a# TTrAA T.Atriam urhinft fn gvopci U1 1 1 V/O JUVTMUl MU1V.U gvviiio w? indicate that every man ought to have sornj ouq else's wife, and every woman some ones else's ftusoancl ? Free Lovism which has given to this country one thousand cases of divorce a year?Free Lovism which has given to one county in Indiana eleven cases of divorce in one day before diunorl Froe Lovism which has aroused in all this land, brought up in all this land cases of elopement, North, South, East and AVest, so that you can hardly take up a paper now that you do not see in it some account of an elopement The fact is there are thousands of people in America to-day who do not like the Christian institution of marriage, and I wish they would elope, the wretches of one s 'X taking the wretches of the other sex, and starting t omorrow morning for the great Sahara desert until the simoon shall sweep over them seven feet of sand, arid in the no tt five " hundred years no passing caravan bring back one miserable bo'n * of their carcases. Never until society shall go back to the Bible, which eulogizes uuritv and curses with an infinite mi ran mi. cleanliness?never until that time comes will these evils be extirpated from society. Samson was not the only giant ungianted. My subject also impresses me with the fact thai the greatest physical strength must crumble and give way. That this man of the text was mighty the lion knew, that Philistines knew, everybody knew. Oh! how strong he was. He could fight back thesa enemies, but death was too much for him. He may have had a longer grave and a wider grave than 3'ou and I have, but the tomb was his terminus What, shall the body and the soul be parted? Yes. We know the destiny of the 0119, dust to dust What sha'J by fhp d>?st:Qv of the other? Will we go up to dwell amid the white robed bclievera whoso sins Christ slew, or will wo go down among the unbelievers who tried to gain tho world and save their soul at the same time mid were swindled out of both? You and I may by good habits and by prudence and by the enthronement of Christian principle postpone tho day of our decease, but come it must, and wuie it; win, unu i/iiuu is u uuiiMUuraiiuu worth our dwelling upon. I am saying thesa things because I want you. in the light of this subjoct, to realize what I do not believe live men in this audience do realizo, that God is going to bring us in account for the employment of our physical organism. We jire often told that people must give account for their wealth, and so they must; and they must give account for their intelligence, and so they must; but no more than they must give account for the employment of their physical organism. Shoulder, arm, brain, knee, foot, all the forces that God has given us?are wo using them to make the world better, or make It worse? Those who have strong arm, thoso who have elastic step, those who have cloar eye, those who havfl stead v brain, thoso are the men who are going to have the mightiest accounts to render. There aro thousands of sermons preached to invalids. I have preached scores of them myself. Every clergyman who does his duty must preach scores of sermons to the invalid and the suffering; |but this morning I preach chiolly to stoat men and healthful women. AVhat aro we doing with the faculties that God has given us? What is the account weshallhave at last to render? While 1 was preparing this subject, 1 thought how abashed I will be in the last day when I shall come up and 1 shall remember that during all my memory. L have never had ouo moment of severe sick j:?9, or anything that might be called real sickness, and stand beside those who never knew a well day in all their lifo and yet were consume'! with zeal for God. Ahl what a day that will.be for those of us, what an account it will be to render when you ask yourself and I ask myself, ''what have we done with the health that God has given us.<" Is there one in all this audienco who can feel, who does now t'eel that ha has given all his physical quali ties to making tho world better and for the , glory of his God' Nob one, no5 one! Hark! it thunders. The da)' approaches, the day for which all other days were made. His throne is lifted, and thire is one who on sarth was always an invalid stands bsfore the throne of judgment, and this one says to the Julgo on the throne, "I was always sick; I could not go out much and servo Christ; I found some opportunities of serving Him; I found people who wore sicker ! than I was and whj suffered more than I, and I tried to cheer thjm. I feel all un- j worthy to be here to day, but I have done something for Christ, although it was very , feobly done." "Well done," says Christ, ' "well dona. Enter into the joy of thy Lord. < Go up and get thy crown. And a great crown it is." Here is another one before the ] throne of judgment. He says: "On earth I always went on crutches. I could not get about much, but wherever I had an opportu- ' j nity of inviting men to Christ, and for good, l I tried to do that good. I do not deserve any I T ?it'Vilitflft fa?? rr> tr 1 nr/f I rewaru. X Uiww *V1 uvtui 1 Oh, how little!" "Well done," says Christ, "Well done. Enter into tho joy of thy 1 Lord. Great reward for thee, great ] reward." And now there is a little child be- . fore the throDe of judgment. She says: "On earth I had curvature of the spine, and I was very weak, and I was very sick. I could not do much for Jesus, but I used to go out into J tho wild woods and pluck flowers for my sick mother, and I used to bring them back 10 her room, and she was so cheered and comforted by those flowers that I plucked out of the . wild wo^ds." "Well done," says Christ, tak- 1 ins her up in His arms and* kissing her, i "welldcno. Go up and get thy crown, little j one. Great is thy reward in heaven." }5ut j hark! it thunders again. Now. all tha well, the stout, tho muscular, the healthful 1 of earth come up before the throne of judg- 1 'ment to give answer. I said to an old Scotch 1 minister, who was one of the best friends I \ ever had, ''Doctor, did you ever know in Scotland the author of ' Tho Course of Timo,' Robert Pollock?" "Oh, yes." he said, "I know him well. I was his classmate." "Well," I said, "tell ma something about j him." " Well," he said, "it is a very short I storv. That book vou speak of, 1 The Course of Time,' exhausted him, and I bolieve he I died from the effects. The book was too mighty for his physical endurance. Indeed, I cannot see how any one who ever had such a glimpse of the groat day of account as Robert rollock had could live a great while after. It was so mighty a spectacle he saw, and there are about eight or toil lines of it that impress me rnoro than all: "Begin the woe, ye woofs, And tell it to the doleful winds; And doleful winds wail to the howling hills, And howling hills mourn to the dismal vales, A.nd dismal vales sigh to the sorrowing brookB, And sorrowing brooks weep to the weeping stream, An I weeping stream awake the groaning deep, Ye Heavens, great archway of the universe, Put sackcloth on, and ocean robe thyself in garb of widowhood, And gather all Ihy wares into a groan And utter it long, loud, deep, piercing, dolorous, immense. The occasion asks it. Nature dies And angels come to lay her in the grave." What Robert Pollock saw in poetic vision, vou and I will see in reality. Tne judgment! Vhe judgment! TIMELY TOPICS. Vegetarianism is spreading very rapidly in London. Ten years ago i'. was difficult to find an avowed veget trian, but now more than 2,000 persona refresh themselves daily at vegetarian restaurants. Another fiction exploded. The Chinese do not eat dogs, cats and rats as regular diet, but only in rare instances. They live mainly on garden vegetables, rice, poultry and fish, and are tond of shark's tins and edible birds' nests. Captain Renard's military balloon has been puccessfully operated in Paris lately ou calm days. When there is little wind blowing, it can be moved about in any direction at the will of the pilot, but become unmanageable in a heavy breeze. Still it is a great achievment to succeed as far as the inventor has done, and it will surely not be a long time before an air-ship will be constructed capable of defying the storm. It is only a score of years since the " * * J.L - canning ot salmon was uegun on me Pacific coast. Everybody was afraid of it, and the proprietor of the first cannery, William Hume, of Oakland, Cal., used to take a basket of cans on his arm and ?0 among the families of his acquaintances explaining the method of its preparation, and inviting a trial. Now canncd salmon can be found in every market, and Mr. Hume is a rich man. From Greenland comes the story that little hamlets occupied by the descendants of the Norsemen whb emigrated thither hundreds of years ago are in existence, and that they contain a happy and contented population, uninfluenced by the events passing in the outside world, and unruffled by politics or baseball. Centuries ago the coast of Greenland was the Danish fishing ground, and . the country, which then Doastca a lesi 1 rigorous climate than that with which is credited now, was not acemou unm i for settlement. It is something to know J that other than Esquimaux humanity is vegetating there. Pittsburg scientists are beginning to discuss the possibility of solidifying natural gas into bricks for convenient trans portation,in view of the recent discoveries that most if not all gases can bo liquefied. While they are about it, sayi the St Louis liepuMbcan, it would be well for the scicntisis to find a way of solidi- . fying artificial coal gas as well as natural, J as the former Is the gas which most of j ' the world's gas consumers are compelled i ; to use. Bricks of solidified srns of a \ ' known volume and weight would be sure ! of a market, as thoy would put nn end i 1 to the uncertainty of gas meters and the ( perilous iudoliniteness of quaKerlv gas i bills. " i 1 j ] I ( j I The London Cily Prcm publishes some i interesting facts and figures of London, j < In the metropolis there arc 101 hospitals, | i in which one and a quarter millions ol ; 1 people arc relieved, end which dispense , i outdoor relief to four riiilllons annually. ! I Twenty-five per 1,000 of the population | i arc paupers, aud are relioved at a cost of j 1 over two and a half millions sterling. It j also seems that there are many more , 1 lunatic women than men. Cabs have j increased during the last ten years from i 10,000 to over It),000; 14,478 children ? were lost in London last year. Greater ^ London contains an area of 449, I acres. 1 The population is given as 5,1.99,100, of 3 whom 00,252 are foreigners, 40,554 ' t Scotch, 80,778 Irish, 3,21(5 blind and j - "? 1 J .1. T? <t Alt J At. ! l 1,1)73 acai aim uumu. ju io:vi mere , i were 11,7Oo licensed public and bee?j r houses, and 15,519 males and 9,018 fe- j c males were charged with drunkenness. I In the same year there were 265 persona ! t killed and 3,592 maimed by street accidents, and 334 suicides. There woiv e 20, G(>7 articles lost in public conveyances, ( of which 11,248 were restored. There ' c are 407 newspapers published in London, j g t GOMJMLS: A.nd Why Fifty Thousand Bachelors Are Afraid to Marry the Lovely Lassies. Hie Men Say the Girls are Elegant to> Call Upon and (jo Out With, but so Expensive. [Special New York Utter:] "Hello, Choliy, how arc you? Lost j pour heart, evidently, this season. Who's the fair one? Might as well confess/' "Y?s, lost it again, Spirto, and this time for keeps, and my head and peace >f mind as well. "What's the row? Can't you get the lady's heart in return?" "I've got it, and there's where the ! trouble comes in. If I hadn't got it, j ind knew I couldn't get consent, it wouldn't be so bad. You see I can't 1 possibly marry, couldn't think of it for j i minute on my income, and there's no 1 prospect of an increase that I can see, so I'm in a lix." * j ^wliof'a vaiiv "Well, about $2,-">00 per annum, at present'." "Marry the girl." "What! Do you really mean to advise i man to marry on such an income! Why, ! it wouldn't more than pay rent for the . apartments mv girl would want to live ! in. Do you know what it cosis to get . married and live in New York in any 3ort of shape, and with any sort of a stylish girl. It can't be done on less than $5,000 a year, and if youhavn't got that much at least, the old man wouldn't think of it, even if the girl would, which is very doubtful. JNo siree, no marry for me on $2,500 per year, not if I ktow "no marhv fou it. Now if von really want to know something abouL the geography of mar-j ried life in New York just look around j among your friends and see how few of the boys get married, and the number 2- J ? ~ ? "An H AA T f x?] I tfAlt JO UUUJfU:iuvcij juuif WW. k ivii it is a dangerous thing to marry nowa- j days in this city, and the boys know it j by heart. There's at least fifty thousand \ of them that havn't married and never expect to, in this city alone, and 1 am one of the unhappy hand. So long, 1 there's Miss Carrie 1?., and I want to see j her. See you later." And as Miss Carrie R., connected with ! some of the best revolutionary blood of : Gothan, bowed sweetly, he joined her and they walked up Broadway. Miss Carrie was certainly a stylish and hand<&Hp Jft\ MISS CARRIE 11. some voung lady, and as they walked away 1 couldn't help thinking of the graceful swing she gave her body, and the neat fitting dress which she managed with so much rinesse that it seemed born a part of her. "What did her get-up cost? How much did her guardian angel, otherwise her well-to-do uncle, lay out for that swing of her dress? Evidently it was gained j only through a long series of seasons at different watering places, and highrvrinnrl nnaa aa lfrtn itrm'f firul iliaf flint MUVVU UU J vtl *IVU V III4V* J w VI?MV | peculiar undulation at any second rate , hotels, aud it cannot be learned in a J Bingle season. Tint swing a'onc is evi- ' dence of an expenditure of at least $5,- ; 000 at high priced watering places. Iler j hat mu6t have cost something like j twenty-five dollars, at a low estimate, ! and six in a season is none too many. Kid gloves run about four pair a month, j Dresses, well, heaven and the wearer ' only knows what I hey cost, to >av noth- j ing of the numerous unmentionables not visible to the outward gaze but neverthe less there, and probably costly, provided one could judge the inside from the out. j And so a young man with an income of >2,000 per year couldn't think of marry- j ing a lady brought up in this way, and 3he wouldn't think of marrying him. Can it be poss'ble tint there are 50,D00 bachelors in .Now York city?bachilors of marriageable age who expect to remain so through life. It is undoubt- i 3dly so, and tins, too, in spite of the ' Fact that our streets are fairly crowded j md jammed every Saturday afternoon, specially Broadway and Fifth avenue, svith throngs of the most stylish, good ooking, and generally admitted, heirt jreakers in the land. What is the mat:er with the boys? Why is it that there s apartment building after apartment j building tittf \ up exclusively for men, | vacl no ladie- admitted, while all promi- ' lent Hat buiiiiing? in the city have their j mits of rooms known as "bachelor : ipartments," and well lil ed with jolly .Ingle gentlemen of marriageable ago t ivho haven't any idea of marrying in this i ife? men who enjoy life for all there is : _ !? . LI 1L"?"gcuui ui 1 j HIUII i\./ jLio.ru inauu i heip pile, and have enough to marry on i f they so desired?men who belong to i Union League and other clubs, and 1 nen who have become wedded to a life ] )f celibacy through what? 1 < "Sam, why is it that you have never ' 1 narried?" j] Sam Thaxman, a jolly bachelor of j 1 ;ome forty well spent winters, a member i >f the Lotus club, and who is abun- ; lantly able now to marry, having grown ] jrey in the service of the ladies of his ] icquaintauce, had stopped in front of i me on the corner of Twenty-third street and Broadway, in front of the Fifth Avenue hotel, the general loafing place of the swell dandies who wish to ogle the ladies as they pass, for here Broadway crosses Fifth avenue, and if a man will only linger there long enough he will meet all the friends he has in the city, since all who are able to walk pass this spot at least once a week. "That's a funny question and demands a serious answer. I never found a girl whose nose just suited me." "Pshaw. What is the reason, seriously speaking?" tMir.il 1.. l "rven, senousiy ^penning, iuu sumc thing that keeps the boys generally from marrving ? a wholesome fear of the hereafter.'" "Explain yourself." "Stand here with me a minute, watch the ladies that pass by, and listen to what I have to say to some of them whom I know. You know I am a privileged character, and they won't take offense if I ask questions. You see that lady coming across the avenue. I mean that elderly maiden lady, with the enormous hat and military looking suit. She belongs to the past tense, as the boys say, and will never sec the sunny side of forty again. She's as prim as they make 'em, and as proud as Lucifer before he fell like the snowllake. Here she is, and I'm going to astonish her. "Kung Jure, Madam Juveo. May I ask you a question on an important matter for the benelit of my friend?" "Bon Jour, Mec9tair Thaxman. Cerlainlee, certainlee.,, "Madam Juvee, what would you require in a husband?" "aion dieu! meestaire thaxman." "Mon Dieu, Mistaire Thaxman. Tell youwh frien' zat I wouldna' marree r.c bes'man zat lecvesin /.& worrl." And with a sarcastic glance at me she passed by like an insulted tornado. "Whew, good heavens, she thought you wanted 10 marry her and refused. Ila, ha, ha, ha," and he laughed until I could Lave forsworn his friendship forever. . "Well, the next one you tackle, just leave me out, il you please, and perhaps ynu will get more information and have less sport at my expense." 'Til do it, and here comes the very lady we want to see. She's as winning and pretty as can be found in tlotham, spent last summer in the Adirondacks, and will break your heart iu three evenings, if she wants to. What she will have to say about wedded bliss will be entertaining." "Why, Mr. Thaxman, how do you do? X haven't seen you fol* an age. I thought you promised to comc up in the moun* i r 1... n Oil lams uci on; ivi luiis "So I did, Miss Catlin, but the fact is that I am no longer a free man, and haven't been since spring. I'm engaged." "Engaged, Mr. Thaxman! Why didn't you give mc a chance? Who is it? I'm dying to know who's going to get married. JIavn't had an invitation to a wedding this summer." "wno is it? i'm dying to know." "Why don't you get up one on your own account, Miss Catiin? Can't you liiul the right one?!' "Oh, my, yes. I found a dozen of the right ones this summer, but I couldn't niarry all of them you know, aud so here I am, still in tne market, and autumn is here, too. "Well, I skjppose I'll have to wait till your tiancee quarrels with you and then fall back on you after all," with a roguish twinkle in her eyes. "What kind of a man do you want, Miss Catiin, anyhow, ;ind what do you expect to marry him for, if I may ask?" "For love, Mr. Thaxman, pure, unadulterated love, and I want a man that I can really love,and waste my affection on. A real, live mnu, too. None of your Jim dandies that loaf about street corners, carry silver headed canes, and look like golden calves or bra/en images." '<? \mii fimllir umnlrl mfirrv fnr lnvr* alone?" ''Yos. Every time." "Hiit, suppose the gentleman wag poor." ".My dear Mr. Thaxman, I'm certainly fjoing to marry for love if I ever marry at all, but,?well ?to be candid with you I don't think I could iove a poor man. Come up to-morrow oveuing and tell mo all about your engagement, won't you; and now farewell till I sec you again," and with the sweetest of smiles she tripped gaily away up the avenue. "She's right. She's no business to marry a poor man. She'd break her! heart in a year il she couldn't have what ' *he wanted, and that's the trouble with the most of them," said Sam. "Her j father is a broker who once had consid- ; erable money, but I guess the most of It is spent, or soon will be, for he's a risky speculator, and has made some bad ( breaks in the market lately. However, : here comes a young lady of a different | ?tftmn. I'll explain before she arrives i that this girl is an organist, or rather tias been an organist, and is now a music teacher. If she got away for two weeks this summer, and took it out at Ashbury Park, it is probably all the vacation sho tiad. Just for curiosity I myself would like to know what her idea3 of matrimony are." 9 mammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmamammmmmmmmammmm j "Good morning, Miss Linton. I haven't seen you all summer. Whew have you been putting in the fcime^ may I inquire?" "Mr. Thaxman, good morning. Read glad to see you. As to putting in time this summer, why I've had an elegant time at Saratoga, Newport, and ia August we went to Cape May?but?my name isn't Miss Linton. I've changed it, you see." "Married, Miss Liuton, or Mrs.? "Yes, Mi*. Thaxman, married, and Mr. and Mrs. Devlin will bo pleased to see you at the Windsor Hotel any tirr.e you %??.. ? ?i?Snli 4- yv /tn 1 I V/\il nn a n f\ct A miiv vviau lu uuu. jluu bcc( uguigu, that's Mr. D., is building a new house on the Avenue, and it is so very elegant that it will take several months to complete it. We're going to furnish it from * Paris direct, and quite up to the latest , designs." 'Allow me to congratulate you, Mrs. < Dovlin, on your marriage; but it surely . cannot be George Devlin, the retired merchant, that is your husband." * "It just is, though, and we would like to see you very much. Call when you can, Mr. Thaxman, and good-bye," and 1 the visitor vanished up Broadway. ] "Well, well, well. So poor old Devlin, who retired so long ago that the street has forgotten him completely, has , i married this young lady of twenty-five j or six. Why, he must be at least seventy-five or eighty, and I haven't heard of j him before in five years. Got lots of j money, though. Do you wonder that l | am single after this, and don't marry? I I've seen this thing of money, position, blood, ancestry, and "pure, unadulterated love'' for twenty years, and it is getting worse every year. I tell you the reason I never married and never will marry can bo summed up in a few words: I never found a girl with a nose just to suit me. Good morning," and he passed away, striking the ground viciously with his rattan cane as he walked. Pondering deeply on what had passed, I walked slowly home and met Kitty "Wayland just entering the door. Kitty is a niece of the lady of the house, and a great favorite with the boarders. She was just returning from a trip to the country. Fresh air would give her fresh ideas, perhaps, and beside she wasn't oyer sixteen. "Kitty, what is your idea of marked life? Give a serious answer, for I'm puzzled." K1TIY WAYLAND. "Good gracious, you aren't going to propose I hope." "No, Kitty, no to-day. But what do you know about proposal sanyway?" "Well, I just know this much, that the man who proposes to me and exj pccts to get mc will have to have a i ^ annannf f ah t' m r?ai n r* jHULlJr SUllU UilUiV. ill/luuui/, 1U1 j. ui ^uiujj ! to live in one of the handsomest Hats in this city whea I marry, and keep up with the best of them." "Wouldn't you marry a poor man if you loved-him, Kitty, and be satisfied with a small apartment over in Jersey City?" "I wouldn't marry the best man living if he hadn't money. You don't think I'm going to marry and be a maid of all work, do you, just to please some man." "Kitty, are those your irrevocable sentiments:" "They certainly are, so if you've got any poor young man picked out for me, bring him arouud and I'll give him the grancl b^uuee to night before it goes any farther. I believe in nipping these things in the bud. Ta, ta, and don't forget to bring him around soon," and she skipped upstairs. The problem of mating the bachelors and the maidens still remains unsolved. SpirtoGentil. English New Year Superstitions. At Christmas parties in the country the young men have the privilege of Kissing auy 01 tne opposite sex mey can get hold of- When Sir Roger DcCoverly is danced tlie chief guests are expected to dance with the cook and butler. Ail pcacock feathers must bo thrown out before New Year's day, or else you will have ill luck. On New Year's eve you j must take pieces of money, bread, wood j and coal, and a little salt, tie them up j in a bundle, and lay on the doorstep ! after 13 o'clock. Some one will then I come, and you mu9t ask his name. If j he says "John Smith," he must not be ' I admitted, because the initial letters of j his name are curved; but if he say "Ed- 1 ' ward Thompson," admit him at once, as < i his initial letters are made up of sts;iight ] lines; but he must bring the bundle in with him that was laid on the step. lie i ; must then wish you a happy New Year, < and. after receiving a gift, pass out j by the back door. Then, behold, ] good luck is yours for another < | year. On both Christmas and New . j Year's eves, when the clock begins j ' to strike twelve, the doors?especially 1 the front aud back?are opened, that the . ! bad spirits may pass out and the good ! ones pass in, and immediately the clock 5 has struck twelve the doors are shut, as ( i it is said, "to keep the good spirits in." 1 I 'PI.a >>afn/>n nnfnr 1 V*/* linnoft nn a 1 i 1 UU 111 21. OUU IU UUI.V.I UVUJU WA* V i New d ear's morning must be a man. i Many Holderncss folks tell some little ! chap to be ready to come in so soon as j the old year is dead, and so secure good ; luck to the household. When the master j enters his house for the first time in the I Dew year he must take something in I wliich he did not take out. A Hull ! friend told me he always emptied his ; pockets before he left home on New j Year's morning and put in some money ' and bread, which he procured at his mother's^ aud so reached his home armed with the necessaries of life. Some people place a sixpence 011 the doorstep on New Year's eve, and so soon as the f clock strikes it is brought in. N. B.? 1 hi.:, t J i ,n? r 1 iJl>t 1 IloUU iiaiuiY oaj} 10 uuuu m iuc * country! You must never go out on i New Year's day until someone has come iu is the rule in some pirts.?Notes and Queries. j Love and Gravitation. { "'Tis love that makes the world go round." I Glad of the explanation. "We always thought that wo had found The causa in gravitation. The terms are still synonymous . And they are right who say i Love turns the heads of all of us Who gravitate that way. r ?jittsburg Dispatch. s THE WINTRY WIND. I come from haunts of mount and lake, I make a sullen sally, * And send the small boy's milkpail gay A sailing up the alley. I paint the maiden's qose with red, And send the leaves a scooting, ^ And make the fat man chase his hat, With bowling and witn nooting. From off the line the clothes I blow, And eTen the line I sever, For dust may come and dust may go. But I go on forever. ?Cleveland Graphic. Coming. ;o I am watching quietly Every day! [Vhenever the sun shines brightly I rise and say, surely it u the shining of His face! And look unto the gates of bis high place Bejoiul the sea; For I know lie is coming shortly To summon mo. And wlipn ? ahnrinw lnlla across the window Of my room, Where I am working my appointed task, [ lilt my head to watch the door?and ask ^ If He ij come; A.nd as an angel answers swcolly In my homo, "Only a few more shadows And ho will come!" RELIGIOUS READING. -fl Woric Out Your Salvation. * jj Work out your own salvation, with fear and trembling. This injunction does not mean what, to a great many minds, it seems to mean. In some parts of the country, a tax for the keeping of the roads in repair can be paid in cash, or it can be "worked out;"?that is, it can be paid by per- ~|jj sonal labor. So, land owners often ' "work out" their highway tax. It is not that kind of working out that this text refers to. No man can secure his salvation by work, even with fear and trembling, and in prayers and tears. Again, there is a custom of J working out a farm rent on shares. The farmer does all thp work, and takes half the result, the other half going to the farm owner. It is not that kind of working out one's salvation that is here meant. Salvation is not secured from God on shares. It is > ; ?.U A1U. ^ mi /\P Art/1 nn/1 all fha WllUlijr UaO ^lib ui uuuj uuu uuv ' work in the world coulcl never merit nor obtafn any portion of it. But he who has salvation, he who is saved by grace through faith (and this letter of Paul is to persons in that state), has a duty to work out in the line of his salvation; to keep right at the work which is along the course, and in the direction of the end, of God's plan of grace. It might, perhaps, give light to this extent to change the figure from the farmer to the soldier, and read it, Fight out?or fight on?your enlistment with fear and trembling. Now that you have enlisted, and are accepted as a soldier, keep right at the soldier business, and do it with such zealous earnestness' that you will be all of a tremble in your anxious desire to do it just as it should be done. There is no danger of any over-reliance on one's personal activity in such working, or such fighting, as this, in the line of one's redemption from sin and its curse, here in this world of probation and trial.?Sel Mr. Lowell on Chrlctlaiilty* One of the most serious and notable of the admirable after-dinner speeches that made Mr. Lowell so famous in -,o M England has only lately been published. It was called out by some allusions to the Christian religion made in the tone of genteel skepticism quite common among the literary men of England Mr. Lowell took occasion to remind * y. those enemies of the religion which is at the very heart of all there is good in civilization, that "whatever defects or imperfections may attach to a few points of the doctrinal system of Cal- * vin?the bulk of which was simply what all Christians believe?it will be found that Calvinism, or any other ism which claims an open Bible and proclaims a crucified and risen Christ, . is infinitely preferable to any form polite and polished scepticism, which gathers as its votaries the degenerate sons of heroic ancestors, who, having been trained in a society and educated in schools the foundations of which w0.re laid by men of faith and pietj^ now tum and kick down the luddet' bjr which they have climbed up, and pet-* suade men to liye without God and die without hope." "The worst kind of religion," continued Mr. Lowell, "is no religion at all; and these men, living in ease and luxury, indulging themselves in tho amusement of going without religion, may be thankful that they live in lands where the gospel they neglect has tamed the beastliness or ferocity of the men who, but for Christianity, might long ago have eaten their carcasses like tho South Sea Islanders, or cut off their heads and tanned their hides, like the monsters of the French Revolution. When the microscopic search of skepticism, which had hunted the heavens and sounded the seas to disprove the existence of a Creator, has turned its attention to human sojiety, and have found a place on this planet ten miles square where a decent nan can live in decency, comfort and security, supporting and educating lis children unspoiled and unpolluted; i place where age is reverenced, infancy protected, manhood respected, tvomnnhood honored, and human life leld in due regard ; when skeptics ;an find such a place ten miles square )n this globe, where the gospel of Christ has not gone and cleared the ivay and laid the foundations, and nade decency and security possible, t wili then be in order for the skepti:al literati to move thither and there f%ililllrttu llio VIOYVO. JJllh OU lUUg A3 hese very men are dependent upon he religion which they discard for evirv privilege they enjoy, they may well lesitate a little before they seek to rob he Christion of his hope and humaniy of its faith in that Savior who ilone has given to man that hope of ife eternal which makes life tolerable ind society possible, and robs death of ts'terror and the grave of its gloom." Faith find IIopo Vrc llio bright pi Urn's ol llie Golden Gate, Vinl on the threshold of the Kingdom wait, jilt Charity, the road, winds onward through nto tiie hand whero God makes all things new. ?A. E. Hamilton. There are no fewer than sixty-four rolumes of the German Bible for the )lind. It costs $25. The letters are 1 haut-relief and the paper very hick,