University of South Carolina Libraries
FACTS FOR THE CURIOUS. According to a vulgar error prevalent in days gone by, poison was supposed to swell the body. Recent discoveries prove that the art of wood engraving originated with the Arabs about the ninth century. Rosemary was one of the evergree.ns with which dishes were anciently decorated during the season of Christmas. A lady who received through the postoffice a postal card containing 1,0:50 words, written by a gentleman, replied on a card containing' 1,0-10. In Santa Clara couuty, Cal., there is a cat, allied to the ground nesc masing i species, which climbs small trees and j makes a compact nest of twigs among the branches, something after the manner of a gray squirrel. Dr. Antonin Martin says that the flavor of cod-liver oil may be changed to the delightful one of fresh oysters, if the patient will drink a large glass of "water poured from a vessel in which nails have been allowed to rust. The artists of Dresden and Dusseldorf dissatisfied with the inelegant costume for men in our times, have decided to adopt the picturesque garments worn by Eubens and the artists of the seventeenth century?black velvet breeches, marine blue stockings, velvet ve3t trimmed with red silk and broad felt hat. In the time of Henry I, (10T0 A. D.) i the widow was entitled to her dowry (when delivered to her before witnesses) and her "marriage gift" and one thiid of the common earnings of herself and husband, as well as her clothing and furniture. If a wife died without children her relatives divided her share with her husband. TIip Pjilmn. Christo Dlant. now being extensively planted in parts of South | Carolina as a substitute for cotton, is as | easily cultivated as corn, requires no j particular care in handling the seed, and j yields a large profit. The climate of ! lower South Caro'ma is all that could be j desired, and on the sea islands the plant | attains remarkable growth without labor or attention. The common potato is indigenous to both -North and South America, and is found growing wild at the present day over vast tracts in New Mexico, j Arizona, and southward in the cool ele* | vated regions of Old Mexico. It again appears in similar situations in the Andes of South America, but is not found in what are called tropical climates, but always in cool or cold ones. Who first carried the potato from this country to Europe is now unknown, but the date of its introduction is supposed to be ! 1580, or about three hundred years ago. Formerly cockfighting entered into the occupation of o'd and young. Schools had their cockfights. Travelers agreed with coachmen, that they were ^~ ~ * ^ *?? A nn o IU Willi a UI^Lll 11 IUCIU tlCIC it I.Vklkll^u? I in any town through which they passed. I When English country gentlemen had j sat long at table, and the conversation 1 had turned upon the relative merits of ! their several birds, a cockfight often re- j suited, as the birds in question were I brought for the purpose into the diningroom. Co:kfighting wa? practiced on Shrove Tuesday to a great extent, and in the time of Henry VII. of England, seems to hive been practiced within the precincts of the court. The earliest mention of this ''passtime" in England is by Fitzstephen, in 1191. Clean Hands. According to the fearful experiments Of Dr. Forster, of the Italian Medical Gazette, there is no such thing as the possibility of clean hands on anybody. Washed with soap *nd water, with carbolic acid, with all and any of the disinfectants in common use, our hands will still remain scientifically unclean, that is to say, that a preparation called sterilized gelatine, absolutely destitute of living organisms, on being touched by the finders thus washed aud supposed to be clean, immediately develops livinz organisms acquired from the fingers. But if the hands are washed in a dilute solution of bichloride of mercury, or corrosive sublimate, one part to one thousand parts of. water, perfect cleanliness is attaiued, and no living organisms will be developed by the touch of the fingers. It is pitiful to think that we are really bo palpably inude of the dust of the -earth; but it seems that we must endure it, since corrosive sublimate can hardly be made the adjunct of our daily toilettes, and if it were, then the next time we shook hands, or t?g>k up a book, or Went into the street, we should but develop a fresh crop of micro organisms. The fact is that these discoveries of science show us, if they do nothing else, how fearfully and wonderfully we are made, and, and if we regarded them seriously, there is nothing we could eat and nothing we could do which would not make death seem to hang imminent in the air. There is one refuge for the unscientific, and that is in whistling the whole matter down the wind, keeping clean to the best of belief, and thus taking care of one's self, letting the micro organisms take care of themselves. ' ?Harper's Bazar. A Missionary Story. One evening when Dr. Moffat was stopping at the farm of an African boer, his host, hearing that he was a missionary, proposed that a service should be held. At length the family were seated. ' But where are the servants?" asked Mouat. "Servants! What do you mean?" "I mean the Hottentots, of whom I see so mauv on your farm." "Httentots! Do you mean that, then? i Let me go to the mountains and call the j baboons, if you want a congregation of ! that sort. Or. stop, I have it; mv sons, call the dogs that lie in front of the door ?they will do." The missionary quietly dropped an at- ; tempt which threatened a wrathful end- i ing, and commenced the service. The psalm was sung, prayer was offered, and the preacher read the story of the Syrophenician woman, and se ected more es- ; pecia ly the words, "Truth, Lord, but even the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the master's table." He had not J spoken many minutes when the voice of the old man was again heard: "Will mynheer sit down and wait a little? lie _v~n i?? t,.f? >> ttliiiu uavc iiiu iiuucuiuio. The summons was given; and the motley crowd trooped in, many who proba- j blv had never been within the door of their master's house before, and many more who never befDre had heard the voice of a preacher. When the service was over, and the j astonished Hottentots had dispersed, tl^e farmer turned to his guest and said, "My friend, you took a hard hammer, and you have broken a hard head."?Lives of B/jbert and M?r>j Moifttt, \ t There are 23,000,000 acres of unsuri vcyed land in Washington Territory, of which it is estimated that 16,000,000 are V excellent agricultural lands. The Territory now has a population of 140,000. ; I JffiLL STBEETH4GNATES I j Glewirgs from Gotham',-3 Mosey Mar:?Anecdotes of iln Lata William H. Vanderbilt. I ' Jay Gould's Retirement from * Wall Street?Some of His Successors. [Special New York Litter.] Many and varied arc the stories told of how old Commodore Vanderbilt gave his oldest son "William up as the "Ne'er do well" of the family, and how he finally took him up and left him the most of his fortune. WILLIAM IT. VAXDERBILT. One of the stor;c3 is that the Commodore endeavored to 4,use" William ou j one occasion, as was his custom with all who dealt with him at times, by giving him pointers on stock and then taking the exactly opposite course advised his ' son. The son discovered that his father 1 was pursuing a different course from that advised him, and so whipped 1 around and followed the commodore in his actions rather than in his advice, I without, however, the knowledge of his fa her. Consequently when the commodore called him up a few days later, and asked him how much he had lost by ! following nis advice, inasmuch as the market had gone directly opposite, j uriii: it M iU.'illll 11. SltUCU LlltlU 11G Mao OwtUiUi thousand dol'ars ahead in the transaction, and when asked for an ex planation, stated that he had found out the coursc of the commodore on the market l?y private means, and thought that course ; good enough for him to follow, and \ whi'e every one else had lost money by the pointers he had come out ahead. This j increased the commodore's respect for ; him wonderfully, and he laughed heartily over it, never trying to use his son ; William again. i Another story is to'd'of how when the commodore went to St. Petersburg, Kus- 1 Bia, on the steam yacht North Star, he was accompanied by his son William, who was constantly smoking. The commodore didn't like it, and abruptly went up to him with the remark, "I wish you j would give up that smoking of yours: I'll give you SI0,000 if you'll do it." The son quietly threw the cigar overboard, remark'ng. "You need not give me any money; your wish is quite sufficient, father,*' and the habit was given up. | William H. "\atiderbilt started as ai clerk in the office of Daniel Drew and at a salary of $150 a year, at the ago of 18 years. This was considered a sutliciently good start for him by his exacting father, at that time, aud he made him no extra allowance. Even when he married a poor girl, a few years later, he had to depend upon his salary alone for support, and that was $1,000 per annum. This early neglect was perhaps a good thing for the son, who died with r.n income of $10,000,000 a year,in a resideuce that cost nearly $3,000,000. It cost him $200,000 a year for family expenses alone. Even his stables would be considered palaces by most, people. It is aston'shing how soon the great names of even the greatest are forgotten In this city, or remembered only by their friends, and Vandcrbili's will be no exception to this rule. Already Wall street looks forward for his successor, and the bears waut to squeeze him and the bulls intend to gore him as soon as possible? the sooner the better most of them think ?and his sons will have to be remarkably sharp if they escape. One of them j is reported to have lost ten millions, and I another three miliio ;s in Wall street ' within the last two years, aud the street | stands ready to down the others, and only waits a good chance to scatter the f vast wealth which has already passed through two#generations. Mr. Chauncey M. Depew was the most ~e aa'.v, tj i IIUMUU ilUlUUliUUb U1 IT 111. XI, * iWlUCl' I bilt, and it was he wlio engineered through to a successful termination j (II Vl Xr'EV M. PKI'EW the purchase of the West Shore railroad. It is claimed that the fierce fight which has been raging between the Central and the West Shore for so many months, wore very materially upou Vanderbilt, that the tension was too much for him, ', and that only after the final settlement : of all the affairs did its weakening inilu- ;; ences become apparent in the breaking ; of the blood vessel in his brain which caused his death, known generally as apoplexy. Mr. Dopew's position as , president of the New York Central and ; the trusted friend of Vanderbilt brings j nun into special prominence at this time. . and his policy now that his chief is dead ! will be looked at critically. As the lease j of the West Shore to the Central runs ij for 475 years, or until the year A. D. I ] 23G0, Mr. Depew's troubles from j < that road arc at an end for ] some time to come, and at the end of that time the majority of the present 1 public and Mr. Depew will together take 1 but little interest in the renewal of the lease, and won't care whether the rate < to Buffalo is one or ten cents per mile, ; but his policy meantime will be of much ' interest. ? Neither Mr. William II. Vanderbilt or 1 any of his sons were members of the 1 | Stock exchange, and it is said that the 1 commission? paid to brokers by them when j they were all trading was over a million dollars per annum. This would have, of course, enriched any broker in a short time if fine firm had done the business alone, but it was so scattered among different brokers that none of them , made auy great fortune out of it. Jay Gould hus also never been a member of the Stock exchange, and his deals are estimated to have been worth a half million a year to broker.-! as commissions. The men of Wall street seem generally to I elieve that the withdrawal of Jay Gould from active operation in the street is not one of the usual canards, but RUSSELL SAGE. an actual fact. The number of men who annually drop out of Wall street and into obscurity is not enumerated, and not cared for by the general public, but the withdrawal of .lay Gould of course occasions more or less comment, and also leaves one prominent landmark 1 ir* flitn V* t of A?-i o ofronf OuO nf tllA iCOS XII IIXIO lilSLUIIVy OblUVU. VUW V 4 Wwv most prominent left is Russell Sage, always a staunch follower of Gould in rain or shine, and who was not overjoyed at the prospect of Gould's withdrawal, since Gould's name alone has helped Sage time and again by its close apparent connection with his interests. Russell Sage has been known for years as the "put" and "call" king of the street, and his movements in this line have been watched and followed by scores of smaller speculators simply because he was supposed to have a lirm grip upon Jay Gould's inner consciousness, and from the fact that his oilice was next to that of the great financier. When Gould suffered, Saire generally felt one or two momentary pangs,and when, as was gene;ally the case, Gould reaped a harvest, Sage came in for his share of the spoils. All this will be changed if Gould takes his personality out of the street, and goes atound the world in his handsome yacht, and nobody knows it better than Mr. Russell Sage. Mi-. Sage is supposed to have lost more money dnriug the few weeks following the Grant & Ward faillire flmn he ever lost before in anv vear of iiis connection ou the street, but, like Mr. Gould, he has made up for it since. Another prominent operator who will loom into greater proportions, if the luck of the past keeps up in the future, is Deacon S. V. White. Never since the days of Daniel Drew has there been such a fortunate religious speculator on the street, that is, whose title indicated his religious inclination. DEACON S. V. "WHITE. Deacon "White is supposed to have been a special protege of the late Horace B.Claflin, ons of whose sons made apart of the firm of S. V. White <fc Co. The Deacon doesn't trust to general luck and chances as so many do on a number of stocks, but selects out some special line, quietly goes to work upon it, puts his money and energy in that alone, and the first thing the boys know the Deacon has caught them napping, and gives them a fearful squeeze on the stock that he knows all about, and they go in on as they do on most of them, rather blindly. This policy has made the Deacon a terror to the street, &nd has likewise netted him a large fortune since his advent, until now he is looked upon a3 one of the leaders in the street. He is estiraaced to have made a million in cne little deal in Delaware and Lackawanna alrne. A friend of mine poinled out to mc a I few nights ago a man who had just borrowed a dollar from him that day, and remarked that it hadn't been very long since this same man could have given his check for a million, and it would have been accepted by any member of the Produce exchange. Now he hasn't money enough to p:iy his ferriage over to Jersey City to see his family, who were livb.g with relatives, or at least that had been hi3 case t hat day. This same man had lent Charles WoerMiolTcr it is said $2,500 years a<;o to assist him in purchasing his se it in the Stock exchange. Now 'WoerishoelTer is worth his m ilions, and this man who was then in affluence is now so hard up that he stated he had actually walked from the Battery to Central Park and back twice one night to keep himself from doing something desperate, and (in lily went to a police station for the night on his own application. As the distance fr^m the [KirK. IU IUU L>illLC*r^ JS uvi'l JlMIi ill 1 IIT.N, lay condition at that time can be appreciated. Such is the luck of the sticet. Sl'IKTO GKNTIL. The Finger Nails. A manicure said to a Pittsburg Dinpatch reporter: The white spots oil the nail, which we were told as chiHren indicated gifts, arc really a nail disease, resulting, I think, from slight diseises Hang-nails are where the nail adhere to the cuticle, and proves more than tinything else the use of the manicure's art. Hypertrophy often afflicts the naiis, causing an excessive growth and a dull, yellowish color, and often produces extreme pain from ingrowing nails and other irritation. This can be remedied I?y a skillful manicure, but cannot be cured. I Trne Prayer. "?but vain has been mj prayer? For rest, sweet rest." Not nil In vain, not all, For when my prayer did fnil To have quick onswor from my Lord, I I knew ho heard my cull, But it could not prevail, For prayer without true faith is dead; And so I prayed again, With cry lrom inmost heart. This time He heard aud answer gave, So that I cotdd attain My wish, the better part I That is to those who live their prayers! ? The Tianscrip\ KhLllilUUb KhADliNu. The week of l'rayer. The United States branch of the Evangelical Alliance has just issued an address on the Week of: Prayer, which commences Sunday, Jan. 3, 188G, with the programme in full for the several days of the week. It say3: Never was a time, perhaps, when God's people had more need, with prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, to spread forth their hands toward heaven. We affectionately and earnestly invite you, whether singly or collectively, to lift up your hearts and voices to God during the Week of Prayer appointed for the ensuing year. TOPICS FOR EXTIORTATION AND TKAYEK. Sunday, Jan. 3.?"Sermons." "Occupy till I come."?Luke 19:13. Monday, Jan. 4.? "Praise and Thanksgiving." lor the Spirit of Prayer vouchsafed us; for all the bounties of Providence; for God's long suffering goodness in that he has not taken away his lloly Spirit from us on account of our little faith and many provocations; for his faithful promises in Christ Jesus; for continuing and multiplying opportunities of proclaiming his gospel of grace; for i the progress of Christian missions | among Jews and Gentiles, and the free j *i,? r .^?,i uuuise given ti; una huiu ml viir, xjvlu, notwithstanding all the opposition of infidelity and abounding iuiquity.? Psa. 147. 2 Sam. 0:12-19. Psa. 116. 1 Chron. 29:10-15. Isaiah Gl. Acts 4:-18-33. Isaiah 54. Tuesday, Jan. 5.?"Humiliation and Concession." National sins; social sins; personal sins. Want of appreciation of the love of Christ; hardness of heart; unfaithfulness and slothfulness in service; false shame in confessing the name of Christ before ' men, and especially among our own class and lciudred. Want of zeal in j missionary work, both at home and abroad. Want of brotherly kindness and charity.?Isaiah 58. Psa. 51. llom. 2. 1 Cor. 3. Isaiah 47. Jer. 3:12-23. 1 Thess. 5. Wednesday, Jan. 6.?"Home and Foreign Missions." Pur the revival ; and increase of a missionary spirit in ! the hearts of all who believe ; for Hume Missions and Evangelistic efforts?that more laborers, lull of tiie spirit of loye and power, may be sent forth, and that a great ingathering of souis may take place; for Native Christians among the heathen?that they may be kept steadfast and zealous in seeking the salvation of their countrymen; for Missionaries and Teachers?that great grace and wisdom may be given to them; for God's ancient people, Israel?that they may be brought into the faith of Christ, and for the maintenance of religious liberty in all lands.?Ezek. 37. Acts 10:34-43. llom. 11: '22-36. Joel 2:21-32. Acts 20: 12-23. 1 Thess. 1. Micah 4. Zech. 4. Thursday, Jan. 7.?"The Church and the Family." That the Church of Christ may be more united in the bunds of faith and love; that, holding fust the Head, it may grow with the increase of God; that it may be delivered from false apostles and wolves in sheep's clothing; that Christ may be all and all in its teaching; and that the grace and power of the Holy Spirit may rest more and more on Christian families; on all instructors and pupils in institutions of learning, on Sunday-schools and on Christian Associations of young men and young women.?Ephes. 4:1-24. John 15:1-12. John 17: G-26. Col. 3:1-17. Prov. 23; 13-26. Gal. 5. Acts 20:29-38. Epistle Jude. Proverbs 4. Friday, Jan. 8.?"Nations and Governments." For rulers and a'l in authority; for the spread of justice and peace; for the defeat of malicious plots and conspiracies: for the manifestation of a Christian spirit between employers and employed; for the removal of all race and sectional prejuoices; for the abolition of truffle in slaves, opium and intoxicating drinks, and all other immoral trades and practices: for a favorable reception of Christian missionaries by heathen rulers and peoples: and for the coming of Christ in ilis Kingdom.?1 Tim. 1:1-6. Psa. 11. 2 Tim. 3. 2 Thess. 2. Psa. 72. llom. 13:1-8. Psa. 29. Matt. 24:29-51. Saturday, Jan. 9?"The Christian Life." For increase of Faith, Hope and Charity; for the deepening of our spiritual life in Christ and such conformity to Ilim as may fit us for being more used to our Saviour's glory; for more love to the Bible; for the better observance of the Lord's day and family worship; for the success of efforts to prevent or cure intemperance, to relieve the sick and to rescue the perishing; for benevolent institutions and Christian work of all kinds.?Eph. 1: 15-23. Matt. 6. 1 Cor. 13. Phil. 2: 1-16 and 4:1-13. Pom. 12. .lames 1. Sunday, Jan 10.?"Sermons." "Let your loins be girde;l about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord." ?Luke 12:35, 36. "When a poor little blind boy was asked what forgiveness is, he paused a moment, and then, taking his pen, wrote: "It is the odor which the i trampled flower gives out to bless tha foot which crushed it." ]\Ir. L. M. ilall, superintendent of the Women's Keformatory prison, at Slierbom, Mass., publishes tliat out of an examination of 204 inebriate women he has found that 128 began their drinking by the use of beer, thirty-seven by drinking whisky (as punch at first, usually), twenty began with wine, eight with gin and eleven could not remember what beverage was first used. Several hopeless drunkards, far gone toward insanity, had never drr.nk any other intoxicant than beer. ' / - ' - : . ; ' |g|2|gg^ f MMMMMMMDrUMMHaMMMa DS. TALMAGES SERION. Winter, and How to Meet It. Text:?"Pray ye that your flight b? not in the winter." St. Matthew, xxiv., aa The inhabitants of an ancient city were here told that tiiey must flee for their lives. Such flight would be painful even in the Hush of springtime, but superlatively aggravating in cold weather; and so the Lo:d Jesus gives the advice of the text: "Pray ye that your flight bo not in the winter.'' We have had a few shrill, sharp blasts already, forerunners of whole regiments of storms and tempests. No on 3 here needs to be told that we are in the op3ning gate? of the winter. This season is not only a test of one's physical endurance, but in our ereafc cities is u test of moral character. A vast number of j.eople have by one winter of dissipation bean destroyed, and forever. Seated in our homes on some stormy night, thp winds howling outside, we imagine the ship] in ; helplessly driveo on the coast; but any wmter night, if our ears were good enough, we could hear the crash of a thousand moral shipwrecks. There are many people who come to our city 0:1 the first of September who will be blasted by the first of March. At this season of the year temptations are especially rampant. Now that the long winter evenings iiavo come there are many who will employ them in high pursuits,in intelligent socialities, in Christian work, in the strengthening and ennobling of moral character, and this winter, to many of you. will be tho brightest- and the best in all of your lives, and in anticipation I congratulate you. But to others it may not have such effect, and I charge you, my beloved, look out where you spend your winter nights. In the first place, I have to remark that at this season of the year evil allurements are especially busy. There is not very much temptation for a man to plunge in on a hot night amid blazing gaslights, and to breathe the fetid air of an assemblage; but in the cold nights Satan gathers a great harvest. At sujh times the casinos are in full blast. At such times the grogshops in cne night make moro than in four or five nights in summer. At such timo3 the play bills of low places of entertainment seem especially attractive, and tho acting is espscially impressive, and the applause especially bew.tching. Many a man who has kept right all the rest of the year will be capsized now, and though last autumn he came l'rom the country and there was lustre in the eyes and there were roses on the cheek and elasticity in the step, by the time tho spring hour has come you will pass him in the street and say to your friend: "What's the matter with that man? how differently he looks from wha^ he looked in September." Slain of one winter's dissipation. At this time of the year there are many parties. If we rightly employ them, and they are of the right kind, tliey enlarge our societies, allow us to make important acquaintances, build us up in our morals and help us in a thousand ways. I can hardly think of anything better than a good neighborhood. But there are those e itertainments from which others will come besoiled in character. 'lhere are those who by the springtime will ba broken down in health, and though at the opening oE the season their prospects were bright, at the close of the season they will be in the hands of tliB doctors, or sleeping in the cometery. The certificate of death will be made out, and the physician, to save the feelings of the family, will call the disease by a Latin name. The doctor knows and everybody else knows they died of too many parties. Away with all these wine-drinking convivialities. How dare you, the father of a family, tompt the appetites of the young people? Perhaps at the entertainment, to save the feelings of the minister, or some other weak temperance man, you have the decanter in the sidoroom, and only a few people are invited there to partake, but it is easy enough to know when you come out, by the glare of your eye and the stench of your breath, that you have been serving the devil. Men sometime? excuse themselves and say after late suppers it is necessary to take some sort of stimulant to aid digestion. My pain opinion is that if you have no more self-control than to stuff yourself until your digestive organs refuse their office, you had better not call yourself a man, bat class yourself among the beasts that perish. At this season of the year the Young Men's Christian as ociations of the land send out circulars asking toe pastors to speak a word on this subject, and so 1 sound in your ear the words of the Lord God Almighty: "Woe unto him thatputteth thebottie to his neighbor's lips." Rejoice that you have come to the glad winter months that remind you of the times when in your childhood you wero shone on by the face of father, mother, brothers, sisters, some of them alas! no more to greet you with "Happy New Year," or a "Merry Christmas." But again and again havo we seen on New Year's day the sons of some of the best families drunk, and young men have excused cfaemsalvos by the fact that the wine cup has been offered by the ladies; and again and again it has been found but that a lady's hand has kindled the young man's thirst for- strong drink, and long a ter all the attractions of the holiday have passed that same woman crouchol in her rags and her desolation and her woe, under the uplilted hand of the drunken monster to whom she had passed the fascinating cup on New year's day. ir we wane to go to ruin let us go aloue, and not tako others with us. Can we not sacrifi e our feelings if need be? When the good ship London went down, the captain was told he might esca- o in oue of the lifeboat*. "No," he sai 1, "I'll go down with the Eassengers." All the world applauded his eroism. And can we not ?a?rifire our tastes and our appetites for the rescue of others? Surely, it is not a very great sacrifice. Oh, mix not with the innocent beverage of the holiday feast the adder, the poisons of adders. Mix not with the white sugar of the cup the snow of this awful leprosy. Mar not the clatter of the cutlery of a festal occasion with the clank of a madman's chain. .Pass down the street and look into the pawnbroker's window. Elegant watch, elegant furs, elegant flute, elegant shoes, elegant scarf, elegant books, elegant mementos. Tou sometimes see peopiewith pleased countenance looking into such a window. When I look into a pawnbroker's window it seems to me a? if I had looked into the window of hell I To whom did that watch belong? To a drunkard. To whom did those furs belong? To a drunkard's wife. To whom did those shoes belong? To a drunkard's child. I take the three brazen balls at tho doorway of a pawnbroker's shop and I clang them together, sounding tho knell of the drunkard's soul. A pawnbroker's shop is only one of the eddies in the great hnrrAiif. nf municinal drunkenness. ''Oh," says someone, ''I don't patronize such things; I have destroyed no young man by such influences; I only take ale and it will tako a very groat amount of ale to intoxicate." Yes, but I tell this assemblage there is not a drunkard in Brooklyn or New York that did not begin with ale. Three X's?I do not know what they mean. Three X's 011 the brewer's dray, tbrej X's 011 the door of the gin shop, three X's on the side of the bottle. Three X's. I asked a man. He could not tell me. I asked another man what is the manning of the three X's. He could not tell me. Then I made up my mind that the three X's were an allegory and that they meant thirty heartbreaks, thirty agonies, thirty broken up households, thirty prospects of a drunkard's grave, thirty ways to perdition. Three X's. If I were going to wriio a story, the first chapter 1 would call Three X's, and the last chapter 1 would call the Pawnbroker's Shop. Oh, beware of your influence. Lot not your flight to hull be in the winter. Tiio winter season is especially full of temptation because of the long evenings allowing I such full swing for evil indulgences. You can hardly expect a young man to go into his room and sit there from 7 to 11 o'clock in the evening, reading Motley's Dutch Republic 01 John Foster's Essays. It would be a very beautiful thing for him to do, but no will not do it. The most of young men are busy in factories, in banking bouses, in stores, in shops, and when evening conios they want fresh air, and they want si^ht-s?eing, j and they must have it, they will have it, and J they ought to lmve it. Most of the men here assembled will have throe or four evenings of leisure on tho winter nights. After tea the man puis on his hat anil coat, and he goes out. One form of allurement says: "Come in hithor." Another form of temptation says, "Come in here." Satan says: "(Jo in." An ovil companion says: "It is bosfc for you to go in; you ought not to bo so green; by this time you ougnt to have seen everything." And ttie temptations shall bo mighty in dull tinvssueh as wo have had, but which I bo liovo are gone, for i hear all over the land tho prophesy of great prosperity,and the railroad men and the merchants, they all ted mo tho days of prosperity they think are coming, and in many departments they have already como, and they are going to come in all do- < ? a? " I partments; but these doll times tbrongh which we have passed have destroyed a great many men. The question of a livelihood is with a vast multitude the great question. There are young men who expected before this to set up their own households, but they have been disappointed in tho gains they have mads. They cannot support themselves,how can they support others' And to the curse cf modern society the theoi'y is abroad that a man mu3t not marry until he has achieved a fortune, when the twain ought to start at the foot of the hill and together climo to the top. That is the old fashioned way and that will bo the new fashioned way if society is ever redeemed. But during the hard tiuior), iuo uuu biiuua, 3u many mtJU were uibcouraged, so many men bad nothing to do, they could get nothing to do, a pirate bore down on the ship when the sails were down and the vessel was making no headway. .People say they want more time to think. The trouble is "to many people they have h id too much time to think, aud if our merchauts had not bad their minds diverted, many of them would long bafore this have been within the four walls of an insane asylum. These long winter evenings, bo careful where you spend them. This winter will decide the temporal and eternal destiny of hundreds of men in this audience. ; Then the winter has especial temptations in the fact that many homes are peculiarly unattractive at this season. In the summer monthi the young man cau sit out on the steps, or he can have a bouquet in the vase on the mantel, or the eveniugs being so short, soon after gaslight he wants to retire anyhow. But there are many parents who do not understand how to make the long winter evenings attractive to their children, It is amazing to me that so many old people do J not understand young people. To hear some of these parents talk you would think thoy had never themselves been young, and had been bora with spectacles on. Oh, it is dolorous for young people to sit in the house from 7 to 11 o'clock at night and to hear parents groan about their ailments and the nothingnoss of this world. The nothingness of this world? Hew dare you talk such j blasphemj ? It took God six days to make I this world, and He has allowed it six thousand years to hang upon His holy heart, and fUi'? lioo nn vnn nitrl Kla:carl VAJt CLI1D I* IU UUO OllWllU VU J VU Mit'4 wtwjowv* JVM I and carressed you for these fifty, sixty or seventy years, and yet you dare to talk about the nothingness of this world. Why, it is a magnificent world I do not believe iu the whole universe there is a world equal to it, except it be Heaven. You cannot expect your children to stay in the house in those long winter evenings to hear you denounce this starlighted, sun-warmed, shower-baptized, flower-stream, angelwat?hod, God inhabited planet. Oh,make your homes bright. Bring in the violin or the picture. It does not require a great salary, or a big house, or chaste silver, or gorgeous upholstery to make a happy home. All that is wanted is a father's heart, a mother's heart in sympathy with young folks. I have known a man with $700 salary, and he had no other income, but he had a home so happy and bright, that though the sons have gone out, and won large fortunes, and the daughter havo gone out into splendid spheres and became princesses of society, tney never can ? P aamI ? Tt* ! f Vl/MI f- frt O HO A f I UIIiUK. UL tuau UUI Ijr uuuio uii/u<juu waio ui. t emotion. It was to them the very vestibule of heaven, and all their mansions now, and all their palaces now, cannot make them forget that early place. Make your homes happy. You go around your house growling about your rheumatisms anl acting the lugubrious, and your sons will go into the world and plunge iDto dissipation. They will have their own rheumatisms after a while. Do not forestall their misfortunes. You were young once, and you had your bright and joyous times. Now let the young folks have a good time. I stood in front of a house and I said to the owner of the house: "This is a splendid tree." He said in a whining tone, "l"es, but it will fade." I walked around in his garden and said: "This is a glorious garden you have." "Yes," he said, "but it will perish." Then he said to my little child whom I was leading along, "Come and kiss me." The child protested and turned away. He said. "Oh, the perversity of human nature." Who would want to kiss him! I was not surprised to find out that his only son had become a vagabond. You may groan people 'out of decency, but you can never groan them into it, and 1 declare in the presence of thesa men and women of common sense that it is a most important thing for you to make your homes bright if you want your sons and your daughters to turn out well. Alas! that old people so much misunderstand young folks. There was a great Sunday school anniversary and there were thousands of childred present; indeed, all the Sunday schools i.l.? tiaha ?n ImI ! 1 /l 1r? it tot o a UL bUU l/U WUL WCIO 111 luu UUUUH15, nuu iu f? ua very uproarous and full of disturbance, and the presiding officer on the occasion came forward and in a very laud tone shouted "silence"! and the more noise the presiding officer made the more noise the children made. Some one else rose on the platform and came forward, and with more Stentorian voice shouted: "Silence!" And the uproar rose to greater height, and it did seem as if there would be almost a riot and the people would have to be called in, when old iJr. Beaman, his hair white as the driven snow, said: ".Let mo try my hand." So he came forward with slow step to the front of the platform, and when the children saw the venerable man and the white hair they thought they would hush up that instant and hear what tha old man had to say. lie said: "Boys, I want to make a bargain with you. If you will be still now while I spoak, when you get to be as old as I am I will ba as still as a mouse.': There was not another ! whisper all the afternoon. He was as much a boy as any of them. Oh, in these holidays let us turit back our natures to what they were years ago, and be boys again and girls again, and make all our homes happy. God will hold you responsible for tho influence yoa now exert, and it will be very bright and very pleasant if soma winter night whei are sleeping under the blankets of the snow, our children shall ride along in the merry n.irtv. and hushinz a moment into solemnity, fook off and say" "There sleeps the best father and mother that over made a happy New Year." Arm yourself against the39 temptations of December, Jauuary and February. Temptation will coma to you in the form of an angel of light. I know that the poets represent satan a3 horned and hoofed. If I were a poet and I were going to picture satan, I would represent him as a human being with manners polished to the last perfection, hair falling in graceful ringlet3, eye a little bloodshot but floating in bewitching languor, hand soft and diamonded, boot exquisitely shaped, voice mellow as a flute, breath perfumed as though nothing had ever touched the lips but I balm of a thousand flowers, conversation I facile, carefully toned and Frenchy. But I I would have the heart cncased with the scales j of a monster and have it stuffel with all pride and beastliness of desire and hypocrisy and death, and then I would have it touched with the rod of disenchantment until the eyes became the cold orbs of the adder, and to the lip should come the foam of raging intoxication, and to the foot the spring of the panther, and to the solt hand the change that would make it the clammy hand of the wasted skeleton, and then I would suddenly have the heart break out in unquenchable flames, and the affected lisp of the tongue Income the hi s of the worm that never dies. But until disen -i .-.1 J rli'nmrmrWl and Hut I L'llUUI 1 illgJCbVU uuu I voiced and conversation facile, careful ly tonel and Frenchy. Oh, wha a beautiful thins it is to see young man standing up amid these temptations of city life incorrupt while hundreds are tailing. I will tell your history. You will move :n respectable circles a 1 your days, and some day a friend of your father will meet you and say: "Good morning; g!ad to see you; you seem to be prospering; you look like your father for all tne world; I thought you would turn oub well when I used to hold you on my knee; if you ever want any help or any advice, come to me; us long as I remember your father I'll remember you. Good morning." That will bo the histpry of hundreds of these young men. How do I know it? I know it by the way you start. But hero is a young man who takes the opposite route, vices of sin charm him away. Ho reads bad books, mingles in bail society. The glow has gone from his eluok, and the sparkle [ from his eye, aud the purity from his soul. Down ho goes, lictlo by littlo. The peorle I who saw him when he came to town while yet ! hovered over his head the blessing of a pure mother's prayer, and there was on his lip the ; dew of a pure sister's kiss; now as they see ! him pass, cry, "What an awful wreck!' j Cheek bruised in grogshop fight. Eye bleared with dissipation. Lip swollen with" indulgen cies. Be careful what you say to him, for a trifle ho would take your life. Lower down, lower down, until outcast of God and man, Iio lies m tne asy luin, a blotch of loathsomeness and pain. One moment ho calls for God, and then he calls for rum. He prays, lie curses, he laughs as fiends laugh, then bites his nails into the quick, then puts bis hands through the hair banging around his head like the main of a wild beast, then shivers until tho cot shakes, with unutterable terror, then with his fist I fights back the devils, or clutches for ser1 pents that seem to wind around him their r-.iT ^ur/.-.^v'-j ?; ?>. '" ,'>v ri^?N^SS?-3i 'V* * 7" * " V'' ' ' ' ^ ' '* ' : ? - . awful folds, then asks for water, which is instantly consumed on his cracked lips. Some morning the surgeon going bi? rounds will find bim dead. Do not try to comb ont or brush back the matted locks. Straighten 006 the limbs, wrap him in a sheet, put him in a box, and lot two men carry bim down to the wagon at the door. With a piece of chalk write on th9 top of the box the name of the destroyer and the destroyed. Who is it? It is you, oh, man, if yielding to the temptations of a dissatisfied life you go out and perish. There is a way that seemeth bright . : ^ and fair and beautiful to a man, but the end thereof is death. Employ these long nights of December, January and February, in nigh ? persuits, in intolligent socialities, in innocent amusements, in Christian work. Do not waste this winter, for soon you wiil have seen your last sun shower and have gone up into the companionship of Him whose raiment is as white as snow, whiter than any fuller , earth could whiten it. For all Christian hearts tho winter nights will end in the June morning of heaven. The river of life from under the throne never freezes over. Tho foliage of life's fair tree is never frost bitten. ine lesiiyiwes, tue mianues, me ltiuiuv greatings of earthly Christmas times will give way to larger reunion and brighter *3 lights and sweeter garlands and mightier joy in tho great holiday of heaven! '' M ?1 TEMPEE4NCEDEPARTMEHT 3 Three Chains There are three chains which bind men in captivity; custom, habit and appetite. These different forces play into each other's hands. First custom comes with its insinuations and solicitations; then follows habit with its bands and fetters; and finally comes appetite withits fiery energies, sweeping the soul as with a cyclone, and hurrying a man to irretrievable ruin. The time to snap these \ chains is at the beginning. A three fold 5 cord is not easily broken. Let those . who hate bondage remember that tyranny in its beginning is insidious and unsuspected. and that those who fail to resist the beginning of evil will find them- jgg selves powerless to war against it when it is completely developed and fully JJIU wu. How [Tien Bccomo Drunkards. William Hargreaves, SI. D., of New . ' 3 York, in the Voice, says: '-.i: Though alcohol leads to excess, vetmen do not become drunkards at once; it sometimes requires the habit of years to proiuce habitual drunkenness. Every mother who has dosed her child with ,'J mild opiates and auodynes, knows that a few drops had the desired effect of lulling the child - to sleep when first given. She also knows that after the use for a week or two the do9e had to be increased, and if still longer continued 4 teaspoonful or more had to be given to obtain the effects that were produced first by a few drops. This law of increase governs all narcotics. Alcohol demands an increase of dose. The man who may be exhilerated liy a glass of wins or heernt firsf: if rnnf-.innonfho habit, may require twice or ihrice as much to produce the exhilaration oc, ; narcotization desired. ;:M Hence the quantity of strength must be increased to produce the excitement v"' desired by the blunted or narcotized nervous system. The appetite for altohoi being formed, light wines and beer in large quantities are required to arouse the blun'ed and narcotized nervous system. The blunted nervous system now demands a large glass of brandy and whisky, and alter a time a pint of whisky may be required to produce the effects that were once produced by a glass of beer or wine. This is the process by which men and women aro narcotized, until they become habitual and occasional drunkards* . / Hence malt liquors and light wines create the appetite for dislilled spirits. Men, and women too, drink in order to feel a certain degree of alcoholic narcotiza. J* A ..J 1* _ A1_ 1* " * lion. as mouerauou una me mages 01 the door of excess, a glass of wine whets the appetite for the stronger liquor. True, beer docs not contain so large a per-cent. of alcohol as whisky or brandy; but the quanity will not satisfy; and what malt liquors lack in strength, is made up by drinking a larger quanitityj to produce the feeling desired. As far as the alcohol is concerned, two ounces of beer will not do as much injury as two ounces of brandy or whisky; but the same quantity will not surffice. A glass of beer that will satisfy to-day may fail to produce that effect to-morrow, and much more will be required. Then, again, while a glass of spirits would satisfy the drinker, he will take a quart of ale or beer, and will thus consume more alcohol than if he had taken a svlnaa A f tnUial-TT At* l\rO n r! T7 f.hfl ^ I liJO Vi ?I UlOUjr VI ^ ?a*V inebriating effects are sought. Temperance Xotcf, ?Toll us not in mournful jingles Life is but an o'er full dram; For when brain with whisky mingles Such a life's au awful sham. ' ?Gooda'ls Sun. An international conference has been held at Antwerp against the abuse of alcoholic diink. Important statements were made by French, English and German doctors, who proved that a!cphol is more destructive than cholera or war. A federation is to be formed to diffuse information on the subject. The temperance Lwpltal of London has recently had its capacity enlarged by the completion of its west wing, enabling {.the admission of 122 additional patients. Last year the number of inpatients was 584, and of out-patients upwards of 2,000. Altogether since its opening, the number of patients had been 22,000. The doctors who, a few years ago were great at prescribing intoxicants (in moderation, of course), are now, we believe, very generally recognizing their terrible error, and some of them are accusing beer, with all ils strange ingredients, as a cause of the incurable disease of the kidneys named after ita discoverer. There are doubtless other causes for the prevalence of that disease, Mid it may sometime attack total abstainers also, theugh we have never heard of such a case.? New YorkWitneM. C - . . v * > - ' ? . *"> \ -- >%. --- - A4...T-V