Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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/ / Sharpshooter "Kildee." Thrilling Reminiscences of the Confederacy's Best Rifleman. It was our good fortune a few days ago, writes the editor of the Irvington, (Ga.) Southerner, to meet in Twiggs county John West, better known during the war by the soubriquet of "Kildee," the most noted sharpshooter of the Con>' federate service. In response to our inquiry he gave us some interesting facts connected with himself in thit perilous service. "I was born and reared in Twiggs county, Ga.," said he, ''but went to the war from Louisiana as a pi ivate. At my j - _ 1? _?X_ _ ? T A. C J solicitation i was irausierreu 10 luu Twiggs County volunteers, my home company, which I found in Virginia. The Twiggs County volunteers were nicknamed the Morees,' because of their uniforms having three black stripes upon ' the tail of the coat, resembling the three black feathers on the bird called 'Jo, ree.' I was nicknamed 'Kildee,' because of my slenderness and agility, and because I was in the 'Joree' company. In 1862 General Lee received thirteen fine English Whit worth rides that were warranted to kill at 1,800 yards. These were the best guns in the service on ; either side. Thirteen of the best marks men in the army were detailed for this special service, and I was the only Geor- j glan that was selected. We were placed I under the command of a Colonel Brown, ; who had no other duties than to com- j mand us. We were practiced three! months before goinijintc service. Ascore of every shot was kept during this three months, and at the end I was 1 TO shots , in hull's r?v<> :ihpftd of the rest. The last day of the practice our m;>rksmauship J wasitested bj our superior oflicers. A white board, two feet square with a black diamond about the si/.e of a hat in the j center, was placed 1,500 yards away. : The wind was blowing stiffly, and it was verj unfavorable for good shooting, but I put three bullets in the diamond and seven in the white of the board. I beat the record and won the choice of horse, , bridle, saddle, spurs, gun, revolver and saber. Our accoutrements were the best the army could afford. Then we entered active scrviee. and I have been through scenes which have tried men's souls. I soon became indifferent to danger and inured to hardships and privations. Ii have killed men from'ten naces distant; to a mile. 1 have no idea how many I killed, but I made a good many bite the i dust. We were sometimes employed separately and collectively; sometimes scouting, thensharpshooting. Our most 1 effective work was in picking off the otti- j cers, silencing batteries and protecting our lines from the enemy's sharpshoot- , ers. 'Artillerymen could stand anything i * ? '' '* _ ? ij -\.i 4. : eiae Deuer man uiey cuuiu suai jjsuuut ing. and they would turn their guns upon j a sharpshooter as quick as they would upon a battery. You see we could pick J off their gunners so easily. Myself and i a comrade completely silenced a battery of six guns in less than two hours on one j occasion. The battery was then stormed j and captured. I heard General Lee say j he would rather have those thirteen sharpshooters than any regime.nt ' in the army. We frequently resorted to various artifices in our! warfare. Sometimes we would climb a tree and pin leaves all over our clothes to keep their color from betraying us. I When two of us would be together and a Yankee sharpshooter would be trying to get a shot at us one of us would put! his hat on a ramrod and poke it up from behind the object that concealed and protected us. and when the Yankee showed his head to shoot at the hat the other one would put a bullet through his head. I have shot 'cm out of trees and seen 'em fall like coons. When we ! were in grass or grain we would Are and I *-.1 ? j __fi , f I lau uver auu run acvciai >tiiua uuui where we shot at, and the Yankee sharpshooter would fire away at the smoke. "I was captured once.- Colonel Brown and I got caught inside of the Federal lines at Cold Harbor, and Sheridan's wagon train was between us and liberty. "We had on Yankee coats, and we rode j along up the wagon train for some time ! trying to head it and escape. But we couldn't do it. Finally, Colonel Brown rode up to a driver and ordered him to turn out to one side and let us pass. 44 'By whose authority?' asked the driver. 44 'By my own,' replied Brown, authoritatively. 44 'Who are you?" asked the driver. 44 'Colonel Coleman,'.in9wcred Brown, who had found out the name of the colonel who was in command of the train. 4iThe driver then began to question Colonel Brown pretty closely and was j about to catch up with us. Colonel Brown drew his revolver and sent a ball j rrflsliinf? through his brain. We turned our htyses and dashed down the lines of wagons at full speed, and we ran right into a company of Federal cavalry who were protecting the train. A shower of ballets whistled about us. We wheeled j to the right, jumped a stone wall, and j just as my horse cleared the wall a bullet struck him behind the ear and down we i came. Brown's horse was shot from j under him about twenty steps ahead, ! and we were both captured. As I i scrambled out from under my horse I threw my gun to one side in the grass. Three weeks after that 1 went back and got it. We were in a tight place. Hav- | ing on Yankee coats, we would certainly be shot for spies. Night came on and we were guarded by four sentinels, who I* paced back and forward in a square sev- > eral yards in extent. It was very dark. 1 During the second watch I whimpered to Brown that I was going to leave. He I - asked me how it could be done. I told him I'd rather risk four bullets in the dark than twenty in daylight at Fort Delaware. He said he would follow me. We then began crawling like snakes out of the square. Four times a sentinel passed right by us. We kept gliding along until we were entirely out. We, straightened up when about fifty yards from the sentinels and struck out for the mountains. We came near perishing for want of fond before we could get. back L into the Confederate lines. ' "I was within ten steps of General Doles when he was killed. A. Federal sharpshooter had been picking oil our men all day, aud I had been trying for hours to locate him, but had failed to do so. I was in advance of our line a linn dred yu.ds and was concealed behind a rock. Several times he had shot at me. Ab^ut 1.400 yards in front of us was a strip of woods. I knew the sharpshooter was in them somewhere, but the treetops prevented my seeing the smoke of his gun. He hadn't shot at me in two hours, but confined his fire to the line in my rear. General Doles advanced to where I was and asked me if I couldn't silence that fellow, as he was doing terrible execution in his lines. I told him I had been trying to do it all day, but had failed. lie asked me to do my best. lie then stepped in front of me, I end faced the woods, exposing his entire person. I told him he had better look out, as that fellow had shaved me very close several times, and it waa dangerous to expose himself. I had scarcely spoken the words when a ball 1 | struck him in the right side, passing i through his bobv and coming out under his left arm. General Doles turned hiilf around and fell forward, face downward, and never spoke, being killed instantly. I cirried him off the field, and was detailed to carry his remains home. General Doles was a fine officer. "I was shot through tne body once. While I was in the hospital Charley Grace, of La Grange, Ga., used my gun, and ic is said that he killed General Sedgwick, but others doubt it. Four of the guns were captured during the war. I lost mine at the surrender, while I was | trying to conceal it in my blanket, to j carry home with me. I think I will be able to get it yet, as General Phil. Cook, Joe Brown and others are trying to obtain it for me from the government. The Fourth Georgia regiment regard it as a valuable relic." Artificial Eggs. In the back room of a Broadway (New York) office a curious invention was ex - j hibited to several urovisiou dealers and j merchants. The invention,says the 7V.'- ; lune, consisted of a number of artificial J eggs, which resembled the real article so exactly that none but an expert could i distinguish them. The shells were made of a clear, transparent composition, and , the shape was pcrfcctiv modeled. The portion surrounding the yolk was made of albumen,and the yolk itself of ground carrot and saffron. Three of these arti- \ ficial eggs were placed on a platter by j the exhibitor with half a dozen real j ones, and the men present were told to i select the bogus ones from the coliection. The first expert exposed his ignorance by picking out three real eggs and declaring them to be artificial. The sec- j ond, with a little better luck, owing i partly to his avoiding the three selected j by his unfortunate predecessor, managed i to pick out two of the real eggs and one j of the artificial ones. Thus with vary- ; ing results each of the six men tried his j skill in determining the difference be- j tween the eggs bv their appearance. I "When each had had a trial and failed, the j exhibitor said: "Vmv. n-enrlemen. vou can test them | , 0 7 ? ( in another way." A fiying pan was then j placed on the stove, and in a few minutes it began to simmer. Two of the artificial eggs were picked up. their shells broken and the contents dropped into the hot pan where they : oon began to simmer and sputter. A little salt :yid j pepper, a brisk two minutes' stirring ; with a fork, and as tine a dish of scram- ; bleu e<:gs as could I e prepared at a res- i taurant was placed before the expectant j guests. "Help yourselves, gentlemen. They ; are as good as the real article. Xothmir ! poisonous or disagreeable about them." | This invitation was complied with at j once, and the several verdicts were: ' Delicious," "Better than the real arti- j cle," "What are they made of?" "They | are not artificial, but fresh eggs from the j country." "Well, gentlemen," smilingly responded the exhibitor, "whether real or j artificial, I can make any quantity of j those eggs at a cost of about half a cent 1 apiece, while you cannot buy their equal ; for less than two or three cents. You ; have just had proof that you cannot tell | them from the real article by their ap- j nnnrf>nr>f> nr hv their taste when SCraUl- j bled. In an omelette there is equally no j perceptible diiference, but when boiled the imposition is much more easily detected. But^even then nine people out of ten would be deceived, as the only difference lies in the fact that the volk ! and surrounding white portion will not j harden separately as they do in the real ! ego;. The flavor is about the same, which, j after all, should be the main consider tion. It is my intention to put these at- j titicial eggs on the market soon, and my i object in inviting you here to-day was to j make you favorably impressed with them. I think I have doue it. Goodday, gentlemen." A D.me Museum Curiosity. If the reader is more than forty years i old, and as a youth used to hear the I popular lectures of that period, writes a j New York correspondent of the Cincin* i nati Enquirer, he may be able to recall Pro-1 fessor Herschell Leander Cor win, whose j themes and forehead were so high that he j impressed his younger auditors stupen- [ dously, and was in great favor with the j ministers and others who desired the in- j tellectual culture of their communities. | Well, I recognized him on sight in the J Bowery this week, although his hair was j white and his step unclastic. His dig- J nity was all there, snugly buttoned into i a coat less line than of yore, and his big j head was up. On his arm hung a small j woman, who hobbled along laboriously, with the support of him and a cane. The couple entered a dime musem, and I curiously followed. But inside I lost them, and was about to depart when the ringing of a gong anuouuced that the afternoon's half hourly lectures on the curiosities was to Oegm. The orator was none other than the venerabie Professor Hcrschell Leander Corwin, and the first subject of his deep bass,* solemn lying ; was the woman who had come in with J him, and who was his wife, as I stibse- j auently learned. She was deformed by | an absence of knee pans, and therefore j her legs could be flexed forward as well as backward. That enabled her to assume the position and nearly the gait of a fo.u-footed brute. Costumed in shaggy cloth, with her lang hair disheveled, muttering a jargon and walking on her | hands and feet, she quite satisfied the j spectators, who was assured by the pro-1 fessor that she was a wild what is it, caught in the marshes of Florida. "This is something of a departure from the o!d subjects." I said to him afterward. "No, no, sir," he replied, with di^nitv j unabated; "natural science has even been my study, aud I am still in the field." Paintings by General Grant. It is generally thought, aud Mr. George \V . Chi.ds in a recent article 0:1 Grant so stated, that there is but ouo j picture in cxisicmc which was painted by General Grant, and this one is in the possession of the liorie 'amiiy. Another | production of his brcsh has been brought j to light in Catnden, and its owner, \V. J K. i'othery, a commission merchant of 510 Perm street, will not take s.">,()i)) lor it. Tlic painting is an ordinary looking water-color of a cumm<?n;>luce eastern landscape, with mountains in the background. It displays no jjreat merit, :md hundreds of such works are annually turned out by amateurs. In the lower left-hand corner, in small letters, is the name, "1". S. Grant." It was painted in i lS-io, while the general was a cadet at West Point, and was presented to .Air. Hothery's mother, who was a resident of 1 Galen i, III., and a warm friend of the young cadet. The picture was recently shown to Mr. Childs, who, it is said, expressed the opinion that it was genuine. Mr. Frank Siddall Ins endeavored to purchase the relic, but its owner declined to part with it. It is being exhib ited in a druggist's window in Camden, and attracts considerable attention.? i Philadelphia Times. I. TMJAGE'S SEBHON. THE CHILD EMPEROR, Text: "Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was witn the angel amulttude of the heavenly host" St. Luke, li, 12-13. At midnight from one of the galleries of tha sky a chant broke. To an ordinary observer there may have been no reason tor such celestial demonstration. A poor man and wife, travelers, Joseph and Alary by name, had lodged in an outhouse of an ordinary village. The supreme hour of solemnity had passed, and upon the pallid forehead and cheak of Mary God had set the dignity, the grandeur, the tenderness, tlio everlasting and divine significance of motherhood. S ch scenes had often occurred in iietnlehem butnever before had a star been unfixed or had baton of light marshalled over the hills winged orchestra. If there had been brilliant and mighty recognition in the sky at a nativity in the house of Pharaoh, or at a nativity in the house of Ciesar, or,in after ages at a nativity in the Iilusp of the Stuarts, or house of Haps uurjj, it wouiu uui/ uavu ubi:ll su wuimcuui, but a barn seemed too poor a centre for such delicate and arolianaelic circumference, the stage seemed too small for so great an act, the music too grand for such nnappreciative auditors, the stable too rude to be surrounded by oilier worlds. No, sir; no madam. It is my joy this morning to tell you what was born that night in the village barn,and that IJmay make my sermon cumulative and climacteric I be^in by tellincyou that that night in the caravansary of Bethlehem there was born encouragement for all the poorly started. He had only two friends. His parents. No satin lined cradle, no deli* cate attendance, but the straw and the tattle and the coarse jokes and banter of the camel drivers. No wonder the medieval painters represent the oxen as kneeling at the mangers. There were no men there at that time to worship. But from what depth of humiliation bad our Lord risen. To what beighth! What is the mightiest name in all Christendon to-day Jesus. Who has more friends than any other being? Jesus. Before whom to-day do church and cathedral and chapsl bend? Jesus. For whom might a hundred million men be marshaled to fight or die? Jesus. Oh, what encouragement for the poorly started. Was your birth more disadvantageous? Were your surroundings more uoverty stricken? Do you know that all the great deliverers of the world were born in barn liko places? Luther, the emancipator of religion, born amid the mines. Shakspeare, the emancipator of literature, born in an humble home at Stratford-uponAvon. Columbus, the discoverer of a world, born in j overty at Genoa. Hogartli, the dis.-overer of how to make art administrative of virtue, born in poverty at Westmoreland. Pridcau and ETilto, whose keys have unlocked apartments of the Holy Scripture that had otherwise never been explored, born in humble homes and amid greatest privations. Nino out of ton of the world's deliverers, nine out of ten of tiio world's messiahs?the messiahs of law, the mssiahs of medicine, the messiahs benevolence, the messiahs of philanthropy, the messiahs of poverty, born in barn like places. I stir your holy ambition to-day if you feel t hat there are those iu your occupation or profession, or outside of it, who are trying to hinder your ascent and your progress, and I want to tell you that the sympathetic heart and the almighty arm 01 the son of God arj on your side, and you have an intimate and sympathetic friend in the ona who is wrapped iu swaddling clothes and lay in the manger. For all the poor y started what encouragement, "Aye," you say, "He was divine and I am human." Then I answer by saying that all the resources of the Lord God Almighty may be enlisted in your behalf, aid that at your first call for help He will come for your deliver anee. Again, I remark, tha'5 in that Bethlehem barn, that Christmas night was born good will to men, whether you call it kindness, forbearance, forgiveness, geniality, affection, or love, it was no sport for high heaven to send its favorite to that humiliation. It was a sacrilico for a rebellious world. After the calamity in Paradise not only did the ox begin to gore and the adder to sting and the elephant to smite wioh its tusk and the lion to pat to badtise tooth and paw, but under the very tree from which was plucked that forbidden fruit there were hatched war and revenge and anger and hate and envy and jealousy and the whole brood of cocatrices. Against that I put the Bethlehem scene which practically says bless instead of curse, endure ratuer than assault, and that Christmas night seams to put out all vindictiveritss. It practically says, sheathe the sword; spike the guns; dismantle tho batteries; turn the war-ship Constellation that carried shot and shell, into a grain ship to tal:e f<jo:l to famishing Ireland; hook your cavalry horses to the plow; use your deadly gunpowder to blast rocks and for' patriotic celebration; quit your lawsuits; slop your anonymous leltersftake the sting out of your sarcasm; drop all harsh words out of your vocabulary; let your wit coruscate, but let it never burn. Good will to men! "Oh," says someone. "You may adopt that principle, I'll never adopt it. If my enemy wants me to forgive him. he trrill lio va tr\ m nrl nclr fnr ~frtr*rri ness." If you say that you are no Christian, or you are a very mean specimen of a Christian, if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father .forgive you your trespasses. Forgive them it they ask it; forgive them, anyhow. Shake hands all around. Good will to men! Oh, that the blessed spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ would drop this morning into all our souls. What the world wants is more kind words, more helping hands, more disposition to give other people a ride, more willingness to take the heavy end of the load and give them the li'-jht end, more disposition to ascribe good motives instead of bad, more willingness to llnd our happiness in making others happy. Out of the Bethlehem crib let bear and lion e;it straw like an ox. Good will to men! That principle will become dominant in all the earth until there will bo only two antagonists left, and tiiey will side by side take the jubilant sleigh ride to which the prophet seems to point when ho says: "Holiness shali bo upoa tho bells of the horses." Again I remark that on that Christmas night in that Bethlehem when was born sympathetic union with othor worlds. The only scepticism that has ever touched me I might call an astronomical scepticism which said: ' IVhv <tiH Rnrl <rn nn -Tnnit.nr nml Snt.nrn and all the mighty worlds and come to our little bit of a world for the achievement of his son, His only Son, when it might have been on a larger scale and amid vaster worlds/" But when I coma to the manger and I see its wonderful surroundings, tho scepticism is gone. I find all tho worlds are sisters, and when one weeps they all weep, and when one sings they all sing. From that supernatural grouping in that cloud bank over Bethlehem and from the especial trains that ran down to the scene, I know that other worlds are in sympathy with oars. The meteors are with us, for one of them ran to point out the Savior's birthplace. The heavens are with us, for at tho thought of our redemption doxologies rolled from the midnight sky. Oh, my friend, I think that there is more sympathy, more heavenly sympathy with us than wo sometimes imagine, ami that when a child is born angels fetch it, and when an old man is b iruo down with tho weight of years angels support him. Angels in the hospitals to heal the sick. Angels in the cemetery to guard our dead. Angels in tho churoll to cry heavenward the n.-ws of r.'pentant souls. Angels above the world. Angels under the world. Angels all around the world. Oh, if wo could only rub from our eyes the du->t of our humanity and could lojk up, wo would see angels ot pity, angels of mercy, angels of rescue, angels crowned, angels charioted. The world dofoiidod by angels, gir.lled by angels, coliorted by ;ii\p;ois, ciouus 01 anget-? near uavm cry out, '"tho chariots of tko Lonl aro twenty taous mil, even thousands of angels. But tho greatest of tlio angels stood not that night i:i the clouds, but lay v.-itSi tiio cattle, the angel of tho new covenait. Blessed be His glorious name. When the clean white linen sent in by some motheriy villager had been wrapped around this chihi emperor, not a cherub, not a seraph, not an angel, not a world but wept and thrilled and shouted. Oil, worlds in sympathy with us. Our world tho silver run}; of a great ladder at tho top of which is our Father's house. No more stellar solitariness for o ir world. No more planet spur, nut into tlnvad to freeze, but a Wurld in the bosom of divine maternity?a star harnessed to a manger. 1 remark agiin, that born that night in the village barn was the offender's hope. Some sormonizor might say, "you ought to have projected that idea at the beginning of tho sermon." No. I wanted to lead oa up to it. I wanted to show you iho topaz and the emeralds, and the cornelians of lesser beauty before you saw this Kohinoor, this crown jewel of the ages. Ah! this jewel had a very poor setting. Out of fear is born amid the grand old pillars of the forest, whelp of lion co m- | ing Jrom the jungle takes its first stop on ' luxuriant leaf, and wild flower, kid of goat ] is born in civern chandeliered with stalactite and pillarad with stalagmite; but Christ born in the manger. And yet frcm that nativity comes the offender's home. Over the door of heaven were written the words, and are written the words now: "None but tho sinles3 can enter here." "Ah," you say, "that is a great horror fur our souls, then none of us can enter if none but the sinless." But I have to tell you that Christ came into one door and He went out. the other door of the world; He came into the door of the manger and Ho went out through the door of the sepulchre. I His one business was to wash ua from sin so thoroughly that one second after we are dead we will have no more sin about us than there is #bout the eternal Go 1. You say that is putting the case very strongly. I know it is, but that is what I understand about full remission?all erased, all washed away, all scoured out, all gone. That undergirding and over-arching and irradiating and unparaclinj: opportunity for you and for me was born that night in the Bethlehem caravansary. Do you wonder then that we ! bring the flowers? Do you wonder then that we bring the musici Do you wonder that Raphael and Titian aud llubens and Gate and Ghirlanjo, and all the Gorman and Italian masters with their mightiest stroke sketched the Madonna, Mary and her boy? Now I understand what the manger was. Higher than the unpoarled cradle of the Henrys of England, the Louisej of France, the Fredericks of Prussia. Now out of this Bethlehem crib not so much f?ed the oxen of the stall or the white horse3 o 1 apocalyptic vision. Now tho swaddling clothes enlarge and emblazon until thoy become tho robes of a conqueror. Now 1 find that the star that shone that night was only tho diamonded sandal of Him who bath the moon under His feet. Now I find that the song that night was not the complete song, but only the stringing of the instruments for a chorus of two worlds, the bass carried by earthly nations sacred,the soprana carried by kindgoms of glory won. And all that heaven | made possible to us through the birth, the j sufferings and the death of the]|Son of God. I , shail meet you there on a brighter Christmas Day than this. I look this morning through the dim distance, and I look through the fog banks over the river Jordan, and I look ; through the wide open door of solid pearl, and I see our reunion. Oh, what high converse you and 7 will have over sin pardoned, over sorrow comforted, and over battles fought IIow then we will talk over manger and over cross. I am going there, I am going to take 8.11 my family with me. I am going to take e.ll my church with me. I am going to take all ray friends with me if I can. I am going to call you to ent?r the kingdom of God and be ready for it. I am going to push you in. I | e,m by holy stratagem going to surprise you | in. With all physical and mental and spirit- j ual and immortal energy I shall compel you j to come in. I like you so well on earth I j would like .your eternal companionship in J heaven. Into that brightne-s and joy many i of those who used to celebrate Christmas i with us are now gathered. I was called to j bury a little child, and I suppose the people passing along the street, seeing the signal on j the door-bell, said "it is only a child;" but a j broken-hearted father said tome: " Jome j around and comfort us. for though she was ! only 15 months o!d,we all loved her fo much." Ah! it does not take a child a great while to i get both arms around the parents' entire na- | ture. What a glorious Christmas morning j when we all got together again. The silverhaired father young again. The mother with tho aches and pains and decrepitude well again. All the young and all the old, and how we will all talk over tho past, how glad we will be to see them, how glad they will be to see us. One of the little ones this morning seems to stand at the gate and holding with one hand the shinning gate, wave* thd other hand out toward you, saying: "Come this way, father, Steer straight for me; Here safe in heaven I am waiting for thee." Uh, l am so glad that wnen the angels closed their concert that Christmas night over the hil s of Bethlehem and they departed, they forgot to shut the door, and it cannot be shut again. It is wide open now. You cannot shut out from us the glories that are to come. The gate is blocked open by hosa-inas marching this way, and hallelujahs marching that. What more than all unnerves mo is the thought that all this is for sinners such as , you an. I I are?all this humiliation of the ! mnnger and all the suffering of the cross. If it ! had been only for those who had always done , right and always thought right, and always , acted right, we would have had no interest in ; it, would have had no share in it. We would ! have stuck to our rat't in mid ocean and let ; the great ship of heaven go by taking perfect passengers from a perfect life on earth to a perfect lite in heaven. But no. I have heard ! that the captain of that ship is the loving, the \ kind, the sympathetic one who hushed the ! tempest all around the boat on Galilee, and j that all his passengers are sinners saved by ' grace. So I hail that ship and it bears down j toward us, and as it comes near by j I shout the two questions, "Who art j thou;" and "Whence art thou;" and the answer is, "I am the captain of salvation, and I came from a manger.'' Oh, j bright Christmas morning of my soul's de- I light. Chime all the bells. Wreathe all the 1 P AllOil oil fVlQ QTlt^ama RKoL'Q t lUU'/O, 1VUU05 Uii U(1U C4lUbUVIUOi uuuno bands in all the congratulations. Merry j Christmas! Merry at the thought of sins j pardoned and griefs solaced. Merry at the 1 thought of raptur<;s to corae. Merry Christ- i mas! Let Christ bo lifted from the manger ! this day. and let down in all our hearts. We ! may not be able to bring to Him such treas- ! ures as the magi brought, but we will bring to Uim "the Irankincense of our joy, the pearls of our tears; the kiss of our love, the prostration of our worship. Down at his feet all the churches, all the earth, and all the heavens. Down at His feet the four and twenty elders on their facos. Down at His ! feet the groat ''multitude that no man can ! number." Down at His foet Michaol, the , archangeL Down at His feet all worlds in woiship. "Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all Deonlei" WORDS OF WISDOM. Though flattery blossoms like friendship, yet there is a great difference iu the fruit. Much learning shows how little mortals know; much wealth, how little worldlings enjoy. The great majority of the world pre- j fer to attend the exhibition of money, j rather than that of bra ns. A man's character is like his shadow, I which sometimes follows and sometimes | precedes him, and which is occasionally longer, occasionally shorter. Do good for your own satisfaction, and do not cure what follows. Be the cause of gray hairs to no one; nevertheless, for the truth gray hairs are to be disregarded. Whatever may be true of harmless luxuries in the way of drink, we maititain that hea th, happiness, and work j find stimulus enough in the unsophisticated well of nature?pure water. Perhaps as a mere matter of govern- j ment, a good despot would make a better I government; but for the education of i the people governed, a go:;d despotism is worse than freedom with iis admixture of folly. The road to true philosophy is precisely , the s:uno with tlia whicu leads to true . religion; and from both one and the I other, unless we would enter in as little i children, we mubt expect to be totally excluded. Truth is infinite, and we cannot clasj* it in our finite arms; yet we may live ita nnrl innrn mnrp find llini'G of ;u 110 "e"1' "**,a ? ?. I its granu meaning, if we but sincerely. ! honestly, and patiently tread the straight road of intellectual virtue. Tho Wintry Wind. I como from the haunts of mount atul lake, I make a siiiliien .?a;ly, And send the smuli buy's milkpail gay A-sailing ui> tho alley. I paint the maiden's noso with red, I send the leaves a scooting, And make the fat man ehasa his hat With hollowing and hooting. From off the line the clothes I blow, And o'en tho line I sever. For dust may come and dust may go, But I go on forever. ?Cteveland Graphic. ? ( ' V . V ; . :' . ---t ;7;%' V'-:*r'V;' ' '''''' LTEKPERiNCE DEPAETIIH1 The Open Gate* At the open gate stands Willie, Shuffling his listless feet, And he cries in baby accents, ' Tan me do into de stweetl" But his mamma, wisely judging That, beyond the open gate, In the street so full ot bustle. Lurking dangers ever wait, Goes to close the gate, so tempting, J.O ner aarnng answers, "jNo, In the street's too much temptation; Mamma's baby cannot go." I, who heard tho mother's auswpr, Thought it over with saddened brow, How, to all of earthly dangers, She could close the gate-way now. But, I thought, the time is coming, When your darling boy will roam, When no tightly closing gate-way Shall avail too keep him home. Will he spurn the deadly wine-cup, With its soft, alluring glow. Will he, wben so tried and tempted, Have the s'irength to answer ''No;" But you, as a helpless woman, At your home can only wait, With no power to guard your darling, With no power to close the gate. Where so many mothers' darlings Have been caught among the snares, In despite of mothers' pleadings, In despite of mothers' prayers. Lord, how long-shall they, our brothers, In the face of dangers great, Still refusa to save our loved ones By the closing of the gate! ?Edith Earle. A Bridie of Gold. Temperance has been defined a "bridle of gold;" it is a'help in spiritual work, a moral safeguard, and a shield" against dangers, lor both sexes, that rush in to destroy the soul. There are various societies busily spreading the knowledge of scientific truths that exhort to temperance, and to their honor be it said the names of some of our chief temperance workers are those who have been set in high places, and whose example and influence are evidently important and far-reaching. (Evidently, we say, being thankful to know that the lowest laborer for Christ's sake has his sphere of influence, though not apparent below.) The Bishop of London and Canon "Wilberforce have long been stalwart warriersin the temperance crusade, lifting up their voices against that which has comc to be .acknowledged as our national vice. The New York State Temperance Society now includes a new organization, the "Knights of Temperance," a league composed of youths and boys, whose principles are expressed by three words?"oooerness, runty, iteverence." We wish the new order God-speed; there is room for every kind of movement than can help forward public sobriety, which in a large measure must depend upon the young. Opinions may differ as to the right or wrong of taking away the "poor man's glass," or the soundness of the argument that tells the adult he would realize the benefit of alcohol as a medicine if he dispensed with it as a beverage, but no one can look on a bright young face and oppose the yearning that would save that dawning life from drink. The Christian era has been the one to care for the children, to think of their future, and to give tbem the best chances of health and virtue; to those who have to deal with the little ones, and yet are reckless as to the perils and possibilities that may lie before them, we commend an anecdote told by Archdeacon Farrar, in addressing temperance workers: llA prisoner," said he "who, in the French revolution, was every moment expecting the guillotine, wrote these words: 'If I were being taken to the guillotine, on the fatal tumbril, with nothing free but ray voice, I could still say, take care, to any child too near the wheels. My words, take care, might save his life, and who knows whether he might not live to save his country?' "?Quiver. Tn One Word. But, ladies and gentlemen, I have not even now told you the reason which, more than all others, was as Aaron's rod swallowing every other reason in my mind and making me, as it has made thousands, a total abstainer. I can give you the reasou in one word; I can give it to vou in four letters, which made me a total abstainer. It -was pity, sheer human pity. I shall not stop to tell you the horrible effects of drunkenness, of which, as Dr. Cuyler has already said, I myself have been a witne.-s under the shadow of the great abbey, under the shadow of the houses of parliament, and, i among the miserable and most degraded poor of my own unhappy parish. If I , were to tell you of scenes which I have constantly witnessed, of things which I 1 have dailv known as goins on because of 1 drink among these unhappy people, I j should have to say: < " Conio, sit; you down. 1 And I will wring your heart, for so I shall, 1 it' it be made of penetrable stuff, ? If damning custom have not braced it so v That it is proof and bulwark against sense.'* * I assume that you are familiar with | those common facts, so common and so r ghastly, which in England, at any rate, ( whenever we speak of the evils of drunk- 1 enness, make us blush with shame and * buru wiih indignation. I believe that C if all people knew as well as I know t what the elTects of drunkenness are c tiiuuu^ iiiu nia^ouaa vi mi; JJUUI, JL i should have to appeal to their pity with j r perfect security. ? Canon Farrnr. |s I a f A Striking; Diffnrcnrc. I a While the M. \V. ('. T. U. was hold- j j ing its convention in Philadelphia, the j brewers and distillers also gathered in j council. lu strange contrast were the selfish schemes of the men whose success } depends upon ruined liomes nnd de* 1 bauchcd manhood, and the pliilan* * thropic work of these (Ioil-fearing t women. In as strange contrast too, the ^ invisible recorders of the meetings. Joy i in Heaven, and joy iu Ilades! s i Australia lost .$44,000,000 from pleuro- i pneumonia, introduced by a single cow ^ that was supposed to have recovered. * . :': vt ; ' '.?->'U fc SMALLPOX. A lllstorr of the Dread Disease?Pre* vention by Vaccination The smallpox is believed to have prevai ed more or less in Eastern countries from the earliest ages, but its early history is shrouded in obscurity. Some have thought that ''the plague of boils and blains" recorded in the Bible had reference to this disease. Certain mention of epidemics in the Greek writings may, it is thought, refer to the smallpox ; and the deadly plague in France in the sixth century, described by Gregory de Tours, is believed by some writers to have been this disease. But though the sinall-pox was known long before in the Orient, there is no unmistakable record oi lis appeuraiiue in r^urupe uuui ik wsa brought thither by the Saracens about the year 710. And it is the more probable that this was the first appearance of the disease because it has never been wholly absent from European countries since. From Spain it went all over Europe, sparing: for a time certain, isolated countries, such as Denmark, where it first appeared in 1527. It was carried to the West Indies in 1517 by the adventurers seeking to profit by the discovery of the New World. It reached Mexico in 1520, and Brazil in 1503. Farther north it first appeared in Maryland, having been brought there by an English ship in the early part of the seventeenth century. Thence it made its way through the other colonies. From the time of its first appearance until its ravages began to be checked*, first by iuocuiation and then by the milder and safer process of vaccination, it continued its course as a deadly pestilence, nearly always and everywhere present though not continuously active ana sparing neither age, sex, condition, not nationality, no one being safe from it except bv having previously passed through Its perils. From very earlf times the Chinese followed the practice of procuring this exemption by iuocu latibg with the disease, that is, convey ing it intentionally by introduction oI the contagious material into the system of persons in health. The inoculated disease was found to have a mildei A? AiUlPflA fKrt ? tVlQ Ttof 11 T*Q 1 O f\T\ . ttliU SUU1 vet wutoc uuua buv uuwutui wu tagious small-pox. and showing a mortality of less than one per cent. while the other ranged from ten per cent, in its mildest to UO per cent, and higher in its malignant form. The inoculation process found its way from the Orieni into Europe by way of Constantinople, where it was openly introduced in the year 1701. The first inoculation in Eng land was performed in 1722, on thv daughter of Lady Mary AVortley Montague, wife of the British embassador to Constantinople. It was violently opposed at first, but gradually came into extensive practice and was also adopted in Continental countries. In America it was first practiced in 1021 by Dr. Boylston, of Boston. Inoculation, however, though it .served as a protection against the more fatal form of the disease, yet was an objectional process, as the contagion of thi disease was in no way lessened, and it thus became more widely spread. But in the year 171/8 the process of vaccination, or inoculating with the cow-pox, was shown by Dr. Jenner to be a thorough procection against smallpox, and this method has since been used. It has proved an incalculable benefit to the human race. Smallpox, unchecked by e a _ i ^ c ii. _ vaccination, was me most iatai tu me zymotic diseases. With the aid of this practice, however, not only has its mortality been greatly lessened, but the disease can now be to a great extent controlled and even prevented. It is difficult to describe the symptoms of this disease so that an inexperienced person can recognize them. One who has seen one case, however, cannot fail to know another instantly. Whenever there is the least suspicion that there has been exposure to infection, a physician should bu consulted. The initial stage of the disease is usually ushered in by a violent chill, followed by a high fever, attended with vomiting and severe pains in the head and back. With a child, convulsions usually attend this stage, The eruptive stage is marked by the appearance of little red elevations of the skin, which come first upon the head and face, and alter a few hours begin to appear on the body and limbs. These feel at first #? * ..? l 1 1. -3 i.L. -I.!- J line nine nam seeus uuuer me smu, uuu by this characteristic may be known from eruptions of any other kind.? Chicago Inter-Ocean. Fat Men. To the student of ethnology few things are more interesting than the different views held by the eastern aud the western worlds on the subject of corpulence. In China corpulence is considered to be one of the most important qualifications for the holding of any public oitice. It is regarded as a physical virtue, which imparts dignity to the appearauce, weight to the judgment and solidity to the mind. In China the thin man is always moody and disappointed; he sees himself easily outstripped in the race of life by his stouter contemporaries, and, enraged at the unjust distribution of nature's gifts, he retires usually into obscurity and shuns the gaze of his fellow-citizens. Banting, except as a punishment for great criminals, is unknown in China. The most popular gods in the Chinese Pantheon are those remarkable for theii ~1.WJfli tie in Iviivmm lmtV fi i f. UUUdltJf' ? IT 11U liO Ki J a?w ?? fereiit it is! Daniel Lambert, whom the Chiuese would have seat to a province is a mandarin, we scut to a museum as a monstrosity. Byron's tendency to grow fat was one of the secrets of his melancholy. and the declining years of the irst gentlemuu in Europe were rendered niserable by that stoutness which even stays could not conceal. It is true that Shakespeare intended Hamlet to be fat, ,'eeling probably that it would be characeristic of such a lethargic nature, but nodern audiences are not leady to accept lat Hamlets: they prefer thin Ilamets, and even lean hamlets, and seem to jc of opinion that there is an artistic liscord between romance and rotundity. Vnd indeed it cannot be doubled tint his opinion is very widespread. The >ti 1 v instance to the contrarv that we ? il ~t lorlT, wllOW U1 IS 111 lilU Uil?U U1 it iaut "Iiu, uh >eing shown' the Apollo J'el via ere, renarkeil that she preferred "stouter tatuef," but this lady wa s from Chicago, tnd the idea of making bulk the test of >eautv is one purely American and is not is yet accepted in European orthotics.? Will Mall Gaztlte. Not Ashamed of his Calling. I'cter Donahue, who died recently in ;a:i Francisco, was worth *10,000,000. Ie began life as a blacksmith, and was lever ashamed of his humble calling. A lien he came to build a twenty-fivehousancl-dollar tomb or vault in Calvary cemetery, he placed upon the ront a huge bronze medallion, repre:enting in bas-relief a tremendous arm, vith a heavy hammer in the list, and inderneath the words. "Labor Omnia nneit," while over it was the single iame, "Donahue." His daughter is the vife of Baron von Schroeder, of Germany, and lives in Stuttgart. POPULAR SCIENCE# In Paris gaa is produced from water- Wi by passing a stream over glowing coke. Gas thus produced is said to be better ^ than ordinary coal gas. The Island of Arron, off the west coast of Scotland, is said to be so mild that , palms and camellias thrive in the open /<? air, without injury in the winter, although the latitude is that of the north- ' cm part of Labrador on this continent. ; White, the ^rorst absorber, is also the . worst radiator of all forms of radiant en- 3s|| ergy, and warm-blooded creatures thus -1-j ? i?11? --u1- +v.?. jV uittu arc i/citcr uuic IU wuuotoau severity of arctic cold, and hence the pravalence of white among arctic mam- fjSj mals and birds. Excluding Key West, -where southern Florida reaches into the tropics, the hot- ^ test part of the United States is the /:$l lower Rio Grande valley. The hottest point where regular "data are kept is Fort Ringgold, which has a mean annual temperature of seventy-four degrees. t ',: Next to Ringgold comes Laredo with seventy-two degrees, Brownsville seven- "$2| ty-two degrees and Fort Yuma, at the ' ^ mouth of the Rio Colorado, geventy-two ' :.^ degrees. A strong decoction of New Zealand flax ha9 been used with success by Sur- c-J geon-Major Monckton, of Kumara hospital, as a dressing in hundreds of cases, ' including lacerations and amputations. ' There is nothing to equal it, in Mr. 'Js Monckton's opinion, in promoting healthy granulation. The decoction has, in such a climate as that of India, a M strong tendency to fermentation, but this can readily be counteracted by the addition of about an ounce of an equal mix'ture of carbolic acid and glycerine to , each quart of tne decoction. Experiments on the sleep of fishes have been made in London by Mr.W. August $8 Carter. He has found that the fresli , -i JJ a\_ _ J waier nsues ouserveu?iae ruueii, uauvf gudgeon, carp, tench, minnow and cat- . tish? sleep periodically, like terrestrial animals. The same is true of some ^ marine tishes, such as the wrasse, 'conger & eel, dory, dogfish, wrasse bass, and all species of flat fish; but the goldfish, pike && and angler fish do not appear to sleep at \ i " ? all, although they rest periodically. The tSesire for sleep varies according to wea- V ^ ther conditions, and fishes do uot necea- y sarilv select night-time for repose. A study of statistical tables has made ^ it apparent that human life is decreas- ' ,. ing in quantity but improving in quality. ?at least in some parts of the world. An astonishing falling off in the births \-tfM in France has taken place since the be- || ginning of the centurj,the average nutn-v Xjffl ber of children per marriage having been reduced nearly one-fourth. But the v i average life has increased in length about"one-sixth. Similar results are ob? :,y tained in England, Austria, Prussia, v and other countries of advanced civiliza- . $ tion. Among inferior races births are Vj&smore numerous, and life is shorter. In general the lower species of plants and | animals are more fertile than the higher. The female of the white ant lays sixty a' ^ arrrra nnr minntp - a nilPPll hflft frnm S.flflfl """"" i ? -j ? 1 j t 'efS to (3,000 eggs annually. Invertebrates, ';>${ fecundity diminishes as we rise from fishes to reptiles, from reptiles to birds, "'1' ^ from birds to mammals. How Sing Sink's Convicts are Guarded. Sing Sing is a massive granite struc- -''-M ture, and absolutely fire proof, from the J bedrock of the Hudson river, on which. it is founded, to the iron plates which ' cover its roof. Built upon a little point running into the river, its three outer ^ sides are washed by the water to a depth of nearly fifteen feet. Close under the ' j; inner wall runs the track of the New J/jj York Central and Hudson River railroad, with a station a few .hundred feet from . the prison. The only entrance to the in- $ stitntion is over a big stone bridge, I which spans the track and gives the ap pearance of an ancient feudal castle, with its turrets and towers and huge walls in the distance and the moat in front spanned by a draw bridge. The entire prison is sun-minded by a , ^ high wall of solid masonry nearly twenty feet high and wide enough for a man to walk upon with ease. At short distances along these walls are little turrets with conical roots and sides of class. At cach corner is a turret, and from the wide windows the restless head of the guard is ever on the watch for - v.; some unwary convict who is so foolish as to attempt escape. Besides the men in the seniinels'little boxes another de- . ; tacliment of watchmen patrol the walls and walk with measured step, each carrying a sixtcen-shot repeating carbine. The qualification of these men is the , <;* accuracy with which they can shoot, and constant training keeps them in practice so that the smallest convict in the prison can be brought down by a rifleman at the most distant corner of the yard. ibis fact is well known to the prisoners, and not one ever thinks of risking himself to the fatal aim of the men on the wall. Among the 1,600 striped convicts at Sing Sing nearly every nationality is represented. No distinctions, however, are made, for black and white, old and young, are all put in together without discrimination.?New York World. . . The Richcst Copper Mine. The Calumet and Ilecla mine in the upper peninsula of Michigan is probably the richest and most prolific copper mine in the world. Discovered in 1805, it h:;s built up an industry in which over 2.000 men. and two flourishing towns of >.000 inhabitants find employment at all seasons. The dividend account exceeds S20.00U.000. It pays quarterly divi dends of ?."> a share on i00,000 shares. More than one-third of the entire copper of Northern Michigan has been taken from th;s mine, and a good share of the whole product of the globe. The total product of refined copper produce^ in 1832 was 28,000 tons. The Burra-Burra mine of South Africa, worked for twenty-one years, did not yield as much copper as was raised from the depths of the Calumet mine in the two years of 18S0 and 1881. It should be borne in mind that the only virgin copper comes from the Lake Superior mines, and not I coprer ores, which mines in other [ regions yield, which ores Have to be "treated" and reduced to produce copper.?Detroit Free Press. Spontaneous Hydrophobia. Dr. Dujardin Beaumetz has read before the Hygienic Society of Paris a paper on what he regards as a well established case of ''spontaneous hydrophobia" in a man aged twenty-nine, J Not only did all the symptoms which characterize that malady declare themj selves, but the matter taken from the I natient's bodv when he died communi cated it to rabbits inoculated therewith. The patient declared on entering tho Hotel Dieu that he had not been bitten or scratched by a dog,or any other animal, nor been in any sort of contact with, one. The body was minutely examined before and after death and the skin was everywhere intact.?London Xeics. \