The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, July 21, 1886, Image 3

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RELIGIOUS READING. Why? With fuch a grovelling heart how shall 1 dare Ask 1 h e, my Lord, to take Thy dwelling the:e? Because the Bethlehem stable Thou didst share. With restless passions, surging like a sea, How eau I think to tind repose for Tnee? Because Thy voice hushed stormy Galileo. With guilt's defilement strained witnouc, within, How may I hope Thy clensing grace to win? Because TIku saidst. "I have forgiven thy bias." With soul affect oris stony cold and dead, What claim have I to plead for life instead? Because in Joseph's tomb was laid Thy head. ?Margaret J. Preston. Two Kinds of Temptation. Young people arc in especial danger from temptation which may be classified as the gradually destructive and the immediately destructive; the former accomplish their work slowly, but none the less surely. Like the tide, they wear away the most durable substance by constant assault. Temptation to vulgarity, to lying, to meanness, to a low, coarse Ufe, arc like swarms of insects such as strip the orchard of its foliage and blosBoms, leaving it bare and desolate, or like parasitic plants, which derive their growth from the trees and plants about them. Such are the sapping, exhausting temptations of life that push their feeders out to lay hold on human hearts?to draw from goodness its vitality, and to rob manhood of its strongest and noblest elements. Temptations which are immediately destructive exist in frightful abuudance. They are swift flying arrows, aud the fall of so many weak natures shows how ?c tVinir nim Tr? nhanfre the u?.uv>ij .o W"-." - ofigure, they may be likened to the American plant known by the botanical name Dionea. It is endowed with strange destructive capacity. It is a malignant trap-like contrivance for the destruction of insect life. At its summit are two leaves joined together on one side and surrounded on the other sides with sharp sensitive bristles; It opens by day that it may be prepared to close upon the hapless insect that may even carelessly brush against one of its slender spirals; then suddenly closing it holds its prisoner in an unyielding clasp, pressing more and more closely together as the inspct strangles vainlv to escape, CO ? - till at last the captive, worn out by its exertions, falls dead in a receptacle at the bottom of the fatal interior. Then the plant again opens to repeat its work of death. "Wherever men and women seek toil or pleasure these temptations spring up around them, and once enfolded within their power escapc is as impossible as it would be through a wall of levelled bayonets. Only one power is a protecting shield, and that is divine. The One who can invest us with this power is familiar with all the arts, the seductions, the illusions of temptation. He knows it in the awful sweep of the malignity it inon/1 in thr* tnrriKlo sprint? of tllfci ? r- ? disaster it effects, and from his own radient throne he can bestow deliverance upou him who will manfully struggle for the mastery of self and the world. Trouble Docs Us UoSd. It was a dreary day in midwinter, and as we drove under the dripping Tennessee evergreens, I said, "How dismal everything looks!" Despite the flitting birds and numberless natural rockeries, spotted with orange and black, draped with soft gray lichens, and made gay by gorgeous mosses, it was dark and depressing. There happened to be no sunshine to illumine the d:izzle, and make pearls of the raindrops. Then the rough and tumble joltings, and the almost impassable mud! "We were half inclined to turn back and face homeward, but we pressed on, for we wished to visit an aged couple in the forest, and the neighbors told us we would find the old man pretty bad off. But there he stood in the door of the tidy cabin, leaning on his staff and welcoming us with a cheerful smile. It is no task to talk with a Christian almost home, about his lively hope and the happy exchange in prospect; a heavenly mansion for a cabin of logs. We f poke of the release of the soul from the crumbling tabernacle, and the exemption from earthly fliiflFWinrr and asked if rheumatism was ' among his ailments. "Yes, madam, that is one trouble, and my old lady there is right smartlj afflicted with neuralgia." "Indeed, in the head and face?" "My eye, madame," she answered, "1 have lost the sight of one entirely." "Ah! then, you cannot enjoy the papers I have brought you, perhaps you can see the beautiful pictures in them." "Oh yes, madam, I cau read with my other eye." "Yes, mum, if you'll believe it," said the husband, "she's up with the paper and down with it, and up with it again, till she's reading full one-third of the day, mum, with her one eve." "Well, I'm glad you can see at all," said I, "but you are afflicted." "Yes, madam, but trouble does us good. If I never had no trouble I shouldn't know how to behave myself." "You think uninterrupted prosperity dangerous ?" I said. tit- - ?j? ? 1,1 L t.:_i. "It's, uiituaui, we nwuiu yvt iujju- | spirited apd worldly-minded, and so anxious a gettin' things together, we wouldn't be thinking of what we had ought to, so I reckon it's all right." I reckoned so too, and was reminded of that abler, apostolic calculator who wisely reckoned, that the "sufferings of this present time arc not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.?Merry's. The soul of a true Christian is often like the sea, the surface of which is often so rough in storrr.s that it seems ail confusion, while yet at the same time, deepdown, there arc silent, placid deeps, untouched an unditurbed by the noisy surface troubles. So with the believer; to the eve of mere sense his outward life seem olten torn to pieces, and his mind tossed to and fro like a bark at sea, but deep down the peace of God reigns su- , preme in his heart. Ho cannot hush the I surfacc commotion, but his faith is secretly at rest in God. ? IK. Poole Rtlfern. An Appropriate Text. The minister was struggling to put on a four-ply collar and the perspiration was starting from every pore. "Bless the collar," he ejaculated. " Oh, yes, bless it. Bless the blessed coilar!" "My dear," said his wife, "what is jour text for this morning's sermon." "T- twenty - first verse f-fifty - fifth Psalm," he replied, in short gasps. "The w-woids of his mouth were s-smoother than butter, but w-war was in his heart." 1 IMAGE'S SEE* VOICES OF GARDENS ANI FIELDS. Text: " My l>eloved is uDto me as a clus ter of camphirn in tho viueyards of -Lngedi. ?Song of Solomon, i., 14. Solomon's Song has been considered by many as fit only For moonstruck sen ti meu talists, written by a voluptuary, th;; >tory ol a man crazed by a fair maiden, neither fit foi family prayers nor lor church. Indeed, we must admit thut there xvi-ro years in Solomon's life when h? had several hundred more wives thau he was entitled to, but ho repented of his sin, nud Uod c hose him t<> write some of Uih l?esi things about t'hri-.t- that have ever been written. Kesule that, I think tho crili-ism of modern tim?w upon the immodesty of the Bible twines wil.li i>oor snaco from a century in which the writ nigs of George Saud came to their fortietl editiou, ami Christians cannot get to the prayer meeting because they liavo tickets for places of amusement so depiavcd that they make "The Black Crook" resectable. I think, however, as far as 1 cau see in my stupidity, that there arc things turned out upon the community to day that bill fair to do more damage than the Song of Solomon. Hear, now, one of his fresh and fair <lo scriptions of Jesus. If I had twenty years to preach ( would like to employ ten of them [ iu bringing out to observation those representations of Christ that have as yet bwn passed by. Jdonotknow why the pulpit should hover over a few types of Christ when there are so many symbols of Jesus that have never been discourse d upon. Why should wo employ all our time in examining a few lilies when the Bible is a great garden lille l with fuchsias, and with daffodils, nud with amaranths, and evening primroses for the close I of life's duy, nun crocuses m mo root 01 me snow bank of sorrow, and heartsease for the troubled, un<l passiou-llowers phi tiled at. the foot of a cross, and morning glories spreading out uuder the splendors of the breaking day? Some years ago I discoursed to you about "the white hairs of Josus," and some of the newspapers supposed it was a inert faucy of tny own?the poor fools not buowing that in Revelations, tho tirst and the fourteenth, the Bible speaks of Christ: "His head and His hairs were whito like wool ? a? white as snow"?symbolizing (ho oteruity ol Jesus. Terrnced on tho side of tho mountain wGrw the vineyards of Kngodi. Oh, they are sweet places! From a shelving of tho mountain, 400feet high, waters camo down in beautiful baptism 011 the faces of tho leaves; the grape* intoxicate with their owii wiuo;nomegrunur.t* with juices bursting from the rind; all fruits, and llowers, aud aromatic woods-atnoDg the sweetest ol these the cam phi 10 {>lant of the toxt. Its Mowers are in clusters ike our lilacs?graceful,fragrant, symbolical of Jesus: for "my beloved te uuto mo ns a cluster of camuhiro from tho vinevards of eclipse after el lipse has pa-sed over our soul; but after awhile the Sun of Righteousness poured His beams upon our hearts, and wo cried: "The sun! the sun!" Beautiful dawn in the straw of Bethlehem Khan! Beautiful in His mother's shawl, a fugitive to Egypt! Beautiful with His l'eet iu the Galileau surf! Beautiful with the children liauging about His neck! Beautiful in the home circle of Bethany! Fairer than the sons of men; dayspring from on high; light for those who sit in darkness, rose of Sharon , lily of the valley ?altogether lovely! Oh! He is surh a sinpardoner, such a trouble-soother, such a wound-binder, such a grave-breaker, that the faintest pronunc iation of His name rouses lip the int ense of the garden, and all the perfume of the tropics; w hile the soul, in ecstasy of affection, cries out: "My beloved is uuto me as a cluster of camphire from the vineyards of Engcdi." But how shall I talk of the sweetness of Christ's pardon to those who have never felt it: of the sweetness of His comfort to those who have refused his promise; of the sweetness of His face to those who have turned their back upon His love I Now, a jjreat many peoplo may think this is merely sickly sentimental ism. Jonathan Edwards was a cool mun. He was hatsh in some of his opinions, he was never afflicted with any sentimental ardor, and yet, when the name of Christ was mentioned, it threw him into a transport, l'aul was a cool logician, wjiii nerves unsnaKen in me .mediterranean sbipwre-k, a granitic nature, comfortable with tho whole world against him, shaking his fist in tho face of the governments of earth and the forces of darkness; yet tho thought of Christ thrilled him, transported him, overwhelmed him. John Knox was uubeuditig in his nature and hard in some respects. The (lash of his indignation made the Queen shiver and the Duchess ijuake, yet he sat down as a little child at tho feet of Jesus. St'lomoo was surrounded by al! palatial splendor?his ships going out from Ezion-gebor on voyages of tbroo years, briuging tack all tho wonders of the world, his parks afloat with myrrh aud frankincense, and a rustlo with tress brought from foreign lands: tho traces of his stupendous gardens found by tho traveler at this day. Solomon sits down at this pla^e to think of Christ, the altogether lovely, and the altogother fair: and whilst settled there comes a breath of tho spices and aromatic woods, and of the blossoms in through the pa!a?e window, and he < rie< out: "M y beloved is uiito me as a cluster of camphue from the vineyards of Kng?*li" Oh, rich and rare, erqui*ite and everlasting perfume! l?et it in every poor man's windows; plant it on every grave; put its leave* under every dyiuz head; wreathe its blossoms ior every garland; wa ve its Lrakohes in f<--ery hom?: and when T nm nbrvit to die, and my hand lies cold and s-tiir and white Upon the pillow, let some plain and humiilo soul comeuud put in mydj ing grasp thi-. I*viug branch with cinders "of camphire fiom ftlm ,'iiiAviir.la ..F l.\,,r,.,ll '? It is many years now sinre T found the Lord, and I must in your presence toll you how good He has been to my soul. Often since then 1 have given Him a hard thrust in His sore side, but He has been patient with me by day and by irght. It is tho grief of my life that I have treated Him so badly, but He hus novor let me go. I have seen no wonderful sights, 1 have heard no wonderful sounds, I have no marvelous experience; it bas ln?en a plain story of |>aLiunce on 11 is part aud of uuwortbinesson my part Some of my dear friends bi-foxe me Lave bad inoie rapturous experience. Christ to thorn has been the eonn<|iierer on the white horse, or tho sun of righteousness, setting everything abla/e with ligbt; or the bridegroom, coming with lantern and torches. To me it lias been a very ouiet and undemonstrative experience. It has been something very sweet, but very still. How shall I describe it# 1 have it now: "My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camnhire from the vineyards of Eugedi." U., 1 TU Jr. /.omr.^Jra xjuw jl lujiioia luituat . jluio plant of the text " as a synilwl of Christ in the fact that it gives coloring. From tbe Mediterranean to the Ganges the peoplo of the East gathered it, dried the leaves, pulverized them, and then used them as a dye for beautifying garments or their own persons. It was that fact that gave the camEhire plant of the text its commercial value i tho time of King Solomon?a typo of my Lord Jesus, wlio beautifies and adorns and colors everything Ho touches. I havo no ! faith in that maus conversion whose religion does not color his whole lift*. It was intended so to do. IC a man has the grace of (?od in his | heart it ought to show itself in the life. There ou^ht to be this "cluster of cainj hire" in tho ln/l.rni? in flirt vnll Ap ffrtiWMmont cuMiriltnc in the medical prescription, in the law book! A religion is of no value to a merchant unless - it keeps him from putting false labels on his " goods; or to the plasterer, unless it keeps him from putting up a ceiling which ho knows will crack in six months; or to the driver, . unless it keeps him from lashing his horses to f eight miles an hour when the thermometer is p at ninety; or to the farmer, unless it keeps i him from putting the only sound pippins on the top of the barrel; or to the shoemaker, i uuless it keeps liim from substituting brown . paper for good leather in the soles. In other > words, the religion of Christ is good for everything or it is good for nothing. , The grace of God never afTe.ts us by piecemeal. If tfie heart is changed, the head i is changed, and the liver is chaugod, and the spleen is changed,and the hands are changed, i and the feet are changed, and the store is i changed, and the house is changed,and every VUIUg U * Ci nuitu nun I1CM ?u_y iuiiuuiru comes to a complete anil radical change. Tlie religion of the Lord Jesus Chr st is not a pot of hyacinths, to be set iu a parlor bay window for passers-by to look at and to be exi amined by ourselves only when we hav? company, but it is to be a perfume filling all the room of the heart as "a cluster ol i camphire from the viueyards of Engedi.' l The trouble is men do not take their religion with them. The merchant leaves it outside the counter, lest it disturb the goods. Tha housekeeper will not let her religion trail its i robes in the kitchen on washing day. The philosopher will not let his religion come in amid the batterie.-, lest it get a galvanic i sho.-k. But I tell you unless your religion onea wihh vr>ii everywhere. it poes nowhere. 5"hat religion was intended to color all the heart aud tho lifo. i But, mark you, it was a bright color. For i the most part it was au orange dye made of this cauiphire plant, one of the most brilliant of all the colors: and so the religion of Jesus Christ casts no blackness or gloom upon the soul. It brightens up life; it brightens up i everything, 'ihere is no more religion in a ! funeral than there is in a wedding; no more religion in tears than in smiles, David was i no I ettor when ho said he cried out of the i depths of hell than he was when he said i that his mouth was filled with laughter ! and his tongue with singing. The best men that I have ever known have laughed the loudest. Religion was intended to brighten up all our character. Take out the sprig of [ cypress from your coat and put in 4'a cluster | ot campiiire from the vineyards of Engedi." , IMigion's "ways aro ways pleasantness, and J all her paths aro |ieace." I have found it so. lilt-re are nunureas in mis nouse wuu mtvu found it so. i 1 remark again, that the camphire plant of the text was a symlml of Jesus Ch i>t bo! causo it is a mighty restorative. You know that there is nothing that starts respiration ! as soon in one who has fainted as camphor, as we have it. JPut upon a s|>ongo or handkeri chief, the effects are almost immediate. ! Well, this enmphire plant of the text, though somewhat different from that which we have, was a pungent aromatic, and in that I respect it becomes a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the mightiest of restoratives. I have carried this camphiro plant into tbo sick room, after ! the doctors have held their consultation and said there was no hope and nothing tnoro could be done, and the soul brightened up under the spiritual restorative. There is no lever, no inarasnu*, no neuralgia, no consumption, no disease of the body that the grace of C?od will not help. 1 wish that over every bo 1 of pain and through every hospital of distress we might swing this "cluster of camphire from the vineyards of Kngedi." Christ's band is the softest pillow, Christ's pardon is the strongest stimulus, Christ's comfort is the mightiest anodyne, Christ's salvation is tho grainiest restorative. It makes a man mightier than his physical distress Art thou wary? Art thou languid? Art thou sore distressed "Come with me," saith One?"and coming, I e at rest." Tf f nek Him to lwrnve mp. will he sav me nay* Not till earth and not till heaven pass awnjr. Finding, following, keeping, struggling, "is IIo s ire to bless? Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs, answer? yes! Nero tarred and put pitch upon the Chri3tiuusof Lis day, and then set them on lire, that they might illuminate the night round about the palace, but, while they were burning, and the crowd beneath were jeering, louder than alf the noise went up the song of praiso and triumph f, o the dying martyrs. John Bradford cameo.it in presence of the instrument of torture that was to put him to death and said: UI am a Christian now; I have never bpen before." And so again and again the lion of Judah's tribe has torn to pieces the wild beasts of martyrdom. This gra< e is also a restorative for the backslider. Who do you mean by that J yon say. I mean you who used to frequent the house of God, but seldom go there now; you wbo ouce used to pray, but never pray now; you who once sat at the holy communion, but take uot the Lord's cup now; I mean you who once rejoiced in Christian society, but now sit among srofTers. Backslider! Oh, i what a suggOitivo word! Backslider! From what have you slid back? You have slid back from your father's faith, from your early good habits. You have been sliding back from Christ., from the cro.->s?sliding Lack from Heaven. When a man begins to slide he knows not where ho will go. You have beeu - - 1 1- ? --,1 -vr?? S J 1(1111 & UttUIV IUV1QIU UUIAUCW. x vu uc? V c W1.U sliding back toward an unblessed grave, toward a precipice, the first ten million miles of which downward are ouly a small part of the eternal plunge. You were, perhaps, professors in the country; you have made shipwreck in the town. It way be that the club blasted you; it may be that fashionable society destroyed you; it may be the kind of wife whom you married. You have no more hope for Heaven now than if you had lived in Central Asia and never heard of Christ aud the judgment. Oh, where is that Bible you used to read' Where is that room where you used to pray? What have you done with that Jesus whose voice you ouce heard? Oh. murdered hours! Oh. masiacTid privileges! Oh, dead opportunities! Wake up now and shriek in tuat man's ear until he shall rouse himself from the horrible somnambulism, walking, as he does, fast as'eep, within au inch of hell. Oh, that he miirht cry out now: "Golden Snbl.aths, come back! Communion seasons, come back! "W'ooiugs of the Holy Ghost, come back!" But they will not come. Gone, gone, gone! Soitow . will come, but not they. Oh, that you might save the few remaining years of your life and consecrate them to Christ! I have seen sad sights?I have heard sad sounds; but I tell you the ghastliest thing outside the gates of the iJamnod is a backslider's deathbed, Do you not feel like having applied to your ?-o\il this divine restorative/ Do you not feel like crying out with David: "Restore unto me the joys of thy salvation?' For great sin, great pardon; for deep wounds, omnipotent surgery; for d af ears, a divine aurist; for blind eyes, a heavenly oculist: for the d?ad in sxn, tha upheaval of a groat resurrection. hut in the heaves ily world we shall feel tho chief restorative power of religion. This is a planetof weeping we are living on. Wo enter upon life with a cry aad leave it with a Jong s:gh. If 1 could gather up the griefs of this au dience and put them in one sentence and then it. it wmi1>] innkrt cvervthinz between here and the throne of Godshuddr and howl. The earth is gashed di-ep with graves. As at the close of the war, sometimes we saw a regiment of one hundred and fifty men, the fragments of th> thousand n eu that went out, so, as I stand before you, I cannot but realize the fact that you are the fragments ivpiosentiug lumdreds of regiments of joyful associations that have boon broken up forever. Oh, this is a world of sorrow! But, hlessod be God! there will l>e no sorrow in heaven. The undertaker will havo to have some oth.T busiuoss there. In the summer time our cities will have bills of mortality which are frightful?sometimes in New York a thousand deaths in a week; sometimes it has been two thousand in London; but in that gVeat heavenly city there will not l.e a single casj of sickness or death; no: one black dress of mourning, but plenty of white robes or joy: nannsuaiung 01 ?? coino, but uone of separ ation. Why, if ouj trouble should attempt to enter Heaven, the shining police of the city would put it under everlasting arrest. If all the sorrows of life, mailed and sworded under Apollyon, should attempt t? force that gate, one company from the tower would strike them back howling to the pit Room ; in heaven for all the raptures that ever knocked at tho gate, but no smallest annoyance, though slight as a summer insect. Doxology, but no dirge. Banqueting, but nO "funeral baked meats. ' No darkness at all, no grief at all, no sick* uess at all, no death at alL A soul waking ' up in that pla>j will say: "Cau it bo that I am hero? Will my head naver ache a?ain? Shall I uever stumble over a grave again? Will I never say goodbyo to loved ones again? Can it be possible that the stream is , past, tliat the bank is gained, that the glory is begun? Show me .Jesus that I may kiss His feet.'' When the cl' ckof Christian suffering has run down it will never be wound up a;;ain. Amid the vineyards of the hnnvrmlv Kncidi. that will be restoration withoutauy relapse. That will be day with- f out any su 'reeding night. That will bo "the i saints' everlasting rest." TEMPERANCE DEPARTMENT. I What a Jfng Did. ( "Why is my home so shabby and old, At every crsvice letting in cold, I And the kitchen walls all covered with mould?" I If you'll allow me to be so bold? Go ask your jug I 'Why are my eyes so swollen and red? t Wheuce this dreadful j>ain in my head? Where in the world is our nice feather bed. And the wood that was piled up in the shed!" < Go ask your jug! I "Why is mjr wife broken-hearted and sad? Why are iry children never now glad? Why did my business run down so Dad ? a. xi 1.1 T 11 ? Jiw ?r uy m mj mwuguuj am x wtm-wg uiaur Go ask your jug! "Oh, why do I pass the old church door I Weary of Leartaud sadly foot sore, | Every moment sinking iown lower, , A pitiable outcast evermore?" Go ask your jug I J Boycott Strong Drink! ( If the timely and important message 1 of the official head of the Knights of j Labor to 'boycott strong drink" could , be at oncc heard and heeded by every I working raan and woman, in all depart- 1 ments of industry throughout the coun- j try, a greit step forward would be taken ^ toward a practical solution of the other- i wise difficult and confessedly dangerous labor problem. Mr. Powderly affirmed J a fundam?ntal truth when he declared: 1 "The firmest link in the chain of op- | pression is the one I forge when I drown i manhood and reason in drink." Other wrongs there are to be righted undoubt- , edly, but the oppression which strong | drink begets in wasting the substance ) and therefore increasing the helplessness ! and dependence of the wages portion of j Bociety is great.r than that of any and all other monopolies combined. There is no waste at nil comparable with the drink waste in the nation. ' The costly saloon system of the coun- ! try draws the lil'e-blood very largely from workingmen. Of the 180,000 retail ( liquor-dealers and saloon-keepers work- I i igmen chiefly are the supporters. It f would probibly be below their actual re- , ceipts to estimate the annual income of | these 18X000 saloon-keepers at an average of $o,000 each. This would give the enormous aggregate of$S)09,000,000 a year paid to retail liquor-dealers only. Among the very wealthy patrons of "wine and liquor merchants" the trade in stocking wine-cellars and providing other costly liquor supplies is presumably largely with the wholesale dea'ers, who are not included in the above pccount. Among the''wealthy monopolists" and ''bloated bond-holders" of the period are notably members of the "whisky ring" a:;d the ' millionaire brewers." Where do these colossal fortunes come from? A careful analysis would show that to a very large j extent they have been contributed from ] oftMiinffQ nf nrftflrmfrmon nnwiaftlv tUU (/UlUlUgU V* II V/A 5 } M**l? WVIJ expended in the 150,000, more cr leas, drinking' saloons, of which they have been the especial patrons. Of course, no one can eat his cake and have it too. Workingmen cannot pay drink at:d tobacco b:lla aggregating hundreds of millions of dollars and, upon eight or ten hours a day wages even at what would be considered advanced j rates, have much money left to buy and furnish homes, to clothe their families, and educate their children. In his "Worse than Wasted," based upon the official census reports of 1880, and pub- i lished by the National Temperance Society, Dr. Hargreaves shows that the wages paid in 1880 for all mechanical and manufacturing industries wan $947,953,795. lie estimates that during the same period $733,816,495 were spent for strong drink. This value of some of the a manufactures for 1830 is given as fol- f lows: Textiles, $437,502,299; articles of wear, $482,047,461; boots, $196,020,481; cotton goods,$210,950,383; woolen, $160,606,72:1. It will be seen that the aggregate value of all the bosts and shoes and cotton and woolen goods combined was nearly $2,000,000 loss than the drink bill for that year. The value of the food and food preparations for 1880 was about $964,335,000; not much more than, if as much as, the cost, direct and indirect, of strong drink to the nation. Could the worse than wasted millions j be saved to workingmen and their fami- j lies?and total abstinence would do it? I it does not require an expert in political * economy to see that legitimate business! ^ in other branches of manufactures and t trade would inevitably be greatly bene- i fited thereby. In the proportion that the drink-traffic flourishes general btisines:; prosperity must saner, jxot only is tne money spent for drink worse than wasted; ' the akill and efficiency of workincrmcrt : depreciate under the influence of ttm drink, till finally thousands and tens oi thousands become worthlesss, helpless, dependent,andatax upon the public treas- * ury. 13y all ir.eans let the labor watch* s word and rallying-cry henceforth bu "Boycott Sthong Dhixk!"?National < Tcmperanee Adwaite. Chicago papers are ciphering out the cost of supporting their 3,500 liquor. 1 saloons. The city license is $500 each, \ or $1,700,000; Government tax $25 1 each, or $87,500; rent at $000 each, or f $2,100,000; support of five persons, each < $400, or $7,000,000; sundries at $200 I each, or $700,000; first cost of liquor , $11,0:>7,500, making an annual total cf j J $23,275,000. "VVho payd the bill/ < The sixteenth annual convention of the Catholic Total-Abstinence Union of ' America will be held in the University of j Notre Dame, Indiana, on Wednesday and Thursday, August 4 and o ne?t. ] " AGRICULTURAL. I rOPICS OP INTEREST RELATIVE TO FARM AND GARDEN. Snccessful Poacli-Growinff. The conditions of success in peachjrowing as concisely stated by "Michigan Horticulturist," are: 1 An Alovntflrt lnonkinn that is not lubjected to late frosts in the spring or sa.:rly frosts in the fall. 2. A warm and moderately fertile soil .hat is well drained by nature. Artificial irainage may prove successful, but its itility has not yet been fully demonstrated in this region. 3. Thorough cultivation, without mature, until the trees come into bearing; ;hen combine the two so as to supply all ihe depletion produced in the soil by jiowth of trees imd f.uit. 4. Never let a tree overbear. 5. Continue cultivation until tho close jf the dry season every summer, even if It continues until September. Guineas on the Farm. Guineas are profitable for the reason .':.at they cost almost nothing to raise, "hey prefer to seek their own food in the ields, and seldom come home for food as icng as they can find a supply for them wives, as u ruie uiey uiiue, auu ji, is just, therefore, to have the sexes equal, rhe hen steals her nest, but cannot re,ain from making a noise when she :omes off, which betrays her to the ivatchful faimcr. Guineas are valuable farms where the range is wide,as they ilestrcy a very large number of insects sad do not scratch up seeds. In fact, a [lock of twenty guineas will consume a lumber of insects so large as to almost jnpear incredible, as they are active and !> ways searching. They also consume ;;rass and young weeds, as well as the Beds of undesirable plants and grasses, ['he hens lay about 125 eggs a year, cspejially if they are taken from her bofore ihe begins to set. The flesh of a guinea n rather dark, but juicy and of a "gamey"' 3avor. They may be raised to remain near the hou-e by placing the eggs under i.ens, and add a few chicks to the brood tfhen the young guineas are hatched, rhey will learn from the chicks and soon lecotne tame and accustomed to the same b.nb!ta as the chicks, growing up with hem. The eggs require four weeks for Qcubation, and are usually hatched under hens in the poultry house. m rur luiiiuiucn. Whether you plant your seed iii beds mcl afterward transplant to rows or sow four seed in the drill and afterward thin jut, you should, in either case, have your ground well manured, but deeply plowed >r spaded. Spading is better for a small sed. The tomato is not as voracious as tome other plants, but it will not do nuch without liberal "feed." Any good nanure, such as stable, cow lot, fowllouse, or a compost of all these, will answer, or any commercial fertilizer will loubtless do. Having been liberally spread upon the lurface before the ground is plowed or pad3d, it becomes well mixed with the loil when it Ss being prepared for planing. A very common error is made by roung and inexperienced farmers and rardeners in supposing that manu'e will 3o the most good if applied directly to ;he roots of the plant. When this is done ; t causes the plaut to "fire"'or "burn" ] vhen hot, dry weather sets in. Hence the necessity of having your nanure thoroughly incorporated with the loil before planting, because the soil? 5 nost soils at least?readily absorbs noisture, and when the naturally dry nanure is well mixed with the soil it too , jecomes moist, and is then available as ; plant food. ; A correspondent writes: "I sow tomato >eed both in beds for transplanting and , ilso in rows or drills. The reason I low tome in a bed is to insure against a >ad stand in the drills. Another reason , s that when the plants in the beds are ip four or five inches I pick out tbe most ! obust and plant in my select rows. I lave a bed and a select row for each vari- , sty I plant; generally from three to four cinds. The'next largest and best plants 1 [ use in filling up any vacancies that may ' >ccur in my drilled plants. Not many ( acancies occur, usually, unless the plants J ire badly eaten by insects, and I have jever yet been troubled to any great exent, bv them. In fact, the large green omato worm is the only enemy my jTlants lave ever had, and he has never been ' lumcrous enough to do much damage. 1 "The select rows above mentioned are 1 hose from which I pick my table toma- j ;oes??. e., those for slicing and eating ' aw. I also select- the very best specinens from these rows for seed. "Tomato seed, like all small seed, 1 ihould be covered very shallow and not 1 lown too thick. Transplanting should ' >e done, if possible, on the afternoon of i rainy day; the nearer the night the ] >etter. The plants should stand from t ;wo and a half to three feet apart, in ! ows of that width. Like most other j regetables they should be kept clear of i veods and grass, and the ground should < je stirred frequently with a hoe, garden i >low or small horse plow. Some tomato amateurs trim their vines 1 lown to only two or'three limbs, thus ' orcing the entire strength of the plant j nto those limbs. This method gives few 1 cmatoes, but very large and luscious I rim my selcct plants a little, but net to ; ho extent that I have seen others do. I :ut off from one-third to one-half the ( imbs, perhaps, and do not let the plants , jrow much over two feet high. This j )lan gives me very large and fine fruit, ; hough not quite so large probably as < .,1*nmninflf iu fnllntt'Pfl TJUUIC fOlJ V-IV.JU iw ?v..w ??%?, . ITet the greater number of tomatoes more han compensate for the slight difference ( n size." ( Farm and Garden Notes. Barbed wire make3 a good fence to itop swine. Remember that stock need an occasonal relish of salt. Cows ought to be milked with great egularity for best results. , A Texas paper says the use of quinine imnimn fotrnr liiQ ro. I Ul Utbt'lC 1U ov,vnmuin/u AVf VI uitw ?V lulted satisfactorily there. The advice to put a cow before calving m short rations to prevent milk fever is ; Dad. The food should ba regular, not , ,'oiced. Calves kept gaining vigorously through he first year are worth at the end twice is much as ethers that have been retarded in growth. In feeding you want to notice that iomc animals are more dainty as to their 'hoicc than others. Their likes should je respected. Irregularity in salting will not conduce to the laying on of flesh. Especially in lairving will irregularity in salting show in the Hiilk. The best bred stock costs the most iioney, but its produce brings a great leal more than the produce of that which Is badly bred. Vigorous growth of plantaisthe best anr-iinst. irvafiot snsmlpA and [J I VIVV/K-VU t.Qv..?w. ' " . . ' ' " ' . . .- - " - lr . V " timely cultivation comes iu a most effective auxiliary force. Trees in a cultivated field are troublesome, but where thej are not numerous they arid enough to the beauty of the landscape to compensate. Direct separation of the butter from milk by means of electricity?a French : ? ? 11 1.1 A. mveuLiuu?la baiu tu ut* uuc ui uus imeai patent French processes in dairying. A soil but five inche? deep cannot be worth as much as another that gives fiee scope to the roots of plants to whatever depth they may penetrate in search of nutriment. A second brood of currant worms usually makes its appearance just as the fruit begins to ripens, and it is quite as injurious to the crop as the first if not promptly destroyed. Roots of plants that go by choice ten or twelve inches in the soil, fail to brine up full support when they are restricted to four or five inches, by reason of impenetrable earth beneath. It is said that oalves begin to form cuds and ruminate a? soon as they ere allowed on the pasture, and three months is soon enough to allow them to do so, or the result will be scours. Public water troughs, it is claimed, are places at which infectious diseases are spread; hence the water should always ba flowing in them, instead of turning it on only when wanted. It is said that the best mode of using sulphur about plants, in order to destroy insects, is to sprinkle it on the ground during a warm day, when it will prove beneficial without injuring the plants. Any farmer who can command an even temperature below 60 deg., with cleanliness, can make "gilt-edged" butter. If j.u. <rn ~ tut; leujjjuraiurc hjuuucs i vj uug. uuuu^ transportation the gilt-edge becomes guilt-edge. A cold, damp soil, with a hard impervious subsoil, is not suitable for a garden, and before it can be properly utilized should be well drained. For garden purposes, if the tile drain has been laid, the trenching system is best for such soils. Any method that permits it to rid itself of surplus moisture, and allows the air and heat to enter, will be beneficial. The same care in the selection for seed should be made as with the other plants. Productiveness, maturity and form are fully as important as size. All plants intended to produce seed for another sea son's crop should not only be selected but planted away from other varieties. Sweet corn growing in the neighborhood of field corn will be ruined for seed the succeeding year. Moss on trees is a sign of low vitality and poor culture. It is most common on old tree3. Where thick it may be scraped off and the bark washed with weak lye. Then thorough manuring will cause new bark to grow and no more moss will appear. Rough bark on old trees, if not overgrown with moSs, should not be scraped off. It serves a valuable purpose in some varieties for protection. A smart tenm turning a good furrow in spring, either stubble or sod, should be able to turn over one and a half to two acres. When larger days' work than this are reported it is usually at the expense of the team, or perhaps of the plowing. So much depends on the character of the work in fitting the land that a poor plowman should not be tolerated, however large a day's workhemay claim to bo able to no. Wheat should be fully five weeks from the time the ears first appear before being ready to cut. Oats will fully ripen in four weeks after earing, and barley in three. If thc-e periods are much shortened it indicates that the grain is hurried into ripening by hot, dry weather, and it will likely be not very heavy. But excessive moisture at earing time, such as is common in England, is even more injurious than drought. Tt i? rliffimilfc to tro on a corn field with teams and wagons without injuring the crop more than any manure applied after it is planted will benefit it. A dressing of ashes and plaster when plants are small is all the after-manuring possible. With corn, however, more than with any other crop, tillage is manure. Thorough cultivation will develop plant food in any soil fit to grow corn, and will be all the more effective if the field has been manured before planting. Bathe the horse's shoulder with cold water or brine as quick as the collar comes off, before the sweat begins to dry, and rub off the collars and saddle pieces with i moist cloth. This will prevent sore shoulders. All changes of food should be gradual, but in proportion to the WOTK. I'lCavilj lUACU lauatico Uiaau 3cmand3 on the stomach, hence, increase the food after work begins, never in anticipation. A horss fed up before he is called to work gets soft and fat. In growing hay for market it always pays the best to grow a good quality. It should not only be free from weeds and small bushes, but also from all meadow trasses. A few pounds of meadow grass in a load of hny will often make a differ3nce in price of several dollars a ton. It is also very important that hay should bo well cured, so that it will come out bright and sweet; hiy cured so that it will come out smoky i* hard to sell at a greatly reduced price, especially if to be FnH t.ft horses. Some wreds are a sign of poor farming, and some of rich soil. The white or ox-eye daisy is, however generally found on land that has been run down so that clover and grasses will not ^row thickly enough to occupy the surface. Making the soil rich is the remedy. Of course the seeds, if in the land, will germinate in rich soil, but more valuable herbage will crowd it out. After a few years of thoroughly good farming little trouble is found from the ox-eye daisy, however injurious it may hare been at the beginning. A hog is a very difficult animal to doctor. It is obstinate, and when this takes the form of refusing to eat it is almost hopeless. The prcvalcnce of cholera among swine makes hog-keepers naturally suspicious of every disease, and if one pig is sick, no matter from what rnns/v no time should be lost in separat ing the others by removing them at once to a freJh pasture. If a pig is sick, look to the issues in its forelegs. If these nre closed they should be opened at once. No hog can be healthy unless these outlets for the removal of offensive matter arc running freely. Au Old Epitaph's Story. Of course, thiuking of doctors and their calling, one cannot forget that it is their disagreeable duty to deliver a lecture on the anatomy of many dead bodies obtained in a "dark, unseemly way," and this is the excuse for reproducing an epitaph from an old graveyard downtown almost lost sight of: The body snatchers they have come And made a snat h at me; It's very hard them kind of men Won't let a body be. Don't come to weep upon my grave And think that here I be; They haven't left an atom (J? ray anatomle! ?New York Herald. t ' t !"r"< r V.. '-V >'<- ^rZr ,Vt ^ % * jV' : ' >* THE HOME DOCTOB. Eating Just Before Bed Time. The ancient prejudice against eating just before going to bed is strongly condemned by modern science, experienco having shown it to be unfounded. There are exceptions to the rule, but few people are injured and many positively bene-? fitted by a slight repast before retiring. A. glass"of milk and a biscuit or cracker is better than any hypnotic drug to put one to sleep, and in most case3 may bo taken without fear of "nightmare" or any other form of distress, tioing to bed "on an empty stomach" is a good way to invite sleeplessness and ultimate Arrangement of the digestive organs and general health. ? Cultivator. Twelve Ways of Injuring the Health. 1. "Wearingof thin shoes and stockings on damp nights and in cool, rainy weather: "Wearing insufficient clothing, and especially upon the limbs and extremities. .; . .. 2. Leading a life of unfeeling, stupid laziness, and keeping the mind in an unnatural state of4excitement, by reading trashy novels. Going to the theatres, parties and balls, in ull sorts of weather v, in the thinnest dress; dancing till in a complete perspiration, and then going home witnout sufficient overgarments through the cool, damp night atr. 3. Sleeping on feather beds in seven by nine bed rooms, without ventilation at the top of ths window; and especially , with two or more persons in the same ;j small unventilated bed room. 4 Surfeiting on hot and very stimulate ing dinners; eating in a hurry, withov" half masticating the food, and eating hr>nrf.ilv hpforft tm'inrr tn bed. when th? mind and body are exhaused by the toils of the day and the excitement of tho evening. 5. Beginning in childhood on strong tea and coffee, and going from one step to another, through chewing and smok? ing tobacco and drinking intoxicating liquors, and personal abuse, and mental and physical excesses of other kinds. 6. Marrying in haste and getting an uncongenial companion, and living th? remainder of life in mental dissatisfaction, cultivating jealousies and domestic broils, and being always in a menttf. fer* ment. 7. Keeping children quiet rby giving paragoric and cordials, by teaching them to suck candy, and by supplying them with raisins, nuts and rich cakes; whoa ~ they are sick by giving them mercur* tartar emetic and arsenic, under the mls? taken notion that they are medicines and not irritant poisons. 8. Allowing the love of gain to absorb i oa aa 4-n looTTft nn finiA tA ftii UUI OV Ut3 bV 4VHT V uv Vi*uw ??. teud to our health; following an unhealthy occupation, because money can be made by it. fl. Tempting the appetite with bitten and niceties when the stomach says no, and by forcing food into it when nature does not demand, and even rejects it; gormandizing between meals. 10. Contriving to keep a continual worry about something or nothing; giving away to fits of anger. 11. Being irregular in all habits of sleeping and eating; too much, too many kinns of food, and that which is too " highly seasoned. 12. Neglecting to take proper care of ourselves, and not applying early for medicinal advice when disease first appears, but by taking celebrated ouack medicine* to a degree of making a arugshop of the body. llnnr tn Toll f!nnnti>rfpits. The United States treasury department has, of late years, adopted for bonds and currency a peculiar paper described below, and which is deemed a strongei protection against counterfeiters than that used by the Bank of England, which has recently been dangerously counterfeited in ?50, ?100 and ?500 notes. As the first issue of greenbacks, which were not printed on fiber paper, were most dangerously counterfeited, but have almost wholly disappeared from circulation, therefore receive them with great caution, or refuse them if in doubt about their genuineness. All other genuine greenbacks, gold and silver certificates and later issues of national bank notes are printed on tho government fiber paper: the first kind with the fiber distributed in short pieces, localized with a blue tint, detected by picking it with a pen; tho other witu the fiber in two parallel threads, red and blue silk, running lengthwise through the note, seen by holding the note up to the light. The public are cautioned not to draw these threads out of the paper. If in doubt about the genuineness of any bank note in the report, refuse it unlest printed or government fiber paper. All national bank notes not in this report are genuine, whether printed on government Daoer or not. The*counterfeit $10 and $20 silver certificates are not printed on government paper. Some of the counterfeit $5, $10 and $20 greenbacks (series of 1875) and $50 and $500 ("series of 1876) are an imitation distributed fiber paper. Very danijerous. These are aril the counterfeits oa the new greenbacks worth noticing. Better refuse all twenties, flftieJ and one hundreds on the banks in this report unless printed on the government paper. All genuine bank notes have brown back and seal, have both kinds of tho 61>cr paper combined; while the counterfeit $10, on the Third NatTonal Bank of Cincinnati, Ohio, aud the photographio ??4* nn thn Firufr National uuuucgiitib >ywj v?? ? Bank of Milwaukee, Wis., have no fiber. These two are the only counterfeits oa the brown backs. Better refuse all pieced notes. All United States currency h iving a brown 3eal has the parallel threads or cables. All United States currency printed since 1870 is on government fibre paper. There are in circulation a great many very dangerous counterfeit greenbacks, dated 1875. All the genuine of that date are on distributed fiber paper.? Detroit Free Press. An Angler's Paradige. In Alaska the salmon jam the estuaries and inlets so that the fish cannot move at all. "I have seen," says a writer in the American Angler, "the outlet ot Lake Loring, wnicn is a nvuieiiwo mues long and. two rods wide, connecting the sail water with the fresh, so choked with living salmon that if a plank were laid across the'r protruding baoks a man couW walk across dryshod. One can lift them out with his hands until ho is tired. It is almost impossible to thrust a spear or a boat-hcok into the mass, and, of course, a fish must come out whencvc* it is withdrawn. Bears take their opportunity to scoup them out with their great paws, and when tlioy have regaled themselves to satiety they retire to the adjacent thicket for a dessert of berries, which grow there in great abundance and variety. Of course, a great mauy salmon get into the lakes at every tide, but after e:ich recession muititudes are stranded, of which the lustiest flop back to thu ocean, while the maimed and hapless re* main dead on the denuded rocks.'' . "v. Eucedi." 1 will carry out 1 lie id' a of my tost, nnd in the first place show you that this < nmpliirc plant of the text was a symbol of Christ, because of his fragramo. Jf I had a branch of it, and should wave it in your midst, it would fill the house with its rodolence. The camphire.'as we have it, is offensive to some; but the camphire plant of the text has a fia granee gracious to all. The vineyards of Engedi lathe 1 in it?1ha branches, the buds, the blossoms dripping with sweetness, typical of the sweetuess of Christ. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds In a lxdiever'sear! It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, Aud drives away his fear. The name of Ca\sar means power; the name of Herod meaus cru e!ty; the name of Alexander means comjuest; the uaino of Demosthenes means eloquence; the name of Milton means poetry; the name of Benjamin West means painting: the name of I'hidias meaus sculpture;thenan.eof I.Vetb.ivenmeans music; the name of iToward means reform; but the name of Christ means love. Jt is the sweetest name that ever melted from lip or heart. As you open an old chest that has long been closed, the first thing that strikes you is the perfume of the herbs that wore packed amid the clothing; so there aro hundreds of hearts here w hich, if opeued, would fiiut oiler to you the name of Jesus. Have you m t seen Him.' Through the dark night of your sin has He not flashed upon your vision; J3eautiful when He co:ne> to save you. A little child wan. cryiug very much during the time of the eclipse. It got so dark at noon that she was afraid and kept sobbing, aud could not be silence 1 until after awhile the sum came out again, and she clapped her hands and said: "Oh, the sun! the suu!" Some of us have been in the darkness of our sin: