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"Ufa is a lest, And all things show it I thought so once, But now I know it." I thought how inapt that, in a plaoe of sepulchre, men should try their witticisms. A great Gorman having rejected Christ, in his last moment said: "Give me light, give me light!" Oh, we may be smart with our witticism about the last hour; but when it comes, and the tides arc rising, and the surf is beating, and the winds are howling, we will each one, my brethren, find for himself that it is "the swelling of Jordan!" Our natural courage wont hold out then. However familiar we may have been with scenes of mortality, however much we may have screwed our courage up, we want something more than natural resources. When the northeast wind blows off from the sea of death, it will put out all earthly lights. The lamp of the Gospel, God-lighted, is the only lamp that can stand in that blast. The ?tKaf. clioil nnf. Ka r " RET. DR. TALMAGE. i THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Subject: "The Swelling of Jordan." Text: "If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied, thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of /" Jordan f'?Jeremiah xii., 5. Not in a petulant, but in kindly terms I m'tst complain that a wrong has been done me and the cause of honest journalism by a pretended sermon that is going the rounds of hundreds of papers with my name appended; a sermon entitled: "Frauds Detected;" text, Numbers, Ch. 32, v. 23: "But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out." Not one sentence of that pretended sermon did I preach. If this were the only offense of the kind I would not speak of it. Such a fraud is not only a wrong to me but to the gentlemen who, at these tables, Sabbath by Sabbath, take accurate report of what is said and done; and is a gross wrong to the two thousand newspapers which give my sermon in full to their readers, and orten at great expense to themselves. The only fault I have to find with the newspaper press of this country is that they treat me too well. But I cannot be made responsible for entire sermons, not one word of which did.t preach I But now I turn from personal explanation to the more important subject of the text. Jeremiah had become impatient with his troubles. God says to him: "If yon cannot stand these small trials and persecutions, what ai-e you going to do when the greater trials and persecutions come? If you have been running a race with footmen and they have ! beaten you, what chance is there that you j will outrun horses?' And then the figure is changed. You know, in April and May, the 1 Jordan overflows its banks, and the waters ! rush violently on, sweeping everything before : them. And God says to the prophet: "If j you are overcome with smaller trials and , vexations which have assaulted you, what will will you do when the trials and annoy- ] anc? and persecutions of life come in a freshet?" "If in the land of peace wherein i thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how j wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?' I propose, if God will help me, in a very ! practical way to ask, if it is such a difficult wing to get along without the religion of Jesus Christ, when things are comparatively smooth, what will we do without Christ amid the overpouring misfortunes and disasters of life that may come upon us? If troubles, glow as footmen, surpass us, what will we do when they take the feet of horses? And if now in our lifetime we are beaten back and submerged of sorrows because we have not the religion of Jesus to comfort us, what will we do when we stand in death, and we feel all around about us "the swelling of Jordan?" The fact that you have come here,my brother, my sister, shows that you have some t things you believe in common with r - myself. You believe that there is a God. There is not an Atheist in all this house. I do not believe there ever was a real Atheist in all the world. Napoleon was on a ship's deck bound for Egypt. It was a brignt starry night, and as he paced the deck, thinking of the great affairs of the State and of the battle, ne heard two men on the deck in conversation about God; one saying there was a God and the other saying there was cone. Napoleon stopped and. looked up at the starry heavens, and then he turned to Ilins*? UICXA Jul tvuvuoauvu, CU1U &?UU. VJCULICT men, I heard one of you say there was no God; if there is no God. will you please to tell me who made all that?" Ay, if you had not been persuaded of it before, you are persuaded of it now- for the shining heavens declare the glory of God and the earth shows His handiwork. But you believe more than that; you believe that there was a Jesus; you believe that there was a Cross; you believe ; that you have an immortal soul; you believe Chat it must be regenerated by the spirit of God, or you can never dwell in bliss eternal. I think a great many of you will say that you believe it is important to have the religion of Jesus Christ every day of onr life, to smooth our tempers and purify our minds, and hold us imperturbable amid all the annoyance and vexations of life. You and I have seen so many men trampled down by misfortunes because they had no faith in Jesus, and you say to yourself: "If they were so easily overcome by the trials of life, what will it be when greater misfortunes come upon them?heart-breaking calamities, tremendous griefs?" Ob, if we have no God to comfort us when our fortune goes, and we look upon the graves of our children, and our houses are desolate, what will become of us? What a sad thing it is to see men, all unbelped of God, going out to fight giants of trouble; no closet of prayer in which to retreat, no promise of mercy to soothe the soul, no rock of refuge in which to hide from the blast Oh, when the swift coursers of trouble are brought up, champing and panting for the race, and the reins are thrown upon their necks, and the lathered at every spring feel the stroke of the lash, what can we do on foot with them? How can we compete with them? If, having run with the footmen, they i wearied us, how can we contend with horses? We have all yielded to temptation. We ! have been surprised afterward that so small an inducement could have decoyed us from ' the right How insignificant a temptation has sometimes captured our soul! And if that is so, my dear brother, what will it be when we come to stand in the presence of temptation that prostrated a David, and a Moees, and a Peter, and some of the mightiest men in all God's kingdom? How we are honest; but suppose we were placed in some path of life, as many of God's children have been, where all the forces of earth and hell combine to capture the soul? Without Jesus we would go down under it If already we have been beaten by insignificant footmen, we would be distanced ten thousand leagues by the horses. Ah, I dont like to hear a man I say: "I could not commit such a sin as that I cant understand how a man could be carried awav like that" You dont know what i.i n - j ui4. ?.M. V/\?i you couiuuu ii too grace ui <jruu itjiujuu. xuu know what John Bunyan said when he saw a man staggering along the street, thoroughly embruted in his habits. He said: "There fes John Bunyan, but for the grace of God." i can say when I see one utterly fallen: 1 "There goes DeWitt Talmage, but for the grace of God!" If we have been delivered from temptation it is because the strong arm of the Lord Almighty has been about us, and not because we were any better than they. It is a great folly to borrow trouble. If we can meet the misfortunes of to-day, we will be able to meet the troubles of to-morrow; but suppose now if through a lack of the religion of Jesus, we are overthrown by small sorrows, does not our common sense teach us that wo cannot stand up against great ones? If we cannot carry a pound, can we carry a thousand pounds? If we are discom- i fited coming into battle with one regiment, a brigade will cut us to pieces. If we are unfit | to cope "with one small trial, won't we be i overcome by greater ones? If the footmen are too much for us, won't the odds be more fearful against us when we contend with horses? I thank God that some of His dear children have been delivered. How was it that Paul could say: "Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, yet possessing all things?" And David, the psalmist, soars up into the rock of God's strength and becomes thoroughly composed amid all his sorrows, saying: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in the time of trouble; therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed, though the wnnn^inc Yux r?ncf. infr* t.hr> midst of tho though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountain shake with the swelling thereof. Selah." But my text suggests something in advance of anything I have said. We must all quit this life. However sound our health may oe, it must break down; however good our title may be to houses, land, and estates, we must 1 ' surrender them. We will hear a voice bidding us away from all these places. We will have to start on a pilgrimage from which've can never come back. We will have seen for the last time the evening star, aud watched the last summer cloud, and felt the breath of the spring wind for the last time. Hands of lovei ones may be stretched out to hold us back, but they cannot?go we must. About all other exits and chances we may trifle, but not about this. Stupendous moment of lifequitting. Oh, when the great tides of eternity arise about us, and fill the soul and surround it, and sweep it out toward rapture or woe, ah, that will be the swelling of Jordan!" I know people sometimns talk very merrily about the departure from this life. I am sorry to hear it. But men do make fun of the passage from one world to another. Byron joxed a great deal about it, but when it came . he shivered with horror. Many an infidel has W scoffed at the idea of fearing a future world, I but lying upon his pillow in the last hour his teeth have chattered with terror. I saw, in Westminster Abbey, an epitaph which a poet -ordered to be put upon his tomb: CU1U UUlUlUg uuuv JU^U ttvw w WM founded; the strongest oue rejecting that shall stumble and die. when the Jordan rises in its wrath, the first dash of its wave will swamp them for ever. "We feel how sad it is . for a man to attempt this life- without religion. We see what a doleful thing it is for a man to go down into the misfortunes of life without Christian solace; but if that be so, how much more terrible when that man comes face to face with the solemnities of the last hour! Oh, if in the bright sunshine of health and prosperity a man felt the need of something better, how will he feel when the shadows of tbe last hour gather above his pillow? It, in the warmth of worldly prosperity, he was sometimes dismayed, now will he feel when the last chill creeps over him? If, while things were comparatively smooth he was disquieted, what will he do in the agonies of dissolution? "If, in the land of peace in which he trusted, they wearied him, what will he do amid the swelling of Jordan?" Oh, I rejoice to know that so many of God's children have gone through that pass without a shudder! Some one said to a aying Christian : "Isn't it hard for you to get out of this worldr' "Oh, no," ho says, "it is easy dying, it is blessed dying, it is glorious dying:" and then he pointed to a clock on the wall, and he said: "The last two hours in which I have been dying, I have had more joy than all the years of my life." A general came into the hospital after the battle.aud there were many seriously wounded, and there was one man dying, and the general said: "Ah, ray dear fellow, you seem very much wounded. I am afraid you are not going to get well." "No," said the soldier: "I am not going to get well, but I feel very happy!" Oh, I have seen them, and i rrr\. A?f r\t fVllC lifft WlHlftllfc A fcftaP on their cheek! There was weeping a11 round the room, but no weeping in the bed: the cheeks were dry. They were not thrown down into darkness, they were lifted up. We saw the tides rising around them, and the swelling of the wave. It washed them off from the cares and toils of life; it washed them on toward the beach of j heaven. They waved to us a farewell kiss as they stood on deck, and floated down further and further, wafted by gales from heaven, until they were lost to our sight?mortality having become immortality: "Life's duty done, as sinks the clay, Light from its load the spirit flies; While heaven and earth combine to say, How blest the righteous when fc* dies!" What high consolation to you that your departed friends were not submerged in the swelling of Jordan! The Israelites were just as thoroughly alive on the western banks of the Jordan; as they had been on the eastern banks of the Jordan; and our departed Christian friends have only crossed over?not sick, not dead, not exhausted, not extinguished, not blotted out, but with healthier respiration and stouter pulses, and keener eyesight, and better prospects, crossed over, their sins, their physical and mental disquiet, all left clear this side, an eternally-flowing, impassable obstacle between them and all human and Satanic pursuit. Crossed over! Oh, I shake hands or congratulation with all the bereaved in the consideration that our departed Christian friends are safe! Why was there, years ago, so much joy in certain circles in New York when people heard from their friends who were on hoard the City of Brussels! It was thought that vessel had gone to the bottom of the saa; and when the friends on this side heard that the qxraA Mfolv in T.iVArnnnl had SWaUiOl JUWU Mi?ATWk m-m . v. r?_j we not the right to congratulate the people in New York that their friends had got safely across? And is it not right this morning that I congratulate you that your departed friends are safe on the shore of heaven? Would you have them back again? Would you have those old parents back again? You know how hard it was sometimes for them to get their breath in the stilled atmosphere of the summer; would you have them back in our earthly summers, or chilled of our winters? Would you have your children back again? Would you have them take the risk of temptations which throng every human pathway? Would you nave them cross toe Jordan three times. In addition to having crossed it already, cross it again to greet you now, and | then cross back afterward' For certainly you j would not want to keep them forever out of heaven. If they had lived forty or fifty years longer, would they have been safe? Perhaps so, perhaps not. "Pause and weep, not for the freed from pain, But that the sigh of love would pull them back again." I ask a question, and there seems to come back the answer in heavenly echo: "What! will you never be sick again?" "Never?sick ?again." What! will you never be tired again?" "Never?tired?again." "What! will you never woep again?" "Never?weep ?again." "What! will you never die again?' "Never?die?again." Oh, ye army of de- J parted kindred, we hail you from bank to bank! Wait for us when the Jordan of death snail pare ior us. tomo uu?u auu iuot? iu halfway between the wiliowed banks of earth and the palm groves of heaven. " On Jordan's stormy banks I stand, And cast a wistful eye To Canaan's fair and happy land, Where ray possessions he. 0, the transporting, rapturous scene That rises on my sight! Sweet fields arrayed in living green, And rivers of delight." But there is one step still in advance suggested by this subject. If this religion of Christ is so important in life, and so important in the last hours of life, how much more important it will be in the great eternity I need not stand here and argue it. There is something within your soul that says now, while I speak: "lam immortal; the stars shall die, but I am immortal." You feel that your existence on earth is only a small piece of your being. It is only a mile up to the grave, but is ten thousand miles bayoniL This slab of the tomb is only the milestone on which we read of infinite distance yet to be traveled. The world itself will grow old and die. The stars of our night will burn down in their sockets and expire. Tho sun, like a spark struck from an anvil, will flash and go out. The winds will utter their la3t whisper, and ocean heave its last groan; but you and I will live for ever! Gigantic ?immortal. Mighty to sufler or enjoy. Mighty to love or hate. Mighty to soar or to sink. Then, what will be to us the store, the shop, the office, the applause of the world, the scorn of our enemies, the things that lifted us up, and the things that ??? AAmn7 VITKot IaV>n Wnolflv nra p&TTXXTU uo uuuu; tf uau vu vvuti n w*wj M, w all the mobs that howled after him? What to Voltaire are all the nations that applauded him? What to Paxil, now, the dungeons that chilled him? What to Latimer, now, the tlames that consumed him? All those who through the grace of Christ reach that land, will never be disturbed. None to dispute their throne, thoy shall reign for ever and ever. But, alas, for those who have male no preparation for the futurel When the sharp-sh<xl hoifs of eternal disaster come up panting and swift to go over them, how will they contend with horses? Ana when the waves of their wretchedness rise up, white and foamy, under the swooping of eternal storms, and the billows become more wrathful and dash more high, oh what will, they do "amid the swelling of Jordan?" If I could come into your heart this morning, I would see that many of you, my dear friends, had vowed to be the Lord's. I know not what sickness it was, or what trial; but I verily believe there is not a man in the house but has sometime vowed he would ba the Lord's. It might have at the time when your child lay sick, you said: "Oh Lord, if thou wilt let this child get well, I will be a Christian." Or it might have been in some business trouble, 'when you have said: "0 Lord, if thou wilt let me keep my property, I will be a Christian." You kept your property, your child got well, the peril passed. Are you a Christian? History says that long ago it had been announced that the world was coming to an end, and there was great excitement in London. It was said that the world would perish on a certain Friday. On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the" people were in the cathedral. Dravimr and weeping. It seemed as If the whole English nation was b:lng converted to God, for it was announced as certain by philosophers that on that coming Friday the world would perish. Friday came, and there were no portents, no fires in the air. no earthquakes. The day passed along just like every other day, and when it was past and the night came, it is said that in London there was a scene of riot, and wassail, and drunkenness, and debauchery such as had never been witnessed. They forgot their vow, they forgot their repentance, they forgot their good resolutions. O, how much human nature in that! While trials and misfortunes come to us, and we are down deep in darkness and trouble we make vows. We say: "O Lord, do so, and I will do so." The darkness passes, the peril goes away. We are as we were before, or worse; for oh, how orten i have seen men start for the kingdom of God, come up to within arm's reach of it, and then eo back farther from Goi than they ever were before, dropping rrom tne very mount of their privilege into darkness forever! Oh, how ungrateful we have been! Do you know how much God has done for you and for me? Have you never felt it? How much He did for you to day I Who spread the table for you? Who watched you last, night? Who has been kind and good to you all your life long? Oh how ungrateful we have been! Methinks the goodness of God ought to lead this whole audience to repentance. I know not your individual history. Some of you I never saw before, some of you I will never see again; but I know that God has been good to you. What return have you made! iThere was a steamer on one of the Western lakes heavily laden with passengers, and there was a little child who stood on the side of the taffrail, leaning over and watching the water, when she lost her balance and dropped nto the waves. The lake was very rough. The mother cried: "Save my child! Save my child!" There seemed none disposed to leap into the water. There was a Newfoundland dog on deck. He looked up in his master's face, as if for orders. His master RAirl; "Trav. overboard, catch 'em!" The dog sprang into the water, caught the child Dy the garments, and swam back to the steamer. The child was picked up by loving hands, the dog was lifted on deck, and the mother, ere she fainted away, in utter thanksgiving to that dog, threw har arms around its neck and kissed it; but the dog shook himself off from her embrace, and went and laid down as though he had accomplished nothing. Shall a mother be grateful to a dog that saves her child, and be ungrateful to the Son of God who, from the heights of heaven, plunged into the depths of darkness, and suffering, and woe that he might lift us up out of our sin and place us on the rock of ages? Oh, the height, the depth, the length, the infinity, the horror of our ingratitude I Don't you treat Jesus like that any more. Don't you thrust Him back from your soul. He has been the best friend you ever had. You will want Him after awhile. When the world is going away from your grasp, and all the lights that shine on your soul are going out, and the friends that stand around you can do you no good, and you feel your feet slipping from beneath you?oh, then you will want Him?the loving Jesus, the sympathetic Jesus, the pardoning Jesus?to stand close by you, and hold you up "amid the swelling of Jordan;" In the Cleveland Common PleM Court, "William Fulton, a wealthy farmer, sued for divorce from his wife. Three yoars ago he was married to hia present wife, and, barring a honey moon of three months, he says he has had to jump around lively ever since. Mrs. Fulton's attorney questioned the husband, and the following interesting "bull" story was brought out, amidst great laughter: "Now," asked the lawyer, "didn't you keep a ferocious bull to scare your wife with ?" "I kept a bull," responded Felton, "but I had to. I could not sell him; he was cross; but I never thought of using him to Jcare my wife." "What did you keep him for?" "Well, I used him as a sort of bank, or rather I made him guardian of my private papers. Nothing was safe about the house,and I couldn't keep a thing from my wife. All my personal papers I tied up and put them in the bull's manger, a little ways above his head. They were pretty secure there, as it wasn't safe for any one on the farm except myself to go near the animal. Mrs. Fulton threatened continually to burn the house, ? a r ? j _*i. | ana x lusureu it, uemg uei*Mimueu lu save mvself from loss. The insurance | papers were taken care of by the bull in the same manner. He was a pretty handy bull," A recek'j London paper publisher what purports to be a Thibetan lama's explanation of the reason why hii countrymen and oo-religionists shut the gates of their country against European missionaries. "They say," remarked the lama of his people, "that Europeans have a good religion which they do not generally practice, and yet wish to force on others whose religion is as good and is practiced. The Europeans are believed to be full of greed: for, living in a rich country, they always acquire other nrn r\ Ttk i'ia fliov follr nf illai'i* WUUUiiCOj UUU) nuuv V?*m*m ?uvm benevolent purposes, they destroy animal life every day for their own food, thus becoming clouded in calm intellect and in the perception of true morality. They also think their religion, language, and customs the best. If we were to think so of ours, it would be considered by us a deviation from the path. Among the nine rules for conduct W6 are directed never to suppose, much less to say, that our religion is the best, considering that sincere men of other religions are deeply attached to them, and, on that account, do good to others. All we can do ii also to do good and not to criticise the good of others." The Berlin court jeweler has just mado a necklace for the Empress oi Japan. It consists of 600 diamonds, all being mounted a jour, and forming a riviere, bracelet and brooch, the latter of which is crowned bv nine splen did solitaire, tlie center one weighing twenty carats, and being worth ?1,000. In the riviere are 150 large diamonds and numerous small ones, which have caused great trouble and expense to procure of equal color and brilliancy. The whole set is valued at about ?45,000. Formerly ii was not the custom to wear diamonds at the Japanese court, pearls alone being allowed. Two samples of whisky were lately purchased in "Worcester, Mass., the Spy says, at the instigation of a local clergyman, who had them analyzed. One was from a prominent drug-store, the other from one of the lowest dives in town. Both, the report says, were alike vile, and so near alike that only an expert could distinguish one from the other. The weather is ?o warm in New York that one of the papers speaks of "roasted chestnut man." TEMPERANCE. As Sure as the Tide*. Fortune and friends and all things fair, Ht ld with never such pride and care, Will slip from his grasp like grains of sand, If he hold a cup in the other hand. All that is lovely and good will flee, As :sure as the tides go out to sea. Ruin will come by sure degrees, Sorrow and pain, and foul disease Will palsy the hand to its finger-tips, Tha t carries a cup to the waiting lips. Remorse will come in the years to be, As sure as the tides come in from sea. Wr>;cks of fair hopes will strew life's shore, Paiiions like wreeKers still lure on more, For the wakened fiend will not be still Till it shadows reason and shrivels will, Till despair as a constant guest abides, As snire, aye as sure, as the ocean tides. ?Anna J. Grannis, in Voice. Wine and Beefsteak. Dr. Crosby asserts that the man wh?? can afford to drink claret with his beef steak and does not is foolish. "Well, ho has a right to his opinion. We neve:1 heard of any man becoming foolish by eating beefsteak without wine, but wo know that lots of people have become foolish by using wine without beefsteak. On the whole, we will risk the beefsteak alone when we get it.? Witness. Six W. C. T. U. Prize Banners. The National W. C. T. U. offers u prize banner cach to the New England. Middle, Southern and Western State Unions which, during the current year, show the largest percentage of increase in their respective sections. A banner will also be awarded the State Union showing the largest percentage of increase among the States beyond the Missouri. The Territorial Union having the greatest proportionate growth will be entitled to a banner. The prizes will be presented at the next National Convention, to be held at Nashville. In the competitions for the banners, all regular and honorary members of tho W. C. T. U.'a and of the young women's unions are to 1. A - a ue countea. How to Win. The temperance reform is no longer the inspiration of the few. Wc have passed through the stages of ridicule, indifference and contcmpt, and we have gone forward into the era of study, research, and investigation and close contact with the enemy, where conviction ripens into action. Intcmpcrance is now seen to be the great curse and crime of the age, the "sum of all villanies," the gigantic crime of crimes, that must bo put under the feet of the nation, or our country will sink under the accumulated load of this curse. And so we must agitate, we must educate, we must legislate, we must consecrate. We must pray as if all depended upon God, and work as if all depeuded upon ourselves, and the victory will surely come.?Advocate. Steam on Both Wheels. It requires two wheels to propel a ferry-boat. If one is clogged, the boat simply revolves in the water without progress. Every cart needs two wheels, and if one is cut off the cart capsizes. Our temperance reform depends for its success on both legal suppression of dram shops and on moral and reb'gious efforts to dissuade people from drinking liquor. If either wheel is off, the boat capsizes. Push on the temperance meeting. Push on the temperance literature in every shape. Pu?h on the pledges of entire abstinence. Push on the fight for prohibition at the same time. Let the 6team on both wheels! "We want law and love also; persuasion not to drink liquor as well as prohibition of selling liquor. Shutting of saloons is not all; we must smash the jugs also.?Theodore L. Cuyler. Temperance Notes. A little four-year-old, being told that "W stood for whisky," said: "Well, tut it yight out of my book." It is estimated that New York City consumes annually 6,000,000 barrels of | beer at a cost of $38,400,000. "Any man who opposes the sale of intoxicants in the saloon, and yet buys ' wines, ales and brandies for his own ta- | ble, is playing into the hands of the en- j emy," says Theodore L. Cuyler. Liquor selling must be made to appear as the most heinous crime, savs Demorest. and we want no compromise with the crime any more than we want to justify stealing or highway robbery. Mr. 6. R. Sims, revisiting the scenes of his former articles on "Horrible Lon- < don," finds that religion and temperance ; have stepped in and taken a tighter grip ; of the masses. In several slums the great : bulk of the people are now pledged ab- i staincrs, and their aspect and manners appreciably improved. In Pasadena, Cal., the W. C. T. U. made a certain bar-keeper the subject of special prayer. Attracted by the singiDg n*iAn flrnrnipflc flin man UUU Uj^UIl'tVU mu iui*u vvvnuiv interested and within a week was converted. He at once sought a new and better business, and gave the first five dollars earned in it toward the crcction of a church in the town. Two samples of whisky were lately purchased in Worcester, Mass., the Spy says, at the instigation of u local clergyman, who had them analyzed. One waa from a prominent drug-store, the other from one of the lowest dives in town. Both, the report says, were alike vile, and so near alike that only an expert tould distinguish one from the other. The; plouro-pneumonia bill introduced in the Senate of tho United States by Senator Spooner is modeled after the Illinois statute on the same subject. Instead of a Bureau of Animal Industry, presided over by a veton'nornn tllip hill "WOllM DTOVidfl for three United States Cattle Commissioners, with power to stamp out pleuropneumonia, foot-and-mouth disease, and rinderpest among cattle, and maintain a quarantine to prevent the spread of coiiliagion. The appropriation proposed ifl $1,000,000. ' QUiiER DISHES. I ODD ARTICLES OP FOOD MORE OR LESS PALATABLE. RELIGIOUS READING. Bringing Sheaves. Eyes that oftentimes are tearful, Looking for life's meaning true, Hearts as often faint and fearful For the good ye strive to doThus an angel in my dreaming Whispered for the soul that grieves; "Hands that fail to human seeming Oft bring home the richest sheaves." Not alone the weak one sinneth Who has faltered in the way; Not alone the strong man winneth Iu the radiant blaze of day; God's clear vision, searching slowly Flower and fi uitage 'mid the leaves, Sees how oft His children lowly Bend beneath the richest Bheaves, Waiting while the sunrise only T i a fVirt V\rAT?a A f MOnfcM /*? lii^uio uio ui VTTO VI igapvtg vftuwitf Toiling through the sunsets lonely, Wo may still be comforted; Like the flower diffusing sweetness When we crush its tender leaves, So from pain we find completeness In the beauty of our sheaves. Ye whose earthly mission seemeth But to suffer?not to do, Love from stain and dross redeemeth Every life with purpose true. A nd the smile cf heaven lingers Longest round the soul that grieves, While the fail and patient Angers Oft bring home the richest sheaves. Obeying Christ. If I keep Christ's commandments only becaum I have come to see for myself that they are wise and good, I do not obey Him. If I recognize His authority, I shall keep His commandments before I recognize that they are either good or wise. Half a century ago many unwise persons thought that children ought always to be shown the reasons for everything that they were required to do. This pernicious theory has happily lost its temporary popularity. It is obvious that children who were brought up under its influence could never be disciplined to obedience. But the inevitable conditions of human life must have made it impossible to translate the theory into practice. There are many things that can hardly be explained to a baby in long clothes. Even a child of six will not find it easy to understand why it should be compelled to take offensive medicine, or why any limit should be placed upon its innocent pleasures in the vineries ana strawberry Deas. it is doubtful whether even a boy of nine or ten can be made to understand why he should learn the multiplication table or the Latin declensions. He has to do it first, and to learn the reasons afterwards. The same principle holds in relation to morals. If a child is not disciplined to truthfulness, industry, kindness, bofore he can see for himself the obligations of any of these, the chances are that he will never see that lying, indolence, cruelty, are hateful vices. Compel him to bo industrious, and he will discover for himself the obligations of industry; make it hard for him to lie, and he will discover for himself the obligations of truthfulness; use authority to accustom him to kindness, and he will discover for himself the wickedness of cruelty. In morals, practice comes before theory. And so, if we obey Christ, the commandments will soon shine in their own light. "Ho that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the lijrht of life." It is not bv mere medita tion that we come to see tbo beauty and excellences of Christ's commandments; we must obey them before we see how beautiful and noble they are. We must actually follow Christ 'if we decline to have the "light of life;" if we desire to follow Him till the 'light" comes, we shall re main in darkness.?[Rav. R. W. Dale. Every man has some peculiar train of thought which he falls back upon when alone. This, to a great degree, moulds the man.?[Dugald Stewart. Life is warfare, and those who climb up and down steep paths and go through dangerous enterprises are the brave men and the leaders in the camp, but to rest basely (it the cost of others' labors is to i 3 r- l a ue a tuwaruj ouiu ucuiuoc uw^iocui?* [Seneca.. It is easier to trust God's goodness when we have some open manifestation of it than when he is leading us along a path of hardship or sorrow. And yet we are to trust Him in the darkness as well as in the sunshine. Indeed, that is the strongests and truest trust, which confides in Him though all His waves and billows go over us. This is the kind of trust he desires. In one view of it this only is trust. "That which ia aeen is not hope." We need faith to rest in the confidence that all God's j dealings are wise and right, and good. He may be leading us in dark and rough olaces to test our faith. We ask to be brought into "a wealthy place," to have our feet set in a "large room;" but our Heavenly Father keeps us in poverty or in straits. Still we must trnat him. The timo will come when we shall see ;hat His dealings were precisely what arc needed. There is great comfort for as in Christ's word to His wondering Jisciple, "What I do thou knowest not low; but though shalt know hereafter;" (Ve trust now, and quietly await the iiture knowledge. ?[Chicago Watchnan. at eve. A cloud of gray Across the western sky? . Thus ends the day. A crimson glow Flames through the ashen heap; The sun is low. The weary gray, In rose and gold and blue, It fades away. The night ia here: In glory new-revealed, Th? stars appear. ?Ida A. Ahlbsm. ' . . -"> Edible Ants and Beetles?Persian Dinners?Bird's Nest Soup?Polish Dishes ? Macaroni-Makers? Eating Mice and Donkeys. Larvae of ants are considered by many people a choice relish when spread upon bread and butter, and are said to be excellent curried. In Siam they are highly esteemed, and are so valuable as to be within the reach of only the rich. In some parts of Africa, where ants swarm, they are said to form at times a considerable portion of the food supply. The eggs of insects belonging to a group of aquatic beetles are made in Mexico into a kind of bread or cake called hautle, which is eaten by the people, and may be found in the markets. They are got by means of bundles of reeds or rushes, which are put in the water, on which they are deposited by the insects. When cooked in cakes they are said to look and taste something like fish-roe. The London Standard once published this seductive recipe for cooking black beetles: "Catch your beetles in a soup-plate filled with viuugur, uuu mem buu&iug iur bul hours. Then turn the beetles out and dry them in the sun for at least two hours, when the outer shell can be easily removed, the flesh then resembling that of a shrimp; to be put into a gallipot and mixed up with flour, butter, pepper and salt, to a thick paste; stew in the oven for two hours, and when cold serve with bread and butter. In Persia every one from the King down rises at six o'clock in the morning. They then partake of a cup of tea and some bread. Tea is a very important article of diet, and the tea-urn is nearly , always busy. No milk is used, but they sweeten the tea almost to the consistency of syrup. Persian dinners are always : preceded by pipes (hubble-bubbles), while tea and sweets are handed around. Then servants bring in a long leathern sheet and place it on the ground; the guests take their seats around it, squatting on the ground. A flat loaf of bread is placed 1 before each man. Music plays. The din- 1 ner is brought in on trays and placed on : the ground on the leathern sheet; the ' covers are removed; the host says "Bissmillah" ("in the name of God"), and in j silence all fall to with their fingers. In the south of Persia dates are the staple 1 iooa; xney are very ciieup auu sauaiyujg. During the summer lettuce, grapes, apricots, onions and cucumbers form the dainties of the villager; and these, "with bread, cheese and curds, are their only food. In every large town cook-shops abound. But in Persia, as in the rest of the East, bread, rice or dates are the real food?the meat merely sauce or bonne bouche. Persians of all ages are very fond of confectionery, and are constantly devouring sweets. The lower-class Persian will eat several pounds of grapes, cucumbers or apricots for a meal. They eat onions as we eat apples. The famous bird's-nest soup, beloved of the Chinese gourmet, is made of the nest of a bird that is a native of Ceylon and of the Malay region, and it builds in cave3 and on cliffs where ordinary nest material is scanty. Moreover it is a confirmed high-flyer, seeming always disposed to avoid the ground. The best and cleanest nests, which fetch the highest price, are composed of pure mucus from the salivary glands. The material in its hardened state is brittle, fibrous, white and transparent, "very like pure gum arabic, or even glassand the inner lining consists of nothing but small soft. feathers. Inferior nests, which command a smaller price in the Chinese market, are composed in part of dry grasses, hair and down, weldea together by the fibrous gummy secretion. In short, as Mr. Dar ? 1. if I ITV>O PllinoQO ttioIta YV1U U ill LI LI J UUlO lb. X?x\, vsuaaavww uiuu.v soup of dried saliva." In shape the nests are much like hanging pouches. A traveler giving some account of the | favorite dishes and the people of Poland t writes: " In the first place there isbigos, < a kind of stew, prepared with pork sau- ( sages, sauerkraut, ham and bacon, wrapped 1 tightly in a napkin and boiled for two ] hours. Their favorite soup is called bas- i zoz, made out of beef bouilon, in which t slices of red beet root are boiled. Kapus- s niak, another national soup, is made of 1 sauerkraut and bacon boiled in beef soup, j Ucha is a Russian soup, but, nevertheless, 1 much appreciated in the oppressed coun- j try. A fish soup it is, prepared from 1 sterlets. The sterlet is also much used, ] in conjunction with the flesh of the stur- t geon, in the preparation of an excellent 1 pie call kulibiaga." s 2 The 10th of August is the day in the calendar dedicated to San Lorenzo, the 1 saint who figures in the pictures of " old * iAw, >j l>n1/3inrr fncf tn liia orridirnn. J 111(13 IU1 Sj xiuiutiig w ? ??J and in death has become the patron saint 1 of the macaroni makers. It is said that there is not a macaroni shop in Florence, Italy, that is not on that day decorated in the most marvelous of fashions. Ingeniously-twisted columns of the raw article support little pavilions of another variety, from which hang deep fringes of vermicelli, tied with scarlet ribbon or mingled with dried grasses and wild flowers, as suits the taste of the owner of the shop. Frank Buckland, the English natural- J ist, when at school was noted for catch- ? ing and eating field mice, which taste he s communicated to some comrades. The boys went hunting the mice before breakfast, and were sometimes fearfully hungry. The mice were skinned, a bit of stick was run them, and they were roasted ? over a fire of sticks collected from a t neighboring fence. 4'A roast field mouse," J he declares, "not a house mouse, is * splendid bonne bouche for a hungry boy; 1 it eats like a lark." ? r Wild donkeys are very plentiful in ? Northern Afghanistan, and they are oc- * casionally shot and eaten. An officer of ? the English boundary commission count- ' ed sixteen lartrc herds of wild donkeys a in sight at one time. Henry Laboucherc, 1 editor of the Truth, who was in Paris during the siege, remarked: "Donkey ? is delicious eating. This was so soon realized during the siege of Paris by be- a leagucred epicures that the price of j1 donkey was about five times that of . horse."?Pittsburg Commercial Gazette. J mm ' E Life in the Northwest. t Dakotan?"Husband home, Mrs. Bur- 1 gess?" Mrs. Burgess?"No, but I expect he will be in a day or two. We're going to I have a thaw, you know." Dakotan?"Where is John?" Mrs. Burgess?"Over in that second i snow-drift yonder. I sent him on an errand two weeks ago, and that was all the far ho got. Poor man I I shouldn't j wonder it he'd begun to get discouraged by this time."?Tid-Bits, WORDS OP WISDOM. Thought is invisible nature?nature is JJ invisible thought. fi Unless the habit leads to happiness, the 9 best habit is to contract none. fi The noontide sun is dark, and music a discord, when the heart is low. J Pleasure is the flower that fades; re membrance is the lasting perfume. I Pleasure must first have the warrant that it is without sin; then, the measure, M that it is without excess. , You find yourself refreshed by the 9 presence of cheerful people. Why not 9 make earnest effort to confer that pleasure flj on others? 9 There cannot be a more worthy improvement of friendship than in a fervent fl opposition to the sins of those whom we profess to love. M Every generous illusion adds a wrinkle I in vanishing. Experience is the succes- m sive disenchantment of the things of life. H It is reason enriched by the spoils of the . Homes are like harps, of which one is- J finely carved and bright with gilding, but ill-tuned, and jarring the air with its discords; while another is old and plain and . 9 worn, but from its cords float strains that ' I are a feast of music. fl Learn from the earliest days to inure 1 your principles against the perils of ridi- 0 cule; you can no more exercise your rea- 9 son if you live in the constant dread of fl laughter than you can enjoy your life if 1 you are in the constant terror of death. ^ In ourselves, rather than in material fl nature, lie the true source and life of the fl good and beautiful. The human soul is ;fl the sun which diffuses light on every side, fl investing creation with its lovely hues, fl and calling forth the poetic element that "I lies hidden in every existing thing. fl Our powers are limited. No one ever '-/ TfilsHfl saw the whole of anything, however . fl simple it may appear; and the more com- -fl nlav AKionf 4*V?o cmollor fliA fror?+inn lliiU Vl/jbVUj UAW OUUUIV* WAV 44HVV4VM that we behold. If we but realize this 1 fully it will go far toward dispelling 1 prejudice and broadening our outlook. y Mexican Scorpions. | The most common pests in Mexico are . " the alcarans or scorpions, for during cer- 1 tain seasons of the year they are as nu- 1 merous as flies around a sugar house. . 1 They are within the cracks of the wall, 1 between bricks of the tiles of the floor, 9 biding inside your garments, darting I everywhere with inconceivable rapidity I their tails which sting, ready to ny up I with dangerous effect upon the slightest I provocation. Turn up a corner of the <1 rug or table spread and you disturb a I flourishing colony of them; shake your I shoes in tne morning, and out they flop; throw your bath sponge into the water, 7 .M and half a dozen of them dart out of its I cool depths,into which they had wiggled I for a siesta; in short, every article you 1 touch must be treated like a dose of med- I [cine?"to be well shaken before taken." fl The average scorpion is mahogany-hued 1 ind about two inches long; but I have 1 AM 1A?M ftfl iftnYiAO TTlO 5CC11 1/liCiU OO lUUg OO Uic JUUVUSA}. AM*# ' xl small, yellowish variety are considered most dangerous, and their bite is most reprehended at midday. In Durango they are black and so alarmingly numer- f *5 3us?having been allowed to breed for centuries in the deserted mines?that the Sovernment offers a reward per head (or rather per tail) to whoever will kill them. 1 rhcir sting is seldom fatal, but it is more >r less severe, according to the state of the system. Victims have been known to remain for days in convulsions, foaming at the mouth, with stomach swelled C.-j is in dropsy; while others do not suffer nuch more than from a bee sting. The common remedies are brandy, taken in mfficient quantities to stupefy the. parent, ammonia, administered both exterlally and internally, boiled silk and guaacum. It is also of use to press a large ^ cey or otner ruoe on me wouuu w iuruo >ut part of the poison.?Boston Tran~ xript- ^ . " * The Haman Melodeon. First let the leader, or the organist v__^5 [who should be somewhat of a musician), lelect, to represent the notes of the scale, ;ight girls or boys, who must be suffi:iently musical to sing and to remember ;he notes assigned to them. The organist )layes on their heads as they kneel in a off, exactly as if they were the notes of . .V] i piano, except that to the audience, the ^ icale appears reversed. But this is to lave it in the right order for the organst The tunes selected must obyiously J je in the key of C, with no sharps or flats. 1 is each head is struck with the mallet, ;he person indicated must sing his or her lote in a short staccato way, using the jyllable la. If the head is struck twice ihe note must be repeated in exactly the same way. The hymn tune "Antioch" is in excellent one with which to begin. rhe organist strikes the head of upper C it the right, then B, then A, then quickly 3, then F E, D, C, then G, A, A again, 3, B again, C, and so on. For convenience, as the cards bearing the letters ^ 'ace the audience, not the organist, the ;unes can be written in the human meloleon notation. Instead of the notes, are written the names of the performers?Sue, flatty, Jane, Sally, Tom, Frank, Mary, m ^.annto t\r whntnvpr thftV ftrp. The Last Rose of Summer," beginning on I ower C, rig a jig jig on G, and "Hush '*3 ily Dear Lie Still and Slumber," on E, :an also be played. The simple sounds I tlready described represent the vox hu- Jw nana stops. The tremolo is made by itriking the mouth rapidly two or three 1 imcs with the open hand as the note is I lung.?St. Nicholas. \*-Jl A Chinese Theatre Orchestra. i The orchestra is usually composed of I ieven musicians, who sit at the back of 8 he stage and play without much inter- I nission from the beginning to the end of - ,v3 he performance. The leading instru- 9 aents are the fiddle, the cymbals, the I fong and the drum. The fiddle tyran- 3| m lizes over the rest of the music, and rises 1 uperior even to the clash of the cymbals. I t has only a single string, and the notes ] volved from it pierce the ear like a knife. . : J1 rhe man that performs upon the fiddle I .lternates with the cymbals, while his I ICXL UUi^UUUl utuicj iu mj vixmivut uivuu- _ ire, on a huge brazen gong which is pen- 1 lent from the ceiling. The other per- | ormers play upon drums, one of metal * ? ,nd the other of polished wood. The I nusic is said to bear a striking resem- I dance to that of the Egyptians. It is all 9 n the minor key, and from a distance it I las a weird and melancholy sound. Heard j tear at hand, however, it has a tendency | o produce headache and to rasp the . I icrves. To March. JS lall to thee, thou harbinger of spring! 1 Thermometer at forty, and still rising; 9 [Tie early budlet?pretty, trustful thing!? II Puts forth a petal, Experience despising. D Snter now, 0 March, aud sounding thro' the I street, J Let mortals loud rejoice in listening to thy I bleat; Do, for the nonce, let rule and proverb slide, I And like the roaring lion, don t subsidy -|fl