University of South Carolina Libraries
* The Abbeville Press and Banner, i BY HUGH WILSON. ABBEVILLE, S. C., WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1887. ThoBP^QLLTME XXXI. NO. 40...:c jji Christian Neighbor. BT REV. MIDI IV. BROWNE, Of the S?Dth Carolina Conference. COLUMBIA, S. C. j Laj Representation. A writer in the New York Christian Advocate deprecates a proposed change in Lay representation as they now have it in the M. E. Church, by which the lay element would be increased. He is not satisfied with the arrangement as it now stands, and in fact that writer seems to question the expediency of lay representation alto gether. Lay representation is a desirable feature in Methodist economy and can be made quite useful if properly adjusted to the itenterancy. In neither the Methodist Church North nor the Methodist Church South is lay representation what we think it can be and ought to be. Aud this failure of a wiser introduction of the lay element in Methodism has led some persons to doubt the expediency of the measure altogether. Without going into detail of place or specification of reasons, we would, in brief, suggest: That the entire ministry of the Cburoh be divided into three classes? 1, Evangelists, (ull missionaries). 2, Pastors, whether "in charge" of cir. cuits, stations or missions (domestic or 1 foreign). 3. Teachers?all who are .* not included in "1" or "2," embracing . editors, presidents, professors and * tonohpra in institutions of learning, - agents, secretaries, &e. In this (the 3rd division) let lay representation be liberally introduced?but none of it in "1" or "2." In such arrangement there will be fouud abundant room for lay brethren to work and work to advantage. Let the Church be charged only with the support of 1 and 2 much as it is now done, and let all other ministers or preachers get their support and "supplements" out of the business in which they are engaged. Except the superanuated, the widows and the orphans of 1 and 2 no preacher shall be allowed any claim on "Conference collections" or from any other Bource than what may be appropriated from "3" by those who may be authorised so to do. The ratio of representation in the General Conference from 1, 2 and 3 can be fixed in considering tne aeiaus of the plan proposed. ? Religions Frenzy. Chas. F. Freeman, who, under the ' influence of religious frenzy, killed his little daughter as she lay iu bed because he believed that he was directed to do so by God, has just been > released from the insane asylum, to which he was committed in 1883, because a jury of physicians has convinced the Governor of Massachusetts that it is safe for him to go at large. How even the most expert physicians 1 are able to decide this question it is difficult to realize. If Freeman should now be convinced that he is prompted by God to go and commit another murder, it would be only poeeic justice if he should pick out one of these physiciana.?News and Courier. At the time Freeman was tried the Christian Neighbor contended that ( he was not insane, any further than , the receiving or false religious ieacn- < mg had made him so?no more insane than the religious murderers of "here- , tics" by the thousand who through ] false teaching illustrated the oft fulfilled prediction of Jesus: "The time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." If any body ought to be killed it should be those who teach it as a relig' ious duty to kill men. Can any teaching be more agreeable to "the father 1 of lies" than that which makes it a religious duty to kill men and women because they may have a different faith from that of their murderers? The discreditable fact is stated that since the occupation of Egypt by the British array intemperance has greatly increased, and there are now between 490 and 500 drinking-houses in Cairo where previously there was scarcely one.?Ex. This with other facts along the same line go to prove what the Christian Neighbor has repeatedly said : The achievments of Temperance cannot remain permanent among people who teach and practice war. If temperance prevailed universally in a nation, two or three years of war in that nation would make drinkers and drunkards by the scores, hundreds and thousands, just as it would originate or aggravate all other evils. In a Country Town?Bikards and Mil* lers. A "nickel" paid for a street-car ride last Friday evening to the union depot. A few words with Bishop Duncan at the depot and he resumed his trip Southward, and I mine Westward. Had rather a say-nothing batch of passengers. One short man did most of the talking. A treat it is, to ride on a train occasionally, when nobody knows one, or if they do, they don't let on, and when the number of passengers is not so great but that you can have a seat all to yourself without playing the "railroad hog." Its very seldom nowadays that a passenger, especially a man, is seen sitting on one seat with his feet on another "turned." Women, with children in charge, .v,.-- V.'.'v,. are generally accommodated by having two seats one facing the other. Right, I say. Stepping from the train at L I found myself in somewhat of a crowd, and, after turning round a few timef*, I found myself at the side of Bro. Monroe Rikard in his buggy?"Mike" making the wheels spin along the street, dark as it was?out to Monroe's comfortable cottage where kind arrangements conspired to give me a capital sleep. Going along that night Monroe gave me a short history of the old buggy he and I rode in when I went home with him once before. That one has been laid aside?broken. About the last service rendered its owner, if I remember rightly, was when Mike's breeching broke goingdown a hill and he ran away and reduced the buggy to vulgar fractions, scattered Monroe's * J dinner every wnicn way, auu puuucu him in the creek at the bottom of said hill. Mike continued on the uneven tenor of his way until he, with a part of the buggy, got up the hill on the other side of the creek, and employed his time in eating grass until Monroe came up. About the first thing Mike said to hi8"Massa," speakingafter the manner of mules, was: "Next time you want me to pull you up and down these hills you must get better harness." Saturday was distributed. 1st. A good, long profitable talk with Bros. Thompson and John Rikard. i 2. A visit?talk, dinner, prayer?to the venerable Bro. Levi Rikard and J family upou top of a hill. "Uncle i Levi" reads his Bible and works hard, and so does his wife. They both need rest. o -iXT i . T> ? -Ditor^ < 0? VV cm IU St"C DIU.X caiovu lviamu and wife. Baptized Joseph Thomas, 1 and Martha, their two children. 4. Stayed all night at "Uncle John : Miller's"?had stayed with these old fashioned Methodists before. All who went to school and preach- J ing at Concord on the Sabbath know , what was said and done?including I payment for a nice library case made by Monroe JEtikard. Dinner with John Spann at his full aud free table?an hour or two after- , ward9 with him, Phill, Sam and Tom, , and prayer before sundown?and then i John and his fine buggy horse with < me to Leesville. Much more?but no ' more now, for want of time. S. H. B. ! i Crooked Sticks. I "Lord, I can't make these sticks perfectly straight; I have lost all mv streugth. bend me to another field.'' But what is the auswer of the Holy Spirit? "You were not sent to that field to take every crook out of those sticks; you can't perfect human nature, that's my work." Now there is something in every man?Ministers included?that is a little gnarly. It is peculiar to the individual?a streak of the old Adam inwrought in his individuality. In one it is stubbornness, in another it is suspiciousness, in another reserve, in another a disposition to be critical or fault-finding or censorious. By whatever name it may be known, it is in fact a little twist of depravity, and no human influence, no preacher can untwist it and straighten it out. It is a peculiar twist of self, inborn, inbred, inwrought. So when I discover what a man's peculiar twist is, I say, "The Lord only can take that out of him, and I won't touch it if I can help it." I tried my hand at this once on a good Scotch brother, and 1 will never try it again. Ho was a most uncompromising subject, and I am quite convinced that if I had had a little more charity for his peculiari ties he would have been a very useful } wan .?Dr. Spinning. i t Working Christians. Learn to be working Christians. | "Be ye doers of the word, and not 1 hearers only, deceiving your own ( Belves." It is very striking to see the < usefulness of Christians. Are there ^ none of you who know what it is to be selfish in your Christianity? You have i seen a selfish child go into a secret i place to enioy some delicious morsel < undisturbed by his companions. So it < is with some Christians. They feed I upon Ciirist and forgiveness; but do it 1 alone, and all for themselves. Are ' there not some of you who can enjoy t being a Christian, while your dearest 1 friend is not, and yet you will not J speak to him? See here, you have got < work to do. When Christ found you, * ne saiu, "uo to worK in my vmeywiu. What were you hired for, if it was not < to spread salvation ? 0 my Christian friends! how little 1 you live as though you were the ser- 1 vants of Christ! How much idle talk you have ! This is not like a good ser- < vant. How many thing9 you have to < do for yourself! How few for Christ ' and his people! This is not like a ser- < vant.?McCheyne. ' It was an unlucky illustration used by J Dr. Howard Crosby at the great Temper- , adce Symposium in New York the other evening, in which all sorts of temper- 1 ance people?and Henry George beside? 1 had their say. Dr. Crosby, advocating his high-license theory, wanted to know, j If a tiger were loose in the streets of I New York, would it not be better to try < to confine him to certain streets, rathe'r than leave him to roam all over the city ? ( "Shoot him !" cried a prohibition voice , from the gallery,''shoot him!" Where- i at Dr. Crosby did not easily recover from his visible embarrassment. That ' voice from the gallery is one that is 1 gaining prevalency all over the country. The national debt per capita of the ' QtofAQ 4a nr \nrtliiriintr Stofrt I debt, $27; that of France is $124; of i Groat Britain, $127 ; of Holland, $115 ; of ! Italy, $80; of Belguim, $78; of Ger- i many, $39. The combined national and State taxes, excluding county, town and , other local taxes, are, for the United States, $4.50 per capita, or $6, including J payment on the public debt; for Italy, $10.42; for Holland, $10.90; for Belgium, 1 $11; for Great Britain, $11.80; for Ger- ' many, 12; for France, fig, or, with the 1 annual deficit, $19. ! COMMONS. Worshipping at tho American Shrine. BY HALE WEATHERWELL. Christian Neighbor. One day last week I had occasion to visit some towns aloug the Potomac River, and learning that my schedule would take me past Mount Vernon, I determined to leave the boat at that point for a few hours, and pay my homage at the grave of one well known In epic verse, and guide-books, as "the father of his country"?the late George Washington. Let me put in a few words for the guide-book : it is stored with lots of accurate information, and is braced with chunks of sentimental patriotism, about the size and temperament of a well organized mustard plaster; it's just like I tell you,?fori hadn't been reading many minutes until the high language of the book commenced drawing my national pride to the surface, and soon I became more than ever conviuced that George Washington was, indeed, quite a feature in the country?some years ago. But the guide-book has moisture as well as mustard, and ere long I felt that I was Ko/?nmlnn? oofnrafA^ nrifh t)lP tPArqthAt dripped From page to page as the "gentle reader" was bade look upou the tomb which holdeth the cherry-tree hero. The tomb is a plain brick structure with wide arched entrance in which hang large iron gates. Above the entrance a simple slab has on it these words: WITHIN THIS ENCLOSURE RESTS THE REMAINS OF GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON. In the anti-room to the vault are the sarcophagi,?the one on the right, containing the remains of George Washington, is ornamented with the national coat-of-arms upon a draped flag, under which is chiseled the oue word, WASHINGTON. The sarcophagus on the left, holding Mrs. Washington's remains is devoid of embellishment, and bears this legend : MARTHA, CONSORT OF WASHINGTON. DIED MAY 21ST, 1801 : AGED 71 YEARS. The vault in the rear of the sarcophagi contains the ashes ot about thirty relatives of the Washington and Oustis families. Above the door of this vault is a marble block with the following quotation upon it: "I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE: HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME. THOUGH HE WERE DEAD. YET SHALL HE LIVE." To this receptacle, Washington's body svas removed in 1831, owing to a feeling of insecurity, a man having brokjn into the old tomb, and stolen therefrom a skull which some people claim3d to be that of Washington, but which proved to belong to one of the kinsmen. The body was placed in the sarcophagus, where it now rests, Oct. 7, 1837. The door of the inner vault was then closed, and the key thrown into the Potomac. The pictures of Mount Vernon that graced the old time geography and reader are admirable representations jf the "Mausion House," as Washington was wont to designate his home, rhe house is made of wood, and the sides are cut and painted in imitation >f stone blocks. Length of house, ainety-six feet; depth, thirty. The ?ast piazza, which runs along the en;ire front, |is paved with flag-stones irought from the Isle of Wight. In the front hall hangs the key of the Bastile. This interesting relic of ;he French Revolution is about nine mcnes long, is apparently or ordinary Iron, and weighs, I am satisfied, as much asonepouiid. Another memenx> of the Bastile is a model of the prison made from a granite block of the celebrated dungeon. Both of these vere presented to Washington by his friend La Fayette. The state dining-room has for its jhlef attraction an exquisitely carved nantel-piece of Carrara marble, with Sienna marble columns supporting he shelf. It came irom Italy, ana ivith it comes over the sea a vague story, that on its passage to this country t fell into the hands of French pirates, vho, when learning that it was for Washington, forwarded it unharmed o its destination. [The guide-book ?lls this tale.] A large "split-botom" arm-chair that came over in the jood ship Mayflower is now kept in this "banquet hall deserted." Dupli:ates (so far as appearances ?o) may be >btaiued irom tne ?ana urns peauiers vho frequent the streets of Columbia. Hie family dining-room, which is maintained by South Carolina, is as veil kept as any, and it surpasses sev?ral of the rooms, each of which is in ;harge of one of the "original thireeen States." The walls of this room are Dearly white, the ceiling is in araaesque design, low, bas-relief, neutral ints and gilding. The floor is well polished, and has upon it a heavy rug. Big, old style, brass fire-dogs and fenJer furnish the chimney-piece. An indent corner cupboard used by the Washingtons holds a set of china, a reproduction of that formerly occupyng its shelves. The side-board in this room was also used by the Washingion family. The room in which Washington lied, Dec. 14, 1799, is about fifteen by jighteen feet, with dressing-room and inen closet adjoining. The contents )f this room were used by Washing :on, save the bed-linen, the original of which was removed by age and liberal Minded Americans. The General's joach trunk is a seedy looking article io-day. Once it was a hair trunk, but now it is painfully bald-headed all aver. Mrs. Washington died in a room just over her husband's death chamber. It has but one little dormer-winiow, affording a view of the tomb. Mount Vernon commands a magnifi:eut view of the surrounding country, and especially of the Potomac, or Pedhammock, ["They are coming"] as the Indians named this beautiful rivsr. Flowers and photographs, walking sticks and weeping willows, ana countless other relics of "the place - - J -11 -1 4. 2AI! (InKnn 4 illU ail UUUUt It j auuui it") may be purchased for a trifle,^? say, at a rise of 462 per cent, above the manufacturers' prices. I had almost forgotten to tell of a ei most important event of the visit. An earnest desire,?! scorn the thought that it was merely impulsive curiosity?yes, a very earnest longing to find something peculiarly commemorative of my deceased national father led me into his barn. Looking up in to the hay loft I wa9 wonder-struck at seeing a hatchet there. I stood speechless, just gazing upon it, and asked in my mind the question you are hesitating to propound, Was it George's hatchet? Well, I don't know certainly, but I suspect not, and that it was half-hidden there just to enforce a recollection of the phenomenal morality of that ancient youth. Did I yearn to possess that hatchet? No, gentle 1 reader,* it was chained to a beam in . the hay loft. Hawthorne, March 21, 1887. * A phraae found In the gulda bootf. Mark Twain's Views and Specimens. , It is so common that an education is i within the grasp of every one, and if he does not want to pay ror it wuy here is the State ready to pay for it for i him. But sometimes I want to in- ; quire what an education is. I remem- ( ber myself, and all of you old follows j probably remember the same of your- i selves, that when I went to school I \ was told that an ad.iective is an adverb i and it must be governed by the third i person singular, and all that sort of ' thing?(laughter)?and when [ got | out of school I straightway forgot it. ( (More laughter.) In my combined i character of publisher and author, I * received a great many manuscripts J from people who say they want a can- , did opinion whether that is good liter- : ature or not. That is all a lie; what they want is a compliment. (Laugh- j ter.) But as to this matter of educa- J tion, the iirst thing that strikes you is | how much teaching has really been I done and how much is worthless cramming. You have all seen a little book called "Euglish as She is Spoke." Now, in my capacity of publisher I recently received a manuscript from a 1 teacher which embodied a number of J auswers given by her pupils to ques- , tions propounded. These questions ( . show that the children had nothing but tne sound 10 go uy ; me senae was perfectly empty. Here are some of tibeir answers to words they were asked to define: Auriferous?pertaining to an orifice (laughter) ammonia?the :food of the gods (renewed laughter) ; equestrian?one who asks questions (roars of laughter); parasite?a kind of umbrella (shouts ot laughterj ; ipeeat?a man who likes a good dinner (renewed laughter.) And here is the definition of an ancient word honored iby a great party: Republican?a sin:aer mentioned in the Bible. (Shouts of laughter and applause.) And here is an innocent deliverance of a zoological kind: "There are a good many donkeys in the theological garden/' (Great laughter.) Here also is a definition which really isn't very bad in its way: Demagogue?a vessel containing beer aud other liquidu. [Prolonged laughter.] Here, too, is a sample of a boy's composition on girls, which, I must say,-! rather like. Girls are very stuckup and dignified ( in their manner aiiu behaveyour. . They think more of dress tfcati anything and like to play with dowls and rags. They cry if they see a cow in a far distance and are afraid of guns. They stay at home all the time and go to church every Sunday. They are always funny and making fun of boys hands and they say how dirty. They can't play marbles. I pity them, poor things. They make fun of boys and tten turn round and love them. I don't believe they ever killed a cat or anything. They look out every minute and say, "Oh, ain't the moon lovely!" There is one thing I have not told and that is they always know their lessons bettern boys. Sponging on the Treacher. There are some people in our church who have a wonderful inclination to sponge on the pastor. Now the pastor and his family are human and they are fond of company, but they have a perfect abhorrence for the sponging class. We recently heard a pastor say that his wife was almost worn out, having had so much company lately. He was a city pastor, and some United Brethren think every time they go to u 'if- 1 t the city they muse visn- me preuciitsi a ? home, and of course take dinner with c them. It will save twenty-five cents. \ Now if these country visitors would t take a large basket full along with c them it would be more Christian-like, a and the pastor's wife would gladly 1 give them their dinner. Then again, I there is a class who always visit the t pastor's family, frequently trespass s upon their time with all the latestgos- 1 sip and spin the story to tea time, and i of course remain for tea. We reruem- i berof a pastor who told us of a pestif- tl erou9 fellow who always came on Sunday evening at about four o'clock. Of course he would take tea. And then, worstof all, he was a poet and persisted in reading and discussing his latest s compositions until the hour of church s had arrived. Then, also, there is the i inevitable agent who must always stop i: with the pastor, jnow, j Deneve mat j the agent i9 a welcome guest to the * pastor and his family, hut there are i some who are so contemptibly mean c and disagreeable that they will remain 1 for days and weeks, will put only half t their time in solid work, will be down ? on the parlor sofa with their greasy ci head on one end and their dirty shoes c on the other. He is always an afflict- f ed mortal, and is continually asking c3 the "sister" for this or that remedy, or f telling the "sister that he dare not eat fl such and such things. He is the bane f of the preacher's family. I have to s simply mention the "cranks" who go v about the country, who are a class that c always find the preacher's home. Church members often commit a grievous wrong against their pastors by 1 sending some of these very fellows to t them. They do not want the trouble, s so they turn them away with the state- t ment, "You had better see tiie pastor r first." Pity the pastor and his family, 1 and let there be a reform along this c line. t m m g One thing I have noticed in study- r ing the Word of God, and that is: t when a man is filled with the Spirit \ he deals largely with the Word of Uod ; a whereas, the man who is filled with e his own ideas refers rarely to the Word of God. He gets along without it, and you seldom see it mentioned in 1 his discourses.?Moody. * I What's the use in 3houting when we c are in debt? Pay up, and then shout, f Let us keep the pies and cakes Cor des- ? sort.?Sam Jones. d A Woman's Ors. "Men work from morn till set of sun." They do. "But a woman's work Is never done." Quite true. For when one task she's finished, something's found Awaiting a beginning, all the year round. "Whether It be To draw the tea. Or bake the bread, Or make the bed, Or ply the broom, Or dust the room, Or floor to scrub, Or knives to rub, Or table set, Or meals to get, Or shelves to scan, Or fruit to can, Or secdB to bow, Or plants to grow, Or linens bleach. HOUSE AND FARM. How to Clean Stores. Every woman who has been obliged to spend half a day several times during the winter cleaning the mica in her coal stove, usually by taking them out and washing in soapsude, will rejoice to know that there is a much easier way to clean them, and that there is no need to take them out or let the fire burn very low in order to do it successfully. Take a little vinegar and water and wash the mica carefully with a soft cloth, the acid removes all stains, ana it a little pains is laKen to thoroughly clean the corners and to wipe them dry, the mica will look as good as new. If the stove is very hot, Lie the cloth to a stick, and so escape the danger of burning your hand. It is a great care to see that stoves are kept in proper order, and not many servants can be trusted to do it as it should be done. The task might be made somewhat easier by choosing stoves which are not too highly ornamented; unless the trimmings are kept absolutely spotless and bright, which is a very difficult thing to accomplish, they cannot lay the least I'laim to being ornamental. Indeed, a stove which by reason of its excessive decoration is rendered the most prominent feature of the room, demanding the attention the moment one enters, is certainly in bad taste. A clean, well-polished stove, with graceful shape, which fulfills the ends of its being by heating the house, is all that a 3tove should be. The fire may be, as it has been called, the soul of the room, but it ought not to ask too much attention to its body.?New York Post. Goslien Batter. Fifty years ago, Orange county butter began to be famous the country over, and to-day the title, "Goshen," applies to much of the choice grade sold in the New York market. At the outset, the farmer received from 12 to 15 cents per pouud for his product, put up in firkins in the winter and summer and marketed in the autumn. Ihe town of Goshen was the pioneer in this business, and gave its name to 1 ^ A r\f itn AUTIl on^ flllOQD V |>Alin. ties. When the Erie railroad reached Boshen, about 1842, the farmers were not long in discovering that it paid better to ship milk to New York than to churn it, and to-day this business lias almost entirely superseded butteruaking. Delaware county and the Dhemung valley took the place of Oringe and Sussex in the butter industry, but the Midland railroad in due ;ime swung Delaware county over to Bilk-selling. It still, however, marsets butter of the gilt-edged, dollar-asound variety, though the Chemung lairies are the chief producers of first-lass butter. Circumstantial Evidence. The danger of relying too strongly >n circumstantial evidence in murder ivas forcibly illustrated recently in the ?se of Miss Journeaux, of the island )f Jersey. This lady, it will be renembered, went out for a short row vith a male companion named Fame, md after they had rowed some disance he lost his oars overboard and eaped into the water to regain them. Be could not get back to the boat, as he tide was running rapidly and Miss rni?Hnnnnw Irtflf Vl I m lUUi iiCaUA DUUII IUOU 015UV Vt UlUi] hough he managed to reacfcthe shore. This was on Sunday night, and the soor girl drifted helplessly about in he frail bark until Tuesday morning, vh?n she was picked up by a French ishing vessel of St. Mario. She was sindly treated by the captain and crew, ind landed, after a voyage of twentylix days, on the shore of St. George's 3ay, Newfoundland, from whence she vas sent to St. John's to wait for a veslel bound to France. In the meanvhile Fame was arrested for murder ind imprisoned, and was not set at libsrty until a telegram*arrived announcng the safety of his former boating iompanion. How different matters might have urned out if Miss Journeaux had been ost at sea! He might have been hung or a crime which he neyer commited, and all his protestations of lnno:ence would have been regarded as the vild pleadings of a man who desired o escape the just penalty of his misleeds. No power on earth could probibly have saved him, and he would jave gone down to posterity with the irand of Cain upon his brow. Only he interposition of Divine Providence eems to have saved his neck from the laiier. j ue opponents 01 eupum puushment will find a strong argument n this case for the abolishment of the leath penalty. When Corn Runs Out. In selecting seed-corn that with mall cob, especially at the butt end, hould have the preference. It is nore easily husked, ripens earlier and 9 less likely to be iujured by curing. The moisture in the cob in contact nth the germ prevents it from dryng out rapidly, and if severe freezing ccurs at this time the germ is injured, rhis is the great trouble with the wesern Dent corn, which, with its deep ;rains set in thick ears, is rarely got Iry until it is frozen. Much of the orn land in the west is so wef. in the all that teams cannot be got on it to Iraw off the crop until after the soil is rozen solid. The Dent corn has often ismall cob, and it is particularly im>ortant with this variety to select the eed so as to keep it small. A crop nth thick, heavy cobs shows that the mm is runnincr out. Steamed Oatmeal.?One and a lalf teacupfuls of oatmeal, put into a asiu in the evening; add a piuch of alt, and pour on just enough cold \va- ' er to cover it. By morning the oatneal has absorbed the water entirely, .'hen put the basin in a steamer and ook about half an hour. Try it by hrusting in a spoon, and when the ;rains of oatmeal fall apart dry and lice it is done. Do not stir it at all; he oatmeal should come to the table vith the grains as whole and perfect ,a when they were put into the steam- ! r. Eat with cream and sugar. Fowls that feather slowly are usual- j y hardy; for instance, the Brahmas. t is owing to the fact that the drain >11 the system occasioned by quick fathering does not weaken them. Slow feathering while growing is inlicative of hardiness. I Or lessons teach, Or butter churn, Or Jackets turn, Or polish glass Or plate or brass, Or clothes to mend, Or children tend, Or note Indite, Or stones writeBut I must stop, for really if I should Name all the ors, take me a day it would. So many are there that I do declare More boats than I could count might have a pair, And yet enough to be left. And, men folks, these Same ors propel your barks o'er household seas Into sunny havens where you rest at ease, And, one word more, don't you forget it, please. What Others Say. I Michigan Advocate. J Sense Needed.?We 9ee by the papers that a certain minister bad to leave his pulpit because he used a "plum-coloris; handkerchief and another for "rolling up his pants" in wet weather. We near of another church, which was compelled to reject, at the earnest request of the ladies of the church, a candidate of excellent preaching talent, and universally acceptable to the church on that account, because he had bow legs. There is just a little consolation in the reflection that none^f the above were Methodist churches, and yet we suppose if our pastors were entirely at the mercy of a few foolish and frisky creatures in the congregation, there are many of them that would have to go. What such churches need more than anything else is a great baptism ot common sense. [Buffalo Christian Advocate.] Trying to Grow Two Crops.?The great hindrance to fruitfulness and progress in the divine life on the part of many professing Christians is, their affections and activities are pre-occupied. They are double-minded. They ve trying to grow two crops from the same piece of ground, and as each demands the entire strength of the soil, one must be a failure; and experience proves that the thorns and briers crowd out the good seed. t Washington Post.) Mankind in civilization should cultivate the things which make for peace; war is shame and desolation for all, alike the victors and the vanquished?it is the robbery of the rich, and even more, the spoliation and deg l.x! r 11. Ti LI! J. rauauou ui iue puur. xi xaa ungui uu the fertile earth, and a new burden upon the back of the workingman. All nations ought to combine and compel the quarrelsome to keep the peace. Erils of Indecision. One of these lies in the self-deception which it fosters. It is apparently holding itself in suspense, while really it is already on one side. An English authoress has said: "Men often sin, not so much because they choose, as because they don't choose. The actions which, on looking back upon our lives, we see most reason to deplore, aie those in which, instead of manfully facing the conflicting claims of duty and inclination of interest, we have suffered ourselves to pause in indecision thinking that we were standing still, while in point of fact, the current of evil, so much stronger always than that of good, was bearing us to a point from which there was no retreat." Thus it is also, alas! too often with the undecided man and his salvation. He imagines that no harm can come of mere indecision, while, in fact, the force of fashion, or interest, or inclination is bearing him away all the while, and when he awakens to the /^AtuvAM 1*a mov Ka f/\a 1 a fo qo^>ii ro UAU^ui } uc uiftj uy i>vu aciwv w ovvui v bis deliverance. In order to be true to one's self, one must often be utterly forgetful of one's self. No man can be true to himself who will not give himself heartily to the one duty of the hour, and the one duty of the hour may be an absorbed interest in another's welfare. While one is absorbed in the welfare of another, he cannot think of his own welfare. Yet in caring, at such a time, for another's welfare, a man is really doing the most that can be done for his own welfare. Thi^isa truth which selfishness continually prompts us to ignore or to evade. And a favorite mode of evading our responsibility for others is by claiming that just now our highest spiritual welfare demands our attention to ourselves; while to care for others would turn our thoughts awav from the chiefest concern of our existence. This method of shirking practical duties under cover of religious devotedness sometimes shows itself very early in life ; for young children illustrate the weaker side of human nature as well as its stronger. A Pure Heart Makes Pure Speccli. The true way to make pure and wholesome our own share in the ceaseless tide of words which is forever flowing around us is to strive to make pure and wholesome the heart within. "Keep thy heart," says the wise man ?"keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." If once our heart9 have been trained to care very deeply for what is best , and purest in life, for what is beautiful and true in thought, our heartiest mirth, our freest jest, or hasty words, will not be those of men and women who are indifferent, who care nothing for noble : living, nothing for a Christian life, nothing for a Christian spirit. * ^ * - ( Apologies are not so common as tormerly. They are very seldom in place. 1 An old statement about them will bear repetition. A sermon, both short and good, is perfect, and needs no apology. A short, poor sermon has an apology for its poorness in its brevity. A long, good sermon has an apology for its length in its goodness. But a long, poor sermon admits of 110 apology, and the attempt to make one makes it both longer and poorer. Therefore proceed to business without an apology. - - r _ SCHOOLS. Jj|j How to Keep a Secret. /?| "In violet, my mamma says, A secret should be kept; ' > I heard her say so to papa . -SB Last night before 1.slept. \ I heard her talking In ray room y With papa, soft and low: ^ 'Secrets are kept in violet,' ' ?> And I'm so glad to know, For I've the loveliest secret I want to talk about; Of course. I can't tell any one, Lest It should be let out; But I can tell-the violets"? She darted down the walk? "You see you're Just the very ones, For violets don't talk." The violets heard a whisper, . raflB A murmur sort and low, Then, warningly, she ended with, v "You muaurt tell, you know." I knew her first small finger tip, .1 " '<3a| Was scarred with needle-pricks, And that something was often brought ' " '- ^3 For dear mamma to fix. And on my birthday, by my plate A handkerchief I found, All Kiiow'y white, and neatly hemmed With tiny stltcnes round. '->3 " 'Tls Yours," she cried: "I was so afraid I couldn't get it done f See all the stitches round the edge? I henrined them every one. It was a secret. Did you guess? I-keptlt; no one knew, Cept mamma and the "Violets, ' '1 was being done for you." " Tls beautiful I" I said, and kissed Her shining curls of gold; ' /. A nH It tryoo Irant - J For not a violet told. ' Harper'i Young People. The Sad Story of an Old Heart That Had to Unburden Its&lf* "Going north, madam?" ' "No, Ma'am." "Going south, then ?" "I don't know, ma'am." "Why, there are only two ways to go." "I didn't know. I was never on >3 the cars. I'm waiting for the train to -;'r" ' j.'-t go to John." "John? There is no town called John. Where is it?" * VoS "Oh! John's my son. He is out In Kansas on a claim." "I am going right to Kansas myself. You intend to visit?" "No, ma'am." - "'I'ffa She said it with a sigh so heart-burdened the stranger was touched. "John sick?" "Z'&M "No." ',M The evasive tone, the look of pain in y'igg the furrowed face were noticed oy the stylish lady as the gray head bowed upon the toil-marked hand. She wanted to bear the story; to help her. 'Excuse me?John in trouble?" "No, 110?I'm in trouble. Trouble my old heart never thought to see." "The train does not come for some time. Here, rest your head upon my cloak." ^ "#1 "You are kind. If my own were so ...43 I shouldn't be in trouble to-night." * "What is your trouble? Maybe I can help you." "Its hard to tell it to strangers, bat my old heart is too full to keep It baek, 4 Wheu I was left a widow with the three children, I thought it was more ,?j than I "could bear; but it wasn't bad as * '|g The stranger waited till she recovered her voice to go on. "I had only the cottage and my willing hands. 1 toiled early and late illl all the years till John could help me. -? Then we kept the girls at school, John and me. They were married not long ago. Married rich as the world goes. L John sold the cottage, sent me to the ' i city to live with them, and he went west to begin for himself. He said we :3g had provided for the girls and they -ra| would provide for me now?" Her voice choked with emotion. mi i ? - : *-^.3 " 38 I Lie suiwigei tvaucu iu diicuw. "I went to them in the city, I went to Mary's first. She lived in a great . q?S house, with servants to waiton her; a house many times larger than the little cottage?but I soon found there -Ji wasn't room enough for me." "The tears stood in the lines on her M cheeks. The ticket agent came out softly, stirred the fire and went back. After a pause she continued: "I went to Martha's?went with a pain in my heart I never felt before. I was willing to do anything so as not to be a burden. But that wasn't it. I found they were ashamed of my bent old body and my withered face? ashamed of my rough, wrinkled hands ?made so toiling for them." ; The tears came thick and fast now. The stranger's hand rested caressingly . -d on the gray head.. "At last they told me I must live at a boarding house and they'd keep me there, [couldn'tsay anything back. Mv heart was too full from pain. I wrote to John what they were going - i3 to do. He wrote right back, a long, kiud letter for me to come right to him. I always had a home while he had a roof, he said. To come right . there and stay as long as I lived. That his mother should never go out to' -At strangers. So I'm going to John. He's got only his rough hands and hia great warm heart?but there'a room for his old mother?God bless him." The stranger brushed a tear froiif her * fair cheek and awaited the conclusion. "Some day when I am goue where , js I'll never trouble them again Mary and Martha will think of it all. Some day when the hands that tolled for .? them are folded and still; when thev eves that watched over them through many a weary night are closed forever; e when the little old body, bent with the burdens it bore for them, is put -ijSj away where it can never shame * them." The agent drew his hand quickly before his eyes, and went out, as if to look for the train. The stranger's jeweled fingers stroked the gray Jocks " -J while the tears of sorrow and the tears of sympathy fell together. The weary heart was unburdened. Soothed by the touch of sympathy the troubled soul yielded to the longing for rest, and she fell asleep. Some people seem to think that good manners are not a necessity, aud that any attention to forms of etiquette is beneath their dignity. To such, Ed ward Everett's reply to some one wno asked how he had been able to bo thoroughly master the details of European etiquette that the knowledge had made him noted for the elegance of hisra&n tiers, should he commended. "I have never," he said, considered any subject which other people respect, as unworthy of intense observation. I pride myself on the manner even in which I*tie up a brown paper parcel. For the same reason I study the etiquette of every country." True eloquence consists in saying all that in proper, and nothing more.