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Wm. DR. TALMAGE. |BrHE BROOKLYN* DIVINE'S SUNjHgf DA V SERMON. ^HPrcached to Soldiers From ThirtyBH One States at the National Drill Kncanipnient iu Washington. WM Texts: "Fifty thousand which could keep H^Hran/e," I. Chronicles xii.. Xi: and '"Every one ^^tcould sling stones a hair's breadth and not I^Entss," Judges xx.. 10. |9| Companies of infantry, cavalry, artillery Hand zouaves, please notice the lirst Scripture ^Hpassago applauds the soldiers of Zcbulun, ^Hbecause they were disciplined trooj?s. They ^Hraay have been inefficient at the start and ^Hlaughed at by old soldiers because they |^Keemed so clumsy in the line, but it was drill, ^Hdrill, drill, until they could keep step as one JHman. "Ft'ty thousand which could keap ^Hrank." The second Scripture passage ap|Hi)lautls a regiment of slingers, in the tribe of ^ Benjamin, because they are dextrous marks[^Knen. When they first enlisted thev may have ^Hbeen an awkward squad and all their fingers NHwere thumbs, but they practiced until when ^Hthey aimed at a mark they always hit it. ^ ' Every one could sling stones at a hair^Hbreadth and not miss." Both texts couibin^Hing to show us that if we must fight wa ^ should do it well io cmnothirKy <ihcnrhmo> in fcliA niili Iltary science of the Bible. In oTden times all Ithe'men between twenty and fifty years of [age were enrolled in the army and then a levy I was made for a special service. There were [only three or four classes exempt: those who had built a house and had not occupied it; those who had planted a garden and had not reaped the fruit of it: those who were engaged to be married and had not led the bride t* the altar; those who were yet in the first year of wedded life; those who were so nervous that they could not look upon an enemy but they fled, and could not look upon blood but they fainted. The army was in three divisions?the centre and right and left wings. The weapons of defence were helmet, shield, breastplate, buckler. The weapons of offence were sword, spear, javelin, arrow, catapult?which was merely a bow swung by machinery, shooting arrows at vast distances, great arrows, one arrow as large as several men could lift; aud ballista, which was a sling swung by machinery, hurling great rocks and large pieces of lead to vast distances. The shields were made of woven willow-work with three thicknesses of hide and a loop inside through which the arm of the warrior might be thrust: and when these soldiers were marching to attack an enemy on the level, all these shields touched each other, making a wall, moving but impenetrable, and then when they attacked a fortress and tried to capture a battlement this shield was lifted over the bead so as to resist the falling of the missiles. The brestplate. was made of two pieces of leather, brass covered, one piece falling over the breast, the other falling over the back. At the side of the warrior the two pieces fastened with buttons or clasps. The bows were so stout and stiff and strong that the warriors often challenged each other to bend one. The strings of the bow were made from the sinews of oxen. A case like an inverted pyramid was fastened to the back, that case containing the arrows, so that whin the warrior wanted to use an airow he would put his arm over his shoulder and pull forth the arrow for the fight. The ankle of the loot had on an iron boot. When a wall was to be assaulted a battering ram was brought up. A battering ram was a great beam swung on chains in equilibrium. The battering ram would be brought close up to the wall and then a great number of men would take hold of this beam, push it back as far as they could and then let go and the beam became a great swinging pendulum of destruction. Twenty or forty men would stand in a movable tower on" the back of an elephant, the elephant made drunk with wine, and then headed toward the gneniy, and what with the heavy feet and the swinging proboscis and the poisoned arrows shot from the movable tower, the destruction was appalling. War chariots were in vogue and they were on two wheels so they could easily tuna. A sword was fastened to the pole between the horse so when they went ahead the sword thrust aud when they turned around it would mow down. The armies earned flags beautifnllv embroidered. Tribe of Judah carried a flag embroidered with a lion; tribe of Reuben, embroidered with a man: tribe of Dati. embroidered with cherubim. The noise of the host, as they moved on, was overwhelming. What .with "the clatter of shields, and the rumbling of wheels, and the shouts of the captains, and the vociferation of the entire host, the prophet says it was like the roaring of the sea Bccausa the arts of war have been advancing all these years, you are not to conclude th ft these armies of clden times were an unco tollable mob. I could quote yon four or five passages of Scripture, snowing you that they were thoroughly drilled; they marched step to step, shoulder to shoulder, or, as my text expresses it, they were "Fiftv thousand which could keep rank," and "Every one could sling stones a hair's breath and not miss." I congratulate you, the officers and soldiers of this national encampment; that if a foreign attack should at any time be made you would be ready, and there would be millions of the drilled men of Js'orth and South like the men of mv first text "which could keep rank," and like the men of my second text, that would not miss a hair's oreauui. At this national drill when thirty-one States of the Union are represented, and between the decoration of the graves of the , Southern H-ml. which took nlsoc a few da*\s ago, and the decorations of the graves of , the Northern dead, which shall take place to-morrow, I would stir the Christian patriotism and gratitude not only of this soldiery here present but of all the people by patting before them the difference between these times when the soldiers of all sections meet in peace and the times when they met in -contest. Contrast the feeling of sectional bitterness in with the feeling of sectional amity in 1SS7. At the first date the South had banished the national air, the Star Spangled Banner, and the North had banished the popular air of "Way Down South in Dixie." The Northern peopie were "mudsills" and the Southern people were "white trash." The more Southern people were killed in battle the better the North liked it. The more Northern people were killed in battle the better the South like it. For four years the head of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis would have l>een worth a million dollars if delivered 011 either side of the line. No need now standing in our pulpits and platforms or saying that the North and South did not hate each other. To estimate how very dearly they loved each other,count up the bombshells that were hurled and the carbines that were loaded and the cavalry horses that were mounted. North and South facing each other all around in the attempt to kill. The two sections not only marshaled all their earthly hostilities, but tried to reach up and get hold of the sword of heaven, and the prayer of the Northern and Southern pulpits gave more information to the heavens about the best mode of settling this trouble than was ever use;l. For four years both [ sides tried to cet hold of the Lord's thunder OOIts, but could noc quite reacn tnem. -1.1, the breaking out of the war we had not for months heard of my dear uncle, Samuel J. TD&lmage, President of the Ugletliorjw L"niversity in Georgia He was about the grandest man I ever knew and as good as good could be. The first we heard of him was his opening prayer in the Confederate Congress in Richmond, which was report| ed in the New York paj>ers. which praver, if answered, would, to say the least, have left all his Northern relatives in very uncomfortable circumstances. The ministry at the North prayed one way a'idthe ministry at the South prayed the other way. No use in hiding the fact that the North and the South cursed each other with a withering and all-consuming curse. Beside that au tipathy of war-time I place the complete aocord 01 this time. Not long ago a meeting in New Yoi*k was held to raise money to build a Home at Richmond for crippled Confederate soldiers,the meeting presided over by a man who lost an arm and a leg in lighting on the Northern side, and the leg not lost so hurt that it does not amount to much. The Cotton Exhibition held not long ago at ^Atlanta was attended by tens of thousands of Northern people, and by" General Sherman, who was gi eeted with kindness, as ttiough they had never seen him before. At the New Orleans Exhibition held two years ago, every Northern State was represented. A thousand-fold kindlier feeling after the war than before the war. No more use of gunpowder in this country except for rifle practice or Fourth of July pyrotechnics or at a shot at a roebuck in the Adirondacks. Brigadier-Generals in the Southern.Confederacy making their fortunes as lawyers in the northern cities. Rivers of Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina turning mills of New England capitalists. | The old lions of war?Fort Sumter and i Moultrie and Lafayette and Pickens and Hamilton sound asleep on their iron paws,and instead of raising money to keep enemies out of our New York harbor, raising money for the Bartholdi Statue on Bedloe's island, figure of Liberty with uplifted torch to . light the way to all who want to come in. I Instead of war antipathies, when you could t not cross the line between the contestants I without fighting your way with keen steel I or getting through by passes carefully scrutiI nizeil at every step by bayonets, you need i only a railroad ticket" from New York to j Charleston or New Orleans to go clear j through, and there is no use lor any weapon j sharper or stronger than a steel pen. Since j the years of time began their roll has there ever been in about two aecaues sucn an overmastering antitnesls as uetween tne war time of complete bitterness and this time of com! plete sympathy? I Contrast also the domestic life of those J times with the domestic life of these times. Many of you were either leaving home or far i away from it. communicating by uncertain letters. What a morning that was when you left home! Father and mother crying, sisI ters crying, you smiling outstile but crying I inside. Everybody nervous and excited. > Boys of the blue and gray! Whether you started from the banks of the Hudson, or the Savannah, or the Androscoggin, don't you remember the scenes at the front door, at the rail car window, on the steamboat landing. The huzza could not drown out the suppressed sadness. Don't you remember those charges to write home "often and take care of yourself, be good boys, and the goodbye kiss which they thought and you thought might be forever. Then the homesickness as I you faced the river bank on a starlight night on pickct duty and the sly tears which you wiped off when you heard a group at the I camp fire singing the plantation song about j tho old folks at home. The din| ner of hard - tack on Thanksgiving I day and the Christmas without any presents, and the long nights in the hospital so different from the sickness when you were at home with mother and sister at the bedside, and the clock in the hall giving the exact moment for the medicine, and that forced march when your legs ached. and your head ached, and your wounds ached, and, more than all, .your heart ached. Homesickness that had in I iv 4.: 1 i\j <1 MIUUL'UCIUU auu a nmac tuuu uvttuu. You never got hardened as did the guardsman in the Crimean war, who heartlessly wrote home to bis motlier: "I do not want to see any more crying letters come to the Crimea from vou. Those I have received I put into my rille after loading it: and I have fired them at the Russians, because you appear to have a strong dislike I of them." If you have seen as many killed as I have, you would not have as many weak ideas as you now have.*1 You never felt like that. When a soldier's knapsack was found after his death in our American war there was generally a careful package containing a Bible, a few photographs and letters from home. On the other hand tens of thousands of homes waited for news. Parents saying: "Twenty thousand killed! I wonder if our boy was among them." Fainting dead away in postoftices and telegraph stations. Both the ears of God filled with the sobs and agonies of kindred waiting for news or dropping under the announcement of bad news. Speak, swamps of Chickahominy and midnight lagoons and fire-rafts of "the Mississippi, and gunboats before Vicksburg, and woods of An tie tam. and tell to all the mountains and villages and rivers and lakes of North and South jeremiads of war times that have never bean syllabled. Beside that, domestic perturbation and homesickness of those days put the sweet domesticity of to-day. The only camp fire you now ever sit at is the one kincUed in stove or furnace or hearth. Instead of a half ration of salt pork, a repast luxuriant because partaken of by loving family circles in secret confidences. Oh, now I see who those letters were for, the letters you, the young soldier, took so long in your tenu IU ??iiw: U?U cuciu J\J 14 HWW w particular to put in the mail without anyone seeing you lest you be teazed by your comrades. (rod spared you to get back. Though the old people have gone j*ou have a home of yonr own construction, and you often contrast those awful absences of filial and brotherly and loverly heartbreaks, with your present residence, which .is the dearest place you will find this side of heaven, the place where your children were bora and the place where you want to die. To write the figures 1SG2 I set up four crystals of tears. To write the figures 1887 I stand up four members of your household, figures of rosy cheeks and flaxen hair, if I can get them to stand still long enough. Living soldiers of the North andSouth,take new and special ordiuation at this season of the year to garland the sepulchres of your fallen comrades. Nothing is too good for their memories. Turn all the private tombs and the national cemeteries into gardens. Ye dead of Malvern Hill, ar.d Cold Harbor, and Murfrepsboro, and Manassas Junction, and Cumberland Gap, and field and hospital receive these floral offerings of the living soldiery. But thev shall come again, all the dead troops. We sometimes talk about earthly military reviews, such as took place in Paris, in the time of Marshal Ney, in London, in the time of Wellington, and in our own land; but what tame things compared with the fin.il review. when all the armies of the aires ! shall pass for divine and angolic inspection. St. John says the armies of heaven ride on white horses, and I don't know but some of the old cavalry horses of earthly battle that were wounded and worn out in service may have resurrection. It would be only fair that, raised up and ennobled, they would be resurrected for the grand review of the Judgment Day. It It would not take any more power to reconstruct their bodies than to reconstruct ours, and I should be very glad to see them among tne white horses of Apocalyptic vision. Hark to the trumpet blast, the revoiHe of the last judgment. They come up. All the armiesof all landsand all centuries, on which ever side they fought, whether for freedom or despotism, for the right or the wrong. They come ! They come ! Darius and Cyrus and Sennacherib, and Joshua aud David, leading forth the armies of Scriptural times. Hanni'tal and Hamilcar leading forth the armies of the Carthaginians. Victor Emanuel and Garibaldi leading on the armies of the Italians. Tamerlane and GhengisKhan followed by the armies of Asia. Gustavus Adolphus, and Ptolemy Philopater, and Xerxes, and Alexander, anil Serniramis, and Washington leading battalion after battalion. The dead American armiesof 1776 and 1812, and one million of Northern and Southern dead in our civil war. They come up. They pass on in review. The six million 1 alien in -Napoleonic battle, the twelve million Germans fallen in the thirty years war, the fifteen million fallen in the war under Sesostris, the twenty million fallen in the wars of Justinian, the twenty-five million fallen in Jewish wars, the eighty million fallen in the crusades, the ISO million fallen in the wars with Saracens and Turks. The thirty-five billion men estimated to have fallen in battle, enough according to one statistician, if they stood four abreast, to reach clear around tho earth 442 times. But we shall have time to see them pass in i review before tho throne of judgment, the cavalry-iren. the artillery-men. the spearmen, the infantry, the sharp shooters, the gunners, ihe sappers, the miners, the archers, the skirmishers, men of all colors, of all epaulets. of all standards, of all weaponry, of all countries. Let the earth be especially balanced to bear their tread. Forward ! Forward ! Let tlia orchestra of the heavenly galleries play the grand mnrch, joined by all the lifers, drummers and military bands that ever sounded victory or defeat at Eylau or Borodino. Marathon or Thermopylae, Bunker Hill or Yorktown, Solferino or Balaclava, Sedan or Gettysburg; | from the time when Joshua halted astronomy ( above Gibeon and Ajalon till the last man surrendered to Garnet Wolseley at Tol-elKebir. Nations, companies, battalions, ages, centuries and the uui verse: Forward in the grand review of the Judgment! Forward! Gracious and eternal God! On that day may it be found that we were all marching in the right regiment, and that we carried the right standard, and that we fought under the right commander, all | heaven,sonio ou Ametbystin* battlement and i others standing in the shining gates, some on ! TK-arly shore and others on the turreted | heights giving us the resounding, millionvoiced cheer. "More than conquerors." ' Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from ever, lasting to everlasting, and let the whole earth be tL'Jcd with His glory. Amen and Amen. Tiik ltev. John Webb and a big black bear had an encounter recently in the woods of Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Mr. Webb spent the next five hours in dodging around the beast, and finally killed him with a pocketknife, the only weapon he had about him. [RELIGIOUS READINGS.! Tho Baby's Boon. Take the gift, and for the Giver, Rear it, mother, tenderly; Let it b? your high endeavor From the world to keep it free. There is now no spot upon it, It is like the Giver, pure; But the sinful world will lure it, And the Tempter seek it, sure. I j Guard the procicus one, and guide It, Tell it of the Heavenly way: Bear it often up before Him Who hears mothers when they pray. j Knowest thou the wreath of treasure Thus committed to thy care? Far more precious tbau Golcon la! It may yet outshine a star! No such charge on earth is given As tho little infant, sweet,? Take it, and in Him believing. Lay it at the Master's feet. E. D. B. A Iloly rife. I A holy life i9 made up of small things, j Little word9, not eloquent speeches or | sermons; little deeds, not miracles or ! battles, nor one great heroic act of j mighty martyrdom, make up the true Christian life. The little sunbeam, not the lightning; the waters of Siloam "that so softly" in the meek mission of 4-V*n ((nrofAfQ j ICilCdUiliCUt, JiUt bUO noiwiij v* vuviiivt) I great and many," rushing down in noisy j torrents, are the true symbols of a holy life. The avoidance of little evils, little I sins, .little inconsistencies, little weak| nesses, little follies, indiscretions and ; imprudences, little foibles, little indul-1 J gences of the flesh?the avoidanc i of such little things as these goes far to make up, at least, the negative beauty of a holy life.?[Itonar. IIiw t<? lCeac.lt the 1 Precept.?Go out quickly into the | streets and lanes of the city, and bring . in hither the poor and the maimed, and | the halt, und the blind. Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. Let us not be weary in well doing. As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men.?[Paul. Visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction.?[Jame3. Let him that heareth say come?Jesus. 2. Example?Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues i ana preacmng rne v^ospei 01 me Kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people. When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them?he went about doing good, and healing all j that were oppressed of the devil. A friend of publicans and sinners. The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost. 01<1 Aite Dean Bradley, successor of Stanley in the deanery of "Westminster, tells an anecdote of him as he neared hs sixtieth year. He was traveling in Germany on a Rhine steamer, and getting acquainted with a boy, (he loved children), the boy asked him his age, which being answered, he said, "Why, all your life is over. " No,'' said the dean, "the best is 7et to come." "You must be on the wrong side of sixty," said one acquaintance to another "No,1' he replied, "I am on the right side." Old age is cheerless enough to one lacking faith in God and Christ; but bright and divinest hopes when one has for his portion the Christ, whom to know with the Father is eternal life, i Let every man mourn as old age creeps upon him if he be without faith in the Holy One. Let every man rejoice as ; age comes upon him, if he trusts in Him | who said, "Because 1 live, ye shall live." Life here is only the state of inJ fancy. I A plain London lighterman, only a I navigator on the Thames, was in the Abbey, standing before the monument of John Wesley, and as he talked with the dean, knowing he had been to Palestine, said, -'It must have been beautiful to have walked where the Saviour walked." "Yes,'' and with a saintly look, he said, "Beautiful to walk in the steps of the Saviour." Stanley's words, as he spoke of death, are so beautiful we quote them: "There the soul finds itself on the mountain ridge overlooking I the unknown future; our company be- j fore is ?onj: the kinsfolk and friends ot muiiy years arc passed over the dark river, and we are left alone with God. We know not in the shadow of the night who it is that touches us?wc feel only that the everlasting arms arc closing us I in: the twilight of the morning breaks, | I we are bid to depart in peace, for by a j | strength not our owu we have prevailed, I and the path is made clear before us." Great and many are the compensa- ' tions of advancing age.?[Selected. The divinest attribute in the heart of j man is love, and the mightiest, because j j the most human principle in the heart of j j man is faith. I.ove is heaven; faith is j | that which appropriates heaven.?[F. W. Robertson. I lind that when the saints aro under ; trials and well humbled, little sins j raise great cries in the conscience; but | in prosperity conscience is a pope, that j gives dispensations and great latitude to i our hearts.?|Samuel Kuthnrford. Temperance News and Notes. There are manufactured daily in the United States 301,736 gallons of whisky. i New York city spent $12,000,000 fn 1S8R to maintain charitable and reformatory institu- i tions. Intoxicating drink necessitates 76 per cent, of this great outlay. The saloon-men of Ts'ew Orleans have oom, bined and raised ?10,000 to tight the Sunday laws which are bein^ strenuously enforced by the Law and Order League. The law compelling saloons to close on ! Sunday is being rigidly observed in New 1 j York. Even hotels refrain from supplying j guests with wine at meal times. BUDGET OF FUN. HUMOROUS SKETCHES FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. Rather Confusing?The Same Old Place?Wanted a Change?Early Marriage?What the Gun was Good For, Etc. In a barber shop. Customer?"You 6ay the black horse won ' Yes, sir." "Why, a man just now told me that the bay horse was beaten!" "Er?sir?''?Detroit Free Press. The Same Old Place. "Are you going to take in any of the watering resorts this summer?"' asked [a well kuown landlady to her milkman. "Oh yes, I have always taken a little recreation every summer and I always derive pecuniary as well as healthful benefits by taking in those resorts every summer." " Where do you expect to go this season?" asked the lady. "Oh the same old watering place? the town pump."?Curl Pretzel. Wanted a Change. " Got the cholera in town ?" asked a Nankin farmer who was ou the market yesterday. "Whv. 11c!" answered the nerson in terrogated. "Heard so out at my place yesterday. I Heard there were twenty-six cases." "Oh, that's all nonsense. Are your i neighbors much excited!" 44Not a bit. We began down there; with the measles and whooping cough , last October, and we are now tapering j off with catarrh in the head and a ring-1 ing in the ears. Excited? Why, I' come in to get a case of cholera for a change!''?Detroit Free Press. Early Marriage. Constance is a very young, but she is j also better worth quoting than most ] grown people. Her envy was somewhat; aroused by the fact that a wedding was i about to take place in the family of her little playmate, and that the playmate thereby had the advantage of her; so she remarked, very complacently, to her little friend's mamma: "Airs. , did you know that I was | engaged to be married?" "Why, no, Conny. Is that so?" "Yes, ma'am; l"m engaged to Fits j Wnrd" (small boy of her acquaintance). \ "He doesn't know it, but I've got to ex- j Dlaiaitto him."' "Well, Conny, do you expect to be ! married soon?" ''Well, I hope so. TL-e fact is, I'm-i tired of being spanked, and I think we'll j be married very soon."?Harpers Magu- j sine. What the Gun Was Good For. j "Yes, gentlemen," said one of the few vet unboycotted liars of the Bohemian | Club, as he finished a snipe-shooting j story; "that was the most remarkable ! gun I ever saw. Wouldn't take a thou- j sand dollars for it." 4'It's nothing to a gun I used to own." j said an ex-champion prevaricator, waking up just then. "It was simply impossible : for a bird to get away from that gun. It | made the closest and most regular pattern | vou ever saw. I traded for a fiftv-acre lot.". "To Bogardus, eh?" said the other liu- I ished equivocator, sarcastically. "No, to Simpson, the big wholesale ' druggist. He used it to shoot holes in i porous plasters?fifty at a clip.'' And then nothing could be heard ex-; cept the scratching of the other man's ! pen as he wrote out his resignation.? j The Wasp. I An Unexpected Suggestion. "Say, Gaddersby." said Mr. Smith, as he came into the fish stpre with a lot of i tackle in his hand. "I want you to give j me some tish to take home with me. Kiad ; o' fix 'em up so that they'll look as if they've been caught to-day, will you*" "Certainly, sir," said the grocer. "How many?" "Oh, you'd better give me three or four bass. Slake it look decent in quan- j titv without appearing to exaggerate, ! you know.'' "Yes, sir. But you'd better take white Bsh, hadn't you?'' "Why? What makes you think so?'' "Oh, nothing, except that your wife was down here early this afternoon and ( said said if you dropped in with a fish 1 pole over your shoulder and a generally 1 woe-be-gonelook, to have you take white ! fish if possible, as she liked that kind j better than any other." Mr. Smith took white fish.?Merchant Traveler. Getting the Best of the Banana. He was a short mau pervaded by a; generally rural air, and wore a derby hat j that looked like a chocolate drop. He paused near the Post Office build- I ing in front of an Italian banana cart, j ami lncnu(.?f.rl tlm fruit wirh "Tfat interest. ~ ? => ;- I "How's bernanners?'' he inquired. "Ze best bananas in ze city." said the , merchant from Italy earnestly. "Zis ze j banana season. All of zem sound and : ripe.'' "IIow much for the veiicr ones?" "Two for five.'' "Well, give me one," said the short man. He passed over three ccnts, and selecting a banana began to remove the skin. The fruit was slightly overripe, however, and being exposed, a soft spot on one side gave way and the edible portion of that banana vanished in the gutter. There was an expression of intense surprise 011 the purchaser's face. He looked at the empty banana skin in his hand, and then said to the vender: "I thought you said this was the season for bernanners?" "So it is." "Maybe that was a last season's bernanner." "No, no," said the dealer impatiently, "zat was all right. You should have eaten him.'' "I didn't get a chance to eat it. Gimme another. ' ' Tke dealer objected, so they compromised on another banana for two cents. The man with a chocolate-drop derby passed over the pennies, und as he grasped the second banana, he remarked: "I ain't agoin' to let no Kyetalyun fruit beat me. Plagued if I don't eat skin and all this time." And he did.?iVVto York Tribune. A Joke on Barnnm. At a recent dinner, by the way. a story was told of Barnum. "ile is a temperance man now," said one of the party, "but I remember when he set up the drinks for a distinguished crowd. He didn't do it out "of pure good nature either. It was twenty-six years ago, at the Profile House, in the Franconia mountains. Barnum was feeling pretty smart in tho?c days, and he had been playing his jokes and cute tricks rather freely about the house. A lot of guests sat on the piazza of the hotel. Among them were Commodore Vanderbilt, William H. Vanderbilt. another of the family, Governor Gilmore's son. John Hyde, the artist, Barnum and a number of others, including myself. Young Gilmore was a lively young chap then, but he has deteriorated and become a minister since. Gilmore put up the job and let us all into it. He twisted the talk around to physical prowess, and got Barnum to brag about how fast he could run. Across the plateau in front of the hotel was a rail to which horses were tied. Gilmore proposed that we all start from the piazza and run to the rail and that the last man to touch the rail with his hand pay for the drinks for the crowd. Everybody agreed, and we got into line, all except the Commodore, who sat on the piazza and ^ave the word. P. T. was lively and confident, and waited impatiently for the word. The Commodore said 'go!' and away went the greatest show on earth like jumbo in a sprint race. He took the lead right away. Everybody else pretended to run for all that was in them, but took care not to get ahead of P. T. The showman got there in great style, put his hand on the rail, and turned arouud in triumph. There stood the rest of the crowd in line behind him, not one pf them touching the rail. When he heard the Commodore roar, he took in the situation. He was the only one who put his hand on the rail at all. Barnum set them up. but he wa3 so mad that he couldn't tell a plausible fairy tale for a week..?2few York Letter. Horn-Books. One of the rarest, and certainly one of the most interesting, books in the library of the British Museum is what our ancestors called a "horn-book." It was, in fact, their primer, the ordinary means by which they began their education; and down to the reign of George II. must have been very common, for we see by an entry in the account book of the Archer family that one was sold in 1789 for two pence. At present there is no book more difficult to obtain. The one in the British Museum was found a quarter of a century ago in a deep closet, built in the thick walls of an old farm house in Derbyshire. It is said a laborer engaged in pulling down the walls of the ancient house recognized it as that from which his father had been taught to read. Upon the back is a picture of Charles I. on horseback, giving some approximation to its date. It is a single leaf, containing upon the front side the alphabet, large and small, in Old English and Roman letters, ten short columns of monosyllables founded on the vowels, and the Lord's Prayer; all set in a frame of oak, # now black with age. and protected by a slice of transparent horn, hence the name horn-book. There is a handle by which to hold it, and in the huudle a hole for a string, so ik could hang from the girdle. A picture of 1720 represents a child running in leading strings, with a horn-book tied to her side. A cheaper kind of horn-book had the leaf of priuted paper pasted upon the horn, and perhaps the greater number were made in this way. If so, it is not singular they should be scarce, for they would be very easily destroyed. Shenstone writes in 1742 of Books of stature small, While with pellucid horn secured all To save from fingers wet the letters fair. The alphabet upon the horn-books was | always headed by a cross, and so was frequently called the Christ Cross Row, or, in common speech, the Criss Cross Row, this being the title under which a very wo rn specimen is catalogued at Oxford.? Christian at Work. Wholesale Slaughter of Birds. The law, the newspapers, the Audubon Society, and other useful agencies, have put some check to the barbarous fashion of wearing dead birds for ornaments in the politer neighborhoods, but it must linger in the rural districts. A Laurens correspondent of the Ioica State lleyiitcr calls attention "to a great wrong that is being d juc in this section of Iowa. There are a large number of men and boys engaged in killing small birds, and one day last week there were bought at this town over three thousand birds, and they average, shipping by express, from one to four barre's a day. of sixty dozen to the barrel. The birds all go to New York City. The?e birds ate all insect destroyers, and if there is not a stop put to it, farm crops must suffer from the extermination of these useful creatures." If they are brought "to New York City," it must /.V,inritr m-innfoohirft nnrl tiou in the finished state to country markets. Thus concentration of the business here affords an excellent opportunity for friends of the birds to strike a "swashing blow'' at the evil by pursuing the consignors here of this melancholy freight, whose possession of it is an offense under our law. These dealers must be well known, and ought to be complained of, the New York law providing a handsome reward for complainants in such cases. Meanwhile the statutes, of Iowa provide a remedy, inflicting a penalty of not less than $5 nor more than $2.1 for the offense of destroying most birds or their eggs.?Evening Post. Oddities in New York Store Windows. A fan fourteen feet lonr. A pair of breeches, twenty-five cents. One-toed and five-toed socks. A pocket knife with sixteen blades. A wheel that turns so fast that it seems to stand still. A Ihirty-button kid glove. It is fastened at the shoulder. A pair of Valcnciennes hose, with lace fronts. $18 a pair. A steam engine that draws its own water and consumes its own smoke. . Two heads of horses and a pair ol pigeons sketched with a sewing machine. A pair of elephant's tusks that measure seven feet eight inches and weigh 270 pounds. A $400 dress in brocade, velvet, and lace. Nile preen en train. It was made by Pinchon of Paris. A sponge measuring ten feet in circumference when wet. Another one as small as a bullet.?New Yvrk Sun. Fighting Fish. There is a hot tempered little fish, known as Bctta pugnax, and kept as a sort of domestic pet by the Siamese, to fit<n!:w its nrowess for the Mongolian amusement. When in a state of quiet, its dull colors present no remarkable sight, bnt if two be brought together, or I if one sees its own image in a lookingI ghiss. the little creature becomes suaI denly excited, the raised fins and the I whole body shine with metalic colors of dazzling beauty, while the projected gill membrane, waving like a black frill round the throat, adds something of grotesquencss to the general appearance. In this .state, it darts at its real or reflected antagonist. The Siamese keep these fishes in globes i like goldfish, and the Malays often stake I large sums, or even the freedom of them- I selves aud their families, on the prowess ' of a particular betta. J HOUSEHOLD MATTERS. Good for Everything. One of the most useful articles in domestic economy is borax. Its medicinal properties are cleansing and healing. It is a good wash for weak eyes in a weak solution. It is excellent for sore throat. Mixed with honey it cures canker thrush and sore mouth "of any kind. ,It will cure a stubborn case of ringworm by beinrr riiKKn/1 nn cupfnnn nf thn Qlrin HI dusted over the spot. For dressing wounds or cuts, it is very healing when dissolved in warm water and used to carefully wash the tender parts. It is excellent for cleansing the hair or for chapped rough skin. It is a cure for prickly heat or for sunburn. It will keep moths out of furs and roaches and ants out of closets. It also is a good 'disinfectant. It can be used lavishly in tiie laundry without injury to the finest clothes, making them white with less rubbing and no boiling. Flannels andlaces are less liable to shrinkage ii washed in it than if with soap, and it makes black cashmere, well blued, as good as new.?Detroit Tribune. Washing Helps. Lately we have tried putting a little kerosene in the water when the white clothes are soaked over night, and it acts like a charm. At first I thought it might have an unpleasant smell, but such is not the case. The rinsing has a great deal to do with the clear look of the clothes. Hard water is the best for this purpose, and only a little blueing is to be allowed. The chief thins is to get all the suds out at' the articles. Colored fabrics should be washed for the first time in salt and water. If the colors are delicate, the goods should be washed, rinsed, starched and well shaken out, then hung at once on the lines. It is always better to fold clothes the night before ironing; it seem3 to help the smoothing process. A great help to washing day is a mangle, and that family is fortunate who possess this very useful help. Here, again, kerosene comes in to assist iu laundry work, a spoonful mixed in the starch, being one of the aids to polishing, not always known. Sufficient attention is not given to sorting and soaking white clorhes, and sometimes the quality of soap makes a great difference, and this can be discovered only by a fair trial. Anything that helps to make washing day easy is to be done. And of all the ingredients used as a washing fluid, I prefer plain borax, that can be used without injury to fabrics, or to the hands of the laundry maid.? Rural New Yorker. Recipes. CnocoLATE Cake.?Beat the whites of . a.? - A two eggs witn a quarter ui u puuuu ui powdered sugar into a frothy cream, add the juice of half a lemon and six ounces nf finely-grated chocolate; drop this mixture in spoonfuls on a flat tin, and bake them slowly. Silver Cake.?One cupful of sugar mixed with two tablespoonfuls of butter; add one cupful of flour with one teajpoonful of baking powder, half a cupful of cornstarch, half a cupful of milk, the whites of three eggs, flavor with vanilla. Bake in a moderate oven. New Potatoes.?Put into a stewpan a piece of butter rolled in flour, a gill of cream, pepper, salt, a very little nutmeg, also the juice of half a lemon; stir these over lire until boiling; then add sliccs of freshly boiled new potatoes, and, after warming them up in the above sauce, serve very hot. Strawberry Tart. ? Strawberries, sugar, puff paste. Pick over the strawberries carefully, and arrange them in layers in a deep puff crust, sprinkle each layer thickly with sugar; fill very full, pour in a teacupful of strawberry juice made from the soft berries that have been squeezed through a fine cloth. Cover with the pastry, and bake. Tomatoes axd Egos.?One dozen large tomatoes, four ounces of butter.one small onion, seasoning, six eggs. Peel 1 1 1 * - r - *- i-- Kllf me SKIDS irom IUC LUUILLIUCA, pui, mc uuitcr into a frying-pan, add the onion minced fine,and pepper ami salt to taste. Fry the tomatoes, and from time to time chop them while frying: when theyar6 well cooked break the egqfs into the pan, stir the whole quickly and serve hot. Cnow-Cnow.?One-half bushel green tomatoes, one dozen peppers, one dozen onions chopped fine, one pint of salt, let stand over night, drain off and cover with vinegar. Cook slowly half an hour, add two pounds of sugar, two tablespoonfuls cinnamon, two of allspice, one of cloves, one of pepper, half-cup ground mustard, one pint of grated horseradish, vinegai to mix, boil and mix with the ingredients. Cuors a?*d Cauliflower.?Broil the chops and serve them in a circl? on a hot platter around cauliflower prepared thus: Soak the cauliflower, face downward, in cold water for two hours; tliii takes out whatever insects may have harbored therein. Cut off all the green leaves and boil in salted watci from twenty minutes to half an hour, it J *? ..1 oa;ivn. uepcnus iijiuu uik'suc. lit >?.n. fork from time to time to see if it be done. When thoroughly done pour ofl the water and pour over the vegetable a sauce made thus: Bring to boiling point a half-pint of milk, add a piece of fresh butter size of an egg, stirring all the while; then add a teaspoonful of arrowroot smoothed in a little crcam. Let il boil up once. An Indian Scholar's English. The following was written by an Indian scholar in the Hampton school: 4iOue day, bright day. and a little bird happy and stood on a log and sang all day long. That bird doesn't know anything about cat. She thinks nobody is near to her. But beliind the near log one sly o!d cat is watching. She want to eat for supper, and she thinks about stealing all the time. The old cat came very slow, and bv-and-bv she go after tho little bird, but she does not see him, and 1 fl- - ?i 111 s.in,!? aioua again. oiiu sun^ j"?i this: 'I always try to do what is right; when I ever die ! I go to heaven.' That bird said these nil words, and I shall not forgot the bird what it said, and these all words it said and after two three minutes go died: that cat jumped and catch and kill, eat up all except left little things from bird, wings, legs, or skin, and that bird is glad to die because she is very good bird. That little bird has last time sang, and very happy was the little bird, after that. I think the old cat have good dinner and happy just same as bird was first time." The Zains. Happily, ono Hindoo scct exists which is so universally merciful to all animals as to include even dogs. I allude to the Zains. whose creed seems to combine the teachings of Brahma aud Buddha, and who especially hold the doctrine of transmigration so practically, that they look on everything that has life as the possible embodiment of some dear friend or near relation: consequently, all living creatures should be tenderly dealt with. ?Mia Gordvn Cummivg. TEMPERANCE. The Wicked, Cruel Spider. I know a dingy corner, where a wicked spider clings; Where he spins his web round bottles, glasses, jugs, and other things; And I listened in the shadow as one day I passed along, And I neard the wicked spider, as he sung his cruel song: "Will you take a little cider? Will you call while passing by ?' i Said the wicked, crafty spider, to the buzzing little fly. liTirni ..x.. - "Wllljruu uuttj u. Ulriw la^cu uuicij jvo will not decline Just to take a drink for friendship; say, just sip a little wine." "He is coming for his cider!" said the wicked, cruel spider; "He is coming for his wine, and my cords shall round him twine; While he sits and sips his lager, I will whet my little dagger, And when he has drunk his wine, he will find that he is mine! Ha! the little fool is coming, I can hear him buzzing, humming, He who comes to visit me, vainly struggles to be free. ******** "You are welcome to my parlor, I am glad to see you come, Do not stay outside the entrance, please to make yourself at home; Will you take a little lager, while Isharpen up my dagger? Will you take a drop of wine? then yoa surely shall be mine: I will bind you, I will grind you, though yoa struggle, weep and pray, I will tie your hands behind you, you shall ncvci gcuanuj, I will fight you, I will smite you, I will stab you, I will bite you, I will make you poor and needy, I will make you old and seedy, I will make you bleared and bloated, and with rags and tatters coated, And your hat will look so shocking, that the boys will all be mocking, I will haunt you till you die, then 111 hang you up to dry." 0 my boy, beware of cider, and of lager and of wine, Then the wicked, cruel spider ne'er shall get a child of mine. Let us storm his ugly castle, let us tear his web away; Let us drive away this spider, Heaven in mercy speed the day! ?The Little Christian. rfhe Killing of Editor Gambrell. Last week we chronicled the murder in Haverhill,Ohio,by saloonists, of Dr. Northup. This 'week we chronicle still another murder by the liquor interest, and the murder of as brave and true and talented a young man as the State of Mississippi can boast. Last Thursday night R D. Gambrell, editor of the Siuoi-d and Shield, of Jackson, Miss., was waylaid by a party of whisky men as he was passing over a bridge on the way to his home, and was shot dead. He was a young man but twenty-three years of age, of Christian character, ofspleudid talents, heroic courage, and devoted with his whole soul to the cause for which he has fallen. His father is one of the most prominent Baptist clergymen in the State, and his mother is one of the State officers of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. His chief assailant, Jones D. Hamilton, was last year leader of the anti-Prohibition forces in the desperate contest in Hinds County, which resulted in the victory for Prohibition. Young Gambrell was one of the most promineat in that contest, and has also beon one of the most trusty leaders of the Prohibition party in that State. Threats and attempts at assassination were made then. In spite of them he has gone ahead exposing the enormities of the traffic, and the political corruption of those engaged in it, daring the hatred of the political boss before whom others trembled. For this he has fallen, murdered in cold blood, a martyr to the cause of the home, a hero as true as ever braved the wrath of hell. As for us, our pen trembles as we write, and our vision is blurred by the tears that arise. He was'one of our most trusted corresponddents, and has been ever since the Voice beI can. The terrible traeedy that laid him bleed uig from the wounds "of the bullets that E lowed him through and through, and raised by the fiendish blows inflicted with , the butts of their pistols by his assailants, has come to u3 like the death of a personal friend. God help those to whom he was dearer than to all else, and strengthen them to bear the awful horror that has fallen upon them! Dead in his youthful manhood! Dead in the promise of a noble and unselfish life! Over and over that scene flashes before us: The lonely walk upon the bridge, as the young man, alono and unwarned, took his way homeward; the fateful flash of a pistol upon the dark night; the sudden cry which those who have once heard can never again forget?"Mcrder!" the hurried tramp of feet: flash following flash in rapid succession; aud then that silence that was, for one, a si- . lence that shall never end until the grave gives up its dead at the command of its Conquerer! Haddock ? Xorthup ? Gambrell I Citizens of America, what do you think of them; What do you think of the cause for which they were willing to die, and for which there are thousands of men and women as ready to die as were they? "What do you think of the murderer of these and of thousands?the legalized dram-shop system of our land? God Almighty lias grown tired of waiting for deaf ears to open and blind eyes to see. Heaven help us, poar fools that we are, who cannot awake to these awful crimes against Him and against us until a baptism of blood tells us that the Great Avenger has taken the' cause in his own hands and out of ours.?Voice. A Practical Temperance Sermon. The Rev. John Rhey Thompson preached an eleoquant and earnest sermon upon tha temperance question recently in New York. He said in substance: "It is my purpose to-night to discuss in a living way a practical question and to discuss it 011 the solid basis of conceded facts. I shall give a record of the sale and use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage, in a single week, in the cities of Brooklyn and New Jersey, as reported iu the daily papers." The speaker then read accounts of sixtyone arrests for murder, robbery, arson, wifebeating, assault aud battery, and a number of cases of suicide. Proceeding he said: ' This is no exaggeration. It is a terrible reality, and yet it is all under the sanction of the law. And this is all among the lower class of people. Now look behind those lace curtains, into the homes of the wealthy, whose money keep their names out of the paper, there is wife-beating there. We hear of so many wealthy men dying of brain fever. Thoil* doctors could tell you a different story. Add New York City to these accounts, then aid the world, and then just stop and think. Bad as New York is, it is nothing to bo compared with England. Just think of the waste of labor, waste of time, waste of health, waste of will,waste of heart that ram causes. What is this cause? Is it the law/ Who makes the law? is it a better enforcement of the laws? Who elects the Aldermen or appoints the cities' officials? The iminediateness and infectiousness of the danger justifies words of expostulation and admonition, of warning and entreaty. No home is safe. If the choiera were prevailing in a mild form in this country, would you not be apprehensive? If last week there had occurred l^OO deaths from cholera ea-t oi Loiorauo, wouia you noc take the utmost precautions against the disease! And vet rum cause 11,000 deaths this side of Colorado this last week, and will continue to do so until wo check it in its mad career. 1 call upon good men everywhere to combine in undying hostility to intemperance. It desi'rvos, and I hereby solemnly invoke upon it, Hie swift and just judgment of Almighty Uod.'' ! ' The Drunkard's Feeble Offspring. On the subject of inheritance, it has been truly said that the blood of the inebriate parent is so vitiated and his energies are so wasted that even when there is a sober motlier the innocent progeny are often brought into existence puny, stunted and debilitated. Body and brain having been insufficiontlv nourished, the vital powers of such infants are so very defective that, in their earliest years, they are literally mowed down. In the causation of the terrible infantile mortality which is such a disgrace to civilization, the drinking habits of the parent or parents have the largest share. Even when grown up to manhood, the constitutions of the offspring of intemperate parentage are frequently so enfeebled and impaired that they succumb to a premature death from their lack of recuperative power after the exhaustion following some acute illness, which a vigorous system would have perfectly recovered tvom.?Boston Herald.'