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I REV. DR. TALMAGE. THE BROOKLYN' DIVINE S SUN* DAY SERMON. Subject: "The Women. Who Fiffht the Battles of Life Alone." Text: Every wise woman buildeth her house?Proverbs, xiv., 1. Wnmfln o mom tn man nn annon Idix to the masculino volume, something thrown In to make things even?that is the heresy entertained and implied by some men. This is vident to them: Woman's insignificance, as compared to man, is evident to them, because Adam was first created and then Eve. They don't read the whole story or they would find that the porpoise aud the bear and the ark were created before Adam, o that this argument drawn from priority of creation might prove that the sheep and the dog were greater than man. No! Woman was an independent creation, and was intended, if she chose, to live alone, to walk , alone, act alone, think alone and fight her * battles alone. The Bible says it is not good for man to be alone, but never says it is not good for woman to be alone; and the simple fact is that women who are harnessed tor life in the marriage relation would he a Icnousanaioiu Deiir- uu u. iuu? ncio mvun. God makes no mistake, and the fact that there is such a large majority of women in this land, proves that be intended that multitudes of them should go alone. Who are these men who year after year hang around hotels and engine houses and theatre doors and come in and out to bother busy clerks and merchants and mechanics, doing nothing even when there is plenty to | do? They are men supported by their wives and mothers. If the statistics of any of our cities could be taken on this subject you would find that a vast multitude of women not only support themselves but masculines. A great legion of men amount to nothing, ana a woman by marriage manacled to one of these nonentities needs condolence. A .woman stancing outside the marriage relation is several hundred thousand times better joff than a woman badly married. Many a . ? 'J- *??* J KlACCAma I I cnue luhbtmu ui a mraiu ui uiaugo knight more properly wear a bunch of nettles ana nightshade, and instead of the Wedding March a more appropriate tune would be the Dead March in Saul, and instead of a banquet of confectionery and ices there might be more appropriately spread a table covered with apples of Sodom, which are outside fair and inside ashes. Many an attractive woman of good sound eense in other things has married one of these men to reform him. IVhat was the result? Like when a dove noticing that a vulture was rapacious and cruel set about to reiorm it and said: "1 have a mild disposition, and 1 like peaca, and was brought up in the quiet ,cf a dove cot, and I will bring the vultnre to the same liking by marrying him." So one day alter the vulture bad declared he would give up his carnivorous habits and oease longing for Mood of flock and herd, at an altar of rock covered wilh mos* and lichen,the twain were married, a bald headed eagle officiating, the vulture saying: "With all my dominion of earth and sky I thee endow, and promise to love and cherish till death do us part." But one day the dove, in her flight, saw the vulture busy at a i arc ass and cried: "Stop that! did you not promise me that you would quit your carnivorous and filthy habits if I married you?" "Yes," said the vulture, "but if you don't like my way you can leave," and with one angry troke of beak and another fierce clutch of claw the vulture left the dove eyeless nnd wingless and lifeless. And a flock of robins flying past cried to each other and said: "See there! that comes from a dove's marrying a vulture to reform him.'' < Many a woman who has had the hand of a young inebriate offered, but declined it, or who was asked to chain her life to a man elfish or of bad temper, and refused the shackles, will bless God throughout all eternity that she escaped that earthly pandemonium. Besides all this, in our country about I1,UOO,WO men were sacrincea in our avu war, and that decrecd a million women to celibacy. Besides that, since the war, several armies of men as large as the Federal and Confederate armies put together have fallen tinder malt liquors and distilled spirits so full of poisoned ingredients that the work was done more rapidly, and the victims foil while yet young. And if 50,O X) men are destroyed every year by strong drink before marriage, that makes m the twenty-three years since the war 1,150,000 men slain, and decrees 1,150,000 women to celibacy. Taking then the fact that so many women are unhappy in their marriage, and the fact that tho slaughter of 2,150,000 men by war and rum oombined decides that at least that numbor of women shall be unaffianced for life, my text comes in with a cheer and a potency and appropriateness that I never saw in it before when it says: "Every wise woman buildeth her house," that is, let woman be her own architect, lay out her own plan, be her own supervisor, achieve her own destiny. In addressing these women who will have to fight the battle of life alone, I congratulate you on your happy escape. Rejoice forever that you will not have to navigate the faults of the other sex, when you have lauits enough of your own. Think of the bereavements you avoid, of the ri9k of unassiiuilated temper which you will not have to run, of the cares you will never have to carry, and of the opportunity of outside usefulness from which marital life would have partially debarred you, and that you are free to go anil come as one who has the responsibilities of a household can seldom be. God has not given Ton a hard lot as compart*! with your sisters. When young women shall make up their minds at the start that masculiue companionship is not a necessity in order to happiness, and that there is a strong probability that they will have to fight the battle of life alone, they will be getting tho timber ready for their own fortuue. and their saw and ax and plane sharpened for its construction, since "every wise woman buUUetU her house." As no boy ought to be brought up without learning some business at which he could earn a livelihood, so no girl ought to l>e brought up without learning the science of self support The difficulty is that many a family goes sailing on the high tides of success, and the husband aud father depends on his own health and acumen for the welfare of his household, but one day be get* his feet wet, and in three days pneumonia has closed his life, and the daughters are turned out on a cold world to earn bread, and there is nothing practical that they can do. The friends of the family come in and hold consaltation. "Give music lessons," says an outsider. Yes, that is a useful calling; and if you have 1 great genius for it go on in that airoction. But there are enough music teachers now tarving to death in all our towns and cities VU ucvupjf OU lUO putliu aiuiiu UIIU wioi auu chairs and front doorsteps of the city. Beside that, the daughter ha* been playing only for amusement aud is only at the foot of the ladder, to the top of which a great multitude of masters on piano and harp and flute and organ have climbed. "Put the bereft daughters as saleswomen hi stores1' says another adviser. But there they must compete with salesmen of Jong experience or with men who have served an apprenticeship in commerce, and who began u* hop bovs at 10 years of a<re. Some kind hearted dry goods man having known tb? father, now gone, says: "We are not in need of any more help just now, but send your daughters to my store and I will do as well by them as possible." Very soon the question comes np: Why do not the female employes of that estublishmen get as much wages as the male employes? * or the simple reason in many cas^s tiie lemaies were suudenly flung by misfortune behind that counter, while the males hare from the day they left the public school been learning the . , businessHow is this evil to be cured? Start clear back in the homestead and teach your daughters that life is au earnest thine, and that there is a possibility, if not a strong probability, that they will have to light the battlo Of life alone. Let every father and mother say to their daughters: "Now. what would * you do for a livelihood If what 1 now owj, were swept away by financial disaster, or old age or death should end my cureer." 'Well, I could paint on pottery and do such decorative work.1* Yes, that is beauti fnl, and if you have genius tor 11 go on jn that direction. But there aro enough busy at that now to make a line of hardware from tare to the East River and across the bridge. "Well, I could make recitations in public and earn my living as a dramatist. 1 could render 'King Lear'or 'Macbeth'till your hair would nse on end, or give you 'Sheridan's Ride' or Dickens's 'Pickwick.'" Yes, that in a beautiful art, but evor and anon, as now. there is an epidemic of dramatization that makes hundreds of households ner rous with, the cries and shriek9 and groans of young tragedians dying in the fifth art, and the trouble la that while your iriancU would like fco hear yon, and really think tha* you couM surpass Risfcori antl (jharlotto Cushmin and Fannie Keinble of the past, to soy noth ngof the present, you could not, in the way of living, in ten yeare earn ten cents. My advice to all girls and all unmarried women, whether in affluent hornet or in homes where most stringent economies are grinding, to learn to do some kind of work tliat the world mu-ifc have while the worid stand& I am glad to see a marvelous change for the better, and that women have round out that there aro hundreds of practical things that a woman can do for a living if she begin soon enough, and that men have be^n compelled to admit it. You and I cau remember when the majority of occupations were thought inappropriate for women, but j our civil war came and the hosts of DJ2U fnrfh from North and South, and so conduct the business of our cities during the | patriotic absence,women were df mande.t Dy I thu tens of thousands to take the vacant places, and multitudes of woinm who had been hitherto supported by fathers and brothers and sons, wore compelled from that time to take care of themselves. From that time a mighty change took place, favorable to female employment. Among the occupations appropriate fcr women I place the following, into many of which she has already entered, and Mil the others she wiil enter: Stenography, and you may find her at nearly all th? reportorial stands in our educational, political and religious meetings. Savings binks, tha work clean and honorable, and who so great a right to toil there, for a woman founded the first savings bank, JUrs. rriscuia naw^uu: Copyists, and there is hardly a professional I Dan that does not need tlio sarvice her | penmanship, and, as amanuensis, many of the greatest books of our day have be?n dl*. tatea for her writing. There they are as florists and coofeetioners and music teachers and stationers and bookkeepers for which they are specially qualified by patience and accuracy; and wood engraving, in which the Cooper Institute has turned out so many qualified; and telegraphy, fot which she is speciallly prepared, as thousands of the telegraphic offices would testify. Photography, and in nearly nil our establishments they may be found there et cheerful work. As workers in ivory and gutta percha and gum elastic and tortoise shell and gildin<r and in chemicals, in porcelain, in terra cotta, in embroidery. As postmistress??, ami tha President in-giving them appointments all over the land. As keepers of lighthouses, many of them, if they had the chance, ready to do as bravo a thing with oar and boat as did Ida Lewis and Grace Darling. As proofreaders, as translators, modelers, as designers, as draughtswomen, as lithographers, as teachers in schools and seminaries for which they are especially endowed, the first teacher of every child, by divine arrangement, being a woman. As physicians, having graluatei after a regular course of study from the female col leges of our large cities, wnore tney ees iuj scientific and thorough preparation as any doctors ever had, and go forth to a work which none but women could so approprietely or delicately do. On the lecturing platform, for you know the brilliant success of Mrs. Livermore and Mrs. Hallowell, and Mrs. Willard and Mrs. Lathrop. , As physiological lecturers to their own sex, for which service there is a demand appalling and terrible. As preachers of the Gospel, and all the protests of ecclesiastical courts cannot hinder them, for they have a pathos and a power in tbeir religious utterances that men can never rea-h. Witness all those who have heard their mother pray. O, young women of America! as many of ?5,1 1?? ?Ai??Anin Koffloo nlnna you will navo bUU^Ub jrvui vnu i/ubv>v> ?ivuv. . do not wait until you are flunfrof disaster,and I your father is dead, and all the resources of your family have been scattered, but now, while in a good house, and environed by all prosperities, learn how to do some kind of work that the world must have as long as the world stands. Turn your attention from the embroidery of fine slippers, of which there is a surplus, and make a useful shoe. Expend the time in which you adorn a cigar case in learning how to make a good, honest loaf of bread. Turn your attention from the making of flimsy nothings to the manufacturing of important somethings. ' - ? To,Hoc' Aiucn OL LI1U l/Iiuw Ojicuu im jvuug ?uu.v?seminaries in studying what are called the "higher branches" might better be expended in teaching them something by which they could support themselves. If you are going to be teachers, or if you have so mucn assured wealth that you can always dwell in those high regions, trigonometry, of coarse; metaphysics, of course: Latin and Greek and German and Frenc-h and Italian, of course; and 100 other things of course; but if you are not expecting to tt arh. and your wealth is not established Deyonu nusiormue, after you have leanied the ordinary branches, take hold of that kind of study that will pay in dollars and ceuts in case you are thrown on your own resources. Learn to do something better than anybody else. Buy Virginia Penny's book entitled "The Employments of Women,"' and learn there are 500 ways in which a woman may earn a living. "No, no!" says some young woman, "I will not undertake "anything so unromantio and commonplace as that." Au excellent author j writes that after he had, in a book, argued for efficiency in womanly work in order to success, and positive apprenticeship by way 1 of preparation, a prminent chemist advertised that he would teach a class of women to become druggists and apothecaries if they would go through an apprenticeship as men do, ana a printer advertised thut he would take a class of women to learn the printer's trade if they would go through an apprenticeship as men do, and how many according to the account of the authoress do you suppose applied to become skilled in the druggist business and printing business? Not ono! One young woman said she would be willing to try the printing business ior six nionms, | bat by that time har older sister would bo married, and then her mother would want her at home. My sisters, it will be skilled womanly labor that will finally triumph. ' But," you ask, "what would my father add mother say if they suw I was doing such unfashionable work}" Throw the whole responsibility on the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, who is constantly hearing of young women in all these cities who, unqualified by their previous luxurious surroundings for the awful struggle of life into which they have l>eon suddenly hurled, seemed to have nothing left them but a choice between starvation and damnation. There they go along the street at 7 o'clock in the wintry mornings through the slush and storm to the place where they shall earn only half enough for subsistence, the daughters of once prosperous merchants, lawyers, clergymen, artists, bankers an 1 capitalists who brought fUqi'h nViil,}mn mvlar flio inTamfJ tlullKinn UK,UD" vu.M. u. ?, tbat it was not bi^h tonod for women to learn a profitable calling. Young womon, take this affair in your own hand and let there be an insurrection in nil prosperous families of Brooklyn and New York and Christendom on the part of the (lnu^ht-rs of this day, de-w manding knowledge in occupations and styles of business by which tliev may be their own defense and their own suppni t if all fatherly and husban Uy and brotherly hands forever fail them. I have seen two sad sights?the one a woman in all the glory of her young life stricken | by disease, and in a" week lifeless in ft home of j which she had Ik*?ii tho pride. As her hands j were folded nver the still heart auil her eve? i closed for the last, slumber, and she was taker, j out amid the lamentations of kindred and I I fn'Arwlc T thrill "lit. that, was ft 8<ldtl0S3 irrw j measurable. But I have seen something coinI pawl with which that scene was bright and songful. It was a young woman who hurl been all her days amid wealthy surroundings, by th? visit of death and bankruptcy to the household turned out on a cold world without one lesson about how to get food or shelter, and into the awful whirlpool of city life when? strong shijw have gone down, and for twenty years not one word has l>ec?n he;ird from her. Vessels last week wont out on the Atlantic Ocean looking for a shipwrecked craft that was left alone and forsaken on tho sea a few weeks ago, wit h tho idea of bringing it into port. Hut who shall ever bring again into tho harbor of ncac? and hopo and heaven that lost womanly immortal, driven in what tenijwst, aflame in what conflagration, sinking into what abyss? O God, help! U Christ, rescue: My >isters. give not your tiino to learning fancy work which the" world may dispense with when hard times cotno. but connect your skill with the indisnmsnbles of life. I The world will always want something to wear ami something to eat. and shelter and fuel for the body, and knowledge for the mind, and religion for the soul. And all these Ihinsrs will continue to bo the nerossaries, and if you fasten your energies upon occupations and professions thus related the world will bo unable to do without you. Remember that in proportion as you are skillful in anything your rivalries become less. For unskilled toil, women by the million. But you may rise to whoro there are only a thousand: and still hieher till there are only a hundred; and still higher till there are only ten; and still higher In some particular department till there la oaly a emit, and that yoarself. Ttrr a wWle yon j may keep Wasrea and a place through the fcrfndly smypith'es of an ern^oyer. but you will eventually no1, get more compensation' than you can make yourself worth. I/?t me say to all worn <n who have already , entered upon the battle of I:fe tint the time j is neai'inz when woman shall not. only get as . much salary and wapes as men pet, but for certain styles of employment women will j have hieher salary and more wages for the ! reason that for some style* of work they have 1 more adaptation. Bat t>>'s justice will come j to woman, not through any smtiment of gal- : lantry, not because woman is physically j weaker than man ami t.hr r^f ;re oueht to i nave mnro consmeniM<?!i miuwii uer% uutuo* I cause through her finer natural taste and more grace of manner and quicker percep- j tion and more delicate tonch and more educated adroitness,she wfTT, in certain callings, ! be to lier employer worth 10 per cent, more cr 20 per ant. more than the other sex. She. | will not get it bv asking for it, but by earn- | ing it, and it shall be hers by lawful conquest. Now, men of America, be fair and give the : women a chance! Are you jifraid that they | will do some of your work and hence harm i your prosperities? Remember that there are ' scores of thousands of men doing women's work. Do not bo afraid! God knows the end from the beginning and lie knows how many people this world can feed and shelter, and wnen it gets too full he- will end the Jvorld and if need be start auother. God will halt the inventive faculty which, by producing a machine that will do the work of ten or twenty or a hund rod mon and women, j will leave that number of people withont ; work* I hone that there will not l>e invented j another pewing maf ^ or reaping machine I . Z U.'-~ ! vi vvia luiuouci vi auj uuuoi uoTT uiauuiuo for the next 500 years. We want no more wooden' hands and iron hands and steel hands and electric hands substituted for men and women who would otherwise do the work and get the pay and earn the livelihood. But God will arrange *11, and all we have to do is-to do our best and trust Him for the rest. Let me cheer all women fighting the battle of life alone, with the fact that thou- j sands of women have in that way won the ' day. Mary Lyon, founder of Mount Holy* | oake female seminary, fought the battle nlone; Adelaide Nowton, the tract distrib- < utor, alone* Mdelia Fiak, the consec rated ; missionary, alone: Dorothea Dix, the angel j of the lunatic ?*flums, alono: Caroline Her- i schel, the indispensable re-enforcement of her j brother,alone; Maria Takrzewska.the heroine I of the Berlin hospital, alone: Helen Chal mers, patron ot sewing scnoois ror tno poor or Edinburgh, alone. And thousands and tens j of thousands of women whose bravery and self-sacrifice and glory of character the world ' haamadeno record, but whose deeds are in I tho heavenly archives of martyrs who fought , the battle alone, and, though unrecognized j for the short thirty or fifty or eighty years of their earthly existence, snail, through- tho , quintillion ages of the higher world, be | pointed out with the admiring cry: "These j are they who came out of great tribulation : and had their robes washed and made white J by the blood of the Lamb." " Let me also say for the encouragement of i nil women fighting the battle of lite alone, j 'hat their conflict will sooa end. There is one word written over the faces of many of : them, and that word is Despair. Mv sister, I vou need, anneal to that Christ who com- ! forted1 the sisters of Bethany in their do j raestic trouble, and who in his last hours for- j got all tho pangs of his own hands and feet and heart as he looked into tho face of mater- j nal anguish and called a friend's attention to ; it, in substance, saying: ''John, I cannot ! take care of her any longer. Do for her as I | would have done if I had lived. Behold j thy mother!" If under tho pressure of j unrewarded and unappreciated work your hair is whitening ana the wrinkles coine, . rejoice that you are nearing tho hour of es- ! cape from your very last fatigue, and may j J'our departure be as pleasant as that of | sabella Graham, who closed her life with a ; smile and the word "peace.n Tho daughter : of a regiment in any army is all surrounded j by bayonets of defense, and in the battle, ! whoever falls, she is kept safe. And you are I the daughter of the regiment commanded by j the Lord of Hosts. After nil, you are not fighting the battle of life alone. All heaven J is on your side. You will be wise to nnnro- j prrate to yourself tho words of sacred j rhythm: One who has known in storma to sail I have on board: Above the roaring of the gale I hear my l.ord. He holds me; when the billows smite 1 shall not fall. If short, 'tis sharp; if long, 'tis light; Do tempers all. I Temperance News and Notes. I All conventions or religious denominations J hold in Nebraska during the past year have declared against license. Professor Stewart, of Liberia, estimates | that for every missionary wno goes to i Africa, 70,000 gallons of liquor are sent to j that country. The eastern insurance companies hare j given notice to tho brewers of Dubuque, ; Iowa, that they can no longer tako risks i upon their property. In a recent speech at Carnarvon. Ireland, i Sir George Trevelyan said there had been no \ public house on his estate for thirty years, j A ' ?4-- in noniwrioni onH I ALUUMg Ills lCIinill>3 LUVIV 13 uufauj/viuu. . absolutely uo discontent. Mrs. Mary Clement Leavitt, organizer for j the world's* W. C. T. U., is now in Pouca, ; India, whore slio was well received. From ' thence she goes to Bombay and afterward to ! Calcutta, visiting the towns eu route. The six powers contiguous to the North Sea i ?Great Britain, Frunce, Belgium, Holland, | Germany and Denmark?have entered into j an agreement whereby the sale of spirituous i liquors to fishermen" and other persons on ! board vessels is prohibited. The World's VV. C. T. "U. petition placed in circulation in Ceylon by the Misses Leitsch, > missionaries at Oodooviile, received 15,00,') | signatures within six weeks, many of tho 1 natives signing their name-i with a prayer | for the success of tho work. An important feature of the Swiss Alcohol j Act, recently passoJ. giving tho government I control over all alcoholic drinks sold in that j oountry is, that ten i>er cent, of the net rev- I enue which the cantons will gain from the ' alcol>ol tax is to be spent in unfolding to the j people thfs effects of alcohol. Tho tipw Chairman of Cook County Prohi- ! bition Cl?b made it a condition of acceptance | tiiat several representative W. C. T. U. wo- I men be appointed on the Executive Com- | inlttee, and that a delegate be invited from I every W. C. T U. in the county to serve as j regular members of tho committee. Friends of temperance will be rejoiced to ! learn that the issue of rum is to be discon- ; tinued in the British army in India, and that 1 the canteen for spirits will soon be a thing of ! tho past. This is a long step in the right i direction, and is due to his Excellency, Sir j Frederick Roberts, commander-in-chief. The white ribbon is slowly but surely en- j circling the world. A temperance society I has been formed in the Girl's Mission School, ! Samokor, Turkey, the white ribbon is donned ! by its members, and all have enrolled their! upon tho World's W. C. T. U. peti- i Won. S. A. Haines, of Nethenvood, N. J., for ; thirty years a commercial traveler, has originated a temporance organization which j he has nnmc.'l the "King's Temperance j Army." The only roouisito for membership is u pledge not to ariok intoxicants, and ' each member is expected to get ten others. | The especial object is to help his fellow com- j meri-iul travelers. Senator lliair has presented to tho Tinted I States Congress a petition asking for f ie sub- i mission to the several States an amendment j to the Constitution of the United Stales for ! the prohibitian of the manufacture, importa- j tion, exportation, transportation and sale of ill alcoholic liquors as a beverage in the Tinted Statos. IIo also asked for the appoint- ! ment of a national com mission to investigate anil report upon the alcoholic liquor traflic. A Chance Taking Plac*. In two recent articles in the New York Indepentlcnt, Dr. Ezra M. Hunt, its sanitary j editor, invites attention to the general ; awakening of the public and legislative mind I as to the evils of alcohol in its use as a beverrge?an awakening not confined to our own ' eountiy, but including notably Germany, . Switzerland, and France. He chronicles the fact that the recent session of the Alcohol Congress at Zurich commanded the attendance of many leading physicians and states- j men of Europe; and that there was a unan- i imous conclusion denying the claims of alco- ! hoi to alimentary valuo. He also shows that there is a marked change going on in the medical profession concerning the medical I so of alcohol, that the conviction is becora- I ing generally prevalent that, as compared with an earlier period, evon in the treatment of disease, the occasion for its use ia greatly restricted.? National Advocate. TEMPERANCE. f?e NriV Tear"s Awtfkertfri?^ "Tis tf? time when men nro thinking To forswear the curse of drinking And assert ones more f4ie manhood that too long asleep lias lain. Rooting out the morWu craving, Long tlio mind and heart enslaving, Ax*l a-loosening every Setter of the bitter, ! guillllg V IJUJU. In their!flfortsmay God' bless them; May kind Fortune's smile caress tliervi, And each kindly hand-grasp strengthen and uphold them in the fight; They are friends, indeed, who heed them, Kow the time when most they need th-ifli. 4Ti? so easy to lull back again^ but hard to keep arigbi. Kffects- of Alcohol1 Upon Health*. As to the effect of alcohol upon human health and vigor, so fearful is the record, and' Bo repeated and almost universal is the testimoney, that we need not to repeat much of it. Perlmps the most convincing recent evi- , dence is that of the returns of vital statistics of the Registrar-General of England and i Wales, for the ten years from 1870 to 18S0 inclusive. These are contained in the supplement of the Forty-fifth Annual Report'(1885), In which are tabulated the facts as to two million six hundred and seventy-nine thousand four hundred and sixteen deaths. These are the results of unimpaasioned figures, gatli< mi outside of the records-of Reform Societies: i'he mortality of men who are directly concerned in the'liquor trade, as brewers,innkeepers, publicans, inn and hotel servants, tmnlH in nnvKillinM TliA uiiu luajdicia, IUO ^ujupuiantv mortality figures are as follows, 1,000 being used as a standard: Brewers; 1,361; all dealel's in spirits, wines, or beer, 1,521; inn and hotel servants, 2,205. For malsters, who are onlv concerned with the materials and' not' , with the liquor itself, the figure is 830." The report proceeds as follows: "it is well, whenever the opportunity offers Itself, to test the accuracy oi our death rates by comparison with data derived from independent sources, and in the case of the innkeepers and publicans such comparison is- j possible. By the experience of the Scottish Amicable Life Assuranco Society (182(>-187G), the mortality of males occupied in this business was sixty-eight per cent, in excess of the actuaries' or healthy male table, and fortynine por cent, in excess of Knglish life table. The result tallies very closely with figures in our table, where it appears that the mortality r\f innlfraniiiv nnH nnliliV'Olic ic fifflf.fwA not? cent, above the present mortality of all males. "That this terrible mortality is attributable to drink might be safely assumed a priori, but the figures render it incontestable. The mortality attributed to alcoholism is far higher'for innkeepers and publicans than for any other industry, and more than five times as nigh as the average; that for brewers falls far short of this, but nevertheless Is the next highest to that of innkeepers, with the single exception of cabmen. Under tbe heading, "Liver Diseases," the morta'ity of innkeepers is no less than six times as high as the average, and more than twice as high as that of brewers, and of butchers, who come next in order in this respect to innkeepers. * * * There are, in snort, no organs apparently that aro not more or less seriously damaged by the excessive use of alcoholic drinks, though tbe liver appears to suffer the most "It may also be worth noting that a comparison between Mr. Nelson's figures ana our own comparative mortality figures shown that a large proportion of tbe innkeepers and publicans, and or the brewers, muse Da ot temperate habits; for whereas the comparative ^mortality figure of innkeepers in our table is 1,5:21, and that of brewers is 1,801, that for recognized intemperate persons, according to Mr. Nelson's data, would be 8,240." Their desire for profitable business often helps to restrain innkeepers from drunkenness. While the tables show the greater evils of distilled liquors, the wine and beer deathrate is enormous. Such is the excess of death-rate among those whose business interests help to restrain them from drunkenness. At the same standard, the morality figure for clergymen shows the contrast of 550; for gardeners, 51,'9; for farmers, 081, and for agricultural laborers, 701. In addition, the statisticians say that the excessive mortality in many other callings, as that of cabmen, etc., is one to be accounted for by the use of alcoholic liquids, although this is not stated as the cause. Here are some of the statistical comments: "Commercial travelers, who lead mostly an out-oi-cioor existence. nave a mortality uj. K48. Tliat a very considerable proportion of the mortality is due to this cause is apparent when it is noticed ithat, under theheadings.' "Alcoholism," '"Liver Disease," "Gout,' ' Suicide," the mortality figures for this occupation come very high up on the list. The death-rate of tailors, 1,051, and that of shoemakers, Ufil, are both high. -While both trades are sedentary, and somewhat unhealthy, much of the excess arises froin those diseases which point to alcohol as a cause." These nro but specimens of very many other employments in which the statistical record points to an. excess of diseases in which, in the opinion of tho statisticians, the high proportion is mostly to be charged to the habitual use of alcohol, and often by those who were not regarded as intemperate. In different persons different organs 8eem to ft el the severity of the disturbance, but all are more or kss weakened. Authorities may differ in their estimate of causes which have produced embarrassing and finally fatal changes in various secreting and excreting organs: but we believe no one has yet been found to dispute the unrivaled capacity of alcohol to produce irritative and degenerative changes in the minute capillary circulation on which the integrity and ability of the vital organs depend. This does not absolutely retire it from use in the hands of tho skilled physician in emergencies of disease, any more than it does opium, belladonna, or corrosive sublimate; but it does certify that alcohol is the most riskfnl of drinks in all that relates to the circulation of the blood in those organs whose vitality and function depend on the pcrfeetness of their capillary circulation. It is essentially a disturber of the rhythm and the function of th? Mood-flow.-?adenfThe Library vs. the Saloon. Andrew Carnegio, the Scottish-American millionaire, in a recent address in opening a free library in Gran town, gave a significant incident or his early personal history as follows: " Let me fortho first time?for I have never spoken of it before?give yoa a little episode in mv histovv. 1 was a poor boy in the city of Allegheny. Thnnk the kind Fates that made me poor. 1 would not take a fortune nor give a forlune to a boy any more than I would leave that boy a curse. There is no:hing in the world so grand as honest poverty. I had no money to buy bookie but there was a good man in that city of Allegheny. He had over four hundred well known volumes, and tho thought occurred to him that every Saturday afternoon he would attend in his own little house and give to any good young boys the privilege ol coming and getting a book to read, which might be returned next Saturday afternoon, when a new book could be obtained. I toll jou, gentlemen, that man shall have a monument in the free library I am building in Allegheny City. His name was Colonel Anderson. And what did Audepson ojien to me.' Wealth? No; what'# wealth? He opened to mo tho intellectual wealth of the world. I there learned what I could never learn elsewhere. I became fond of reading. I reveled woek after week in thp hooks. Oh! mv toil was light. Why, I got up at six in tho morning and attended a cotton factory, and worked till six in the evening, but thero was a book for me when I went home. Can you wonder, then,if I have the thought, when I have made wealth, that the noblest use to which that wealth can be fmt is to imitate Colonel Anderson and estabish free libraries/ I would ray to young men here, and to middle-aged workmen, too, that among the first lessons I learned was a sentiment that was graven upon my heart. 1 have always felt that-my dearest friends were those that had como tlirough the braim infn th? liojirt T read that a noble officer l.ad ruined his life. By what? Hy putting an enemy to his month that stole away liis brains; and I said with !$hakspeare: "0 thou invisible Fpirit of wine. If we have no name to know thee by. Let's call ttiee devil.' Therefore I never entered a bar room. 1 never made myself so common that I could enter a public "bar and ask for a drink of liquor. That is one good thing that free libraries did for me. Then I hoou learned this grand sentiment: To thine own ee'.f be true, And it must follow, aa the night the da/, Thou CAnat not thea bflifilMtoMj maa.'" - i EELIGIOUS READING. Ta I liavo soen what it may be to1 five; 0 (Sod, can it be That Thou, in Thy fulness; wilt give Thy?lf unto nssf Eveu hero, in sny every-day round1Thy face may I meet? May the sod I am treading be found1 . A path for Thy feei? If this be not so, Iften in vain Am I living at all; But Thy beckoning summons iyplain, Thy awakening call Stml, rouse tbee, ancrnit up tnin? eyes, For the sun is-arisen; Yet the seed in the frosen earth lies Like a spirit iu prison. God sends thee, to visit; through shade, Hidden germs of His love; To ?feine with Ills warmth wast thou made, As he shineth above. Yes,- shou, if escaped from earth's nigttt; Art alive'from thy root With His freshness, a plant of His lighljA stem for His fruit.1 0 great, humbling vision, to see In our weakness His power 1 A^gleamof His radiance to be, His planting, His flower I TO grow with these fair growths of His? The cultured, the wild? To breathe out the breath of His bliss With His children, His child I O vision of God, stir within Unto heavenly birth! Shine, Christ, through the midnight of ?in/. ?a our souls and the earth 1 Troth. Truthus beautiful as well ns safe and' mighty. Ib tbe incident related below a boy twelvo years- old, with only truth as a weapon, conquered a smart and shrewd lawyer, who was fltrhHnrr for a had cause. "Walter was the important witness in alaw< suit. One ofl the lawyers, after cross-questioning him severely, said: "Your father has been talking to you andtelling you how to testify, hasn't he? " Yes," said the boy. " Now,'* said the lawyer, " just tell us how your father told you to testify." " Well," said the boy, modestly, " father toid me that the lawyers would try and tangle me in n?y testimony; but if 1 would just be careful and tell the truth, I could tell the same thing every time." Thft ln.iv.vnr didn't trv to tanzle ud that bov any mora!' Horning "Words By Canon Farrari. When Garibaldi had been defeated at Rome, he issued his immortal appeal: "Soldiers, I have nothing to offer you but cold ana hunger and rags and hardship. Let him who lovf3- his country follow me!" and thousands- of the youth of Italy sprang to their feet at that high appeal. Ana will yout the trustees of posterity? will you turn your backs to the appeal of your Saviour Christ? I know you will not. You cannot all be missionaries ; but some of you may be called to that high work, and all of you may help it forward. I know that many a one of you. will devote your lives, not to "Mammon, not to BeliaL but to the service of man for the lovo of God. Cambridge and Oxford, year by vear, are sending forth their young scholars, their young cricketers, their, young athletes, to missions in China, in Central Africa, in Japan, in incua. uiasgow nui do the same. And in this, as in other, ways, you may help to save Britain in saving Africa, and help Glasgow and Edinburgh by helping Melanesia and Moosonee! We owe this work to the heathen. Wo owe it to them, not as a splendid generosity, but a& our tardy reparation for intolerable wrongs* We girdled the world with a zone of drunkenness. The footsteps of Aryan races, as they traversed the continent in their careers of commerce or of conquest, have too often been footsteps, dyed in blood. Christians? they who bore that name?have sent to savage races, now the Jesuit and the oppres sor, now ttao bloodbouna una toe inquisitor, now the fire-water and th& pestilence, now the flash of the firelock aud the fetter of the slave. "We have decimated aboriginal populations by disease and drink. They have melted before us as the line of snow on the sunshine. It is time, it is more than time, that we would show tnem that our true mission is not to destoy their bodies, but to save thoir souls. Horrible to them have been the feet of those who brought only the curse and the blight of our civilization; It is an awful debt due to the perishing remnant that beautiful upon the mountains should be the feet of them that bring goo.l tidings that publish peace. Will you not aid, my friends, 111 this noble work# Your old crusading fathers too* the Red Cross to rescue a sepulchre? Will you be recreants from the nobler crusade of this our century to rescue, not one material sepulchre of Christ, but millions of His Living Temples for your Living and Risen Lord??{Archdeacon Pnrrnr at Glasgow Universitv. leaving Christ Out. In the village of W was the home of a man who was honest in his dealings, but who took no interest in religious things. His business was absorbing; and as the Sabbaths came, he was disinclined for public service, preferring ease and quiet at home, and rather enjoying than otherwise his reputation as an unbeliever. In the midst or external prosi>erity and apparent health, a fatal disoase suddenly appeared. One of his first movements was to send for the ministor. "Now, Mr. F , if you can help me, I will be glad; for I am all uncertain aa to the future; uut I don't want to hear about Josus Christ." Thn faithful KArvnnt, of God nnailed at first. but undertook the service upon the basis proposed. "Well," he said, "I will talk with Sou to-night about tho greatness of God." [is watchrul hearer agreed to it, and listened attentively while the minister spoke of the wonders of creation, the beauties of nature, the teloseope and microscope. The sick man was profoundly interested throughout the interview, and urged the minister to come on the following evening. As the good man entered the chamber on the nert evening, he said, "I will talk to you to-night about the goodness of God." His hearer listened attentively, and, as the unnumbered mercies and blessings were made to pass before him. his mind was moved, and he exclaimed, ''It is all true." And yet tho name of Christ had not been alluded to. At tho next interview the minister said, "We will talk to-night of the justice of God." The sick man trembled with new and strango emotions as tho awfulness of this attribute of Jehovah took possession of t.l. ?-1 1 i.1 ,1/VAfAfl Aw^-rwr liLS 111111(1, JUKI UM UJO IKUilUi UUklVi VII on net tighter, his conviction of sin had become a power within him hitherto unknown. At the crisis, when the face of the hearer indicated the alarm of the soul, as his sins stood in awful array before him, the minister arose to take his leave. "You are not going now, Mr. F , and leave me in this distress?can't you give mo some comfort?" "No," said tho minister, kindly, "I cannot: you have forbidden my doing so." "What do you mean, sir?" said the distressed man. "I mean that He whose nam* you will not hear, and whose love is so deep, is the only One in Heaven or in earth who can comfort and save you." Tho veil dropped from the eyes of the blinded man; lie listened eagerly to tho way of salvation through a crucified Redeemer: joyfully accepted the terms of salvation, and lived seven months, testifying continually of God's great mercy in saving the chief of sinners.?[Herald of Mercy. It has been supposed that the far-northwestern air is tempered with blasts from the north pole, or at least that coldest of American pwseasions, Alaska, but the favored region seems to havo suffered more proportionately from the summer sun than any other part of the country. It May Save tlie Boys. At a certain polling place where men wer? oting whether there should l>e any drinking saloons in the town a number of old topers came up. men who nail drank ail their lives, and they voted against the saloon. This was a surprise. Somebody said to them: '"1 guess you aon't know what you are about; why did you vote that way.' You'll get cheated out of your drink if this thiug carries. Why did you vote against the saloon?" "Oh,11 they said, "we know well enough it ia too late to save us: the tide has gone uy for us. lv.it it may save tho boys." ! , That is what we are working for?to save the boys and girls. Wq want temptation out of their way. "With no saloons to drag them down, what good, strong men M>d_ women thej may become*? Temp$rd)\ce Banntr, t POPULAtt SCIENCE. Extended observations at Paris and a: Munich indicate that the sanitary condition of a locality depends on the amount of water contained in the ground. The years in which there ha been a large quantity of ground-watc present have invariably been the health iest periods. The lowest barometric pressure on record is 27.135 inches, which was ob served in 1885 during a storm over the Bay of Bengal. This storm was also remarkable for its smallness?its diameter being only from one hundred to two UlinrlrAr) tMilfla /a* i 4-n AOO f/\? 4IUUVA1CU JJ.1IIUS 1UI lio UUUCUCCOj ttifU I"? ita indraught toward the'center. JKecent experiments with the Norclen feldt submerged torpedo boat were highly successful. At night she approached5 n boat that was expecting her to within four hundred yards, the agreed distance, without being noticed. Then she dived ?nd; rose within a hundred yards of the ship with a snort like a whale and then disappeared. She was regardod as 11 crreit success Three venrsftsro the raanacrer of'? silver' mine in Australia played ?a garae of' euchre wtbaa employe to decide wheth1 er the latter s&ould pay $600 or $750 for aone-fourfceettth share in the mine. The eraployo won^&ud his share is now worth $l,OL0{000, Engraving on plates and wood began about the middle of the fifteenth century. The earliest date known of a copper plate is 14G1. Engraving on wood was long known' in China, but began in Europe with the manufacturers of play? ing oards about 1400. A water-mill' is said to have been erected, on the river Tiber at Rome, A. D. 50.. Windmills were in general use in the twelfth, century. Tiacmills are also said to have been in operation in Venice about 10-78. Sawmills are saia i to havo been in. use at Augsberg about 13;*2. The Mexican woman who is obliged to earn her own living has a hard time of it. Seamstresses cannot earn more than 50 cents per day, cigarette makers from 32 to 38 cents, audi matchmakers 30 to 40 cents, and these are the only employments that are op?n to women in the City of Mexico* A Calais (Me-.) gentleman gave a birthday dinner the o-ther evening, and all the i game served?the snipe on toast, the j woodcock, the partridge pie, the roasted I duck?was shot for the occasion by thehost. At the plate of each guest was a souvenir of saipe wings, arranged with bright ribbons. Gruyere cheese, which had been made ! bp the farmers of Jura. Switzerland, un der a s-vstem by which each in turn made a cheese of the milk of the whole community given to him every day, is now made in a factory, to which all the farmers take their milk, and the product of which is common property, instead of each cheese being the individual property of the man who made it. This make? the cheese more uniform and of better quality, and increases the farmer's profits. A Buzzard's Keen Sense of Smell. At a meeting of the Biological Society of Washington, an interesting paper was read by Mr. C. L. Hopkins on the sense of smell in buzzards. This much debated point was strongly set forth by Mr. Hopi kins relating his experience in Florida. It was the uniform testimony of the i Vlnrirtu "crackers" that buzzards ob tained food by smell. Ho observed that i buzzards never left their roosts on damp, j foggy mornings until the ground and shrubbery were dry. They would then move slowly across the wind until a scent was struck, when they would work up the wind until the carrion was found. Sometimes they would drift down the wind, pass their prey, until they struck the scent, which would be followed up, finding the objcct of their search sometimes in the densest scrub. He had on 6everal occasions killed wild hogs in tho scrub and after dressing themaud taking what meat ho wished, would see twenty or more buzzards coming down with the wind. On several occasions covered offal had been detected by them. They had also discovered a buried snake. Several other instances were related, which, in Mr. Hopkins's opinion, conclusively proved thnt buzzards find some of their food by fcent, though that did not preclude the possibility or probability that they obtain other food by sight.? acwice. Life's Mistakes. Somebody has condensed the mistakes of life, and arrived at the conclusion that there are fourteen of them. Most people would say, if they told the truth, that there was no limit to the mistakes of life; that they were like the drops in the ocean or the sands on the shore in number; but it is well to be accurate. Here, then, are fourteen great mistakes: It is a great mistake to set up our own standard of right and wroDg, and judge people accordingly; to measure the en' joymcnt of others by our own; to expect I uniformity of opinion in the world; to . look for judgement and experience in } youth; to endeavor to mold all disposi *' -'! -.-4 o'aIi) ilKTTIofpriftl lions niiKc, uia iu jitiu iu iii.w......? trifles; to look for perfection in our own actions; to worry ourselves and others with what cannot be remedied; not to nlleviatc all that needs alleviation as far as lies in our power; not to make allowances for the infirmities of others; to consider everything impossible that we cannot perform; to believe only what our finite minds can grasp; to expect to be able to understand everything. The greatest of mistakes is to live for time alone, when any moment may launch us into eternity. Deaths From Wild Animals. It appears that during the year 1866 the number of persons killed by ivild animals and venomous snakes in Hindostan was 21,841. This is an increase ol 1, 9JJ4 over the figures for the previous year. The fatalities from snako bites rose from 20.112 to 22,1:M, while wild animals killed 2,707 persons as compared with 2.7'i.j in 1885. Tigers were responsible for 5)28 deaths and wolves for 222, these liguivs showing DO more deal lis from tigers and 20 fewer from wolves as compared with the preceding year. Elephants, leopards, bears, hyenas, wild boars, bisons, wild ho^s, jackals, alliga. lors. crocodiles, wild cats and panthers hnd nlan tlw>ir nil fit A of victims. ? TitMj j of India. 1 Speaking in the Senate. A Senator who hail often been mentioned as a candidate for the Presidency , told us that in the last Congress he had | an elaborate speech to make. He said he i thought he would have at least oaeaudi- j tor; so lie obtained a promise of a brother Senator to sit it through. In the course of an hour, ho said, this was the only Senator who was listening to him. Another half-hour elapsed, and he had left, too. He was not equal to keeping his word. And yet the speech in question was an unusually able and instructive one.?Bintvn Ilerakl. ' . . m . WORDS OP WISDOM. The smallest hair casts a shadow. A good conscience is the fineafc opiate. It is better to do well than t? wj well. A happy marriage is a new beginning of life, a new starting point for happiness and usefulness. Thero never was any heart truly great and generous that was not also tender and compassionate. Only so far as a man is happily married to himself is he fit for married life and family life eenerally. Kfrnm surh q* nrn lmfr op/trna in oiif VW Mi V WUV WVV4UW ?U v??? younger brows grow oaks ia our older heads and become inflexible. Half the misery of human life might be extinguished by mutual offices of compassion, benevolence and humanity. The history of persecution is a history that endeavors to cheat nature, to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of ;and. .blessed be the hand that prepares a pleasure for a child, for there is no saying when and where it msy again bloonj forth. Wealth ? to be used only as the instrument of action, not aa the representative of civil1 honors and moral excellence. Nothing can so reconcile us to the it. __1_ A. .r - ??? iliA MBAnnAA^ ii tuougai 01 ow owu u^uiu as tuo uivs^/ww ^ of one friend' after another dropping arouud us-. Consult wiiL him that U wise and of Nodi judgment, and seek to be instructed by one better than thyself, rather than to*follow thine own inventions. Gold "Bankets"' in South Africa. In the Witwatersrandt district (South Africa), the golxl-bearing formation is what is known as "banket," a sort of conglomerate that is wonderfully easy * to reduce. Banket can be reduced for less than $5 a ton. It is composed of a sort of pebbly quartz, cemented together by fine silicious sand. A piece of it may easily be crushed beneath the foot, n 114 I 1a rant AO nAlir/lH ACflr ft lllVTin tHIU a llllXW' IflUVi jyVUAVM v * w? w ?. will cause it to crumble at obco. Such ia- a "banket," and the gold is contained chiefly in the cement. Veins of positive quartz are found in the same reefs as the banket, but tho mills are working exclusively on the latter so far. Banket ruas in lodes or veins, varying from one to twenty feet wide. There is suoh au abundance of this material near the- surface that it is practically inex- \ haustible, and ai deep as shafts have thus far been sunk it holds its own in width of vein and richness. Thousandsof stamps may find remunerative employment night and c"/ay for years on banket' tin.to in nlain sisrht. J At present nearly a thousand stamps are working steadily on banket in toe Witwatersrandt district alone, and it is thought that by this time next year six times that number will be hard at' it. The average clean-up yields about ono and one-half ounces of gold to the stamp . per day. At this rate some of tha companies have commenced paying dividends at the rate of fifty per cent. * '$5 year on the capital invested, and shares are held at ten and twelve times thsir original cost a few months ago. This is what may be called an exceedingly healthy state of affairs, everything being bona-fide from beginning to end. The banket lodes were discovered A year ago by a Pretorean named Stubea. - - N The district was totally wild and uninhabited, a barren plateau, considered Ca aawia flio inAtrifahlA lit lUT UUlUiU^. JLUCU vuwu kuvtuvittww** rush, aud with mushroom spontaneity has sprung into existence the town of Johannisberg, already numbering 0,000 inhabitants.?New York World All Is Not Gold, Etc. When we read of the Astors' gold dinner-service, of the $5,000,000 ditto at Windsor Castle, and of the many other splendid geld dishes and spoons with which ordinary man manages to get along without, a vision of Solid magnificence arises that very nearly breaks off the mental optic. I, for one, have always innocently supposed that gold table utensils were what they pretended to be, all gold; but lately an expert and a dealer in old silver has informed mo to the contrary. Even Victoria'? royal gold nlate is no better than it should be. For such a thing as ''solid gold" is totally unknown. I must say this knowledge is a vast relief to me. Burglars may labor under a like delusion, and fancy any piece of gold plate is better worth burgling than the best silverware in the market. But we have all made a mistake 1 The finest ~;.i gold service in existence is but silver washed with that precious metal. It seems no less a person than Mr. James Kcene, when he returned from England with the famous Ascot cup, won by his * horse Foxhall, also believed in the solid gold business, until the trophy was valued at $3,000 by the custom-house ' officials. Mr. Keenc paid the duties on those figures and his cup was deposited in a place of safety. Shortly after came the financial crash in Mr. Kecne's for tunc*, and he fonnd it necessary to raise money on the Ascot cup. The first jeweler and expert in Now York was dispatched to the bank to examine, or rather to assay, its intrinsic value. Ho . ^ found, to his own entire satisfaction, that the 1,000-guinea cup was worth precisely $(500, including ractals and the price of artistic workmanship 1 Whether the United States curtoras ever reimbursed Mr. Eccne my informant did not know. Let us hope they did.? Button lie rold. . ic > - ' The Highest American 1'e.ik. The highest mountain in America must now be changed from Monnt St. Elias to Mount Wrangle, a ^ lit tie to the north. Several of tnese mountains have been newly measured. Mount Hood, "roughly1' estimated at 15,000 feet, then "closely" at 16,000, ? was brought dowu by triangulation to 18,000; nu aneroid barometer made it 12,000 and a mercurial barometer 11,255. Mount f?t. Elms, estimated by D'Egelot to be 12,072 feet, is triangulated by Mr. JJaker to be 13,509. It now appaars that Mount Wrangle, lying to the north, rises IS,100 feet above Copper River, which is in turn 2,000 feet above the sea at that point. If this holds true Mount Wrangle is ut least 1,000 feet higher than any other peak in North America. It lies within the United States bouudary.? n it r 7. _ J , ? Oda mikc jl rwwiv. A Hotel of Soda. I see that a sod hotel is in coarse of erection at Springfield, Kan. The walls nre being constructed of sod. I hope this hotel will not meet the fate of the house that was built of the sand. Sod may be a very firm foundation, but I fear that a man will soon sleep under it if he should sleep over it in that liotol. I think the Grass House would be a good title for this sod structure. Then a stranger in the town when he asks: What hotel shall I stop at ?'f would bo politely told: "Qh,go to Gross V?Hotel Mail I