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I REV. DR. TALMAGE. THlfl BROOKLYN DIVINES SUNDAY SERMON. Snbject: "Broken Promises of Marriage" Text: "Ihave opened my month unto the Lord, and I canno' goback\"?Judges xi., 35. General Jephthah. the commander-in-chief of the Israeli lish forces, is buckling on tlio word for the extermination of the pestiferous Ammonites, and looking up to the sky *- n-J Jill fl.a n? promises tuau u kxkjsa WIU ^IVD uuu w?w Victory he will put to death and sacrifice as a burnt offering the first thing that conies out from the door of his homestead when ho goes back. The hurrahing of triumph soon runs along the line of all the companies, tegiments and divisions of Jephthah's army. A worse beaten enemy than tlioso Ammonites never strewed any plain with their rarea>ses. General Jephthah, freeh from the victory, is now on his way home. As he comes over the hill and through the valleys the whole march homeward for his men is a cheer, but for him a greater anxiety, for he remembers his vow to stay and burn the first thing that comes forth from his house to greet him after his victory. Perhaps it shall be the old watch dog that shall first come out, and who could get heart to beat out the life of a faithful creature like that as he comes fawning and barking and frisking and patting up liis paw against his master in merry welcome after Ion? absence? No; it wa3 not that which camo forth to meet Jephthah. Perhaps it might l>e a young dove let out from its. cage in the General's home which, gaining its liberty, may seem to Tejoice in the public gladness and Hutter on Jhe shoulder of the familiar head of the (household. But wiio couiu navo toe heart to slay such a winged innocent? No; it was not that which came forth to meet Jephthah. Or it may be some , good neighbor that will rush out to greet him after having first been in to tell the family of the near approach of the General. But who could slay a neighbor who had come on tho cene to rojoiee over the reuuitoi household? No; it was not that which came forth to meet Jephthah. As he advances upon his home the d>:or opens, and out of it comes one whose appearance under other circumstances would liave been an indescribable joy, but under tho pledgo of a sacrifice becomes a horror which blanches his cheek and paralyzes his form and almost hurls him flat to the earth, liis child, his only child,bis daughter, comes skipping out to greet him, her step keeping time to a timbrel which she shakes and smites. Did ever a conqueror's cheer end in such a bitter groan? rfo wonder Dure in two of his masterpieces presents the scone. And Handel made it the la>t and climacteric work of hi* life to put this pathetic and overpowering circumstauce in an oratorio, seven months toiling amid its majestic harmonies until his eyesight gave out; and, as though the sad J scene of Jephthah's daughter's sacrifice were too much for mortal vision, the grand old musician was led blind iuto the orchestra for the first rendering of "Jephthah." All the J lories of victorious waraw blotted out from I ephthah's memory, and his banner is foi led In grief, and his sword goes l ack into the Icaobard with a dolorous clang, and the muffled drum takes the place of the cym Dais, am me "iremoio" mo piauo of the trumpet, and he cries out: "Alas! my daughter, thou hast brought me ver7 low, and thou art one of them that trouble me; for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot go back." During two months amid the mountains without shelter, the maidens who would have been at her wedding ranged with Jephthah's daughter up and down, bewailing hor coming sac- 1 riflce. 1 Commentators and theologians are in dis- 1 pute as to whether that girl was siain or net, and as to whether if she were slain it was J right or wronji in Jephthah to be the execu- ' doner, a Question into which I shall not be ' diverted ?rom the overmastering consideration that we had better look out what we ' promise, better be cautions what engagement \ we make, better that in regard to a!I mat- ' tere of betrothal and plizlited vow wo feel 1 tbe responsibility, lest we nave either to sac.-- 1 fiflce tbe truth or sacrifice an immortal ' being, and we be led to cry out with the j paroxysm of a Jephthah: l'I have opened 1 my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go ( L 1. m ( UttLK. There is one ward in almost all the insine asylums and a large region in almost every cemetery that you need to visit. They are occupied by the men and women who are tho rictims of broken promises of marriage The women in those wards and in those mortuary receptacles are in the major ty, becauso woman lives more in her affections than doe? man, and laceration of them in her cas? is mrtvo oi?f *r\ Kq u rfomanHrt nml a fafcllitv 111 some regions of this and the promise of marriage is considered to have no solemnity or binding; force. It was only made in fun. They may change thoir mind. The engagement may stand until some one more attractive in person or opulent in estate appears on the scene: then the rings are returned and the amatorv letters and all relationship ceases. And so there are ten thousand Jeplithah's daughters sacrificed as burnt offeriugs. The whole subject neods to be taken out of the realm of comply into tragedy, and men and women need to understand that, whilo there are exceptions to tho rule, once having solemnly pledged to each other heart and hand, the forfeiture and abandoment of that pledge makes the transgressor in the sight of jod a perjurer, and so the day of judgment will reveal it. The one has lied to the other; and all liars shall have their place In the lake that burneth with lire and brimstone. If a man or woman maice a promise in the business world, is there any obligation to fulfill it? If a man sign a note for five nun- i dred dollars, ought ho to pay it? If a con- 1 tract be signed involving tho building of a 1 house or the furnishing of a bill of goods, < ought they stand by that contract? "Oh, i yes," all will answer. Thou I ask the further questions: Is the heart, the happiness. the welfare, the temporal and eternal i destiny of a man or woman worth as much as the house, worth five hundred dollars, worth anything? Tho realm of profligacy is fillecj with men and women as a result of the wrong answer to that question. The most aggravating, stupendous and God defying lie is a lio in the shape of a broken igousaL iSut suppose a man cnanRes nis minu. Ought he not back out? Perhaps here and tbero may be a caso, but not once in ten thousand times. What if I ohango my mind about a promissory note and decline to pay it, and suddenly put ray properly in such shape that you could not collect your note? How would you like that? That, you say, weuld be a fraud. So is the othor a frand, and punish it God will, certainly as you live, and just as certainly if you do not live. I have known men betrothed to loving an l good womanhood resigning their engagement and the victim went down in hasty con.su mp tion, while suddenly the recreant man would go up the aisle of a church in a brilliant bridal party, and the two promised "I will'' with a solemnity that seeinod insurance of a lifetime happiness. But the simple fact was, that was the first act of a Shakespearean drama en titled, "Taming the Sluew." no lounu out when too late that ho had not married into the family of the "Graces'' but into the family of the "Furies." To the day of his death the murder of his first betrothal followed him. The Bible extols one who "sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not." That in, when, you make a promise keep it at all hazard.*. There may be eases where deception h;is been used at the time of engagement, and extraordinary circumstances where the promisj is not binding, but in nine hundred and ninetynine cases out of a thousand engagement is as binding as marriage. Robert Bums with all his faults well knew the force of a marital ngagement. In oinxlienco to some rustic Idea he, standing on one side of the brook, Ayr, and Mary Campbell on tho other, they 1 bathed their hands in the water and then put them on the boards of the Bible, making their pledges of fidelity, un tho cover of the Old Testament of that book to this dav. in Robert Burns's handwriting, may be found the words: "Leviticus, xix., 12: Ye shall not *wear by ray name falsely; lam the I/mL" And on the cover of the Now Testament, in his own handwriting: "Matthew,v., 83: Thou halt not forswear thyself, but shalt perforin onto the Lord thine oaths." Suppose a ship captain offers his servic-os to take a ship out to sea. After he gets a little way he comes alongsido of a vessel with a more beautiful flag, and which has perhaps a richer cargo and is bound for a moro attractive port Suppose he rin^s a bol I for the engineer to slow up and the wheel stop* Now I see the captain being lowored over the side Of the vessel into a small boat, and he crosses to the gayer and wealthier craft, and climbs i\ op the sides, and is seen walking the bridge of the other ship. I pick up his k \ resigned speaking trumpet and I shout iR-J v\ I through it! " Captain, what does this mean? Did you not promise to take this ship to Southampton, England if'' "Yes," says th<? captain, " but I havo changed my mind and I have found I ran do bettor, and I a n coins to take charge here. I shall s-mi 1 ba^k to V'iu all the letters I got whilo managing t hat ship and everything I got from your ship, and it will be all right." You tell m<* that the worst f ite for such a captain as that is too good for him. But it is just what a man or woman does who promises to take one through the voyage of life, across the ocran of earthly existence, and then breaks the promise. The sending back of all the letters and rings and necklaccs and keepsakes cannot make that right which is in the sight of God, and ought to be in the sight of man, an everlastine wrong. "What American society needs to be taught is that bethrothal is an act so solemn and tremendous that all men and women must stand back Iro:n it "Until they are sura that it is right, and sure that it 13 best, and suro tt'.ac no retreat will be desired. Before that promise of lifetime companionship any amount of romance that you wish, any ardor of friendship, any coming and going. But espousal is a gate, a golden gate, which one should not pass, unless he or she expscts never to return. Engagement is the porch of which mirriage is the castle, and you have no right in the porch if you do not mean to pass into the eastlo. The trouble has always been that this whole subject of affiance h:is been relegated to the realms of frivolity and joke, an-l considered not worth a sermon or even a serious paragraph. And so the massacre of human lives has gone on and the devil has had it his own cruel way, and what is mightily needed is that nulDit and platfo'-m and printing press all speak a word of unmistakable and thunderous protest on this subject of infinite importance. We put clear out into thin poesy and light reading the marital engagements of Petrarch and his Laura. Dante and his Beatrice, Chaucor and his Philippa. Lorenzo de Mcrlici mi l hi9 Lucretia, bpenser and his Rosalind, Waller and h:s Sa cliarissa, not realizing that it was the stvb of their engagement that decided their happi nes? or wretchedness. their virtue or their profligacy. All the literary and military and religious glory of Queen Elizabeth's reiem cannot blot out from one of the most conspicuous page? of history her infamous behavior toward Fevmour and Philip and Melville and Leicester and j others. All the ecclesiastical robes that Dean I Swift ever rustled through consecrated places cannot hide from intelligent p ople of I all ages the fact, that by promises of mar- | ria?e which he never fulfilled, he broke the j heart or Jane waring attar an engagement of seven years, and the heart of Stella after an engagement of fourteen years, and the poetio stanzas he dedicated to thoir excellences only make the more immortal his own perfidy. ' But suppose I should make a mistake.' says some man or woman, "and I find it. out after the engagement and before the marriage?" My answer is, you have no excuse for making a mistake on this subject. There are many ways of finding out all about the character and preferences and dislikes and habits of a man or woman, that if you have not brain enough to form a right judgment in regard to him or her, you are not so tit a candidate for the matrimonial altar as you are for an idiot asylum. Notice what society your especial friend prefers, wheth?r b? is industrious or lazy, whether slie is neat or slatternly, what I >ooks are read, what was the style of ancestry, noble or depraved, and if there be any unsolved mystery about the person under cousideration postpone all promise until the mystery is solved. Jackson's Hollow, Brooklyn, wns a part of the citv not built on for mniv rears, nnd every time I crossed it I said to myself or to oth?rs, why is not this land built on? I found out afterward that the titlo to the land was in controversy aud no ono wanted to build there until that question was decided. Afterward I understood the title was settled, and now buildiugs are going up all over it. I)o not build your happiuoss for this world on a character, masculine or feminiue, | that ha^ not a settled and undisputed titb to honor and truth, and sobriety and kindness and righteousness. Oh, woman, you have more need to pause before making such an important promise than man, because if you make a mistake it is worse for you. If a man blunder about promise of marriage, or go on to an unfortunate marriage, he can spend his evenings iway, and can go to the club or the Republican or Democratic headquarters, and absorb bi-j mind in Ht.v or nr nnfcinnfil n!?r?tirms. >r smoko himself stunid, or drink himself irunk. But there is no place of regular retreat for you, oh womxn, and you could not tako narcotics or intoxicants and keep your resnoctability. Before you promise, pray wid think and study an'i advise. There will lever again in your earthly history be a time when you so much need God. It seems to me that the world ought to ;ast out from business credits and from good neighborhoods those who boast of the numbar >f hearts they have won, as the Indian boasts of the number of scalps he has taken. If a man will lie to a woman and a woman trill lie to a man about so important a matter as that of a lifetime's welfare, they will lie about a bill of goods and lie about financ* 8 wd lio about anything. Society to-day is arituful of pal'ants, and man milliners, and mrpet knights, and coquettes and those most 3oa forsaken of all wretches?flirts. And they go about drawing rooms and the parlors )f watering places, simpering and bowing, md scraping and whisDcriug, and then re fa fKa nlifK fivnmo if fknw Ka ittnn /\r* frt their special gatherings if thoy bo women, to ;hatter and giggle over what was said to ; them in confidence. Condign punishment is ?nt to come upon them, and they g.-t paid in their own coin. I could point you to a score whom society hns let drop very hard in return for their bnss traffic in human hearts. , Xs to such men, they walk around in their i jelibacy, after their hair is 9treaked with | rrav, and pretending they are naturally ! jhort-sightea when their eyes are so old in sin that they need the spectacles of a septuagenarian. an eyeglass about No. 8, and think thoy are bewitching in their st ride and overpoweriug in their glances, although they are simply laughing stocks for all mankind. I And if these base dealers in human hearts be lemaies, tliey are leic aiier a wmio Hoveroiv alone, striving iu a very desperation and agony of cosmetics to get back to tli9 attractiveness they had when they used to brag how many masculine affections they had slaughtered. Forsaken of God and honest men and good women are sure to be all such masculine and female triflere with human aud yet immortal affections. Oh man. oh woman, having plighted your troth, stick to it' And here my idea widenR, and I have to fav not only to those who have made a mistake in solemn promise of marriage, but to those who have already at the altar b ^en pronounced one when they are two, or in diversity of tastes and liket and dislikes are neither one nor two but a dozen?make tho best you can of an awful mistake. And here let me answer letters that come from every State of the American Uniou, and from across the sea, and are coming year aft- r year from men and women who aro terrifically allianced and tied together in a hard knot, n very hard knot. The letters run something like this: "What ought I to do, my husband is h drunkard." "My wife is n gad-about and will not stay at home.1' "My companion is ignorant and hates books and I revel in them." "I like music and a piano sets my husband crazy." "1 am fond of axial life and my companion is a recluse/1 ! "I am trying to be goo I and mv life long; ns- ' sociate is very bad. What shall I dof My ! answer is, there are cortrin good reasons for | divorcement. The Bible recognizes them. Good society recognizes thom. But it must be the very last resort, and only after all reasonable attempts at reclamation and adjustment have proved a dead failure. When such attempts rail it is generally because of meddlesome outsiders, and women tell the wronged wife how she ou^bt to stand on her rights, and men tell tho wronged husband how he ought to stand on his righta And let husband and wife in an unhappy marriage relation stand punctiliously on their rights, and there will be no readjustment, and only one thing will be sure to thorn, and that is a hell on earth. tc <.?ii om nnJinnnilv married, in most I cases I artviso you to make tlio best jou can I of an awfully I .art bargain. Do not project j your peculiarities more than is necessary, j Perhaps you rnav have some faults of your own wliih the other pnrty in the marital alliance may have to suiter. You are in the sirae yoke. If you pull aside the yoke will only twist your neck. Better pull ahead. The world is full of people who made mistakes at>out many things, and among other things about betrothal and marriage, and yet have been tolerably happy and very useful. In the strength of God, and by the grace promised in every time of need for those who seek it, conquer the disadvantageous circumstances. I am acquainted with lovely women married to contemptible men, and genial men yoked with termagants inspired of the devil. And yet uuder these disadvantages my friends are useful and happy. God nelps people in <>ther kind# of martyrdom and to sing in the flame, and he will help yon m your lifelong misfortune. Remember the patience of Job. What a i wife he had! At a tin>e when ho was one I great blotch of eruptions, and his property I was destroyed by a to: nado. and, more than ! all, U-reavament ha I come and the poor mnn needed all wise counsel, she aivisos him to go to cursing and swearing. Sh<? wanted him to poultice hi3 boils with b'asphemy. But ho livod right on through his marital disadvantages, recovered hU health and fori tune and raised a splendid family, and the | closing paragraph of the Book of Job has such a jubilance that I wonder people do not oftenerread it: "So the T/ord blessed the latter end of Job more than his ba^iuniuse, for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven son3 and throe daughters. And he called the name of the first Jemima, an 1 the nam? of , the second Koz'a, and the name of the third [ Kei-onhanpu^h. And in all tha land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job, and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. After tills lived Job one hundred and forty years, and saw hi3 sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days." Now, my ba'lly married friend of either box, if Job could stand it by the help of God, then you can stand it by the same divine reinforcement. You have other relations, oh, woman, bsside the wifely relation. If you are a mother, train up your children for God and heaven. If you aro a member of a church, help move on its enterprises. You can get so much of the gra^e of God in your heart, that all vour home trials will seem insignificant. How little dfferenee does it make what? your unrizhteous huslmnd calls you, if God calls you his child and you are an heires3 of whole kingdoms bsyond the skvf Immersa yourself in some kind of outside usefulness, something that will enlist your prayers, your sympathies, your hand, your needle, your vo:ce. Get your heart on fire with love to God and the disenthrailinent of the human race, and the trouble* of your home will be blotted out in tho glory of your consecrated life. I cry out to j'ou, oh woman, as Paul exclaims in his letter to the Corinthians: "What knowest thou, oh. wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband?'' And if you cannot save him you can help in the grander, mightier enterprise of helping save the world. Out of the pwful mistake of your marriage rise into the sublimest life of selfsacrifice for Go.l and suffering humanity. Instead of Battling down to mope over your domestic woes, enlist your energies for the world's redemption. Some parts of Holland keep out the ocean only by dykes or wall3 of stout masonry. The engineer having these dykes in charge was soon to be married to a maiden living in one of the villages, tho existence of which depended on the" strength of these dykes. And there was to bo a great feast in one of tho villages that approaching evening in honor of the coram?; bridegroom. Th.it day a great storm threatened tho destruction of the dykes, nnd hence the destruction of thousands of lives in tho villages sheltered by that stone wall. The ocean wasin full wrath, beating against the dykes, and the tide9 and tho terror were" still rising. "Shall I go to the feast," says the engineer, "or shall I go and help my workmen take caro of the dykes?" " Take care of the dykes,1'ho said to himself: "I must and will." As ho appeared on the wall the mon working there were exhausted and shouted: "Here comes the engineer. Thank God! Thank ftod!" The wall was giving way, stone by stone, nnd the ongino?r had a rope fastened around his body, and some of the workmen had ropes fastened around their bodies nnd were let down amid tho wild surges that beat the wall. Everything was giving way. "More stones!" cried the mon. "More mortar!" But the answer rame: "There is no more!" "Then," cried the engineer, "take off your clothes and with tiiem stop the holes in the wall." And so, in the chill and darkness and surf it was done, anil with the workmen's npparel the openings in the wall were partially filled. But still the tide rose, and si ill the ocean reared itself for more (inillt (I2..I 1UI HID wrci VI thousands of lives in tho villages. "Now wo have done all wo can." said tho engineer; "down on yotir knees, my men, and pray to God for help." And on the trembling and parting dykes they praye l till the wind changed and tho sea subsided, and tho villages !>e)ow, which, knowing nothing of tho peril, were full of romp and dance and hilarity. were gloriously saved. Now, what we want in this work of walling back the oceans of poverty and drunkenness and impurity and sin is the help of more womanly and manly hands. Oh how tho tides como in! Atlantic surge of sorrow after Atlantic surge of sorrow, and the tempests of human hate aud satnnic fury are in lull cry. Oh, woman of many troubles, what are an tub leasts 01 wortmy uen^nt, u uiey were offered you, compared with the opportunity of helping build ami support barriers which sometimes seem givina: way through man's trea :hery and the worlds assault? Oh, woman, to I ho dylcos! Brine prayer, hrinR tears, bring cheerful words! iteip! Help! And havins done all. kneel with us on the quaking wall until the God of the wind and the sea shall hush tho one and silence tho other. To the dykes I Sisters, mothers, wives, daughters of America, to tho dykes! The mightiest catholicon for all the wounds aud wrongs of woman or man is complete absorption in the work to rescue others. Pave some man, some woman, som? child! In that effort you will forget or l>o helped to bear your own trials, and in a little while God will take you up out of your disturl>ed and harrowing conjugal relation of earth into a heaven all the happier because of preceding distress. When Quern Elizabeth of England was expiring it was arranged that the exa-'t moment, of her death should lie signaled to the people by the dropping of a 1 sapphiro ring from a window into the hands j of an officer, who carried it at the top of his speed to Kin? James of Scotland. But your departure from the scene of your earthly wors, if you are readv to go, will not br the dropping" of a sapphire to the ground, but the setting of a jnwc-l in a king's coronet. Blessed bo His glorious name forever! Saloons and Municipal Government. Few, if any, intelligent citizens of the United States doubt that the saloon is a moral, social, and political blight on our civilization. Since the days of the prophets the intemperate use of strong drink has been Ceuouucea as a morei evii uy numairau, cages and philosophers. In later days the trallle in intoxicating liquor has been investigated from physiological and economic standpoints, and more recently the attention of thinking men has been drawn to the political power of the saloon and its contaminating influence on the ballot box. In a republic wb>ch is based on manhood sufirage, the saloon becomes a dangerous factor in political life. The occupation of the saloon keepers appears to destroy all patriotism. Their politcal actions are entirely governed by selfish motives. Their political influence over the patron* of their t>ars is great and the Ijractioal politicians in tbe large cities ook on the saloons located amidst the struggling poor a3 a stronger ally in an election thnn either press or pulpit. We have known politicians to l>e the owners of several saloons for the strength it would give them in au election. And in the smaller cities and towns of our country the services of the saloon keeper are purchased by on<j or more of tbp local candidates at every election. In certain cities the political life ?.>f the municipality is In the saloon, and numerous cities of the United Ktato-) are never without representatives of the liquor interest in the municipal governments. So great is the power of the saloon in an election and bo much is the saloon keeper's influence sought by the politicians that high rents are paid for places to keep l>ars with the seldom disappointed expectation that the outlay will be returned by the sales of vote6&nd the consequent degradation of American citizenship. An unbiassed discussion of the saloon question, and a thorough investigation into the jiolitical methods of the saloon keej>er, we behevo will lead the American people to find a way to abolish an evil which has made good municipal government alino.it impossible in many cities in the Union, and actually threatens the parpetuity of freu Government.?UhuutauQuan. The example or the National Tempeninc* Society has been followed by five other societies and six petitions fur a National Prohibition Amendment have been introduced int? L'ougre&i through as many different Co^ pressmen. Also six petitions asking for a National inquiry into the requite of the liquor business. The United States District Court, at Dubuque, Iowa, has decided that all liquor cases are to be remanded back to the State courts. This will prevent delay in trying violators of the law, and will result in closing every saloon in that State at an early date. Placad tide by tide the Now York city churches would reach seven miles, its gin ttilia tad Ufsr beer saloons fift^-slx mllas. TEMPERANCE Three Crowns. They are not decked with jewels Nor costly gems of earth; These crowns of glorious lustre, I Men cannot count with their worth. | Tbov're the meed of loyal service, Which only those may win Who have ''resisted unto blood" In "striving against sin." Brave Haddock was the first to fall; The deed was done at night, And the hapless Sioux City FlrAA?-?o 'noofk KlierKf. Tho bullot next freed Northrup's soul, The doctor bold and brave, Whose crime was purest love to man, Whom ho lost his life to save. Next Gamkrsll joins the trio Who've won the martyr's crown; All in the solemn midnight These precious lives u ent down. But a "light above tho brightness Of the noonday sun" shall show To tho world the slaves of Bacchus Who laid these true men low? The murderous saloon keepers Whose crimes the law defy. Who flaunt the badges of their sliama Under God's own blue sky. The spilled blood loudly calleth To tho God who rules above; Shall the answer come in judgment Or in tones of pitying love? onau every ucenseu arara snop From our land be swept away By tlia memory of the martyrs In the joyous coming day? The martyrs, now resplendent At the right hand of God, Amid the joys of heaven Foreet the painful road. The beauteous crowns upon each brow For evermore shall shine, For the hand which gives the martyr's crown Is the hand of the King divine. ?Mrs.E. J.Richmond,in National Advocate. ?omo Startling Figures. "When I tell you our annual expenditure for intoxicants equals 11-12 of the whole amount of our National currency, or that 11-12 of this currency in amount passes through the till of the rum-seller every year, I tell you the truth. Then again, I tell you that we spend more money for rum than wo do for bread and groceries and meats, more thau we do for woolen and cotton goods, boots and shoes and all articles of clothing. Our expendihirA fnr A/limntinn is nnlv for churches and church work afxtut $100,000,000, and for home and foreign missions is only about $(3,000,OiX). We pay out annually $500,000,000 for bread; $450,000,000 for woolen and cotton goods and clothing; $196,000,000 for boots and shoes; $175,000,000 for sugars, teas and other groceries, which, with the 8^5,000,000 cost for education, $106,000,000 for/churches and missions foots up $1,512,000,000 as against our National rum bill "of $750,000,000. Again, I tell you that the grain used in the production of distilled spirits is 17,950,565 bushels, and 50,000,000 bushels estimated to be used for malt liquors; thus we have 67,050,565 bushels of grain destroyed. Estimating the number of fumilies of our working classes at 10,000,000, it wouid give to each of these families an equivalent of about six barrels of flour, while the $750,000,000 spent for intoxicating liquors divided equally, would give each family $750. Now, let us see what comforts these 750, wu.wuu 01 aonaif, 11 aivjueu equuuy, wujiu give to each family. We average the family to be a father, mother and three children. It would give to each family of five persons tw o barrels of flour (20,000,000 barrels at $5 per bnrrel), 8100,000.000; one suit of clothes for father at $20, $20,000,000; two common suita for father at $10, $-10,000,000; every mother a silk dress at $20, I4O.0J0.000; every mother two common dresses $.% $10,000,000; clothing for children, $.">0,000,000; shoes for all, $5u,000,0c0; groceries for all, $200,0J0,000; hats, caps, and bonnets, $50,000,000; rent for each family at $12 per month or $144 per year. $144,0J0,000?making a total of $720, UUU.UUU, leaving f^o,wj,uuu ior ouier comforts and luxuries, for recreation and contribution to the various charities, for church purposes, etc., but not a dollar for rum.? Mayer Cotton, in Pioneer. Drinking In Washington. An old hotel rounder told me to-day that he tr-ok no stock in the common assertion that nhcre is less drinking in Washington now than formerly, says a TV nshiugton correspondent of the Boston Globe: ' There is less ribaldry and less barroom loafing among the politicians here. There is no doubt of that. But the rapidly growing club life of Washington and the spread of dinner giving have cut into the bar drinking. In the aggregate there is more drinking than ever, and it is awfully mixed, too. The bartenders are not idle, either. Their | trade with the politicians is from 7 a. m. | until 5 at night. Then come tbe dinners ana the club gatherings. "After sitting up two-thirds of the night at such entertainments, the men wake Op the next morning feelling all caved in. They must at once brace up on bard drinks. Even if they resolve not to touch their private bottles before breakfast, their resolution goes to pieces when tbey face tbe bill o? fare in the breakfast room. They find they can't eat anything, ond they feel thick and ratty. Away they go then to the bar, and there they manufacture an appetite. This stimulation lasts a couple of noun:, and then they are cleej?er in the hole of desjjair than before.. The only relief is another drink. This is repeated a couple of times, when the evening soc iability 'TWa u{mr\)a rnClllh IB tVlttf. th<> JlfllV UCglllS. iuc omij/iv ?u .<?? ...? ...man who comes to Washington quickly loses his quiet, regu'ar, temperate life, and is soon nothing more nor lrss than mi artificial structure, aud a mighty frail one at that "Then the malaria arrives and the poor wreck goes around swearing about the Potomac flats and the lack of ventilation in public buildings. These evils are not imagined, either, but a man ought to try tha experiment of livinjr in Washington just as he lives at home. Then hn might overcome tha bod effects of the malaria.11 Riotous Drunkenness in Atlanta. The Athens (Ga.) Banner- Watchman says: "From a gentleman who has just returned from Atlanta we learn that there is a regular reign of drunkenness in that city, and that King Alcohol is holding high carnival. Our informant states that shortly after embarking from the train he began to meet drunken men, and the further he penetrated tbe thicker they became. He said that it appeared to him that twenty-five par cent, of the male Douulation of the city ware under the in fiuence of liquor. There was an indiscriminate mass of both whites and blacks, and an overwhelming majority of the latter race were filled with liquor. The good people of Allanta stand aghast at tho spectacle, and some of tho strongest liquor advocates now assert that if tho election were to be held over again that they would champion the cause of prohibition, for they did not dream that th? votiug back of liquor would bring about such a state of affairs. There is a regular throng of men around the barrooms, and you often have to wait an hour or more to be served." Temperance Nows and Note*. Marblehead, Mass.,has increased bar valuation $100,000 under prohibition. The city of Fargo, Dakota, has raised a sum of $-.'0,000 to enforce the Prohibition law. Governor Lnrraboe, of Iowa, reports that 62 out of the 99 counties in that State have no saloons. "Tho Holp-Mysolf Society" is the name of one of the Gospel temj>erance societies or London. Dakota Prohibitionists will meet in Huron to organize the party In that Tereitory on July 17. The Catholic Church of Dubuque, Iowa, hns started a movement for total abstinence iu that city. It is said that since prohibition has been enforced in Kansas church membership has increased forty por cent. Imprisonment having utterly failed to lesion drunkenness in the British army, it is now proposed to puuish the offender by stop pago'of pay. The time is coming when the people will put an end to tho arrogant dictation of the saloon in politics. It is absolutely necessary for tho safety of the people and the we! fur# of the Government that this is done. Thore is a story from Marquette, Mich., that ought to make a good many new members of temperance societies out there. It was only a drunken man who pounded bis wife to death with a heavy iron tea-kettle filled with scalding water. His name is Finn, and he makes really one of the best arguments for taking the pledge that haa come along lately, for, of course, "he did.not kHQW what wou about" . . RELIGIOUS READING. Calling (he Angels In. We mean to do it. Some day, some day. We mean to slacken this fevered rush That is wearing our very souls away, And grant to our hearts a bush That is only enough to let them hear The footsteps of angels drawing near. We mean to do it Oh, nover doubt. When the burden of daylight broil fa o'er, We'll sit and muse while the stars come out, As the patriarchs sat at the door Of their ten ta, with a heavenward-gazing eye, To watch for the angels passing by. We promise our hearts that when the stress Of the life work reaches tbe longed-for closo, When the weight that we groan with hinders less, We'll welcome such calm repose As banishes care's disturbing din, And then?we'll call the angels in. The day that we dreamed of comes at length, When, tired of < vsry mocking quest, And broken in spirit and shorn of strength, We drop at the door of rest, And wait and watch as the day wanes on? But?the angels wo meant to call are gone I Dttngl.tera of the King. A religious organization has recently come into existence bear.ng this significant name. The title is not fanciful. It is Las?d upon the fact that every Christian woman, of whatever denomination, is the king's daughter. We have inspired authority for the name: "And ye shall beany sons and daughters. saith the Lord Almighty." Wo know how much importance even we republican Americans attach to any recognition from royalty. To have been presented at court, to have hid a word, a smile, a glance, from king or queen, prineo or princess, this is something to remember and be proud of, and we bequeath the memory of>t to our descendants. Yet what an empty, unsatisfying honor, nt hnw HM:1a worth in nnv timo of the BOUl'8 need; and at best how few can attain it 1 But a privilege infinitely higher is freely offered to each one of in. We may not only approach into the very presence-chamber of the king of kings, but ha waits to adopt us into his family?to make us his "daughters." There is no empty honor, no more fictitious title. It is not a name that we mu^t lay aside when we lie down in the dust. If we are the king's daughters here on earth, so we shall be when earth and its kingdoms, it-? titles and distinctions, shall have passed away forever. The king's daughters! And our father is no limi'ed monarch, no earthly emperor. He is the creator, the maker of the universe. To him cherubim and seraphim continually do cry. His glorv fills tho heavens. What a distinguished honor to be daughters of such a kingl This distinction confers upon us sweet yet solemn privileges. What are they? What are the privileges of the common children of an earthly father? To uphold his dignity and honor, to wear his name worthily, to extend a helping hand to each other in all times of need. Yes. the distinction haa its duties, which should be considered our dearest privileges. The king's daughters?I do not refer to the particular organi2ation now?wear no insignia of their exalted station and rank. They | may bo found in lowliest guise and in the humblest homes. But watch their lives and J you will recognize their right to tho name they bear. Like Christ,thoir Elder Brother, thfey go about doing Rood. They live not for themselves but for others. Perfect they | do not claim to be; but t ev are se.king dai- | ly for more conformity to the image and likeness of Christ. i First be, and then do. This should be the [ motto of our lives. First be his children, experience his love in our hearts, and then j do hi* will; so shall we prove our right to be j called the king's daughters. We do not need to go far away from home to | claim our right. We are not required to do great things. We can give a cup of cold j water in his name; we can speak a kindly J word, can nurse a sick child, can sit for an | hour with the aged or infirm, can take a few i flowers to brighten an invalid's room, can | lend a good book to some one who cannot buy. If even these ministries are beyond our reach, we can at least, by our patience in privation and our serenity in affliction and enrrnw <;how that wo are abiding in His love whoie daughters we are.?[Anna F. Raffensperger. llfivlval* of Religion. Shall the year 1888 be one of the Revivals of Religion, more marked, more widespread, more pervasive, than was true of its predecessor? What graver inquiry can now press olike upon pulpit and upon pew everywhere? That veteran and most successful pastor, Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, D. D., thus urges this matter home to Christian hearts in the New York Evangelist. "But amid all the mysteries that are con? 1 W.ifk *!'? oru>rtiol niifnniir{n(ra nf Orw1TC IlUVLtM r? iiu iuu ojpvvA(*t vu?|/vmi>ub? v? w?> w Spirit, tliero nre some things which are tolerably certain. One is that a church maykeep in such a state of warm, healthy, normal activity that .It shall not need any awakening. There will bo no spiritual slumber to awoke out of. Richard Baxter's Church, of Kidderminster, never had any alternations of declension and revival. Mr. Spurgeon's Church in London does i ot seem to have. The preaching is at a good anthracite glow all the while, aud so is the condition of the church. We admit ti there are such things as waves of spiritual Influence that sweep over a church or a city or a whole land; we ack iowledge also that our Sovereign God often pours out His Spirit more copiously at one time than another; but still the solid truth remains that a Christian church may keep up to such a high mark of praying, giving, working, and watching that it f-hall suffer no declension. Convictions of sin and conversions to Christ will go on steadily. Of course, as there is no long period of disgraceful stagnation and decline, there will exist no necessity * 1 Tfc ifi noithftr ft IOr U S|uuiuui tvauiicvHiuM* ?... ?, healthy or a creditable condition of things in which churches arc exacted to- pass through alternations of s!uml>er and wakefulness, freezing up and thawing out, barrenness one year and fruitfulness the next. No healthy Christian lives in that intermittent fashion; why should five hundred Christians attempt to do it as a church! Another fact is that while the Divio# Spirit may be continually present in a healthy, vigorous church, yet the manifestations of tho Spirit's power may vary. There may bo many more conversions at one season than another. Counting converts is not the only true tidemark of a church's growth. Activity in benevolent work, growth in household piety, increase of godly living, aro equilly clear evidences tbnt the divin# life is flowing there in strong, warm currents. Training people for Christ after they get into the fold is about as irnpoi taut as getting them in there. A great deal of the '"harvest" in many a revival is allowed to spoil for want of what the farmers call being well curod. I know of certain ministers who are >o busy in trying to drive the sheep in at ?- kn* fimv <1n not ohsorve how fast UUC UWJ, tiiui vuv; ? they ore slipping out at the other door. Conversions to Christ are not ends; tboy aro only beginnings. If a church is in a cold, declining state, there is no salvation for it out by a true revival It must have a fresh influx of the divinely imparted life, or else pull its feet up into the bed and die. To secure such a revival the Scripttual method-) must be employed, and not mere potent human machinery. When a certain church had abandoned its first love and grown cold, the divine command was "to remember whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works." That counsel is as applicable in America as in Epheeus. The pastor of a certain frigid church called his ?ders night after night into his study; they confessed their 8 ins together, warmed their own souls up by fervent prayer, and then the flame kindled through the whole church. They did not run after a man; they went straight to God. He is always ready to meet His returning people more than half way. Go to God, if you want a revival. Driven to Her Deutli. A lurid temperance lecture won a-iminia*?A n 'irnnfather of Bowxnanstown. L*JA W? W im ? ? Penn., last week. He staggered hoine nnrl found his daughter giving a music lesson to two girlu. With much profanity ho ordered both teacher and pupil3 out of the hou<*?. This was not their llret experience of tho kind, and the daughter, a sensitive girl who had been much depressed for months by overhearing remarks as to her father'8 habiia, went straightway to her room, wrote patkfetio letters to her father and mother, in which she declared that no possible punishment I after death coold be much wors^than the suflferUjfcshe bad already endure^ from her father%"?6|Biuct, robed horself the grave I andjdwkK&Tatv potionof laudanum.?C7>?? . - - * v . <Vi" ~~ BUDGET OF FUN. HUMOROUS SKETCHES PROM VARIOUS SOURCES. A Great Event?Ho Had Correct Habits ? A Modern Proverb - ?Jolly Fun?He Didn't Look at It, Etc. A boy living on Pearl street, while studing hie lesson in history the other night, learned the date of Washington's I death. Addressing his 89-year-old grand1 father, he cried: "Grandfather, what great event occurred in 1799?" "Whv, I was bom in that year," answered the old man. The boy troubles hira with no more questions in history. ?Buffalo Courier. Ho Had Correct Habits. "For ten years past," said the new boarder, "my habits have been regular as clock-work. I rose on the stroke of 0; half an hour later I sat down to breakfast; at 7 I was at work, dined at 12, ate supper at 6, and was in bed at 9 :JJ0, ate only h< arty food, and hadu't a sick day in all that time." "Dear me," said the deacon, in sympathetic tones, "and what were you in ! for?'* And in the awful silence that followed : ?*a.. _ i juu uuuiu ucm tuc uuau ilo icuwlijv A Modern Proverb. At the Kindergarten: Teacher ? | "Johnny, do you remember the proverb I gave you yesterday?" Johnny?"No'm." "Speech is silver and?what Is it?" "I dunno mom." "I know," spoke up a little boy at the foot of the class." "Very well, you may recite it." "Speech is silver, but money talk*."? New York Sun. Jolly Fuib Miss Lillie Gushington?"Oh, Mrs. Matron, we are going to have such fun to-night!" Mis. Matron?"Indeed?" Miss L. G?"Yes. We are goingto have a party, and the young gentlemen are to do knitting and sewing, and the young ladies are to saw and split kindling wood. Won't it be just jolly I'1 Mrs. M. (gloomily)?"Jolly to saw and split kindling wood? Well, you won't think it very jolly after you are married and have to do it all the time."?Boston Courier. Ho Didn't Look at It. "Johnnie, when will your sister be down? I'm getting awfully tired of waiting." . "She'll bo down in ten minutes, I gue^s." "Well, I'm going to time her. I'll go and look at the clock and see how long it will take her." | "You'd better not." I tTXr U ? 99 " *? ujr. "Dad would be mad if it wasn't running." ' What do you mean, Johnnie?" "Why, sis says you'd stop a clock by looking at it."?Lincoln Journal. Remarkable Presence of Mindi Pat Hoolihan, while slating the roof of one of our highest buildings, lost his footing and fell. Over and over he went until within twenty-live feet of the pavement, when he struck a telegraph wire and managed to grasp it, lirst with one hand, then with botn. "Hang on for your life, Pat!" shouted his fellow-workmen, and the bystanders rushed to the nearest dwelling for a mattress. | Pat held on for a few seconds, when j suddenly, with a cry of "Shtand from under!'" lie dropped ana lay senseless in the street. Whisky was used, and Pat finally came to. When a^ked why he did not hold out longer he feebly replied: "Oi wuz afraid the woire 'ud break." He recovered.?Life. Rather Hard to> Miss. i The fact that this is a very big country never strikes one so forcibly as when i he has traveled a coupic 01 mousanu j miles due west aud still finds the prairie j stretching out before him. A young i sprig of British nobility was over here ! last summer, accompanied by the inevit! able "Jeems." They 6aw the seaboard ! cities, tarried for a time in Chicago, in St. Louis and in Kansas City, and then struck out into the great West. Somewhere near the edge of Colorado the , train was delayed at a small station, and the passengers got out to stretch their legs, among them his lordship and i " Jeems," who seemed in a brown study. | "What is it'?" asked his master. "I I woo Tticf thin Win', me lud_H taid Jecms. | > i?vl j? V , ! " that Columbus didn't do such a mighty big thing when he discovered thia 'ere i country, hafter hall's said and done, j 'Ow could 'e >elp it ?"?Boston Horald. The Parson Disturbed. A good story of old days in Massachusetts has recently been published. In one of the churches in the eastern part of the State a bass viol was procured to help the choir. One summer Sunday, while the parson was in the middle of the sermon, a big bu:l got out ofliis pasture and came swaggering down the road, growling a9 he enme. TI.e minister heard the low bellow, and looking up toward the singers' seats with a grave face, he said: "1 would thank the musicians not to tune during service it oniiova me verv much." The 1 ? ? * I choir was surprised, but uothing was said. I Pretty soon the bull gave another grumi bte, and then the parson was mad. JIo j stoppec skorf, and looking directly at the I bass-viol player said: "I now particularly request Mr. L that he will not tunc his instrument while I am preaching." Thia whs more thau the liddler could stand. Popping up in his seat, he snapped out: ' It isn't me, parson, It isn't me. It's that old town bull."?Boston Traceller. The Man With a Patent, "Want to make $.30,000 this winter?" queried a hawk-eyed man with a lopshoulder to a shoe-dealer yesterday. "Of course." ' 'Thcu buy my patent P He unrolled a package and brought to light a shoe, a tin funnel and a quart of wood ashes. ''What on earth is it?" asked the dealer. . "It ia Bronson's Patent Safety Shoe, iiere'a the idea: In winter _our sidowalk9 : are dangerous from ice. JSy sprinkling ashea on ice you produce decomposition and render travel safe. Do you follow? 'But ?" "Of coarse you don't, but I'll explain. This i? a double-solcd shoe. There i9 a i space between the two soles, and the toe aud heel ends are open. You lill this space with ashes, and as you walk it flips out in advance of you." "Theidea!" ' "Yea, I worked twanty-two year* t>a . -m -4 -" V . ' .-'i ? the idea. This funnel fits into tho heel of the shoe, and iB used to load up with. "But the asheo?" "Oh, you hire a hoy to folio w,you with t\ pail of thera. When the shoe is empty you whistle and ho loads it up again* There's nothing like it. I can walk twenty miles a day ovor a perfect glare of ice. Will you give me an order?" "No, sir. It's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard of." "It is, elite Y oii*ll see whether it is or not before the winter is over! I'll sell enough to buy you out and throw your stock into the river!" An hour later he was arrested for being drunk and hilarious, and as he went down in tho wagon he was explaining to thr> ftflirop "You puz on'er shoe, you know, an' * you puz in 'er ashes, you know, an* you walk on 'er ice an' 'er patrol wa<jon comes long an gives you sleigh ride." ?Detroit Free PrtM. He Went Off Directly. The clock on the mantel tolled 1 A.M.. and a little past, and still the knight lingered, trying to think of something to say, although it was painfully evident that the baron's daughter was just too sleepy for anything. "i am afraid," ho said at last, "that I am like an auger." "Whe.efore, sir knight?" she asked,' yawning with *hat high-bred courtesy appertaining to the upper classes. "lie cause l Dore you,"ne saia, smiling proudly at his right good wit. "Ah, no," she said; "you remind me of an old flint-lock musket." "fcpoken like a soldier'i daughter," quoth he, "and why?" "Takes you so long to go off," said, kiadly. At 1:15 a. m. tho portcullis fell with a clang, the draw-lridge was raised, and the castle Blept. Av/ay in the star-lit : 'U'? distance the good knight tramped wearily in the wake of the last car. which had sailed two hours ago, and 1 bitterly reproached hi raself for not think- * j ing to tell the haughty baron's daughter < j that her joke was too awfully premature, K&/innr>a nfiiieL*af<i nr/tHAnU frrt In f/\ Ka uci/auou uiuoncvo nuvu u $v,u5 vvr wv veuted for nearly one hundred years? Burdette. The Barber of Prlnkipo. A majority of the inhabitants of Prinkipo, an island southeast of Constantinople, are Greeks, but many spjournert there belong to other nationalities. Hon. S. 8. Cox, late minister to Turkey, thu* gives his experience with a barber of Prinkipo, who was determined to diicover his nationality. The barber him*. self might have been either a Greek, a Maltese, a Slav. Bulgarian or Mon tenegrin, and had an extraordinary knowledge of tongues: ^3sl "You h;ive been here long?" he asks, I reply in Bohemian: ".Ne." - *|B "You are hero for your health?" I reply in Danish, affirmatively and negatively: "Ja, nei, min herre." This puzzles him. , :.v V' "An army gentleman, perhaps?" I reply in Hungarian: "Igen" (yes). "Your vessel is at Constantinoplef" I answer in Italian: "Si, signore." "You will bring your vessel to Prinkipo?" It is the modern Greek in which I reply: "Nae vevayos." He is thunderstruck; it is evidently his mother tongue. . When he asks me in French: "Will your vessel touch at Athene?" I respond in Polish: "Tak" (no). "You will visit Egypt?" T rpannnd in Swedish; "Ja." addinjf in Roumanian the affirmative: "Gie." - ->} He believes he has fixed my nationality and that I couie from some Balkan province, and he asks: "Have you been in Roumania, BuL? ' - /iii garia, Servia, Montenegro and Herzegovina?" I give him, in Roumanian, an emphatic negative. "You have been quite a traveler!'* This suggests Chinese as a fitting language and I say: "She." "Yon like the Chinese, monsieur!" I answer promptly in the negative; "Puh!" He then asks if I have visited Jerusalem. I respond in Arabic: "Xa'am." "Vou like Constantinople?" I auswer in a sweet Japanese acccnti ''Samasanl" "Perhaps you have been in America?" "Waal, yaas, I guess." Then began a fusilade of questions and replies. "You have lived in Paris?" "Jamais." "Been to Genoa?" *'Si, signorc." 4'Ah. you are English?" "Yok!" an intense Turkish negative. "French?" "Non." "German?" "Xein." "Well," said he, taking breath, "will you tell me, monsieur, where you do come from?" __ "Don't you remember the only nation in the world where the barber is aa good as a king?' I said prouaiy. "Ob, Switzerland!" ".No, I am not Swiss." And so the matter ended, bat next day the Minister found that his identity ' had been discovered. ssj Heated by Chemical Foot Warmers. Luke Sharp says in the Detroit Fre* Prrss: I once brought a good deal of * ridicule upon myself by asserting in these columns that I traveled on an English train heated by chemical foot warmers. When these things got cold you shook 'em up and they gave out heat again. I never got anyone to believe this 6tory, and yet it was true. I hav? found out since that the chemical used was some sort of soda affair, and I ub- ^ derstaud that the fact that this compound of soda will give out heat has caused it ?0 on onrrinp fnr mnnincr street iy yu ujvu uu vug.uv cars. I believe that they are going to use the soda motor on a Chicago ?treet car line. I don't know whether any of the soda foot warmers are used in England or not. I couldn't find any on tha little island when I was there last winter, though urged by my unbelieving friends to do so for the sake of my own reputation for veracity. Died With Horns Locked* E. J. Shipman came across two larg* deer in the woods north of Thorp, with their horns locked together, in which condition they hadevideutly been for several days. One of the animals was dead and frozen stifl when found, but the other was alive and evidently in a starving condition, having dragged the dead deer o <1 icfnnnn nf nbont fortv rods and ripped the brush and ground up generally iu~hia effortr to get loose. Mr. Shipraan despatched tne live deer and to get their heads apart had to break tho horna of each. ? Wausau. ( Wis.) Central. Tho Apothecary's Scheme. Bc-for^npotheoary store he stood, Oo, rather. he did try to stand; Ho couldn't keep his balance, as ho should, i So, 011 the icy pavement he did I&ni I "Why are no ashas on thia place?" said h?y To spread them not, U wickedness and' sin: He looked up at tho store, ami tbls did ??, "Arniw m Liniment Bold WltWrtl" QoadaU t Sun. , ?? 1