The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, September 19, 1888, Image 3

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m ? -V ' v REV. DR. TALMAGE. THE BROOKLYN DIVINES SUNDAY SERMON. Subject: "Plasters That Will Not Stick." (Preached at East Hampton, N. Y.) Test: "Miserable comforters are ye all ?Job xvi, 2. The man of Uz had a great many trials? the loss of his family, the loss of bis propIam> Uie haaH.K* Knt. fko mrvsfc or. asperating thins: that came upon him was the tantalizing talk of those who ought to have sympathized with him. Looking around upon them, and weighing what they had said, he utters the words of my text. Why did God let sin come into the world? It is a question I often h?ar discussed, but never satisfactorily answered. God made the world fair and beautiful at the start. If our first parent had not sinned in Eden, they might have gone out of that garden ana fonnd fifty paradises all around the earth?Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America?so many flower gardens, or orchards of fruit, redolent and luscious. I suppose that when God poured out the Gihon and the Hiddekel he poured out at the same lime the Hudson ana the Susquehanna; the whole earth was very fair and beautiful to look upon. W hy did it not stay so? God had the power to keep back sin and woe. Why did he not keep them back? Why no^ every cloud roseate, and every step a joy, and every sound music, and all the ages a long jubliee of sinless men and sinless women? God can make a rose as easily as he can make a thorn. Why, then, the predominance of thorns? He can make good, fair, ripe fruit as well as gnarled and sour fruit Why so much, then, that is gnarled and sour? He can make men robust in health. Why, then, are there so many invalids? Why not have j for our whole race perpetual leisure, instead of this tug and toil and tussle for a livelihood? I will tell you why God let sin come into the world?when I get on the other side of the River of Death. That is the ploce where such questions will be answered and such mysteries solved. He who this side that river attempts to answer the question only Illustrates his own ignorance and incompetency. All I know is one great fact, and that is, that a herd of woes have come in upon us, trampling down everything fair and beautiful. A sword at the gate of Eden, and a sword at every gate. More people under the ground than on it The gravevnrris in vast maioritv. The six thousand winters have made more scars than the six thousand summers can cover np Trouble has taken the tender heart of this world in its two rough hands, and pinched it until the nations wail with the agony. If all the mounds of graveyards that have been lifted were put side by side, you might step on them and on nothing else, going all around the world, and around again, and around again. These are the facts. And now I have to say that, in a world like this, the grandest occupation is that of giving condolence. This holy science of imparting comfort to the troubled we ought all of us to study. There are many of you who could look v, around upon 90rae of your very best friends who wish you well and are very intelligent, and yet be able truthfully to sav to them in your days of trouble, "Miserable comforters are ye ail. I remark, in the first place, that very voluble people are incompetent for the work of giving comfort Bildad and Eliphaz had the gift of language, and with their words almost bothered Job's life out. Alas for these voluble people that go among the house3 of the affiictea and talk, and talk, and talk, and talk! They rehearse their own sorrows, and then they tell the poor sufferers that they feel bad now, but they will feel worse at'tor a while. Silence! Do you expect with a thin court plaster of words to heal a wound deep as the soul? Step very gently round about a broken heart Talk very softly around those whom God has bereft Then go your way. Deep sympathy has not much to say. A firm grasp of the hand, a compassionate look, just one word that means as much as a whole dictionary, and you have given, perhaps, all the comfort that a soul needs. A man has a terrible wound in his arm. The surgeon comes and binds it up. "Now,"he says, "carry that arm m a sling and be very careful of it Let no one touch it" But the neighbors have hoard of tho accident, and they come in, and they say: "Let us see it!" And the bandage is pulled off, and this > one and that one must feel it, and see how | much it is swollen; and mere is irritation, and inflammation, and exasperation, where there ought to l>e healing and cooling. The surgeon comes in, and says: "What doe3 all this mean? You have no business to touch those bandages. That wound will never heal unless you let it alone." So there are souls broken down in sorrow. What they most want is rest, or very careful and gentle treatment; but the neighbors have heard of the bereavement or of the loss, and they come in to sjmpathize.and they say: -'Show us now the wound. What, were his last words? Rehearse now the whole scene. How did you feol when you found you were an orphan Tearing of the bandages here, and pulling them olf there, leaving a ghastly wound tbat the balm of God's grace had already begun to heaL Oh, let no loquacious people, with ever rattling tongues, go into the nomes of ?he distressed! 11 Again I remark, that all thosa persons are incompetent to give any kind of comfort who act merely as world I v philosophers. They come in and say: l'\Viiy. this is what you ought to have expected. The laws of nature must have their way;" and then they cet eloquent over something they have seen in postmortem examinations. Now, away with all human philosophy at such a time? What difference does it make to that father and ?1?ntl T-I? i, raotner wnai nivure n>r'r mm v>?; *>.. ^ dead, and it makes no difference whether the trouble was in the epigastric or hypogastric region. If the philosopher be of the stoical school he will come and say: *' You ought to control your feelings. You must not cry so. You must cultivate a cooler temperament. You must have self reliance, self government, self control;" an iceberg reproving a hyacinth for having a drop of dew in its eye. A violinist has his instrument, and be sweeps his fingers across the strings, now evoking strains of joy, and now strains of sadness. He cannot play all the tune; on one string. The human soul is an instrument of a thousand strings,.and all sorts of emotions were made to play on it. Wow an anthem, now a dirga. It is no evidence of weakness when one is overcome of sorro w. Edmund Burke was found in the pa-?tura field with his arms around a horse's neck, caressing him and someone said: "Why. the treat man has lost his mind!'* No, that orse belonged to his son who had recently -died, and nis great heart broke over the grief. It is no sign of weakness that men are overcome of their sorrows. Thank Gol for the relief of tears. Have you never been in trouble when you could not weep, ani vou would have given anything for a good cry? David did well when he mourned for Absalom, Abraham did well when be bemoaued Sarah, Christ did well when he wept for juazarus, ana toe last man l waui> lu s-o <.<>uid anywhere near m? when I have any kind of 'trouble is a wordly philosopher. Again I remark tnat those peraon3 are in\ -competent for the work of comfort bearing < who have nothing but cant to offer. There are those who -have the idea that you must groan over the distressed and afflicted. There are times in grief when one cheerful face dawning on a mau's soul is -north a thousand dollars to him. Do not whine over the aillicted. Take the promises of the Gospel, and utter them in a manly tone. Do not be afraid to smile if you feel Like it. Do not drive any more hearses through that poor .soul. Do not tell him the trouble was toreordained; it will not be any comfort to know it was a million years coming. If you want -to find splints for a broken bone, do not take cast iron. Do not tell them it is God's justice that weieha out grief. They want, now to hear of God's tender mercy. In otber word8, do not give them aqua fortis when they need valerian. Again, I remark that those persons are poor comforters who have never had any trouuie themselves. A larkspur cannot lecture on ith9 nature of a snowflake ? it never saw a jnowflake: and those people who have al ways lived in the summer of prosperity cannot talk to those who are frozen in disaster. God keeps aged people in the world, I tinnk, (or this very work of sympathy. They have been through all these trials. They know all that which irritates and all that wuich soothes. .People who have not had trials themselves cannot give comfort to others. They may . talk very beautifully, and they may give jou a great deal of poetic sentiment; but while poetry is a perfume that smells s wje't.it m ikes a very poor salve. If you have" a grave in your pathway, and somebody comes and covers it all over with iiowers, it is a grave yet. Those who have not had grief thein-selves know not the myst?ry or a broken -heart. They know not the meaning of -childJ earned. and the having no one to put to bed at night, or the standing in a room where every book and picture and door is full of memories ?the door mat where she sat, the cup out of which she drank?the place where she stood at the door and clapped her hands?the odd figures that she scribbled?the blocks she built into a house. Ab, no; you must have trouble yourself before you can comfort trouble in others. But come all ye who have been bereft and ye who have bean comforted in your sorrows, and stand around these afflicted souls, and say to them: 4,I had that very sorrow myself. God comforted me, and He will comfort you," and that will go right to the spot. In other words, to comfort others we must have faith in God, practical experience and good, sound common sense. Again, I remark, there is comfort in the thought that God, by all this process, is going to make you useful. Do you Know that those who.accomp ish the most for God and heavec ' have all been under the harrow? Show me a man that has done anything for Christ in - * /\h niMtrofa rdana nrhn I Wilis uay, iu a ^uunu vi ?SA*vc*W ?? has had do trouble and whosa path has been smooth. Ah, no. I once went through an ax factory, and I saw them take the bars of iron and thrust them into the terrible furnaces. Then besweated workmen with long tongs stirred tne blaze. Then they brought out a bar of iron and put it into a crushing machine, and then they put it between jaws that bit it in twain. Then they put it on an anvil, and there were great hammers swung by machinery?each one a half ton in weicht?that went thump! thump! thump! If that iron could have spoken, it would have said: "Why all this Mating? Why must I be pounded any more than any other iron?" The workmen would have said: "We want to make axes out of | you. keen, shan) axes?axes with which to hew down the forest, and build the ship, and erect houses, and carry on a thousand enterprises of civilization. That's the reason we pound you." Now, God puts a soul into the furnace of trial, and then it is brought out and run through the crushing machine, and then it comes down on the anvil, and upon it blow after blow, blow after blow, and the soul cries out: "Oh. Lord, what does all this mean?" God says: "I want to make something very useful out of you. You shall be something to hew with and something to build with. It is a practical process through which 1 am putting you." Yes. my Christtian friends, we want more tools in the church of God. Not more wedges to split witn; We have enough of these. Not more bores with which to drill; we have^too many bores. What we really want is keen, sharp well tempered axes, and if there be any other way of making them than in th9 hot rurnace3 and on the hard anvil, and under the heavy hammer, I do not know what it i& Remember that if God brings any kind of chastisement upon you, it is only to make you useful Do uot sit down discouraged and say: "I have no more reason for Jiving. I wi3h I were dead." Oh, there never was so much reason for your living as now! By this ordeal you have been consecrated a priest of the Most High God. Go out aud do your whole work for the Master. There is also a great deal of comfort in the fact there will be a family reconstruction in a 'better place. From, Scotland, or England, or Ireland, a child emigrates to this country. It is very hard parting, but he comes, after a while writing home as to what a good land it is. Another brother comes, a sister comes, and another, and after a while the mother comes, and after a while the father comes, and now they are all here, and they have a time of great congratulation and a very pleasant reunion. Well, it is just so with our families; they are emigrating to a better land. Now one goes out. Oh, how hard it is to pirt with him! Another goes. Oh, how hard it is to part with herl And another, and another, and we ourselves will after a while go over, and then we will be together. Oh, what a reunion! Do you believe that? "Yes," you say. You do not! You do not believe it as you believe other things. If you did, and with the same emphasis, whv, it would take nine-tenths of your trouble off your heart The fact is, heaven to many* of us is a great fog. It) is away off somewhere, filled with an uncertain and indefinite population. That is the kind of heaven that many of us dream about; but it is the most tremendous fact in all the universe?this heaven of the Gospel. Our departed friends are not afloat. The residence in which you live is not so reil as the residence is which they stay. You are afloat, you who do not know in the morning what will happen before night. They are housed and safe forever. Do not,therefore, pitv your departed friends who have died in Christ. Theydo not need any of your pity. Youmig'nt as well send a letter of condolence to Queen Victoria on her obscurity, or to the Rothschilds on their poverty, as to pity those who have won the palm. Do not say of those who are departed: "Poor child! "Poor father!" Poor mother 1" They are not Eoor. You are poor?you wnose homes ave bsen shattered?not they. You do not dwell much with your families in this world. All day long you are off to business. Will it not be pleasant when you ' con be together all the while? If you have had four children and one is gone, and anybody asks how many children you have, do not be so intidel as to say three. Say four?one in heaven. Do not think that the grave is uu friendly. You go into your room ana aress for some grand entertainment, and you come forth beautifully appareled; and the grave is only the place where you go to dress for the glorious resurrection, ana we will come out radiant, radiant, mortality having become immortality. Oh, how much condolence there is in this thought! I expect to see my kindred in heaven: I expect to see them as certainly as I expect to go home today. Ay, I shall more certainly see them. Eignt or ten will come up x'rom the graveyard back of Somerv'lle; ana one will come up from the mountains back of Amoy, China; and another will come up from the sea off Cape Hatteras; and thirty will come up from Greenwood; and I shall know them better than I ever knew them here. And your friends?they may be across the sea, but the trumpet that sounds here will sound there. You will come up on just the same day. Some morning you have overslept yourself, and you open your eyes and sae that the sun is high in the heavens and you say, "I have overslept and I must be up and oft'." So you , ?1,1 ??? Aw/us iKn n\oiminrv nf f.ho PAQ. Will upcu JUUI ojrra vn vuou.i/i u>?g vt vuw . w. urrection in the full blaze of God's light, and you will say: "I must be up and away." Oh yes, you will como up and there will ba a reunion, a reconstruction of your family. I like what Halourton, I think it was?good old Mr. Halburton?said in his last moments: "I thank God that I ever lived, nnd that I have a father in heaven, and a mother in heaven, and brothers in heaven, and sisters in heaven, and I am now going up to see them." I remark once more: Our troubles in this world are preparative for glory. What a, transition it was for Paul?from the slippery deck of a foundering ship to the calm presence of Jesu3! What a transition it was for Latimer?from the 3take to a throne! What a transition it was for Robert Hall?from insanity to glory! What a transition it was for Richard Baxter?from the dropsy to the "saint's everlasting rest!" And what a transition it will be for you?from a world of sorrow to a world of joy! John Holland, when he was dying, said: ''What means this brightness in the room? Have you lighted the candles?" "No," thoy replie:!, "we have not lighted any candles." Then said he: "Welcome heaven!'- the light already beaming upon his pillow. O ye who are persecuted in this world! your enemies will get off the track after a while, and all will speak well of you among the thrones. Ho! ye who are Bick now, no medicine to take there. One breath of the eternal hills will i thrill vou with immortal vigor. And ye < who are lonesome now, there will be a thousand spirits to welcome you into their companionship. O ye bereft souls! there will be no grave digger's spade that will cleave the side of that hill, and there will be no dirge ( wailing from that templa The river of God, j deep as the joy of heaven, will roll on be- j tween banks odorous with balm, and over j depths bright with jewels, and under skies roseate with gladness, arg03ies of light going j down the stream to the stroke of glittering oar and the song of angels! Not one sigh in , the wind; not one tear mingling with the waters. , There shall I bathe my weary goal j In seas of heavenly rest, , And not a wave of trouble roll Across my peaceful breast. . The Court of Appeals of New York State holds that public intoxication, under the statute, has all the elements of a crime, being offensive to public decency.^ and danger- i ous to the good order and well-being of society. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union of New Hampshire are making arrangements to open a home for intemperate women. The State Legislature has granted the sum of $5000 to start the work. ( The Keely Brewing Company, of Chicago,. , propose to punish Iowa and Kansas for their prohibitory legislature, by refusing to buy I Barley grown in either of those States. /?~ EELIGrlOTTS EEADIN&. To-Day. Thy yesterday is dead, Unborn is thy tomorrow; Why look before with dread? Why gaze behind with sorrow? Unchanged the past must stand, Deaf to thy prayers and tears, And, hidden in God's hand, Rest all thy future years. Today is thine today! But, ah, its hours, how brief! For time makes no delay For doubt or fear or grief, i Speed, speed thy laggard feet! Follow thy King's behestl So shall thy past be sweet, Thy future glad and blest. ?[Christian Weekly. "Always Pat God First." Henry Scott Holland in "Murray's Magazine" quotes an expression of Jenny Lind in her dying days, which may well be the motive power of the life of any child of God: It was her intense conviction tttat her an was a gift of God, to be dedicated to His service. This belief wus continually on her lips. "I have always put God first," she said during her la3t days. It was this which kindled all her enthusiasm for Mile. Janotha, in whom she found a kindred mind? Janotha, who said to her: "What is this world of which people speak? I do not know what the world is. I play for Jesus Christl" She went to look on the face of a dead friend; and I must tell you her own words: It was not her own look that was in her face. It was the look of another, that had passed into hers. It was the shadow of Christ that had come upon her. She had Keen Christ. I put down my candle and said: Let me see this thing. Let me stop here always. Let me sit and look. Where are my children? Let them come and see. Here is a woman who has seen Christ? The Chnrcti for America, Dr. Phillips Brooks, with that breadth of view and large Christian charity so characteristic of him,came out more decidedly than ever, at the recent Episcopal Congress at Louisville, against the assumption by his sect of the title, "The American Church." From his brave speech we quote: The American Church is the great total body of Christianity in America, in many divisions, under many names, broken, discordant, disjointed, often quarrelsome and disgracefully jealous, part of part, yet as a whole bearing perpetual testimony to the people of America of the authority and love of God, of the redemption of Christ, and of the sacred possibilities of man. If our church does especial work in cur country, it must be by the especial and peculiar way in which she is able to bear that witness: not by any fiction of an apostolic succession in ber ministry, wnicn gives to them alone a right to bear such witness. There is no such peculiar piivilege of commission belonging to her, or to any other body. The only right of any body lies in the earnest will and in the manifest power. The right to preach the gospel to America lies in {he earnest faith that the gospel is the only salvation of the people, first as men, and then as Americans; whoever brings that faith has the right to preach; whoever does not bring it has no right, be the fancied regularity of his commission what it may! Th? Date of Conversion. An aged widow, whose only son is on missionary ground, recently gave me some account of her religious experiences. She said that she did not publicly profess Christ until she had arrived at middle life, although she now thinks that she became a Christian when about ten or twelve years of age. One Sabbath she was left at home all alone. She spent a part of the day in readrog^those pre cious tract', "The uairymana juaugnuer, and "The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain.r Her feelings were deeply moved; and although she did not then, nor for years after, indulge hope, she now thinks that she then exercised penitence for Bin and faith in Christ Many persons, who give good evidence of piety, are in doubt as to their being Christians because they can fix on no time when they became such. But this is not essential. Children doubtless often begin the Christian life without any deep religious experience. Like the willows by the water-courses, they readily yield to the gracious influences of the Spirit. Many of the best Christians are unable to fix the date of their conversion. They were probably converted at a very early age. And thu probably will be the case more and more as millennial times draw near. Children will then be nurtured under more holy influences, and will sweetly yield their hearts to Christ in their tender years. It will become their experience, as they grow up, that they love God and the Saviour and the Bible, and all holy and heavenly things, and bv their fruits they will abundantly | show that they are born of God.?{American Messenger. FoifiTpnf??, "I will blot out your transgressions," blot them out as if they had never been; forget them utterly. How many of us forgive in that way? I sometimes think we might learn a lesson in this way of forgiving from the Indian. W.th bim to forgive, is to forget the offence. No matter what the difference or trouble has been, if the parties can be brought to "shake hands," the trouble is at an end, tbe past forgotten and never again alluded to. While I was teacher among the Miamis, a circumstance occurred that was told me by ne who witnessed and was deeply affected by the scene. There had been a bitter quarrel between Bogus Charley, the chief of the Modocs, and Shaknasty Jim, so bitter that pistols wore handled and blood threatened. A Sabbath day came, when a missionary talked to the gathered band in the schoolhouse, and these two became much affected. One, who knew of tbe trouble, rose and feelingly urgpd them, then and there, to be reconciled. There was perfect silence for a time, and tVion tho tnl I form of E0211S Char lev rose. and, after some words in Indian, Shaknasty stood up, and as the two strode towards each other and grasped hands with penitent faces, there were few dry eyes among the on-lo jkers. Ageueral hand-shaking followed, and the voice of prayer went up to Him who said: "Forgive as ye would be forgiven." I bad a somewhat similar experience in the boarding school at Genoa, Neb. The large boys had a difficulty that ended in a fight, and one bad his head so battered he was out of the school-room for a week. Hatred was so strong between the two factions, that it threatened the peace of the school. We were startled one day, by finding that one party had a pistol or two, and had warned the other party to keep hands off. They were wild and sot yet used to control, and it became a serious question with the teachers, how to handle the matter. It was determined by two of us to try what we could do quietly, and Miss W. set to work with the leader of one party, while I took the two who headed the other. We took them to our rooms and talked earnestly, but it was more than a week before we brought them to say they wore willing to be friends. The nieht I was to take- mr two to meet the other in the school-room, Stephen drew back, and I watched, tremblingly, the hard struggle that went on. His dark face paled with the inward fight, and when at last I said, Stephen, will you go with us now, be shook: tits bead ana l thought all was over. Outside my door, however, he halted, irresolute for a minute, then his good angel conquered, and he turned and followed us down. How glad we were to see those three dusky-faced fellows shake hands, no one but God knows. I never can forget their three faces at our next prayer-meeting, they were radiant. The hand-shake completely blotted out the trouble. I never knew of even a reference to it afterward. It was the "forgive as we would be forgiven."?[H. M. C., in New York Observor. , Jay Gould was reading the "Quick cr the Dead" for recreation. He was asked if it entertained him. He said: "Tolerably. It is a curious study of a morbid mental condition in a woman. The features which I suppose have popularized it are disagreeable. I don't know when I have read a novel before. My doctor told me to try fiction, and let thoughtful books alone. So I am obeying." TEMPERANCE. The Moral Hero. BY JOKL SWARTZ, D. D. lbe patriot and soldier whose heart does not quail In trie fierce battle-line where thousands must bleed, But fearlessly meets the thick leaden hail, is crowned by the world as a hero indeed. Yet is he not braver who follows the right, Because it is right, tho' dying unknown, And combats the wrone with courage and might, If cheered by the crowd or marching alone) A hero is he, and loyal of coal. Who welcomes the fray when conscience commands, Rejoicing to answer the call of the roll, Where danger is thickest and error withstands. So far is he oft in advance of his age That his greatness seems dwarfed to the ranks in the rear. And not till they coma to his loftier stage Do his wisdom and faith and courage appear. Oft carsed is he, hence, reviled and opposed, But gently he bears detraction and wrong, And still presses on till his mission is closed. In sorrow most joyful, in weakness made strong. The warrior in battle with daring is fired By numbers and noise in his rush to the fray; The hero of conscience by duty inspired Will march, tho' alone, where she points the way. , No trumpet, no cannon is needed to fire The embers of force in his languishing frame, The fair form of virtue alone can inspire The love of his heart to a passionate flame. The sword of the hero who conquers by might May carve for its wearer a bright crimson name, And high on the pillars of honor may write The proud march of valor to the summit of fame. Yet rust shall corrupt the warrior's bright sword And time's envious tooth his marble consume, And erasing tbe record, leave only this word,? "Forgotten," as all that remains of his tomb. While truth's stainless weapons, immortal and bright, Shall bang in tbe halls of the hero above, For the battles he fought were struggles for right, And the triumphs he won were conquests of love.? New York Observer. The March of the Coru. Farmer Grey's little Molly had been sent 1 to the corn-field for "roasting ears" for dinner. 8be had prudently husked the ears in the field, and was now homeward bound with her apron full of corn. Molly was singing as blithely as the robin swaying on a cornstalk near htr. But she was a child full of whims and fair fancies, and she stopped. singing and looked over tbe landscape. The great "ten-acre field" planted with corn lay on the gentle slope of a hill, ana reached even, to the green and shadowy val ey. Through the valley ran a deep strong stream. "The corn," said Molly, "looks as if it was all marching down-hill to the valley. And * a# if -will ?>ioroK infn f.Kfl &u it is: uuaio vi iw ?nu ?uui vm house; I think I see it. It will be put into fritters or succotash, and it will be boiled and canned. It will march down there ripe, and , it will be turned into mush and pudding and nice crisp corn-cake with loads of butter on it Ob, my! And then winter evenings all 1 of us will have such fun popping some of it and making pop-corn balls. Good corn! 1 j am so glad you are marching down to the < house!'1 Lower down the valley lay the mill, a . great, dark old mill, the wheel, turned by the roaring river, rising and falling with a plash. 1 "Corn," cried Mo'ly, "you will march down to the miJL Will you be afraid of the great millstones? You will be ground into .] meal, you will be put into bags and barrels, i you will be sent east, north, west, south! < You will help feed the world! Will you not be glad, corn, when you make thin people. I fat, weak people strong, hungry people con tent? You will die to do good, 0 cornl when I you have marched down to the mill. You { will have done the errand God sent you to i do!" But farther down the valley were tall 1 chimneys, great brick walls, high fences, with 1 wide gates out of which rumbled vans under ] clouds of black smoke and dense steam. j "Ocorn!' said Molly, "you will march down to the distillery. You will die to do ! evil and not to do good. You will be what 1 God never meant you to be! Youwilldrive men and women crazy with evil drink; you will fill them with disease, you will make them poor. You will rob little children of homes, food, clothes, books, joy. You will f give them fears, tears, pain, you wni km thousands, corn, instead of feeding thousands. 0 beautiful corn! is it not terrible that, after all these lovely summer days, you must carry vour beauty and your wealth down to the distillery to ruin the land! You will be ground and scalded and decayed and distilled, until out of good has come evil and out of life death; and you will have come to a very bad end, O my beautiful corn!"? Youth's Temverance Banner. No More Rum Rations in India. The Indian correspondent of the B -itinh Weekly writes: "There is ereat news for the friends of temperance. The issue of rum is to be discontinued in the army in India. Henceforward raw spirits will not be issue 1 to any troops arriving in India after this date. The canteen will be an institution of the past. Refreshment r joins supplying nonintoxicants, with a side bar at which beer may be had, are to be instituted within the lines of every regiment in India. A reading room is to be attached. The change is due to His Excellency Sir Frederick Roberts, the Commander-in-Chief. The step is a long one in the right direction, an 1 a year or two ago w ould not have been dreamt of. Temperance News and Notes. Seventy members of the Canadian Parliament are professed prohibitionists. Kentucky has 4123 retail liquor dealers; Louisville six saloons to each church. Maxwell, who was recently hanged at St. Louis, was, it is said, a hard drinker. ] Topeka, Kansas, has more churches than f any other city of its size; and not one saloon, j Four Trenton, N. J., liquor sellers were re- | cently sentenced to six months in the county i jail. A temperance society with eighteen members was lately organized at Kinkiang, f China. I The city of Passadena, Cal., has not a sa- 6 loon, not a policeman, and its jail has no \ occupants. c Dr. Richardson says he can no more ac- g cept the alcohols as foods that he can chloroform or ether. i At Kau Claire, Wis., recently a man signed the pledge for the first time on his one hundredth birthday. President Culver announces that at the t Alabama State Fair this year, whisky shall s not be sold on the grounds. ^ The liquor sellers of Palestine are obliged to pay for 1.cense one-fourth of the amount : of their house or shop rent. ' A railway disaster on the Mexico Central 8 Railway, resulting in thirteen deaths, is now c said to have been caused by drink. t Dr. Norman Kerr 6avs: "Among the ine- 1 briates admitted to the Dalrymple Home nine t Dcr cent, of the whole number drank nothing y but beer. Sir Andrew Clark says that "more than three-fourths of the disorders, in what we 1 call fashionable life, arise from the use of t alcohol." t. Eight conductors and trainmen of the Long I a Island raiiroad were recently discharged, be r cause they entered saloons and drank during hours of duty. The recent banquet of the Commercial Travelers' Convention, held in Minneapolis, attended by six hundred and fifty guests, a was served without wine. j, New York State has $60,000,000 invested in ? prisons, asylums, hospitals and alms houses. New York city alone nas 10,000 dramshops E to help provide the inmates. * Father Cleary, of Wisconsin, last year de- D li vered 174 addresses and lectures in behalf of t the Catholic Total Abstinence Union, and administered the pledge to over 100,000 per- ^ sons. M. Emile de Lavelye, the distinguished po- S litical economist, says there is a "carbaret" J for every ten families in Belgium, and with- J in the last fourteen years the consumption of t drink has doubled. ... " c 7\. ... . ? . , . ^ V v . . . JfofiLAK SCIENCE. Photographs have been taken by th? light from a fireplace. Physicians say that a bare upper lip is injurious to the eyes. M. Chevroul, the centenarian chemist, Bays that the modern dyer controls 15,000 different shades of color. Melinite has been tried in some gunnery experiments upon an old English ironclad, and the effect was fearful. A new beverage has been invented in France intermediate between beer and wine, and which is to be sold under the name of barley wine. Dr. Pasteur recently read before the Academy of Sciences at Paris a letter from Dr. Gamaleia of Odessa announcing the discovery of cholera vaccine. Oxalate of cerium, a recognized pal'i ative for nausea, is said to be helpful in cases of seasickness, when taken in doses ot ten to twenty grains every two or three hours. It has been computed that during a lifetime of three score years and ten the blood of a human being travels 4,292,000 miles, that hig heart beats 2,538, 848,000 times. From an analysis of over 6,000 cases of scarlet fever, it appears that liability to the disease is very slight during early infancy, reaches a maximum in the fourth or fifth year, and diminishes every year afterward. An Italian physician claims to have discovered that the blood of an eel contains a poison of a similar character to the poison of vipers. He sajs an eel of two kilogrammes has in its blood enough poison to kill six men. Owing to its antiseptic qualities carbolic acid is a valuable lotion for wounds which discharge purulent or other offensive matter. Mixed with olive or othei oils, or with glycerine in the proportion of one part to twenty-five it makes as excellent dressing for cuts and sores. CalTcine is said to have none of the disadvantages of the deadly narcotics, and. to be more reliable than the bromides J it is Claimed 10 De entirety tree irorn i harmful or unpleasant effects, and to retain its efficacy even when used for a I long period. It has already proven valuable in the treatment of mental disorders. A new kind of scale consists of a i simple balance arm resting on a nickel j point, supported by a standard about | eighteen inches in height. There ar6 i two scales in the balance arm; one de- | notes the weight and the total cost ol the article weighed, the other the unite of price, which is designated by a slid- . ing weight. From this sliding weight is suspended the scoop or slab to contain the article to be weighed. By this scale the total cost of an article at any point is given immediately upon weighing it. The London Lancet calls attention to j the value of carbonate of lime, in the form of calcined oyster shells,as a meani of arresting the growth of cancerous tumors, the result attained having beeD extremely satisfactory. It may be pre pared at home by baking the ovstei shells in an oven, and then scraping of! the calcined white lining of the concave shell. The substance thus obtained is to be reduced to powder, and as much as will lie on a silver quarter taken once 01 twice a day in a little warm water or tea. An important advantage in the use ol petroleum products in connection with paper and fibrous substances, coosists in their non-liability to oxidize and thus produce spontaneous combustion. Moreover,* it is said to toughen with age, instead of growing more brittle, like resin ind coal-tar pitch. It is not more combustible than resin; it burns slowly with i dull flame, producing immense quantities of lampblack of fine quality. It nelts rapidly at 200 degress Fahr., and in that state combines perfectly with esin, asphaltum and warm oil. Its use a therefore expected to increase largely. The Life Labors of Seth Green. Fishermen everywhere, whether they ish for pleasure or for business, will feel i personal loss in the death of Seth Green, he original fish culturist of the world, ind the one in whom, in spite of hia leventy-one years, lay the greatest promse of the development of the science of irtificial fish propagation. From his oyhood ho was a lover of the woods and itreams, and in 183f, by observation of he natural methods of propagation in ;he Salmon River, in this State, got his irst idea that fish might be raised artiicially. He continued studying fish life intil 1364, when, on a small piece of and that he bought near Kocnestcr he jut his theories into practice, and suc:eeded in producing fry from twenty-five jer cent, of the eggs that he expei iment:d upon. Salmon were hatched first, and hen trout. Afterward, whitetish, carp, )ass, sturgeon, grayling, herring, perch, nuskalonge, and a number of other food ishes were successfully raised at Mr. Green's hatchery. In 1S67, at the rejuest of the State of Massachusetts, he vent to Holyoke, and in two weeks had jroduced 15,000,000 young shad from .1 [pawn. Since then he has aided in ' itocking nearly all the large rivers on | he Atlantic coast with this fish. New J 1 fork made liira Fish Commissioner in 1 [87?, and soon afterward Superintendent ( State Fisheries, a place that he held till lis death. Not only many of the States, >ut a number of European Governments ' lave had medals struck in his honor,and ' learly every fish or gnme protective or imilar society in the country has made : lim an honorary member. He was pas- 1 ionately fond of fishing as a sport, and 1 Fas very succe sful. He had a record 1 ?f eighty-five feet in fly-casting, and is aid to have once thrown 100 feet.?New Yorlc Hun. ' Utilizing the Sun's Heat Rays. 1 One of the most interesting and prac- 1 ical methods of utilizing the heat of the ] un is that recently invented by Proessor Morte, of Salem, Mass. The arangement consists of a shallow box, the ^ >ottom of which is of corrugated iron, ] ind the top of glass, this is piacea , lutside the builaing, in such a position hat the sua shines directly upon it. J The heat-rays of the sun pass through j he glass and are absorbed by the iron, leating it to a high temperature, and by ( i system of ventilation a current of air is , >assed through the apparatus and intD \ he room to be heated. By this means < he air has been heated on sunny days to bout ninety degrees, Fahrenheit, bn j assing over the iron. ( A Jl.jnaTer's D l9inma. There is a story going the rounds bout the late J. C. Engel, director of (roll's Opera House, Berlin. He asked wo of his stars, Nachbaur and Reich- < aann, into his sanctum, and invited 1 hem to mention their conditions for a lew engagement. ''Well," said Jiach- 1 laur, '-you know my terms. Half the < ;ross receipts." ' I also," said Keichnann; "I cannot take less thau half the ] ;i08s." "Gentlemeu," gravely replied i f. C. Engel, ''supposing I accept, will 1 ou, occasionally, let me ha e a free 1 icket? I should like to be able to enter 1 ay own theatre." ' > - . ' >- . ... ... * o*, r'. . .. .. ... . - -r . ? -DUTCH BOERiT" LIFE IN A QUEER SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNITY. Modes of Salutation?Accomplished Herbalists?Their Skilfal Marksmanship?Religious and Social Customs. The traveller (I speak of one who ia supposed to understand Boer speech and habits) arrives at a farmhouse in, say, the Orange -Free State. A farmhouse may have one field of forage and a stone kraal; otherwise the farm is open country. He will not off-saddle his horse without receiving permission; this having been asked for and granted, the farmer leads him through the half doors into the main apartment. There is home-made furniture, numerous pink and white paper flowers, and painted on the walla vases of fruit. The visitor will proceed to shake hands, commencing with the stout vrauw and ending with thfl hfthv in arms. This is not the Encr- i lish * hand-shake," but a resting of palm within palm. The coffee?which is made from sunrise to sunset?is then brought in in bowls, tobacco pouches are exchanged, and conversation, which seldom varies, commences.- The visitor and-- the farmer answer or reply pretty much as follows: "The veld is green. The clouds are heavy; there will be a thunderstorm to-morrow. I have a very line red horse runniDg. Nachtmaal (communion) will be next month. My vrauw has a cold. The president is a fine man. Japie De Villiers [pronounced Vilje, and minus the prefix I has had a ram born with five heads. The Hnglish are thieves." The hand-shaking ceremony is then repeated, the horse, led and rested, is brought round, the traveller mounts, smacks his sjambock, shows off his steed and proceeds on his journey. The farmers have trained ponies to a special pace called a "tripple." and a good "trippler" is always prized. With this pace no "porting"of the saddle, is i required, and on a long journey the j trippler will arrive each night without j turning a nair, wane ue ironing aorae, his companion, may be done up. Distance is reckoned by time?six miles to the hour. If an Englishman near the hour of sunset asks a Dutchman where such a Tillage lies, he will be answered by a raised hand and "a little way over that hill." You then ride ten miles and sleep out in a thunderstorm, perhaps. You reach the village the following mid-, day. Superstition and fear of contagious disease are great among this people. The Dutch are accomplished herbalists, doubtless obtaining, their knowledge from the Hottentots and Bushmen; they have herb brandies for colics, and plants for sores. They are often-the prty of quack doctors; the more as genuine practitioners, who have to go long distances, charge heavily. A Dutchman is satisSed with the treatment so long as his mcdical adviser brings to the house a quart bottle of physic; if he presents him'vtith a small phial he doubts his skill, and sends for another man. The 3 3 i - J if? t ???? I aeau are uuneu uu me innuj, auu them traveling masons erect mausoleums of brick. Dutch women are enormous in size, good cooks in their style, gobble sweets and cakes all day and take little exercise. But now and then a Dutch wife and hor daughters may be seen kraaling the sheep at evening. Feather beds 8re greatly prized by this people; they generally carry their goods with them. on journeys. Annually the farmhouse on the "low veld" is shut up, and the sheep and cattle are taken scores of miles up to the "high teld" for mountain f pasture. Beside some rushing stream the wasrons are camped, perhaps tents are pitched, and domestic life goes on as usuaL Fowls cluck among the wild grasses, and the cows are milked beneath the shadows of mighty mountains. The general belief in the excellence of Boer shooting is nb delusion. I was once with a dutchman on a high mountain road near the De Kaap; three bucks leapt down the rocks of a low kopje by the way; with a Martini-Henry rifle he brought down two out of the three. Hunting at Loeuwe Pan (Lion Pan), Bechuanaland, Captain X. went out' early in the morning for springbok, which move in thousands upon these yellow prairies. It was my turn to cook, and a Boer (erstwhile a freebooter), who squattered in a miserable clay cabin near by, came and ?at by the fire. Captain X. returned at four o'clock; he had shot no buck, and was in a bad temper. I pointed to the Dutchman. Captain X. gave the Boer eight cartridges; the buck would be ours, the balance of ammunition his. The Boer mounted his white paarde, took our shooting nag Moses with him, and rode off on to tbe veld, In twenty minutes tbe man returned, Moses indignantly resigned under the weight of two line springbok. The Boer had used only two cartridges: six remained his property. His weapon wa9 Martini-Henry carbine, on which he had -1??/*? ! Art i f?AfTT oinrKf piaucu au ifvij ojguv* The ; people are excessively fond of music and dancing; concertina, harmonium, and fiddle are their delight. A. withered Hottentot dwarf will draw a strain from the sole of an oid shoe Btrung with sinew, and men and maidens will vigorously dance to it for hours. The Boers have a bad character for pilfering. When the men and women eater an up-country store they are allowed to carry off small goods like sweets or ribbons, which they unconsciously pay for in the bill. The farmers are not often rich in money, their wool crops being mortgaged sometimes to the stores for two seasons ahead. The Boers are great religious formalists ; and at certain time.? they and their families ride into the villages from great distances to celebrate the Nachtmaa1 (night meal of communion), their wagons loaded with produce?presents fothe parsons. At this time business it brisk and the streets are like a fair. The most curious traits shown by the Boers are in their courting customs. A poung Boer whose heart has been moved by some charming ineisje, asks permis aion cf the parents to "sit up." The girl's dowry will be 200 hatnmels (sheep) j.nd if the suitor is considered desirable in regard to land, permission is granted. The old vrauw then places two yellow jandles upon the rough table, and the pair are left to themselves, when the courtship proceeds until the last spark jn the black candle wick dies out. Rightly or wrongly the action of salt on the dying wick is supposed to reanimate the flame: and the artful pair sprinkle it accordingly.?London Standard. Largest Schooner Afloat. A schooner building at Wa!doboro, Me., is expected to be the largest vessel sf its kind afloat. It is of the centerboard pattern, and will carry live masts. Her length of keel is 2j.j feet, her breadth is ;>0 feet, depth of hold twentyjne feet, and her measurement will be 1800 tons. Her masts will be of Oregon pine, and -her foremasts, mainmast, nizzenmast, spankermast ar*d jigger will je each 115 feet in length. She will lave two full decks running the eutire 1 length of the vessel and nine hatches. * From the Far North. Across the rocky desert of northW itf-~ * dj era British America daring the summear. . months scores of wagon trains make their way southward, or at least downward, ;>) following the great slopes of the ccnti- -ii nent, each and all having for an objective , point some post of the Hudson Bay Company. Vast shaly levels are these, broken into ravines and upheavals, till they hardly deserve the name of plains, destitute of vegetation save along the water- :'i?i courses, and with so little of animal life 'Mfr that the hunter never expects to find Vjg game unless it has fled into the desert to v escape its pursuers. Most of these train* , are laden with furs, the result of the last v'^3 winter's hunting and trapping in the far North. Mink, deer, otter, sable, beaver, bear and the rest, with here and there , ; ^ even now a 41 green" buffalo hide, are brought in this manner hundreds of V miles. The enterprising American wagonmaker, with the marvellously light and J^||| strong products of his shop and its woodworking machinery, has not yet pushed his wares into those desolate regions. In- 'Wi deed it would hardly pay him to do so. - 'M for the population rarely has any ready '? cash to expend on modern improvement*, Jgj and moreover it naa aDunaanc time on *?? its hands to whittle patiently away ott. f "fellies" and spokes until a vehicle is y* produced that meets his requirements," and is in many respects a marvel of ingcnuity, though somewhat rude when considered from the standpoint of artistic _ ' ;Y$| workmanship. The wood-work is all hewn out in the ;$jj rough with the axe, and largely finished.'. p oil with the same universal tool. It i? wonderful how a keen-edged axe ia; skilful hands may bo made to do the work of plane, spokeshave, and adze. Not that these Northern craftsmen do . ^ not have other tools, and know how t? use them after a fashion, but their equip-; ment, when compared with that of V journeyman mechanic, is exceedingly meagre. If a civilized wagon-ihalcer were given a set of half-breed tools, and told to make a wagon out of a log, he would probably strike work forthwith, fSja and call on his Union for a peremptory ^ "boycott." The 4-quarter-bred Indian French,'* whea they are clad in the height of metropolitan winter fashion, wear the. *? comfortable blanket coats that hive - ' recently been imported with toboggan* " -ft from across the border. The harnesses 4: are of rawhide?strong, durable, simple, and requiring very little expenditure ra rgs the way of blacking or other carc, notwithstanding the rough usage to which they are aubjected. 1'awhido is used { also for many of the lashings about the . wagons. A train often contains a large number-, of wagons, and stretches for a long dis- ' "4 tance over the rocky ways that pasw for roads. The crcaking of the looao-)ointod ". -.fi wheels and the shouts of the drivers maf'^^H often be beard long before the train. / W comes in sight " The admixture of Krtnch and Indian blood has produced a tyj.c that possesses ' '/M many of the worst and some of the best/; characteristics of both races,-and in watching the passage of a train one is pretty ccrtain to see all the dillorent grades, ranging from red to swarthy in complexion, and from Gaul to Indiania feature.?Ilarjicr'i Weekly. Fishermen in History. ' Caius Marius, when ho fled from tW court of Hicmpsal of Nomidia, effected hiHOHaipc by the assistance of fishermen. __ v* sending as a message to his enemies the . ; ' 11 ' * J,/ ' " * - * l?" I^AfMAd " - >t*'| KJIIOWlUg: ' UU nilj IV IUC nuuiuii >.??ernor that thou hast seen the exile Ma- ; , rius sitting on the ruins of Carthage." "VVben I he ^rcat Pomncy was overthrow a on the plains of Pharsalia, he found shelter and rest in the hut of a fisber- . , ^ man. The unfortunate Mary of Scot- -%j8j land suffered a decisive defeat from her " rchel nobles. She crosscd the Frilh of Sol way in a liahing bark, and was safe j '.-.v from her own subjects. Charles tho Second, after the faial termination of the battle of Worcester, lied for his life, aud was glad to accept the humble hot- ^ < pilality of tbo fisherman, Tattcrsal, who * betrayed not his great trust. At the :>t :;1 battle of Culloden, which was the death blow to the hopes of Prince Charles I'M* VJ ward, lie fled, trusting neither noble nor knight, but sought aud found conceal- y mcnt aud succor among the humble but devoted fishermen, who had ever beea loyal to the Stuart". Massanicllo, the ' young fisherman of Is'nple*, led ni3 ' ?? conn try men iu revolt agnidst iSpuDish mlc, and rose to supreme power amid ;.|i the greatest of the land. In tho colonization of Massachusetts, when both men and money were required J, for the public defence, fishermen were exempted from the performance of mili- t '. tary duties and the payment of taxes. Scorning to screen thomselvcs behind. special "privileges, the fit-hermcn of Marblehcad, Salem, Beverly, Newbury- * port and numerous other fishing places of note, rallied to the defence of the v;: Hag, nnd in all the wars known to the country have boruc their full share. '*& Marblehcad sent nearly every able bodied man to the cam]) or continental vessels of war. No other town in the United Stales suffered in population and property, in proportion to size, as she did. The close of the contest showed within ??./* lmrdnm r\ f ?]?/> Innn 4 .'Si widows and IUV UVI UVW V4 ?UW w ? M .wv, ^ 9ti(i fatherless children. "\Vliere Do Flies Go in Winter? Some one has asked, * Where do flioa go in winter?" This is a question of some interest, for a house tiy is born fully growu and of mature size, and there- are no little tiies of the same species, the small ones occasionally observed being ditlerent in kind from the larger ones. The house fly does not bite or pierce the skin, but gathers its food by a comb or * rake or brush-like tonjrue, with which it is able to scrape the varnish from * (v covers of books, and thus it tickles the skin of a person upon whom it alights to feed upon the perspiratiou. A tiy is a scavenger, and is a vehicle by which contagious diseases are spread. It poisons wounds and inav carry deadly virus from decaying organic matter into food. 16 retire* from the sight at the beginning of the winter, but where it goes few persons know. If a search of the house bo made they will be l'ouad in great numbers secreted in warm places in the roof or between the partitions or floor*. Last winter we had occasian to examine a roof, and found around the chimney myriads of Hies hibernating comlortably and sufficiently lively to riy when disturbed "in overpower,ng clouds." No doubt tfcis is a favorite winter resort for these creaturcs.?Boston (Jiobt. An Inhuman Episode. A Massachusetts paper prints an account of a remarkable scene at Kevere Beach on a recent Sunday. A man was in danger of drowning in the surf, and while efforts were being made to launch the life-boat,the Sunday pleasure seekers stood by, laughed and applauded. The baud struck up "The Girl I 1 eft Behind Me," and every delay and blunder increased the merriment. The efforts to save the mau were unavailing, aud Ilia dead body was brought ashore.?Nvto York Sun.