Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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k REV. DR. TALMAGE. THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN DAY SEKMON. Subject : " The Throe Greatest Things To Do." Text. ? "The people that do know theii God. sha'l be strong, and do exploits."? Daniel xi., 32. Antiochus Epiphanes, the old sinner, came down three times with his army to desolati the Jews, advancing one time with a hun dred and two trained elephants swinging their trunks this way and that, and sixty two thousand infantry, and six thousand aavalrv troops, and they were driven back. Then the second time he advanced with sev. enty thousand armed men and bad been agair defeated. But the third time he laid success fal siege until the navy of Rome came in with the Cash of their 1< ng banks of oars and demanded that the siege be lifted. And Antiochus Epiphanes said he wanted time to consult with his friends about it.and Popilias, one of the Roman embassadors, took a Staff and made a circle on the ground around Antiochus Epiphanes. and compel'ed him tc decide be!ore ne came out of that circle; wherepon he li'ted the siege. Some of the Jews had submitted to the invader, but some of them resisted valorously, as did Eleazer, when he had swine's flesh forced into his mouth, spit it out, although he knew he must die for it, and did die for it, and others, as my text says, were enabled to do exploits. i An exploit I would define to be a heroic act. a brave feat, a great achievement. "Well," you say, "I admire such thines but there is no chance for me: mine is a sort of humdrum life. If I badjan Antiochus Epiphanes to fight I nlso could do exploits.'' You are right so far as great wars are concerned. There will probably ba no opportunity to disiinguish yourself in battle. The most of the brigadier-tremrals of this country wouid never have been heard of had tt not been for the war. Genera] Grant would have remained in the - ' -< : useiui wors Ol tarunu^ mum ?u uoicun, ?..v. Stonewall Jackson would Lave continued th? quiet college professor in Virginia. And whatever military talents you bave will prdbably lie dormant forever. Neither will yon probably become a great inventor. Nineteen hnndred and ninety-nine out ot very two thousand inventions found in the patent office at Washington never yielded their authors enough money to pay for the expenses of securing the patent So you will probably never be a Morse or an Edi on, or a Humphrey Davy or an Kli Whitney. There is not much probability that you will be the one out of the hundred that "achieves extraordinary success in commercial or legal or medical or literary spheres. What then? Can vou have no opportunity to do exploits? 1 am going to ?how you to-day that there are three oppor (unities open that are granu, uinmue, m> reaching, stupendous and overwhelming. Thej are before you now. In one. if not all three of them, yon may do exploits. The three greatest thtags on earth to do are to save a man, or save a woman, or save a child. During the course of his life almost every man gets into an exigency, is caught between two fires, is ground between two millstones, cits on the edge of some precipice, or in some other way comes near demolition. It may be a financial, or a moral, or a domestic, or a social, or a political exigency. You sometimes see it in court rooms. A young man has got into bad company and he has o .Tended the law, and he is arraigned. All blushing and confused he is in the presence of judge and jury and lawyers. He can be sent rieht on in the wrong direction. He is feeling disgraced, and be is almost desperate. Let the District Attorney overhaul him as though he were an old offender; let the ablest attorneys at the bar refuse to say a word for him because he eannot afford a considerable fee; let tbi judge give no opportunity for presenting the mitigating circumstances, hurry up the case and hustle him up to Auburn or Sing Sing. If he live seventy years for seventy years he will be a criminal and each decade m "?! 1 K1 ooL-ar t^inn or ais wc nui ud wiuvou. . its predecesior. In the interregnums of prison life he can get nc work, and he is glad to break a windo w-glass, or blow up a safe, or play the highwayman, so as to got back again within the walls where he can get something to eat and hide himself from the cruel gaze of the wcrld Why don't his father come and help hirai His father is dead. Why don't his in.->thei cemo and help him? She is dead. Where are all the ameliorating and salutary in fluences of society! They do not touch him. Why did not some one long ?go in the case understand that there was an opportunity for the exploit which would be famous in heaven aquaorill ion of years after the earth has become scattered ashes in the last whirlwind? Whj did not the District Attorney take that young man into his private office and say: "M3 son, I see that you are the victim of circum stances. This is your first crime. You an sorry. I will bring the person vol wronged into your presence and yot will ? apologize and make nil th< reparation you can, and 1 will giv< you an-'ther chance." Or the young man is presented in the court room and he has n< friends present, and the judge says: "Who ii your counsel?" And he says: "I have none.' And the judge says: "Who will take thii oung man's case:" And there is a deaf halt and no one offers, and after a while th' judge turns to some attorney who never hu a good case in all his lifo and never will, ant whose advocacy would be enouzl to secure the condemnation of inno cence itself. And the professiona incompetent crawls up beside the prisoner helplessness to rescue despair, when ther ought to be a struzgle among all the bos men of the profession as to who should hay the honor of trying to help that unfortunate How much would such au attorney have re reived as his fee for such an advocacy Nothing in dollars, but much every way ii a happy consciousness that would make hi own life brighter and his own dying pillo* sweeter and his own heaven happier?th consciousness that he had saved a mnn! So there are commercial exigencies. / very late spring obliterates the demand fo spring overcoats and spring hats and sprin apparel of all sorts. Hundreds of thousand of people say: "It seeais we are going t have no spring and we shall go straight ou of winter into warm weather, and we ca get along without the usual spring BStire. Or there is no autumn weather, the he* plunging into the co d, aud the usual clot* ing, which is a compromiee between sun or?r1 wintflr i? tmr. rAnnipwl_ 1 makes a difference in the sale < millions and million? of dollars of poods, an some over-sanguine young merchant i caught with a vast amount of unsalab goods that never will be salable again e: cept at prices ruinously reduced. Thf young merchant with a somewhat limit? capital is in a predicament What shall tl old merchants do as they see that young ma in this awful crisis? Rub their hanc and laugh and say: "Good for hitn. i might have known better. When he hi been in business as long as we have. 1 will not load his shelves in that way. Hi Hal He will burst up before long. He ha no business to open his store so near to oui anyhow." Sheriff's sale! Red flag: in tl window: "How much is bid for these ou of-the-fasbion spring overcoats and sprir hats or fall clothing out of date? What do hear in the way of a bid?" ' Four dollars. "Absurd, 1 cannot take that bid of four do lars. Why,these coats when first put upon tli market were offered at fifteen dollars eacl and now I am offered only four dollars. 1 that all? Five dollars do I hear? Going ? that! Gone at five dollars," and ho takes tb whole lot. The young merchant goes horn that night and says to his wife: "Well. Man we will have to move out of this house an sell our piano. That old merchant that lit had an evil eye on me ever since 1 starto has bought out all the clothing, and he wi have it rejuvenated, and next year put it o the market as new, while we will do well if w keep out of the poor-house." The young umi broken-spirited, goes to hard drinkine. Tl; voung wife with her baby goes to her father house, and not only is his store wiped ou but his home, his morals, and his prospec for two worlds, this and the next. An devils make a banquet of fire and fill the enps of gall and drink deep to the health < the old merchant who shallowed u? tl young merchant who got s-tuck on sprin goods and went down. That )8 one way an some of you have tried it But there is another way. ^ That youn merchant who found that he had miscalci lated in laying in too many goods of oi Hnd and been flung of the unVisual seasot fa standing behind the counterv/eMing vei blue and biting his finger nails, or lookin over his account books, which read dark< and worse every time ho \ looks i them, and thinks how his ydliing wi: will have to be put in a plainer hou than she ewer! expected to 1 live ii or go to a third-rate boarding-hod^ whei \ ' j they have tough Hver and aour bread five mornings out of the seven. An old merchant comes in and says: "Well, Joe, this has been a hard season for young merchants, and this prolonged cool weather has put many in the doldrums, and I have been thinking of you a gaod deal <?f late, for just after I started in business I once got into the same scrape. Now if there Is j anything 1 "can do to help you out I will Rladly do it. Better just put those goods out of eight for the present and next season we will plan ramething about them. I will help you to some goods that you can sell for me on commission, and I will" go down to one of the wholesale houses and tell them that I I know you and will hack you up, and if you , want a few dollars to bridge over the present I can let you have them. Be as economical as , you c m, keep a stiff upper lip, and remember ; that you have two friends, God and myself. I Good morningl" The o:d merchant goes away and the younp: man goes behind his desk and the tears roll down bis cheeks. It ! is the first time he has cried. Disaster made him mad at everything, an I mad at man ! and mad at God. But this kindness melts him. and the tears seem to relieve his brain, I and his spirits rise from ten below zero to , eighty in the shade, and he comes out of the crisis. And about three years ! after, this young merchant goes into the old I merchant's store and says: "Well, my old friend, 1 was this morning thinking over j j what you did for me three years ago. You j ] helped me out of an awful crisis in my com- | ; mercial history. I learned wisdom and pros- i perity has come, and the paUor has vuo ui <1 xj ?no a auu the roses that were there when I J courted her in her fatherls house have bloomed again, and my business is splendid, and I thought I ought to lot you know that you saved a man!" In a short time after, the old merchant who had be.-n a good while shaky in his limbs and had poor spells is cailed to leave the world, and one morning after he had read the twentythird Psalm about ''The Lord is my Shepherd," he closes his eyes on this world, and an angel who had been ( for many years appointed to witch the old man's dwelling, cries up.vard th* news that . the patriarch's spirit is about ascending. J And the twelve angels who keep the twelve gates of heaven unite in crying down to this : approaching spirit of the oH man: '"Comein i at any of the twelve gates you choose! j Come in and welcome, for it has bc-en told all over these Celestial neighborhoods that you saved a man." i There sometimes come exigencies in tho life of a woman. One morning about two i years ago I saw in the newspaper that there \ was a young woman in New York whose pocketbook containing thirty-seven dollars and thirty-three cents had been stolen and she had been left without a farthing at the beginning of winter in a strange city, and no work. And althontrh sh? was a Btrnncrer. I did not allow the nine o'clock mail to leave the lampost on our corner without carrying the i thirty-seven dol.ars and thirty-three cents: and the case was proved genuine. Now I have read all Shakespeare's tragedies, and all Victor Hugo's tragedies, aud all Alexander Smith's tragedies, but I never read | a tragedy mo.*e thrilling than that case, i and similar cases by the hundreds and , thousands in all our large cities; young women without money and without home and without work in these great maelstroms of metropolitan life. When such a case comes under your observation, how do you treat it# i "(Jet out of ray way, we have no room in our , establishment for any more hands. I don't believe in women anyway, they are a lazy, idle, worthless set. John, please show this ]>erson out of the door." Or do you compliment her personal appearance and say things to her which if any man said to your sister or daughter you would kill him on the spot? That is one way. and it is tried every day in these large i cities, and many of those who advertise for female hands in factories and for governesses ; in families have proved themselves unfit to j be in any place outside of hell. , ! But there is another way. and I saw it the , j other day in the Methodist Book Concern in , ; New York, where a young woman applied , for work, and the gentleman in tone and , manner said in substance: "My daughter,we employ women here, but I do not know of i any vacant place in our department, i You had better inquire at such and i such a place, and 1 hope you will bo successful in getting something "to do." The > embarrassed and humiliated woman seemed to give way to Christian confidence. Sh6 started out with a hopeful look that I think i must have won for her a place in which to > earn her bread. 1 rather think that consid erate and <jnrist:an gentlemen saveu a woman. New York and Brooklyn ground up lust year about thirty thousand 3'oung women, and would like to grind up aiiout as many this year. Out of all that long procession of women who march on with no hope for this world or the next, battered, bruised, sco:fe<l at and flung o)F i the prei ipice, not one but might have been saved for home and God and heaven. But good men and good women are not in that kind of business. Alas for that poor thing! nothing but the thread of that evening-girl s needle held her, and the thread broke. I have heard men tel; in public discourse what a man i>, but what is a woman? Until some one shall give a better definition I will tell j you what a woman is. I>irect from God, a j sacred and delicate gift w.th affections so I great that no measuring line short of that of the infinite God can tell their bound. Fashioned to refine and soothe and lift and irradiate home and society and the world. Of such value that no one can appreciate it. unless his mother 1 lived long enough to let him understand it, 9 I or who in some great crisis ot lite wnen an i i else failed him, had a wife to reiuforce hijp 1 with a faith in Coil that nothing could disi tiirb. Speak out, ye cradles, and tell of tha feet that rocked you and the anxious faces 1 that hovered over you! Speik out, ye t nurseries of all Christendom, and ye homes, 3 ; whether desolate or still in full bloom with . j the faces of wife, mother and daughter, and c help me to define what woman is. If a mnu 0 , (luring all his life accomplish nothing else ' | sxcept to win the love and confidence and help and companionship of a good woman, ' : he is a garlanded victor and ou^ht to hav? " ' the hands ot- all the people between here and 3 the gravo stretched out to him in conv ' gratulation. 0 ; But as geographers tell us that the depths i sf the sea correspond with the heights of the * j mountains, I have to tell you that good * j womanhood is not higher up than bad woman| hood is deep down. The grander the palace, 8 the more awful the conflagration that destroys ? . it. The grander the steamer Oregon, the " j aiore terrible her going down .just off the JJ ! coast. Now I should not wonder if you j trembled a little with a sense of responsibil11 , ity when I say that there is hardly a person ' in this house but may have an opportunity i- i to save a woman. it may, in your casa, bo | lone by good advice, or by financial help, or ?[ ' by trying to bring to bear some one of d . a thousand Christian influences. You is I would not have to go far. If, '* j for instance, you know among your c* | acquaintances a young woman who is apt to appear on the streets about the hour | when gentlemen return from business and io you find her responding to the smile of entire j ,n j strangers, hogs that lift their hat, go to her ja ; and plainly tell her that nearly all the dele Jtroyed womanhood of the world began the ? ... ... -? i a " aownwara patn wicn mac very muu ui w 16 liavior. lj ! Or if, for instance, you find a woman in j financial distress an I breaking: down in rs ! health and spirits trying to support her cbilie i dren, now tiat her husband is dead or an ini valid, doing that very important and honorj I able work, but which is little appreciated, it j keeping a boarding house, where all the j | guests, according as they pay smill " ; board, or propose, without paying ] any board as all, to decamp, are r* j critical of everything and hard to please 'l ; busy yourselves in trying to get her more patrons and tell her "of divine sympathy. Yea, if you are a woman favored of fortune and all kindly surroundings, finding in the ' j hollow flatteries of the world her chief regalement, living for herself and (or time as ^ if tiit-re were no eternity, strive to j. bring her into the kingdom of God, as did the othe r day a Sabbath-school teacher who j was the means of the conversion of the I daughter of a mm of immense wealth, and ' j the daughter resolved to j'oiu ti-o church, . i and sue went homo and said: "Futhir, I 's j am going to join the church and I want you r? to come. " "Oh, no," ho said, "I never go *o I ? | church." I" "Well," said the daughter, "if I were to be J. married, would you not go to see mo married?" And he said: "Oh. yes." "Well," ^ said she, "this is of more importance than j | that." So he went and has gone ever since, I and loves to go. I do not know but that faithful Sabbath-school teacher not only ' saved a woman but saved a man. There may ' be in this audience gathering from all parts j of the world, the most cosmopolitan assembly ' 1 in all the earth, there may be a man whose y i behavior toward womanhood has been 'S perfidious. Repent! Stand up, thou mas terpiece of sin and death, that 1 may charge !* you! As far as possible, make reparation. "e Do not boast that you have h'.-r in your pow88 er and that she cannot help herself. When a' that fine collar and cravat and that elegant ^ suit of clothes comes off and your uncovered soul stands ia Judgment and before God, ?oa will be better off if you save that woman. There is another exploit that you can do, and that is to save a child. A child does not seem to amount to much. It is nearly a year old before it can walk at all. For the first year and a half it cannot speak a word. For the first ten years it would starve if it hud to earn its own food. For the first fifteen years its opinion on any suujeck j? aiw lutely valueless. And than there are so many of them. My I what lots of children! And some people have contempt for children. They are good for nothing but to woar out the carpets and break things and keep you awake nights crying. Well, your estimate of a child is quite different from that mother's estimate who lost her child this summer. They took it to the salt air of the seashore and to the tonic air <*f the mountains, but no help came, and the brief paragraph of its life is ended. Suppose that life coukl tie restored by purchase, how much would that bereaved mother give? She would take all the jewels from her fingers and neck and bureau and put them down. And if tcld that that was not enough, she would take her hou>e and make over the deed for it, and if that were not enough she would rail in all her investments and put down all her mort gages and bonds; and If told tnat wero nou enough, she would say: "lhave maae over all my property, and if I can have that child back 1 will now pledge that I will toil with my own hands and carry with my own shoulders in any kin i of hard work, and live in a cellar and die in a garret. Only give me back that lost darling,' I am glad thut there are those who know something of the value of a child. Its possibilities are tremendousi What will those hands yet do? Where will those feet yet walk? Toward what destiny will that never-dying soul betake itself if Shall those lips be the" throne oi blasphemy or benediction? Come, all ye surveyors of the earth, and bring link and chain and measure if you can its possible possessions. Come, all ye astronomers of the earth, with your telescopes, and tell lis if you can see the range of its eternal flight. Come, all ye cnronologists, and calculate the decades on decades, the centuries on centuries, the cycles on cycles, the eternities on eternities of its lifetime. Ob, to save a child! Am I not right in putting tbat among the great exploits? Yes, it beats the other two. for if vou Ravo the child you save the ruan or you save the woman. " Get the first twenty years of that boy or girl all right and I guess you have got manhood or womanhood all right, and their entire earthly and eternal career all right. But what are you going to do with those children who are worse off than if their father or mother had died the day they were born? There are tens of thousands of such. Their parentage was against them. Their nam? is against them. The structure of their skulls against them. Their nerves and muscles contaminated by the inebriety or dissoluteness of their parents, they are practically at their birth laid out on a plank in the middle of the Atlantic Ocf an in an equinoctial gale and told to make for shore. The first greeting they get from the world is to be called a brat or a ragamuffin or a wharf-rat. What to do with them is the question often asked. There is another question quite as pertinent, anl that is, what are they go ng to do with us? They will ten or eleven years from now have as many votes as the same number of well-born children, and they will hand this lanl over to anarchy and political damnation just as sure as we neglect them. Suppose we each one of us save a boy or a girl. You can do it. Will you? I wilL ' ? tno r\ on^l n flnA JLttKU ft l'dKU UL uct i uiiivu cvm^' uu t w ?ttoothed comb, ana a New Testament and a little candy and prayer, and a piece of cak? and faith in God and common sense, and begin this afternoon. But how shall we get ready for one or all of these three exploits? We shall make a dead failure if it* our own strength we try to save a man or woman or child. Bnt my text suggests where we are to get equipment. The people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits." We must know Him through Jesus Christ in our own salvation, and then we shall have His help in the salvation of others. And while you are saving strangers you may save some of your own kin. You think your brothers and sisters and children and grandchildren all safe, bnt they are not dead, and no one is safe til) he is dead. On the English coast there was a wild storm and a wreck in the offing, and the crv was: "Man tbn lifeboat" But Ha-rv, the usual leader of the sailors' crew, was not to be found, and they weut without him and brought back all th' shipwrecked people except one. By this time Harry, the leader of the crew, appeared and said: "Why did you leave that one?" The answer was: "He could not help himself at all and we could *? * a- ** .i\r? At.-, not get him into tne Doac. muhu mo lifeboat," shouted Harry, "and we will go for that one." "No," said his aged mother standing by, "you must not go. I lost your father in a storm like this, and your brother Will went off six years aso and I have not heard a word from Will since he left, and I don't know where he is, and what has happened to him, poor Will, and I cannot let you also go for I am old and dependent on you." His reply was: "Mother, I must go and save that one man, and if I am lost God will take care of you in your old days." The lifeboat put out, and alter an awful struggle with the sea they picked the poor fellow out of the rigging just in time to save his life, and started for the shore. And as they came within speaking distance, Harry, just before he fainted from the over-exertion, cried out: "We saved him, and tell mother it was brother Will." Oh, yes, my friends, let iir start out to save some one for time and for eternity, some man, and so mi woman, and some child. _ And who knows but it may, directly or indirectly, ba the salvation of one of our own kindred, and that will be an exploit worthy of celebration when the world itself is shipwrecked and the 6un has gone out like a spark from a smitten an?:! and all the stars are dead! Tue tiger w hich escaped from a circus in Connecticut more than a week ago, and caused no little uneasiness to farmers in the northeastern part of the State, was captured by tho circus employes. They located the animal in the dense forests of Tolland, and discovered the path which ho followed in going to a stream. They buried a trap in the path and attached to it a strong sapling, which was bent over and held by a spring. Concealing themselves, they waited patiently, and a few hours later heard the tiger screaming and 3narling. They found him hanging by one foot in mid-air. When he had been securely boiad by ropes he was lowered into a strong cage and returned to Lis old quarters. Manager Stkonach, of the City of Glasgow Bank, has recently died. That is, he was the manager of the bank when it failed, a few years ago, for $33,500,000. He was sent to jail for eighteen months for falsifying balance sheets, and has sinco lived in obscurity, thoroughly broken down. Vienna scientific societies havo been investigating the wonderful "weather plant" discovered some months ago, and it is suid that its weather foretelling properties have been thoroughly verified. The maiine department of the Austrian War Department is to give the plant a trial on shipboard. A woman deaf-mute who goes among down-town offices in New York selling deaf and dumb alphabets has printed on her cards this peculiar request: "IJ any person thinks I am not what I represent to be, please have me arrested at once." The limited space under many s corner peanut stand in New York, the Tribune states, is not only usee as a sleeping place by the thrifty Italian owner, but lodgers are taker in and lie packed like Maine minnowf in a French sardine box. i \ i RELIGIOUS READING. ChrlstuB Consolator. Holy, holy, holy Cross, All else won I count bat loss. Sapphire suns are dust and dross In the radiance of the Face Which reveals God's way of gra?e Open to a rebel race. Ransom He and rinsomed we, Love and justice here agree; Let the angels bend and see Endless is this mystery: He, tbe Judge, our pardon wins: In His wounds our peace begins. Looking on the accursed tree. When we God as Saviour see, 1 Him as Lord we gladly choose, ; Him as King cannot refuse, < Love of sin with guilt we lose. ! So the Cross the soul renews. In his righteousness we bide I Last long woe of guilt and pride; In His spirit we abide. Naught are we, our all is H?: 1 Christ's pierced hands have set us free; < Grace is this beyond degree. I Glory His above all height; Mercj, Majesty and Might; I God in man is love's delight; < Man in God of God hath sight; Lovo is God's throne, great and white; Day in God hath never night. j A Reasonable Complaint. "I do wish our pastor, when he calls, j would pray with us before he leaves;" said a hard-working mother of several small ' children, who could not attend church regu- f larJy. 1 "Why do you not request him to do so? ) I'm sure he would love to." < irrr-ll T I J. ?1. l,Jn follr I . " ?r Oil, X nave LI 1U A IV aoo. mm uuu Uio | Is so light and general, and be rises so briskly and goes out joking and laughing, I don't know how to get to it, but after he nas gone my burdens are heavier than before, and I feel so disappointed. If my pastor had only given me a little helpful talk and then gathered my family about him and bowed with us in prayer, it would be fo comforting, and it would make us all so glad to see him come again. When I was a little girl our pastor always did this when he called. But l I suppose times have changed, and I should not expect it now." A Glorious Chnrcb. St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, states that Christ "gave himself" for the church "that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing: but that it should be holy aud without blemish." Thus, in the mind of the spirit, holiness is the glor^ or ioe crnircn. "ine King s uuu^uwi ia aa glorious within," becausn she is "pure in ] heart"?not because of physical charms or 1 worldly accessories of fashion, wealth and j popularity. Her beauty is "the beauty of , holiness;" her charms are the outflashings of moral excellence. But do we fully ' realize this! Which is the more fre- 1 quently aimed at?popularity before the ' world, or to be "without spot or wrinkle, or j any such thing?" To be popular with this ( world is to be conformed to this world, and that is to soil the white garments with the moral pollution of this world, and so to lose 1 the beauty of holiness. Would it not be too 1 great a sacrifice for so small and cheap a boon? Oh, that we might all strive to be , holy and without blemish in the sight of , | God. For the holiness of the church depends upon the holiness of tne individual members 1 who constitute the church.?[Evang. Mes- 1 senger. i Prayer by Business Men. Most business men carry a heavy burden , -? mi 1- I UL care, mo uperauuus iu >ruiwu u>u engaged often require severe and elaborate 1 mental offort The fluctuations of the markets, tbe hazards of loss from bad debts, the scarcity of money, and many other things incident to the carying on of business, give ' rue to anxieties which in tbe aggregate make a wearisome load. There are indeed persons of buoyant temperament who do not l seem to feel them, and those who are prosperous have the exhilarations of success, which sustain them under care and cause its weight to be little felt But these are the favored few. As a whole, it is true that business men live under a weight of toil and solicitude which is often oppre-sive. "We earnestly commend to those who are thus burdened the habit of prayer. Not merely prayer in general, such as relates to spiritual things, but specifically prayer aDout their business. 1. It brings a sweet sense of companion ship in our cares. It makes that divine one, who while on earth so tenderly sympathized with all human sorrow, near to us. We can tell him all that we feel, assured that be will feel with us in it. We can not be too familiar in these communications. No formalities are required, no restrictions of time or place. Talk with him as an ever present friend. Toll him y< ur anxiety, your burden ?spread out the case before him in whole or in part as you feel prompted?but tell him. Do not restrict yourself to petitions, for loving intercourse between friends is not confined to asking favors of each other. David, in his distress, often "roared," and the psalms are full of the "ohs" which were his inarticulate utterances to the God in whom he trusted. You will feel thus in a sense of your Saviour's presence with you a precious relief from core. Nothing on earth is so sweet to a Christian heart as this experience of the divine society. 2. And with it is a sense of help also. It Is the presence of a strong Friend who is able to support you. You can lean upon him. He has placed you where you are; it is by hia lovlnsr Dei-mission that ail tnis burden nas come upon you, and he now stands by to I take care of you under it. He will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able. All human affairs are in His hands. Bis is the money, all the markets, all the courses of trade and exchange, His the hearts and hands of men. No bank is so rich as He; no putron so influential; no friend so generous and far-hearing. The recollection of all this is on unspeakable comfort to the tired soul. It stills the tbrobbings of anxiety, it sheds into tho perturbed spirit the peace that "passoth all understanding." 8. Prayer, too. brings direct answers of help and relief. Not always in the way expected or desired, but in some way, which in the end is clo;>rly seen to have been the best way. Innumerable instances might be cited : ? ? .1..nr | Ui tui , imjf y uo iuc u'^bi mo \sl 11 t in I faith is more understood a: d practiced the | more abundant and striking tbey become. I have just received from a friend the following narrative, which I have his permission to relate. He was feeling deeply dejected from pecuniary embarrassment. Having only tho proceeds of an agency with which to support his family and being already pressed for liabilities past du?, he knew not where to turn for relief. Meeting one day a warmhearted ministt r, who was a personal friend, the latter inquired the cause of his despondency. After some hesitation the case was stated. "Come," su'd the good man, "let us go and tell the Lord of it." They went into his study and knelt. The minister prayed as one who was at home at the mercy seat. He b?sought tho Lord to show his frieDd that he was not forsaken?n \y in that very hour to send him a token of his love. He was followed by the gentleman himself. On leaving the latter repaired to an eatingroom for his ordinary lunch, and while at the table a person came to him and requested an interview on business forthwith. It wss granted, and the result was a transaction which brought him a commission of over $000, sufficient to pay his arrears and leave him a balance with which to begin a now year. On reaching home and recounting to his wife the mercy which had been granted to him, she ! informed him that she, too, perceiving her husband's dejection, had set apart tho very hour when his interview with his ministerial friend had occurred, for special prayer in his behalf. Thus, literally, while two were "atrreeinz"' in their request?, the promisj nvado to such was fulfilled. A Note of Warning. . The Quarterly Journal of Inebriety, from the purely scientific point of view, sounds . this timeiy note of warning to yoiuig men, , especially to such as are not physically ro' bust, concerning the danger involved in the "contagion of drinking companions:" "A young man with an unstable,nervous organization becomes reduced in health, and is subI ject to contagion of drinking companions, , uses spirits to intoxication; the result is, his ' physical system takes a diseased tendency, I which quickly develops into inebriety, rso matter what the surroundings may be, be is under the control of diseased impulses, which i carry him farther from health and sanity. To ail such especially, as indeed to everybodyi total abstinence from a 1 cob die beverages is a great safeguard to physical and moral health. V /. ' : ;= (' ' ' ">^ . . ' ' " ' \- V* BIRB ARCHITECTS. " UWlSLtmnu nuuaus uuiux oi FEATHERED ARTISTS. Assembly Rooms Constructed by Public Spirited Birds?The Crow Family Are Famous House Decorators?The Gardener Bird. In looking for the artists among the birds, says John It Coryell, in the ticien\ific American, one would hardly think >f going t? the crows to fia I them, and pet it i<* among the crow9 that the feath;red artists are most common. The most famous artists of the crow family ire the bower birds of Australia. And unong the bower birds the spotted collar bird is the most artistic. It builds but an ordinary ne9t for laying of iti iggs and the rearing of its family iu,but to compensate for tne la< k of taste disDlayed there,it exerts itself like the ideal ? - I' i 1? i.l i. ?OCianei co appiy 11a laitrut iui iuc yeusral good. Ordinarily in the bird world the female is the architect, but with the bower i>ird this is not the case. The male birds it certain seasons of the year come to-1 jether with as much system as the [ leavers when building their dams, and inite for the erection of what have been iptly called assembly rooms. In shape :hese structures are bower like; hence he name given the biid. In purpose :hey are literally for the assembling of ;he two sexes at pairing time, when j svery male bird in his best plumage at- j ;ends and disports himself in the way j ivhich to him seems best calculated to ! vin him the object of his affections, rhe male birds having given their time ind talents to the building think perlaps that they have the best right to the invi!eges of the place. However that ??? Ui'iT* nA.foinlrr At\ mnct nf tflA XIOJ *'Oj IUI>J V/V/ i baiujj vtv uivuv v* ?mv iromenading and dancing. They ictually do dance, seeming, moreover to injoy the exercise. They are not so selfish, however, as to exclude the fenales from the delights of this pastime, but permit them to dance as much as :hey choose, only observing the decorous rule of dancing singly instead of in pairs of opposite sexes. A remarkable Jegiee of ingenuity and skill are displayed in the building of the bower. A flooring of about two feet by three feet is first woven of twigs. Other twigs of a curved shape are disposed along the length of the platform in such a way that the tops meet in an arch over it. These are held firmly in place by being inserted in the ground and by having stones laid all along their bases. If these twigs forming the side of the bower are found to have pro ecting twigs on them they are removed and others put in their places, for nothing is permitted in the bower that is at all likely to in ure the plumage of the festive birds. Utiier twigs are woven laterally into these twigs to give the structure greater strength, and the inside of it is lined with tall, soft gras9 so disposed that the tufted heads meet near the roof . The grass is kept in place by a row of stones arranged along the inner base of th? bower. The structure being completed, the birds go out upon a search for objects with which to ornament not only the bower itself, but the approaches to it as well, for the entrances to the structure are marked by well defined pathways lined by small white pebbles in the manner of some of our country walks. The ornamental ob ects sought are required to be either pure white in color or brilliant or guttering, jsieacnea. bones, bright seeds, gay shells, feathers, agate and the like substances are most commonly employed. In front of each entrance a little mound c^verad with ornamental objects is placed. In Africa there is a bird, which, like the bower bird, combines the qualities of architect and decorative artist, with the difference that this bird divides the talents between the sexes, the female being the architect and the male the decorator. The house, for such it really is, is a notable affair and covering an area of fifty square feet in some instances. One observer has described this extraordinary structure in these words: "The doorway to this dwelling is placed on the lower part of the slope, in order that J..*: e ram may not cause uu muuuauuu ui mc habitation. A level platform of wood is then built at ttoe higher end of the structure and a carpet of some soft vegetable material is laid on it. A partition wall with a doorway is then raised to cut this portion off from the mam room, for this is the mother's chamber and the nursery. Another portion of the dwelling is then partitioned o I for use a^ a storeroom, and it is the male bird's duty to stock it with provisions against a bad season. The remaining space in the house is retained by the male bird as a sort of guard house and resting place combined." No sort of decoration is allowed by the mother to encumber the interior of the house, but apparently she does not care what the father does with the * 1 . % Jg J outside, provided ne nrst procures iouu before giving himself up to his artistic instincts. The things which he collects show his catholic taste iu art. Anything glitter.ng or odd in shape will please him, and, if the truth be told, his house in the end comes to look like a refuse heap o a modified city durapiu?r ground. The pass: on of thu hammerhead for objets de vertu is such, and so well understood among the natives, that when one of them loses any specially glittering or fraud v article, he at oncc sets out for the 0 J nearest hammerhead house and there searches for it. In a certain sense the gardener bird of New Guinea is more remarkable than either of the forego.ng birds. It is on the public assembly room that it exercises all its strange powers. When the time for building has come, a level spot, upon .which a stout upright shrub is growing, is selected, and all around the shrub, as around a tent pole, the edifice is erected. The apex of the tent is about twenty inches from the ground and the base is nearly a yard in diameter. The sides are formed of stems tightly interwoven until a waterproof material is made. An arched doorway is made in the most convenient side and a gallery is constructed all around the interior of the building. An embaukment of moss holds the central pillar lirinly in its place. But it is on the grounds that the artistic feeling of ihe bird shows itself, and the>e are thus described: "The grounds cover about the game space as the house, and are made green and lawnlike by Leing covered with patches of moss brought th ther for that purpose. Over the awn are placed in artistic manner brigut flowers, fruit and fungi. Insects, too, which arc attractive by reason of brilliant coloring, are captured and disposed about the gaounds. Nor is this all?the inner gallery is also decorated with these bright objects. And when the ornamental fruits, flowers and insects begin to fade they are removed and replaced. Moreover, with evident design, the material of which the house is built is a speden of orchid which retains its freshness for a very long time.-' Elizabeth Cady Stanton says she regards the religion of to-day as the chief obstacle to woman suffrage. .. 7 >< r?u~~i _ ? WORDS OF WISDOM, He who gives becomes rich. ChArity is more than sacrifices. ^ Great plenty breeds mucii aamty. Economy is of itself a great revenue. The corn grows on the prettiest foot. Tripe broth is better than no porridge. The cat and the rat make peace over a carcass. A myrtle, even in the desert, remaini a myrtle. The hangman haa no grudge againel the murderer. Do not talk of your private, personal or family matters. If thou tellest thy secret to three persons, ten know it. I Never kick unless you find you are i getting the worBtof it. I It is hard to cat h a fish if you havenM ' the right kind of bait. A man *vants a great many things h< doesn't need in this world. Success iu most things depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed. ! A failure establishes only this?our 1 determination to succeed was not strong enough. Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of. If a word spoken in its time is worth one piece of money, silcnce in its time is worth two. When thou art the only purchaser, then buy; when other buyers are present, be thou nobody. Flowers are the hieroglyphics of nature, with which sho indicates how much she loves us. When you rise in the morning, form a resolution to make the day a happy one to a fellow creature. Thrift of time will repay you in af^ei life with a usury of profit beyond youi most sanguine dreams. The Prince of Wales Spanked. The following, taken from a papei Tkrintftd in Ah??rdfien. Scotland. in 1844. is dow going the rounds of the press: Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, accompanied by the Princt Consort and the royal children, visited Scotland for th< first time, and tarried a long time on hei ; way at Balmoral. On the trip the yacht, I in which the people traveled by water, i called at Aberdeen, and, of course, the | loyat inhabitans of that city turned oul i in large numbers to do honor to thei beloved sovereign. A guard of honor, : consisting of the merchants of the place | was formed, and, in all the glory o i black broadcloth and white kids paraded on the edge of the dock U which the vessel moored at just sufficient | distance to prevent people from stepping j on board. Seats were erected on thi I back, tier above tier, like those of i ' circus, to Accommodate the thousand I that assembled to gaze on the spectacl* ! of an anointed Queen. Her Majesty good naturedly remainet on deck to gratify as much as possibl the curiosity oi the bonny Scots, an< promenaded about in full'view of th immense crowd. The Prince of Wales a child of about five or six years, wa with her. Among other things placet on the deck for the accommodation o i the Queen was a costly and verysplendk j sofa, ornamented with tassels; and th< ! Prince, like other bovs of that aere. bein< of a destructive turn, began to pull a one in a manner that threatened tt detach it. Ilis mother observed the act and ordered him to desist. He did so but as soon as her bock was turned seizec i the tassel again to give another jerk The Queen appeared to have expected something of the kind, for she was a that moment watching him from thi corner of her eye. In an instant shi turned, and seizing the luckless heir ap parent of England by the "scruff of th neck," elevated one of her feet upon th< i sofa, hoisted the youngster over he I knee, adjusted him in the positioi ; mutually familiar to parents and chil j dren generally, when such cereraonie: ! are to be performed, and gave him < | soind spanking. It mav be DroDer to mention, ei I pa9sant, for the information of youth I who sometimes find themselves similarly j circumstanced, that the illustrioui ! sufferer kicked and bellowed under th< a'llictive dispensation quite as lustily a ; boys of lowlier birth are wont to do The amazement with which the specta : tors witnessed the example of roya | domestic discipline may be imagined ! but scarcely described in fitting terms ! A dead silence prevailed for a moment ! but was suddenly broken by a tremen j dons roar of laughter, which could no be suppressed by any thought of dec orum, respect for the Queen, or sympathy for the victim of her displeasure The explosion recalled the royal mothe to a sense of her position, and, hiving turned toward the crowd for a moment I her face suffused with crimson, sh< j hastily descended into the cabin, and ? il* A Av?%o/)(-an I was seen no mure uy woa-c populace. Walrns Hides. ' Walrus Hide" was theannouncemen that greeted a New Vork World report i er's eyes, as he was taking his daily jour ! ney through a downtown thoroughfari j recently. The sign was painted in blacl letters on what appeared to be a largi piece of iron, terribly rusted. On close inspection, however, the reporter dis covered that it was soft, like leather. i As the store was a hardware anc ! blacksmith's supply shop, the reporte j failed to see how the hide could be util ! ized, but the proprietar of the place ex j plained that walrus hide was used fo | polishing all kinds of metal. Whet properly tanned, it has a peculiar, tougl ! grain, and is used by brass and silve 1 finishers, cutlery and stove manufacturer and nickel platers. Manufacturers o edged tools and agricultural implement find this leather the best for polishing purposes. It is also used with emery | crocus, rotten and pumice stone for pol i ishing jewelry. It gives a very fin i polish. J The hides weigh from 50 to 151 I pounds, and are from one to one and i | half inches thick. When sold by th hide it brings $1.50 and $2 a pound j but when cut into wheels it is wort] much more. Wheels ranrje in size frori j 1 i to 10 inches in diameter, and from H j cents to $6 each in price. i The walrus is cauirht in the pola regions, and walrus hides are tanned ii j Europe. America's First riate Glass. There is a window on Tearl street New Albany, Ind., in which is set th j first sheet of plate glass ever cast ii ! America. It wasm:ide in the town b; Captaiu J. 15. Ford, the pioneer manu facturer this sido of salt water. By th way, how many New Yorkers who lool daily through the acres of translucenc j linin;: our streets know that each of th , big sheets is cast while liquid upon ' stone or marble table, the excess swep : off by machinery, and the future plate j wh'le still hot enough to be almos j viscid, slid off and taken through no en< , of ovens and oil batha by W3j of an I nealiog. V ^ o ' yy, . . ^ TEMPERANCE. Rlnjc'Out the Boll*. Ring out the bells, the joyful balls! The prohibition call, To summon to the jubilee Our friends, both great and stnalL We've struggled on fit hopeful toil For many a weary year, And now the waiting days are</er, 1 The jubilee is bera. i ! CHOHUS: The joyful bellar me pronimuon oeina .\c "^lie v jcterv bells f The prohibition belM t oat the bells, the merry bells; The jubilee is here! 1. n? <ut the bells, the merry bell*; ' The jubilee is here I The jubilee is here! Tfct jubilee is here I Rine: out the bells, the joyful bells! , The juoilee ba3 come To make our nation truly free; Free from the curse of rum. ; Our cause sweeps o'er the blessed land, Our hearts with praise are warm; The better days have come at last, ' The days of glad reform. Choeus:?The joyful bells I- etc., ettf Rinpr out the bells, the joyful bells! The sun of vict'ry shines! Its goldeu radiance cheers oar soak; The power of drink decline*. triumph notes rine glad and clear; Right glad of soul are we; ? AH hail the victory of the right! All hail the jubilee. Chobus:?The joyful bells! etc., ett, - j ?Alfred Taylor, in "Trumpet Note*.* t't Encouragement for Worker*. In a copy of the New York Timet of recent " jj date is a long article on the drink question1 which ought to afford considerable eneour-' .?fcs agement to the workers in the temperance! cause. The article shows how the world haa been "turning over a new leaf and "grow-' .* ing more temperate." The conclusions thus arrived at are not particularly new or etarfc- > i ling at this time, but some of the statement* g i made ir? illustration of the reformed condition of affairs are interesting and suggestive. i The ''good old days." it is said, are past when ' it was not considered worthy of remark if v;sfl| the gentleman of the house was deposited on ;4iai his front-door step by companions who could* ' -Jig at least walk, and whose entire duty is the premises had been accomplished jrhen they rang the bell preparatory to saying: "Good ..J , night, old fel?" and staggering off in tht direction of their own domiciles. "Tboa* 4 were the days when men who were accua: to imbibe twenty-flve or thirty mint juleps . or brandy smashes, to say nothing of odd , bottles of champagne, between sunrise and 'i midnight were known in their own ?t 11 ' 'steady old bovs,' whose capabilities and cap* " city in the drinking line were considered inch* ? , light of a distinction rather than as a weakness." Attention is also called-to the fact i ' that scientific journals, periodicals and ' newspapers are devoting more and more att tention to the various phases of the drink r question. Total abstainers and Prohibi, uonists are not feeling as lonesome, it iasaid, as they used to be, and are not ashamed / j any more to be called cranks. Some expert* 1 in the drink business, it is added, are com- ' J# , pelled to admit that "hard" liquors had evl) dently seen tbeir best days. They admitted, 'A fcS t too, that /generally less drinking waadone xjs , now than formerly. Some accounted for 1 *Ma nn tVia trttinnrt that ?. vflrv lnrrft J3 9 dow seldom (frank outside their clut? while 9 another large class' possessed either oeliars or : sideboards that were seldom empty. The 8 growth of athletics was advanced as a reason for the decrease in the consumption of all . '-j kinds of stimulants, on the ground that < Sj J when a man once got into condition for an e athletic contest he felt good enough to kaow j that he would be a fool to ever put a stimulant into his stomach, or at least to make a practice of doing so. It #as also ? maintained that men who did not drink Q a "had the call" in almost any line of businea, 3 and that this of itself accounted for much [ of the change that has been under way for v , years and that has not fully blooooMd yet? *'..J 1 New York Observer. I ''Alone in the Face of the Enemy.' J t The enemy wf.s a jug of rum. which the j reaper, wet with sweat and nearly dying of ; Tthirst, saw before him. It was standing in ? a corner of the field. No cool, clear spring * was near. The reaper was a "temperance Jy i man." He bad signed a pledge to drink . neither wine, beer, nor strong drink. Since I he had signed this pledge he had been well in , health, busy in work, and well-off in pocket c He wore a little blue ribbon tied in a button- ' 3 hole of his Sunday coat 9 But to-day t He thought he had never felt . so tired, so hot, so thirsty. It was such a < e long, burning, summer day. There was not one drop of water in his can; no well, no )n| ' brook in all the field. And then, he was >j| r alone. The other men were far in the other . ; 3 part of the field, bidden by a little rise of . the ground. No one would see if he broke _ his pledge, and took just o-" - little taste from -r. 3 that stone jug. He stcl-^^owly near the * jug. Temptation had t^ver been stronger. But he knew if he jjrrank then, he would i thirst forever! He would waken a thirst , that would never sleep. Instead of his calm, coo), peaceful life, he would have always in f his bosom a parching desert, crying morel 3 more! and never satisfied. And he was alone a before his enemy! 3 Yes. But the God whom he had asked for . JV help when he signed the pledge was not far off. Like a flash it came into his mind that * God saw him and could save him; that He 1 is near to all who call upon Him. The I thought that was strong to save him came. "God is here! I am not alone I" Turning his back to the enticing jag, he > asked God to make him strong to be trup. Then his desire for the forbidden drink t died away. He turned his face to the cool . breeze, and wiped his brow. The victory over his enemy had been harder than his * ' work. But now he was strong. Back ha went down the harvest-field, farther and r farther from the enemy that had lain in wait > for body and soul ' He bad gained a victory. What were the ) ' fruits of his victory* He had learned to - trust God and distrust himself. He had I learned to pity and aid those who are t tempted. Be had learned that God is not far from those who call upon Him, and that those who were with him in the good fight against temptation were more than those who were against him.?Ttmperance Ban , t ner. __ j One Glass of "Wine Too Much. A glass of wine, for instance, changed the S flisrory of France for nearly twenty years. c Louis Phillippe, king of the i-rencn, naa a e 6on, the Duke of Orleans, and heir to the throne, who always drank only a certain 1 sumber of glasses of wine, because oven one wore made him tipsy. On a memorable jnorning he forgot to count the number of i glasses, and took one more than usual. When _ entering his carriage he stumbled, frightening the horses and causing them to run. In * attempting to leap from the carriage bis - head struck the pavement and be scon died, r That glass of wine overthrew the Orleans t rule, confiscated their property of ?20,000,000 and sent the whole family into exile.? Chambers's Journal. : ? f Temperance News and Notes. s The courts of Kansas have decided that ^ cider is an intoxicating drink. > Four Trenton (N. J.) Sunday liquor seller# ? were recently sentenced to six months in the * county jail. 0 At the meeting of the Catholic Total Abstinence Society lately held in Milwaukee, ) a resolution was adopted favoring the strict a enforcement of all laws compelling the closing of saloons on Sunday, and prohibiting 8 the sale of liquor to minors and drunkards; , and agreeing to petition the State legislature il to pass a law to prevent saloons from doing j business within two hundred feet of a church 0 or school-house. Col. and Mis. Duncan, the former a Cherokee and graduate of Dartmouth College and r a lawyer, are both doing good work lor the - * a temperance cause. Mrs. Duncan maintains a temperance column in the Indian paper entitled Our Brother in Red, the church organ of the Methodist Church South in the Indian Territory. This is a strong help to the White , Ribbon movement because it makes known e its object and method to the most intelligent j class of Indians. r j Each dar's mail received at headquarters ' brings evidence of the need of combined ef~ fi.rt on the part of people of all countries, as e advocated by the World's W. C. T. CJ., Ic ! against the use of alcohol and narcotics. e From a letter written by a missionary at Balasore, India, we tako the following: "Across from our chapel in one 'Christian' village is a an opium den, but we cannot close it for it t has the sanction of the English government. t Outstills, grog-shops, and opium dens are 1 everywhere corrupting the heathen and , tempting our Christians to fall, nnd ruining 3 oar best sometimes. Hardest of all to comi* bat is the influence oi the 'Christian' English I people