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A SPRING GREETING. What is this the bluebirds call, Seeking mate and nesting-tree, Flitting bright through forest hall,. Merrily, cheerily? "It is spring?be joyous all !*' This is what the bluebirds call. TIThat is this the robins sing, Wooing from each leafing tree, Making all the woodland ring, j Merrily, cheerily? ! "It is spring, gladsome spring!" This is what the robins sing. What is this our blithe hearts say, t As the wakened earth we see Broidering her robes so gay. Merrily, cheerily? "Spring has come iu spring's old way I" This is what our blithe hearts say. "Spring's old way," and spring's oid song, Only sung in newer key: Gladened lives to spring belong, Merrily, cheerily. 4 Sing we then, sing loud and long: "Welcome, spring, in spring's old v.ay!" ?Youth's manner. A HOSPITAL COVERLET. TTard No. 9 was to any casual inspec-' lion precisely like the other nineteen with which it formed the General Hospital of Jeffersor.ville, Indiana. It was clean,and the lcng rows of cots on each side of the w?rds were always in order. But whatever the necessity for it, its uniformity was a little trying. The meals were erved to the minute, and the food was never known to vary in kind or quality. This even extended to the sourness of the tread, the hairs in the hash and flies in the soup. After a stay of six weeks. Fred. Ray U1UUU, Ul VUUilJUilJ JU, bu ^uuuwwfM) began to find it a little monotonous. Not meaning to be ungrateful lor the uniform kindness of his treatment here, he began to long for a little more variety. It seemed to him as though he had about , exhausted the simple pleasures that the hospital had to offer, lie had read several of the memoirs of great and good men, which formed the bulk of reading matter; and these, too, he had found singularly alike. Even the interest and pleasure to be had from a perusal of Baxter's llSaintTs Best'' failed after a single reading. Many of his comrades had a never failing resource in writing letters to friends, which was not open to Fred. Raymond, for reasons that will presently appear. After debating the matter in his mind for a few days, he finally ventured en a course which might greatly relieve the tedium of his enforced leisure, which was likely to last a few days longei;. At sometime during his stay there had been received from the North a considerable supply of hospital stores. Among other things reeived were a number of sheets and coverlets for the beds. These, although generally plain, were not quite uniform, and introduced the only bit of Boveiy to be seen anywiierc in tne Hospital. It happened that the coverlet which fell to Fred. Raymond had been made by the young ladies of one of the churches in B , Ohio, and many of them had written their names and addresses on the blocks. He had studied over these until he sot only knew them all by heart, but had formed a pretty distinct conception of the young ladies themselves. There was more character and individuality in the handwriting than one would have supposed, considering the difficulty of tracing letters on cloth. He was not the least bit of a ladies' man, or one who would thinking of answering an advertisement for correspondence?^'object, fun and amusement." But then, these names and addresses seemed to say to him that he might write if he chose. One of these names had struck him as very pretty, and the handwriting was indeed neat. He had amused himself with picturing the writer to himself many times, until he felt partially acquainted. To her, therefore, he would indite a very general leuer, ana 11 sue cuusu iu il-jjij uuu <i tuiicspondence grew out of it, it would give new interest to the days that must yet be passed before he could return to his regiment. His letter, addressed to Miss Idllic Melinc, was not an eloquent epistle; it simply told the story of the writer's loneliness, the gratitude of himself and comrades for the interest shown in the comfort for the Union soldiers, and the satisfaction it would g:vc the inmates of hospital if "any of the young ladies should feel at liberty to relieve the dullness of their life by an occasional letter." It was not long before he received a reply in a handwriting which he promptly identified. He was more excited when he opened the envelope than he had been for z long time, and far more than he had supposed he could be over a letter from a stranger. Like his own, it was a very simple epistle. "The girls were delighted," it said, "to know that their work had done some good. The soldiers deserved everything," and soon, "and if He carea to near irom ner, wny, sne would write, although she was only a schoolgirl." And then, asking that he would tell something about himself, she signed he? name, Lillie Meline. There was this P. S.: "What is the name of your regiment?" Surely rtis sort of correspondence was sufficiently mild. Neither party to it had the intention to begin anything like a flirtation by mail. Indeed, Lillie had purposely conveyed the impression that she was very young, so that there might be no temptation on Fred's part to change the ?cope of his letters. She was a schoolgirl, eighteen years of age, home now for her vacation. As she had meant, he got the impression that was much younger, a mere slip of a girl. That was just the liinrr TT<? fmiM frpolv nlmnf. Viim self to amuse her, and her letters and her sympathy would be none the less pleasant because of her youth. Now, I am bound to confess that the correspondence which followed was not in any way very remarkable. In looking it over, I have been, perhaps, as much interested in the handwriting, the faded letters, the dates, as in the little glimpses of personal history and character which it reveals. It does not greatly concern our story to follow it. Rapidly it changed, both as to form and substance. It came to be llMv Dear Miss Lillie" and 4-Dear Mr. Raymond." It was no longer general and formal, but personal and sympathetic. Had they fallen in love with each other? That would have been very absurd in him, seeing that she was only a little girl, as he supposed. While neither had intended it, and as yet were unaware of it, they had entered upon a state when only a touch is needed to change their warm personal interest into the deepest and tenderest passion. Thus a few weeks passed, and Raymond , wrs ^nnifted to join his regiment. t But while he had only sought to lighten the weariness of hospital life in the beginning, he now found these letters none the less adapted to the brightening of camp life, and they were still con-1 nn TTOC I uuuuu. uui ao v*vwM | on the move and the mails were un-1 certain, they were less frequent and j regular. With the battle of Chickamauga i they came to an abrupt end. Lillie's | letters were returned, with the sad in- j telligence that Raymond had been killed j in battle. If she had heretofore dc- ! ceived herself with regard to her interest iu this soldier whom she had never seen, she did so now no longer. It was in the spirit of widowhood that she mourned her dead hero and king of men. Foolish it may have been and unreasonable, but when has love reasoned? Nor was this j loss alone. Peace has its vicissitudes and its tragedies as well as war. Her father sickened ana died. The mother had gone years before. Overwhelmed with her .sorrows, Lillie went to live with an i aunt in a neighboring State. Her father j had once been well-to-do, but had lost j I his property, and there was but little left. Until the estate was settled that little was not available. She did not want to feel dependent on her relatives, and so engaged in teaching in the village. She , often thought of offering herself as a i | i'uirse, but now she felt quite unequal to j j the work. With a good constitution, a ! lively disposition, and in perfect health j | when troubles came upon her, she now . 1 onrl e*?>d t j grew usuess, tuuuguuui auu Ra}mond was not killed. A shell had | I burst near his head, and the tremendous concussion had felled him to the earth, where he lay a long time unconscious. None of the fragments of the shell had touched him. "When he finally recovered his senses so far as to sit up, he looked around, bewildered. He only partially recalled what had occurred. The battle had ebbed away, but the thunder raged and roared in the distance. A blind instinct led him to try to regain his regiment. He stood up dizzily at last, and with his musket for a support started in the direction of the firing. He had no ! idea of his bearings, and did not know I that his regiment and the whole line had j fallen back, and he soon ran into a group j of Confederates and was captured. The accident was more serious than the | reader might be led to suppose. With care, rest and good food, he would prob-' ably at no distant day have regained his j former condition. As it was, while he j soon recovered his physical health in part, it left him in a curious mental state, j The past had at first been entirely blotted j ! out. Little by little he recovered its ex- j j periences, but he could not for a long | ! time recall names. Months of imprison- j | ment followed. At last he managed to j ; escape, and after incredible hardships j reached the Union lines more cieacl tnan j ! alive. And new another hospital ex! perience followed, lightened by no cor! respondcnce, for he could not remember ; | Lillie's name or address?he had, of I j course, lost all letters?and the more he I I tried to remember, the more hopeless j I seemed the attempt. Finally, he gave it J j up altogether. At last he reached his , I regiment again, greatly to the astonish- ; J ment of his comrades, but not to sec j much more service. The three years for ; which the meu had enlisted were about j to expire, and although the Government gave them the inestimable privilege of reenlisting as veterans, most of the "boys" decided that they would first go to their homes. Early one morning, therefore, in the autumn of 1S64, the cars bought them to the little town of H . They had no ; rations, and were hungry. Arrange- 1 I ments had been made for their breakfast j I at a larger place on the road a little j farther along, but for some reason they ' I were delayed several hours here. Natur- i 1 -11_ 1 i I I UliJ tUUy WCgiXLL tu opi v;aa u?/uu? ?uv . village, and the citizens bestirred them-' selves to do the best they could under j I the circumstances. Without preparation ; j or concert, their efforts were not very sys- | j tematic, but they were hearty. The gro-1 j ceries, restaurants and hotels were taxed | j to their utmost. Raymond was Avalking through the little town, looking for the chance of breakfast, but not fcecing how he could exactly press himself upou those citizens who already seemed much overcrowded. As he was passing a modest cottage on i a side street a middle-aged lady,1 standing j i in the yard, and holding a child by the hand, addressed him: "Soldier!" He turned and brought his hand to the | visor of his cap as though it was a superior ( j officer, instead of a superior being, he 1 saluted. "Did you speak, ma'am?" "Have you had breakfast?" she said, j He said that he had not yet had that j pleasure. "Come in, then," she returned. "Ours ) is just ready." j XiU 1UUAUU U.b 1113 UU1IU3 ililVl llio VIUV11VJ I with some anxiety. It was three years i since he had eaten a really civilized meal, | and his ambition did not extend beyond a slice of bread and meat. Perceiving j the kindness of the intention however, he j accepted the invitation. Opposite him at the table sat a young lady dressed in black, whom the hostess spoke of, in a half introduction, as her niece. His own name was not asked. There was something in the air and manner of this young lady, even more than in her dress, suggesting some recent great sorrow. She did not hold herself out as a wretched being whose only refuge is i the grave. She was not gloomy or woel I wirrnno lintf>nr>rl nnlitplv to the COll- ! VV^VMV. 1 J I versation, taking little part, except now { and then to ask a question, which finally ' j brought the young man to speak some- ; thing of his experiences. She was atten- i ! tivc, while she was somewhat thoughtful; and sad. As he went on lie noticed that: | her interest deepened, and once, as he j looked up, he was surprised and a little startled at the intcnscncss of her look. When he spoke of Cliickamauga, her i pallor deepened so visibly that her aunt j asked suddenly if she were ill. She re- ; j gained her composure in a moment, and ! i said she was quite well. Still her voice j I was very low, with a slight tremor in it. | ; as she asked the number of his regiment, i i !im! turned white as he iravc it. The next question came slowly. She j struggled hard to control her voice,which vibrated painfully, and sank almost to a whisper: "Did you know?Fred Raymond, of Company B?" It was his turn now to be astonished. Who was this who asked so unimportant ! a question with such a tragic air, and I who waited the answer as though life or J death might hinge upon it? The aunt looked from one to the other in openmouthed wonder. "I am Fred Raymond," he faltered. But before he had said it she saw the answer in his face, and slipped to the floor. He held her head while the aunt ran for the smelling-salts. It was not tho right thing to do in a case of fainting, but few people ever do treat such a case properly. He had never, in all his life, had a young lady's head on his arm, and was awkward and excited. He thought rapidly, but could not understand the situation. He remembered his correspondent, and, curiously enough, at this moment, the name came like a flash. But this was not the town where she lived, ? ^ +>*4- 4-V*r* rAiinrr rrirl lip hnfl UQUP llllb liUU kUC JVuujj CAA * pictured. "Who is this young lady?" he asked. "My niece, Miss Melinc." "Meline? Lillie?" he gasped. "In the name of wonder," said the aunt, "what does all this mean? Were you acquainted with lier?*' '' Yes?no?I believe so," he answered,, rather obscurely. "I will explain by and by." Miss Melinc soon recovered, in spite of the unphysiological treatment. She looked at her aunt to sec whether any further revelation had taken place. Her embarrassment was extreme, and the pallor in her cheeks gave way to a bright crimson. "I was sick," she apologized, forgetting that she had once denied it. He was also much agitated, and exceedingly doubtful as to what he ought to do or say. She was about to leave the room with her aunt when he spoke. "Miss Mcline"?and she saw that the secret was out?"I don't know at all what to say. I don't know anything at all about the customs of society. I have never had anything to do with young ladies in my life except my correspondence with you. My accident at Chickaisauga affected my brain for a long time, so that I could not remember. Perhaps now I have gone quite crazy. it is 100 absurd, I know, but I cannot go now without saying more?if you will hear it." He paused a moment, but she did not forbid it, and he went on: "I do not know how to explain it. Either from the effect of that shell, or from the weakness and half starvation that followed, I was never able to remember your name; though you don't know how hard I tried to think, and how much I should have liked to hear from you again. All this time I thought you were a little girl. But now, if I die for it, I must say it?I love you, dear3IissLillie." He did not die for it. She took a step nearer, held out her hand, and then leaned her pretty head on his shoulder. "It is all so sudden," she murmured; "but?" and she nestled closer, and with a sort of sob she added: "And all this time I thought you were dead."?Frank Leslie's. The First American Postmistress. The first American postmistress was the widow of Colonel Andrew Balfour, of Al 1? rlore /"if UIOSC rtiVUlUliULim v uiun JI1 Hit .11.J O w. our good and great President, Washington. She was a Miss Elizabeth Dayton, of Newport, R. I. Balfour came to America from Edinburg, Scotland, in 1772, landing at Boston. He was a few years in the North ?married Miss Dayton in New York city. His brother had preceded him to Charleston, S. C. In 1777 he sailed for Charleston, but the distracted state of the country induced him to leave his wife and hei children with relations in New England until he could prepare a Southern home for them, but soon after this the tide of war turned South and rolled its wave over the Carolinas, and her husband cast in his lot with the defenders of the home of his adoption (North Carolina); but he soon fell a victim to the barbarity of a party of Royalists led by Colonel Fannin, a British officer, who murdered Balfour in his house, in the presence of a sister and his eldest child, recently come from Edinburgh. They were with him to nurse and comfort him in his illness, caused by exposure and fatigue in military service. Snon nc Mrs 'R.ilfonr heard of her bus band's tragic death, she hastened South, coming in care of General Greene, who landed at Washington; from thence it was a tedious trip through the country to the home in Randolph County where her noble husband was murdered 011 the holy Sabbath,the 10th of March, 17S2. She visited the spot where he was so hastily interred, for it was unsafe for his sister and child to remain long there, as Fannin threaented to return and burn the dwelling and take away the negroes. As the country was still unsafe, Mrs. Balfour deemed it improper to live upon the plantation. With sorrow she turned away from his lonely resting-place, and went to Salisbury until she could return to the spot so dear to her. While residing in Salisbury President Washington appointed her postmistress, which position was filled with entire satisfaction. and When she gave up office there was only one-half a cent behind in accounts. When the country was peaceful she returned to the home provided for her by her noble but lost liusoanci. snc uvea under the protecting love of her only son. After a long life of good deeds, she rests beside him who was murdered because of his devotion to Carolina's freedom, and to the American cause in the days that "tried men's souls" andprinciciples, too.?Sunny South. The Green Fly. The aphis is one of the most troublesome pests in the garden. The common green fly, on greenhouse or window plants, and particularly on greenhousegrown lettuce, is a terrible pest. Foi all these, however, tobacco is a sovereign remedy. If it is only applied in time, they can be readily kept down. The way different aphides increase sometimes in summer 011 various kinds of trees or shrubs looks all but a miracle, and the imagination might lead one to believe tW. t.lmv came into existence sponta neously. M. Fougard says that the ordinary aphis produces ten generations during a year, and that each insects also brings l'nrth about ten young ones, as seen in the following table: 1st generation, 1 aphis; 2nd generation, 100aphides; 3rd, 10,000: 4th, 1,000,000; fitli, 100,000,000: Gth, 10,000.000,000; 7th, 1,000,000,000,000; Sth, 100,000,000,000.000; flth, 10,000,000,000,000,000; 10th, 1,000,000,000,000,000,000. With such figures to face we should say, if possible, find and kill that first one.?Pruirit Farmer. "Oklahoma or Bust." A wagon passed through Kansas City which bore the following words on its canvas cover: Chintz-Buged in Illinois, Bicloned : ; in Newbra.ska, W lute-Capped in In- : ; diana, Bald-Knobbed in Missioury, ; ; Prohibited tn Kansas. ; ; 03LAH0MY OR BUST. ; ' ' : I KEY. DR. TALMAGE.. XHE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Subject: "The Upper Forces in American History." Text: "And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."?II Kings vi., 17. As it cost England many regiments and two million dollars a year to keep safely a troublesome captive at St. Helena, so the King of Syria sends out a whole army to capture one minister of religion?perhaps 50,000 men to take Elisha. During the night the army of Assyrians came around the vil 1 nrliorn fllft TY?V*T>Vlof. Q lOgC U1 X/UtUOii, "UC4U mv .. staying. At early daybreak the man servant of Elisha rushed in and said: "What shall we do? there is a whole army come to destroy you. We must die, we mast die." But Elisha was not scared a bit, for ho looked up and saw the mountains all around full of supernatural forces, and he knew that if there were 50.000 Assyrians against him there were 100,000 angels for him; and in answer to the prophet's prayer in behalf of hjs affrighted man servant, the young man iawit to6. Horses of lire harnessed to chariots of fire, and drivers of fire pulling reins of fire on bits or fire; and warriors of fire with brandished sword of fire, and the brilliance of that morning sunrise was eclipsed by the galloping splendors of the celestial cavalcade. "And tne Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about E.'isha." I have often spoken to you of the Assyrian perils which threaten one American institutions, but now as we are assembling to keep centennial celebration of the inauguration of Washington. I speak of the upper forces of the text that: are to fight on our side. If all the low levels are filled with armed threats, I have to tell you that the mountains of our hope and courage and faith are full of the horses and chariots of Divine rescue. You will notice that the Divine equipage is always represented as a chariot of fire. Ezekiel and Isaiah and John, when they come to describe the Divine equipage, always represent it as a wheeled, a harnessed, an upholstered conflagration. It is not a chariot like Kings and conquerors of earth mount, but an organized and a compressed fire. That means purity, justice, chastisement, deliverance through burning escapes. Chariot of rescue? yes, but chariot of fire. All our national disenthralments have been through scorching agonies and red disasters. Through tribulation the individual rises. Through tribulation nations rise. Chariots of rescue, but chariots of fire. But how do I know that this Divine equipage is on the side of our institutions? I know it by the history of the last one hundred and eight years. The American revolution started from the pen of John Hancock, in Independence Hall, in 1776. The colonies without ships, without ammunition, without guns, without trained warriors, without money, without prestige. On the other sids, the mightiest nation of the earth, the largest armies and the grandest navies and the most distinguished commanders, and resources inexhaustible, and nearly all nations ready to back them up in the fight. Nothiug as against immensity. The cause of the American cc ionies, which started at zero, dropped still 1 ;wer through the quarreling of the Generals, and through the jealousies at small successes, and through the winters which surpassed all their predecessors in depth of snow and horrors of concealment. Elisha, surrounded by the whole Assyrian army, did not seem to be worse off than did the thirteen colonies encompassed and overshadowed by foreign assault. What decided the contest in our favor? The upper forces, the upper armies. The green 'and white mountains of New England, the high lands along the Hudson, the mountains of Virginia, all the Appalachian ranges were full of ro-enforcements which the young man Washington saw by faith, and his men endured the frozen feet, and the gangrened wotmds, and the exhausting hunger, and the long march because "the Lord opened the eves of the young man; and be saw; and, behold, the mountains were full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." Washington himself was a mirajle. What Joshua was in sacred history the first American President was in secular history. A thousand other men excelled him in different things, but he excelled them all in roundness ana completeness of character. The world never saw his like, and probably never will see his like again, because there probably never will be another such exigency. He was let down a Divine interposition. He was from God direct. I do not know how any man can read the history of those times without admitting that the contest was decided by the upper forces. Then in 1S61, when our Civil War opened, many at the North and at the South pronounced it national suicide. It was not courage against cowardioe, it was not wealth against poverty, it was not large States against small States. It was heroism against hermcm it wm t.Vifi resources of manv cener ations against the resources of many'generations, it was the prayer of the North against the prayer of the South, it was one-half of the nation in armed wrath meeting the other half of the nation in aimed indignation. What could come but extermination? At the opening of the war the commanderin-chief of the United States forces was a man who had been great in battle, but old age had come with many infirmities, and he had a rieht to. auietude. He_could not mouut a corse, *ana Be rode on the battle field in a carriage, asking the driver not to jolt it too much. During the most of the four years of the contest, on the Southern side was a man in mid-life, who kad in his veins the blood of many generations of warriors, himself one of the heroes of Cherubusco and Cerro Gordo, Contreras and Chapultepec. As the years passed on and the scroll of carnage unrolled, there came out from both sides a heroism and a strength and a determination that the world had never seen marshaled. And what but extermination could come when Philip Sheridan and Stonewall Jackson met, and Nathan iel Lyon and Sidney Johnson rode in from north and south, and Grant and Lee, the two thunderbolts of battle, clashed ? Yet we are a nation, and yet we are at peace. Earthly courage did not decide the conflict. The upper forces of the text. They tell us there was a battle fought above the clouds on Lookout Mountain; but there was something higher than that. Again the horses and chariots of God came to the rescue of this nation in 1S76, at the close of a Presidential election famous for devilish ferocity. A darker cloud yet settled down upon this nation. The result of the election was in dispute, and revolution, not between two or three sections, but revolution in every town and village and city of the the United States, seemed imminent. The prospect was that New York would throttle New York, and New Orleans would grip New Orleans, add Boston, Boston, and Savannah, Savannah, and Washington, Washington. Some said Mr. Tilden was elected; others said Mr. Hayes was elected; and how near we came to universal massacre some of us guessed, but God only knew. I ascribe our escape not to tlio honesty and righteousness of infuriated politicians^ but I ascribe it .to the. upper forces of the text. Chariots of mercy rolled in. and though the wheels were not heard and the flash was not seen, yet all through the mountains of the north and the south and the east and the west, though the hoot's did not clattcr, the cavalry of God galloped by. I tell you God is the friend of this nation. In the awful excitement at the massacre of Lincoin, when there was a prospcct that greater slaughter would open upon this nation, God hushed the tempest. In the awful excitement at tk-s time of Garfield's assassination, God put His foot on the neck of the cyclone. To prove that God is on the side of this nation, I argue from the last eight or nine great na^onal harvests, and from the national health of the last quarter of a century?epidemics very exceptional?and from the great revivals of religion, and from the spreading ! of the Church of God, and from the continent blossoming with asylums and reformatory institutions, and from an Edenization wnich promises that this whole land is to be a Paradise where God shall walk in the cool of the day. If in other sermons I showed you what was tin evil that threatened to upset and demolish American institutions, I am encouraged mora than I can tell you as I see the regiments wheeling down the sky, and my jere miads turn into doxologies, and that which was the Good Friday of the nation's crucifixdon becomes the Easter morn of its resurrection. Of course God works through human instrumentalities, and this national betterment is to come among other things through c wrutinizod ballot bo x. By the law of reg "i ' ' - 'r ' istration it is almost impossible now to have illegal voting. There was a time?you and I remember it very well?when droves of vagabonds wandered up and down on election day and from poll to poll, and voted here and voted there, and voted everywhere, and th*re was no challenge; or, if there were, it amounted to nothing, because nothing could so suddenly be proved upon the vagabonds. Now. in every well organized neighborhood, every voter Is watched with severest scrutiny. I must tell the registrar my name, and how old I am, and how long I have resided in the State, and how long I have resided in the ward or township, and if I misrepresent, fifty vritnesses will rise and shut me out from the ballot box. Is not that a great advance? Aud then notice the law that prohibits a man voting if he has bet on the eleotion. A step further needs to be taken and that man forbidden a vote who has offered or taken a bribe, whether it be in the shape of a free drink or cash paid down, the suspicious eases obliged to put their hand on the Bible aud swear their vote in if they vote at all. ! So through the sacred chest of our nation's suffrage redemption will come. God also will save this nation through an aroused moral sentiment. There has never been so much discussion of morals and immorals. Men, whether or not they acknowledge what is right, have to think what i3 right. We have men who have had their hands in public treasury the most of their lifetime, stealing all they could lay their hands on, discoursing eloquently about dishonesty in public service, and men with two or three families of their own, preaching eloquently about the beauties of the seventh commandment. The question of sobriety and drunkenness is thrust in the face of this nation as never before, and to take a part in eur political contests. The question of national sobriety is going to be respectfully and deferentially heard at the bar of every legislature and every house of representatives and every United States Senate, and an omnipotent voice will ring down the sky and across this land aud back again, sayinjj to these rising tides of drunkenness which <v~. -nr'nolm home and church and na tion: "Thus far shalt thou come, but 110 further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." >- I have not in my mind a shadow of disheartenment as large as the shadow of a house fly's wing. My faith is in the upper forces, the upper armies of the text. Goa is not dead. The chariots are not unwheeled. If you would only pray more and wash your eves in the cool, bright water, fresh from the well of Christian reform, it would be said ' * ** text: "The Lord opened the eves 'of "the young man; and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." When the army of Antigonus went into battle his soldiers were very much discouraged, and they rushed up to the General and said to him: '"Don't you see we have a few forces and they have so many more?" and tho soldiers were affrighted at the smallness of their number and the greatness of the enemy. Antigonus, their commander, straightened himself up and said, with indignation and vehcmence: "How many do you reckon me to be?" And when we see the vast armies arrayed a&ainst the cause of sobriety it may sometimes'be very discouraging, but 1 asfc you in making up your estimate of the forces of righteousness?I ask you how many dovou reckon the Lord God Aimighty to be? He is our commander. The Lord of Hosts is His name. I have the best authority for saying that the chariots of God are twenty thousand, and the mountains are full of them. You will take without my saying it that my only faith is in Christianity and in the upper forces suggested in the text. Political narties come and eo, and they may be right and they may be wrong: butGodliveSj and I think He has ordainea this nation for a career of prosperity that no demagogism will be able to halt. I expect to live to see 3 political party which will have a platforr- " two planks?the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. When that party is formed it will sweep across this land, like a tornado I was going to say, but when I think it is not to be devastation, but resuscitation, I change the figure and say, such a party as that will sweep across this land like spica gales from heaven. Have yon any doubt about the need of the ] Christian religion to purify and make decent American politics ? At every yearly or quadrennial election we have in this country great manufactories, manufactories of lies, and they are run day and night, and they turn out half a dozen a day all equipoed and ready for full sailing. Large lies and small lies. Lies private and lies public and lies prurient. Lies cut bias and lies cut diagonal. Longlimbed lies and lies with double-back action. Lies complimentary and lies defamatory. Lies that some people believe, and lies that all the people believe, and lies that nobody believes. Lies with humps like camels and scales like crocodiles ana necks as long as storks and feet as swift as an antelope's and stings like adders. Lies raw and scalloped and panned and stewed. Crawling lies and jumping lies and soaring lies. Lies with attachment screws and rufflers and braiders and ready wound bobbers. Lies by Christian people who never lie except during elections, and lies by people who always lie, but in o ProcirlOTTfiQ1 Wimnfllfm. uuau buciiiouicg AXM u. > ,? ?u <vr, ? l 0 I confess I am ashamed to have a foreigner visit this.country in such times. I should think he -would stand dazed, his hand on his pocketbook, and dare not go out nights! What will the hundreds of thousands of foreigners who come here to live think of us? what a disgust they must have for the land , of their adoption? '.Che only good thing about it is, many of them cannot understand the English language. But I suppose tha German, and Italian, and Swedish, and French papers translate it all and peddle out the infernal stuff to their subscribers. Nothing but Christianity will ever stop such a flood of indecency. The Christian religion will speak after a while. The bDlingszato and low scandal through which we wade every year or every four years, must be rebuked by the religion which speaks from its two great mountains, from the one mountain intoning the command: "Thoushalt not bear false witnesses against thy neighbor," and from the other mount making plea for kindness and love and blessing rather than cursing. Yes, we are going to have a national religion. There are two kinds of national religion. The one is supported by the State, ana is a matter of human politics, and it has great patronage, and under it men will struggle for prominence without reference to qualifications, and its archbishop is supported by a - J 4.1 I I salary 01 a year, uuu iuwciucuiuu I cathedrals, with all the machinery of music and canonicals, and room for a thousand peo- j pie, yet an audience of fifty people or twenty people or ten or two. We want no such religion as that, no such national religion;" but we want thiiJuncT of national religion; the vast majority of the people converted and evangelized, and then they will manage the secular as well as the religious. Do you say that this is impracticable? No. The tune is coming just as certainly as there is a God and that this is His book and that He has the strength and the honesty to fulfill His promises. One of the ancient Emperors used to pride himself on performing toat which his counselors said was impossible, and I have to tell you to-day that man's impossibles are God's easies. ' 'Hath He said and shall He not do it? Hath He commanded and will Ho not bring it to passf' The Christian religion i3 coming to take possession of every ballot box, of every school nouse, of ever}- home, of every valley, of every mountain, of every acre of our national domain. This nation, notwithstanding all the evil influences that are trying to destroy it, is going to live. Never since, according to John Milton, when ''Satan was hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal skies in hideous ruiu and combustion down," have the powers of darkness been so determined to win this continent as they are now. What a jewel it is?a jewel carved in relief, the cameo of this planet! On one side of us the Atlantic ocean, dividing us from the worn out governments of Europe. On the other side thePacific ocean, dividing I us from the superstitions of Asia. On the I north of us the Arctic sea, which is the gym nasium in which the explorers and navigators (lrivnlnn their eourace. A continent ten thousand nve nunureu nines long, seventeen million square miles, and all of it but about one-S9venth capable of rich cultivation. One hundred millions of population on this continent of North and South America?one hundred millions, and room for many hundred millions more. All flora and all fauna, ail metals and all precious woods, and all grains and all fruits. The Appalachian range the backbone, and the rivers the ganglia carrying life all through and out to the extremities. Isthmus of Darieu the narrow waist of a giant continent, all to be under one government, and all free, and all Christian, and tho scene of Christ's per! sonal reign on earth if, according to the expectation of many good people, he shall at last set up his throne in this world. Who shall leave this hemisphere, Christ or Satan? Who shall have the snore of her inland seas, the silver of her Nevedas, the gold of her Colorados, the telescopes of her observatories, the / v. ; ,*/-% >. . : y.; "V vV *SF brain of her universities, the wheat of her prairies, the rice of her savannas, the two great ocean beaches?the one reaching from Baffin's bay to Terra del Fuego, and the other from Behring straits to Cape Horn? and all tho normal and temporal and spiritual and everlasting interests of a population vast beyond all numan computation? Who shall have the hemisphere? You and I will decide that, or help to decide it by conscientious vote, by earnest prayer, by maintenance of Christian institution, by support of great philanthropies, by putting body, mind and soul on the right siae of nil moral, religious and national movements. Ah! it will not be long before it will not make any difference to you or to me what becomes of this continent, so far as earthly comfort is concerned. All we will want of it will be seven feet by three, and that will take in the largest, and there will be room and to spare. That is all of this country we will need very soon?the youngest of us. But we have an anxiety about the welfare and the happiness of the generations that are coming on, and it will be a grand thing if, when the archangel's trumpet sounds, we find that our sepulcher, like the one Joseph of Arimathea provided for Christ, is in the midst of a garden. One of the seven wonders of the world was the white marble watch tower of Pharos of Egypt. Sostratus, the architect and sculptor, after building that watch tower cut his name on it. Then he covered it with plastering, and to please the King he put the monarchy name on the outside of the plastering; and the storms beat, and the seas dashed in thenfury, and they washed off the plastering, and they washed it out, and they washed it down, but the name of Sostratus was deep cut in the imperishable rock. So across the face of this nation there have been a great many names written, across our finances, across our religions, names worthy of remembrance, names written on the architecture of our churches, and our schools, and our asylums, and our homes of mercy, but God "is the architect of this continent, and he was the Mrulptor of all its grandeurs, and long after; through the wash of the ages and the tempests of centuries, all other names shall be obliterated, the Divine signature and Divine name will be brighter and brighter as the millenniums go by, and the world shall see that the God who made this continent has redeemed it by His grace from all its sorrows and from all its crimes. Have you faith in such a thing as that? After all the chariots have been unwheeled, and after all the war chargers have been crippled, the chariots which Elisha saw on the morning of his peril will roll on in triumph, followed by all the armies of heaven on white horses. God could do it without us, but He will not. The weakest of us, the faintest of us, the smallest brained of us, shall have a part in the triumph. "We may not have our name, like the name of Sostratus, cut in imperishable rock and conspicuous for centuries, but we shall be remembered in a better place than that, even in the heart of Him who came to redeem us and redeem the world, and our names will be seen close to the signature of His wound, for as to-day He throws out His arms toward us He says: "Behold, I have graven thee on the palms on My hand." By the mightiest of all agencies, the potency of prayer, I beg you seek our national welfare. Some time ago there were 4,000,000 letters in the dead letter postoffice at Washingtonletters that lost their way?but not one prayer ever directed to the heart of God miscarried. The way is ail clear for the ascent of your supplications heavenward in behalf of this nation. Before the postal communi cation was so easy, and long ago, on a rock one hundred feet high on the coast of England. there was a barrel fastened to a post, and in great letters on the side of the rock, so it could be seen far out at sea, were the words: ' 'PostofSceand when ships came by, a boat put out to take and fetch letters. Ana so sacred were those deposits of affection in that barrel that no lock was ever put upon that barrel, although it contained messages for America, and Europe, and Asia, and Africa, and all the islands of the sea. Many a storm tossed sailor, homesick, got message of kindness by that rock, and many a homestead heard good news from a boy long gone. Would that all the heights of our national prosperity were in interchange of sympathiei ?prayers going up meeting blessings coming down! Postal celestial, not by a storm strucB rock on a wintry coast, but by the Rock ol Ages. TEMPERANCE. THE SALOONS AS A BANK. You deposit your money?and lose it 1 Your time?and lose it! Your character?and lose it! Your strength?and lose it! Your manly independence?and lose it! Your self-control?and lose it! Your home comfort?and lose it! Your wife's happiness?and lose it! Your children's happiness?andloseit! j Your own soul?ana lose it! A PLEA TO CLERGYMEN. Clergymen, permit us to urge upon you I the following suggestive thoughts: 1. The saloon power is a gigantic conspiracy of ignorance and greed; we can help overcome it by an intelligent, educative agitation along the lines of both clear-sighted selfishness and of Christian charity. 2. Now is an excellent time for the clergy to confer with on a another and to talk plainly to their people. By and by the aust and smoke of the coming political contests this summer and fall will make it much more difficult to see clearly.?The Voice. INDIAN* "MEDICAL MISSION" WORK AND DRINK. The Rev. J. Cain, C. 31. S., of Dnmraaguden, South Africa, says: "Medical mission work has shown us most plainly that on? great reason for the spread of the use of alcoholic drink amongst tne caste people of India is "he way it is universally recommended by hospital assistants and apothecaries who have been trained in the medical colleges in oui Presidency towns. Even in an out-of-the-way place like Dummaguden, we are constantly .ncWrl Jvrr {niraHHc TvVlotVlOr )ir?TlHv DOrt "WIM KfJ ? j, x or beer will not speed their recovery. Thus a taste for such liquors is acquired, and ruin brought into many a family. If the doctors could be induced to set their faces against this practice, and to impress upon their subordinate officers the importance of forbidding the use of alcohol, except in extreme cases, they would do much to prevent the spread o1 this pernicious practice.?Temperance Chronicle. TEMPERANCE NEWS AND NOTES. South Africa reports a "Woman's Christian Temperance Union composed of natives. The temperance movement in Holland has I warm and influential support from Rev. C. S. Adams Van Scheltama, of the Reformed church at Amsterdam, j Postmaster-General Wanamaker has established an inviolable rule that no postoffice shall be kept in a saloon, or in any room from which a saloon may be entered. Thaddeus B. Wakemau, of the New York bar, has a decided opinion on the temperance question. He says: "There are but two consistent positions on this subject: free trade in alcohol if it is a food, no trade in alcohol (except as a poison) if it is a poison. Science has rendered hsr verdict on the facts; it is a poison, and the most terrible affliction of. the human race." The women of South Carolina have been noltling a temperance convention at Charleston, and have asked the State to adopt scientific temperance instruction in public schools, and the appointment of police matrons in all the cities and towns of the State. They have decided that they will wait no longer lor the Legislature to act voluntarily, and have besieged the Governor with petitions and visits. California, with its ''pure, light, homemade wine'' idea, lias one saloon to every ninety of its population. This proportion is exceeded by only two States in the Union. So far from wine-making being California's mainspring of material success, it has been shown that against its 16S7 value of $2,760.000, the wheat and barley product aggregated s.1- .ton (iMf) niul the cold and silver mining'. S'J4,?5(35*6O6* New York Press: 'vt-ee these young men frmn eighteen to twenty-six years of age. What arc they doing? Smoking, drinking, smoking, drinking. What do they talk of? Tobacco, wine, whisky, ballet girls, races,ball matches, stocks. Do you ever hear them discuss matters of any gravity whatever? Do they know anything beyond the flippancies tliat float with the curront to-day? They are the very scum upon the water oi' life." The question "Is moderate drinking harmful'?" is beinp: discussed by the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Past Grand Master Workman James says that one of the lodges that has cost the order the remarkable sum of $30,000 in ten years is composed almost exclusively of beer drinkers, and that these men were received into the order with the understanding that they only drink occasion? ally. Men who acknowledge that they are moderate but habitual drinkers are debarred from membership. 4 . , . .. .V -"s . v . > * RELIGIOUSREADINC CROSS AXD CROWN. There is a cross of heavy w -ight For ev'ry human life to bear, There is a chaplet f-rm?d of thorns For each ana ev'ry brow to wear; 0! when the cros< of pain and woe Shall soon forever be laid down, May we receive, in recompense, A beautiful and fadele.-s crown. A cross of toil and worldly grief? A burden of suspens? and care Has life imposed upon us all, And each its heavy load must bear; The clouds may lower overhead? The bright stars fade before our eyee^'i Yet Faith shall point us out the path Where Sacrifice?where Duty lies. ., A crown awaits each faithful heartEach earnest, self-denying soul That carries cheerfully the cross To death's cold, unrelenting goal; And when the veil shall roll away, Disclosing hoaven's endless bliss, The crown of Love shall compensate For cross of such a life as this. -J "THE LAW OF THE LORD IS PERFECT."\ Dr. Moses Hcge, of Richmond, Virgin preached recen ly at Portrus i on this ''The law of the Lord is perfect,'' mention} that the gospel was a message to every rat Dr. Hoge said. "In Glasgow, years agq debate was going on whether there *< cz-kYvtA rortflc nnflf Yn-n "RlVm?fhftfc Rill OViiJU 4 UV/OJ UUU V IVi I vimvivo ? . ? men were like chattering apes or monks; not competent to receive the Bible..,, stranger rose in the meeting, asking i chairman if he might speak. The reply wi 'Certainly,' tho matter was open to disci sion. The stranger said h? was not fit to < bate with learned men, but he would saj few words. Ho had lived for years In Son Africa, and knew something 01 the Bushmif An English officer on horseback had lost 1 way, b came hopelessly, to all appearance, < tangled in the bush, and, after wearyi himself to find the way, night set in, and thought it was all over with him. When J spirit was sinking, hope rekindled on seein| light; He made his way to it?a Bushma cottage. The Bushman welcomed him ntt heartily; said he would give the lorse? supper first, and then provide something;! the man. Before retiring for the night i Bushmin said it was their custom to re the Word of God and worship Elm; lint: he could not venture before an educated#)! tleman, he put tho Bible in his hand, ana. quested him to conduct the worship. 1 officer was confused and said he had botbc taught to pray, and couldn't. Then,'? the Bushman, *if you will exct me conducting it in your i pr ence, I will.' He thanked G for the officer's safety, prayed God to b! the stranger, and fill his^soul with joy* peace. The prayer was ended, the officer ? <-m Viic ImoM Thn Bushman thouz that, overcome with fatigue, he had fall asleep. Eut no, he was convulsod with s row, was sobbing deeply, and bathed tears. He rose froip his knees, said, 'I ca: from a Christian land a pagan; I came to pagan land and found a Christian.' ThJ what the gospel can do for Bushmen. 1 stranger said, 'I have nothing more to sa sat down, and the Glasgow debate was at end!"?The British Weekly. "THE LIGHT OF ASIA." But, say the admirers of Buddhism, least you will admit that the Buddha t< men to get rid of sin, and to aim at sihct of life? Nothing of the kind. The Bodd had no idea of siu as an offence against G no idea of true holiness. What he said w (Set rid of the demerit of evil actions t store up merit by good actions. This stoii up of merit?like capital at a bank?is ,< of those inveterate propensities of hun nature which Christianity alone has da ered men from. Only the other day I met an intellig Sikh from the Punjan, and asked him ab his relieion. He reolied, "I believe in )I God, and 1 repeal my prayers, called Jap*; every morning and evening. These pray occupy six pages of print, but I can; through them in little more than ten n utes." He seemed to pride himself on i rapid recitation as a wori of increased! it. I said, "What else does your religloiF quire of you?" He replied, "I have nsi one pil^nmaje to a sacred well near Ami sar; eighty-five steps lead down to it. I" scended and bathed in the sacred pool. 11 I ascended one step and repeated my Jap in about ten minutes. Then I deseen* again to the pool and bathed again, < ascended to the second step and repea my prayers a second time. Then descend# third time,and ascended to the third step,< repeated my Jap-jeo a third time; and so for the whole eighty-five steps. It took : exactly fourteen hours, from 5 p. m. < evening to 7 a. m. next morning." I ask "What good did you expect to get by go through this task?' He replied, I hop? have laid up a great store or merit, wh will last me fcr a Ion? time." This, let tell you, is a genuine Hindu idea. It is of ; very essence of Brahminism and Hint ism. It is equallv a Mohammedan idea, is even more a Buddhist idea. Buddhi recognizes the terrioie consequences at ? actions, but provides no remedy exceptstoring up of meiit by good actions at counterpoise. The Buddha never claim*! be a del.verer 'rom sin. He never pretenc to set any one free from the bondage of i ful acts and sinful habits. He never p fessed to provide any remely for leprosy sin, any medicine for a dying sinner. On' contrary, by his doctrine of Karma bound a man hand ani foot to the cor quence of his own acts with chains of a mant. He said, in effect, to every one of disciples. ''You are in slavery to tyrant of your own setting up. Your o deeds, words, and thoughts in the pres and former states of being are your o avengers through a countless series of e: tences. If you have besn a murderer, thief, a liar, impure, a drunkard, you m pay the penaly in your next birth; either one of the hells, or as au unclean animal, as an evil spirit, or as a demon. You c not escape, and I am powerless to set' j free." ' Not in the heavens" (says the Dh* ma-pada), "not in the midst of the sea, no thou hidest thyself in th; clefts of the mo tains, wilt thou find a place where thou ca escape the force of thine own evil actions: Contrast the first words of Christ, iV. Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because hath sent Me to proclaim liberty to the c tive?, and the opening of the prison to th that are bound." Yes, in Christ alone th 1- J-i; '"./Mil til?> hnnrlncrR of fori is ut:avciauv<o nvm >.?.w 0_ ? transgressions, from the prison-house of mer sins; a total cancelling of the pastj complete blotting out of the handwritfl that is against us; the opening of a clfl c urse for every man to start afresh; I free gift of pardon and of life to every crfl inol, to every sinter?even the most heincfl ?if. Jlonier Williams. H Eternity is that only thing which is thy to take up the thoughts of a wise ml that, being added to evil, makes the evil I finitely more intolerable; and being adfl to good, makes the good infinitely more n 6irable.?Joseph Hall. An old rr.ggei Indian wandered into of our west rn settlements, begging for ffl to keep him from starving. It was notil that he w. >ro round his neck a small dfl pouch, suspended by a bright-c lored fl bon. On being questioned, he said it wfl charm given him m his younger days; afl opening it, displayed a faded and grel pajier, which proved to be a regular charge from the Federal army, entitfl liim to a life pension and signed by Gen? "Washington. Though wearing his nil and pledge which, presented at the rifl place, would have entitled him to a pleutl support, ho bad b?en wandering aboufl starving ana loriwu . .. j)icture of the unclaimed promises of Gck A ECC70R ON" ALCOHOL. At the Temperance Lyceum in Xew Y< Dr. T. S. Lambert delivered a new lecti ' New Discoveries 011 the Action of Alee on the Brain," to a large and interested dieuce. The Doctor showed that alcoho an animal excretion and a narcotic irrit poison; and that its use lessens the fatty 1 stance of brain and nerve matter. Inap tice of over forty years, Dr. Lambert never prescribed alcohol and he has m lost a case of fever or pneumonia. Doc "Wright and Elmore, who were present, tained the position of Dr. Lambert, eacht fying that during many years' practice t had not prescribed alcohol, and had in co quence been rewarded by more permai and speedy cures than physicians using poison. I < \ .