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: g J ' ^ ' ' " | vw 3: - . . . BY HUGH WILSON. ABBEVILLE, S. C., WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1889. VOLUME XXXIV.;:-NOr;9r ffj If Ca::not Last Forever. I've a word of com lor t lor you Who on lii'o s rugged road Are toiling 'neath the burden Of a heavy, hopeless load; It will make your heart grow lighter. Whatever !>< your wroag, And give you .strength to boar it, If yon lake these words si Ion*;, And say whi n clouds of darkness Around your pathway hover, "The sun Is shining just buyond. It cannot last forever." Just try then when you are wearied By each petty care and strife. By each little aggravat ion Ot your common daily lite; When angry words urt- rlstsiss. That you can scarcely smother, And everything seems "t wisted up," And tied in knots to bother, You'll tind these words are like a knife. Each twisted knot to sever; Then straighten out each tangle with "It cannot last lorever." Or if some great disaster Li ke a cyclone sweep your sky, And stunned and helpless with the shock Beneath the wreck yon lie. j Remember that no storm comes But Las a clearing day; The darkest night a morning, An end the longest way; Then tnke these words to cheer you, You'll find them like a le%*er To raise your sinking spirits up. "It cannot last forever." lii i..v M. Alkxandkx. A Tiuie for all Thiugs. Timeliness is as important as fitness. The right thing? may become wrong i unless it is done in the right time. | Look well to the time of doing any-1 thing; there is a time for all things. Choose the right time for sayingthings. If your wife looks wearied and worn out, be sure it is not the right time to tell her that the dinner is not hot, or that the bread is sour. Comfort her? cheer her up. If you are annoyed or vexed at people, just remember it is not the right time to speak. Close your mouth? shut your teeth together firmly, and it will save you many a useless and unavailing regret and many a bitter enemy. If you happen to feel a little cross? and who aoiong us does not at some time or other ??do not select that season for reproving your noisy household flock. One word spoken in passion will make a scar that a summer of smiles can hardly heal over. If you are a wife, never tea.se your husband when he conies home, weary, from his day's business. It is not the I right time' * Do not ask him for expensive outlays when he lias been talking about hartl times?it is, most assuredly the wrong time. If he has entered upon an undertaking against your advice, do not seize on the moment of its failure to say, "I told you so!" Infact.it is never the right time for those four monosyllables. O, if people only knew enough to discriminate between the right time and the wrong, there would be less domestic unhappiness, less silent sorrow and less estrangement of heart. The greatest calamities that overshadow | our lives have sometimes their germ in matters as apparently slight as this.' If you would only pause, reader, before the stinging taunt, or the biting sneer, or the unkind scofl'passes your l>ps?pause just long enough to ask yourself, "Is it the right time for me to speak?" you would shut the door against many a heartache. The world hinges on little things, and there arc many more trivial than the right time and the wrong. Parasites of Speech. The duty each of us owes to his uliniild fnnstrsiin hini to seek diligently after the best ways of clothing ideas. If there is a better fashion of speech than our own, we should not be content until it is ours. Slovenly language is more disgraceful than slovenliness of apparel. The great and grievous error in home and school education is that children are allowed to speak as they like. The house-mother who wages continual war with flies, barricades her windows against mosquitoes, and would go into hysterics at the suggestion of the red Bedouin of the sleeping-room, allows her children to double negatives, contract provincialisms, and enwrap their daily talk in slang as with a garmeut. She was a wise woman who insisted that her children should give neat and definite expression to what they had in their minds to say. If they began a sentence it must be finished. "What you think, you can say," was her rule. "The sooner you learn to say it well the better." It goes without saying that as men and women they were admirable talki ers, never taking refuge in "What-youmay-call-'ems" and "I-don't-kiiowwhats," "You-knows" and "It-seemsto-mes." The pains given to the cultivation of the parasitical gibberish we call "slang," if rightly bestowed, would make charming talkers of our boys 1 rn.?? auu ^11 ir?. i in'ic in ct? nuiu ??u a.*? euphouy in willful mispronunciation of words, nor does the substitution of cabalistic phrases for intelligible English add piquancy to sentence or paragraph. If the truth were known, few slang-venders are on sufficiently intimate terms with their mothertoncue to take liberties with her. Marlon JTarhmd, in " The llomcMakcr. Scientific men in Mexico are beginning to study the meteorological phenomena which aro believed to lie due to the building of railways in the country. Recent serious damage done by washouts on the northern section of the Mexican Central road was due to waterspouts bursting on the track, and it is a curious fact that waterspouts seem to be attracted by the iron track and telegraph wires. Residents of the interior say that an electric current runs along the track, which makes a convenient avenue for storms, and recently, in building the Guadalajara branch of the Mexican Central, it has been noted by the engineers that as fast as the construction advances rain follows. They hold that this is due to the large quantity of steel rails on flat cars, which are carried forward as fast as the work of construction permits. The most, no ticeaoie iact is mat tue country is orv in advance of the construction trains, and also beliind them for many miles. Rains beat down, as described, in bueketfuls, just where the sfeel rails are, but only in circles a few miles in diameter. He is a careful man, and does not like to be unprepared for possible emergencies. While in a strange hotel in the provinces, a few months ago, he discovered, just before extinguishing the light in his room, that there were only four matches in the match-box. "If I awake at night," he thought, "and these matches are wet. what shall I do?" "Whereupon lie tested them one by one, blew them out in turn,aud tranquilly laid him down to rest. . cran-'A aBMy^gMBttag^BaiaBBMMBwaaBgiawgioMww ?? I rat's Prompt Iieply. Kciio was a mountain nymph in the old poetic days, but modern realism has changed her into an Irishman. At least the quests of a (ieorgia colonel must, have concluded so. Col. Ogeeciiee has a very remarkahle echo on his place a few miles from this city : one, in fact, which would clearly repeat whole sentences. The gentlemen to whom this assertion was made were interested, hut incredulous, and arranged to accompany Col. Ogeechee home the next afternoon to test the wonderful echo. The colonel found, on getting home, that in the heat of the discussion he had claimed more than facts justified. Determined not to he beaten, lie called his Irish laborer. , "Pat," says he, "some gentlemen are coming home with me to-morrow afternoon to hear the echo. Now, I want you to go across the river before time forme to arrive, so you can answer back whatever we may call out." "You mane for me to play ikker, sorr?" asked Pat, grinning. "That's it exactly," said the colonel. "Now do you thoroughly understand that you are to answer back exactly what we say?" "Oh, yis, sorr; ye can depind on me entoirely." Next afternoon the colonel took his I friends to t.ne river ihuik, ami an ?cic ready for the experiment. Making ii speaking trumpet of his hands, the colonel roared : "Are you there?" Back came the echo"-with startling distinctness: "Yis, sorr; O've been here since four iiv the clock."?Savannah Xcivs. What Our Ex-President's Have Done. George Washington retired from the Presidency to become a fanner. John Adams devoted himself to writing history. Thomas Jefl'erson applied himself to establishing a public school system in Virginia and also managed his farm. James Madison spent his old age reading in his library. James Monroe wrote a philosophical history of free government, and managed "his estates. He served in the Virginia Constitutional Convention and was also a Justice of the Peace. John Quincy Adams was sent to Congress after his retirement from the) White House, receiving his nomination and election from the anti-Mason I party. Jackson was very old, but managed his large farm in Tennessee until his death. Martin Van Buren made a tour thvonsrii TCurone. and lived in retire UK'lit at Lindeuwald on the Hudson. General Harrison died in otlice. Fillmore went back to Buffalo after making a journey to Europe. He practiced law slightly. Franklin Pierce made a three-years tour of Europe, and then retired to his home 111 Concord, New Hampshire. James Buchanan retired to his home at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and spent his old age amidst his books and in historical writing. Lincoln, it was said, intended to make his home in Chicago and practice law. General Grant undertook to become a banker and investor in New York City. Hayes returned to his Ohio farm, ami is celebrated in raising Jersey cows and poultry. Garfield intended, sometime after his term was over, to write a political history. Arthur had begun to practice law again. Ex-President Cleveland has resumed the law. He Killed Him. Mr. J. R. Gilmore relates that on one occasion, during the civil war, ne was riding in a railway train, and had fallen lialf asleep, when somebody laid a hand on his shoulder and said: "Don't want ter 'sturb yer, stranger, but there aint nary 'nother sittin' place in the whole kear." The speaker was a man of about 40 years, whose strange clothing at once attracted Mr. Cihnore's attention?the gray uniform of a Confederate officer, and in the coat, just over the heart, a round hole scorched at the edges and stained with blood. He proved to be a Union scout. "How could you manage to live with such a hole there?" asked Mr. Gilmore. "Oh, I warn't inside of 'em just then, though I warrant he war a likely fel'er, that war. I ortent ter 'a' done hit. but I bed ter. This war Ije." He took out of his poeket a small miniature. It was a plain circlet of gold attached to a piece of blue ribbon. One side of the rim was slightly clipped, and the upper portion of the ivory was stained with blood ; but enough of it was unobseured to show me the features of a young man, with a full, frank, manly face. With a feeling akin to horror, I was handing the picture back to the scout, when, in low, stammering tones, he said: " 'Tother side, sir. Luk at 'tother side." I turned it over and saw the portrait of a young woman, scarcely more than seventeen, a most beautiful and eugaginir fare. With intense loathing I turned upon the scout, and exclaimed : "And you killed that man ?" "Yes, sir, CJod forgive me! T clone hit. But 1 couldn't holp hit. He had me down : he'd cut me thav," turning up his sleeve and showing a deep wound in his arm. "an' thar," removing the bandage and displaying a long gash back of his ear. "His arm wusriz ter strike agin ; in another minute he'd hev cluv my brain. I seed hit, sir, an' I fired. ("Jod forgive me. T fired! T wouldn't 'a' done hit ef I'd knowed th"t," and he looked down upon the face of the sweet young girl, and the moisture came into his eyes. "I'd hev shot 'im somewhat* but yere, somewhar but i ycre!" and laying his hand over the) rent in his coat, he groaned as if he felt the wound. With that Mood stained miniature in mv hand, and listening to the broken words of that ignorant scout, I realized the horrible barbarity of war. Youth's Companion. When Phillips Brooks rose last Sunday to give out his text, "I was in a prison, and ye came unto me," a little ellow, five or six years old looked up anxiously into his grandma's face, as ln> exclaimed in n hoarse whisper, plainly audible to those in the adjacent seals, "Cramlma. was Mr. Brooks ever really in prison'."' . ' : V ' . ' .. ,, . a; *. >.z Teach Girls to Thiuli. Said a mother to me one day: "What preliminary course of study would you advise a young lady to pursue who anticipates learning some business or profession ?" 1 answered : "Lei her study everything winch will teach her how to think. Good judgment, and the intelligence that comes from a mind that lias been not merely crammed with knowledge, hut developed, are the qualities most highly prized, and unfortunately most difficult to lind not only in women, but ill men. This, doubtless, is due III great measure to our imperfect system of education." Teachers of stenography lind this the greatest difficulty to contend with in preparing their pupils for positions. While there are very few who cannot learn how to write short-hand, twothirds of those who take up this study are obliged to abandon it because their reasoning powers, and consequently judgment, have not been sufficiently [trained to enable them to read their notes intelligently. This same lack of judgment is met within every department of business. So much is this the case, people have sometimes been led | to the fallacious conclusion that men | will succeed better hi business it tliey start life with little or no education. The trouble is, that people have not been educated too much for business, [but that they have been educated in the wrong way. Mary F. Seymour, in Iiuslness Woj man's Journal. ?<&> In the education of a colt or a filly,! the same care is needed as that of a child. The disposition should be studied, and defects eradicated by kind yet firm treatment. At present, if a foal is of a lively temperament, it is at once put down as vicious, arid if either of its parents have showed what is miscalled vice, the result of mistaken brutality in their education, then the foal's liveliness is put down as hereditary vice, and a prolonged course of harsh conduct and beating is deemed necessary to efTect a cure. Tf. on the other hand, the young animal is of a slow and heavy nature, it is erroneously supposed to be the result of vicious sullenness, and the same treatment as in the ease of the lively foal is undertaken?harsh treatment and beating to brine: them into so-called subjection. In each case this cruel discipline had just the opposite efTect to that sought, and hence we have sadly too many kicking, biting, jibbing and bolting horses. In place of having horses which entertain affection for man we have them 111 constant fear ot man, ever expectant of a blow, and their worst actions, often leading up to accident or death, arc too often the result of this fear; possibly some movement of the driver not connected with them being misconstrued into the intention to inflict a blow. In the breaking and education of all young animals firmness should blend 'with kindness, but never with harshness or brutality. ? - - T knew a little boy whose heart was touched by a sermon on the words, ,lBehold, I stand at the door, and knock." My mothersaid to him when she noticed that he was anxious: "Robert, what wftuld you say to any one who knocked at the door of your heart, if you wished him to come in?" He answered: "I'd say, 'Come in.' " She then said to him : "Then say to the Lord Jesus. 'Come in.' " The next morning there was a brightness and jov about Robert's face that made my father ask : "Robert, what makes you look so glad and joyful to-day?" He replied, joyfuliy : "I awoke in the night, and I feit that Jesus Christ was still knocking at the door of my heart for admittance into it. I said to Him, 'Lord Jesus, come in!' I think He has come into my heart. I feel happier this morning than I ever _ii !:< - unrrrotainl was m an ujy inc. u?? uiigtmviu. ami wicked in me to keep Him waiting outside so long!"?Selected. Truth is beautiful as well as safe and mighty. In the incident related below, a'boy twelve years old, with only truth as a weapon, conquered a smart and shrewd lawyer who was fighting for a bad cause. "Truth is the highest thing man may keep," and the noblest child or man is he who keeps the truth ever between his lips. Walter was the important witness in a law suit. One of the lawyers, after cross questioning him severely, said,? "Your father has been talking to you and telling you how to testify, hasen't he?" "Yes," said the boy. "Now," said the lawyer, "just tell us how your father told you to testify." "Well," said the boy, modestly, "father told me that the lawyers "would try and tangle me in my testimony; but, if I would just be careful and tell the truth, I could tell the same thing every time." The lawyer didn't try to tangle up that boy any more.?Exchange. The world loves to laugh and just as the week ends the German portion of Europe is convulsed over the following paragraph, which narrates, it is said, an actual occurrence. "Trichina isstill I <i.. .1 l,..l i... rpi,^ l.,f_ jrri'IIlljy Ull'ilUHi \iy \ 11*1 ui.tiin. i iivt it11est case is tin odd one. A peasant was arrested for not having liis pips examined before selling tlioir pork. 'Oil,' he said, 'lint that's not. necessary. I have a perfectly certain method of settling my pips' condition.' Under fear of punishment, lie stated that his pastor was always hungry, so he makes up the first sausage from each pip for him and sends it as a present. 'I know he eats it at once. Then after a week I go and inquire about his health, if he is well T can safely sell the pork, and can save examination fees too.' " From Oregon comes this little item, which may he called "Childish lleasouiugon a Childish Doctrine The following was told me by a friend Hie other day: Her lit tie sister, of four or live summers, who was visiting her, has lived much alone with lather ami mother in (lie big wood, lias learned to talk to herself, and has an extensive imagination. She had evidently heard some one talk on "Christian .Science." Her sister happened to overhear this bit of her "thinking out aloud " I see a great big black dog?O, a ] beautiful dog! And see! There is a lot of little dogs running after him tjust as hard as they can. Hut, then, j he don't mind it; they don't hurt him, because he is a C/irisfian ,S'c.iciicc do//." Let us live better today than we did yesterday. '' '5 * , i H - Tlio American Revolution. I:V .milX 1JKM.MKNWAV. [ have said that some of the best of the American people were conscientioii.-ly opposed lo the war. They honestly believed the. war to he unwise, al'il they had certainly as high :i regard to their own welfare and of their children's and of their country as those who favored the war, and they felt that they had from God a perfect light to pronounce the war unnecessary and unjust, and yet they were cruelly abused by the Whig party and some of them were driven from home and native land. War allows 110 liberty of property or of speech, nor of person, nor of life. War is virtually licensed and organized cannibalism, with the ferocity of the tiger. Shall not war give place to peace? Christains, here is work for your prayers, philanthropists for your tears, speakers for your voices, philosophers for your pens, and all of you, rich and poor, for your money. Let all men and women look to the God of peace who is tlie Cod of love, and meekly invoking the un^ed pew ers of reasou ami common pJuiar.uiropy and the Christian religon, say to the pool>le and nations of the earth, "Vou can and you must, beat your swords into plowshares, by the power of a philanthropic arbitration, and learu war no more. But I perceive I am digressing from my especial subject at the present time, which is a brief review of the expediency, justice and consequences of the American Revolutionary War. As to the bad consequences of the war, they have been many and mighty, and, alas! their measure is not full. They will stretch through time and live in eternity. When man takes the sword to accomplish a good purpose the best apology he can give must be this, "I intend to do evil that good may come," which is a base and bold insult to Christianity. It is generally admitted by all intelligent readers'of history that the American Revolution, if not the] main producing cause of the French Revolution, had a powerful influence in widening its extent and in inincreasing the intensity of its flaming ferocity. Goodrich, the historian, says: "The revolution in France commenced about the year 17Si?. It seems to hayte be?n hastened or brought on by the new ideas of freedom which had been imbibed by the French army in the United States, and thence disseminated among the people of France." The French Revolution as is well known gave birth to Napolcan Bonat? i.;_ .. parte, who oy jus imwci ??<< uimi ui war overthrew or shook to their centers all thrones and governments of continental Europe. From the dreadful desolations of that horrible drama of destruction, suffering slaughter, and crime Europe has not yet recovered ; and when she will, if ever, is known only to Him who sees the end of all things, past, present, and to come. How wretched is the condition of the greater part of Europe now compared to what it was before the barbarous bloodshedding and destruction which began in Paris wifTt the French Revolution in 178'J and closed at Waterloo in 1S15. I will quote from that eminent English historian, Allison, as to the moral and political condition of Europe just before the difficulties of the American people with the government of (5reat .Britain previous to the Revolutionary War. Allison, in his history of modern Europe, says: "A spirit of gentleness prevaded the political world, t he effect of increasing knowledge and long Continued prosperity., Even the most despotic empires'were ruled with a lenity unknown in former times. Jiion tlm termination of the ireil eral war of 1763 a growing spirit of improvement had prevailed the European States, and repeatedly called forth the praise of contemporary annalists. Agriculture had risen into universal esteem; kings were setting the example of cultivating the soil, and a large portion of the nohility were everywhere lending their aid to improve this first and best of human pursuits. The haughtiness and pride of aristocratic birth was gradually yielding to the influence of extending wants and an enlarged commerce; and in many of the European States the highest ollices under government were held by persons of piebian birth. Toleration all over Europe had spread to a degree urknown in former times. All the remaining vestiges of that fierce spirit which sullied with barbarism the lofty and romantic courtesy of ancient manners were gradually softening awayand the flames of religious zeal, which for two centuries had so often kindled the torch of civil discord, were sunk into ashes. Every succeeding generation was of a character milder and gentler than the last. There was a diffusion of liberality that was beginning to pervade the mass of mankind. The diversified classes of society harmonized with each other in a way hitherto unknown ; and whatever might be the peculiarities of particular constitutions a sweeter blood seemed in all to circulate through every member of the political body. The lowest of the people under governments the most despotic no longer held their countenances prone to the carlh, but were (aught l<? civet (hem with :i becoming sense of their, own nature, and the brow of authority, instead of an austere frown, wore a more inviting air of eoinplaceney and amenity." Now, let it not be forgot ten (bat all these pleasing eondit ions and prospects were dissipated by the savage power of the French .Revolution and Ihe Kuropeau wars caused thereby, which revolution and wars were produced, in tbe course of events, if not solely yet in a great measure, by tbe American JJevolutionary War. Another lamentable eflect of that war is seen in its corrupting influences upon tbe morals of the American people. Let me introduce the testimony of, not the enemies, but the friends of the war?persons who were sincere Christians, but alas! very blind and inconsistent Christians. A New England religious association issued a pamphlet during the progress of the war setting forth the vices occasioned by it?a war which many at the present time consider so holy and so blessed in its influences that it is a sin or a want of patriotism to question its justice or even to contemplate the moral evils resulting therfrom. That association of Christians say, referring to the bad effects of the war, "Tbe pro fa nest anguage is become tbe fashionable dialect. T1 y ohuth that was hred in innocence and was never known to defile his tongue with a profane oath in his life no sooner yets w.' v .* , /-J";- ' on hoard a privateer or lias spent a few days in a camp than \vu find him learned in all the languages of hell. The most horrid oaths and infernal curses load and taint the air about him, and this language passes current as the graces of conversation, as a polish of style that should stiflice to class him a'fine gentleman. Benevolence to our fellow men was-perhaps never less cultivated in any country than of late among us. Hard hearted indifference to the poor, the widow, and the orphan, has risen lip among us and seized her throne. Pride and false honor have disgraced our armies with the barbarous practice of duelling; and friends have imbrued their hands in the blood of friends. Avarice stalks the streets, or lurks in the corners, and has stained the public roads with inhuman murders. Fraud and oppession sweep all before them, while debauchery and vice fill both town and country; private robbery, thefts, and burglaries abound more and more. Intemperance, also has become sadly common among the men, and this monster, not content with human sacrifices among the meu, and with makiug shipwreck of many professors of religion, too, lias begun to ravage and destroy even the gentler sex. It is well known that this period never had its parallel in America for the prevalence of all the vices of sensuality. Adulteries are excused under the name of gallantries." The reader will notice that intemperance is spoken of as one of the vices resulting from the war. The late Dr. Beckwith says; "It is well known that the war of our Revolution was the starting point, the great fountain of our national intemperance." ? How to be Ifnppy Though Married. This is fPhackneyed subject, I grant you, but not more hackneyed, I am sure you wijl allow, than the unhappiness of homes. We are told that "God settetli the solitary in families," hut surely when we look around among our friends and acquaintances we see many marriages that can not be heaven's making. It takes a good deal of that charity or love that "seeketh not her own" to insure happiness in any state, and especially in the married state. "My children." said a white-haired father, as he bade good-by to his new'y-married daughter and her husband, "you will be happy just so Jong as you each seek the happiness of the other instead of your own." There you have the whole secret in a nutshell. "But," asks a sadfaced wife, "suppose you nave always inea 10 iiiuive jour husband happy, without having jrotir ellbrts recognized or appreciated?" Then, I fear, you can only find your own happiness in the consciousness of having done your duty ; and, believe me, it will be a greater and higher happiness than you can find by neglecting it for a vaiu search after your own pleasure, {seeking the happiness of a husband or wife does not always mean that you must bear injustice and ill-treatment in silence. Selfishness and its twin brother thoughtlessness are two of the greatest evils that married people have to contend \yith. If you find them to be the besetting sins of your husband, and that you can not shame him out of them by your generous conduct, see if his past training has not had something to do with it; don't let it run on; you will have more influence to correct it during your honeymoon than you will later. Perhaps he has been the only son of a doting and unwise mother. I once knew of such a case, where a gentle man of noble and generous impulses hail had Ins home-life so narrowed by his early training that when he married he allowed his wife to fall into the same state of servitude that his mother had held before her. To my mind she was rather the more to be blamed of the two, only?poor woman?she erred in kindness and ignorance. Fifteen years of this servitude opened her eyes to the fact that she had been wrong, but it was too late then to repair the wrong. All unconsciously he had grown to feel a contempt for the womau who could so lavishly yield to his slightest and most unreasonable whim. A young friend of mine without a single penny by way of a marriage portion wedded a gentleman of means somewhat older than herself. There was a true foundation of love and respect, but the husband, having been taught to believe that all women were extravagant and not to be trusted in money matters, made his wife no allowance, and exacted from her an account of all she spent. .Being a woman of high and generous impulses, she could not brook this, and while yet 011 their honeymoon one day called him to her side and asked him to make her a regular allowance. "I want a certain sum of money that T can call my own," said this intrepid wife. "It need not he large, but if it is only live dollars a month [ want it to be my very own, and I wish never to feel obliged to give you an account of it." Like a wise man as he was, he succumbed to the inevitable, made her a handsome allowance, and thus one of the worst perils of matrimony was "VV1*/-*** T omninnnili'd 111V iivumru, iivu i ?t, friend for her courage, si 10 said : "All my life [ had seen my mother sulfur from (his same trait in my father. A man of great generosity outside of his family, he never allowed my mother a dollar of pocket money, and when prefect I y reasonable hills were presented to him for payment, there was always a scene. Had mamma taken a firm stand in the early days of her married life, we should have been.a much happier family." Doii'l condemn your husband as ungenerous until you have presented your reasonable requirements in the most tactful way and failed. If you do fail, in ibis or other matters, ?.s I said before, resolve, (?od helping you, to do your own duty, and to so train your boys that your daughters-in-law shall rise up and call you blessed. in the midst of many conneet.ional and local church interests, the superannuated preachers are liable to be neglected. They have a claim on the Church second to no other. There is no organized society with secretaries and agents to champion their cause and keep the facts which would call forth liberal contributions before the Church. But their silence and their ; need are eloquent.' Let one day be devoted to the veterans, not merely for < the sake of the memory to be collected i and the want to be relieved and the comfort to be imparted, but t'j inspire i the Church with the spirit of Christian heroism in which these self-deny- i ing pioneers toiled. We have entered i into I heir labors. I jet us also enter in- < to sympathy with them. Serins: Faults. How easy it is tor us to see the good side of our own faults, and the bad side of faults that are not ours?or that we do not suppose to be ours! If we have to admit that we are close-fisted, we console ourselves with the thought that that is better than to be a spendthrift. If we see that we are unable to be wisely frugal with our means, we say that it all events wc are not miserly. If we find that we am lacking in a readiness to speak hearty words of praise where they are duo, wc are careful to have it understood that we are not given to llattery, and that it is always better to say too little than too much by way of praise to any person. If our impulse is to multiply inconsiderate words of admiration and of approval whenever an occasion offers, we think that that at least is preferable to holding back from out-apoken commendation, when that is in order. And so it-is all along the scale of faults and follies. This is perfectly Datural; and it is as wrong as it is natural. The last thing that any one of us ought to do is to emphasize the better side of his own lack. It mav do for others to do this in our behalf; but it is not the tiling for us to do. Our way ought rather to be that of bringing into prominence the better side of faults to which we are not ourselves prone, and the worst side of those to which we are addicted* If we are close-fisted, we ought to feel that it would be a great deal better to be thoughtlessly generous than to be mean. If we are too open-handed, we ought to confess that over-frugality is a vast improvement on recklessness in outlay. If we are stinted in our words of praise, we owe it to our better nature to say that there is less excuse for this fault than for that of profuse flattery. If we are inclined to be flatterers, it Is our duty to insist that saying nothing is better than saying too much. This, way would at least tend to correction of our faults, as the others way surely tends to confirm them. But a better way than either of these two would be to recognize the truth that between two evils one ought to choose?neither. If it be Scylla oil the one baud and Charybdis on the other, the safer course is in mid-channel. Are We (ironing Better? There is no doubt but what the churches are growing, and it cannot be denied that the gospel is being preached to more people than at any former period of the world's history ; but it is not certain that, with all the superior advantages which this age enjoys, the world is getting any better. If one will take the time to glance over the world and see what iuflUence, control men, he will be astonished perhaps at linding that even the so called Christian people are, everywhere, "walking in the counsel of the ungodly." Tha ball room the card table, the saloon, the theatre, the race track, the circus, which to the Christians of the earlier days of the present century wgre considered sinful tilings, are more or less visited by professing Christians everywhere, and such is the low standard of the church that it is a rare thing for one to be excommunicated, especially if he has a stiff bank account and possesses influence in the community. There never was a time when so many revolting crimes were committed as at present; and what makes it so fearful, to the contemplative mind, is the fact that, especially in the larges cities, the officers of the law are not unfrequently controlled by the most vicious elements of society, to the extent, in some instances, of putting the quiet and orderly portion of the community iu the power and under the control of that vicious elemeut. To our mind the church of God is in the midst of a great peril, and unless there is a speedy return to those bolder methods which in all ages have overcome the wickedness of the wicked, spirituality, in the church, will ere long be a thing of the past. - * * - ?1 1 lU* There is no aanger uuu wuat wc Church will be strong numerically. It was so in the days of our Lord, yet it was the church of that day that cried out: "Crucify Him I Crucify Him!" The church in these days, just as it was in those, is very popular. It is respectable to belong to the church. People get into good society by joining the church, and when they join they want a line edifice in which to meet, and an eloquent preacher to tell them all about the sciences and the arts, and quote from the old poets and orators of | "ye ancient days," and now and then, , by way of diversion, to pitch into Mornionisin and cannibalism. We have good preachers, but is it not to be feared that, instead of leading the | people to a higher life, the people?the ; worldly-minded, theatre-going, ballgoing, circus-going saloon-going people?are leading the preachers down to their level, ami compelling them to walk in the counsel of the ungodly? [ Reader, what do you think of thesigns of the times? j The Summit or Perfection. It is a good thing to be at the top, but in religion the bottom is the top. 1 Humility is perfection. The valley is the highest point. But this summit is not found in sweet frames, strong pro- 1 Cessions, nor rapturous heights. Per- 1 fection has a unique test, it is found in 1 an out of the way place. Friends do ' not test it. but our foes do; enemies 1 ;iid us iii scaling these blessed heights. He who is not strong enough, not brave enough, not good ' enough to have enemies will scarcely rise to this lofty eminence. Summon your bitterest foes, the one who hates 1 you, curses you, despitefully uses and < persecutes you, and as you, look on ] him and think of all his meanness, i how do you feel and act toward him? i This is tlic test. This is the divinity < and incomparable excellence of our I holy religion. Our enemies become : the ladder by which we mount to this heavenly summit. "Love your enemies, bless them that ( curse you, do good to them thai hate ? you and pray for them which despite- '* fully use you, and persecute you." This is "the highest point. This is ' the Law. This is perfection. The perfection of humility, the perfection i)f love, (Jod-likc and divine. I The Western Presbyterian has the ( following good-humored hit: "Our 1 good friends of the .Seventh Day Bap- ( list persuasion are in a dilemma. One 1 of their doctrines is that only 144,000 souls will be saved. But their body \ has grown much that now their own i L'ommunicants number lo0,()()0. They ] will either have to purge their rolls, or | apply to some legislative power, as one i>f our colleges has recently done, for a I'hange of*charter that the unexpected * returns may be utilized." * * ' ' ' ' J Z>. y,r Be Kind to the Children. 3 The stumbling effect which even slight inconsistencies of conduct , may have upon the young and tender, ia an < added reason for that watchfulness which our Saviour enjoined upon bis disciples. A somewhat amusing JHua? ^ tration of this was furnished by a clerr gyman of nervous temperament, .who , sometimes became quite vexed by finding his httle grand-children in his study. One day one of these little chU; : ** j dren was standing by his mother's sjde >Jjj and she was speaking to him of* hea- ' | ven. "Ma," said he, "I don't, want to'go - ^ to heaven." "jjo not want to go to neaven, my son ?,, "No. Ma, I'm sure I don't" "Why not, my son?" "Why grandpa will be there, won't "//Pi he?" "Why, yes, I hope he will." * a "Well, as soon as he sees us, he will come scolding along, and say, 'Whew, whew, what are these boys here for?' I don't want to go to heaven, if grand- .v'M pa is going there." Personal Contact. One of ourrecent journals made aliosion to the fact that Helen Chalmers, a . daughter or grandaughter of the great J$jj? Scotch divine, makes her residence -&Js among the lowest of the poor in Edinburgh, tbat she may do what she can ' to reclaim fallen men and women. ' ^ This topic came up for discussion In ;'/$& one of our city parlors not long ago, and one of che ladies interested in if. ' % insisted that there is as much need of , mission work among what are known as the higher classes as among the "''p lower classes; that there is as much moral degradation among so-called refined and educated people as among the "great unwashed;" and that, a young lady who wishes to elevate her kind need not descend from her station in life, however lofty, to find chances to -yf raise the fallen, to hft the degraded, to . instruct the ignoraut, to enlighten the . ;\i| benighted. Those who are familiar with what If# is called the "best society" indorse this view, and we commend it to such as J $ are eager to go where they cannot go? Wjffl to foreign lands or to the alams of out fijg cities?and commend them to begin iff just where they are, with their nearest -&j and dearest, and by precept, if precept witl be recieved, but always by exam pie, show what Christianity can do In elevating, transforming, regenerating, . ' $ and purifying the human soal. Suspicions.?There are many suspi- , clons that nead crushing in the bud. We fancy our friend is cool to us; wfe imagine some one has slighted us ; we suspect our neighbor of having spoken V' vl ill of us. Most likely we are mistaken, and, in any case, we could never profi- ' ?-at tably search in to the matter. Ourtrost in our friend or our own self-respect sa should lead us to put away such thoughts, to abandon such suspicions. Some one has perhaps dropped a pofa- "|y onous word of scandal into our ears? 8 let us banish itfrom our thoughts with scorn. Circumstances may tend to cast suspicion on one whom we honor ?let us continue to trust him in oar 'yM heart of hearts. We may fear that some one has committed afault, which, . '-i however, does not concern us in the least, and in which we are not called upon to interfere?let us expel the . idea as an unwelcome intruder. The mind wants steadying and setting right many times a day. It re sembles a compass placed on a rickety table?the least stir of the table makes -ij the ueedle swing round and point un? 3 true. Let it settle till it points aright Be perfectly silent for a few moments, thinking about Jesus ; there is almost a divine force in silence. Drop the thing that worries, that excites, that interests, that thwarts you; let it fall like a sediment to the bottom, until ,y the soul is no longer turbid, and say, secretly: "Grant, I beseech thee, mer- . * ciful Lord, to thy faithful servant pardon and peace; that I may be cleans- 4 v ed from all my sins, and serve thee : with a quiet mind I" He who desires to become a spiritual ?# man must not be ever taking note of others, and, above all, of their sills, * lest he fall into wrath and bitterness, and a judging spirit towards his neighbors. O children, this works such great mischief in a man's soul as it is miserable to think of; wherefore, as you love God, shun this evil temper, 1 : and" turn your eyes full upon yourselves, and see if you cannot discover the same fault in yourselves, either'in times past or nowadays. Stockings.?If a lining of firm cloth is sewed inside the heels of stockings when they are new, or when they begin to show signs of wear, they will last much longer than if this is omit- vi ted. Rather better than lining them with cloth is running them up and down with double yarn of darning cotton. Stockings defended in this way * -X require little attention each week when they come from the laundry. Show this to your wife. The Check Rein.?If you care for Hip mm fort of vour horses take ofl* all Ihe check-reins and destroy them. Nature knows how a horse ought to hold his head. The check-rein is torture and barbarism. No matter what * pise you fornet about a horse, remem- / -. ber t'liis. You can't forget it anywav; mid even if you keep on the checkrein after this you will never look at it without knowing that you are doing a 3ruel thing. hies BoiiiKi) Tongue.?A tongue which has not been dried will require very little soaking, but if dried it should he soaked in water for several houre; then ? put into cold water and boiled gently until a broom straw will readily pierce it. Then remove it from the kettle and i>(Tthe skin. A tongue requires from three to four houre' slow simmering wcordiug to its size. A Good way to arrange fruit in a lish for an ornamental piece, is to seta jlass tumbler in the centre of the diah, iround and over it put a thick layer of noss; then not nearly so much fruit will be required, and it can be arranged very handsomely. To have cheese-cloth curtains retain :heir creamy look, put a little strong ?offee or saffron tea into the water in which they are rinsed ; lace can begivm the same creamy hue by the same process. Sir Peter Lely made it a rule never ;o look at a bad picture, having found ?y experience that whenever he did so, lis pencil took a hint from it. Apply :his to bad books and bad company. *2 Never mix wood ashes with manure if any kind, but apply it to the land separate and alone. ilia