University of South Carolina Libraries
_ 1 ? - % -;i The Abbeville Press and Banner. BY IiUGII WILSON. ABBEVILLE, S. C., WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1889. VOLUME XXXIV. NO. 16. ' Mother's Hyinu. 11Y OKOROE W. T.ACEY. Through the shadows of the twilight dim I hear the faint voice ot Mother's hymn, That Mother's lips, now still ami cold, Sang 'inhist her cures in days of old. There was something In it nndeflned That quieted my troubled mind. O'er my hardened heart breathed a spirit bland. Like the warm south wind o'er a frozen land; .Binding my heart with a silken cord. Like the moving words of our loving Lord, That sheds through the penitent soul abroad, A'fiense of the perfect love of God. The hymns of the singers that, fame lias crowned Jn the vista of years are lost and drowned, But mother's hymn, each pause and tone, With the laps? of years has sweeter grown. And It seems not out of the past to come, An echo from the lips now dumb. But down from the home of the Glorified It has come ever since tho morn she died. We know not the music the angels hear As earth recedes and Heaven draws near. While passing through Life's shadows dim Let me hear the sweet voice of Mother's hymn. Dorsey and the Mail. There is now on exhibition at Smith's jewelry store a magnificent oil-paint lug, forty by fifty inches, the central figure being a Scotch collie. The subject of the picture is known as Dorsey, * and has the distinctiou of being the only dog in the world regularly employed as a letter-carrier. Dorsey has for more than three years carried the mail between Calico, San Bernardino County, and Bismarck, a mining camp between three and four miles away, over almost impassable mountains. Calico is a stage station and has a postoflice. Without the aid of the dog, many a miner would have a hard time getting his mail, as the country is very rough and steep in places, and - most of the year the weather is very warm. Dorsey belongs to the postmaster at Calico, and, in his youth, he was not regarded as anything more than a common puppy. The picture shows him to be about average size, with white color, shaggy coat and bushv tail. The way the dog became a mailcarrier was as follows: One day the postmaster wanted to send word to his brother at Bismarck, but did not want to make the trip. It occurred to him to try the dog. He wrote a letter and tied it around the dog's neck, pointed the animal's nose toward Bismarck, and told him to go. He trotted off a short distance, and then turned abont to see what else was wanted. Some of the small boys showered stones at him, and he ran on to Bismarck. Next dav he returned with an answer tied on his neck, and showed that he had been well treated. The experiment was repeated, each time with success and additional dignity on the part of the dog. As soon as it became known that Dorsey could be depended upon, requests were constantly made by the miners to send their mail "by him. The loads soon increased, and be it came evident that they could not tie on all the letters. The miners then ordered a handsome little mail bag and fitted it to the dogs shoulders. It fastened around his chest by one strap, and around his body, back of his forelegs, by another. He has never missed a trip for about three years, or lost a letter. Now, when the stage comes in he gets up, stretches himself, walks to the postoftice, waits to have the mail strapped on him and starts off as as soon as he is told all is ready. He will go a long way around to avoid meeting a stranger, seeming to realize the importance of his mission. As might be expected, Dorsey is a great favorite with all who know him. The picture shows the animal with the mail-bag on his back and his fore-feet on a rock, as if he had just stopped to rest on his way up the side of a rugged, desolate hillside.! San Jose (Cal.) Times. ' His Best Girl. . The following anecdote, from the Detroit Free Press, is about a drummer who, on arriveing at a hotel, asked at once for letters, One was given him by the clerk, which he read eagerly, then kissed it tenderly. Home of the men standing near laughed ? aloud, and joked the man about his "best girl." The man coolly offered to let them read the epistle: "I guess not," said the one who had been loudest in demanding it. "We like to chafe a little, but I hope we are gentlemen. The young lady would hardly care to have, her letter read by this crowd," and he looked repruouo fully at his friend. "But I insist upon it," was the answer. "There is nothing in it to be ashamed of except the spelling ; that . is a little shaky, I'll a dmit, but she won't care iu the least. Read it, Hardy, and judge for yourself." Thus urged, Hardy took up the letter shamefacedly enough, and read it. There were only a few words. First he laughed, then swallowed snspicuously, and as he finished it threw it on the table again and rubbed the back of his hands across hisjeyesasif troubled with dimness of vision. "Pshaw !" he said, "if I had a love letter like that"?and then he was silent. 1 "Fair play!" cried one of the others, with an uneasy laugh. "I'll read it to you boys," said their friend, seeing they made no move to take it, "and I think you'll agree with me that it's a model love letter." And this is what it read: My owen deer PaPa?I sa mi PRairs every nite annd Wen I kis yure Pict-ure I ASK god to bless yoU gOuOd hi PaPa yure best gurl DOLLY. For a moment or two the company ' remained silent, while the little letter passed from hand to hand and you would have said that every one had - hay fever by the snufllng that was heard. Rivers and Lakes. fRiveas are the mortal enemies of lakes. The river that flows into a lake brings stones and sand and fine mud, and, dropping these into theqniet water, endeavors to fill the earthcup that holds it. Th& year's tribute of sediment may have as little apparent effect as the year's tribute of water which quietly escapes to atin'sphere and occau ; but the river is long of life and steadfast of purpose, and, if years and centuries prove too short, it resolutely persists through geologic ages. The river that flows away from \ a lake constantly deepens its channel of escape, and tbus attacks the lake's rampart at its weakest poiut. If the rampart is of loose earth, this is rolled and floated away bit by bit, and the work goes on merrily; if it is of Arm rock, this is dissolved, and then the process is exceedingly slow. But time is lr?ng, and even by solution the ramIpart may be cliauneled to its base, and the whole lake drained away.?lorum. i ': y Farmer Bell. Farmer Boll did not believe in menial or moral suerar plums in his own family circle. H$ was quite willing to commend friend or acquaintance, hut he had a theory that his own family would he best improved by a Spartan discipline. The children must learn to do their duty without praise; and as for his wife, she had toiled for fifteen years without having once been told "that she was a satisfactory housekeeper. One night the two came home from a tea party at a neighbor's house, and Mrs. Bell, with the courage ot the meek, said: "Ezra, it seems to me I heard you praisin' the mottoes the Smith girls worked. "Yes, I did," said Mr. Eell. "Real pretty they were for such nonsense." "Vnnr own frirls hav? made some just like 'em. You'd better praisj them. It'll tickle 'em to death. And didn't I hear you say that squash pie for supper was powerful nice? "Well, Miranda, 'twas a good pie." "Was it a mite better'n mine, Ezra ?" "Well, no, I can't say as 'twas." "When have you ever said one word to praise a pie or a cake I've set afore you ?" "Maybe I ain't praised you much, Miranda, but then I ain't complained." "Yes, you have," said Miranda. "Yes, you have! Sayin' nothin's complainin' sometimes It's just like pushin' a heavy load up hill besides what ye" have agreed to carry, to go along day after day an' not hear a worao' praise." Ezra began to think, although he by uo means changed his spots entirely, he did from that time try to act on the theory that "women folks" are fond of commendation.?Selected. Pioneer Justice. A story that Judge Reilly occasionally repeats when the subject of Michigan justice is up for discussion, runs substantially as follows: When Gratiot county, Mich., first began to be disturbed by pioneers, and after it had its first justice of the peace a farmer named Davison walked three miles to secure a warrant for the arrest of his neighbor named Meacham for assault and battery. To save the constable a six mile trip the defendant walked with the plaintiff. They encountered his honor just leaving his house with his gun on his shoulder, and Davison halted him with: "Squire, I want a warrant for this man for striking me." | "I'm in an awful hurry," said the squire. "Come to-morrow." "So'm I in a hurry, and I'm going to have a raising to-morrow." "Meacham did you hit him?" asked i the justice. I "Yes." "Davison did you strike first?" "No. "Meach m, had you rather work for Davison three days than go to jail ?" "I guess so," answered Meacham. "And will that satisfy you, Davison?" "Yes." "Then make tracks for home and don't bother me another minute! My son has just come in with the news that an old bear and three cubs are up the same beech down at the edge of the slushing, and I'm going to have some bear meat if it upsets the supreme bench of Michigan. Court stands adjourned at present." Chicago Tribune. Gathered Notes. More pigs and less dogs, more bacon and less debt. More depends on management than on the breed. Georgia farmers cultivate the Snan ish peanut extensively as food for hogs. Milk should be strained directly into the creaming vessel, immediately after milking. Corn meal, cooked into mush, and ! given to cows warm, is said to be a choice food for butter-making. It pays to curry and brush the cow, to \vash the teats and udder before milking and provide a bed for her. Wet grass is injurious to young chickens even in the summer. Do not turn the hen and the brood out until the sun is well up. Farmers who have lands well underdrained -enjoy advantages this year, while almost every day brings a soaking rain. Some compensation for floods and hindrances to farm work by continued rains may be found in the greater crop of grass. Hens will become lousy now if not provided with dust baths and the hen house kept clean. Lice propagate very rapidly in warm weather. Successful dairymen believe that a cow, to be a success, should earn an annual sura equal to her entire value. Watering throughs by the roudside at convenient distances are highly appreciated by travelers, and are sure indications of kind and hosnitable farm ers. You may denounce monopolies, combines and trusts, but nine chances to one your credit wiUl give you more trouble in the end t han all of them together. Gigglers in Church. Giggling i9 described in the diction* ary as the act of "la ughiug with short catches of breath," -.as "laughing idly, tittering, grinning." It is silly and childisn enough anywhere, but in church it is abomir.able, and yet there is no place when; giggling is more common. It is natural in school girls, but when met with in young women of nineteen and twenty it is unpardonable. It is frequently characteristic of young men with incipient mustaches, who think they qualify themselves for manhood by aftecting contempt for what their elders revere. They giggle. If they catch the eye of an acquaintance they giggle; if an old woman rises too soon for a hymn they giggle ; if a baby cries they giggle ; if the clergyman cough they giggle ; if the plate is handed to some one wiho puts nothing in they giggle; if some one near them sings out or repeats the responses loudly they giggle; if the choir makes a mistake they giggleIn fact nothing is too insignificant to arrest their notice and produce a giggle, not eVen the fact that thej' have just enough sense to giggle because they did giggle, and can giggle. There was an Irishman who said that he thought the moon infinitely more valuable than the sun, "because" said he, "you have the sun in the day, when you don't want it, wheresis, you have the moon at night, when you do want it." ; .lS\' v-: THE SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON DAVID SPARES SAUL'S LIFE LESSON XI, THIRD QUARTER, INTERNATIONAL SERIES, SEPT. 15. Text of the Lesson, I Sam. xxlv, 4-17?Commit Verses 11, 13?Golden Text, Rom. xii, 21?Commentary by tbe Rev. D. M. Steams. [Compiled from Lesson Helper Quarterly by permission of H. S. Hoffman, publisher, Philadelphia] After David and Jonathan parted that day, as recorded in the last lesson, David obtained from the priest some bread and also the sword of Goliath, and then fled to Achish, king of Oath, but was also afraid there, and, feigning himself mad, soon made his escape from that quarter and came to the cave Adullam. Here he was joined by his father and mother and brethren and about four hundred men, over whom he became captain. He did not, Vintro-por fnrrv Inn it at Adullam at this time. but, having made provision for his father and mother with the king of Moab, ho sallied forth against the Philistines and defeated them. His company Increased to six hundred men, and he had with him Gad, the prophet, and Abiathar, the priest; they abode in strongholds in the wilderness, and Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand. 4. "And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day, of which the Lord said unto thee." Saul, who so persistently sought David's life, is now completely in David's power and his men seem to suggest that now he slay him; but as David himself had cried, "Be merciful unto me, 0 God, be merciful unto me" (Pa. 11,1 and Title), so he would 6how mercy even to Saul, and is content to lay no hand upon him, but simply cut off the skirt of his robe privily to show him afterwards that he had him in his power. 5. "David's heart smote him because he had cut off Saul's skirt." Even for asserting this slight token of his power, he feels condemned. . 6. "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master, the Lord's anointed." Here is anotherflview of the case; Saul was not acting like the anointed of the Lord should act, his life did not testify in that direction, but as td his office he was "the anointed of the Lord," and therefore responsible to God to act as such; and if ho failed it was for the Lord and not for David to deal with him. 7. "So David stayed his servants tflth these words; * * Saul rose up out of the cave and went his way." We may do very much by kind words and the manifestation of a Christlike spirit to hinder others from speaking against or touching in any way the anointed UX UUU UUiU* 8. "David * * cried after Saul, Baying, 'My lord the king,1 * * * and stooped with his faco to the earth." Notwithstanding David's fears andofttimes questionable conduct, here is a truly humble and forgiving spirit. Whatever were his sins, his heart was in the main right with God, and his failures tell us the truth of that which he himself wrote: "Verily, every man at his best estate is altogether vanity." 9. "Wherefore hear est thou men's words, saying, Behold David seeketh thy hurt?" Saul had turned a deaf ear to the words of God, and was giving heed to the lying and deceitful words of men, and was, therefore, far from the way of peaca The only rest of soul for man is upon the words and thoughts of God; but how few, even among Christians, rest quietly there? The words of this or that man, what some one has said or reported, is constantly heeded, and there is, therefore, such unreet, while all the while the God of peace is speaking peace and longing to give peace to all who will hear Him. 10,11. "Some bade me kill thee, but mine eye spared thee; * * yet thou huntest my soul to take it" Here David recounts the incident in the cave, and displays as proof of the truth of it the part of Saul's robe which ho had cut off, thus testifying most unmistakably that there was no evil in his heart towards SauL Notice how David saya to Saul that it was the Lord who delivered him into his power in the cave; when we^begin to see the Lord and acknowledge His hand in everything all fears and doubts will soon vanish. David was now in a better frame of mind than when he talked with Jonathan of Saul frilling him; but the circumstances were different now, and it is so easy to be bright when the sun shines upon us; there is more glory to God in being joyful in the dark and cloudy day. 12. "The Lord Judge between me and thee, and the Lofrd avenge mo of thee; but mine hand shall not be upon thee." This is beautiful on David's part; this is surely casting his burden upon the Lord; it is in accordance with Rom. xii, 19, "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath;" that is the wrath of God, not your wrath; let Him manage alL Oh, what a resting place this is; we have not to fight our own battles, for it is God who flghteth for us; we have not todefend our reputation, but commit all unto Him; we have no revenge to take, but inasmuch, as whoever touchethus toucheth the apple of God's eye, just let Him see to it in His own good time and way. IS. "Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked, but mine hand shall not be upon thee." If the boys of all our Sunday schools would act upon this principle, and remembering that wicked words and deeds proceed from wicked hearts, avoid all such, refusing even, when injured by them, to lay a hand 4 4- mi/vlti Ka fV<n4" onma in i upuu |UICLU( XU UU^UV uo vuaw ovuiu irtv^vu hearts would be won by such a spirit and learn of the new and clean heart which alone can act in such a way. 14 "After whom dost thou pursue! After a dead dog, after a flea." In chapter xxvi, 20, when he again had Saul in his power and spared him, he uses similar words, comparing himself to a flea and'a partridge. David was as harmless to Saul as a dead dog, for he had no thought of doing him any injury; but Saul, tempted by the evil spirit of envy which had taken possession of him, fancied all manner of things against David, and his fancies were helped by the liars and slanderers about him. How many wretched people live today who imagine that evil is surely coming to them from this or that direction, while the truth is that the imaginary source of evil is as harmless as a dead dog or a flea. 15, "The Lord be judge, * and see and plead my cause and deliver me out of thine hand." "Judge nothing before the timo, until the Lord come." "We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." "Every one of us shall give account of himself to God." These are some helpful words of the Holy Spirit upon this matter from the Now Testament In Ps. bcrii, 12, we read that "He shall deliver the needy when he crieth: the poor also and him that hath no no helperand David proved these things in his own experience. So may we if we will but commit wayB and works and thoughts unto Him, and firmly believe that He is the living God and careth for us. Id "Saul said, Is this thy voice, my Bon David) And Saul lifted np his voice and wept" There are many such words and tears nowadays, but they do not amount to anything. That they did not mean much from Saul at this time is evident from chap, xxvi, where we see him as hotly as ever pursuing David j to tako Lib life. Wistloin vs. Weapon's of War. We see that in those communities where it is usual to carry weapons to defeud life?as in the Southern States ?there are many more lives lost; that those persons who never carry deadly weapons are scarcely ever murdered; and that the governments that used no deadly weapons in enforcing their laws, were as well obeyed as those who use them, and were more free from foreign invasion. Under these circumstances it does not appear very inconsistent with common sense and common honesty to tell us pompously that our plans would be sure to fail. Our opponents should bring at least one well attested case of the failure of peace principles against the many we can bring of their success, before coming to so positive a decision against them. Although the majority still refuse to accept peace principles, yet the number who accept them is constantly increasing, and includes some of the wisest and best of mankind. I will give quotations from some of them, and put at the head of list one from our Saviour himself : '"My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight." Irenoeus (A. D. [60) says: "Christians have changed their swords into instruments of peace, and they know not how to fight." Tertullian (A. D. 197) says: "Can one who professes the peaceable doctrine of the Gospel be a soldier? Jesus Christ, by disarming Peter, disarmed every soldier, afterwards; for custom can never sanction a wrong act." Archbishop Wheatly says : "War is a great disgrace to civilized men and Christians." Lord Brougham says: "I abominate war as unchristian. I hold it the greatest of human crimes. I deem it to include all others?violence, blood, rapine, fraud, everything which can deform the character, alter the nation, and debase the name of man." Southeysays: "Whence is it that wars stiil disgrace the self-styled Christian world ? It is owing to the doctrine of expediency. If Christians had boldly looked in the face of their duty, as developed in the New TVqtAmenfc. this senseless and infernal system of wholesale butchery must long ago have ceased." Soame Jenyns says: "As contrary as. cruelty is to mercy, tyranny to charity, so is war and bloodshed to the meekness and gentleness of the Christian religion." Dr. Arnold says : "Could there by any possibility have been another war in the world if we had accepted the mercies given us ? The Sermon on the Mount cannot be read by any good man without the strongest feelings of shame and humiliation for the contrast between the picture of Christian principles there drawn and the reality he sees around him." Chalmers says : "The mere existence of the prophecy, 'theyshalllearn war no more,' is a sentence of condemnation on war and stamps a criminality on its very forehead ; so soon as Christianity shall gain a full ascendency in the world, from that moment war disappears." Robert Hall says : "War is nothing less than a temporary repeal of the principles of virtue. It is a system out of which almost all the virtues are excluded and in which nearly all the vices are included." Sydney Smith says j "The greatest curse that can be entailed on mankind is a state of war. All the atrocious crimes committed in years of peace, all that is spent in peace by the secret corruptions, or by the thoughtless extravagance of nations, are mere trifles compared with the gigantic evils which stalk over this world in a state of war. God is forgotten in war, every pririci pie of Christianity is trampiea upon." Adam Clark says: "War is as contrary to the spirit of Christianity as murder. Nothing can justify nations in shedding each other's blood." John Wesley says : "Shall Christians assist the prince of hell, who was a murderer from the beginning, by telling the world of the benefit of war ?" Theodore Parker says : "War is in utter violation of Christianity. If war be right then Christianity is wrong?false?a lie. But if Christianity be true?if reason, conscience, religion, the highest faculties of man are to be trusted?then war is wrong, the falsehood, the lie."* Jacob Abbot says: "In war the blood, the agency, the thirst, the groans are as nothing compared to the raging fires of hatred, anger, revenge, and furious paasion which nerve every arm, and boil in every heart, and with which thousands upon thousands pour in crowds into tne presence of their Maker. There are what constitute the reals horrors of a battle field." Dr. Guthrie says: "We talk of wild beasts?we speak of savage animals?but when does nature, in her most savage aspects, present any scene analagous to a field of battle ? A thing in truth so unnatural is war that men would stand astonished to see the brates copy their example and outrage nature by so monstrous a sin. A battle field were men, brothers?the children of a common Father?are met to destroy each other, is the most revolting and indeed monstrous spectacle this earth offers to the eye of God." Dr. Midhurst says : "There must be a strong connection between the peace society and missionary exertions because war is the principal antagonist to the circulation of the gospel." I will sum up this/ubject Dy a quotation from A. Barnes, which is as true as it is forcible: "There is no one subject on which men have been more wicked than on war. There is no one subject on which they have been and are more befooled. There is no one thing on which the sentiments of the world are more certainly destined to be changed. There is no one thing on which so much reputation has been gained that is that to be reversed." Sunshine on a Dull Day.?"Let us make a little sunshine!" said Uncie Jack. "Make sunshine!" said Jennie. "Why, how you do talk!" smiling through her tears. "You haven't got a sunshine factory, have you ?" "Well, I'm going to start one right off, if you'll be my partner,? replied Uncle Jack. "Now let me give you the rules for making sunshine. First, don't think of what might have been if the day had been better. Second, see how many pleasant things there are left to enjoy. And, lastly, do all you can to make other people happy."?&el. Horrible Memories of alio American War. Stanhope Sams, in the Atlanta Journal, writes: The battle of Chickamauga was altogether the most stragic strife of modern time. Wounded soldiers are said to have been burnt alive at Chattanooga. The real history of that fight can not be told iu the marble sculpture of some magnificent memorial of victory. It was written once, and best written, upon the hearths of thousands who saw the death struggle, in the shrieks of wounded men, dying in deserted heaps between the lines of battle, or perishing hopelessly and miserably in the flames kindled by the torch, or by fiery shot. The dead were not those alone who had been mortally wound ed. Want of surgial attention, want of water, and the flames that swept over the parched field in an onset which no soldier could withstand, swelled the fatal list. As pictured to me by soldiers who had fought throughout those two terrible days, the scenes must have been horribly pathetic. "My regiment was in the first charge of Ector and Wilson's brigade," said an old soldier to me. "I fell in the front line at the farthest point we pushed to in the assault, and when the brigade fell back before Baird's charge, I was left between the lines. Other wounded soldiers had fallen close to me, and I could hear their low moana between the hissing shot. Bullets hurled above us and raked the earth abou t us onall sides. Branches, cut from the trees |by shot and shell, fell like hailstones. Now the Federals would charge over us to be driven back by the Confederates; but always we lay there in the path of the bullets, and one by one died slowly. The second day the flames crack ling, in the woods took up the role of destruction, though they did not reach me before the 'rebel yell' that Sunday evening told me that we had won. I was picked up that evening, after lying woundea two days between the lines.', This would seem to be bad enough, but it was not the worst. The woods were as dry as powder, and they were in some way set on fire during the fight of Sunday. The widow Glenn,s house, Bosecrans headquarters, was burned down. All through the woods that skirted the right side of the Dry Valley road, there had been terrific fighting and heavy slaughter. The dead and wounded cumbered the ground. Through this corpse laden grove swept the long line of fire. It leaped from twig from leaf to leaf, and from copse to copse. Neither blue nor grey was spared by this barbarian , sDoiler. Nor did the dead only consti tute this enormous funeral pyre ; ine wounded soldiers, stricken aown by shot, writhed and groaned amid the flames. "1 saw where dying men lay in the track of the fire," said a Confederate soldier, "but I could do nothing. I was wedged in the line and on a wild rush at the enemy. There was only one way to go?straight ahead. When I came back, the ground had been swept by the flames and the wounded had ceased their g:roafiing." "On Sunday morning." said the same soldier, "as our division was being hurried forward to support the , centre, I noticed a little hut in the woods in which were crowded at least , fifty, possibly a hundred 'wounded , men. No surgeon was with them. , They had no water, no food, no one , to offer consolation. They were absolutely alone?awaiting death. Late that evening I returned though the same j wood. The flames had swept away the hut. I know not how many had perished, but I'could see charrea flesh and bones in the ashes." Poor Lytle was dying in Chatta- j nooga, mortally wounded in that , ghastly fight. But he had friends and ( peace around him, "The path to Sty- } gian horrors" was lighted for these | wretches by the flame of their own , " IJ funeral pyre.?xzeratu uj j. cuw,. j Yarlous Thoughts. BY J. H. J Tenderness is the ornament of love. Love without tenderness is unlovely. " Devotion is not increased by dan- ( cing. . , The greatest of sinless calamities is insanity. . , Recreation should be a help to busi- , ness, never a business. No one can bear the cross of Christ } but the Christian. j No person of good sense will be found in a theatre or in a ball room. ? Walking rapidly on errands of love | or of mercy is a very good exercise. The more we combine veneration with doing good to the needy the bet- "t ter. . Devotion makes human beings an- J gelic, but dancing makes them simple- ? tons. , The alpha and omega of Christian patriotism is honor to God and good ] will to men. ( All men would be glad to be "as wise , as serpents," but few desire to be ''as harmless as doves." Before we approve or condemn any sentiment or conduct we should carefully and honestly examine it in the light of Him who is "the light of the world." If we are wise unto love toward God and toward man we are greatly wise 1 for time and eternity. * Thfi arrnwa of truth enter the deep- t est into the memory when they are well shaped in a poetic form. Cannot Christians meet Christians and fight in love ? Yes, if saints and angels can fight in heaven in love. Evenrthing about war is disagreeable ana loathsome to the truly sensible philanthropic Christian mind. We can never be in any place in life truly and reasonably hopeful, unless we have a "good hope through grace." Sawing wood is an excellent "gymnastic" exercise, and very useful as well as very healthful for a young man. No person of good sense will be pleased with military display and pomp and noise,even if he believes in the propriety and necessity of war. The pious sayings of the weakest minded and obscurest saint are words more beautiful and valuable than the choicest wisdom of the moat learned worldly philosopher. What our world needs everywhere is the Bweet, all conquering power of a holy and sublime love, free lrom selfishness and folly, such as lived in the character and life of Jesus Christ, the Pritace of Peace. That poor saint who languishes out a long life on a bed of sickness and pain, a beggar or a pauper, may live imI mensely more to the glory of God than [the Christian who gives millions of dollars to benevolent objects, or the Christian who spends his life in preaching the Gospel in foreign pagan lands. Those manual exercises that will do the most good to our suffering fellow beings should be sought out and preferred before all others; they are far better and more elevating to the philanthropic mind than any "gymnasium" that has yet been or ever will be discovered by the sharpest ingenuity of men. The nations of the earth, even the nations of Christendom, aa nations, have not yet learned the alphabet of Christianity, as tuaght by Christ and His inspired Apostles?what a burning everlasting shame! They cheerfully spend untold millions of dollars for hated war purposes, even in time of peace, but how little for peace by arbitration. Let these Christian (?) nations in Europe and America, all of them at once, abolish their useless, mischievous, arid expensive War Departments and establish Peace Departments. This they ought to do, even if f-.hpu worn nofi'nnc nf InflHola Vin?7 much more when they profess'to be Christian nations. War Inconsistent with Christianity. Capt. Howe, late a staff-officer of the Royal Engineers, thus relates how he came to resign bis commission and leave the army. He was on service in Natal daring the Zulu war, and had been sharpening his sword with a file, and was running his finger along it, admiring its keen edjje, when the thought flashed across his mind, "And what is this for ?" and the answer came as instantaneously, "To run through a fellowcreature." "I was so startled at the thought," said he, "which for the first t}me came home to me in this form, that involuntarily I dropped my sword, and from that time determined on the first opportunity to quit the profession." This determination was carried out at the conclusion of the war, and he is now enrolled as a soldier in a nobler army, one that seeks to save the. souls of men, and tbe lar.c that is heard of him is that he has gone to the Cape as a missionary, and is preaching to the miners of Kimberley. This instance of conviction as to the true character of war and its inconsistency with any profession of Christianity is not a solitary one, for we know from the early history of the Christian Church that numbers of young converts to the Christian religion left the Roman army, feeling that Christ's precepts "unbelted the sword of every soldier," and made it impossible for them if they followed Him to lift their hands against tbeir enemies. But some of them suffered death rather than serve in the army, one of whom was young Maximilian, who in the year 260 A. D. had his head struck off by order of Dion, the pro-consul. When he was brought before Dion and asked his name; Maximilian, turning to him, replied, "Why wouldst thou know my name? I am r? O nn/1 nor>n/\f fl 79 a vuiiottau ouu uiuuuu u^uu Maximilian was registered five feet ten inches high, and Dion bade the officer mark him. Bat Maximilian refused to receive it, still asserting that be was a Christian, upon which Dion instantly replied, "Bear arms, or thou 3ha?.t die." To this Maximilian answered, "I cannot fight if I die. I am not a soldier of this world but a Jttdier of God." Dion then said, "Who^has persuaded thee'to behave thus?" Maximilian answered, "My own mind, and He that called me." Dion then spoke to his father, and bade him persuade his son. But his father observed that bis son knew bis own mind, and what was best for him to do. After this had passed, Dion addressed Maximilian again in these words, "Take thy arms and receive the mark." ."I can receive," says Maximilian, "no such mark. I have already the mark of Christ." Upon which Dion said, "I will send thee quickly to thy Christ." "Thou maVest do so," says Maximilian, "but the glory will be mine." Dion says, "Among the life-guards if our master, the Emperor, there are Christian soldiers, and they fight." Maximilian answered. "They Snow what i9 expedient for tnem, but I am a Christian, and it is unlawful to do ivil." Dion said, "Taki? thy arms. Despise aot the profession of a soldier lest thou perish miserably." "But I shall not perish," says Maximilian, "and if I should leave the world my soul will ive with Christ the Lord." Dion then ordered his name to be 1 stricken from the roll, and delivered < :he following sentence: "Maximilian, ; because thou hast with a rebellious | spirit refused to bear arms, thou att to ' lie by the sword." Maximilian re- 1 plied, "Thanks be to God." < He was twenty years, three months, i ind seventeen days old, and when he < ivas led to the place of execution he < said with a pleasant countenance to his ather, "Give the executioner the sol- I iier's coat thou had gotten for me, and < vhen I shall receive thee in the com- I Dany of the blessed martyrs we may ejoice together with the Lord." J. L. in British Friend. \ The Work Cure. BY SENEX SMITH. "How, then, is a sick man to get ' veil? Medicines don't seem to do me my good, and you don't seem to think i ihere is any help for me in the faithjure." 1 "Shall I tell you my theory and 1 jractice ?" 1 "Yes; for you seem to be always veil and cheerful. You must have i lad a better constitution than I had." ] "No. On the contrary, I was a deli;ate child, and until I learned about ( he new cure, I was sick a great deal. < [ often have symptoms and premoni- 1 ions of the old maladies now. But 1 ivhen they come like cold shadows i jreeping over me, I do not go to bed, f )r begin to take ail sorts of herb teas md patent nostrums, nor do I kneel iown and pray to the Lord to make j ne well. I go out into the open air. j [ dig or mow or chop until the perspi- t ration starts from every pore, and tne j jlood tingles at my fingers' ends. f While working I pray. I can pray in ] aith then, for I am doing my best to ( ;vork out my own salvation. The f Lord will hear the prayers that I send , jp while wielding the axe. Its strokes ( ?ive emphasis to my supplications. \ They are hearty 'amens' tnat enforce ( ihe petitions. Paul says: 'We are la- j jorers together with God.' God works ^ in us 'both to will and to do.' When we are too lazy to do anything, it is evident that the Lord is not working in us. Exercise is necessary to a J healthful circulation. When we re- * fuse to take the exercise, and thus ' ' " - ' f ? J* . stimulate the flow ofblood, our prayers for health mean that God Is-earnestly requested to abrogate the laws of Jifeinour own case, and work mirk cles because we refuse to use means. I i tell you. neighbor, I believe in. the. 4 faith-cure, but the faith that cures must be of the kind that works:" ' Then, if you were called upon to prescribe for me, what wonld you tell me to do ?" "I would refer you to the divine pie* scription given in Gen. ill. 19: 'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.? Aud to Paul's commend to the Thessaloiiians: 'If any man will," . not work, neither shall, he eat.' These are statements of a law of our nature.' Physiologis ts tell us that digestion depends upon exercise, it is nob food : that nourishes our bodies, but food digested and asiiimilated.'. If we eat . more than we can digest, the excess becomes a burden land a clog. Kfctl&g without working is one or thenioet Droliflc causes of disease. The svstetti is weakened by that which should^ used to build It up. w The Extinction op leistrbe.? -tj "Millions for. enterprise; for thought . not a penny." should be inscribed oyer the doors of our state-houses and'our national Capitol . The enticing of men and women into -ways of expanding their energy or the fruits thereof, i? become a fine art. Seclusion is departedfrom the world. The emtieanfee- of traffic invade our homes, beset us Upon the road, and lie in wait for us at out places of resort . Though we See to the desert they are there, tior is Tefage from them to be found op the tops o! mountains orln the islands df the sea. Whoever would! keep even with the ^ world by limiting his wants is regarded as a shirker o r his duty., The sum of modern ethics 1b contained in the ward do. Dotbat which is good if you ca n, but rest assured you shall be pardoned for doing evil more readily than for doing nothing. 'Jf Even when applied to the main chance, If men did but know it, leisure is often the best of .investments. Nothing1 can be more useftil to a man than the determination nob to M hor** ried. The popular idea thft a man's prosperity or his usefulness depends upon the amount of his business; Is not a correct one. Here, as everywhere else, quality counts for more than quantity. The most sucoessful man is not he who is always doing. Ask an old merchant how to succeed and he will tell you: "Do not fcry^to ' ^ do tot> much." We make merchandise of ourselves in order to satisfy our constantly expanding volume of want?the-meas^ ure, as we are told, of civilization. The more wants we are rouble to refuse. the more civilized webecome. If this be civilization, let lis get back to barbarism at once. We .-are a richer and a busier people, but we are- p6ttth< , Caliy, industrially, and socially ? less independent people than' were Americans of two generations ago. Leisureis necessary to democracy. With no-, leisure there can be intelligence, and without intelligence democracy cannot exist. i Tick Cholr Bent on Bathing;? The editors continue to poke fan at the performances of the modern quartette choir. This piece, which hat been floating around among oar exchanges for some time, is a sample: "Off start- ';V p ed the nimble soprano with the very laudable though startling announcemen :, 'I will wash.' Straightway the alto, not to be outdone, declared (die would wash. And the tenor* finding^ it to be the thing, warbled forth be ? v . would wash. Then the deep-chested basso, as though calling up all bis fortitude for the plunge, bellowed fbfth the stern resolve that ne would waui. Next, a short interlude on the organ, strongly suggestive of escaping steam or splash or waves, after which thechoir individually and collectively a?*?H serted the firm, unshaken resolve that they would wash. * At last they solved . the problem, stating that they proposed to 'wash their hands in innocency^' \'A so will the altar of the !Lord be com- . ' parsed.' " ?#i ' 'a Household Service.?Ib it not possible to re-establish the home partly on its old basis, partly on the new ? s By simpler living, simpler dressing, a more equal division of the interests without with the. interests within, a more sensible training of the girls, ay,' < and the boys, too, in requiring the duly pe rformance of certain light household duties. This, while it lightens the lfihors of the often severely-taxed one or two servants, makes the later young man or woman practically Independent of the insolent presumption of the kitchen goddess when aware of the helpless ignorance of a timid mistress,. :>r of ttienon-interferenoe of an easy master to whom the resources of cIud ar hotel are readily accessible when the iomeatic machinery moves unsteadily. . _ How many men and women pledged ;o love and cherish each other have drifted apart through lack of just such training.?The Home Maker. A Boy's Foresight.?A little boy %. wanted his mother to make him some nightshirts, "just like papa's," and put a pocket in them, too. The good -. A mother made him one, and he went to ted in great glee. In the morning, when the mother' took the robe off, she fonnd in one ; pocket a couple of seed-cookies, three matches, a tooth-pick, a small silverwatch, several pieces of cough-candy, . md the boy's pocfcet-nana&ercnier i When the little fellow was asked ' ibout this varied assortment, he implied : 4 Vj "Well, I thought I might be hnn-: jry in the night-time, and If I ate the cookies I'd want the tooth-pick after-. tvard; if I wanted to see what time ft was by my watch, I must have a natch; and I was afraid of coughing, > jo I put my candy there." War, in any shape, from any motive, md carried on in any mode, Is utterly ndefensible, on Christian principles, ind utterly irreconcilable wuhaChrls;ian spirit. ,When will the disciples, tnd, above all, the ministera of the* Prince of Peace, acknowledge, in iheory and oractice, this i great and tolemn truth ' There was a time ffhen the distinguishing mark of' Christians was that they would not >ear arms. But for more than fifteen ?n turies Peace has been the lost Pleiad n the constellation of Christian virtues. ; . The youdgmen who are on the lookrat for a "soft place," through dislike or honest, hard work, can find it unler their hats. - - ? .. . ? j