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. - v. , V v AN IDLE FAIJCY. I sat with my soul, icily weaving a rhyme As the fancy came to me; And I said: Pad soul, there eometh a time "When the stars drop into the sea; When they lie like gems From diadems l' In the blue of the midnignt sea. s The daisy is just as it was of old, And the suuflower turns to the sea; And there lies in the west a land of gold When the summer's day is done; But the bud that blew In the morning dew At night is withered and gone. And what is life but a leaf that grow3 Ou the tip of an idle spray? And beauty?what but a red. red roso That blossoms for only u day"? And the red that tips The sweetest lips 1 Soonest turns to leaden gray. Ah, soul so sad, the riddle canst guess, "Why the rainbow after the rain Our human eyes doth a moment bless. Then waneth and fadeth again? Why life doth seem But an idle dream That ends in a cry of pain? Of the things that are, my soul replied, God knoweth the how and when; And the roses of June have only died That roses may come again; And the day that dies i Leaves golden skies i As a promise of morrow to men. ?Harper's Weekly. UNCLE JOB'S GUEST. Aunt Huklah and Uncle Job were writing the invitations to their own golden wedding. It was an unusual and arduous undertaking. They had selected an elegant formula from a Complete Letter Writer, which represented to Aunt Huldah's mind the acme of all social etiquette, and she now sat dictating to Uncle Job, who was a fair cribe but a poor speller. Thus far all had gone well. Aunt Huldah derived great satisfaction from this close contact with "dictionary ?words." The two old heads bobbed eagerly over the long.list of guests to be invited, including almost the entire countryside, until Uncle Job's pen traced the name of Miss Abigail Appleby. "Youain't goin' to ask her!" cricd Aunt Hulda, aghast. "Why, Job, man, they do tell the queerest things of her! I Relieve the womag fr'^jhtSu^Craz yT Livin' all aloneasshe does in that little ^ house of Dickinson's, comin' from no oue j knows where, and fillin' it from garret to cellar with cotton flannel animilc3 the like of which was never seen in the ark or out of it since! An' doin' her housework in gloves, an' tyin' ribbons to hei cow's hosns last Fourth of July! I wonder she wasn't hooked sky-high for it. Ef you ask her to our weddin', who knows but what she'll come a-fctchin up with an elephant under one arm and a j camel under t'other?" "I think she's a poor, lonesome old , critter," said Uncle Job, in a mild, de- | termined voice. "She may be a leetle teched, Huldy; I don't deny it, but she lives within sight of our house, and I'm not goin' to have every one of our neighbors here, an' slight her.' "Well, but she ain't fit to come to any oech getherin'. She don't seem p'inted at makin' friends, either." "Mebbe folks don't go the right way j to work," said the old man, dryly. "I j mean to take this invite over myself, and i urge her to come." Aunt Huldah set her spectacles firmly on her nose, and surveyed her obstinate husband. "Jest as you say then. But if she does bring us a heathen beast to set up in our parlor, you'll do the thankin', Job, for I -won't!" "I vill, I will," promised Farmer Satterlee, sealing the note and his triumph together with a twinkling little smile. The wedding day was a crisp and golden one. such a day as October alone knows liow to fashion. Aunt Huldah had been up since dawn. The old house, full of quaint furniture, had needed an immense amount of scrubbing and polishing to /-bring it up to its mistress's S At last Aunt Huldah surveyed her house interior with a sigh of satisfaction. She was giving some asparagus broom a little ''tasty twist," as she called it, when , a scramble on the front porch announced j the first visitors. Millicent and Hetty, 1 her two grand daughters, released from J boarding school to eelebratc this auni- j versary, rushed into the room. "We walked up from the station, you ; know, giaudma. Such a charmingday! J Leaves perfectly beautiful! Well, how j are you? Hetty, isn't she as handsome a | grandmother as two harum-scarum girls j were ever blessed with?" They both hugged her in rapturous i school-girl fashion. "By the way, grandma, can't wc have | the best bedroom, with the biff mirror? : ' ------ c* Hetty and I -want to come out in butter- j fly style." "I s'poseso," said Aunt Huldah, leniently, looking with a suspicion of tears at the tall, handsome girls. She was i wishing their father, her only son, had ' lived to see this day. A few minutes later she followed them up to the best chamber. "Laws a massy me! What upon airth ain't you got crammcd into that bag? You call that packin', do you! Is that | all you're learnin' of ladylike ways?" Hetty looked up with flushing checks at this condemnation called down on Millie, who only laughed. "Pshaw, grandma'. You have to squeeze things into a cabas. Look at this dress," ami she pulled out a flimsy garment of shimmering satin covered with lace, and gay with scarlet bows. "Goin' to wear that?" cried Auut Huldah, in dismay. Hetty smiled quietly, and brushed her own pretty blue cloth. Millicent bit her lip in mortification, but she arrayed herself in the condemned garmeut and ran down into the sitting-room, where Undo Job sat in all the dignity of his old KrAU(]/?lAtl? U'nfi/linff niKKlin/* V.WUI, ,ia^ i root ana looking contented. The sight j of Millicent brought a deep frowu to hi3 , brows. ''Now, Millie, I aiu't a-goin' to have the plain, old-fashioned folks a-comiu' here to-night put out with the sight of eech airs in my gran'dartcr! Take that flummididdle rig straight off, an' come ' down here in a dress like your sister's, or not a step into my parlors do you go!" Millie rushed back up stairs, flung the despised dress on a heap on a chair, and ; cried heartily. She upset Hetty's violet : water trying to efface the tear stains, and finally, nrrtijei in her travelling-dress, tripped demurely into the parlor to join her sister in conversation with the minister, a young man, with the stamp of college fresh upon him. He was the earliest guest. Most of the guests arrived at the same time, so that within half an hour the pallors were filled. A stiffness huug over this assemblage of old neighbors and acquaintances,which turned into astonishment when Miss Appleby bobbed into the room. She was an odd figure, clad in a rusty black dress, with a scarlet sillc handker- ' chief across her shoulders and a large , bunch of salvia, very lmich askev.*, over | one ear. To complete this strange holiday gear she had two enormous bottles dangling clumsily from each side, and bore uuder one arm, true to Aunt Iluldah's prophecy, a large cotton-flannel giraffe decked out iu ink-spots as large as tencent pieces, while a chicken-bone artfuliy fastened on, graced its nondescript head. Bowing to the company, she placed her gift on the table, where it careened j backward on abnormally thick legs in a tragic attidude, and then she looked around the silent room for her hostess. Aunt Huldah was absent. Hearing no welcoming word or invitation, the old lady shrank back timidly, and her hands fluttered up aud down her dress. Millie had been hiding her smiles behind a fan, but at the sight of the nervous, disturbed glance she went impulsively to the rescue. "Dear Miss Appleby, grandma will be ! so glad you came I Take this chair. I I suppose you know Miss Appleby, ladies and gentlemen." There were friendly nods and murmurs now in response to Miss Appleby's queer curtsys, as pretty Milliccnt placed her gently in a chair and chatted kindly with her. Aunt Huldah and Uncle Job were to be addressed after the fashion of the old service by the minister. "I want to stand as we did long ago," said Aunt Huldah, "when we had no idea of life; and I want to realize the solemnes3 of it." So now they came into the room hand in hand, both heads silver gray and both hearts quietly happy. The second service had all the solemnity of a first ceremony about it, and the minister's remarks were very felicitous. As his voice ceased aud a rustling silence succeeded it, suddenly Miss Appleby lifted her head, sniffed audibly and dashed from the room, pausing at the foot of the staircase and then darting up it like a squirrel. ^ _ ' EVery eyeln the room followed her in amazement, and Aunt Huldah looked shocked and vexed. Instantly, upstairs, there was the noise of a downfall and then a terrific crash. Millie and her grandfather ran upstairs, and the entire company streamed after them. In the middle of the best bedroom stood Miss Appleby, calmly untying the necks of the two great bottles from the string that fastened them to her waist. The main part of them lay on the floor, shivered into fragments on the smoking ruins of Millicent's lace dress and one bed-curtain, hastily wrenched down. ttT*- wo f/\ omoll omnl'o " clip QQirl I 11 LUai/O IliV IV OLUl/U uiuuttv) uuv nodding sagely at the horrified people crowding into the door. "I mortally fear Sre an' always go to big assemblages with my two hand-grenades somewhere about me; that is, ever since I was burnt out o' house and home three year ago. It must 'a' been a candle left burnin', an' it toppled over somehow. La, it's out now! Don't look so white, Mis' Satterlec. Half a bod-curtain an' a grimcrack dress ain't much to lose! an' that's really all that happened." Millicent's sorrow over her dress, halfnousense, half-earnest, made every one | laugh, and under cover of this laughter Aunt Huldah thanked Miss Appleby with ! heartfelt earnestness. It now was easy for the sly, queer old j lady to get acquainted with the company. I As Uncle Job took her to supper on his 1 arm, she was happier than she had been for many a long day. Hearty invitations to two quilting parties and a husking frolic were accepted with a pleasure i which admitted no remembrance of for! mer neglect. She danced in the Virginia j reel, and finally went home serenely I happy on Uncle Jol/s arm, with the raemj ory of kind words and the girls' warm ! kisses to checr her solitary hours. | When the last guest had departed Mil; licent aud Hetty slipped into the parlor, j Their grandmother was surveying the I giraffe with dubious admiration on her face. "What do you think of it, grandma?" asked Hetty. "I think," s.iid grandma, seriously, "that it's a turriblc-lookin' beast an' no mistake; but it's goin' to stay right here iu this parlor for a reminder?you girls needn't ask jest what?of your grandfather's wisdom. My Job has a head an' an' a heart to match each other, an'that's an uncommon thing nowadays." The giraffe was induced to stand upright on a little table in a corner,and now when Miss Appleby, who is a welcome visitor, runs over to Aunt Huldah's to spend the afternoon, she always takes a sly peep into the parlor t<a gaze reverently at that artistic creation of her fertile brain which has come to such high honor. She secretly thinks that it is the most bcauti-. ful ornament iu the house.?Youth's Companion. Lifting by Arithmetic. Civil engineers ,are mostly commonplace people, but an odd stick occasion ! ally turns up among them, says the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. One of the oddest I ever met lives here in St. Louis. He is an old man, thoroughly educated in his business and a paragon of exactuess,evcn for a mathematician. Not many months ago he was called to East St. Louis to make a new survey of an old line originally run by himself. On the first survey he had driven a certain corner stake deep in the ground and covered it up with a large stone. When he came to the spot he got a spade and cleared the soil away from around the stone, and then cleaued it oft nicely with some dry leaves, top and sides. Next he took out his rule and made a careful measurement of the stone, which he used a moment later on the basis of a calculation to determine its weight. When he saw the product his face lighted I up with joy, for the number of pounds, ounces and drams represented therein was within the limit of his lifting power. He made no attempt to lift the stone as a means of testing his ability to handle it, but relied on his mathematical knowledge to settle that point for him. This is the only case I ever knew where a man demonstrated his own lifting power by the use of arithmetic. The newspapers of Italy are raising subscriptions to raise a monument to Columbus on American soil. '?. f ' ^ REV. DR. TALMAGE. THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Subjcct: " TIio Sky Anthem." (Preached at Beyrout.) Text: llGlor\j to Godin the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."? Luko ii.. 14. At last I have what I longed for, a Christinas eve 111 the Holy Land. This is the time of year that Christ landed. He was a December Christ. Tliis is the chill air through which He descended. I look up through these Christinas skies, and I see no loosened star hasteuiug southward to halt above Bethlehem. but all tho stars suggest the Star of Bethlehem. No more need that any of them run along the sky to point downward. In ouietudo they kneel at the feet of Him who, though once an exile, is now enthroned forever. Fresh up from Bethlehim, I am full of the sceues suggested by a visit" to that village. You Know thnt whole region of Bethlehem is famous in Biblo story. There wore tho waving harvests of Boaz, in which Buth gleaned for herself and weeping Naomi. There David the warrior was thirsty, and three men of unheard of self denial broke through the Philistine army to get him a drink. It was to that region that Joseph and Mary came to have their names enrolled in tho census. That is what the Scripture means when it says they came "to be taxed," for people did not in those days rush after the assessors of tax any more than they now do. The village inn was crowded with the strangers who had come up by the command of Government to have their names in the census, so that Joseph and Mary were obliged to lodge in the stables. You have seen some of those largo stone bnildings, in the center of which the camels were kept, while running out from this center in all directions there were rooms, in one of which Jesus was born. Had his parents been more showily appareled I have no doubt they would have found more comfortable entertainment. That night in the fields the shepherds, with crook and kindled fires, were watching their flocks, when hark! to the sound of voices strangely sweet. Can it be that the maidens of Bethlohem have come out to serenade the weary shepherds? But now a light stoops upon tnem like tho morning, so that the flocks arise, shaking their snowy fleece and bleating to thendrowsy young. The heavens are filled with armies of light, and the earth quakes under the harmonv as. echoed back from cloud to cloud, it rings over the midnight hills: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men." It seems that the crown of royalty and dominion and power which Christ left behind Him was hung on the sky in sight pf Bethlehem. Who knows but that that crown may have been mistaken by the wise men for the star running and pointing downward? My subject, in tlio firsf place, impresses me with the fact that indigence is not always significant of degradation. When _Prince$ jy;Q_bom,^p^&r&miounco~i?j" Snd cannon thunder it, and flags wave it, and illuminations set cities on fire with the tidings. Some of us in England or America remember the time of rejoicing when the Prince of Wales was bom. You can remember tho gladness throughout Christendom at the nativity in the palace at Madrid. But when our glofioua Prince was born, there was no rejoicing on earth. Poor and growing poorer, yet the heavenly recognition that Christmas night shows the truth of the proposition that indigence is not always significant of degradation. In all agos there have been groat hearts throbbing under rags, tender sympathies under rough exterior, gold in the quartz, Pariah marble in the quarry, and in every stable of privation wonders of excellence that have been the joy of the heavenly host. All the great deliverers of literature and of nations were born in homes without aflluence, and from their own privation learned to speak and fight for the oppressed. Many a man has held up his pino knot light from tho wilderness until all nations and generations have seen it, and off of his hard crust of penhmr kno Vti?Alran fVin Kvnorl r\f L'nrtivlorlirfl nnH UAjr U(VO ui vncn vuu uiuuu u* ?iiv/?? ???? religion for the starving millions of tho race. Poetry, aud science, and literaturo, and commerce, and laws, and constitutions, and liberty, like Christ, were bornin a manger. All the great thoughts which have decided the destiny of nations started in obscure corners, aud had Herods who wanted to slay them, and Iscariots who betrayed them, and rabbles that crucified them, and sepulchres that confined them until they burst forth in glorious resurrection. Strong character, like tho rhododendron, is an Alpine plant, that grows fastest in the storm. Men are like wheat, worth all tho more for being flailed. Home of tho most useful )">oplo would never have como to positions of usefulness had they not been ground and pounded and hammered in tho foundry of disaster. When I see Moses coming up from the ark of bulrushes to be the greatest lawgiver of the ages; and Amos from tending tho herds to make Israel tremble with his pronhecies, and David from the slieepcote to sway tho poet's pen and the King's scopter, and Peter from tho fishing net to bo the great preacher at the Pentecost, I find proof of the truth of my proposition that indigence is not always significant of degradation. My subject also impresses me with tho thoughtthat.it is while at our useful occupations that we havo tho divine manifestations. Had thosa shepherds gono that night into Bethlehem and risked their flocks among the wolves, thoy would not havo heard the song of the angels. In othor words, that man sees most of God and heavon who minds his own business. We all have our posts of duty, and standing thero God appears to us. Wo are all shepherds or sheperdessea, and we have our flocks of cares aud annoyances and anxieties, and we must tend them. We sometimes hear very good people say: "If I had a month or a year or two to do nothing but attend to religious things, I would be a grrat deal better than lam now." You are mistaken. Generally the best people are tho busy people. Elisha was plowing m tho field when tho prophetic mantle fell on him. Matthew was attending to his custom house duties when Christ commanded him to follow. James and John were mending their nets when Christ called them to be fishers of men. Had they been snoring in the sun Christ would not have called their indolence into the apostleship. Gideon was at work with the flail on the threshing floor when ho saw the angel. Saul was with groat fatigue hunting up the lost asses when he found the crown of Israel. The prodigal son would never have reformed aud wanted to have returned to his father's house if he had not first gone into business, though it was swino feeding. Not once out of a hundred times will a lazy man becomo a Christian, Those who have nothing to do are iu very unfavorable circumstances for the receiving of divine manifestations. It is not wlion you are in idleness, but when you are,'like the Bethlehem shepherds, watching your flocks, that the glory descends and there is joy among the angels of Uod over your soul penitent ana forgiven. My subject also strikes at the delusion that tli? religion of Christ is dolorous and grief infusing. The music that broke through the midnight heavens was not a dirge, but an an them. It shook joy over the Hills. It not ouly dropped upon the sliopherds, but it sprang upward among the thrones. Tho robe of a Saviour's righteousness is not black. The Christian life is not made up of weeping and cross bearing and war waging. Through tho revelation of that Christmas night I find that religion is not a groan, but a song. In a world of sin and sick bed and sepulchcrs, we must have trouble; but in the darkest night the heavens part with angelic song. You may, like Paul, be shipwrecked, but I exhort you to be of good choer, for you shall all escape safe to tho land. Religion does not show itself in the elongation of tho face and tho cut of tho garb. The Pharisee who puts his rolizion into ins phylactery has none left for his ne:irt. rrcbiiuuess aim t.niijiianiKi^ >??.? not belong to the family of Christian graces which move into tho heart when the devil moves out. Christianity does pot frown upon amusements and recreations. It is not a synic, it is not a shrew, it chokes no laughter, it queuches no light, it derfaces no art. Among the happy, it is the happiest. It is just as much at home on the playground as it is in tha church. It is just as graceful in the charado as it is in the p3alm Dook. It sings just as well in Surrey gardens as it prays in St. Paul's. Christ died that wo might live. Christ walked that we might rido. Christ wept that we might laugh. Again, my subject impresses me with the fact that glorious endings sometimes have very hutable beginnings. The straw pallet was the starting point, but tho shout ia the A . V"' -y V ^ midnight sky revealed what would be the I f[lorious consummation. Christ on Mary's ap, Christ on the throne of univorsal dominion?what an humble starting! What a glorious ending! Grace begins on a small scale in the heart. You see only men as trew walking. The grace of God in the heart is a feeble spark, and Christ has to keep both hands over it lost it be blown out. What an humble beginning! But look at that same man when He has entered heaven. No crown able to express His royalty. No palace able to express His wealth. No sceptre able to express His power and His dominion. Drinking from j the fountain that drips from the everlasting Rock. Among the harpers harping with their harps. On a sea of glass rainglel with fire. Before the throne of God, to go no more out forever. The spark of grace that Christ had to keep both hands over lest it come to extinction, having flamed up into honor and glory and immortality, w bat humble startiug! What glorious consummation! The New Testament Church was on a small scale. Fishermen watched it. Against the uprising walls crashed infernal enginery. The world said anathema. Ten thousand people rejoiced at every seeming defeat, and said: "Aba! aha! so we would havo it." Martyrs on fire cried: "How long, 0 Lord, how long?" Very humble starting, but see the difference at the consummation, when i. tr:,, -i * i.i._ _L i.? i. oiuidu v? itu xiia uiiJiiguty ai m litib hm uuh uil the last chain of human boudaqe, and Himalaya shall ba Mount Zion; and Pyrenees, Moriab; and oceans, the walking place of Him who trod the wave cliffs o* stormed Tiberias, and island shall call to island, sea to sea, continent to continent, and the song of the world's redemption rising, the heavens, liko a great sounding board, shall strike back the shout of salvation to the earth until it rebounds again to the throng of God, and all heaven, rising on their throneu, boat time with their scepters. Oh, what an humble beginning I What a glorious ! ending! Throne linked to a manger, heavenly mansions to a stable. My subject also impresses me with the effect of Christ's mission upward and downward. Glory, to God, peace to man. When God sent His Son into the world, angels discovered something new in God, somethiug they had never seen before. Not power, not wisdom, not love. They knew all that before. But whan God sent His Sou into this world then the angels saw the spirit of selfdenial in God, the spirit of self-sacrifice in God. It is easier to love an angel on His throne than a thief on the cross, a seraph in his worship .than an adulteress in her crime. When the angels saw God?the God who would not allow the most insignificant angel in heaven to be hurt?give up His Son, His Son, His only, only Son, they saw something that they had never thought of before, and I do not wonder that when Christ ofnAnf fVinf nilrpKi'marra fVta onrralc in lieavon clapped their wings in triumph and called on all theho3ts of heaven to help them celebrate it, and sang so loud that the Bethlohom shepherds heard it: "Glory to God in tha highest." But it was also to be a mission of peace to man. Infinite holiness?accumulated depravity. How could they ever -come together! The Gospel bridges, over the distance. It brings .God to us" It takes us to God. God. ill' us, and we in God. AtoneJQPVL&' Atonement! Justice satisfied, sins forgiven, eternal life secured, heaven built on a mangor. But it was also to be the pacification of all individual and international animosities. What a sound this word of peace had in the Roman Empire that boasted of the number of people it nad massacred, that prided itself jon the number of the slain, that rejoiced Tit tha trembling provinces. Sicily and Corsica and Sardinia and Macedonia and Egypt had bowed to her sword and crouched at the cry of her war eagles. She gave her chief honor to Scipio and Fabius and Caesar?all j men of blood. What contempt they must have had there for the penniless, unarmed | Christ in the garb of a Nazarine, starting out ; to conquer all nations. There never was a i place on oarth where that word peace sounded | bo offensively to the ears of the multitude as in ! the Roman Empire. They did not want peace, i The greatest music they ever heard was the ! clanking chains of their captives. If all the blood that has been shod in battle could bo ' gathered together it would upbear a navy. | The club that struck Abel to the earth has its ; echo in the butcheries of all ages. Edmund ; Burke, who gave no wild statistics, said that j ihora had bean sp3nt in slaughter thirty-five thousand millions of dollars, or what would I be equal to that; but he had not seen into onr times, when in our own day, in America, i we expended three thousaud millions of dollars in civil war. j Oh, if we could now take our position on j some high point an 1 see the world's armies march past! What a spectacle it would be! There go the hosts of Israel through a scor-> of Red seas?one of water, the rest of blood. There go Cyrus and his army, with infuriate Jell rejoicing over the fall of tho gates of abylon.. There goes Alexander, leading forth his hosts and conquering all the world but himself, the earth reeling with the battic gash of Arbela and Persepolis. There goes Ferdinand Cortes, leaving his buthered | enemies on tho table lands onco fragrant with vanilla and covered over j with groves of flowering cacao. There I goes the great Frenchman, leading his army | down through Egypt like 0110 of its plagues, and up through Russia like one of its own icy blasts. Yonder is the grave trench under the shadow of Sebastopol. There are the ruins of Delhi and Allahabad, and yonder are the inhuman Sepoys and the brave regiments under Havelock avenging the insulted flag of Britain; while cut right through the heart of my native land is a trench in which there lie one million Northern and Southern dead. Oh, the tears! Oh, the blood! Oh, the long marcne3! Oh, the hospital wounds! Oh, the martyrdom! Oh, the death! But brighter than the light which flashed on all these swords and shields and musketry is the light 1hat fell on Bethlehem, and louder than the bray of the trumpets, and the neighing of th? chargers, and tho crash of the walls, and the j groaning of tho dying armies, is the song that unrolls this moment from tho sky, sweet as though all tho bells of heaven I rung a jubilee: "Peace on earth, good will toward man." Oh, wliou will the day come? God hasten it!?when the swords shall be turned into plowsharos, and tho fortresses ouau uo x cuiuauicu iiiuu wuuivu^ huu vuw men of blood battling for ronown shall become good soldiers of Josus Christ, and the cannon now striking down whole columns of death shall thunder the victories of the truth. - wnen we tiilnk of the whole world saved we are apt to think of the few people that now inhabit it. Only a very few compared with the populations to come. And what a small part cultivated. Do you know it has been authentically estimated that threefourths of Europe is yet all barrenness, and that nine hundred and ninety-one one-thousandth part of the entire globe is uncultivated? This is all to be cultivated, all inhabited and all gospelized. Oh, what tears ol repentanco when nations begin to weep! Oh, what supplications when continents begin tc pray! Oh, what rejoicing when hemispheres begin to sing! Churches will worship on tlu places where this very hour smokes the blood of human sacrifice, and wandering through the snake infested jungles of Africa Christ's heel will bruise the serpent's hend. 01), when the trumpet of salvation shall be sounded everywhere and tho nations are redeemed, a li^ht will fall nnon evory town brighter than that which fell upon Bethlehem, and more overwhelming than the song that fell on tho pasture fields where the flocks fed, there will bo a song louder thau the voice of tho storm lifted oceans, "Glory to God in tho highest," and from all nations and kindred and people and tongues will como tho response, "And on earth peace, good will toward men!" On this Christmas Eve I bring you good tidings of great joy. Pardon for all sin, comfort for all trouble and lifo for tho dead. Shall we now take this Christ into our hearts? The time is passiug. This is tho closing of the year. How tho time speeds by. Put your hand on your heart?one. two, three. Three times less it will beat. Lifo is passing liko gazelles over the plain. Sorrows hover like petrels over the sea. Death swoops like a vulture from the mountains. Misery rolls up to our ears like waves. Heavenly songs lnll to us like stars. I wish you a merry Christmas, not with worldly dissipations, but merry witli Gospel gladness, merry with pardoned sin, merry with hope of reunion in the 6kies with all pour loved ones who have preceded you. In that grandest and best sense a m?rry Christmas. And God grant that in our final moment wo may have as bright a vision as did the dying gfrl wheu she said: "Hothor"?pointing with her thin white hand through the window?"Mother, what Is that beautiful land out yonder beyond the mountains, the high mountains?" "Oh," said the mother, "ray darling, there are no mountains within sight of our home." "Oh, yoe," she said, "don't you see them?that beautiful land beyond the mountains out there, just beyond the high mountains?" r,7> m?.3- if* 'J: :'.' ' **'" ** * ... The mother looked down Into the face ~9T her dying chili and said: "My dear, I thhik that must be heaven that you see." "Well, then," she said, "father, you come, and with your strong arms carry rae over those mountains into that beautiful land beyond the high mountains." "No," said the weeping father, "my darling, I can't go with you." "Well," she said, clapping her hands, "never mind, never mind; I see yonder a shining one coming. He is coming now, in His strong arms to carry n\e over the mountains to the beautiful laud?over the mountains, over the high mountains P WORDS OF WISDOM. Actions count where arguments fail. He is below himself who is not above an injury. He is most powerful who hss himself in Vna nnronr No one can lay himself under obligation to do a wrong thing. To be content with littleness is already a stride toward greatness. Punishment must be like salad that has more oil than vinegar in it. When a man's temper gets the best of him, it reveals the worst of him. The icebergs of selfishness soon melt away in the sunshine of divine love. The great difficulty about advice is the predominance of quantity over quality. Comparison more than reality, makes men happy, and can make them wretched. The better rule is to judge our adversaries from their standpoint, not from our. How Did He Do It 2 In the latter part of the ''Fifties" there resided in Tehama County, California, an Indian whose eyes had been entirely destroyed by disease, leaving nothing but the bare sockets behind. "Old Blind Jo," as he had been christened, was a well-known character. He was a great traveler, rarely remaining in any one rancheria long, and his journeyings extended over a large area. His usual gait was a jog-trot, and his favorite route the stage road leading north, which at that period was thronged with teams of every description. Through these he threaded his way with perfect safety and apparently without the slightest fear of injury; and so well recognized w?s. his ability to take care of himself ^ that teamsters rarely used any particular | pains to avoid him when he was seen approaching. His marvelous perception and avoidance of danger were often the theme of animated discussion among the people of j the neighborhood, while their accounts I of his performances sounded almost incredible to those who had never seen him put to the test. An incident illustrating this keenness of his perceptive faculty I shall never forget. I was sitting with my friend, Colonel E. J. Lewis, under a tree on the ranch of Judge Hail, near Tehama, when wf espied Jo coming from the adobe building occupied by the Judge's Indian servants, and evidently heading for a gat( that opened into the road some distance away. Between him and the gate, and directly in his path, was an open, unused well, fifty or sixty feet deep. Knowing the noor fellow's blindness, I had half-risen from my scat to go and turn him to one 'side, when my companion told mc tc keep quiet and I should see something surprising?as I most assuredly did. Or trotted the Indian until he reached the ve:y edge of the well, where anothci step forward would have sent him head' long to the bottom. But he did not take it. His pause was so abrupt that it almost seemed as if ? strong hand had suddenly risen from the depths of the pit and stayed his steps. For a moment he stood still, as though ir thought, and then quickly faced half about, rounded the well with the grcatesi ease, and resumed his course on the othci side. A few yards further on was a larg< adobe store-house, fifty feet or so it length, with an open driveway through at one end. This building he approachec near enough to touch it wfth his hand, and then, retiring a step or two skirtec nearly its whole length until the drivewaj was reached, when he passed through il and continued on his journey at his usua jog trot. And the Colonel remarked when Jc had disappeared: "In the name of al that's wonderful, how did he do it."? Youth's Companion. Oysters Found on Trees. Tlie coast waters at Sierra Leone, Africa, are full of oysters of the finest grade?fully as good as Blue Points. The tides rise eighteen feet at Sierra Leone, j and in many places the mango swamp? stretch hundreds of yards out into the sea. Oysters in their curious migration! are often lifted by waves and carried about among these trees, and it is a sighl by no means uncommon to sec them when the tide has run out clinging to the branches as comfortably as though they enjoyed playing at fruit. Natives paddli about in their canoes, gather the bivalves and bring them to the traders and officers fjr sale. In size West African ojstera are the largest I ever saw. In 1883 one oyster was served to three of us at the quarters in Lagos, and Captain Davis, ol the African Steamship Company, Mrs. Lieutenant-Governor Griffiths and myself made a bounteous meal from it. The shell was preserved and is now in the steamship office at Liverpool.?Chicagc Herald. k Millionaire Locomotive Engineer. Robert Coleman, of Cornwall, Penn., the millionaire who owns the great ore mines at Mount Gretna, is in some respects like Gejrge Westinghouse. He is a genius and a first-class machinist. He owns a small railroad at Mount Gretna, the outlet of his celebrated ore mines,, and he often, when at home, spends an entire day on the road in the position of a locomotive engineer. There is not a man in his employ, it is said, that knows* more about an engine or can run one better than Mr. Coleman, lie becomes thoroughly acquainted with the routinework on his line and is continually making some improvements.?Pittsburg Press Explorer Stanley's Ha: r. The correspondent who went up country to meet Stanley describes his hair as being quite white. This he ascribes to the privations of the expedition. As a matter of fact, his hair had become white long ago. But Mr. Stanley did not appreciate the vcucrable appearancc which his gray locks gave him. They became black agaiu a great deal more suddenly than they had grown white. In view of the chance of another curious change of this kind, it is rather awkward that their present color should have been so universally made known.?Edinburgh ticvtWM*. HnHMMnnHHMMHMn " RELIGIOUS READING rest. Ait in the hush of the evening Tin: evening cool and '"aim, And read from a treasured volume "A sweet aiid olden psidra. A psalm of Ilis sleepless watchcare. \Vho guards the sparrow's flight' |jid weave for the lowlv lily xltr ^otless robe of white. } > k palm of His deep compassion. Who in the long, long years, * with the gent'c heart of u uiuliMt Hushes our foolish fears. 0 the pity ami love and kindness That tilroh in the tender words, 1 liit. tu thoir music sweeter Than the sweetest Sjji.,8 of birds. Till tha j race and the r st of heave* JmiII on my ur-hing heart, And ot:e by one the troubles And cares of the day depart. The fares thaf brought me ann-jyanoo And weariness ami pain, Q'Jie troubles tliat seemed too heavy To ever be borne again. One br one t1 fty are lifted And waited away in the night, "Without ir is growing darker, Lut within it is growing light. 0 where is a balm of comfort Like this rare balm of mine, And where is the tou h of healiir^ Like the touch of the words divratf BE TKUE. Constantine was chosen emperoi he found several Christians in office, and he issued an edict requiring them to renounce their faith or quit their places. Most of them gave up their offices to preserve their consciences, but some cringed and renounced Christiani y. When the emperor had thus made full proof of their dispositions of character he removed all who thus basely complied with bis wishes and retained the others, saying that those who would desert or deny the Divine Master would desert him, an* were not worthy of his confidence. NOTHING HIDDEN FROM GOD. 'The papers tell of an interesting photographic phenomenon which occurred at Pittslield, Pa., some time since. Aj>arty-ofi amateur photographers set out from that town one* afternoon to. get some views of J-Pontoosuc lake, a lovely sheet of wa'.er nestling between the hills on the north of the town. Reaching a good vantagegTound they placed their camera in.]ios:'jon and made" a shot. They noticed a strange spot on the lake, which at that distance looked like a small island, but when they looked again it had disappeared. When they returned to their hotel and developed the plates, the little spot was distinctly marked. Being curious to understand its nature, they examined it through a powerful magnifying glass and ; there saw a complete reproduction of a drowning scene. There was an overi turned boat.and a man clinging to thestern, while the head of another man was just visible above the water. While they 1 were examining it a man arrived at the hotel, and reported that a boating accident j had occurred that afternoon and two men had been drowned. The photographers had been too far away from the lake to distinguish the incident, but the camera had i made all clear to them afterwards. How , many thiugs are hidden from us by the dullness of our senses. What trag' edits are being enacted unobserved by those who mignt prevent them if they j knew. And what surprises are in store for , us when, in the last Great Day, it will ap' pear that the deepest secrets of our inmost lives have been photographed by the divine camera, and when the secret tragedies of all our lives will be fully revealed and accurately 1 desert ed. We are too apt to forget that one 1 eye is always upon us.?Evi'ngdiad Meal scnger. WEEK OF PRAYEB. f The following are the topics suggested for > the week of prayer by the Evangelical Allit ance for the United States, Jan. 5-12, 18(J0: i Sunday, Jan. 5th.?Sermons. _ The Church of Christ. Praver for the Power ottlie lioiy spine to worK a great revival among Christians. Ephes., L, 15-23. Monday, January tith. ? Confession and ' Supplication. i Confession of sin and failure in the past, j an i prayer for consecration to a holier life. Prayer for the Church Universal that there rn-iy be more of love and co-operation i among Christians of every name: for the - gift of the Holy Spirit; for greater faithful I ness to Gospel truth; for large accessions of consecrated young men to the ministry: for " Tastors and "other laborers in Christ's vineyard. Psalm, XXXII.. Nebcin., IX.. 1-21. ; Eph., IV., 1-16. Ifeb.. XIII., 7-21. 1 Tim., 1 IV. 2 Cor., IV.. John. IV.. 35-38. | Tuesday, January 7th.?Nations and their I Rulers. , Prayer for oil in authority; for the enact[ ment of wise laws and their faithful administration; for the abolition of the traffic r j in intoxicating drinks; for the repeal of all t ! laws which protect vice; for the sanctilicaI I tion of the Lord's day; for social purity and j all other needed reforms, and fortherecogI nition by all men that "righteousness ex> j alteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any I ! people." I 1 Pet., II., 13-25. 1 Tim.. II., 1-4. Eph., ' j V., 18. Acts, XVI., 13. 1 Pet., II., 1-12. I IVo/lnncrlnv .Tannnrv* Sth.?The Youncr. Prayer for special grace and wisdom for ;hose who are charged with their training; for u great increase in the number of earni ist Christian teachcrs in schools, colleges, ; ind universities; for more abundant spiritual , fruit from Sunday schools, and from organ' izations of young men and young women, i Eph., VI., 1-18. Psa.. CXIX., 1-16. Acts, ! XX., 28-38. Prov., VIII, IX. Col., III., . j 1-17. 2 Tim., I., 1-13. Joel, II., 28-29. ; ' Thursday, January Oth.?The Church at I Home. ; I That the church may be awakened to an ' appreciation of hei increased opportunities 1 ' and responsibilities for bringing the Gospel ! , to every home in cities, rural districts, and r , new settlements, and to our immigrant . 1 population. ' | Iaa., LXII., 1-1. Jno., I., 33-10; XVII., 1 20-23. Mark, II.,Z-o. ' Friday, January 10th.?The Church I Abroad. ! Prayer for missionaries; for those who are , preparing to enter the foreign work, and f that their number may be greatly increased; for native pastors and helpers; for mission. ary schools and colleges; for native churches 1 and converts, especially such as endure persecution for Christ's sake; for the suppres. sion of the opium traffic, the rum traffic, j and the slave trade; for the manifestation of I Christ as the promised Messiah to God's ancient people, Israel; for the quickening of nominal Christians; for the conversion of ' Mohommedans and Heathen. Rom.. XI. 2 Cor., III. Jer., XXXI., I11. and 31-40. Jno., IV., 3143. Matt., IX., 27-3S. 2 Cor., V., 8-21. Saturday, January 11th.?'Thanksgiving. "hiass!riM. spiritual and I temporal, public and private; for the main* ' tenance of peace among the nations; for 1 answers to prayer; for the progress of Christ's Kingdom: for a growing spirit of Christian love and co-operation; for the in! creasing number of those who have dedi! catcd themselves to the service of missions; ! for the privilege of being permitted thus | unitedly to lay our requests before God i during this Week of Prayer. IV*., CVII. 1 Sam.. II., 1-10. 1 Chron., I XXIX., 10-;.'>. Isa.. XL1. Eph., I. ltom. XII. r.sa.. ( XXXV. Jsundev.January 12th.?Subject of Sermona The Future Glory. Isa., II., 1-0. Dan., II., Terkbnce M.vorinE, a hod carrier in New York, fell from a fourth-story platform to the ground. He held on to his hod, but in falling turned so that his head was down. He fell into a 1 mortar bed but the hod broke the blow, i so that aside from a severe shaking up 1 and a good deal of lime in his eyes he was uninjured. Foreign engineers report that at . the present rate of sinking the northern coast of France will in a few centuries be completely submerged. V TEMPERANCE. i THE RIGHT SHALL WIN THE DAT. J Thro' the mists of night is shining fair and 1 clear a glorious star, 9 And the splendor of ita brightness, like a J beacon seen afar, Flashes out the cheering message o'er_ tha^H fields where workers are, That vict'ry is at hand. 'Tis the star that heralds morning after long and gloomy night; V 'Tis the star of prohibition, and its pore and steady light Guides the temp'ranee army onward to the^M battle-field in sight, Where vict'ry will be won. Oh. be brave of heart, my brothers, in the . battle lift your eye To the star whose ray of promise flashes < grandly forth on high, And our hearts shall gain such courage that the enemy will fly, And vict'ry will be ours. Think of home and loved ones, comrades, & when you face the desperate foo: For your boy and mine, my brothers, strife# a stroDg and telling blow; Shall we, can we, yield the battle ? by our Vr| homes and dear ones, no! \i be victory must De ours. tjtss ?Eben E. Rexford, in "Trumpet Note*4 PROHIBITION BT CONSTITUTION. In twenty States of the Union the Constf- *] tution contains a provision which absolutelyi :1 prohibits lotteries and gift enterprises, and no word is raised for repeal. Nor was any .1 word raised against their passage except l from those engaged in the lottery business. 1 Neither do we hear of any objection that It J is not a proper thing to go into the fund*- ' mental law of the State. The principle of i prohibition without compensation is thus ?e- I tablished.? National Advocate. ; ^ WATER THE ONE DRINK NEEDFUL. An interesting argument for the temper- ? ance advocates is apparently to be founa in ,' the fate of a large town in South Africa. The .? name of the place is Shoshong. It contained s jgi 20,000 people and was the center of a large { and prosperous trade. The only thine it ; lacked was water. So great was the suffering on account of the scarcity of water thai the town has been deserted by its entire pop- ^ ulation and a site for a new city selected oft j| the banks of the cla.ssic Limpopo, one h dred miles away. This is a fine qbjfrN yiW for the trmprrnnra water is aq^S^?*wreendttion"gf that agere- n -gatkrtrtJf^Euman beings which builds cities A and forms great societies, and that man, as j he sometimes tries to do, cannot live by rum t alone. The Rood people of Shoshong might ^ J have been liberally supplied with liquors; but 1 nevertheless they were finally forced to em- VI igrate to the bright and sparkling waters of the Limpopo.?Chicago Herald. ELI PERKINS ON KANSAS TEMPERANCE, i wj Editor Union Signal.?I send you good y news. I have just completed a tour of Sjlo- ] sas, and I have just time to tell you that " Kansas has full and complete temperance. The cry for re-submission is the last dying i wail of the whisky, poorhouse and jau interest. It will not succeed. Still there is a vast amount of lying about Kansas. I often hear the old worn-out blast from throats hoarse with run:*: "They's drinkin' mure whisky in j than ever before ?' I hear this cry all over Missouri where Intemperance prevails Not all over Missouri. for Missouri is growing in temperance, and two-thirds of the State, like Norway County,. . is for temperance. The same is true of Ken- '. tucky. Temperance is growing there. At. ') Petersburg, Ky., three distillers were on the lecture committee. When I asked them if ? could say a few words for temperance in my ^ : lecture, they said: "Yes, do so by all means." "But you ar? distillers," I said. "Yes," theysa'.., "we are distillers, but wo ' are for temperanci in Kentucky." "A distiller, and for temperance!" I ex- ' claimed. "Yes, sir. We want you to understand that we don't make this whisky for our Kentucky lx>ys; we make it to poison the Yankees and "the Irish!" But about the man who lies about Kansas. At Nevada, Mo., they had eight big saloons, 3000 people, seven policemen, a full^ poorhouse, and an overflowing jail. B "Call this selling whisky," they "why, you ought to go over to they're just pourin' it in over thar." I crossed tne line to Pittsburg, Elan., a new mining town with 10,000 people?a wonder- ; ful town only two years old. What did t cpof "Not. n. saIooti in town. Not a si en. v.' Everybody temperate. Miners paying Tor, _ their homes. Real estate advancing, and ? taxes next to nothing. To govern this 10,000 people, was only one little policeman with nothing to do. Not a pauper in the poorhouse: not one criminal in the jail. Still hero the few wicked whisky men who wanted to introduce poison in Pittsburg cried oat: 'They's seliin' more whisky in Kansas than ever before!" Everywhere I've been in Kansas?Topeka, w; Lawrence, Independence, Yates Center, Fre- , donia, Sedan, Cherryvale, Ellsworth and Emporia, I find no signs of bars and no signs of drinking. The good people all tell me tney have practical temperance. A whisky soaked dude screamed the old falsehood recently on the Topeka train, a boat more whisky being drunk in Kansas thaa j ever before. He was a commercial tra\ eler } for a cigar house. You never see a whisky commercial traveler in Kansas nowadays. When I got to Topeka, I said: "Now show us a saloon?show us a bar; show me one man drinking." "But I can get you a drink." "Canget me a drink!" I *aid, "so you can get men to steal chickens and horses. Laws against drinking are lived up to as well as .laws against stealing." "Come up to my room at 3 o'clock," ha said, "and I'll show you some beer." Well, I went to his room at 3 o'clock. When ? ' * - ?1?-J A.? ?i,;?f/v 1 goc tnere ne caueu a iwrwsr, nuupnou w him and sent him out. in about twenty minutes the porter returned with a bottle of beer done up m a paper. "How much did you pay the porter?" I asked. "Twenty-five cents." "How much did jou give for the beer?' "Twenty-five cents more." "Fifty cents in all for two small glasses of beer?" "Yes." "Why that would buy champagne in NewYork," I said. "Can you afford such prices ?fifty cents for two glasses of beer?" "On, no! I did not buy it to drink, I got it , to show you it could be done." "Then this is a dime museum you've brought me to," I said. "Why, this is not only practical prohibition, but it is high [ license, too I"?Eli Perkins. ^ TEMPERANCE NEWS AND NOT??r The United States consumed about 4,700,000 gallons of imported wines in 1888. Fifty-four saloons, it is stated, have been opened in Johnstown, Penn., since the flood. A Pittsburg distiller writes: "There is a . . large increase in the consumption of our ryes in the West." A St. Louis saloon keeper, angered at a man who had ordered and arank and refused to pay for several glasses of beer, killed him. A Boston paper is responsible for the state j merit mat mere were numcji for drunkenness during the past year in that city. Senator Plumb said recently: "It will be a long, cold day in Kansas when the people of that State go back on the policy of prohibition." The Police Commissioners of the city of Washington propose to limit the number of drinking-saloons of the city to four in a block. A Russian physician, named Portugaloflf, declares that strychnine is an infallible cure I for drunkenness administered in subcutaneous injections. Lady Henry Somei-set, who is an ardent temperance reformer, has given notice thaas the leases of her public house property in Reigate fall in, the premises will not be let again for similar purposes. ^ Joseph Cook says: "Alcohol is not only a * poison with special local affinity for the t?--1? .'i ? ? n*ifk a flaU.ltAAV I urum, UUb 10 19 tx puiauu niuu a. uou uw? barb?it cau only go in, it cannot be pulled out without tearing the flesh." A temperance society has been formed at Berlin under the patronage of members 61 * the Imperial family and the city aristocracy Members are described as 'knights of the Blue Cross."' The President is Colonel Von Knobelsdorf. The price of whisky has been reduced ten and fifteen cents a gallon during the past year. This is due to the Whisky Trust, and makes the poison even more accessible to j those who have already nearly reached th* j bottom of their fortunes. , ;