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r t GIVE A. KIND WORD. Do you know a heart that hungers For a word of love and cheer? There are many such about us, It may be that one is near. Look around you. If you find it Speak the word that's needed so, And your own heart may be strengthened By the help that you bestow. It may be that some one falters On the brink of sin and wrong, And a word from you might save him? Help to make the tempted strong. ?ook about you, 0 my brother. What a sin is yours and mine If we see that help is needed And we give no friendly sign. Never think kind words are wasted, Br^ad on waters cast are they. And it may be we shall find them Coming back to us. some day. Coming back when sorely needed, In a time of sore distress. So, my friend, let's give them freely; DV Gift and giver God will bless. BBBS ?Einn E. Rexford, in the Housewife. THE DOCTOR'S TRIAL. SSf Mrs. Chester had finished the tiny H stockings, and folding her hands, leaned back in her easy chair and fell to musing, ' perhaps over the conversation of the 9 morning, for, looking up a moment after 0 into the face of her brother-in-law, who 1 was turning over the evening paper, she [ 14why don't you marry, Harry? I V have been thinking over your string of H complaints, traceable to your bachelor i -condition." K/ - She almo?t started at the bitter scorn j f in her companion's look and tone as he | :auswered her: I '-Marry! Are you mocking me, Julia? S Who would marry me?" I. He rose as he spoke, and the movement gave emphasis to his words. His face, divested of its scornful look, was E not handsome, but lovely as a woman's. x Clustering curls of dark brown hair } fell over a high white forehead, and large E blue eyes, full of intelligence, were ?u ~ J ~ J i? i i J i I ^uiiucu uy ivug, tuiutv iusues, uuitvur than the curling1 hair. The features were perfectly chiseled; the straight nose, full lips and delicatc chin were almost childlike in their soft outlines; but glancing from the face to the figure you 'understood the cause of the bitter question he asked. From the effects of a fall when quite young, the spine was injured, and the figure nature had intended to bo slight Si' am* graceful was terribly deformed; one knee, too, was injured, and his gait was slow and halting. Tet, despite his deformity, Dr. Chester was in full practice as a physician, and beloved by all. His patients declared that his soft hand brought healing in its touch; his brother physicians spoke highly of his knowledge a;nd skill, and the children stretched out i heir arms to be taken into his, hushing their cries when his soft, musical voice met their ears, or his gentle, pitying face bent over them. For a moment Mrs. Chester was silent, then, laying her head on his arm, she said: "I did not mean to pain you, Harry; I i love you very dearly, my brother, and j see you so universally beloved that I j spoke only as I felt. I wish to see you happy, dear Harry, and I think you are too sensitive. With such a heart and mind as you can offer, any woman might be proud to call you husband." A soft, melancholy look crept oyer the doctor's face as his sister spoke; but he shook his head sadly as she ceased. "No woman shall have her life embittered by the care of such a poor cripple as I am, Julia. I can bear my sorrows alone. One o'clock. Where can Ralph be?" "Here," said Mr. Chester, entering the room. "You should not have waited for me, Julia." And he proceeded to remove his overcoat aud furs. "The care were detained by the snow storm." "Come,let's to supper," said his wife, after the greeting was over. "I sat up to sec that you had it, nice and hot. j tome, tlarry, you will join us. "Not to-night. Good-night." And the doctor went slowly out of the parlor. At the foot of the stairs his brother joined him. One could scarcely imagine a stronger contrast than the brothers. Harry, stunted, thin, and deformed: Ralph, tall, broad-shouldered, hearty and stroug. "You forget that I have come home, Harry." And he lifted his brother's slight form in his strong arms and carried him up the stairs. It was an old custom, for the many stairs the doctor had to mount in his professional duties tired him sadly, and made this last one at night positively painful. Harry was accustomed to this, yet that i night, after he received his brother's tender "good night," he fastened his door, and, bowing his head on his hands, ,V sobbed as a man sobs only in his cxtremest agony. "Marry! How could I ever dream of love with this crippled form, these tremblinsr limbs and this r>oor nale face? But I love her?love her with all the bitter agony of despair! And I have even thought she returned it?she, so bright, so full of life. Poor fool I, that look pity for love! Pity! It is only pity th^t makes her voice low and her eyes dim for me. It is pity that checks her dancing step and merry laugh?for me. She pities me, and I ?I love her with all the wealth of a man's whole heart, touched for the first time." The clock in the distant steeple rung out clearly in the frosty night the hours of two, three and four, and still the doctor sat with his head bowed in his hands, communing with his own heart. Morning's dawn still found him in the chair, but the faint light fell upon his upturned face, closed eyes and motionless form. The agony of trial was over, his resolve taken, and he slept. Kc awoke , calm and strong in his resolution to con- ! ouerhis love, or, failing in that, to bury ! it silently and deeply iu t:;e most secret ' recesses of his heart. The same bright sun that shone on the | pure, placid face of the sleeping cripple looked in at another window upon a different picture. .Miss Lily Morton was ; standing at her bed-room window look- : ing at the soft, white mantle of snow which had fallen during the night. The tiny bare feet that sunk into the rich carpet were white as the snow outside, I aud the little figure was slender and gracefui. Miss Lily, though a belle and an heir- . esa, was no.sluggard, and the first rays of j the sun on that bright winter's morning j drove sleep trom her eyes, and she Sprang -out of bed. ; The face that pressed the window-pane was fair, with laughing blue eyes,bright rosy cheeks and pretty features; and the tangled masses of brown curls that fell over the fair, rounded shoulders were rich in color aud profuse in their waxy luxuriance. Lily had a habit when alone of thinking aloud, or rather, of talking to herself. and as she stood there, she said, softly: "How white and pure it looks! I love the snow. I wonder if mother will let me go out to-night. She is so careful of me! It is so funny, too, for her to worry so, when I am never sick; I suppose it's because poor si3ter Annie died of consumption. Oh, how cold it is!" And having arrived at this conclusion, she turned from the window and proceeded to dress herself for breakfast. She was a coquettish little beauty, this heroine of mine, aud her admirers were almost without number, for she was not only gay, bewitching and beautiful, but the only living child of a wealthy merchant. Her conquests in society, far from making her proud or vain, seemed forgotten the moment she entered her aw" Virvmn* inrl Vipr rhr?nrr frav vnu uwiuv,, ..v. j 0 w . songs and happy face were truly the lights of that stately house. Her mother was an invalid, suffering froai a chronic complaint that kept her in her room years iu and out, so Lily was the housekeeper. The servants followed her with their eyes as she flitted to and fro in the big house, calling her their pretty little sunbeam, and many were ths blessings whispered for her. It was not in the gay circle where she reigned as a belle that Dr. Chester learned to love Lilly Morton; it was in the pretty, cheerful room where her gentle, suffering mother claimed his professional care. Day after day he found her there, making her mother's life bright in defiance of pain, by loving, tender care and joyous, happy conversation. An hour would often fly by uuheeded by the doctor, as he sat beside the invalid's couch and listened to the sweet voice that made such music to his heart. He did not know, but he guessed, whose gentle pity placed the easy chair ready for his poor crippled form, and the inmost core on his heart thrilled to the low voice that greeted him, and the touch of the soft hand that led him to his seat. It was the morning of the bright winter's day after the night of the struggle, and Lily sat beside her mother, waiting for the doctor's visit. Her bright blue morning robe suited well her glowing * * * * ? -- -1- 1 _ J beauty, and tne ntue nanas nvaieu m whiteness the soft wool they were knitting into pretty shapes. The doctor's chair stood ready for him; but the long morning passed, and he did not come. Late in the afternoon he called, staying only long enough to attend to his patient, and then, for the first time, declined his seat, bowed and left the house. Weeks passed, and still these hurried visits were all that he paid; but the task told fearfully upon him. The pale cheek grew paler, and the bent form drooped more and more, Finally the day passed and he did not come, but news camc that Dr. Chester was ill and not ijble to leave his bed. Mrs. Morton lay on her couch, thinking of "poor Harry," as she always called him, when Lily stole softly to her side. "Mother!" and the once laughing voice was now so low and full of sadness, and Mrs. Morton noticed that her cheek was unusually pale?"I am going to see Mrs. Chester. I?I want to inquire if the doctor is very ill." She stopped, for her voice was chokcd and her eyes were full of tears. "Why, Lily 1 Lily, my child, what ails you?" "Oh, mother, mother!" sobbed Lily, "I was always afraid be would die, he is so good, so learned, so different from other men. He has grown so pallid lately, and his face is so sad! Oh, mother, what shall I do if he dies?" Mrs. Morton was utterly amazed. She saw how deep her daughter's love was for this young cripple, and her motherheart was troubled, for the doctor was poor in worldly goods, besides being a cripple, and then he had given no token of love, spoken no word to her or the little sobbing beauty beside her, indicative of preference for her above other women. But, like a wise women, sne concluded to treat the passion tenderly, and trust to time for its cure. "You may go, certainly, Lily," she said. "Give my love to Mrs. Chester, and a3k if there is anything I can do for them." Again the bright sunlight streamed into the chamber of the young physician. The cheek that lay. upon the snowy pillows of the bed mocked their whiteness, and the thin hands deemed almost transparent in the bright light. The doctor's eyes were closed, but he did not sleep. Light steps crossed the room, and he heard his sister's voice. "Come in, Lily; he is asleep." Lily! His heart gave a sudden throb, but he lay still; then the sweet voice he loved fell on his ear. "Stay here a minute, Lily," said Mrs. Chester, "till I send Sarah for some medicine I shall want to-night." They were alone together. The voice he loved grew trembling in its own emotion as she murmured: "O God! spare his life! How can I live if he dies?" "Lily: She did not start? only bent over him. "I am here." "Lily, darling! My Lily! Oh, Lily! can you love me?me, stunted, cripple " "Hush! You must not talk so." "Can you be my wife, Lily?" "Your wife? I am not worthy. You are so good?so far above me. Your wife! Oh, Harry! only live, and I will prove to you how deeply I love you." There was not a loud word?only low, almc^t whispered tones, but she bent over him nearer, and kissed his broad, white forehead, and the crippled physician knew that for his heart and mind she loved him, and he bad found his wife. ?New York News. Indians Keeping Kachelors' Hall. The Portland Oregonian says: "Nearly every able-bodied Indian woman of the Umatilla tribe has left her wigwam and gone on a hunt for sheep pelts, which they remove from dead sheep, bring to towu and sell. The braves arc compelled to lower their dignity by cooking their own ni'ials, and mourn the loss of their better halves." Of the Same Mind. Mrs. Dryson (just returned from church)?"What a weighty discourse that was of the minister's this morning." Mr. Dryson?"Yes, my dear, it struck me as being rather heavy." REV. DR. TALMAGE. THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Subject: "Christ the Surgeon.1' Text: "The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk\ the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear."?Matthew xi.. 5. "Doctor," I said to a distinguished surgeon, "do you not get worn out with constantly seeing so many wounds and broken bones and distortions of th? human body?' "Oh, no," he answered; "all that is overcome by my joy in curing them." A sublimer or more merciful art never came down from heaven than the art of surgery. Catastrcpbe and disease entered the earth so early that one of the first wants of the world was a doctor. Our crippled and agonized human race called for surgeon and family physician for many years before they came. The first surgeons who answered this call were ministers of religion, namely, the Egyptian priests. And wnat a grana tuingu au cierg/mcu were also doctors, all D. D.'s were M. D.'s, for there are so many cases where body and soul need treatment at the same time, consolation and medicine, theology and therapeutics. As the first surgeons of the world were also ministers of raligion, may these two professions always be in full sympathy 1 But under what disadvantages the early surgeons worked, from the fact that the dissection of the human body was forbidden, first by the pagans and then by the early Christians! Apes, being the brutes most like the human race, were dissected, but no human body might be unfolded for physiological and anatomical exploration, and the surgeons had to guess what was inside the temple by looking at the outside of it. If they failed in any surgical operation they were persecuted and driven out of the city, as was Arehagathus because of his bold but unsuccessful attempt to save a patient. But the world from the very beginning kept calling for surgeons, and their first skill is spoken of in Genesis, where they employed their art for the incisions of a sacred rite, God making surgery the predecessor of baptism; and we see it again in II King3, where Ahaziah, the monarch, stepped on some cracked lattice work in the palace and it broke, and he fell from the upper to the lower floor, and he was so hurt tnat he sent to the village of Ekron for aid; and Esculapius, who wrought such wonders of surgery that he was deified, aud temples were built for his worship at Pergamos; and Epidaurus and rodelirius introduced for the relief of the world phlebotomv: and Damocedes cured the dislocated anlcUH>f King Darius and the cancer of his queen; and Hippocrates put successful hand on fractures and introduced amputation; and Praxagoras removed obstructions; and Herophilus began dissection; and Erasistratus removed tumors; and Celsus, the Roman surgeon, removed cataract from the eye and used the Spanish fly; and Heliodorusarrested disease of the throat; and Alexander, of Tralles, treated the eye; and Rhazas cauterized for the prevention of hydrophobia, and Percival Pott came to combat diseases of the spine; and in our own century we have had a Roux and a Larray in France, an Astley Cooper and an Abernethy in Great Britain, and a Valentine Mott and Willard Parker and Samuel D. Gross in America, and a galaxy of living surgeons as brilliant as their predecessors. What might v progress in the baffling of disease since the crippled and sick of ancient cities were laid along the streets, that people who had ever been hurt or disordered in the same way might suggest what had better be done for the patients; and the priests of olden time, who were constantly suffering from colds received in walking barefoot over the temple pavements, had to prescribe for themselves, and fractures were considered so far beyond all human cure that instead of calling in the surgeons the people only invoked the gods! But notwithstanding all the surgical and medical skill of the world, with what tenacity the old diseases hang on to the human race, and most of them are thousands of years old, and in our Bibles we read of them: the carbuncles of Job and Hezekiah; the palpitation of the heart spoken of in Deuteronomy: the sunstroke of a child carried from the fields of Shunem, crying: "3Iy head! my head I" KiDg Asa's disease of the feet, which was uothing but gout; defection of teeth, that called For dental surgery, the skill of which, quite equal to anything modern, is still seen in the filled molars of the unrolled Egyptian mummies; the ophthalmia caused by the juice of the newly ripe fig, leaving the people blind at the roadside; epilepsy, as in the case of the young man often falling into the fire, and oft into the water; hypochondria, as of Nebuchaduezzar, who imagined himself an ox, and going out to the fields to pasture; the withered hand, which in Bible times, as now, came from the destruction of the main artery, or from paralysis of the chief nerve; the wounds of the man whom the thieves left for dead on the road to Jericho, and whom the good Samaritan nursed, pouring in oil and wine?wine to clease the wound and oil to soothe it. Thank God for what surgery has done for the alleviation and cure of human suffering 1 But the world wanted a surgery without pain. Drs. Parre and Hickman and Simpson and Warner and Jackson, with their Mnniiin nam>\ An anii Wl'fll amazing ^ciiiU3t taiua uuu ntvu vuvu anaesthetics benumbed the patient with narcotics and ethers as the ancients did with hasheesh and mandrake, and quieted him for a while, but at the return of consciousness distress returned. The world has never seen but one surgeon who could straighten the crooked limb, cure the blind eye or reconstruct the drum of a soundless ear or reduce a dropsy, without any pain at the time, w any pain after, and that surgeon was Je3us Christ, the mightiest, grandest, gentlest and most sympathetic surgeon the world ever saw or ever will see; and He deserves the confidence and love and worship and hosanna of all the earth and hallelujahs of ail heaven. "The blind receive their sight and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deafhear." I notice this Surgeon had a fondness for chronic cases. Many a surgeon, when he has bad a patent brought to him, has said: "Why was not this attended to five yeara ago? You bring him to me after all power of recuperation is gong. You have waited until there is a comblete contraction of the musclos, and false ligatures are formed, and ossification has taken place. It ought to have been attended to long ago." But Christ the Surgeon seemed to prefer inveterate cases. One was a hemorrhage of twelve years, and He stoDDed it. Another was a curvature of eighteen years, and He straightened it. Another was a cripple of thirty-sight years,and he walked out well. The eighteen-year patient was a woman bent almost double. If you could call a convention of all the surgeons of all the centuries, their combined skill could not cure that body bo drawn out of shape. Perhaps they might stop it from getting any worse, perhaps they might contrive braces by which she might be made more comfortable, but it is, humanly speaking, incurable. Yet this divine Surgeon put both His hands on her. and from that doubled up posture she began to rise, and the empurpled face began to take on a healthier hue, and the muscles, bjgan t<? relaj from theij* rigidity, and the spinal column began to adjust itself, and the cords of the neck began to be more supple, and the eyes, that could see only the ground before, now looked into the face of Christ with gratitude, and up toward heaven in transport. Straight 1 After eighteen weary and exhaustive years, straight! The poise, the gracefulness, the beauty of healthy womanhood reinstated. The thirty-eight years' case was a man who lay on a mattress near the mineral baths at Jerusalem. There were five apartments irnro Vtrnu flrhf*. cr* thrtt. ) n uoic jaiuu pcvp?v ? w vi ???? they could get the advantage of these mineral baths. The stone basin of the bath is still visible, although the waters have disappeared, probably through some convulsion i of nature, the bath, one hundred and twenty I feet long, forty feet wide and eight feet | deep. Ah, poor man, if you have been latne i and helpless thirty-eight-years, that mineral Bath cannot restore you. Why. thirty-sight ! vears is more than the average of I human life! Nothing but the grave I will cure you. But Christ the Surgeon walks along these baths, and I have no doubt passes by some patients who have been only six months disordered, or a year, or five years, and comes to the mattress of the man who had been nearly four decades helpless, and to this thirty-sight years' invalid said: "Wilt thou bo mado whole?" The question asked, not because the Surgeon did not understand the protractedness, the desperatoness, of the case, but to evoke the man's pathetic narrative. "Wilt thou be made whole?" "Would you like to get well?" "Oh, yesl" says the man, "that is what I came to these mineral baths for; I have tried everything. All the surgeons hare failed, and all therpn^^^^^^^^roved valuneless,and I have got wors9 and worse, and I can neither move hand or foot or head. Oh, if I could onlv be free from this pain of thirty-eight years?' Christ the Surgeon could not stand that. Bending over the man on the mattress, and in a voice tender with all sympathy, but strong with all omnipotence,He says, -'Rise!" And the invalid instantly scrambles to his knees, and then puts out his right foot, thea his left foot, and then stood upright as though he had never been prostrated. While he stands looking at the Doctor with a joy too much to hold, the Doctor says: "Shoulder this mattress! for you are not only well enough to walk, but well enough to work, and start out from these mineral baths. Take up thy bed and walk!" Oh, what a Surgeon | for chronir, cases then, and for chronic cases : now! This is not applicable so much to those who are only a little hurt of sin and only for a short time, but to those prostrated of sin twelve years, eighteen years, thirty-eight years. Here is a Surgeon able to give Immortal health. "Oh, you say, "I am so j completely overthrown and trampled down I of sin that I cannot rise." Are you flatter | down than this patient at the mineral baths? No. Then rise. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the Surgeon who offers vou His right hand of help, I bid the9 rise. So cases of acute sin, but of chronic sin?those who have not prayed for thirty-eight yeare, tho^o who have not been to church for thirty-eight Eears, those who have been gamblers, or bertines, or thieves, or outlaws, or blasphemers, or infidels, or atheists, or all these together, for thirty-eight years. A Christ for exigencies! A Christ for a dead lift 1 A Burgeon who never loses a easel .Jn speaking of Christ as a surgeon, I must consider Him as an oculist, or eye doctor, and an aurist, or ear doctor. Wa3 there ever such 1,1 ?"ETrk Twrna MllorlV | anotaar OLiuiour xaa? uo >^ y*. ??j sorry for the blind folks, I take from the fact that the most of His works was with the diseased optic nerves. I have not time to count up the number of blind psople mentioned who got His cure. Two blind men in one | house, also one who was born blind; so that it was not removal of a visual obstruction, but the creation of the cornea, and ciliary muscle, and crystalline lens, and retina, I and optic nerve, and tear gland; also the blind man of Bethsaida, cured by the saliva which the Surgeon took from the tip of His | own tongue and put upon the eyelids ; also i two blind men who sat by the wayside. In our civilized lauds we have blindness enough, the ratio fearfully increasing, according to the statement of Boston and New York and Philadelphia oculists, because of the reading of morning and evening newspapers on the jolting cars by the multitudes who live out of the city and come in to business. But in the lands where this Divine Surgeon operated, the cases of blindness were multi- I plied beyond everything by the particles of sand floating in the air, and the night dews falling on the eyelids of those who slept on the top of their houses; and in some of these lands it is estimated that twenty out of a hundred people are totally blind. Amid all that crowd of visionless people, what work tor an oculist! And I do not believe that more than one out of a hundred of that Surgeon's cures were reported. He went up and down among those people who were feeling slowly their way by staff, or led by the hand of man or rope of dog, and introducing them to the faces of their own household, to the sunrise and the sunset, and the evening star. He just ran His hand over the expressionless face- and the shutters of both windows were swung open, and the restored went home, crying: "I seel I see! Thank God, I see!" That is the oculist we all need. Till H? touches our eyes we are blind. Yea, we were born blind. By nature we sea things wrong if we see them at all. Our best eternal interests are put before us, and we cannot see them. The glories of a loving and pardoning Christ are projected, and we do not behold them. Or wo have a defective sight which makes the thines of this world larger than tne tilings ot tue iuture, time Digger than eternity. Or we are color blind and cannot see the difference between the blackness of darkness forever and the roseate morning of an everlasting day. But Christ the Surgeon comes in, ana though we shrink back, afraid to have Him touch us, yet He puts His fingers on the closed eyelids of the soul, and miduight becomes mid-noon; and we understand something of the joy of the young man of the Bible, who, though he had never before been able to see his hand bofore his face, now, by the touch of Christ, had two headlights kindled under his brow, cried out in language that confounded the jeering crowd who were deriding the Christ that had effected the cure, and wanted to make Him out a bad man: "Whether He be a sinner ! or no, I know not; one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see." But this Surgeon was just as wonderful as an aurist. Very few people have two good ears. Nine out of ten people are particular to get on this or that side of you when they sit or walk or ride with you, because they have one disabled ear. Many have both ears damaged, and what with the constant racket of our great cities, and the catarrhal troubles that sweep through the land, it is ' 4-1, ? 4- fUora ontr MPQ ? : I ClIittl AtlUlC l/UUIs IfUUO ai u uuj gvww w.. u all. Most wonderful instrument is the human ear. It is harp and drum and telegraph and telephone and whispering gallery all in one. So delicate and wondrous is its construction thatrthe most difficult of all things to reconstruct is the auditory apparatus. The mightiest of scientists have put their skill to its retuning, and sometimes they stop the progress of its decadence, or remove temporary obstructions, but not more than one really deaf ear out of a hundred thousand is ever cured. It took a God to make the ear, and it takes a God to mend it. That makes me curious to see how Christ the Surgeon succeeds as an aurist. We are told of only two cases He operated on as an ear surgeon. His friend Peter, naturally high tempered, saw Christ insulted by a man by the name of llalchus, and Peter let his sword fly, aiming at the man's head, but the sword slipped and hewed off the outside ear, and our Surgeon touched the laceration and another ear blcomed in the place of the one that had been slashed away. But it is not the outside ear that hears. That is only a funnel for gathering sound and pouring it into the hidden and more elaborate ear. On the beach of Lake Galilee our Surgeon found a man deaf and dumb. The patient dwelt in perpetual silence, and was speechless. He could not hear a note of music or a clap of thunder, Hecoul<i not call father or mother or wife or children by name. I What-, nnwpr ran waken that dull tvmpanum or reaCu that caain of smail bones or revive that auditory nerve or open the gate between the brain and the outside world ? The Sur' geon put His fingers in the deaf ears and agitated them, and kept on agitating them until the vibration gave vital energy to all the dead parts, and they responded, and when our Surgeon withdrew His fingers from the ears, the two funnels of sound were clear for all sweet voices of music and friendship. For the first time in his life ho heard the aash of the waves of Galilee. Through the desert of painful silence had been built a king's highway of resonance and acclamation. But yet he was dumb. No word had ever leaped over his lip. Speech was chained under his tongue. Vocalization and accentuation were to nim an impossibility. He could express neither love nor indignation nor worship. Our Surgeon, having unbarred his ear, will now inell | the shackle of his tongue. Tlio Surgeon will I use tlie same liniment or salve that He used on two occasions for the (jure of blind people, namely, the moisture of His own mouth. The application is made. And lo, the rigidity ok the dumb tongue is relaxed, and between the | tongue and teeth were born a whole vocabuI lary, and words flew into expression. He not *? ' ' 1 * '? 4-11?J hie | ODiy UbHIU UUl UC KVlivCU. UUD ^aw w* ! body swung in to let sound enter, and the J other gate swung oijt to. let sound depart. , Why is it that while other surgeons used knives and forceps and probes and spectro{ scopes, this Surgeon used only the ointment of His own lips? To show that all the curative power we ever feel comes straight from Christ. And if He touches us not, we shall be deaf as a rock and dumb as a tomb. Oh, thou greatest of all aurists, compel us to heal and help us to speak! But what were the Surgeon's fees for all these cures of eyes and ears and tongues and wit hered hands aud crooked bucks? The skill and the painlessness of the operations were worth hundreds and thousands of dollars. Do not think that the cases He took were all moneyless. Did He not treat the nobleman's *>n? Did He not doctor the ruler's daughter? Did He not effect a cure in the house of a centurion of great wealth, who had out of his own pocket built a synagogue? They would have paid Him large fees if He bad demanded them, and there were hundreds of wealthy people in Jerusalem, and among the merchant castles along Lake Tiberias, who would have given this Surgeon houses and lands and all they had for such cures as He could effect. For critical cases in our time great surgeons have received a thousand dollars, five thousand dollars, and, in one ca?e I know of, fifty thousand dollars, but the Surgeon of whom I speak received not a shekel, not a penny, not a farthinj. In His whola earthly life, we know of His having had but sixty-two and a half cents. When His taxes were due, by His omniscience He knew of a fish in the sea which had swallowed a piece of silver money, as fish are apt to swallow anything bright, and He sent Peter with a hook which brought up that fish, and from its mouth was extracted a Roman stater, or sixty-two and a half cents, the only money He ever had; and that He paid out for taxes. This great Surgeon of all the centuries gave all His services then, and offers all His services now, free of charge. "Without money and without price" you may spiritually have your blind eyes opened, and your deaf ears unbarred, and your dumb tongues loosened, and your wounds healed, and your soul saved. If Christian people get "hurt of body, mind or soul, let them remember that surgery is apt to hurt, but it cures, and you can afford present pain for future glory. Beside that, there are powerful anaesthetics in the divine promises that soothe and alleviate. No ether or chloroform or cocaine ever made one so superior to distress as a few drop3 of that magnificent anodyne: "All things work together for good to those who love God;'' "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometn in the morning." What a grand thing for our poor human race when this Surgeon shall have completed the treatment of all the world's wounds! The day will come when there will be no moronospicaisiior cnero win oe uo more sick, and no more eye and ear infirmaries, for there will be no more blind or deaf, and no more deserts, for the round earth shall be brought under arboriculture, and no more blizzards or sunstrokes, for the atm03ohere will be expurgated of scorch and chill, and no more war, for the swords shall come out of the foundry bent into pruning hooks. While in the heavenly country we shall see those who were the victims of accident or malformation, or hereditary ills on earth, becomes the athletes in elysian fields. Who is that man with such brilliant eyes, close before the throne? Why, that is the man who, near Jericho, was blind, and our Surgeon cured his ophthalmia! Who is that erect and graceful and queenly woman before the throne? That was the one whom our Surgeon found bent almost double, and could in no wise lift up herself, and He made h9r straight. Who is that listening with such rapture to the music of heaven, solo melting into chorus, cymbal responding to trumpet, and then himself joining in the anthem? Why, that is the man whom our Surgeon found deaf and dumb on the beach of Galilee, and by two touches opened ear gate and mouth gate. Who is that around whom the crowds are gathering with admiring look and thanksgiving, and cries of "Oh, what He did forme! Oh, what He did for my family! Oh, what He did for the world I" That is the Surgeon of all the centuries, the Oculist, the Aurist, the Emancipator, the Saviour. No pav He took on earth. Come, now, and let all heaven pay Him with worship that shall never end, and a love that shall never die. On His head be all the crowns! In His hands be all the scepters! and at His feet be all the worlds! CUBIOUS FACTS. New Orleans boasts the largest custom house in the world. There is a girl in France who has eaten nothing for nine years. Before the Revolution the Virginia planter raised nothing but tobacco and maize. T. Burweil Green, of Washington, Ga., has a biscuit that was baked at Manassas Junction in 1861. Recent investigations have disclosed the fact that the people Of Great Britain swallow over 5,500,000 pills daily. The biological school of the University of Pennsylvania boasts of a herbarium of 50,000 botanical specimens. Some enterprising Chicagoans have secured John Brown's old fort at Harper's Ferry, Va., and will transplant it to that city. Mrs. Bornemann, of North Passaic, N. J., has brought suit against John Parnell for painting the legs of her rooster green. "Garden snails wanted; one peck," is the advertisement of a New York man, who says he wants the snails for medicinal uses. The table upon which Oliver Cromwell | signed the death warrant of Charles I J was recently sold to a London antiquary for *>71U. A colony of bees, in a normal condition, consists of about 80,000 workers, or female bees, several thousand drones and a queen. Coffee was introduced into England in 1611, and the first coffee-house in England was kept by a Hebrew named Jacobs, at Oxford, in 1650. An educated and accomplished young woman in Michigan has split twenty cords of wood with her own hands and neatly piled it up during the past winter. At a sale of Chinese porcelain in New York recently a very small rouge box, less than two inches in diameter, was sold for $150. Its price was gained by its delicate peach-blow tint. ^ Ll.J 1 4.1... .Nevada catnemen are trouoieu uy u-.i cruel trait of the magpie which leads it to pick out tbe eyes of cattle. The spectacle of living animals with their eyes picked out is said to be a common occurrence. "Wax i3 produced by the bee3 eating honey, and then hanging in clusters in the hives as lazily as possible. The wax appears on their backs. Other bees take it off and manipulate it into combs. In the time of the conquest of Peru by Pizzaro in 1534, the only domesticated animal found among the Peruvians was the llama, which served the inhabitants of the country the same purpose that the reiudeer does the Laplander. The production of gold in California began in 1848, the yield that year being $9,000,000; in the year following $40,000,000, and ?50,000,000 in 1850. The total gold product of that State to date is estimated at $1,125,000,000. Tbe bamboo does not blossom until it attains its thirtieth year, when it procoarl nmfIIcnl V find >.hf>n flif-5 Tt is said that a famine was prevented in India in 1812 by the sudden flowering of the bamboos, when 50,000 people resorted to the jungles to gather the seed for food. No one knows w*io invented or made the first umbrella. They are figured iu the carving3 at Persepolis, and old chinatfarc' shows tne Chinese shaded by them. When first introduced into England by Jonas Ilanway, about 1776, the hackney coachmen and chairmen raised a great clamor agaiust them, thinking that they would ruin their business. Central Asian Singers. The Russian General Annenkoff?who, it seems, is practised in the art of music as well as in that of war?has collected a curious choir of seventy natives of Turkestan, Northern Afghanistan and Bokhara, which, under the direction of u famous Asiatic singer, boasting the utterly unpronounceable name of Ak-Jouchlai-Ogli, proposes to give choral concerts at St. Petersburg and other European capitals, in order to raise funds to found schools and hospitals in Russia's new Asiatic dominions. If they ever reach England, amateurs will be able to gain auricular experience of the Eastern musical scale.?London News. . i reimous^tdingtii THE IDEAL COUNTRY. j Never a soul to care awaketh; Never a plaint of woe is heard; Never a moan from heart that breaketh, Or cry of a wounded bird. ^ Never a child its mother mis3es; Never white hands o'er a still heart laid; Never is dashed a cup of blisses, Or a debt of love unpaid. Never a head with pain is throbbing; No eves grow heavy with sea-salt tears; Never a voice is hoarse with sobbing, Of a soul beset with fears. Never a storm that fair land sweepeth; Never doth frost its flowers blignt; And every flock its loved lambs keepeth, Where gathers no chill of night. No shoulder stoopeth its burden under; No hearts grow careless, estranged and cold, No clasping hands shall drop asunder, Nor youthful forms grow old. Blest country, fairer than mortal telling! Its wondrous pleasures like visions seem, And yet its hope in our hearts indwelling, Is the sum of our hope and dream. We ne'er shall find it in long endeavor, By journeying east, or journeying west; Ana if we are worthy to find it ever? Its Ruler, He knoweth best! ?Lillian Grey. MAKE SINNERS UNCOMFORTABLE. It is not enough to attract, to draw, to amuse, to please. The Holy Spirit is sent to convict the world of sin and righteousness and of judgment, and if we are to do effective work for God, we must labor on the same lines, and work in harmony with the Holy Ghost. There may be many who prophesy smooth things, and'say "peace, peace," to those who are living in sin, regardless of the warnings of God's law and neglecting the ereat salvation, ifuch persons are not likely to be convinced of sin and rendered uncomfortable in their sins by such preaching. The watchmen who see the sword coming, must warn them of their danger. They need the trumpet of the law to be blown in their ears, and the fear of the Lord before them, by men who know what God has spoken and are not afraid to repeat it; and the wrath to come unreservedly proclaimed, that they may be arousea from their sleep of death, and run like Bunyan's pilgrim from the city of destruction, before the storm of wrath and judgment snail oury t in ruins.?The Christian. A CONVERTED ATHEIST'S TEITIMONY. Mhegard, professor of philosophy in the university of Copenhagen, has until recently been the apostle of atheism in his country. He has, says the Htmeur Vaudois. just putlished a second edition of one of his works, and this is what he says in the introduction: "The experience of life, its sufferings and griefs, have shaken my soul, and have broken the foundation upon which I formerly thought I could build. Full of faith in the sufficiency of science, I thought to have found it In a sure refuge from all the contingencies of life. This illusion is vanished; when the tempest came which plunged me in sorrow, the moorings, the cable of science broke like thread. Then 1 seized upcn which many before me have laid hold of. I sought and found peace in God. Since then I have certainly not abandoned science, but I have assigned to it another place in my life." Happy are they who learn to build upon a sure foundation before the final storm descends, when the hail shall sweep away the refuges of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-places of infidelity and unbelief. DEAD CR ALIVE. "We heard of a man who was absent from * - a i s ? j tt: Home ana was reponeu aa ueau. xua estate was administered and his property was divided, when all at once to the surprise, and possible disgust of some, the supposed dead man turned up alive and well, and at once set about demanding his rights and reclaiming his property.. There are some people connected with the Church of Christ, who have professed to be dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord; who have been buried with Christ by baptism into death; and yet the first thing we Know they are found again in their old haunts, surrounded by their old associates, looking after their own interests, and act ng as if they belonged entirely to this world, and haa no interest in the world to come. It is very well for persons to be dead and buried?dead unto sin, and "buried with Christ, by baptism into death," in token of that death; but when they have passed through this experience we do not want to see them around again as spry and lively as ever, mingling in all their former worldly pursuits, and "living their old life as if it had never known a break or interruption. Death means something; "therefore reckon ye yourselves dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."?The Chriitian. "Sl'.Y, STAJiD TIIUl' SflLL. There are certain items of history or tradition which seem to militate 3gainst Holy Writ; these skeptics receive readily and remember long. Of ten thousand facts of a different description, they treasure none. They seem not to hear, or tc understand slowly, or forget very soon. If you will go to that opposer of Christianity, who appeals loudly to the Chinese chronology, and ask him a few questions, you will find that part of Asiatic history with which he is utterly unacquainted. Ask him what he thinks" when the Chinese speak of Yao, their king, declaring, that in his reign, the sun stood still so long above the horizon, that it was feared the world would have been set on fire; and fixes the reign of Yao at a given date, which corresponds with the age of Joshua, the son of Nun. You will find, in nine cases out of 10, the objector knows nothing of that part of Chine; e record. Of the Bible, and of ancient literature connected with the Bible, he is uninformed; the cause is his appetite for darkness iather than light. The Latin poet, Ovid, amuses the schoolboy greatly, in his fanciful narrative of Phwton's chariot. This heathen author tells us, that a day was once lost; and that the earth was in great danger from the intense heat of an unusual sun. It is true, that in attempting to account for this incident of peril and wonder, the writer, as is his custom at all times, consulted only his imagination, and clothed it all with an active fancv. But our notice is somewhat attracted, whtfli we find him mention Phaeton, who was a Canaanitish prince, and learn that the fable originated with the Pho>nicians, the same people whom Joshua fought. If you ask an unbeliever of these incidents, or of the common tradition with early nations, that a day was lost about the time when the volume of truth informs us that ''the sun hasted not to go down for the space of a whole day," you will find that he had never thought on these points:?they are not of the character that he is inclined to notice.?Dr. David Xelson. There is many a Christian who feels the irksomenesj cf the duties of life, and feels his spirit rev?ltins from them, Iv get ud every morning with a firm resolve to find pleasure in those duties, and to do them well, aiiu finish the work which God has given us to do,?that is to drink Christ's cup. We too often become impatient for results. We want the reaping immediately upon the sowing; but grace takes time in bringing about ihe harvesting. Wc must sow in patience, beside all waters, and at j the appointed period conversions and sanctitirations will occur. As God's workeis, we J ran artbrd to await spiritual developments, j - [The Presbvterian. k i < Qcken* Marghebita of Italy re- ] : 1-1.1 f\.. . | ceives some cuiious letters. v/ue cpis- i tie from this country asked her to semi to tlio writer a complete collection of Italian postage-stamps. Another American requests her Majesty to forward one of her cast-off jewels. To an interviewer who visited liim recently, Mr. Gladstone made the astonishing statement that if the first line of any page in Homer was given to him as a cue he could repeat the entire page, word for word, in the original Greek. SABBATH SCHOOL. [?; rEHVA.TIOX.VL LESSON FOH MAY 11. ^ Lesson Text: "Feeding the Multitude," Luke ix., 10-17?Golden Text: John vi.. 35? ' -v Commentary. The sending forth of the twelve, and tho beheadiug of John tho Baptist, briefly referred to in tho opening verses of this chapter, are more fullyrecoivled by Matthew and Mark. In connection wit'i the first, it is worthy of Dote that Ho had just taught them o pray that the Lord of th9 harvest would send forth laborers into His harvest; then He called the twelve and sent them forth to answer their own prayers. When we pray let us remember that God expects us to be willing to be used by Him in answering our prayers. 10. "And the apostles, when they were returned, told Him all that they had done." Mark says that thay told Him all things. both what they had done aud what they had taught. He had sent them forth to preach that the k ingdom was at band and to Heal the sick. He had sent them only to Israel, forbidding them to go either to Gentiles or Samaritans (Matt, x., 5-S); so that the kingdom they preached must have bean the kingdom promised to David and spoken of by au the prophets, which would make a restored Israel with Jehovah dwelling in their midst, a center of blessing to all the world. The miracles of healing which accompanied their preaching were proofs that tho Messiah of the prophets haa actually comc (Isa. xxxv., 5, 6). "And He took them, and went aside pri- ? vately." There were so many coming and going that they had no leisure oven to eat, and He took them aside to rest awhile (Mark vi., 21). "W hile we continue in these mvrtal bodies we cannot work unceasingly, but the time will come when we shall be able to servo unweariedly (Rev. vii., 15). 11. "'And the people, when thoy knew it, followed Him/' Johu says that Jcaua crossed the Sea of Galilee, and tho people followed J because they saw His miracles. Matthew and j Mark say that Jesus went by ship, and that the people followed on foot and outwent Him. In the boat He would be on hour or two alono with His disciples, and thoy would have a little rest; but what a busy life He > lived. "And He received them." Matthew and Mark both say that He was moved with com passion toward them. jmo pity ior mm sen, but full of pity for these sheep without a shepherd, even though He knew their mo* tives in following Him. "And spake unto them of tho kingdom of God, and healed them that bad needof healing." Both body and soul Ho attended to, for He is a Saviour for both, and the time will come when every saved soul shall have a redeemed body in which to dwell. 12. "Send the multitude away." So said the twelve as the day began to wear away, and as they, weary ancl hungry, saw no prospect of rest, and not much prospect of even a bite for themselves from their f?w loaves and fishes, if that hungry crowd remained. Not all the glorious things of the kingdom, of which Jesus had been Speaking, could make even the twelve forget tnat thejr were hungry men. They had seen Him still the storm and raise tho dead, but they seemed not to consider that the same power could feed theso hungry thousands. Their wisdom was to let them scatter where they might, and find food and shelter as they were able iu the towns and country round about. The old question still lived, "Can Qod rurnisn a table in the wilderness:'" (Ps. Ixxviii., 19.) 13. "But He said unto them, Give ye them to eat." Ho had asked Philip, ""Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?" and Philip had replied that they would need about two hundred pennyworth to give every one a little. And now when He says "Give ye tham to eat," they reply: "Shall we buy two hundred pennyworth." (John viM 5-7; Mark vi., 37). Mose3 had said that the coming Messiah would bo a prophet like unto him (Deut. xviii., 15, 18), and had they remain- i bered that, they might also have remembered the food from neaven, which fed mill- . ' ions of people daily for nearly forty yeara, . "We have no more but fivo loaves and twg_ ^J fishes." "When He asked Philip, He did ft to ' ; prove him, for He Himself knew whaf He would do (John vi,, G), jo3t as He so often lets us get into a strait place to prove usl while all the time Ho knows the way out and just what He will do. 14, 15."And He said to His disciples: Make them sit down by fifties in a company. And they did so, and made them all sit down." Mark says: "Upon the green grass. * John says: "There was much grass in the placed (Mark vi., 39- John vi., 10). Matthew says there were 5000 men besides women and children (Matt, xiv., 21); so l^are may have been 120 companies of fifty each, or ton companies to each of the twelve d sclples. But observe the order, and remember the pret i .1 cepl : ".Let all tilings De aone ueceauy aw in order,'' for God is not the author ot confusion (I Cor. xiv, 33, 40). A disorderly home or room or wardrobe or bureau drawer or office or store is no credit to a Christian. Confusion, disorder, tumult, unquietness are none of the things of the Holy Spirit. 16. "Then He took the Are loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to Heaven, He blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude." Ho took just what they had and used it. He took the rod that was in Moses's hand and wronght wonders w ith it. He took the widow's pot of oil and multiplied it. He does not ask us to waste time in vain regrets about what w? have not, or in wishing that we had this or that. He simply says "What have yon I Bring it to Me.'' And anything placed unreservedly in His hiu L> can be made to do wonders, for He has all power. Thousands of eyes aro upon Him as Ho takes in His hnnrfj f-.ha 1nnv*? And flshftS. anl lifting His face to heaven, acknowledges before I then all that thsace eome; tin power and . fl the blessing. He never sought His own glory, I but in all things gloriflel Grod. I 17. "And they did eit, and were all filled.' I Philip thought that two hundred penny- I worth might be enough to give every one a I little, but Jesus does not give that wav. Hit fl invitation is; "Eat, O frionds; drink, yes, I drink abundantly, 0 beloved," (Son* of SoJ. J AuT eCSIl t^i'is'e JWOV ske^aerdlwE^^l shgep He delights to till. As the disclolea^^B pST SFiunT*"?ro4i ciiSpa^ to company pressing m >re food upoa theui the answer comes rrom all directions: Satisfied, abundantly satisfied. "And tlnre was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.'- Instead of a little for eica disciple, which would have beeu all t'.iat twelve men could obtain from five loaves an i two fishes, here is a basketful for each. Had they selfishly kept what they had for themselves, how little they would have had, but by giving it away what abun lanes becomes theirs Afraid to give to God lest we have not enough for ourselves, we continue poor;-but when we cheerfully give Him that which is all His own any way, then He makes us to enjoy His fullness, anl our eup runneth over. "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich; and He addeth no sorrow with it" (Pro v. x., 22). Ha gave Himself to be broken and p ">ured forth for us; why should we hesitate to place ourselves in His hands most unres3rvedly, thit we may be broken and passed roun 1 by His hands for the life of others? It may not be plaas ftat to 1103&, D'.U It Will DJ w juuoi iuujt ~ profitable. " * urn of wheat fall in to the ground and dis, it ablaut fl if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (dumi B xli., 34). Who is willing to be passed round for the good of others, not loving his life here, so that Tie may keep it unto life eternal?? D Lesson Helper. ~ fi A Scotch printer invented the post* I ige stamp, which was introduced into H England fifty years ago. A year later I :hey were introduced into the United a States of North America and Switzer- flj and, and again, a few years later, in Bavaria, Belgium and France. One 9 )f the most important and valuable collections of postage stamps is Grerman Imperial Museum, wh^Hj^BHfl ains over 10,000 postage sta^H^^^fll )ther postal delivervdcnce^^^^^^^^H The w n Locomoti^^^^^HHHMHK year. 125,000 s f ro