Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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f' ' "tr-T * ' " ? the song of the sea. Their world was a world of enchantment; A wonder of luminous light Came out with a flaring of carmine, From all the black spaces of night; The music of morn was as blithesome And cheery as music could be; But all through the dawn and the daybreak I mourned for the song of the sea. They showed me the marvelous flower3 And fruits of their sun-beaten lauds; They said, "Hero are vine-tangled valleys; Forget ye the barren white sands; For a weariness unto the spirit The dash of the breakers must be; Bo dwell ye beside our blue waters; Forget the sad song of the sea." And I wrapped me about in the sunlight, On the marge of a dimpling stream, And there in a tangle of lilies, I wove me a wonderful dream; And a song from my dreamland went floating Far up where the angels must be, But deep in its under vibrations I heard the sweet song of the sea. "With the dew in his locks all a-glitter, The Prince of the Daytime lay dead; For the silver-white lance of the twilight Smote off the gold crown from his head; And the Princess of Night came to see him, Her lights all about him to hang; And a nightingale sc?enod in the thicket His song to the slumberer sang. And the stream from the tangle of lilies Came winding its way through the sedge; And a silvery nocturne it rippled Among the tall flags on its edge; But its babble I fain would have given, For the sleep-wooing sea voicas' lull, And the nightingale's song would have bartered For the desolate cry of a gull. Their world was a world of enchantment; And they laughed with the laughter of sccrn, When I turned ma away from its beauty In the light of the luminous morn; But I heard a grand voice in the distance J Insistently calling to me, And I rose with a jubilaut spirit ' . And followed the song of tho sea. ?Hat tic Whitney, in Del ford's Magazine. A Patchwork Quilt. ; BY 5IATIY KYLE DALLAS. Have you oaywlicrc about your house, amidst your counterpanes and comfortables which you looked at five minutes before buying, perhaps, one of those oldfashioned patchwork quilts made of the tiniest pieces, arranged in the most intricate patterns, over which at least one pair of eyes were strained for days and weeks before quilting time came, and all those puffy little diamonds were marked out, amidst chat and laughter, by half-adozen ladies? Did you ever, in childhood, sit upon the bed and hear the his tory of the various pieces of chintz? That's a piece of your first colored dress; that I had when I was a girl; that was your grandmother's morning gown; that is a piece Miss S gave me. I have heard such a history many a time, and little pictures used to pas3 before my eyes with the words. I could see just how grandma looked in the morning-gown. I could see myself a baby, taking toddling steps in the blue frock. It seemed so funny to have been a baby? when I was an important person of live years. It doesn't seem half so funny now, for I have begun to doubt whether I shall ever be anything else, and to know just how many big babic3 there are in this world. t Dear old patchwork quilts? "We've lost something in losing them, I think, and probably Mrs. Mumford thought so, too, for whenever any of her children were found sitting with those idle hand?, for which Dr. Watts declares that Satan always tinds some mischief, she invariably remarked: "You'd better get your patch work." They always obeyed, those three little girls, Lucy, Ruth and Olive, aud there were piles of quilts iu the upstairs room where spare bedding was stored?quilts of mauy colors, quilts of only two, quilts with large, square blocks, and quilts with intricate patterns, like a Chinese puzzle, quilts that had been made by people in their nineties, and quilts that had been made by people who could not yet say: "I am nine years old." PieciDg a quilt was the first work and tie last of the members of the Muraford family. I think an ancestor made some patches on board of the Mayflower. At ' least, it was said so. When a young person married, a dowry of quilts had always been provided?always would be while Mr3. Slumlord lived. When Olive was fifteen, she had been told that the white and Turkey red quilt which her great-grandtaother had made was to be among her hare, as the eldest daughter of the house. She laughed then, and said: "I shall always stay at home with you, mamma. I shall be the old maid daughter." A year afterward she did not think this, whatever she might have said, for the year had made her feel that she was no longer a child, and she had met Harry Martin, who had put an engagement ring on Olive's finger, and, if all went well, her seventeenth birthday would find her a matron. Nothing like seeing your children settled before you are broken down yourself," said the mother; and thereupon began to teach Olive the higher mysteries of pastry. Plain cooking every girl of that family quite understood. A lover always takes great interest in his lady's handiwork. Harry regarded all the little pieces of sewing which passed through Oiivc's hands with immense admiration, and the homely patchwork was just as fine in his eyes as anything e'.se; and there was often much talk about the pieces, and, once or twice, he had cut them out, after the cardboard patterns, loving to meddle with anything that she was busy with, in old true lover's fashion. One evening, when he went in, lie found tks girl looking, as an artist might look at a rare old master, at a long breadth of old-fashioned, flowered chintz. "Mother has just given me this, Harry," she said. "It is like a gown of old Auut Ilepsiba's. It shimmers like Bilk, aud see how fine it is. T5ut fancy wearing such large patterns. Look! a butterfly on a bough, aud a rose, and a butterfly on a bough again, and then another rose, like wall paper. The difficulty will be," said Olive,pausing to consider, "how to get the pattern into a patch wjthout spoiling it." "I'll help you," said Harry; and to work he went, and for a pleasant hour or two he kept cutting patches. A bud and J. . -f"4 tih>- yr,-, a butterfly on one, a rose on liie other, bud and butterfly, and rose again. "And he has not spoiled one,mamma," said Olive, in a tone of pride. "I'm sure I should have cut a dozen butterflies' heads of!, if I had tried." So the young things laughed over their exploits, and then slipped merrily away to have their lovers' chat where nobody could listen. It was the last. The next day, Harry Martin was missing, and with him a large sum of money from his employers' safe. The new3 spread through the country town like wild-fire. Harry was an orphan, and the son of an old friend of the head of the firm. It was understood that i they would be merciful, but his character was blighted foiever. No one doubted his guilt but Olive. She steadfastly declared him innocent. Weeks passed on, and there was no news of him?at lcasi, none that reached the Mumford's ears; but one night, when Mrs. Mumford went out to the cow-house to see that Crumraie was safe for the night, some one came out of the darkness. and called to her. "Who is that?" cried the lady, her heart giving one great throb. "It's I?Harry," said a well-known 4 Mrs XTumfnr^ lnf- mo cool VUIV'^* VU i jJlUlUiVlU, *VH UAV WW Olive." "Harry Martin!" said Mrs. Mumford. 'Oh! Harry Martin, you've made a sad home of mine!" And she broke into tears. "And you all believed it at once?" said Harry, sadly. "I didn't think you would." "Oh, Harry," said Sirs. Mumford, "Satan tempts us all. I'm sorry for you, j but you can't see Olive. It's better for I her you shouldn't. She was very fond of you, Harry." "And she has turned against me," too, then?" said the young man. "You don't blame her, poor lamb," said Mrs. Mumford. "A girl like that can't have anything to do with one that has disgraced himself." "Love is more stedfast," said Harry. "Evil reports could not have won me from Olive." * Then, without another word, he went away?and such a hold have homely things upon our memory sometimes,that, as he went, he saw the pretty household picture he had last seen beneath the roof that now refused to welcome him, as nlainlv as we sea thino-s in dreams: his love, with her dark curls about her face and the needle in her hands, and the skein of thread about her neck; a bright lamp burning upon the table,and on the other side, himself cutting out pieces for patchwork from a pasteboard pattern, and laying in a little brilliant pile, squares and triangles, on which were a rose and a butterfly upon a flowering branch, a butterfly on a flowering branch, and a full blown rose alternately. A Western ediijr speaks of a wind that "just sat up or: its hind legs and howled." Such a wind it must have been that was howling through the bleak Maine country twenty years from the night on which Harry Martin turned from the Munfords' door and went his way alone. The inn or tavern or hotel, whichever it was, which bore the name of T. Jolliver upon its signboard, was not expectonv mingle tVinf tiinrVit hilf- npvpphhp. '"o 5 ?? ) less, one came to its doors?came late, too, as the clocks were striking ten, and people generally thinking of bed. The guest was a man of forty, with a sad sort of facc?a face with a story in it. But he was well dressed, and evidently no poor traveler. He had supper in the best parlor, and, meanwhile, a lire was made in the best bedroom, in which, when he made his way thither, he found a buxom, youngish woman spreading an extra counterpane upon the bed. w "Good evening, sir," she said, turning toward him with a manner that bespoke the landlady. "I thought I'd see that you were comfortable myself. I never leave everything to chambermaids. When I married a hotel-keeper, I made up my mird to help him, and there's no such way of makiug guests feel discouraged as turniug them over to help. And I've given you my prettiest quilt, too," said she, with a laugh. "There's an honor." The gentleman looked toward the bed. The quilt was patchwork. It had a wide striped border, but in the center the blocks were all the same?bright chintz alternated with, white?a butterfly on a branch, a rose, a butterfly on a branch, and a rose again. The man took a fold of it up in liis hand, and looked at it, as men do not often look at patchwork quilts. Tho woman bubbled on. "We'regreat for patchwork in our family. Such a pile as we had of these quilts at home. Sister Ruth had twenty when she was marrieJ, but I had fifty. My other sister gave me her share, se3ing that I married a hotel-keeper, and she thinks she'll never marry. Oh, dear! There's a story in a good many quilts, if you did but know it; and there is a story in this. It's the last one Olive ever made. But I'm boring you, sir." "No, go on," said the gentleman. Qo on, please.'' "She was engaged." said the landlady, "and she was but sixteen. One after-1 noon, she and her sweetheart cut out theso blocks, the next they parted. He was suspected of a crime?of robbery, sir, if I must say it?and she never saw him again. She knew that he was innocent. She said tha all the angels in heaven couldn't make her doubt it, but no one else thought with her uutil a year had gone by, and then an old confidential clerk, who was trusted in evervthincr. , -- ^ o? being caught in another theft, confessed to that which my sister's sweetheart had been accused of. The story he had told to his employers of being knocked down in the streets of New York, where he went that holiday afternoon, and being thought drunk, ancl put into a station house, and being ashamed to give his name next morning, and too sick to cornc home next day, was no doubt true. His employers advertised for him, but in vain. And mother owned to sending him away from the door when he came to see Olive. It is a sad story. Olive can't seem to like any one else, and the poor fellow was so fond of her. So that's the sto.'y of the quilt." '"he woman stopped and gave a little cry, for the guest had flung himself upon his knees, and was kissing that patchwork quilt as lovers kiss their sweetheart's lips. bhc gave another little cry in a moment. and knelt down beside him, and put her hand upon his shoulder. "Oh, dear! oh, dear!" she sobbed, crying hard herself. "Oh, dear! I do believe it is Harry Martin." And it was Harry Martin, who had been to the far eads of the earth and had ound gold, but uot happiness, believing himself robbed forever of love and of fair repute, and ^ho bad returned to find both awaiting him, through the means of that patchwork quilt, with its butterflies and flowering boughs and roses. i "Lucy" said Olive to her sister, a few months afterward, "now that we are going to housekeeping, I want you to give me one thing." "Anything on earth that I can," said Mrs. Jolliver. "I was thinking of a silver service." "Oh, Lucy, dear," said Olive, beginning to cry for very happiness, "it's only the butterfly quilt that I want. The dear old quilt. Harry says we can't keep house without it, we both love it so." "I've rolled it up for you already," said Mrs. Jolliver. "It seems to belong to you, Olive." And so to-day Olive's last baby sfts upon the brilliant quilt, and trie3, with his chubby fingers, to pull therefrom the butterflies and roses.?The Ledger. Cnrlons Communication. That curious thing which may be called telepathic communication, and which has been observed in India and among our own Indians has had some interesting illustrations in Mexico. During the Franco-German war the City of Mexico waked up one morning to hear from its servants, and in the market places, and all over the streets from the people of low degree, that a great battle had been fought, in which the French were overwhelmed. A week elapsed before any direct word was received; meanwhile the rumor asserted itsslf with such assurance that even the French colony became distinctly depressed. And then thev got the news of Sedan. Some years ago there was a great rising of Indians in Western Mexico, who marched upon Guadalarja 12,000 strong. There were but 3000 troupsin the Westem capital, under the command of Corona. One afternoon about 4 o'clock the Indians, at a point two and a half days' distant, fell into a state of agita tion. They said that a great battle had been fought and the Indians defeated. Yet the battle of the Mojonera did not begin till noon of that day, and at 4 o'clock the Indians, m tumultous fashion, were still fleeiug from the field. During our Modoc war, so-called, though our newspapers had pony expresses and even carrier pigeons with the troop3 at the Lava Beds, the Indians in Lake County, Cal., 209 miles away reported from day to day the substancc of the actions hours before tho news reached the telegraph station at Shasta. Acccunt for it? Western civilization isn't "up" to accounting for it.?New York Sun. The Musical Senao in Animals and Men. The higher animals can also enjoy music, as my house-cat shows, when she comes at the playing of the piano to sit by the player, and sometimes jumps into her lap or on the key-board of the instrument. I know of a dog, too, in a family in Berlin, which comes in in like manner when there is music, often from distant rooms, opening the door with his n?w. T knew of another do?, usually thoroughly domestic, which occasionally | playcfl the vagabond for love of music. Whenever the semi-annual mass was celebrated in the city he could not be kept at the house. As soon as the socalled Bergknappen, which were accustomed to play at this time in the streets, appeared, he would run away and follow them from morning till evening. Evidently neither cats nor dogs, nor other animals that listen to human music, were constituted for the "appreciation of it, for it is not of the slightest use to them in the struggle for existence. Moreover, they and their organs of hearing were much older than mau and his music. Their power of appreciating music is therefore an uncontemplated side-faculty of a hearing apparatus which has become on other grounds what we find it to be. So it is, I believe, with man. He has ; not acquired his musical hearing as such, -* * - !?J - 1.:?1.1.. ! out Das rcccivcu a uiguijr organ of hearing by a process of selection, because it was necessary to him in the selective process; and this organ of hearing happens also to b2 adapted to listening to music.?Popular Sciencei Monthly. Meteorites. Meteorites arc particularly interesting becausc they comprise the only material coming to us from outer space. In consequence of the striking phenomena resulting from their rapid passage through our atmosphere, making them appear like balls of fire visible at great disx l: ???v. IHIIUW, HUaiCLlLUUa UA|MWU1U^ >?UU ouuu violence as to be taken for earthquakes, their falls have been noticed and recorded since the earliest times. The accounts, however, were imbued with superstitions, and so distorted by the terrified condition of the narrators, that in most cases the witnesses of the event were laughed at for their supposed delusions, and it was not till the beginning of the present century that men of science and people in general began to give credit to such reports. The earliest authentic records of stones falling from the sky are to be found in the Chinese annals, which go back 644 B. C., and between that time and 333 A. D. Biot has traced sixteen distinct occurrences. In Europe, a meteorite is said to have fallen in Crete as far back as 147S B. C., but Greek history cannot be depended upon for events earlier than 700 B. C. A more nrobable fall, in 705 B. G\, U mentioned by Plutarch ; while Livy,in his History of Rome, gives an account of a shower of stones which fell on the Alban Mount about 652 B. C., and which so impressed the senate that they decreed a nine days' solemn festival. ?Popular Science Monthly. Broad Acres In Australia. Roman nobles sometimes had whole provinces for estates, but these arc almost paralleled in Australia, where immense estates are numerous. They are advertised for sale in a Melbourne paper. The area of the first 13 431 square miles, of which the rent is $1005.37 only, and the cattle on the pasture are valued at $12.50 each. The second comprises G4S square miles, and the third 553 square miles. All three are in Queensland. The first lot is described as watered by a river, and having a town ninety miics distant on one side and 150 on the other. The advantage of the second is that it lies between three towns,which arc respectively ISO, 300 and 350 miles away, and the third apparently most fortuuately situated of all, is "within 100 miles of a railway." " j ~m. DK. TALMA6E. I THE BROOKLYN'S DIVINE SUNDAY SERMON. Subject: "Power of Testimony." Text: "TFeare xcitnssscs?Acts iii., 15. In the days of George Stephenson, the perfector of the locomotive engine, the scientists proved conclusively that a railway train could never be driven by steam power successfully and without peril; but the rushing express trains from Liverpool to Edinburgh and from Edinburgh to London, have made all the nations witnesses of the splendid achievement. Machinists and navigators proved conclusively that a steamer could never cross the Atlantic Ocean; but no sooner had they successfully proved the impossibility of such an undertaking than the work was done, and the passengers on the Cunard and the Inman and the National and the White Star lines are witnesses. There went up a guffaw of wise laughter at Professor Morse's proposition to make the lightning of heaven his errand boy, and it was proved conclusively that the thing could never bo done; but now all the news of the wide world, by Associate! Press Eut in your hands every morning and night, as made all nations witnesses. So in the time of Christ it was proved conclusively that it was impossible for Him to rise from the dead. It was shown logically that when a man was dead he was dead, and the heart and the liver and the lungs having ceased to perform their offices the limbs would be rterid beyond all power of friction or arousal. They showed it to be an absolute absurdity that the dead Christ should over get up alive; but no sooner had they proved this than the dead Christ arose, and the disciples beheld Him, heard His voice and talked with Him, and tliev took the witness stand to prove that to be true which the wiseacres of the day had proved to be impossible; the record of the experience an.l of V testimony is in the text: '"Him hath God .lised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses." Now let me play the skeptic for a moment. "There is no God," says the skeptic, "for I have never seen Him with my physical eyesight. Your Bible is a pack of contradictions, There never was a miracle. Lazarus was not raised from the dead, and water was never turned into wina. Your religion is an imposition on the credulity of tho ages." There is an aged man moving over yonder a3 though he would like to respond. Here are hundreds of people with faces a little flushed at these announcements, aud all through this assembly there is a suppressed feeling which would like to speak out in behalf of the truth of our glorious Christianity, as in the days of the text, crying out, "Weare witnesses!" The fact is that if this world is ever brought to God it will not bo through argument, but through testimony. You might j cover the whole earth with apologies for | Christianity and learnoi treatises in defease of religion?you would not convert a soul. Lectures on the harmony between science and religion are beautiful mental discipline, but have never saved a soul and never will save a soul. Put a man of the world and a of the church against cach other and the man of the world will in all probability get tho triumph. There aro a thousand things in our religion that seem illogical to tho world and always will seem illogical. Our weapon in this conflict is faith, not lozic; faith, not metaphysics, faith, not profundity; faith, not scholastic exploration. But then iu order to have faith we must have testimony, and if five hundred men, or one thousand men, or five hundred thousand men, or five million men get up aud tell me that they have felt tho religion of Jesus Christ a joy, a comfort, a help, an aspiration, I am bound as a fair minded man to accept their testimony. I want just now to put before you three propositions, tho truth of which I think this audience will attest with nvwrrrhnl minor nmnimil.v The first proposition is: We are witnesses that the religion of Christ is able to convert a soul. TIig Gospel may have had a hard time to conquer us, we may have fought it back, but we were vanquished. You say conversion is only an imaginary thing. We know better. "We are witnesses." There never was so great a change in our heart and lifa on any other subject as on this. People laughed at the missionaries in Madagascar because they preached ten years without ono convert; but there are 33,000 converts in Madagascar to-day. People laughed at Dr. Adomram Judson, the Baptift missionary, bccauso ho kept on preaching in Burmah live years without a single convert; but there are 20,000 Baptists in Burmah to-day. People laughed at Dr. Morrison, in China, for preaching there seven years without a single conversion; but thero are 25,000 Christians in China to-day. People laughed at the missionaries for preaching at Tahiti fifteen years without a single conversion, and at the missionaries for preaching in Bengal seventeen years without a single conversion; yet in all those lancU there are multitudes of Christians to-day. But why go so far to find evidenca of tha Gospel's power to savo a soul? "Wo are witnesses." Wo wero so proud that no man could have humbled us; wo wero so ! liov*r) I linf nrv onrflOr n-Mror pnnl rl hnm I melted us; angels of God were all around about us; they could not overcome us. But one day, perhaps at a Metholist anxious seat, or at a Presbyterian catechetical lec- i tura, or at a burial, or on horseback, a power seized us, and made us get down, and made us tremble, and made us kneel, and made us cry for mercy, and we tried to wrench ourselves away from the grasp, but we could not. It flung us flat, and when we arose wo were as much changed as Gourgis, the neathon, who wont lutoa prayer mooting with a dagger and a gun to disturb the meeting aud destroy it, out tho next day was found crying: "Oh, my great sins! Oa, ray great Saviour!" and for eleven years preached tho Gospel of Christ to his fellow mountaineers, tho last words on his dying lips being "Free Grace!" Oh, it was free grace! There is a man who for ten years was a 1 Jui'mUah Tkrt A rnn ^fnl onnah'fa liQil uuru Ui 1UHC1 . Jl uu Uk vuut ui uu sont down its roots around tho palate and the tongue, and on down until they were interlinked with tho vital3 of tho body, mind and soul; but he has not taken any stimulants for ten years. What did that? Not temperance societies. Not prohibition laws. Not moral suasion. Conversion did it. "Why," said one upon whom tho great change hai come, "sir, I feel just as though I were somebody else!" Thero is a S3a captain who swore all tho way from New York to Havana, and from Havana to San Francisco, an 1 when ho was in port he was worse than when ho was on th3 sea. What power was it that washed his tongue clean of profanities and made him a p3alm singer? Conversion by the Holy Spirit. There are thousands of people in this assemblage to-day who are no more what they onc3 were than a waterlily is a nightshado, or a morning lark is a vulture, or day is night. Now, if I should demand that all thoso people here present who have felt tho converting power of religion should ris?, so far from being ashamed th *y would spring to their feet with more alacrity than thoy over sprang to the danco, tho tears mingling with their exhilaration as they cried, "Wo aro witnessosl" And if they tried to sinj the Old Uroipoi nyma taoy hjuiu uioa.k uir?u with emotion by the time they got to the second line. AshianJ of Jesm, thit dear Frlenl On whom my hopes of haAvoa depan.l? No! Wbon I b ut&, bj tbii my 9tnmo; That I no mo;e revere His name. Again I remark that we are witnoi3?3 o! the Gospel's power to comfort. Thero aro Christian parents here who aro willing to testify to tne power of the Go3pal to comfort. Your son lia! just graduate 1 from school or collage and was going into business, and tho Lord took him. Or your daughter had just graduated from tho young ladic3' seminary, and you thought sho was going to 1? a useful woman and of long life: but tho Lord took her, and you woro tempted tosay, "AD this culture of twonty yoars for nothing!" Or tho little child came home Tro.n school with tho hot fever that stoppe 1 not for tho agonized prayor or for tho skillful physician, and tho little child was taken. Or tho babe was lifted out of your arms by soma quick epidemic, and you stood wondering why Go. 1 over gave you that child nt all, if so soon Ho was to take it away. An 1 yet you are not repining, you aro not fretful, you aro not fighting against Go:l. TV hat has enabled you to stand all tho trial? "Oh," you say, "I took the medicine that God gave my sick soul. In my distress I threw myself at the foot of a sympathizing God; and when I was too weak to pray. *or to look up, llo breathe 1 iuto me a peace that I think must be the foretaste of that heaven where there is neither a tear, nor a farewell, nor a grave." Come, all ye who havo been out to the grave to weep 1 there?come, all ye contorted souls, ,get up ' i s - v \ / -\ off your lmoe3. JLs thero no power la tats , Gr03pel to soothe the heart? Is there ao power ia this religion to qaiet the worst paroxysm of grief? There co ne3 up aa answer from comforted widowhood, and orphanage, and childlessness, sayiug: "Ay, ay. we are witoessesl" When a man has trouble the world comes in and says: '"Now get your mind off this; ko out and breathe the fresh air; plunge deeper into business." What pojr advicj! Get your mind off itl When everything i3 upturned with the bereavement ani everything reminds you of what you have lo3t. Get your mind off itl Th97 might as woll advise you to stop thinking. You cannot stop thinking, ani you cinnot stop thinking in that direction. Take a walk iu th3 fre3& air I Why, along that very stre3t or that very roal she onco accompanied you. Out of that grass plat she plucked flowers, or into that show window she looked, fascinated, saying: "Come, seo tho pictures." Go deeper into business? Why, she was associated with all your business ambition, and since she has gone you have no ambition left. Oh, this is a clumsy world when it tries to comfort a broken heart. I can build a Corlear's engine, I can paint a Raphael's "Madonna," I can play a Beethoven's "Eroica Symphony" as easily as this world can comfort a broken heart. And yet you have been comforted. How was it done? Did Christ come to you and say "Get your mind off this; go out and breathe fresh air; plunge deeper into business?" No. Thero was a minute when Ho came to you?perhap3 in tho watch of tho night, perhaps in your place of business, perhaps along tho street --and He breathed something into your soul that gave peace, rest, infinite quiet, so that vou could take out tha photograph of th3 departed one and look into tha 0733 and faca of the dear one and say: "It is all right; she is batter off; I would not call her back. Lord, I thank Thee that Thou ha3t comforted my poor heart." Again, I remark that wa are witnesses of the fact that religion has tha power to give composure in the last moment. I naver shall forgot the first time I confronted death. We went across the cornfields in the country. I was led by my father's hand, and we came to the farm house where the bereavement had come, and we saw the crowd of wagons and carriages but there was one carriage tha t especially attracted my boyish attention, and it had black plumes. I said: "What's that? What's that? Why tiioso black tassals on tha top?" and after it was explained to me I was lifted up to look upon the bright face of an aged Cnristian woman who three days before had departed in triumph; the who!o scana made an impression I never forgot. In our sermons and in our lay exhortations we are very apt, when we want to brin-j illustrations of dying triumph, to go back to some distinguished parsonage?to a John Kuox or a Harriet Newell. But I want you for witnesses. I want to know if you hava ever sean anything to make you balieve that tho religion of Christ can give compasuro in tha final hoar. Now in t'aa courts attorney, jury and judge will never almit mare hearsay. They demand that tho wituess must have seen with his own eyes or haard with his own oars, and so I am critical in my examination of you now; and I want toknow whather you hava seen or haard anything that makes you balieve that the religion of Christ gives composure in the final hour. "Oh, ye3," you say; "I saw ray father an 1 mother depart. There was a groat difference in their deathbeds. Standing by the one we felt more veneration. By the other, there was more tenderness." Before the one you bowed perhaps in awe. In the other case you felt as if you would like to go along with ner. How did they feel in that last hour? How did they seem to act? Were they very much frightened? Did they take hold of this world with both bauds as though they did nob waut to give it up? "Oh, no," you say, "no. I remember as though it were yesterday; she had a kind word for us all, and there were a few mementoes distributed among the children, and then she told us how kind we mu3t be to our father in his lonliness, and then she kissed us good-by and went asleep as calmly as a child in a cradle." What made her so- composed? Natural courage? "No," you say, "mother was very nervous; when the carriage inclined to the side of the road she would cry out; she was always rather weakly." What, then, gave her composure? Was it becau? she did not care much for you, and the pang of parting was uot great? "Oh," you say, "she showered upon us a wealth of affiction; no mother ever loved her children more than mother lovod us; she showel it by tin way sho nursed us when we were sick, and she toiled for us until her strength gave out." What, than, was it tiac gara car compjsm-d m mo last liour? Do nit hido it. Ba frank and let ma know. "Oh," you say, "it wai becausi sho was so gooJ> stia mid3 the Lord her portion and she had faith that sin would go straight to glory an l that wo should all meat her at last at tha foot of the throne." Here are paople who say, "I saw a Christian brother die and ha triumphal" And some oiv? elsa, "I saw a Christian sister die and sho triunphad." Sana ona elsa will say, "I saw a Christian daughter die an J she triumphed." Co:na, all yo who have saen the last moments of a Christian, and give testimony in this cause on trial. Uncover your heads, put your hand on the old family iilblo from which thay used to road tha promise^ and promiso in the presence of hteh heaven that you will tall tha truth, the whole truth and nothing but tho truth. With what you havo saan with your own eyes, and from what you have heard with your own ears, is there power in this Gospel to givo calmness and triumph in the last exigency? Tha response comes from ail sides, From young aud old and middle end aged. "We aro witnesses!" You see, my frien Is, I have not put before you to-day an abstraction, or chimera, or anything like guass work. I present you affidavits of tho best men and worncu, living ! and dead.^ Two witnos3es in court will es tablisn a lacc. xiero ara not two witnes es, but thousands of witnesses?on earth millions of witnesses, and in heaven a great multitude of witnesses that no man can uumber, testifying that there is power in this religion to convert the soul, to give comfort in trouble and to afford composure in the last hour. If ten men should come to you when you are sick with appalling sickness, and say they bad the same sickness, and took a certain medicine and it cured them, you would probably take it. Now, suppose ten other men should come up and say, "We don't believe thero is anything in that medicine." "Well," I say, "have you ever tried it?" "No. I never tried it, but I don't believe thero is anything in it." Of course you discredit their testimony. Tho skeptic may como and say, "There is no power iu your religion." "Have you ever tried it?" "No, no." "Then, avaunt!" Let me take the testimony of the millions of souls that have been confrt fin/1 nn/1 in frinl nnrl solaced in tho last hour. Wo will take their testimony as they cry, "We are witnesses !" Soma time ago Professor Henry, of Washington, discovered a new star, an J the tidings sped by submarine telegraph, and all ths observatories of Europe were watching for that nostar. Oh, hearer, looking out through the darkness of thy soul to-Jay, canst thou see a bright star beaming on tiles? "Where?" you. ay; "where? How can I find it!'"' Look along Dy the line of the cross of the Son of Uod. Do you no: see ic tremoimg witn all tenderness and beimiug with all hope? It is t,ue Star of Bethlehem. Deep horrar then my vitals fr.iz*. Death struck, I coaied tlio lide to stem, When su idaalv a star arosn? It was tha tar of tfethlchom. Oh, hearer, get your eye on it. It is easier now for you to become a Christian! than it is to stay away from Christ and heaven. AVhen Madame Son tag began her musical career she was hissed oil the stage at Vienna by tho friends of her rival, Amolia Steininger, who had alrea ly bejuu to decline through her dissipation. \ears passed on, and ono day Madame Son tag, in her glory, was riding through the streets of Berlin, wlienshosawa little child leading a blind woman, and she said, "Come hero, my little child, come here. Who is that you are leading by the baud?" And tho little child re-i:-1 ..,tr mnHior* Amelia UllUU, XUUUO 111 J .. Steiniugor. She used to bo a great singer, but sho lost hor voice, an I she crie.l so much about it that sho lost hor eyesight." "Give rav love to her," said Madame Santa?, "and tell her an oi l acquaintance will call on hor this afternoon." Tho ujxt week in Berlin a vast assemblage gathore 1 at a baajfiL for that poor woman, ml it was s.iid that M.ilau) Sont.i;j sang that nigat as shi lud never sun? before. Au l sho to)!ca skillol oculist, win trie ! in vain to give eyesight to th) poor blind woman. Until tlie day of Amolia Stoiniugor's ileath Madame Sontag t<i^k care of her and her daughter after hor. That was what the quaon of song di 1 fochor enomy. But, oh, hjar a more thrillit*g story still. Blind immortal, poor auJ/rost, thou who, whoa the world auiChrist/were rivals for thy heart, _ * didst hiss thy Lord away?Christ comes now to gi ve thoa sight, to give thee a home, to give thee heaven. With more than a Sontag's generosity He comes to meet your need. "With more than a Sontag's music He comes to plead for thy deliverance. WORDS OF WISDOM. Anger fatigues ltdelf and courts de? feat. Glances are the first billets-doux ol love. Personal sacrifice is lauded, not emulated. Wrinkles arc shadows of departed pleasures. To love is to admire with the heart; to admire is to love with the mind. Next to the virtue, the fun in this rrorld is what we least can spare. Great hearts alone understand how much glory there is in being good. Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy. Society is like atmospheric air, the higher we go, the lighter it becomes. The prayers of a lover are more imperious than the menaces of the whole world. Homely truths, like medicine, often distress m, but that is part of the curative process. Above all things always speak the truth; your word must be your bond through life. We swallow at one mouthful the lie that flatters, and drink drop by drop tho truth that is bitter. Hone3ty is of all things the most cunning, because It is the only thing that the cunning do not forsee. Undeserved praise is of double import; we feel it is unmerited, and we feel also that it might have been. Satiety i9 acute reaction. Pleasure, like bubbles, floats on the surface; those who drink deep imbibe bitterness. Reputation is like the sensitive plant, which bears undismayed the chilling winter's blast, but which withers at the first sign of human touch. Strength of the Big Turtles. The power and strength of the loggerhead and adult green turtle are enor mous, writes (J. F. Holder in tue Ledger. I have had them tow my boat at a rapid rate of speed, and perhaps one of the mo3t cxciting sports was riding the turtles. The individuals taken on this aid subsequent trips were carried to a turtle crawl and there imprisoned, the crawl being an inclosure on the reef, a fencedin portion literally. When they were required for food it became necessary to catch them?a process attended by much sport aud excitement. The huge turtles could be seen lying upou the bottom, in strong relief against the sand, fait asleep. Then was our time. So, diving carefully, we would go down with eye3 open, and quickly grasp a big fellow by the shell, back of the neck. This was all that was necessary, the turtle did the rest. Startled from a sound sleep, it would rise to the surface with several ? ?'--1 inlrA A puwcnui atrutiCS) iaac a ijuiua i/fwubuj and then dash away, dragging the rider half under, at a furious rate. Bj raising the body, so to present some resistance to the waves, the turtle could be brought to the surface; and to see half a dozen dashing alonrj with human riders wa3 a ? O most laughable spectacle. Shouts, cries and splashing urged the reptiles on, and made the crawl the scene of no little excitement. In many such rides I never knew a turtle to attempt to bite its rider, the main object being to escape. The greatest amusement was occasioned when a turtle succecded in carrying down a rider, who, finally, half drowned, would be obliged to release his hold and come spluttering to the surface. Counterfeit Thousand-Dollar Bills. The United States Secret Service, at Washington, is considerably annoyed just at present regarding a ucw uuuuicifeit $1000 bill, -which is so admirably executed that half a dozen specimens have actually been passed on onejban^. It turned up for the first time only the other day, in Boston, where a woman went into the s^op of Jordan, Marsh & Co., and purchased a valuable shawl,tendering in payment a United States Treasury note for $1000. The clerk took the bill and kept the customer waiting several minutes for her changc. When he returned with it she expressed anger,and demanded to know what the matter had been. The clerk owned that he had stepped over to a bank nearby to have the bill tested, whereat the woman declared that she would not take the shawl, and flounced out. Subsequently she came back, said she had thought better of it, took the shawl, paid for it with a $1000 note, and went away with her purchase and her change. All this ? nlntrnr t\r>rfnrmftnnp. for as a >VU3 a IV/IJ \,1V/TV1 J/viawM. , matter of fact, the first bill offered was a/ perfectly good one, while the note actually given in payment on the second occasion was not the same at all, as the clerk was iutended to suppose, but a forged imitation of like issue. Not only is an unknown number of these dangerous counterfeits now in circulation, but the plates are in existence somewhere, ready to strike off millions in currency of large denomination.?St. Louit GlobeDemocrat. Lobsters in Prison. When lobsters aie dumped out into n dory they all get mad. Finding nothing to light but each other, they go at it. Here is one who is evidently offended at some action of a lobster near him, who is, to tell the truth, considerably the smaller, and he proceeds to "do him up" in the most approved fashion. His tail is curled into almost a half circle, and ^.,snr. iatvq and claws he ?? 1UO \>|/VU ? pounces upon the little one, who, however, dodges liim. Then they catch each other and begin to chew claws. Of course they make no noise, but as the shells of the claws snap aud break they bend and roil in their agony. As they begin to feel greater pain they get more and more cxciced, and their horns shake in an ominous way. First the big one is on the little one,, and then the latter is holding his own. In a short time both are nearly clawless aud are evidently suffering greatly. Finally the weight of the big oie overcomes his antagonist, aud, curling up his tail almost in a circle, the little lobster lies perfectly still, and shortly expires, while the big shplldsh crawls into a corner and Uq3 still, exhausted*?Chicago Herald* , ' ~ i _ SABBATH SCHOOL 4 INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOB JULY 27. Lesson Text: "Lost an<l Found," Lake xv., 1-10?Golden Text: Lake ^ xv.f 10?Commentary. 1. "Then drew near unto Him all the pubUcans and sinners for to hear Him." Whatever else these might have to forsake in order to be His disciple?, they would not have to renounce that which is the hardest of all to lay aside?religiousness, of self-righteous* . ness?for they did not profess to have any. They were despised by the holy people of the day. The Kingdom was not for them. So thought the righteous in their own eyes, who considered themselves whole, and in no need of a physician. But how differently did He think who looks on the heart and not on the outward appearance. Hear Him as He talks to these great professors, "Verily I say unto you that tho publicans and the harlots go into the Kingdom nf find hsfnrA toii " AnH the reason was that these sinners, knowing their sins, repented and believod, while the self-righteous thought they needed no repentance (Matt, xxi., 31, 32). 2. "And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eatcth with the r." They said a grand true thing when thev said "This man receiveth sinners." Ho said Himself, "I came not to call the righteous, but simier3 to repentance" (Luke v., 32). And Paul, by the Spirit rings it out as "A faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (I Tim. i., 15). It is strange that these people, who would not receive Him, should try to ninHar others who felt their need of a. Saviour and were willing to receive Him; but it was even as He said, "Ye shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither sdffer ye them that are entering to go in" (Matt, xxxiii., 13). What a contrast to the "Blessed ,aro the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven" (Matt, v., iii), which fell from His gracious lips. It was then even as it is now, the self righteous are against Him, but the poor and broken in spirit are for Him. 3. "And He spake this parable unto them." The whole chapter is oue parable in three ^1 parts, showing the love of the Good Shepherd, the Spirit and the Father, in searching for and welcoming back tho lost one. The le6son to-day brings before us the first two parts of tho parable, the third part being reserved for next week. 4. "Go after that which is lost until He find it." First wo have the Son as the Good Shepherd seeking tho sheep which is lost. The same illustration is fcund in Matt, xviii.. 11-14, in connection with His saying, "Tho Son of Man is como to save that which was lost." The sinner is brought before us as a lost and helpless sou.1, unable to do anything to restoro himself: not knowing the way back, and even if bo knew it tie is without strength to get there. See his condition described in Rom. v., 6,8,10; without strength ?ungodly?sinners?enemies. But the Shepherd is sorry for His sheep which has gone astray and He sets out to And it. Just as in tbo garden of Eden He sought Adam when he had sinned and was hiding from God, so He has been ever since, and is still seeking tho lost who have gone astray. And He seeks to some purpose, for He seeks "Until He finds it." Ho laid aside Ilis glory which He had with tho Father before tho world was, and , humbled Himself to becomo a man, and a servant, and a sacrifice (John xvii., 5; Phil. ii., 5-8) that He might save the lost. 5. "And when He hath found it, Ho layeth it on His shoulders, rejoicing." Out in the desert He heard its cry; sick and helpless, J and ready to die; and tho cry of tho helpless l eached His heart. He said to Moses, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have beard their cry t * ; for I know their sorrows" (Ex. iii., 7). "In all their afflictions Ho was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity Ho redeemed them; and He bare them and carried them all tho days of old." "And of Benjamin He said, * *> * ha shall dwell between His shoulders" (Isoiali Ixviii., 9; Deufe. xxxiii., 12). Seo Israel's High Priest carrying the whole nation on His shoulders and on H.\s breast (Ex. xxviii., 12, 29), and consider the welfare of those who have such strength and such love as that of Ihe great High^^ Priest who is also the Good Shepherd, manifested on their behalf. 0. "And when He coroetli home." Thank God for this, that, having found the sheep which was lost, He bringeth it home. He does not lose any by the way. Of those whom the Father gives to Him He loses none. "Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost." Not only is his own heart glad, but he will have bis friends and neighbors to rejoice with him because the lost is found. Jesus would have His people I to rejoice with Him, for He says: "These I things have I spoke uuto you, that My joy H might remain in you, and that your joy H might be full." B 7. "I say unto you, that likewise joy shgll bein bfaven oyer pno sjnjjer ftat re penletn. If a shepherd is so glac over the I recovery of a lost sheep that he causes his M neighbors to rejoice with him, "How much is a man better than a sheep'.''' (Matt, xii_ B 12). And how much is the finding and bringing home of a lost soul better than the H finding and bringing home of a lost sheep. H """" * 1 ' ?nnoaan Kw nno H I5UD IIerC IS a a'Twauuu kjl CMC MJ v^vwho has been there and knows all about it; joy in heaven, and why? Because a sinner lias repented. But had they not better wai| till tl}? sinner gets homo to heaven before they rejoice? No, for where there is true repentance, there is eternal life, and Ha who bsgins the good work will perform it until the day of Christ (Phil, i., C). 8. "Either what woman having ten pieces of silver; if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle and sweep the nouse, and seek diligently till she flnu it." Iu the sheep there might be a consciousness of its being lost, but a piece of metal has no feeling and is not conscious of anything. It may be that we are thus reminded of the soul that is "dead * in sins'' (Eph. ii5), and requires the convicting power of the Spirit (Johu xvL, 8). The woman with her light is the active agent in this case, and, as in the former, she seeks till she fluds. Israel, as a nation, is com pared ton woman (Isa. liv.,l,5;lxiii., l^etc.), and so also is tho church as a whole (Ll Cor. M xi., 2; Rev. xix., 7, 8). The word of God is w H the Light, and tho Spirit of God is in His Word (Ps. cxix, 105; John vi., 03. *" 9. "Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost." Again, as in the former case, are friends and neighbors called H upon to rejoice. All who have the Spirit of ffl God ought to rejoice in the work of the Spirit H wherever that work is manifest; and if we H were fllleJ with the Spirit what a going forth H there would be after lost ones and back- O sliders. If friends and neighbors rejoice 9 in the restoration of a piece of silver to its B owner, the piece of money being the peculiar property of its owner, how mucli more should Christians rejoice in the conversion H of every soul, wherever on the face of the ivhole earth that soul may be saved, because H every redeemed one becomes a member of ihat body of which all tho redeemed form a H part, and of which Christ is the hea 1 (Eph. BE [v., 15-16). 10. "Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy H in the presence of tlie angels of Godcrer one 19 sinner that repenteth." Not only there shall be (as in verse 7), but there is joy in heaven HQ over one penitent sinner. If we sa w only one soul saved as the result of a day's teaching or R preaching, we might not foel very much oncouraged; but when we remember that every Hi repentant souh young or old, small or great, ??... Uni-on An.rhfc to make as JKJJ Ui UVMTVMy .? ? ?0 rejoice, too, with great joy. Think of Jesus patiently and diligently soeking the soul of U Nicodemus, and just as patiently and diligently the soul of the poor sinful woman of Samaria, and let us be entourage. 1 to more diligent personal effort.?Lesson HelpT. A Vessel Calked by a Fish. H A few days ago schooner Charleston, lumber laden, camc in here leaking con- HH sidcrablc. After engaging a berth on the marine railway the leak suddenly stopped, but the Captain concluded to haul on, as lie had engaged the berth. J|| ."When the vessel was docked it was discovered that there was quite a hole in Bb the garboard seam, aud a flounder had beeu sucked in and stopped the leak.? . Portland (ifa.) Press. .% London is overrun with what it Li flfl pleased to call "piano recitalers," and the musical agents have declined for tho H present to make any new engagements r.'itu celebrities.