Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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ur maae tnemseives ridiculous. Calm and serene in heart end nerve, Their strepgth is always in reserve, And nobly stands each test; And every day and all about, By scenes within and scenes without, We can discern, with ne'er a doubt, x j That quiet ways are best / ?The Evangelist. The Pretty Hop-Picker. BT AMY RANDOLPH. "Hop-pickiDg?" said young Durell, as he took a rosy August opplc from his pocket and fed it leisurely to the beautiful white horse against "which ho leaned. t*'Why, yes, it is rather a romantic business, if you look upon it from c, romantic point of view. You're an artist, eh? Come to sketch our little bits of rustic ecenery? But there's nothing particular iy picturesque about our hop-fields. Just sunshine, and the gold-green of the clusters, and the curling tendrils reaching cut for something to grasp at, and the air so blue and clear that one can almost 6ee the straight lines of the Eunshine. Of course, it looks pretty to me, for I was born and brought up in it?but? ! icxcuse me?I can't see what there is specially worthy of an artist's pencil?" i Mr. Raymond smiled. 'Do you see those long perspectives of green alleys!" said he; "with the figures running in and out? And the old woman sittting among the fragrant heaps, with |the scarlet cloak, and the two little toddlers at her feet? And yonder feeble, bent old man, with water-cans on his 'shoulders? "Why, there are a hundred j bits of genre here, to 6ay nothing of the background." \ And Raymond took out his mill-1 Twrnla nnrl rolnr hnvrs. sot tin tin im- i promptu easel, and began diligently to paint. Squire Dwells son looked on with an amused smile. To him, the machinery j of the great hop-farm was the real business of life. Artists and such like were merely pleasure seekers who disported themselves airily along the outskirts of creation. tV'You will find some very pretty faces here," said Durell, "if you care for feketching that sort of thing. People 'com? here from all parts of the country, in hop-picking time. Gypsies, tramps, respectable poor workers who don't object to turning an honest penny, young people wlio come here for the frolic of (the thing, and poor old wretches who think that every season will be their last. It's healthy, the doctors say. At all events, it's profitable. In hop-season, there isn t a cottage, a farm-house garret, nor even a barn untenanted. There ere tents, a white sprinkle of them, down in the meadow by the vines, where people sleep at nights. You can see them from here. You are staving in this part of the neighborhood? 2ho? My father will be very glad to see you, up at the louse, if you will honor us by becoming our guest to-night." And raising his light straw hat, Daniel Durell went his way, the beautiful, satin skinned white horse following, like a docile kitten, at his heel3. "Hugh," he said, to a servant who had just come down with a hamper from the house, "take a cup of hot coffee and two or three of these white rolls, with my compliments, to that gentleman in the linen coat who is sketching under the trees. And Hugh I" "Sir?" "Did you carry the sardine sandwiches ,.t ? ouu ijasrwsKt \JI cijuiVJins auu IUU iiv.su milk to the young girl in black?" The man nodded. "She didn't want to take 'em, Mr. ;Daniel," said he. "She was all for calling me back. But I minded your order, sir, and made off as fast as I could, pretending not to hear." Durell smiled. "That's right," said Le. "And don't forget the cold meat and slices of new bread for old Dunstable. He grow3 feebler and feebler every day, and there was nothing but the heel of a loaf and a black checscrind in his dinner-basket, for I saw it myself." ? "It's all right, sir," said Hugh. And then Durell, going to the Great House, shrewdly noting all the hoppickers as they sat and lay around, under the shadow of the vines, in the dolcc far nieute of tho noon intermission, finally came into the great, cool room, where the scent of cheese-making tilled the air, asd-the muslin curtains fluttered to and fro in the brtQ^c. The squire himself sat there, croutv. but couteut. Iced tea and cold chicken were on tho table; forced hot-house peaches scented the atmosphere; a plate of deviled tongue, with curry sauce, supplied the fiery clement, and delicate cutlets, breaded and fried in egir, were brought in, hot and hot. The old gentleman's facc brightened a'c the sight of his son. "It has seemed a long day without you, my boy," said ho. "Sit dowu; sit down. Do you know, Daniel, I've been thinking all the morning that I wish you'd bring a wife homo to the old place? She could be company for me when you. arc gone. Why don't you think of it, ray lad?" i *'I have beeu thinking of it, father," said the squire's son. "But what would you say, sir, if I were to marry a poor girl?" i The squire set down his iced tea. -- -.vl HHHHpr ^39K9flRH3S|HHH^^^Pviolence abate, ?BbHB^S99B|^^^dy their serene estcte, BflH^^BSgHj^P^uiet ways are best B^MHBHw^JPcihiDg's gained by worrying, By hurrying, WEm^r And scurrying. With fretting and with flurrying J ^ The temper's often lost; And in pursuit of some small priza We rush a head and are not wise J. And find the unwonted exercise . j A fearful price has cost. *Tis better far to join the throng */ That do their duty right along; Reluctant they to raise a fuss, BsngHnBKr MraSmHgBg&BQBBE^H^added, ^BasgisagtBB^SB^^^y heart to Mg|H^9B||fl^Mary Ravenel, sir; I nMogSsHK'^before this season. She is HSBfl^mops with her aunt or some el^^P^x'lative?a pale find fragile lookPng girl, but as beautiful as a dream. And?I love her." The old squire nodded his head. "I can trust you, ray son," said he, "and whoever you choose to bring here will be as welcome as flowers in May." While all this time, the artist, strolling idly along to observe the various groups, came upon a pale faced girl in black?a girl with large, melting wine brown eyes, straight, pure features, and tender, dark hair, overhanging her forehead like a mist of jet. "Miss Ravenel I" he cried, in amazement." "Yes, 'Miss Ravenel,'" she smiled back. "You are astonished to seo mo here. But the doctor declared that hopKa +V>rnrn thinrr fnr mn tTUULU bUV i v.i j * v*. So Aunt Verna brought me, and here we are. And I am really accomplishing wonders in the hop-picking line! Sit down here and eat some of these delicious hot house grapes. They arc sent to us daily by an unknown benefactor. That is," as Aunt Yerna smiled meaningly, "not exactly unknown. It is Squire Durell's son. He will perist in sending all these delightful things, although I tell him, over and over, that I have no need of them. I believe he thinks I am a starving dressmaker, or something of tho kind," with a blush and a smile. "But, oh, he is so good 1 And I like him so much! Now show us, please, what you have been sketching." Mr. Durrellcame dpwn, in the warm red glow of the summer sunset, to the willow-shaded curve of the river where Miss Ravenel liked to sit when her day's work was done. "I have brought you some of tho rare t uruiliua HULLl IUU V/UUCCl t UbVSA J y OU1U uv. "You told me the other day that you liked flowers." "I am so much obliged to you,Hsaid she gratefully. "But, Mr. Durrcll, I have something to tell you." "Stop a minute," said he, "I have something to tell you?that I love you ?that I want to make you my wife. Dear Miss Ravenel, are you surprised at this? Have you not seen it growing out of my heart by degrees? My father is old and infirm, but he is ready to welcome you with all paternal love, and?" "You really love me," she cried, with wide-open eyes. "Me, a poor,pale, little hop -picker?" "You, my queen and my ideal!" "Then," she said, all smiles and blushes, "I think I ought to repay you by loving you a little. And I think I do, nay, I am quite certain of it." "My darling! Oh, my darling!" he [ murmured. "But wait, you have not heard what I am," she urged. "You are 3Iiss Ravenel, from Philadelphia." "I am General Ravenel's daughter. I I am here by the doctor's orders, not bc| cause I need the daily wages of a hoppicker. But you won't like me any tho less, will you, for that?" Mr. Durrell stood amazed. Mis3 Ravcnel, the Philadelphia beauty, the great heiress! "We are stopping at the Clancliff Hotel" said she. "I have my phaeton and ponies tierc. I will drive up to the house to see your father, since he cannot come to me." "But I thought you -were a poor girl, hiring one of those tents at so much a night," said Daniel, in perplexity. "That's where you were mistaken," said Miss Ravenel, smiling. "Eut the hop-picking lies done me a deal of good. Aunt Yerna. savs mv cheeks are redder than they used to be; aud I must be better, because ?" "Well?" "Because I feel so happy," said Mary Raveael, coloring like a rose. And so Daniel Durrell found his life's treasure out among the garlanded hoppoles.?The Ledger. A Phlegmatic Briton, Jules Janin stands high among the foremost of the critical writers of modern France. By some stress of fortune one winter during the Empire he was j compelled to abide in London. The day ! Tvn<! mthpr rnH. nnrl he had secured a 1 very comfortable scat near tho red hot stove in a well known restanrant. Opposite.to liira sat a phlegmatic Englishman sipping bis glas3 of grog. "Waiter 1" cried out the Briton, "do you know the name of that foreign looking gentleman sitting near the fire reading the paper and smoking a cigar?" "No, sir; I do not," answered the beer j bearer, after looking Janin carefully over, "but I will call the proprietor." The proprietor comes. "Do you know that gentleman reading the paper and smoking his cigar near the stove?" "I regret to say, sir, that I do not. This is the first time, I think, he has ever visited our establishment." "Very well. That will do," said the Englishman, in his coolest manner. lie then rose and directed himself toward tho unknown. "My dear sir," said he, addressing . Janin, "but might I know your name?" "Certainly; my name is Janin, Jule9 I Janin, from Paris." i "Well, Mr. Janin, Jules Janin, from I Paris, I have the honor to inform you i ?V./? nf T/Mir r>nnt nrr> nlmrtSfc f>n IIIUL tilV UUiJ ?4 jvu? vw?*? ?. w tirclv burnt off by the fire in that stove at which you are sitting, and a.? you don't seem to be aware of tho fact I have marie bold to let you know."?Philadcljihia Times. India's Magnetic riant. There lias been discovered in the forests of India a strange plant, which possesses to a very high degree astonishiug magnetic power. The hand which breaks a leaf from it immediately receives a shock equal to that produced by the conductor of an induction coil. At a distance of nineteen feet a magnetic needle is affected by it, and it will be quite deranged if brought near. The energy of this singular influence varies with the hour of the day. It is allpowerful about 2 o'clock in tho afternoon but is ineffective during the night. At times of storm its intensity augments to striking proportions.?Commercial Advertiser. r:._ THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Subject: "Summer Vacation." Test: "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest awhile."?Markvi., 31. Here Christ advises His apostles to take a vacation. They have been living an excited as well as a useful life, and He advises that they get out into the country. I am glad that for longer or shorter time multitudes of our people will have summer vacation. The railway trains are being laden with passengers and baggage on their way to tho mountains and the sea shore. Multitudes of our citizens are packing their trunks for a restorative absence. Tho citv heats are pursuing the people with torch and fear of sunstroke. The long silent halls of sumptuous hotels are all abuzz with excited arrivals. The crvstaliue sur face of Winnipiseogee is shattered with the stroke of steamer, laden with excursionists. The antlers of Adirondack doer rattle under the shot of city sportsmen. The trout make fatal snaps at the hook of adroit sportsmen and toss their spotted brilliance into the game basket Already the baton of the orchestral leader taps the music stand on the hotel green, and American life puts on festal array, and the rumbling of the tenpin alley, and the crack of the ivory balls on the green baize billiard tables, and the jolting of the bar-room goblets, and the explosive uncork- | ing of champagne bottles, ana the whirl and the rustle of the ball-room dance and the clattering hoofs of the race courses attest that the season for the great American watering-places is fairly Inaugurated. Music?flute and drum and cornet-a-piston and clapping cymbals?will wake the echoes of the mountains. Glad I am that fagged out American life for the most part will nave an opportunity to rest, and that nerves racked and destroyed will find a Bethesda. I believo in watering places. Let not the commercial firm begrudge the clerk, or the employer the journeyman, or the patient the pnysician, or tho church its pastor a season of inoccupation. Luther used to sport with his children; Edmund Burke used to caress his favorite horse; Thomas Chalmers, in the dark hours of the church's disruption, played kite for recrea x: T uuu?U3 x ??uo tviu Ujr ilia \J1*U uau^ubci ? and the busy Christ said to the busy apostles, "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile." And I have observed that they who do not know how to rest do not know how to work. But I havo to declare this truth to-day, that some of our fashionable watering places are the temporal and eternal destruction of "a multitude that no man can number," and amid the congratulations of this season and the prospect of the departure of many of you for the country I must utter a note of warning?plain, earnest and unmistakable. The first temptation that is apt to hover in this direction is to leave your piety all at home. You will send the dog and cat and canary bird to be well cared for somewhere else, but tfoe temptation win oe to leave your religion in the room with the blinds down and the door bolted, and then yon will como back in the autumn to find that it is starved and suffocated, lying stretchod on the rug stark dead. There is no surplus of piety at the watering places. I never knew any one to grow very rapidly in grace at the fashionable summer resort It is generally the case that the Sabbath is more of a carousal than any other day, and there are Sunday walks and Sunday rides and Sunday excursions. Elders and deacons and ministers of religion who are entirely consistent at homo sometimes when the Sabbath dawns on them nt Niagara Falls or the White Mountains take the day to themselves. If they go to the church, it is apt to be a sacred parade, and the discourse, instead pf being a plain talk about the sou), is apt to be what is called a crack sermon?that is, some discourse picked out of the effusions of the year as the one mnct nrlinttwl rn {.Tpita /lrlmirfitinn nnrl in those churches, from the way the ladles hold their fans, you know they are not half so much impressed with the heat as with the picturesqueness o" half disclosed features. Four puny souls stand in the organ loft and squall a tune that nobody knows, and worshipers, with two thousand dollars' worth of diamonds on the right hand, drop a cent into the poor box, and then the benediction is pronounced and the farce is ended. The air is bewitched with "the world, the flesh and the devil." There are Christians who in three or four weeks in such a place bave had such terrible rents made in their Christian robe that they bad to keep darning it until Christmas to get it mended 1 The health of a great many people makes an annual visit to some mineral spring an absolute necessity; but take your Bible along with you and take an hour for secret prayer every day, though you be surrounded by guffaw and saturnalia. Keep holy the Sabbath, though they denounce you as a.bigoted Puritan. Standoff from these institutions which propose to imitute on this side the water the iniquities of olden time Baden-Baden. Let your moral and your immortal health keep pace with your physical recuperation, and remember that all the waters of Hathorne and suipnur u.Liu cumy ucauj springs (juuuuu uu you so much good as the mineral, healing, perennial flood that breaks forth from the "Rock of Age6." This may be your last summer. If so, make it a fit* vestibule of heaven. Another temptation around nearly all our watering places is the horse racing business. We all admire the horse. There needs to bo a redistribution of coronets among the brute creation. For ages the lion has been called tae king of beasts. I knock off its coronet and put the crown upon the horse, in every way nobler, whether in shape or spirit or sagacity or intelligence or affection or usefulness. He is semi-human, and knows how to reason on a small scale. The centaur of olden times, part horse and part man, seems to be a suggestion of the fact that the horse is something more than a beast. But we do not think that the speed of th9 horse should bo cultured at the expanse of human degradation. Horse racas in olden times were under the ban of Christian peoflirt onil in mil* /lotr fKa cama inofifiifiAn hao J" -) *? * ? -? M VU? UL?J Vltu OttUlO 1UJVIWUKIUU U(W come up under fictitious names, and it is canea a "su nmer meeting," alm)3t suggestive o? positive religiou* exercises. An 1 it is callei an "agricultural fair," suggestive of everything that is improving in the art of farming. But under these deceptive titles are the same cheating ani the same batting, the same drunkenness and same vagabondage, aud the same abominations that were to bo found under the old horse racing system. I never knew a man yet who could give himself to the pleasures of tho turf for a long reach of time and not bo battered in morals. They hook up their spanking team, and put on their sporting cap, and li^'ut their cigar, and take tho reins, and dasii down tho road to perdition. Tho great day at Saratoga ani Long Branch and (Jape May, an 1 nearly all tho other watering places, is the day of tho races. Tho hotels are thronged, nearly every kind of equipage is taken up at an almost fabulous price, ani there are many respectable people mingling with jockeys am gamoiers am noircines ana foul-mouthed men ami flashy wo.naa. Tho oar toaler stirs up tha braady s uijh. Tha bets run high. Tha greeahorns, supposing all is fair, pub iu their money soon enough to loso ir. Three woaks before tho race takes place tho struggle is decidcJ, aal tho men iu tho secret know on which stood to bet their money. Tho two men on thohorsos riding around long before arranged who shall beat. Loaning from tha stand or from tho carriage aro men and women so absorbs 1 in the struggle o? bona and musclo ani mettle that they make a grand harvest for the pickpockets, whocarry oil tha poc'xetbooks an l portmonnaies. Men looking on see only two horses with two riders flying aroun l tho ring, but thero is many a man ou that stand whose honor and domestic happiness and fortune?white nam?, white foot, white flank? nro in tin ring, rasing with inebriety, and wita rraud, and with profanity, and with ruin?black nook, blade foot, black flank. Nock and neck they go in that moral Epsora. Ah, my friends, have nothing to do with horso racing dissipations thi3 summer. Long ago tho English Government got through looking to tho turf for tho dragoon and light cavalry horse. Thoy found tbo turf depreciates tho stock, and it is yet worgo for men. Thomas Hughes, the Member of Parliament and the author, known all the world over, hear ins: that a new turf aaiAroriaa trac haiucr started in this country, wrote a letter <n which he said: "Heaven help you, then; for of all the cankers of our old civilization there i3 nothing in this country approaching in unblushing meanness, in rascality holding its high head, to thia belauded institution ol the British turf." I go farther and speak, of another tempta v' - -r' tton that n ^vers over the watering places, and this is the temptation to sacrifice physical strength. The modern Betheada was meant to recuperate the physical health, and yet how many coma from the watering Slaces, their health absolutely destroyed 1 Tew York aud Brooklyn idiots boasting of having imbibed twenty glasses of Congress water before breakfast. Families accustomed to going to bid at 10 o'clock at night gossiping until 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning. Dyspeptics, usually very cautious about their health, mingling ice creams ani lemons and lobster salads and cocoanuts until the gastric juices lift up all their voices of lamentation and protest. Delicate women and brain!e33 young men chassezing themselves Into vertigo and catalepsy. Thousands of men and women coming back from our watering places in the autumn with the foundations laid for ailments that will last them all thoir life long. You know as well as I do that this is the simple truth. T? 4>Ua Mimtnai* rrtn nrt TT f/\ T?r*HT? J.Li tuu auuiiuct juu o<*j (a. fuu* gvuu health: "Good by; I am going to have a good time for a little vrhile. I will bo vorv glad to see you again in the autumn." Tnen in the autumn, when you aro hard at work in Sour office or shop or counting room, Good health will come and say, "Good by; I am going." You say, "Where are you goings'" "Oh," says Good Health, "I am going to tako a vacation! It is a poor rule that will not work both ways, ana your good health will leave you choleric and splenetic and exhausted. You coquetted with your good health in the summer time, and your good health is coquetting with you in the winter time. A fragment of Paul's charge to the jailer would be an appropriate inscription for the hotel register in eyery watering place, "Do thyself no narm." Anot&ar teui^utiua hovering around the ^twfagplaca is to the ^formation of hasty auu meiong amance3. ma watering places are responsible for more of the domestic infelicities of this country than all the other things combined. Society is soartiQ:ial there that no sure judgment of character can bo formed. Those wno form companionship-} amid such circumstances go into a lottery where there are twenty blanks to one priza. In the severe tu? of life you want more than glitter and splash. Life is not a ballroom where the mu3ic decides the step, and bow and pranoj anl graceful 3wing of long trail can raak3 up for strong common sense. You may a3 well go among the gayly painted yachts of a summer regatta to tind war vessels as to go among the light spray of the summer watering placo to find character that can stand thj test of the great struggle of human life. Ah, in the battle of life you want a stronger weapon than a lace fan or a croquet mallet! me load of life is so heavy that in order to draw if you want a team stronger than one made up of a masculine grasshopper and a feminine butterfly. If there is any man in the community that excites my contempt, and that excite3 the contempt of every man and woman, it i3 the soft-handed, soft-headel fop who, perfumed until the air is actually sick, spends his summer in taking killing attitudes and waving sentimental adieus and talking infinitesimal nothings, and finding his heaven in the set of a lavender kid glove. Boots as tight as an inquisition, two hours of consummate skill exhibited in the tie of a flaming cravat, his sonversation male up of "Ah's" and "Oil's" and "Ho-hco's." It would take fivo hundred of them stowed down to make a teaspoonful of calves'-foot jelly. There is only one counterpart to such a man as that, and that is the frothy young vromanat the watering p!aca, her conversation raada up of French moonshine, what she has on her head only equaled by what she has on her I back; useless ever since she was born, and to be useless until she is dead; and what they tvill do with her ift the next world I do not know, except to set her upon the banks of tho lliver of Life for all eternity to look sweet 1 God intends us to admiro music and iair races and graceful stop, but amid tho heartlessn^-s and the inflation and the fantastic influences of our modern watering places bewaro how you make life long covenants ! Another temptation that will hover over the watering placa is that of baneful literature. Almost every one starting off for tho summer takes some reading matter. It is a book out of the library or off tho book stand, or bought of the boy hawking books through tho cars. I really believe there is more posfif/trnna ffocli rnoA nmnni* fVirt infnlHrrflnf ! classes in July and August than in all tho I other ten months oi tho year. Men and woj men who at homo would not bo satisfied with a book that was not really sensible, I found sitting on hotel piazzas or under the trees reading books the index of which would make them blush if they knew that you knew what tho book was. Would it not be an awful thing for you to be struck with lightning some day when you had in your hand ono of these paper covered romauces?the hero a ^Parisian roue, | tho heorino nn unprincipled flirt?chapI ters in tho book that you would not read to I your children at the rato of one. hundred j dollars a linel Throw out that stuff from your summer baggage. Aro thero not i good books that are easy to read?books of j congenial history, books of pure fun, books of poetry ringing with merry canto, books of I fine engravings," books that will rest tho j mind as well as purify the hsarb and elovata tho wholo lifo? My hearers, thero will not | bo au hour between this and tho day of your j death when you can afford to read a book ' lackiug in moral principle. Another temptation tiovoring all around . our watering place3 is tho intoxicating bov! erago, I am told that it is becoming moro j fashionable for wo.nen to drink. I care not how well a woman raiv drosi if she ha3 taken enough of wino to flash her cheafc and ! pat glassiuoss on her oye3 she is intoxicated. She maybe handed into a $2 300 carriage and have diamonds enough to confound Tiffany's ?she is intoxicated. She may baa graduate I of a great institute and the daughter of ! some man in danger of being nominated for | the Presidency?she Is drunk. You may ! have a larger vocabulary than I hare, and j you may say in regard to her that she. i3 "convivial," or she is "merry," or she is "festive," or she is "exhilarated," but you cannot with all your garlands of verbiage cover up the plain fact that It is anoldfashionA.'] ansa of il runic. Satan has three or four grades down which he takes men to destruction. One man he takes up, and through ono spree pitches him into eternal darkness. That is a I rare case. Very seldom, indeed, can you find a man who will bo such a fool as that. When a man goes dowa to destruction [ Sataa brings him to a plain. It is almost a level. The depression is so slight that I you can hardly seo it. That man does not j actually know that ho is on the down > grade, and it tips only a little toward i darkness?just a littie. And tha firs4', mile I it is clarct, and the second mile it is cherry, and the third mile it is punch, and the fourth mile it is ato, and tho fifth mile it is ! porter, and the sixth mile it is )randy, and 1 then it gats steeper and steeps anl tho man ; gets frightened aud says, 'Oh, let me get | off I" "No," says the conductor, "this is an | express train and it does not stop until it gets ' to the Grand Central depot of Smashupton." j Ah, "look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when ! it moveth itself aright. At tho last it biteth I like a serpent and stingeth like an adder." j My friends, whether you tarry at home? which will bo quite as ?afe and perhaps quite ! as comfortable?or sro into t.h? mnnfcrv. nrm j yourselves against temptation. Tho grace I of God is the only safe shelter, whether in town or country. There are watering places ' accessible to all of us. You canuot open a : book of the Biblo without tinding out some ! such watering place. Fountains opon for . sin and uncleauliness; wells of salvation; ; streams from Lebanon; a flood struck out of the rock by Mos-'s; fountains in tho wilderness discovered by Hagar; water to drink auU water to bathe in; tuo river of God, ;.hich is full of water; water of which it a man driuk ho shall never thirst; wells of water in the Valley of Baca; living fountains I of water; a pure river of water as clear as j crystal from under the throne of GoJ. j These are watering places accessible to all 1 luhnrinne ..nnl-nifr j vt WO. " v UU ilWW V ? 1UWV ivw^ p?vo*?i0 j j up before we start?only tho throwing away I of our transgressions. No exponsive hotel ; bills to pay; it is "without money and without price." No long aud dirty travel before wo get there; it is only ono step away. In California in live minutes I walked around and saw t^.n fountains all ImHlilimr cnoy were aU uulorent. Aud iu fivo minutes I can go through this Biblo parterre aud find you fitty bright, sparkliug fountains bubbling up into eternal lifo. A chemist will go to one of thesa summer watering places and tako the water aud analyze it, and tell you that it contains so much of iron, and so much of soda, and so much of lime, and so much of magnesia. I come to this Gospel well, this living fountain, and analyze the water, and 1 hud that its ingredients are peace, pardon, forgiveness, hope, comfort, life, heaven. "Ho, every ono that thirsteth, come ye" to this watering place! Crowd around this Bethesda to-day! Oh, you stefc, you lame, you troubled, you dying v -. - . it?. ";- ' . . 1 ; ?crowd around this Bethesda! Step initt Ob, step in itl The angel of the covenant today stirs the water. Why do you not step in it? Some of you are too weak to take a step in that direction. Then we take you up in the arms of our closing prayer and plunge you clean under the wave, hoping that the euro may be as sudden and as radical as with Captain Naaman, who, blotched and carbuncled, stepped into the Jordan, and after the seventh dive came up, his skin roseate complexioned as the flesh of a little child, CURIOUS FACTS* Philadelphia was settled in 1682. The first watches were made in Nu remburg in 1477. Few large trunks are seen oa the railroads nowadays. The number of different languages spoken in Europe is 587. A pair of white robins with pink eyes were canght at West Goshen, Penn., recently. In Prussia there are 20,000,000 acres of forests, 10,000,000 of which are State forests. In certain villages of the Indian central provinces there is an official termed the gapogari, whose duty it is to make rain. So many distinguished artists in England have married their models that the profession is in high standing there. During a heated spell at Reading, Penn., workmen removed a street rail, and it extended so mnch that it could not be replaced. A parrot owned by a Kansas City (Mo.) barber hangs in front of the establishment and occasionally advises passersby to ^ct their hair cut. The Rev. Josiah T. Howes, a Congregational clergyman for over sixty-seven fears,is still preaching in Litchfield,Me., although he is now in his ninety second yrear. Some practical but inartistic German has made up a compound of sugar and condensed milk and tea from which a cup of tea can be had by simply pouring on boiling water. Glycerine was discovered by Scheele about 1779, and termed by him the "sweet principle of fats," and further studied bv Chevreul. termed the ''father of the fatty acids." The manufacture of cotton goods in Ceylon has for the last few years made remarkable progress. The island promises to become as dangerous 1 rival of India iu that industry as in the growth of tea. One of the wedding presents to Explorer Stanley was a gold geographical watch from a firm of -watchmakers, the first of the kind ever manufactured. It tells the time in almost every important :ity in the -world. The interesting fact may b3 stated in i line that New York's new aqueduct is thirty miles long. It cost $22,000,000 -I lifrto rrnrei Irvcf l'n ifc 11 LIO. u?w *vw vvMv...w tion. It brings 31S,000,000 gallons of water to New York daily. Mrs. Betz, living on a farm in Arizonia, went to a field where her husband was plowing. She put her three months old baby to sleep in a box in the field. Soon after the plow team ran away and smashed the box and killed the child instantly. An explorer who has been collecting specimens from the sea bottom, and also watching the habits of marine animals, says that artists are wrong ia representing divers as walking upright, as his experience shows that it is necessary to walk with the body inclined forward at an angle of forty-five degrees. At the head of Onion Valley in Inyo County, Gal., are two abrupt mountains, one 13,000 and the other 14,000 feet high. Tumbling down the side of one is a cataract 500 feet high, which in the distance resembles falling enow, and two other wnterfalls of equal height are visible from the head of the valley. Berlin, Germany, has a stenographer with a uuique specialty. He attends all funerals of prominent persons and takes down verbatim the addresses of the Officiating clergymen. Then he prepares highly ornamented copies of the addresses and sells them to the friends of the eulogized dead. His business is so good that he hae taken one assistant and has advertised for another. The practice of eating arsenic prevails to a great extent in Europe. For a time it gives people the appearance of health, and renders respiration easier. After awnue to give up me puisuu uf tu wutinue it, causes death. It is quite likely that Mr. Maybrick, of Liverpool, who was supposed to have been poisoned by his American wife last year, wa3 a victim of his own folly in thisrerpect. A visitor to a girl's school iu Hindoostan is pleasingly struck by the rows of graceful and eager pupils, with dark, intelligent faces, picturesquely dressed in bright-colored sarees or jackets and skirtd, and loaded with ornaments of ejold or glass. They are quick and persevering and tolerably attentive to tho often unattractive and monotonous teaching of the turbaned schoolmaster. Split Matches and Got Rich. The hein of Mrs. Martha Ann Bogart, of Elizabeth, N. J., who died about a month ago, have been surprised by tho discovery of her hidden wealth. Mrs. Bogart was believed to be in needy circumstances during the latter years of her life, and her sisters frequently gave her I financial assistance. In nu old-fashioned I T-nltcn o r\nrnhnv r\f tolvKVft hrtrfq | have been found rolls of bauk bilU. The | money was placcd in a satchel, and peo- j pie who saw and counted it say there wa3 j 57U00 iu bills. Several days ago the j satchel aud money disappeared, ami as j the woman's husband, John Bogart, is! also missing, it is believed that he has taken the uionoy and gone to the fai west to live with a brother. No will has been found, and the impression is that the old woman made no provision for the disposal of her estate. Bogart was her second husband. It is said that Mrs. Bogart was so miserly that she would split large lucifer matches, making one match do for use two or three times.?Atlanta Constitution. Best Door Park on the Continent. T* on?/I f1>of nn Ppacc'c Tclanrl t\fr ATn chias, it is a daily sight to see five to fifteen deer feeding on the bolder of the forest; these are conceded not to be "wild deer," as no ono is allowed to shoot or fire at them any montli in the year. Any one who docs so is an outlaw. It is judged by men who live most of the time at the life-saving station that there are 150 deer, maybe 200, on Cross's Island, which is one of the best deer parks on tho continent.?New Orleans PicayuTM. ^ " 'W -y$i - ;; ' .: . :-?.f ;<* RELIGIOUS READING, THEN SHALL I KNOTT I wait for thy revealinss, 0 blessed land of light! For here are strange concealings, And cloud, and gloom, and niglit. For I shall know hereafter The things I know not now; Where grief is turned to laughter, , Aud glory crowns the brow. Wbat now seems darkest mystery The day-dawn shall unfold, 'Twill read as golden history T>v lovp nnrl inprr>v told So thus, my heart contenting Mv sighs are lost in sons, Ai-.J 1,110 more lamenting, Tress checriiy along. -[R. M. Offord. EFFECT OF PRAYER. What the key is to the watch, that prayei 18 to religion; "it winds it up, and sets it agoing. It is before other duties in regard of opportunity for its performance. A Chri.-tian cannot always hear, or always read, or always communicate, but he may pray continually. No place, no company, can'deprivc him of this privilege. If he be on tbe top of a house with Peter, he may pray; if be be in the bottom of the ocean with .Tnnoh l?n mow i\k.iv? Ka w*lLrfr?r? m the fields with Isaac, be n.ay pray when no eyesceth him; if lie be waiting at the table like Neliemiah, he may pray when no ear heareth him. If he be in the mountain with our Saviour, he may pray; if he be in the prison with Paul, he* may pray: wherever he is prayer will help him to find God out. Everv saint is God's temple; "and he that carrieth his temple about him," saith Austin, "may go to prayer when he pleaseth."? [George bwinuock. 3ECRET PRAYER. In secret prayer does thy heart never urge thee to cut it short, frequently making a motion to have done. Charge it in the name of God to stay, and not do so great a work by halves. Say to it. foolish heart, If thou beg awhile and goest away without thine alms, is not thy begging lost labor? Thou earnest hither in hope to have a sijjht of the glory which thou must inherit, and wilt thou stop when thou art almost at the top of tee hill? Thou earnest hither in the hope to speak with God; wilt thou go before thou ha?t seen him? Thou earnest to bathe thy sou! In the streams of consolation, and to that end didst unclothe thyself of thy earth'y thoughts, aud wilt thou only touch the bank and return? Thou earnest to spy out the land of premise; go not back without one cluster of frranes to show thv brethren fnr their en couragemcnt. Let them sec that thou hast tasted of the wine by the gladness of thy heart; and that thou hast been anointed with the oil, by the cheerfulness of thy countenance; and hast fed of the millc or. I'honey, by the mildness of thy disposition, and the sweetness of thy conversation.?[Traill. MOItAL TRAINING FOB CITIZENSHIP. Intellectual training alone is not sufficient to qualify one for the high honors of American citizenship. There must be strong development of the moral life, a firm apprehension of the right and the wrong, an ardent love of the true and the good, and an abhorrence of the wrong and hatred of the evil. Nothing short of this will prepare our youth for citizenship. We have too many intellectual, but heartless scoundrels already; too many ward bummers and local politicians who'will buy out, sell out, or both; too many who do not appreciate the value of privileges, w)>n ran hn fiirni'il hv a fp\V dollars Or the promise of an olli.'e in some local sphere. This state of affairs does not arise from want or intellectual intelligence, but from a lack of moral, heart-intelligence. Tins fact &.rows out of another fact which is becoming very apparent, that is, we have not been giving attention to the moral training of our youth, of a generation ago, which the gravity of the subject demands and their natures require, frfo we must be as diligent in the proper training of the benrt as in that of the intellect: yea, we must be more so, or we must perish as a people through our foolish intelligence.?[J. M. Wriirht. I OUR COUNTRY CHURCH. "With few exceptions pastors of city churches and their wives emanated from the churches of the country villages or small towns. The missionary" ranks' are almost entirely supplied from these sources. This is natural. The country church and home, all the conditions of country life are more conducive to Christian character and early piety. The influence of Christian parents and pastors is tenfold stronger than in the city. Both parents and pastors in the country home and church more earnestly and constantly influence their sons toward the ministry. *"or these ana many omer reasons, the great source of supply of men and women to the Christian Church ami its ministry is found in the churches outside of the larjje cities. No other argument than this fact is needed to show the necessity of maintaining the country churches. The growth, piety and efficiency of a denomination will be in proportion to the prosperity of its country churches, and the maintenance of their simplicity and spirituality. Dr. Chalmers appreciated this, and instituted the sustentation plan of the Free Church of Scotland, which has been the visible basis of its remarkable growth. and its efficiency in missionary work. Thus, the home mission work, as it provides for the supp:rt of lecble churches and the organization of new churchcs, is the most important agency of the church. Upon this all other enterprises depend. Upon this the foreign missionary and work depends f~: its men and means, and the missionary spirit without which these cannot le forthcoming. This home work must not Le restricted to new and feeble churches. Every church in the old as well as the new States should be enabled to a (lord a reasonable salary, and thoroughly to culti vatetne territory wmcn nes wnuin us a-a . It is by the country church principally that the ideal Christian'home is to be preserved and made the safeguard of our couniry. and the nursery for the Church and its ministry. This consideration alone ought to m iko the country pastor shrink from yielding to the currcnt that sweeps towaril the crowded town. There is another fact that manifest? the impoitance of the country church as a fact?r in the spread of Christianity. The liev. S. \V. Dike, in the January number of the Century Magazine, says that in the "fourteen Northern States, east of the Mississippi llivcr, where a little over one-half of the native population of the Cniteil States was found iu 1S80, there were more people by about one mi'lion in the country townships of less than two thousand inhabitants than there were in large cities and towns having four thousand and upwards," and that the non-church-goers largely consist of those who live niore than two miles from the nearest church. The problem of reaching these is of equal importance with that of reaching the masses in the city. A larger proportion of these exert an influence upon the trade, finance and social condition of the country and world than of the city masses. Besides this the children of these'homes are constantly going to the city and town, a?d to distant sections, where they take part in the determination of our social fabric. We are now in danger of permitting theenormous growth of our cities to overshadow our rural interests. J.et us not forget in the presence of these metropolitan demands and problems that the country is still the great reservoir of moral and spiritual, as well as mental and physical, power. We cannot afford to neglect its interests as we pray and labor that (iod's will may be done on" earth as it is in heaven. Omr.r.Tx hits lilontv of room for im migrants. There are in Pierce County 400,0S7 acres of land, of which only 12,118 are improved. "Ware contains 117,903 acres, of which 10,0S7 are improved; Wayne, 249,000, 9,997 improved; Appliug, 337,075, and 13,352 improved. Other counties mako similar showiDtr. Shadows have no claws; they carry no swords and fire no guns, but they frighten many people to death. 51 SABBATH scnooL ' ' ./<? INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOB r_ AUGUST 24. 3f|j iflS r 53 Lesson Text: "Prevailing Prayer,11 Lukexviii., 1-14?Golden Text: Lake xviii., 14 ? Commentary. 1. "And He spake a parable onto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint." The Kingdom of God and the coming of the Son of Man in power and glory, and the cross as the only way to the Kingdom, were the topics constantly in the mind and on the lips of the Lord Jesus. All the miracles of healing were foreshadowings of the health that shall be when the Kingdom comes, and His discourses ,>-x; were full of the righteousness of the Kingdom. 2. "There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man." The eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth (II Chron. xvt, 9; Jer. xrxiL, 19; Zech. iv., 10) had seen many such. He sees many such to-day both in high and low places among men. What a contrast between sach a judge and Him who uttered this parable, to whom all judgment has been given and who has been annnin+fvl inf1<ro nf this wnrlH (.Trvhn v. 22? Acts xvii., 31.) What a defiant spirit, not to fear God; what a self-centered spirit, not to regard man. Although devils do not regard in any sense the welfare of man, they do tremble before God (Jos. ii., 19', so that a man who fears not God seems to be worse than the very demons. 3. "And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge mo , of mv adversary." Many are the widows and fatherless that in this world are poor and oppressed, and yet God sees and cares for eacn one, though He may not always * seem to. 4. "And ho would not for a while; but afterwards he said within himself. Though I fear not God, nor regard man." why should he trouble himself about this oppressed one; ? since it was nothing to him, ana he feared no higher power? Had she been able to pay him well ho would have attended to her, but as he would make nothing by it, therefore pay no heed to her. Thus, probably, he reasoned in bis wicked heart, 5. "Yet because this widow troflbleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me." No regard for God or man, and no desire to do justly for this oppressed and persecuted widow, but simply through desire for his own personal comfort^ he will finally attend to her. G. "And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith." What a contradiction there is in these two words, "unjust judge" when we remember that it is written: tJHe that ruleth over men, must bo just, ruling in the fear of God" (II Sam. xxiii., 3). And yet the contradiction is no greater than in the terms?worldly Christian, doubtigg believer; for a Christian is one who is not o? the world, ond a believer scatters all doubts by the word. And does God hear what we say and soe all we do? Yes, His eyes are upon all our ways, and even for our words we must give account. (Jer. xixii., 19; Matt. !/1 xii., 3tJ). I 7. "Ana snail not <jo i avenge ms own clcct which cry day auJ night unto Him. though He bear long with them?" The word "elect" in Scripture refers sometimes to the believing remnant of Israel (Isa. lxr., 8, 22); sometimes to the church gathered out of Jews and Gen tiles (Rom. viii., 33; Col. ill, 12), and sometimes to Christ Himself (Isa. xlii., 1). Inasmuch as iu the Gospels Christ is dealing only with Israel (Matt, x., 5, 0: xv., 24), with but a hint hero and thereof the church (Matt, xvi., IS; John x., 10, He must refer here to the elect of Israel as in Matt xariv., 22. The church is not to pray for vengeance on her enemies, but vengeance upon enemies is often associated with the redemption of Israel (Isa. xxxiv., 8; xxxv., 4; lxiii., 4; Luke sxi., 2S). 8. "I tell you that Ho will avenge them * ' speedily." "When Jesus came in His humiliation as a servant to suffer and die, He read from the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the. acceptable year of the Lord; and Ho closed Jft the Book. When He comes again to Isra^^H it will be to fulfill the next sentences, He did not read that day. It will be fua^ingcance upon her enemies and to comfaTt all the peuitent who truly mourn (see Isa. Ixi., 1, 2,"and Luke iv., 18-'JO). 9. "And He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they wore righteous and despised others." "We shall now learn who constitute the true elect and whether they are the elect remnant ol Israel or the elect church, the same spirit ia necessary in each. No one can be righteous in Uod's'sight who trusts in himself, for 'every man at his best state is altogether vanity" (Ps. xxxix., 5). 10. "Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee and the other a publican." Outwardly the two are alike in this, that they both go to the temple, and they both go to pray. Men would judge that the Pharisee was ono of the elect, sure; but that the publican stood a poT chance. Perhaps the Pharisee was found so doing every day, or at least twice a week when he fasted (ver. 12); while this poor publican may never have been seen there before. Thus men might hastily decide in favor of the Pharisee, for man looketh on the outward appearnnce, but the Lord looketh on the heart (I ISam. xvi., 7). 11. "Tho Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself." He trusted in himself (ver. 0) and prayed with himself. It was self all tho way through with him, and in his own eyes he was A No. 1. He knew nothing of Paul's motto: "Not I. but Christ." "God I thank thee to at I am not as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican." Look at this man a moment; he prayed to God, he thanked God, he was outwardly conformed to the law; he made his money honestly, wronged no one, paid his debts, his private life was unstained, and he had not, like this publican accepted office from the conqurors of his native land for filthy lucre's sane. 12. "I fast twice in tho week, I give tithes of all that I possess." The law of Moses required but one fast in tho year (Lev. xxiii., 27-29). During the seventy years' captivity, however, they Dad four yearly fasts (ZecL viiL, 19), but this man with his two a week ^ was away ahead of all requirements; he was ^ very religious. , ? ^ 13. "And the publican standing afar of?, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smoto upon his breast^ saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." nero is a man despised by others; like the lepers of the last lesson he is an outcast; he stands afar off as if confessing his great distance from God, morally; ho has not one good thing to say about himself; he is a sinner and he knows it, and he feels it, and that is his plea, and on that ground he asks for mercy. He is one of the truly penitent, bringing the sacrifice of a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart (Ps. li., 17,) and he looks for forgiveness through tho blood-shedding of a substitute. If ha doss not seo all this the Lord sees it in his "God be merciful to me a sinner." 14. "I tell you this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other." The Pharisee's goodness was in God's sight onlr as filthy raes dsn. Ixiv.. f5). for it came irom a sinrui, ueceiuui ana desperately wicked heart (Jer. xvii., 9); and a corrupt tree cannot bring fortli good fruit (Mat. eii., 18). He was no better than Nicolemus, perhaps not half as good, and yet Jficodemus must be borne again ere he could alter tho Kingdom (John iii., 3, 5, 7). The Door J.UDUCan, coniossinjj (lis siu, guea u>??jr justified (see Acts xiii., 33, 3'J), having obtained what he asked for. The selfrighteous went away as he came; he asked aothing and received it.?Lesson Helper. An* amusing iittle episode occurred during the visit of tlie Duchess of Teck to Exeter Hall, where she went the other day to distribute the prizes given by tho Ragged School Union. A regular programme of songs, reci^ tatious, etc., had been arranged for tho entertainment, and first on the ' * 'V ?TT I), 1 list sroou tae nnrrau. eiiuruB, uj which the Princoss was to be welcomed. p*. Most unusual thing, however, for her, she was very late, and the chairman, Lord Ivinaird, was obliged to begin before her arrival. The chorus and a song had already been suug before she appeared ; tho children rose to welcomd the Duchess with the next song on the list, which, by a queer chance, happened to be entitled "Wake ud. Mary 1" A - - - - ^