University of South Carolina Libraries
! XT IS WELL WE CANNOT SEE. When another life is added To the heaving, turbid mass; When another breath of being Stains creation's tarnished glass; When the first cry, weak and piteous, Heralds long-enduring pain, And?a soul from non-existenco Springs, that ne'er can die again; When the mother's passionate welcome, H Sorrow-! iko, bursts forth in tears, And a sire's self gratulat'.on Vrophcsies of future years, It is well we cannot sea What the end will be. When the boy upon the threshold Of his all comprising home Puts aside the arm maternal 1.111 It UU1VWOO UliAX WW tic 4VCA4H, When the canvas of his vessel Flutters to the favoring gale? Years of solitary exiie Hid behind tho sunny sail? Whc-n his pulses beat with ardor And his sinews stretch for toil, And a hundred bold emprises Lure him to that Eastern soil, It is well we cannot seo What the end shall be. When the altar of religion Greets the expectant bridal pair, And the vow that lasts till dying Vibrates on the sacred air; When man's lavish protestations Doubts of after change defy, Comforting the frailer spirit Round his servitor for aye; When beneath love's silver moonbeams Many rocks in shadows sleep Undiscovered till possession Shows the danger of the deep, It is well we cannot seo What the cud shall be. Whatsoever is beginning . That is wrought by human skill; Every daring emanation Of the mind's ambitious will; Every first impulse of passion. Gush of love or twinge of hate; Every launch upon tho water Wide horizoned by our fate; Every venture in the chances Of life's sad, oft desperate gam?, Whatsoever he our motive, v? natsoever be our aim, It is well we cannot see \ "What the end shall be. MISS FAULKBEB. B7 EMMA A. OITER. Dick "was prepared for a dull morning. Driving your sister is not the most exciting occupation imaginable, and when that sister and her betrothed occupy the back seat and are totally absorbed in each other,the situation is almost dreary. Dick was feeling gloomy. - If Jim Gardner and Carrie were a pretty picture of devoted happiness, Dick was no less pleasing as a sample of iturdy young manhood?sturdy and yet Bhy. Dick was a bashful fellow; but he was 1*1. bU littuuauiuu auu uiuu-tj c\a, auu iuiihaired and sunburned, that his modesty was only an added charm. : "Drive into Mrs. Ransom's, Dick," laid Carrie. '-Mother wants me to get her spiced-pickle receipt." Something blue and white was visible in a hammock in Mrs. Ransom's rear yard. "Oh," Carrie murmured, "it's Mrs. Ransom's niece, a Miss Faulkner from the city?some city. Sally Decker was telling about her. She says she's awfully rich and stylish; says she's been here before, but she never dared call on her. She says she's been to Europe twice, and ?well, that she's too stylish for anything!" Carrie ended, hurriedly. ; Jim gave a derisive laugh, but Dick Bat painfully blushing. To be forced to encounter such a creature! He preferred _ swallowed by an earthquake. - Corcital Mrs. Ransom came out at sight nerc, Maggy," she called."My '" 10?ec, Miss Faulkner?Miss Corwin, Mr. Ccrwin and Jim Gardner. I've heard i - T: n?,i ? juu weft etigajjuu luuuuu uaruuer iruui Mecklinville, Carrie, and I suppose that's the young man." - It ended in a gocd general laugh. Eut Dick was too bewildered to laugh. For . ,. tbsre was added to his awe the element r' ' beet calculated to reduce a shy young man to the depths Of misery?admiration! ' Miss Faulkner wore some airy summer garb in which blue predominated?blue stripes, a blue felt hat, blue lacings in her blouse. She w?3 black-haired, darkeyed, pink-cheeked, and the possessor of a deep dimple. "You must come with us for a drive, Miss Faulkner," said Carrie, promptly. ''Go on, Maggy," said Mrs. Ransom. ; Dick stepped down, and Miss Faulkner, with a laughing word of deprecation, stepped up; then Dick drove on. ff "Fcrgot the picklo receipt!" Carrie cried. - if Dick could have laughed with them! But he could not. His mood was almost solemn. He was not only stiff with embarrassment, but he was startled. K Had he ever seen her before? 'Where? It might have been in some angelic vision. % Mis3 Faulkner was charming as she tamed to him, with a faint blush, for the j oddity of the situation. "I'm rather unconventional to ccmc like this," she declared, to Dick. Jim! and Carrie had settled b:iek to a duct, i *4But I do love to drive." p.4'You do?" said Dick. r He meant it to sound genial, but lac knew it sounded stiff. ? "I think the roads about here are beautiful," said Miss Faulkner. "But the names you call them! I've heard of the Crabb Road and the Old Cider-mill Boad." "And the JosiahHinckley Road," Dick managed to add. "I should think you'd call this the Rick-rack Road," she said, scanning its ivinding leugth. f Dirk limo-hod. Tf onlv tho hlnod hnd not gone tingling into his face the next minute! It was the sudden recollection that Miss Faulkner had been twice to 1 Europe which made it. ''Aunt Mary thinks there's no place | like Norwood," said Miss Faulkner, i brightly. "It is pretty." "Not so very," said Dick. Her blue sash blew into his lap, and ho did not know what to do about it. "But it is," said. Miss Faulkner. "Arc there many young people?" "Not very mauy," said Dick. He wished Carrie and Jim would help , him out, but they were fathoms deep in ?low ioned dialogue. "I think I should know," said Miss Faulkner, whispering and smiling, "that your sister was engaged, even if I didn't know it." "ItVplain enough," said Dick. If she were not so stylish, so rich? hadn't been abroad so frequently! And if he were not haunted by that queer notion of having seen her before! "If I didn't bring my book along!" she ejaculated, thumping her hitherto forgotten pamphlet. <:A silly little thing I was reading in a hammock?a regular hammock novel?'Molly's Lovers.' Molly has six frantic lovers so far, and I'm expecting a seventh every miuute." wny couldn't ne tninu or somcmmg funny to j^joiu? lie should think of the right thing later, he knew. lie flicked the horse, and thought of saying something about the length of her visit, but that brought to mind the imposing glories to which she would return. Rich, stylish, traveled, and Dick had never been further than Partington in his honest, healthy life? But lie mastered couragc for a desperate final effort. "Haven't I seen you before?" he said, rather bluntly. "Mel Where?" said Miss Faulkner. "That's what I don't know," he said, lamely. "But I thought?why?somehow?I don't know; I can't explain it. Maybe I never have." He expected no reply to that stammering attempt, and got none. Miss Faulkner sat quiet, as though discouraged and exhausted at last. A nd Dick? poor Dick 1 He wished that he was somewhere?anywhere else; that he knew enough to say boo to a goose; that he had never Deen Dorn. What must she think of him? That he was a tongue-tied, rural gawk 1 Ho cast an affrigted glance at her, sitting demure and lovely. lie was almost in love with her, he knew that. In love with herl Well, his misery was strangely complete. Half an hour ago he had been phlegmatically serene. Now 1 "Look!" Carrie cricd, miraculously rousing herself. ;'Wild roses! Jim, go and get some this instant. Dick, too. You want some, don't you, Miss Faulkner?" "Oh, yes!" Miss Faulkner cricd, and took the lines from Dick. "You shall have all I can get," ho murmured anxiously. Jim followed him, and Carrie followed Jim. "I know they'll overlook that prettiest spray?just for a minute, Miss Faulkner," she said. It was for more than a minute. The horse gave a sudden plunge, though eighteen years old and soberness itself, but clung now and then to the frisky habits of early youth. A ?uiiv; ??uo uuivu uu\a\.? sorrel nose by the wind, and the frightened animal gave a snort and galloped down the road at ferocious speed. There was a turn not far away, and Dick had not recovered his breath, before he saw the last flicker of Miss Faulkner's blue dress in a cloud of dust. The old horse flew round the corner. "She'll be killed!" Carrie shrieked, while Jim stood petrified. But Dick swung into the road, and ran or rushed. lie had not bec-u aware that such powers of speed lay in him. lie tore. Of coursc she would be killed?thrown and killed?or fearfully injured, at best. A frail girl behind a temporarily insane old horse I He should find her lyin? lifeless somewhere?that he was sure of. But where? He had turned the corner, but he could as yet see nothing. How far he ran, out of breath, with an ache in his side, and gasping, he didn't know. it was nearly a mux*. ouinu nuuuci that when he did make out something ahead of him at last, things were swimming before his eyes, and his head was hot and buzzing. The object was not a buggy. It was a per-on?and not a recumbent person, either. It was a young woman on her feet, hurrying toward hirn. It was Miss Faulkner. "Mr. Corwin," she called out, breathlessly?"oh, did you think I was killed? How absurd it was! Nothing but a newspaper. But how the horse went! How you look! You've run all the way. How could you?" She had dropped down on the grass, and she pulled him down beside her in her cxcitemeut. "I believe you've nearly killed yourself !" she cried. "What did you do that for? Take off your hat and loosen your collar, can't you? You're purple!" "I'm all right?" Dick panted. It's you. I thought I should find you lying dead somewhere. I saw your hat back there." "That came off, of course,said Miss r auucner. She was half pouting. "Didn't you think I had a bit of nerve ' to let myself be killed just by a frightened horse? The idea! I just sat still and held the line3 with all my might, and let i him go till he got tired. I knew he'd stop some time. He's up there under that big maple. See him? I tied him ; to the fence, and camc back to meet you. I thought you'd be?worried," said Miss Faulkner, demurely. "But you're plucky!" Dick cried, his heart thumping a little less furiously. "Why, not so awfully," said Miss Faulkner, turning her clear eyes upon him rather impatiently. "Anything else would have been stupid, you know. And why shouldn't. I know something about horses? We have one, and I drive all over Farrington every day." "1'arrington?" said D:ck, blankly. "Don't go back to monosyllables, Mr. Corwin!"Miss Faulkner said, wickedly. "Yes, Farrington. Why not? I live there; I've lived there nineteen years and three months, Mr. Corwin." "Ia Farrington?" said poor Dick, dazedly. "My sister said you were from the city." "Hardly. Farrington has only ten thousand inhabitants, you know," 6aid Miss Faulkner. "Is that the reason you were afraid of me, Mr. Corwin?" She lowered her mischievous eyes. "That and a few other things," said Dick. Talk! It would be hard to stop talking now. "She said, you see, that somebody else had said that you were awfully rich and high-and-mighty, and had been to Europe twice, and? "Well, if it had all been true, I needn't have behaved like a numbskull. But I'm bash ful naturally, Miss Faulkner, aLd I was about rattled out of iny wits. That's the truth of it, Miss Faulkner." She threw up both hands and her pretty round chin. ' I almost believe somebody has been making fun of me," she vowed. "Europe? We went to the Thsusand Islands once; but we had to economize rather to do that. Father has a hardware store, and not such a very prosperous one, either. There 1 Am I cocdid enough for you? Arc you afraid of mo now?" What was the matter with the handsome, blithe girl? She was smiling brightly, but her dark eyes were almost misty. Dick did not know then, but a time came when he did. He had felt the power of her delicate beauty, her brightness, her sweetness?and there was an answering thrill in her own heart. "I am not afraid of you," Dick said, gently. "Ana i Know now wnere I saw you before. It was in FarriDgton, a long while ago, but I have never forgotten you, Miss Faulkner." And he looked down to her, and she dropped her conscious eyes to her lap. And it did not occur to them to drive back till Jim Gardner and Carrie came in sight down the road. Dick's shyness was not wholly eradicated. It was five long months afterward that he came home from Fnrrington awl told his sister that he had left a ring there, and on Maggy Faulkner's hand. "We liked each other from the very first," he said, simply. "Only that story of yours came near settling things; the horse ran away in the nick of time." "It yasn't mine, Dick," said Carrie. (She and Jim had been married in September.) "It was Sally Decker that said it, you know, and she always mixes things up. It was your own fault if you believed it; I didn't."?Saturday Night. The Effect of Two Letters. She was a little old woman in black, with the least bit of white ruching about her neck?just such a creature as it takes to bring one down to the real thought of hiimnnitv.nut, nf f-.hp hnrlv hnrlv r>f nvn.rv ~ j 7 J "J ~ 1 J day existence to the little sorrows and little rays of sunshine that go to make up life as it is. Everybody noticed her as she came in the car. Iler sweet old face didn't have many wrinkles in it,and the passengers wondered if she wasn't the prettiest girl in her crowd when she was young. The little old lady had two letters in her hand, and after she had given the conductor her nickel she opened one cf them, at the same time adjusting a pair of Bteel-rimmed spectacles to her nose. As sho read the letter a smile gathered | all over her face and then broke into a j laughing chuckle that everybody in the car noticed. Another smile came, then a laugh and more sniile9, and the letter | was finished. The little old woman was the happiest person on the car and sho seemed to want to say something to somebody. As she put away the first letter and began opening the other one she turned to a lady sitting by her and said: "That letter is from Johnny, my boy, I mean. He's been gone a long time now, and every Saturday I get a letter from him. He never forget3 his old mother, John doesn't, and some day he will come back to see me. You don't know the comfort of such a son, young lady." The second letter was taken from the envelope and the little old woman began reading. In a moment she started and then jumped to her feet, staring wildly at the sheet she had in her hands. "No, no!" she screamed. "No, it is not so?it can't be so.'1 The little old woman reeled, and a big, burly home going laborer caught her in his arms. She was taken from the car, accompanied by a number of the passengers, and lifted to a drug store. When she was finally laid down one af the passengers put his ear close to her heart, and then rising shook his head. The little old womau had died. In one of her hands a letter was clasped and in the other she clutched a rumpled sheet. The bit of paper was taken by one of the passengers, who read aloud to the others: "Dear Madam?It is with pain that we disclose to you sad news concerning your son." As he was returning to the mining camp from the postofficc last night his horse threw him against a rock and he never spoke again. He died this moraiug."?Pittsburg Dispatch. Rag-Carpet Weaving. The industry of weaving old-fashioned rag carpets is fast disappearing. This trade was among the most lucrative and important known a few decades ago. The men who still follow it can be found only in basements in out-of-the ?uj uiuuniju wad ub uuc niuu a sort of centre fcr the industry, and weavers could be counted by the score. Now only eight are known to follow it. One of these is James Early, who still works his quaint old machine in a basement on one of Brooklyn's side streets, where it was set up about forty-five years ago. "We don't stand much chance nowadays," grucfully remarked Early the the other day. "All we can depend on i9 that sort of work," and the old gentleman pointed to a box filled with largo balls made from narrow strips of rags sewed together. "A woman just sent that collection in from the couutry, and I'm L"to make her a carpet out of them. When folks send in a lot of stuff like that I make it up with linen warp for twenty-eight cents a yard. Good rag carpet is worth fifty cents a yard. Some ' weavers will turn out a cheap cotton , warp for twenty-five cents, but in a short time the top will wear of! and the rags become loose. A linen warp will hist , forever. Improved machinery lias killed our business almost absolutely, and with ingrains running from twenty-five cents : a yard and up, and Brussels beginning 1 at as low a figure as sixty-five cents, I there is no use trying to put the good, 1 durable, soft rag carj>et in the market at fifty cents. If it were not for the house- : keepers' rags that are saved and scut to j us, there would be no use for even the ; few carpet weavers that arc still left. < We used to be able to do well, but those ' days have passed, never to return."?Neio J York Star. , _ i Sixtj-tvro Cold Waves Per Tear. 1 A very interesting paper read yester- . day afternoon in the Physics section was < by Professor T. Iiusscll, of the Signal j Oifico, Washington, on the "Prediction ] of Cold Waves from Signal Service t Weather Maps." When the fall of tcm- J peraturc in twenty-four hours i9 twenty | degrees or more, and covers an area of at i least 50,000 square miles, and th6 temperature in tho area goe3 as low as j if Je rifllln/1 o paLI trnrn lUUl^ -DIA AV 1<J VUK v*? l* W1V* .litt v. In the past ten years there have been 621 cold waves in the United States. The greatest cold wave was that of January 17, 1882, when the area included was 1,101,000 square miles. The cold waves always occur in an area covered by alow j barometric pressure on the preceding day, or to the southeast of a region cov- ; ered by an area of high barometric pressure.?Indianapolis Neve. I REV. DR. TALMAGE. IHE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Subject: "Wings of Lov? Text: l,Thc Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.v? Rutb ii. 13. Scene?Ah Oriental harvest field. Grain standing. Grain in swaths. Grain in sheaves. At the side of the field a white tent in which to take the nooning, jars of vinegar or of sour wino to quench the thirst of the hot working people. Swarthy men striking their sickles into the rustling barley. Others twisting the bands for the sheaves, patting cno end of the band under the arm, and with tne iree arm ana root collecting toe snear. Sunburned women picking up the -stray straws and bringing them to the binders. Bonz, a fine looking Oriental, gray bearded and bright faced, the owner of the field, looking on, and estimating the value of the grain and calculating so many enhahs to the acre, and with his large, sympathetic heart pitying the overtasked workmen and the women, with white faces enough to faint, in the hot noonday sun. But there is one woman who especially attracts tho man's attention. She is soon to bo with him the joint owner of the field. She has come from a distant land for tho sole purpose of being kind to an aged woman. I know not what her features were; but when the Lord God sets behind a woman's face the lamp of courage and faith and self sacrifice there comes out a glory independent of features. She is to be the ancestress of Jesus Christ. Boaz, tho owner of tho field, as soon as ho understands that it is Ruth, accosts her with a blessing: "A full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under wbese wing thou art come to trust." Christ compares Himself to a hen gathering the chickens under her wings. In Deuteronomy God is represented as an eagle stirring up T? uc* uvov. ui u^iuau many |;iaua iu mo | Psalms David makes ornithological allusions; while my text mentions the wings of God, under which a poor, woary soul had come to trust. I ask your attention, therefore, while, taking the suggestion of mv text, I speak to you in all simplicity and love of the wings of the Almighty. First, I remark that they were swift wings under which Ruth had come to trust. There is nothing in all the handiwork of God more curious than a bird's wing. You have been surprised sometimes to see how far it could fly with one stroke of the wing; and when it has food in prospect, or when it is affrighted, the pulsations of tho bird's wing are unimaginable for velocity. The English Lords used to pride themselves on the speed of their falcons. These birds, when tamed, had in thorn the dart of lightning. How swift were the carrier pigeons in the time of Anthony and at the siege of Jerusalem! Wonderful speed 1 A carrier pigeon was thrown up at Rouen and came down at Ghent?ninety miles off? in one hour. The carrier pigeons were the ' t?l jgraphs of the olden time. Swallows have be";nshotin our latitude having the undigested rice of Georgia swamps in their crops, Showing that they had come four hundred miles in six hours. It has been estimated that in tho ten years of a swallow's life it llies far enough to havo goue around the world eighty-nine times, so great is its velocity. And so tho wings of tho Almighty spoken of in the text are swift wings. Thoy are' swift when they drop upon a foe, and swift when they come to help God's friends. If a father and his son be walking by the way, and the child goes too near a precipice, how Ion/does it tako for the father to deliver the child from danger? Longer than it takes God to swoop for the rescue of His children. Tho fact is that you cannot get away from the caro of God. If you take the steamship At :i a. tt_ :?11 a. x: 1 ur txiu buiii/iuu nam auu iui tuo uiuw uiuug with you. "Whither shall I go from Thy spirit, and whither shall I fleo from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven Thou art there. If I mate my bed in hell, behold! Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Thy hand shali hold me." The Arabian gazelle is swift a3 tho wind. If it gets but one glimpso of tho hunter it puts many crags between. Solomon four or Ave times comp-ires Christ to an Arabian gazelle (calling it by another name) when he says, "My beloved is like a roe." The difference is that tho roe speeds the other way; Jesus speeds this. Who but Christ could have been quick enough to havo helped Peter when tbo water pavement broke? Who but Christ could have been quick enoueh to help the Duke of Argyle when in his oying moment, he cried: '"Good cheer I I could die like a Roman,' but I mean to die like a Christian. He who goes first goes cleanest P' I had a friend who stood by the track at Carlisle, Penn.,when the ammunition had given out at Antietam, and he saw the train from Harrisburg freighted with shot and shell as it went thundering down toward the battle j field- He said that it stopped not for any i crossing. They put down the brakes for no j grade. Thev held up for no peril. The wheels I ware on Are with the speed as they _ dashed past. II the train did not come up in time vrith the ammunition it might as well not some at alL So, my friends, there are times in our lives when we must have help immediately or perish. The grace that come3 too late is no grace at all. What you and I want is a God ?now. Oh, is it not blessed to think that God is always in such quick pursuit of His rlArtr children? When a sinner seeks pardon, or a baffled 60ul needs help, swifter than thrush's wing, swifter than ptarmigan'i wincr, swifter than flamingo's wing, swifter than eagle's wing are the wings of the Almighty. I remark further, carrying out the idea of ray text, that the wings under which Rutb had come to trust were very broad wings. There have been eagles shot on the Rocky Mountains with wings that were seven feel from tip to tip. When the king of the air sits on the crag the wings are spread over all the eaglets in the eyrie, and when the eagle starts from the rock the shadow is like the spreading of a storm cloud. So the wing9 of God are broad wings. Ruth had beeu under those wings in her infantile days; in the days of her happy drillood in iloab* in the day when she gave her hand to Mahlon, in her first marriage; in the day when sha wept over his grave; in tho day when she trudged out into tho wilderness of poverty; in tho days when she plucked up the few straws of barley dropped by ancient custom in tho way of the poor. Oh! yes, the wings of God are broad wings. They cover up all cur wants, all our sorrows, all our sufferings. Ho puts one wing over our cradle, and He puts tho other over our grave. Yes, my dear friends, it is not a desert in which wo are placed, it is a nest. Sometimes it is a very hard nest, like that of tho eagle, spread ou tho rock, with ragged ruoss and rough sticks, but still is a nest; and although it may be very hard under us, over us are the wings of the Almighty. There soraotimes comes a period in one's life when lie feels forsaken. You said, "Everything is against me. The world is against mo. Ihe church is against ma No sympathy, no hope. Everybody that comes near mo thrusts at mo. I wonder is there is a God, lnv howl" everything seems to bo going slipshou and it haphazard. There does not seem to bo my hand on tho helm. Job's health fails. David's Absalom gets to bo a reprobate. Martha's brother dies. Abraham's Sarah ;oes into tho gravo of Machpelah, "Woe tvorth the day in which I was born I" ho said nany a Christian. David seemed to scream }ut in his sorrow, as be said: "Is His mercy :lean gone forever? And will Ho bo favorlble no more? And hath He in anger shut lp Hi3 tender mere'esf Job, with his throat >wollen and ulcered until he could not even swallow the saliva that ran into his mouth, jxclftims: "How long before Thou wilt de)art from mo and leave mealone, that I may i wallow down my spittle?" Havo there never been times in your life when you envied ,hoso who were buried? When you lonzed tor too graveaigger to ao lus wort for you! L)h, tho faithlessness of tho human heart I j-od's wings are broad, whether wo know it jr not." Sometimes tho mother bird goe3 away from tho nest, and it seoms very strange that jho should leave tho callow young. She plunges her beak into tho bark of the tree, nnrl onfl rlmnct tnfA tKa nrwiin flol/? nnrl chaff at the barn door, and into tho furrow of tho plow boy. Meanwhile, tho birds In the nest shiver and complain and call and wonder why the mother does not come bock. Ah, sho has gone for food. After a while there is a whirr of wings, and tho mother bird Btands on the edge of the nest, and the littta ones open their mouths, and the food ia dropped in; and then the old bird spreads out her fea there and all is peoco. So,sometimes, 9od leaves us, He.goes off to get brjod [qj out sou], and then He comes back after a while to the nest and says, "Open thy month wide and I will fill it," and He drope into it the sweet promise or Hia grace, ana the love of God is sued abroad ana we are nnder His win^s?the broad wings of the Almighty. Yes, they are very broad I There is room ander those wings for the sixteen hundred millions of the race. You say: "Do not get the invitation too largo, for there is nothing moro awkward than to bave more guests than accommodations." I know it. The seamen's friend society is inviting all the sailors. The tract society is inviting all tha destitute. The Sabbath-schools are inviting all the children. The missionary society is inviting all the heathen. The printing presses of the Bible societies are going night an 1 day, doing nothing but printing invitation.? to this groat gospel banquet. And are vou not afraid that tliftro will be moresnaets than accommodations? No! All who have been invited will not half fill up tho table of rjrul'c cnnnlx? Thftrn ora nVint There are cups for more. God could with one feather of His wins cover up all those who have como, and when He spreads out both wings they cover all the earth and all the heavens. Yo Israelites, who went through the Red Sea, come un'ler I Ye multitudes who have gone into glory for the last six thousand years, come under I Ye hundred and fortyfour thousand, and the thousands of thousands, come under! Ye flying cherubim and archangel, fold your pinions, and come under I And yet there is room I Ay 1 if God would have all the space under the wings occupied he must make other worlds, and people them with other myriads, and have other resurrection and; judgment days, for broader than all space,broader than thought* wide as eternity, rrotn tip to tip. are the wings of the Almighty! Oh! under such provisions as that can you not rejoice? Com# under, yo wanderiug, ye weary, ye troubled, ye sinning, ye dying souls! Come under th? wings of the Almighty. Whosoever will come let him como. However ragged, howover wretched, however abandoned, however woe begone, there is room enough under the wings?under the broad wines of the Almighty! Ob, what a gospel! 'joglorious, so magnificent in its provision! I love to preach it. It is my life to preach it. It is my heaven to preach it I remark, further, that the wings under which Ruth came to trust were strong wings. The strength of a bird's wing?of a sea fowl's wing for example?you might guess it from the fact that sometimes for five, sis or seven days it seems to fly without resting. There havo been condors in the Andes that could overcome an ox or a stag. There have been eagles that' havo nicked un children nnrl swung taein to tbe top of ttie cliffs. The flap of on eagle's wing? has death in it to everything it strikes. There are birds whose wings are packed with strength to fly, to lift, to destroy. Bo the wings of GoJ aro strong wings. Mighty to save. Mighty to destroy. I preach Him?"the Lord, strong and mighty: the Lord, mighty in battle!" He flapped His wins, and the antediluvian world was gone. He flapped His wing, and Babylon perished. He flapped His wing, and Herculaneum was buried. He flapp<*iHis wing, and the Napolonic dynasty ceased. Beforo the stroke of that pinion a fleet is nothing. An army is nothing. An empire is nothing, A world is nothing. The universe is nothing. King?eternal, omnipotent?He asks no counsel from the thrones of heaven. He takes not the archangel into His cabinet. Ho wants none to draw Hi9 chariots, for they aro the winds. None to load His batteries, for they aro the lightnings. None to tie the sandals of His feet, for they are the clouds. Mighty to save. Our enemies may be strong, our sorrows violent, our sins may be great. But quicker than an eagle ever hurled from the crags a hawk or raven will the Lord strike back our sins and our temptations ir tney assault us wnen wo are once seated on the eternal rock of His salvation. "What a blessed thinpr it is to be defended by the strong wing of the Almighty! Stronger than the pelican's wing, stronger than tbo albatross' wing, stronger than the condor's wing are the wings of the Almighty. I have only one more thought to present. The wings under which Ruth had come to trust were gontle wings. There is nothing softer, than a feather. You have noticed when a bi. d returns from flight how gently it stoops over the nest. The young birds are not afraid of having their lives trampled out by the mother bird; the old whippoor-will drops into ita nest of leaves, the oriole into its casket of bark, the humming bird intoats hammock of moss?gentle as the light. And so, says the psalmist. He shall cover thee with His wing. Oh, tho gentleness of Godl But even that figure does not fully set forth; for I have sometimes looked into the bird's nest and seen a dead bird?its life having been trampled out by the mother bird. But no one that ever came under the feathers of the Almighty was trodden on. Blessednest I warm nestl Why will men stay out in the cold to be shot of temptation and to be chilled by the blast where there is divine shelterf More beautiful than any flower I ever saw are the hues of a bird's plumage. Did you ever examine it? The blackbird, floating like a flake of darkness through tho sunlight; tho meadow lark, with head of fawn and throat of velvet and breast of gold; the red flamingo, flying over the southern swamps like sparks from the forge of the setting sun; the pelican, white ana black?morning and night tangled in its wings?givo but a faint idea of tho beauty that ccmes down over the soul when on it drop the feathers of the Almighty. Here fold your weary wings. This is the only safe nest. Every other nest will be destroyed. Tho prophet says so: "Though thou exalt thyself like the eagle, and set thy nest among the stars, yet will I bring thee down, saith tho Lord of Hosts." Under the swift wings, under the broad wings, under tho strong wings, under tho gentle wings of the Almighty flnd shalter until these calamities are overpast. Then when you want to chantrenests it will onlv be from the valley of earth to tho heights of heaven; and instead of "the wings of a dove," for which David longed, not knowing that in the first mile of their flight they would give out; you will b9 conducted upward by the Lord God of Israel, under .whoso wings Ruth, tho beautiful Moabitass, came to trust. God forbid that in this matter of eternal weal or woe we should bo more stupid than the fowls of heaven; "for the stark knoweth furflo onrl fhft ner appoiui-cu time, auu ?/.%* ? -? , crane, and tho swallow observe the time of their going; but ray people know not the judgments of tho Lord." What Macaroni Means. Few people who sing the old song, "Yankee Doodle," and utter mechanically the words, "Stuck a feather in his bat and called it macaroni," stop to think what the word macaroni implies. "Macaroni" is the old-time word for dude or dandy. The name in old England formerly signified a fop. It was first applied to the three young men who traveled a great deal, and who introduced macaroni into England. These three young men were very foppish in their dress, in fact, they were typical dudes, and the nickname which they received was soon applied to all others of their class. So, when Yankee Doodle "stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni," he was simply terming himself a dudo, .People wno are alrald or lightning may be consoled by the knowledge that there is a thousand times the danger in the sewer pipes that there is iu the thunder clouds. The deaths by light e - 1 uuig aro lew iiiuetu. ?? uu w vuu ituuers of this paragraph ever lost a friend that way ? Who of them hasn't lost a score of friends by the less brilliant and less noisy destruction that comes up out of the drains? The trouble with the lightning, or the trouble that it gives the people, i3 in its indesoribable suddenness and its absolute uncertainty. You know neither when it is coming nor | where it is going; oil you feel certain about is that some storms leave a number of catastrophes to mark their course. The caprice of the lightning defies the explanations of science, and there is no predicting beyond a few generalities. This much it does seem safe to repeal:, even in the lively lightning season, that the increased use of electricity^ with i the multiplicity of wire3, has tended to | fewer fatal strokes of lightaiag in | oitifUc . ._/. ) RELIG10 US_R E AD 1NG. TI'K WAY OF THE WORLD. Laugh, and the world laughs with you, Weep, and you weep aione, For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth. But has trouble enough of its own. Sins, and the hills will answer, Sigh,?it is lost on the air; The echoes bound to a joyful sound, But shrink from voicing care. Kejoice. and men will srek you, Oriovc, ami they turn anil go; They want full measure of all your pleasure, But!hoy do not need your woe. Bp -rind, and vour friends are many, Br- sad, am! you lo?e tliem all. There aro. r.otie to decline your nectar'd wine, But aione you must drink life's gall. I Fttast, an J your halls are crowded, [ Fast, ana the world jroes by; Succccd and give, and it helps you live, Hut no man can help you die! There is room in the ball of pleasure For a large and lordly train, But one by one we must all tile on Through the narrow aisles of pain. ?fEilu Whetler Wilcox. TIIE BIBLE FKOJt GODCan you doubt the authenticity of the Scriptures? There is not so much evidence that Walter Scott wrote "The Lady of the Lake*," not so much evidence that Shakespeare wrote''Huniiet;" not so much eviT,.l.? Mi'lni, T..rntf, "Porn,lien Lost." as there is evidence that the Lord Gud Almighty. by hands of the prophets, evangelists and Apostles, wrote this book. Suppose a book now to be written which canje ui conflict with a great many tilings, and was written by bad men or impostors, how long would such a book stand? It would be scouted by everybody. And I say if that Bible had been an imposition, or if it had not been written by the men who said they wrote it; if it had been a mere collection of falsehoods, do you not suppose that it would have been immediately rejected by the people? If Job, and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Paul, and Peter, and John were impostors, they would have been scouted by generations and nations. If that hook has come down through tires and centuries without a scar, it is because there is nothing in it destructible. How near have they come to destroying the Bible? "When they began their opposition there were two or three thousand copies of it. Now there arc two hundred millions, as far as I can calculate. These Bible truths, notwithstanding all the opposition, have gone into all languages? into the philosophic Greek, the flowing Italian, the graceful German, the passionate French, the picturesque Indian, and the exhaustless Anglo-Saxon. Under the painter's pencil the birth and the crucifixion and the resurrcctiou glow on. the walls of palaces; or under the engraver's knife speak from the mantel of the mountain cabin; while stones, tou:hed by the sculptor's chisel, start up into preaching apostles and ascending martyrs. Now, do you not suppose, if that book had been an imposition and a falsehood, it would have gone down under these ceaseless tires of op-, position? Further, suppose that there was a great pestilence going over the earth, and hundreds of thousands of men were dying with that pestilence, and some one should find a medicine that cured ten thousand people, would not everybody acknowledge that that must be a good medicine? Why some one would say: "Do you deny It? There have been ten thousand people cured by it." I simply state tlip fin* flint, there have" been hundreds of thousands of Christian men and women who say they have felt the truthfulness of that book and its power in their souls. It has cured them of the worst leprosy that ever came down on our earth, namely, the leprosy of sin; and if I can point vou to multitudes who say they have felt the power of that cure, arc you not reasonable enough to acknowledge the fnct that there must be some power in the medicine? Will you take the evidence of millions of patients who have l een cured, or will you take the evidence of the skeptic who stands aloof and confesses that he never took the mcdicine? ?[Talmage. WORLDLY CONFORMITY. From many sources there comes some faint Insight into the growing worldly tendency of the Church. The Presbyterian saya: "A quarter of a century a^o. and more, Dr. James W*. Alexander wrote with * - 1? a ?? tVAl*lp great cieciPion 01 lunut-nvci men He said, 'The door at which those influences enter which countervail parental instruction and example, I am persuaded is yielding to the ways of good society. By dress, books, and amusements, nn atmosphere is formed which is not that of Christianity. More than ever do I feel that our families must stand in a kind but determined opposition to the fasbious of the world, breasting the waves like the Eddystone lighthouse. " 'And I have found nothing yet which requires more courage and independence than to rise a little, but decidedly above the par of the righteous world around us.' If this was true in his day, It must be acknowledged to be more* undeniably and sadly true in our own time. The incursions of alien influences and customs upon the sacred territory of the Church huve been steadly growing more marked, perhaps because less earnestly resisted.?[St. Louis Advocate. not self, nrr cnRisT. There is mo-e pluck than pulp in a great deal of what passes for piety. It is an audacious attempt to get a free ride to heaven in a drawing room car. with plenty of select company and gcod fare on the roa'd. "Will Dr. A be in his pulpit today? Will the music be up to the mark? Is it likely to clear off? Then I'll try to go to church today." With such a soliloquy ou Sabbath morning, how much grace is there likely to be left after the wear and tear of the week? The piety that Christ smiles upon is a ricty that will staud a pinch and face a storm; that would rather eat an honest crust than fare sumptuously on unholy gains; that gladly srive up its couch of ease to sally off on Its mission among the outcasts; that sets its Puritan face iike a flint against fash ionab!e sins. We talk ciiblvaoout -laKins; up a cross." but ? cross is intended for somebody's crucifixion. On Calvary's cross we know full well who bled away His precious life. On our cross, self is to be the victim. Paul, the heroic, was emphasizing this fact wh( n he commanded Christians to mortify their members which are upon the earth. The American revision of the New Testament hits the sense of this passage more accurately: "I'ut to death your own members," etc. Loyalty to Christ often demands the plucking out of the right eye. and the amputation of the risrht arm. The suolime glory of Abraham's offering really was, that be was willing to thrust the knife through the very heart of self. Ob, it is not the taking up fit is the giving up. that makes a strong:, athletic, heroic Christian!?[Dr. T. L. Cuyler. Leave ell and rou shall find all; for every thing is to be fottnd in God by him, who, for tho sake of God, despises "everything.? [Augustine. One of the finest sights in the world n Christian at the end of a long course, with an unsullied reputation; his hair may l>e white, but his leaf is green.?[Gay. Tin- whole secret of a joyful, stromr. noble Christian life lies here?that on the foundation of faith we should rear tenacious adherence to Christ in spile of all obstacles.? [Selected. The Christian should consider that thi? Is not ili" rest; mat ncrr lie mil ami .-linn, that lu re lie is but a vil-rim in a strange country; that his pathway through life at best i> rouzh and ni-'uvd; that hindrances are to he overcome: l?nr<Ions are to be borne; trials -ire to be endured, and only when life's day and labor are ov? r i> the reward to be received. A will made by Frederick the Great in 1741, during the first Silesiau war, is printed in the first volume of "The Wars of Frederick the Great," just published in Germany. It reads as fob lows: "I am only King so long as I am free. If they kill me I wish my body to be burned in Roman fashion and my ashes to be inclosed in an urn at Bheinsbnrfl. In this case Knobelsdorf [hia architect] shall construct & monument Ior me like that of Hojuqs Tuacuurn," 1? SABBATH SCHOOL 1 INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOB B OCTOBER 0. Lesson Text: "Parable of Che Vine! J yard," Luke xx., 9, 19?Golden fl Text: Isaiah liil., 3?Com- BR mentary. Bj S 9. "Then began Ho to speak to the people this parable: A certain man planted a | vineyard, and let It forth to htubanamen, and went into a far country for a long time." He is now about to tell them of their history as a nation and of their treatment of their God and His servants from the days of their coming out of Egypt even unto His death at their lunds. We are not left in any doubt as to who or what is signified by the vineyard, for it is written, "The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts Is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant"(Isa. v.,7). That also explains >1 who it was thatplanted the vineyard?the Lord of Hosts: The husbandman would mean the kings, prophets and priests who ruled over the people as God's representatives. Hi# zoing away probably signifies the withr arawal of Bus manifested presence in the lays of Samuel, when they desired a king, Like other nations, thus, as He said to 8amjeL, rejecting Him and not Samuel (18am. viii.,7). Or it may refer to earlier days, when they relied on the ark rather than on! Sod, who dwelt between the cherubim: or pet earlier, to the days of the judges when they forsook Him and He allowed their jnemies to oppress them. Tin contrast to all this is the vineyard of which He is the True Vine and His Father the husbandman, and all the faithful are living branches. To ?uch He says, "I am with you alway;" "I trill never leave thee." s -c 10. "And at the season He sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give aim of the fruit of the vineyard; but the husbandmen beat him and sent him away smpty." We are very plainly told what / Errnt He expected; "He looked for judgment, but benold, oppression: for righteoos >j UTl,? >Xi_ aero?, uui ucuviu, au;. xujr cuo ~\^m rebellious, and companions of thieves; every one loveth gifts and followeth after rewards;^^H they judge not the fatherless, neither dothflH3| Che cause of the widow come before them," [Isa. v., 7; 1., 23.) These things were the ;vild grapes which His vineyard produced, instead of the good grapes which He had a right to expect (Isa. v., 4.) 11. "And again He sent another servant; ind they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty." 12. "And again He sent a third; and thay wounded him also and cast him out." These three sendings probably cover all the prophets from Samuel to John the Baptist. They. might be divided into thcwe before the captivity, those after the captivity, and John, the immediate forerunner of Christ. ^ ' 13. "Then said the Lord of the vineyard," What shall 1 do?" Not what shall I do to punish these guilty rebel*, how shall I most quickly sweep them from the earth? That would need no planning. A moment's withdrawal of His mercy and they are gone. But He is considering wnat else He may do that . He may win them to Hin:. "I will send My beloved Son. It may be . they will reverence Him when thev see fflm." Here is a glimpse of the love of God as seen in the councils of a past eternity. Of course God knew beforehand jest how they would treat His servants and also His Son, but sometimes He speaks as a man as If looking at things from a human standpoint. 14. "But when the husbandmen 6aw him they reasoned among themselves, saying. This is the heir; come let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours." Like Joseph's brethren, who hated him and said: "Come now and let us slay him, and let us see what will become of his dreams" (Gen. xxxvii., 8,' (V\\ T C i y-v /JJ/1 n/\f lvw^n* l ^ Va ?% 4?MtA w/i XL WC U1U UUt OJJUtV lb IV U*3 U> bl UC S0U1 jp I that is contained in this parable, we could hardly believe such ingratitude possible. I believe that the greatest fact in the Bible, and in all history, and the least one understood, is the love of God. Who among us begins to appreciate the greatness of that < which is contained in John iii., 16? Who can fathom the height and depth or measure the length and breadth of the love of God, which ^ passeth knowledge (Eph. iii., 18, 19)? God JQ gives Himself to you, dear reader, in the ga-Eon of His Son, and how do you Jceat15. "So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. What therefore shall the Lord of the vineyard do unto them?' Again He foretells His death. It is ever before Hira. But the glory beyond lightens it up (Heb. xii., 2). He is thinking more of these poor blinded, self-destroying people than of Himself. He shall rise again from the dead. He shall live forever. The kingdom shall yet be His. But those who die in rebellion against Him must perish. Tbe "What shall I dof of vs. 13 was love's last effort. He can do no more. 10. "He shall come and destroy th33e husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others, and when they heard it they said God forbid." Matthew says that it was the people who gave the verdict (Matt, is., 41); it may have been the disciples who said God forbid; or the disciples may have given the verdict and the people have said "God forbid." These husbandmen are the enemies of chap. xix.. 27, who refuse to submit to Him and must perish. The vineyard given to others He explains in Matt, xii., 43, by saying: '*The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." 17. "And He beheld thotn and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner." This is from Ps. 118,. the latter part of which, likelsa. xii., refers to the Day of tho Lord when He shall have become Israel's salvation. Notwithstanding, His rejection and approaching death, He constantly points forward to His ultimate triumph. His title, "The Shepherd, the Stone of Israel," found in Gen. xlxix, 24, is in the blessing upon Joseph; and as Joseph, hated and sold by his brethren, was next seen by them as a great ruler to whom they had to bow down for bread, thus literally fulfilling his dreams which they vainly sought to put a stop to?their very malice only helping the fulfillment; so Jesns, the rejected stone, hated, sold, crucified, shall again be seen by Israel, but it will be as a great Ruler, the head corner stone, their sal- J vation and their King. J 18. "Whosoever shall fall upon that stone ^ be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." This is from Isa. vili., 14, 15, and Dan. ii., 45, referring to the present and future result of refusing to receive Him. Jeeas crucifled and risen from the dead is the foundation and the only foundation on which to build for eternity (Acts iv., 10-12); and He tells us that the way to build is to hear and do His words (Matt, vii., 24, 25). 19. "And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on Him, ?nrl thev feared tho people, for they per ceived that He bad" spoken this parable against them." What Winded fools thev were, for in the next verse we see them sending out men who were to feign themselves righteous so as to catch Him in His words. After all His reading their hearts and telling their thoughts they still think to deceive Him. and this parable, which they see is spoken against theui. instead of working repentance in them only makes them more bitter. How fully given over to Satan they must-be. Let us never be the least offended' by anything our dear Lord says or does or permits, but may all thing* draw us nearer.' to Him.? Lisson Helper. j The wife of Senator Davis, of Minnesota, is able to make this extraordinary statement: "When ten years of age my annt bought me a pattern, some navy-blue cloth and some black velvet, and toJd me I must make myself a orntrn irViiVh T rlid crAatlv to har satis D" " " "*v** ? ? * O y faction and my own and the envy of my little playmates. From that time to the present day I have never paid one cent to a dress-maker or milliner, nor has any one else done so for me. Every dress, hat and bonnet I wear is made and trimmed by jay ow^ hands," ? j xut newspnpuis aru uuw njiug cm find the man who spent the most days in rebel prif oas during the late vrar. So far as bi^nd from yet, E. W. Ware oi BaD^or, is ahead, he haying suffered 6^0 days in Charleston, Columbia, Charlotte, Raleigh, GoldsbOTO and Graansbnro prianna, ^