The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, October 01, 1890, Image 10
! 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, ^