The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, October 15, 1890, Image 2
AT REST.
The faithful helm commands the keel,
From pnrt to port fair breezes blow;
But the ship must sail the convex sea,
Nor may she straighter go.
So, man to man; in fair accord,
Oa thought and Tvill the winds may wait,
But tUe world will bend the paxsiug word,
Though its shortest course bo straight.
From soul to soul the shortest lino
At best will bended be,
The ship that holds the straightest course
Still 1,.-.'Je- !,?
U^iUO C4tV VVUtVA oca.
?Joh;i Boyle O'Hsill'j.
The Teakwood Cabinet.
BY AMY RANDOLPH.
"I flare say it's a great curiosity,"said
Mrs. Mindea, carelessly; "but I never
did fancy these quaint old odds and ends
of creation, aud I didn't bargain to have
my house turned into a storage-place for
Uncle Z:;doc's old rattle-traps. So I ordered
it sent to the second-hand dealer's
establishment this morning. lie allowed
me live dollars for it! Aud, realiy,"
added the lady, with a laugh, "I think
I shoui.l have been tempted, if better
terms could not have been made, to pay
the dealer five dollars for removing it
from the premises!"
Mr. Minden looked up from behind
the closely-printed columus of the daily
paper.
"And if your Uncle Zadoc-k inquires
after it?"' said he. "Because it will !
hardly Jo to offend the old gentleman."
"Oh, we'll tell him it all fell to pieces,"
said Mrs. Miuden, calmly. "Ten to
one, he'll never think of it again!"
And Mrs. Minden replaced the old
teakwood cabinet with a modern chiffonier,
inlaid with China tiles and glittering
with brass ornaments, and congratulated
herself on getting rid of Uncle
Zadoc Johnson's "old trash."
"Oh. mamma," cried Beatrice Field,
coming in one day from carrying home
a roll of embroidered satin to the shop
for which she worked, "I saw such a
lovely old Indian cabinet in Leckwood's j
second-hand store as I passed by! It |
was marked 'Fifteen dollars.' Mamma, I
it would brighten up our dim little parlor
like a b^of the Orient!"
Mrs. Field, a thin little woman, sighed
as she saw the sparkle in Beatrice's
eyes.
"But. Bee," said she, "fifteen dollars!
How are we, with our narrow means,
ever to compass fifteen dollars?"
"Ah, but you don't understand, mamma!"
cried triumphant Bee. "Mary
Leckwood says I may have it for tc:i if I
will help her make her dress for the
military ball! So if you don't think it
too extravagant, mamma, dear?"
"Have your own way, my child,"
said the little widow, with a sigh. "You
o fnr> ennnnrf n f flirt if Tx-rviilrl
v/i ""WUUU.J,
be bard, in-.lccd, to deny you a little indulgence
now and then."
So the tcakwood cabinet was set up in |
Mrs. Field's humble little parlor, where j
it became the delight of Bee's heart.
"I could fancy all sorts of delightful j
mysteries out of the 'Arabian Nights,'
when I sit here and look at its carved I
corners and odd, twisted doors," said j
she. "I'm sure there's a secret drawer
in it somewhere, although I never have i
been able to find it. It shrill be our j
household idol, mamma, and I'm quite, |
quite sure that it will bring us good j
luck."
"I fear that nothing ever will do that," [
83'* poor little Mrs. Field, sighing.
dud, although the remark souucled extreme,
yet there had been a concatenation
of circumstances in 3Irs. Field's life
to justify it. "When Beatrice was yet an
infant, her husband, sea-captain, sailiug
between the ports of Bombay and New
i r. ii.. r J i
x otk, uj way 01 tuu ijonuou uocks, was j
")ost at sea. The guardian of her little 1
fortune proved unworthy of the trust, and !
decamped, leaving her penniless; and
jince then existence had been one continual
struggle, until Beatrice, growing
up, had developed an unusual taste for
the fine artistic needlework which was
$ust then coming into fashion, and had
Virtually taken the support of the family
into her own hands.
And in her delight at this newaequisiJ?
-tion, Beatrice told its history to old Captain
Burton, a sick lodger on the floor
above, to whom she sometimes carried
iced coffee, white grapes, little odds and
ends of luxury.
"For he is so poor," reasoned generous
little Bee. "And he has no friends!"
One day, however, when Eee tripped
lightly up with a plate of cream puffs
which she herself had manufactured, she
6av. a brown-skinned, wrinkled little old
mon cithnrr ot RnrfAn'a I
<MUU uv VI?|IVUJU JL^Ul kUU o
"Eh?" said lie. "Ah! So you are
the little guardian angel, arc you?"
[' ."lam Beatrice Field," said our heroine,
coloriug up. "And I did not know that
Captain Burton had company, or?*
"Oh, I'm not company," chuckled the
little brown man. "I'm only Zndoc
Johnson. I'm Ben Burton's second cousin,
and I've been looking for him these six
months. Now, by the merest chance in
the world I've found him. And I have
to thank you, Mis9 Beatrice, for the
disinterested kindness you have shown
him."
"It wasn't I," said Bee. "At least, it
wasn't all me?mamma?"
"Take me dowu to j-our mamma at
once," said Mr. Johnson. "I've a heavy
debt of gratitude to pay her. I've only
one cousin, Ben Burton, and he might
have died if it hadn't been for you two
kind ladies."
He pulled out his purse on die way
down-stairs.
"If there's any of this debt that money
can pay?" he said; but Beatrice made J
a deprecatory movement.
"Please don't talk of monev." said
she. 1-There is nothing we have done
which Captain Burton would not have
done for us, had our positions been reversed.
And?"
"Hallo!" ejaculated Mr. Zadoc Johnson,
as Beatrice opened the door of the
little family sitting-room at that moment.
"Hal-lo! Where on earth did
you get that cabinet of teak wood'"'
- \Ve bought it at the second-hand
store," said Beatrice. "Isn't it beautiful?"
"It'smine!" said Zadcc Johnson.
"How can it be yours," indignantly
cross-questioned Bee, "when I bought it
and paid for it, my very own self?''
"This is very strange," said Zadoc.
"I think so, too," said Beatrice.
And then Mrs. Field came in, and the
eccentric old gentleman was presented to
her.
"Madam," said Mr. Johnson, "I
thank you and your daughter for your
kindness to my cousin Benjamin Bur.
- ton."
Mrs. Field colored, and crew pale, as
shy as a girl, as she murmured a word oi
two of acknowledgment.'
"It is my belief," said Zadoc, "tba
vour attention and care have saved hi;
life."
And then, abruptly dismissing the subject,
he walked up to the old cabinet,
opened its doors, sniffed its sweet, faint
scent, and turning to I>e?, he demanded:
"What will you sell mc this piece a?f
furniture for?"
"It isn't for sale," said Ike, almost
ready to cry. "It is my birthday gift to
mamma."
"Well, well, little girl, don't fret,"
said Mr. Johnson, good-humoredly.
i "It used to belong to me. and I'verathei
a notion for it. But you shall not be
teased if you don't choose to part with
it. Good-bv, ma'am. Good-bv, little
girl."
| And with this cheerful leave-taking
he departed.
Mrs. Minden was elegantly dressed in
hcliotrope-colored satiu and Chantillj
lace, when Uuclc Zadoc presented himself.
It was her "at home" day, and she
took pride in her toilets. But when, instead
of General dc Linos, or Mr. Bonnefeuilles,
or any other of those glasses ol
fashion and molds of form, Uncle Zadoc
Johnson made his appearance, she turned
p?ilc.
"Good-day, Xiecc Amelia," said tho
eccentric old gentleman. "I've come to
look at myteakwood cabinet."
"It's sent away to be mended," gasped
Mrs. Minden.
j "That's a falsehood!" said Uncle Zadoc.
"You felt yourself too flue to bo
hampered with my old-fashioned furniture,
and you sold it to the old dealer,
Lcckwood, for five dollars. 'Love me,
love my dog,'says the proverb. 'Lovo
me, love my old cabinet,' say I. I dare
1 111 not good enougu ioryou, cuw j uu w
grown to be sucii au elegant city lady;
so goocl-by!"
Out walked Uncle Zadcc, before Mrs.
Minden could collect lier senses to stay
him.
What curious whim urged the old
bachelor no one ever knew, but instead
of retaining his luxurious quarters at the
St. Barbc Hotel, -Mr. Johnson engaged a
room in the tenement house where his
second cousin, Captain Ben Eurton,
lived.
"I like the kind of people I meet
here," said he, briefly.
And at the end of a month he presented
himself before Mrs. Field.
"Madam," said he, "I like you.
What is more, I respect you. I want my
old cabinet, and [ should like to hsve a
father's right in your little Beatrice. We
are neither of us young, but there's nothing
to prevent our being happy. Will
you marry me?"
Mrs. Field looked really pretty as the
pink blushes mantled her delicate face.
"Oh, Mr. Johnson!" said she. "I
can hardly believe you mean it."
"Send for a parson, ma'am, and you
will soon find out whether I do or not,"
said Zudoc Johnson.
So they were quietly married, to Bee's
infiuite delight.
"He's just the sort of step-father I
should like," said sue, gieeiuny.
Once wedded, old Zadoc Johnson took
an elegant house, furnished it in princely
fashion, set the teak wood cabinet in the
be3t parlor, and invited Captain Ben
Burton to live with them always. Mrs.
Zadoc Johnson was serenely happy, and
Beatrice exultaut. As for the Captain,
he chuckled.
"Zadoc Johnson never did do anything
by halves,'' said he.
And when Mr. Minden saw the notico
of the marriage in the daily papers, ho
swore a prodigious imprecation.
"It's all your fault, Amelia," said he.
"If you never had sold that teak wood
cabinet, all this wouldn't have happened!"
"You always did lay the blame of
everything on me!" whimpered Mrs.
Minden.?The Ledger.
Forests Devastated by Beetles.
For several months past the huge
forests of spruce in the Cheat Mountaius
of West Virginia have been dying off by
thousands of acres, causing a loss of
millions of dollars, and no cause for the
devastation could be given. A few
weeks since Mr. A. D. Hopkins, entomologist
of the Agricultural Experiment
Station of "West Virgiuia, was sent to the
devastated district to investigate and report
the cause of the destruction of all
thi3 valuable timber and to secure a remedy,
if possible. He has just returned,
and reports that the timber has been
killed by beetles about the size of a flea.
The beetles eat their way under the
bark of the spruce pine trees in all
directions, cutting off the flow of sap
and consequently killing the trees. He
reports many thousand of acres literally
devastated by the bctlcs, but says their
inroads seem to be on the decrease.
The investigations of the entomologist
brought about the discovery of a parasite
which is preying on the beetles ana destroying
many of theru. Several species
of the parasite were found in the tree3
devastated by the beetles. The parasites
will be introduced into districts where
the timber i3 beginning to show the
effects of the ravages of the beetles, with
the belief that their presence will end in
the destruction of the insects. If this
proves successful the vast forests still extant
will be saved, otherwise the total
destruction of the spruce forest will be
but a questicu of a short tiiue.?Cincinnati
Enquirer.
Bear Hunting: in the Cnue Breaks.
Lear hunting is the fall pastime in the
cauc brakes of Mississippi, as I learned
tlin nflioi. rim- fprvm fti>nprnl B. S. Ricks.
"the Duke of Yazoo," who is organizing
! a big hunt. In talking with me about
! bear hunting the general said: "At
certain seasons of the year bears are
thick in the country a hundred miles
above Yazoo City, in Mississippi, between
the Yazoo nud Mississippi Rivers.
11 know of one man up there who, with
the same pack of dogs, killed 12(1 bean
! in six months' time. Bobo's place is i:i
! this region, where Congressmen and
i public nwn have so often been invited on
: bear hunts. Over four hundred bears
have been killed on this place in ten 01
twelve years. Three or four friends of
mine, while hunting in this region, but
not expecting bears, being armed only
with light guns, killed seven bears with
buckshot. The bears come into this
region for the acorns. They climb the
trees, break down limbs as large as s
man's leg, and, stripping down the
branches, null off the acorns, which they
eat. We call it lapping, and you can
hear them lapping for miles, long before
you get in sight of them. They pay no
attention to you when they are in th?
trees, but stay there until they are shot
and fall."?lfew York Press.
; REY. DR. TALMAGE.
3 THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY
SERMON.
Subject: "My First Day in Palestine.5'
Dr. Talmage has begun a series of sermons
on his recant trip to the Holy Land. Tho
following is the first sermon of the series:
Test: "The half was not told me."?I
Kings x., 7.
This is the first sermon in a course of Sabbath
morning sermons on "My Recent JourLey
Through the Holy Land and Neighboring
Countries: What I Saw and What I
Learned." Out of the sixty-four millions of
our present American population aDd the
millions of our past only about five thousand
have ever visited the Holy Land. Of all
those who cross to Europe less than five per
cent, ever get as far as Rome, and less than
two per cent, ever get to Athens, aud less
than a quarter of one per cent, ever get to
Palestine. Of the less than a quarter of one
per cent, who do go to tho Holy Land some
6ee nothing but the noxious insects and the
filth of the Oriental cities, aud come back
wishing they had never "one. Of those who
see much of interest and come home only a
small portion can tell what they have seen,
the tongue unable to report the eye.
The rarity of a successfunintelligent and
happy journey through tho Holy Land is
very marked. But the time approaches when
a journey to Palestine will bo common.
Thousands will go whero now there are
scores. Two locomotives were recently sent
up from Joppa to Jerusalem, and railroads
are about to begin in Palestiue, and the day
j will come when the cry will De, *vui out ior
Jerusalem!" "Twenty minutes for breakfast
at Tiberias!" "Change cars for Tyre!"
"Grand Trunk Junction for Ninevah!" "All
out for Damascus!" Meanwhile the wet locks
: of the Atlantic Ocean and Adriatic and Mediterranean
Seas are beinjr shorn,and not only
is the voyage shortened, but after a while,
without crossing the oceau, you or your children
will visit tno Holy Land. A company
of capitalists havo gone up to Bearing
Straits, where the American and Asiatic
continents come within thirty-six miles of
meeting.
These capitalists or others will build a
bridge across these straits, for midway are
three islands called "The Diomarles," and
the water is not deep and is never disturbed
j with icebergs. Trains of cars will run from
j America across that bridge and on down
I through Siberia, bringing under more im|
mediate observation the Russian outrages
i against exiles and conssquently abolishing
| them; and there are persons here to-day,
I who, without one qualm of sea-sickness, will
i visit that wonderful land where the ChristI
like, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, Solej
monic and Herodic histories overlap each
! other with such power that bv the time I
j took my feet out of the stirrups at the close
of the journey I felt so wrung out with emotion
that it seemed nothing else could ever
absorb my feelings again.
The chief hindrance for going to Palestine
with many is the dreadful sea, and though I
j have crossed it ten times it is more dreadful
j every time, and I fully sympathize with what
| was said one night when Mr. Bescher and I.
I Van? Va1*1t of +V\ a on.
| *?cui- u\a iv apcciA *u *ic?i AUIA ~w
niversary of tho Seamen's Friend Society,
1 and tho clergyman making the opening
I prayer quoted from St. John, "There shall
! be no more sea," and Mr. Beecher, seated be1
8ide me, in memory of a recent ocean voyage
! said, "Amen; I am glad of that." By the
partial abolition of the Atlantic Ocean and
: the putting dovrn of rail tracks across every
j country in all the world, the most sacred
land on earth will come under the observa!
tion of so many people who will ba ready to j
tell of what they saw that infidelity will ba
pronounced only another form of insanity, |
for no honest man can visit tho Holy Land <
and remain an infidel.
This Biblo from which I preach has almost i
fallen apart, for I read from it the mo3t of
the events in it recorded on the very places |
J where they occurred. And some of the i
leaves got wet as tba waves dashed over our
| boat on Lake Galilee, and the book was
| jostled in the saddle bags for many weeks, j
! but it is a new book to me, newer than any i
! book that yesterday came out of any of our |
I great printing houses. All my life I had :
! heard of Palestine, and I had read about it, j
j and talked about it, and preached about it,
and sung about it, and dreamed about it, |
and prayed about it, until my anticipations
were piled up into something like Himalayan
proportions, and yet I hava to cry out, as
did the Queen of Sheba when she first visited
the Holy Land, "The half was not told
me."
In order to make the more accurate and
vivid a book I have bean writing, a life of
Christ, entitled "From Manger to Throne," 1
left home last October, and on the last night j
of November we were walking the decks of i
j the Senegal, a Mediterranean steamer. II
i was a shin of immense proportions. There
were but few passengers, for it is Generally J
rough at that time of year, and pleasurists |
are not apt to be voyagers there and then |
The stars were all out that night. Those or- j
mies of light seemed to have had their shield; !
newly burnished. We walked the polished
deck. Not much was said, for in all our I
: hearts was the dominant word "to-morrow."
i Somehow the Acropolis, which a few day? j
j before had thrilled us at Athens, now in our I
| minds lessened in the height of its columns
i and the glory of its temples. And the Egyp!
tian pyramids in our memory lessened then
i wonders oi' obsolete masonry, and the Col is- I
i eum of Rom* was not so vast a ruin as it a !
, few weeks before bad seemed to be.
And all that we had seen and heanl
i dwindled in importance, for to-morrow, to- |
; morrow we shall sea tho Holy Laud. ,:Can- !
I tain, wiiat time will we come in sight oj j
j jraiestine?' "?veu," uo saia, -n m-a i
and sea remain esthey ere, about daybreak."
Never was I so impatient for a night to
pass. I could not see much uss for that
| night, anyhow. I pulled aside the curtain
from the porthole of my stateroom, so that
I the first hint of dawn would waken me. But
I it was a useless precaution. Sleep was
| among tbe impossibilities. "Who coula be so
stupid as to slumber when any moment there
j might start out within sight of the ship the
land where the most stupendous scenes of all
j time and all eternity were enacted?land ot
i ruin and redemption, laud where was foughl
I the battle that inaae our heaven possiGle.
! land of Godfrey ana oa.adin, of Joeaua ana
i Jesus?
I Will the night ever be gone? Yes, it is
j growing lighter, and along tae horizon there
! is something like a bauk of clouds, and as a
j watchman paces the deck I say to him,
i "What is that oat yonder?" "That is land.
j bit," s&iu tuti sauor. ' meuaui icneu, auu
i soon all our friends were arrousatl from sleep
j and the shore began more clearly to reveal
| itself. With roar and rattle aud bang the
i anchor droppsd in the roadstead a half mile
j from land, tor though Joppa is the only harbor
of Palestine it is the worst harbor on all
! the coasts. Sometimes for weeks no sh^ps
stop thero. Between rocks about seventyfive
feet apart a small boat must tako the
passengers ashore. The depths are strewn
with tne skeletons of those who have attempted
to laud or attempted to embark.
Twenty-seven pilgrims perished with one
cfash of a boat against the rocks. Whole
fleets of Crusaders, of Romans, of Syrians,
of Egyptians have cone to splinters there. A
writer eight hundred years ago saici ne stood
on the beach in a storm at Joppa, and out o2
thirty ships all but seven weut to pieces on
the rocks, and a thousand of the dead were
washed ashore.
Strange that with a few blasts of powder
like that which shattered our American ileii
Gate those rocks have uot been uprooted and
the way cleared, so that great ships, instead
of anchoring far out from land, might sweep
up to the wharf for passengers ana freight.
But vou must rememeber that land is under
the furk, and what the Turk touches he
withers. Mohammedanism is against easy
wharves, against steamers, against rail
trains, against printing presses, against civilization.
Darkness is always opposed to
light. The owl hates the morn. "L^ave
those rocks where they are/' practically cries
the Turkish Government; "we want no people
of other religions and other habits to
[and there; if the salt seas wash over them let
It be a warning to other invaders ;away with
your nineteenth century, with its free
thought and its modern inventions.*' That
Turkish Gnvprnment ouerht to be blotted
from the face of the earth, and it will be.
Of many of the inhabitants of Palestine I
asked the question, "Has the Sultan of Tifrkey
ever been herei"" Answer, "No." "Why
don't be come, when it belongs to his dominion?"
And. after the man interrogated
looked this way and that, so as to know he
would not be reported, the answer would invariably
be. ' 'He dare not come." I believed
it. If toe Sultan of Turkey attempted to
risit Jerusalem he would never get back
again. All Palestine hates him. I saw him go
| to the mosque for prayers in his own city of
Constantinople, and saw seven thousand
armed men riding out to protect him. Expensive
prayers I Ot course that Government
wants no better harbor at Joppa. May God
remove that curse of nations, that oid has of
the centuries, the Turkish Government! For
its everlasting insult to God and woman let
it perish! And so those rocks at the harbor
remain the jaws of repeated destruction.
As we descended the narrow steps at the
side of the ship we heard the clamor and
quarrel and swearing of fifteen or sixteen
different races of men of all features, and
all colors and all vernaculars; all different in
Vmit oil olil'o l'n frt aiii?
baggage ancl ourselves at exorbitant prices.
Twenty boats and only ten passengers to go
ashore. The man having charge of us pushes
aside some, and strikes with a heavy stick
others, and by violences that would not be
tolerated in our country, but which seem to
be the only manner of making any impression
there, clears our way into one of the
boats, which heads for the shore. "Wo are
within fifteen minutes of the Christ land.
Now we hear shouting from the beach, and
in five minutes wo will be landed. The prow
of the boat is caught by men who wado out
to help us in.
Wcare tremulous with suppressed excitement,
our breath is quick, ana from the side
of the boat we spring to the shore, and Sunday
morning, December 1, 18S0, about eight
o'clock, our feet touch Palestine. Forever
tome and miae will that day and hour be
commemorated for that pre-eminent mercy.
Let it be mentioned in prayer by my children
and children's children after we are
gone, that morning we were permitted to
enter that land and gaze upon those holy
bills and feel the emotions that rise and fall
and weep and laugh and sing and triumph at
such a disembarkation.
On the back of the hills one hundred and
fifty feet high Joppa is lifted toward the
skies. It is as picturesque as it is quaint, and
as much unlike any city wo have ever seen,
as though it were built in that star Mars,
where a few nights ago this very September
astronomers,through unparalleled telescopes,
saw a snow storm raging. How glad we were
to be in Joppa! Why, this is the city where
Dorcas, that queen of the needle, lived aud
died and was resurrected. You remember
that the poor people came around the dead
body of this benefactress, and brought specimens
of hsr kind needlework aud said:
"Dorcas made this," "Dorcas sewed that,"
/>nf onH flffjs/1 f.htc ^
hemmed that."
According to Lightfoot, the commentator,
they laid her out in state in a public room,
and the poor wrung their hand3 and cried
and sent for Peter, who performed a miracle
by which the good woman came back to life
and resumed her benefactions. An espacial
resurrection day for one woman I She was
the model by which many women of our day
have fashioned their lives, and at the first
blast of the horn of wintry tempest there appear
ten thousand Dorcases?Dorcases ol
Brooklyn, Dorcases of New York, Dorcases
of London, Dorcases of all the neighborhoods
and towns and cities of Christendom?just as
good as the Dorcas of Joppa which I visited.
Thauk God for the ever increasing skill and
sharpness apd speed and generosity of Dorcab's
needle.
"What is tbat man doing?" I said to the j
dragoman in the streets of Joppa. "Ob, he j
is carrying his bed." Multitudes of people
sleep out or doors, and that is the way so |
many in those lands become blind. It is from j
the dew of the night falliugou the eyelids. As
a result of this, in Egypt every twentieth I
person is totally blind. In Oriental lands j
the bed is made of a thin, small mattress, a t
blanket and a pillow, and when the man rises j
in the morning ho just ties up the three into
a bundle and shoulders it and takes it away.
It was to that the Saviour referred when He
said to the sick man: "Tako up thy bed and
walk." An American couch or an English
couch would requiro at least four men to
carry it, but one Oriental cau easily manage
his slumber equipment.
But I inhale some of the odors of the large
tanneries around Joppa. It is thero to this
dav, a prosperous business, this tanning of
hides. And that reminds ma of Simon, the
tanner, who lived at Joppaand was the' host
of Peter, the apostle. I suppose the olfactories
of Peter were as easily msulteJ by tha
odors of a tannery as others. But tho Bible
says, "He lodged with one Simon, tho tanner."
People who 50 out to do reformatory
and missionary and Christian.work must not j
be too sensitive. Simon no doubt brought
to his homestead every night the malodors
of the calfskins and ox hides in his tannery,
but Peter lodged in that home, not only because
he may not have been invited to the
houses of merchant princes, surrounded by j
redolent gardens, but to teach all men and
women engaged in trying to make tho world I
better that tbey must not be squeamish and j
fastidious and finical and over particular in j
doing the work of the world.
The church of Go J is dying of fastidious- |
nes?. We cry over tho sufferings of tha j
world in hundred dollar pocket handker- I
chiefs, and thc-n put a cent in tho poor box. j
There are many willing to do Christian work
among the cleanly, ana tho refined, and the |
elegant, and tho educated, but excuse them
from taking a loaf of bread down a dirty alley,
excuse them from teaching a mission
school among tho uncombed and the unwashed,
excuse them from touching the hand of
one whose finger nails are in mourning for
departed soap. Such religious precisionists
2an toil in atmospheres laden with honeysuckle
and rosemary, but not in air floating
up from the malodorous vats. No. no, no I
Excuse tharn from living with one Simon, the
tanner.
During the last war there were in Virginia
some sixty or seventy wounded soldiers in a
barn, on t.he sccond floor, so near tho roof
that the heat of the August sun was almost
insupportable. The men wore dying from
sheer exhaustion and suffocation. A distinguished
member of tho Christian commission
said to t'ue nurse who stood there, "Wash the j
faces and feet of these men and it will revive
them." *\No," said the nurse, "I didn't coma j
into tho army to wash anybody's feet." :
"Well," said the distinguished member of tha <
commission, "bring mo water and a towel; I I
will be very glad to wash their feet." One
was tho spirit of tho devil, the other the
spirit of Christ.
But reference to Peter reminds me that wo
must go to the housetop in Joppa where he
was taught tho democracy of religion. That
was about tho queerest teing that ever happened.
On our way up to that housetop we
passed an old well where the great stones
were worn deep with the ropes of the buckets,
and it must bo a well many centuries
old. and I think Peter drank out of It. Four
or five goat or calfskins filled with water lay
about the yard. TVe soon got up the steps
and on the housetop. It was in such a place
in Joppa that Peter one noon while he was
waiting for dinner had a hungry fit and
fainted away, and had a vision or dream or
trance. I said to my family and friends on
that housetop, "Listen while I read about
what happened here." And opening the
Bible wo nad the whole story.
It seems that Peter on tho housetop
dreamed that a great blanket was let down
out of heaven, and in it were stftep and goats
and cattle and mules and pigeons and buzzards
and snakes and all manner of creatures
that fly the air, or walk the field, or crawl
the earth, and in the dream a voice told him
as he was hungry to eat, and he said, "leannot
eat things unclean." Three times he
dreamed it. There was then heard a knocking
at the gate of the house on the top ol
which Peter lay in a trance, and three men i
asked, "Is Peter here?" Peter, whilo yet I
wonderine what his dream meant, descendi
the stairs and meets these strangers at the
gate, and they tell him that a good man bj
the name of Cornelius, in the city of Caesaron,
bas alio had a dream and has sent them foi
Peter and to ask him to come and preach
At that call Peter left Joppa for Csesarea.
The dream he had just had prepared him tc
preach, for Peter learned by it to reject nc
people as unclean, and whereas he previously
thought he must preach only to tho Jows,
now he goes to preach to the Gentiles, wlic
were considered unclean.
Notice how the two dreams meet?Peter's
dream on the housetop, Cornelius dream at
Csesaroa. So I have noticed providence*
meet, distant events meet, dreams meet.
Every dream is hunting up some other dream,
and every event is searching for soma other
event. In the Fifteenth century (14'J2) the
great event was the discovery of America
The art of printing, born in the same century,
goes out to meet that discovery and make
the New World an intelligent world. The
Declaration of Independenca, announcing
equal rights, meets Robert Bums's
A man's a man for a' that.
The United States was getting too large tc
be managed by one Government, and telegraphy
was invented to compress within an
nourtne whole continent. Armies in thi
Civil War were to be fitted out with clothing,
and the sewing machine invention came out
to make it possible. Immense farming acreage
is presented in this country, taough to
support millions of our nitlve born and
millions of foreigners; but the eld style of
plow and scytha and reaper and thresher
cannct do the work,' and there come steam
plows, steam harrows, steam reapers, steam
rakes, steam threshers, and the work is a?
complished. The forests of the earth fail tc
afford sufficient fuel, and so the coal mines
surrender a sufficiency. The cotton crops
were luxuriant, but of comparatively little
value, for they could not be managed; and
so, at just the right time, Hargreaves cams
with his invention of the spinning jenny,
then Arkwright with his roller, and Whitnej
with bis cotton gin. The world, after pottering
along with tallow candles and whale
oil, was crying for better light and more of
it, and tha hill of Pennsylvania poured out
rivers of oil, and keroseno illumined the noi
tions. But the oil wells began to fail, and
! then the electric light comss forth to turn
| meat into day.
So all events are woven together, and tbo
j world is magnificently governed, because It
I is divinely governed. We criticise things
and think the divine machinery i3 going
I wrong, and put our fingers amid the wheels
only to get them crushed. But I say, hands
off! Things are coming out gloriously. Cornelius
may be in Csjsarea, aud Peter in
Joppa, but their dreams meet. It is one
band that is managing the world, and that is
God's hand; and one mind that is planning
all things for good, and that is God's mindj
and one heart that is filled with love anc
pardon and sympathy, and that is God'i
heart. Have iaith in Him. Fret about nothing.
Things are not at loose ends. Then
are no accidents. All will come out right in
your history and in the world. As you ar?
waking from one dream up stairs. an ex
planatory dream will be knocking at the gat<
down stairs.
Standing here in Joppa I remember thai
where we this morning disembarked the
prophet Jonah embarked. For the first time
in my life I fully understood that story.
God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, but the
prophet declined that call and camo here tc
Joppa. I was for weeks, while in the Holy
Land, consulting with tourist companies as
to how I could take Nineveh in my journey,
They did not encourage the undertaking. II
is a most tedious ride to Nineveh amid 8
desert. Now I see an additional reason why
Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh. Hs
not only revolted because it was a long waj
and tough, and bandit infested, so he came
here to Joppa and took ship. But, alas, for
the disastrous voyage! He paid his full fare
tor the whole voyage, but the ship company
did not fill their part of the contract. Tc
this day they have not paid back that passage
money. Why paople should doubt the
story of Joaah and the whale is more of a
mystery than thp Bible event itself. I dc
not need the fact that Pliny, the historian,
records that .the skeleton of a whale forty
feet long, and with a hide a foot and a hall
thick, was brought from Joppa to Rome.
The event recorded iu the book of Jonah
has occurred a thousand times. The Lord
always has a whale outside the babor for a
man who starts in the wrong direction. Recreant
Jonah! I do not wonder that even the
whale was s'ck of him. This prophet was
put in the Bible not as an example, but as a
warning, because the world not only needs
lighthouses, but buoys, to show where the
rocks are. The Bible story of him ends bj
showing the prophet in a fit of the sulks. He
was mad because Nineveh was not destroyed,
and then he went out to pout, an l sat under
a big-leaf, using it for shade from the tropical
sun, and wheu a worm disturbed thai
leaf, and it withered, and the sun smote
Jonah, he flew into a great rage, and saidi
"It is better for me to die than to live." A
prophet in a rage because ho had lost his
umbrella I Eeware of petulance!
But standing here on the housetop at Joppa,
I look off upon the sauds near tne beach,
and I almost expected to find them crimsoned
and incarnadined. But no:*the rains
long ago washed away the last sign of the
Napoleonic massacre. Napoleon was marching
on through the coasts. Ho had here at
Joppa four thousand Albanians, who had
beeu surrendered as prisoners of war, and
under a promise of protection. "What shall
he do with them? It will be impossible foi
him to take them along, aud tie cannot auoro
to leave soldiers enough to guard them from
escape. It will not be difficult for the man
who broke the heart of lovely Josephine, and
who, whan asked if the great losses of life in
his battles wera not too dear a price to pay
for his victories, sbraggod his shoulders
mirthfully and said, "You must break: tae
eggs if you want to make an omelet"?I say
it will uot be difficult for him to decide.
The prisoners of war by his ordar are taken
out on the sand3 and put to death?one thousand
of them, two thousand of th?m, thraa
thousand of them, four thousand of them,
massacred. And the blood pours down into
the sea, the red of the one mingling with th3
blue of the other, and making an awful
maroon which neither God nor nation cau
ever forget. Ye who are fond of vivid contrasts
put the two scaues of Joppa side by
side, Dorcas with her nesdle, and the immortal
butcher with his knife.
But standing on this Joppa house top 1
look off on the Mediterranean, and wbat is
that strango sight I see? The waters are
black, seemingly for railed. There seems to
be a great multitudo of logs fastened together.
Oh. yes, it is a great raft of timbers.
They are cedars of Lebanon, which King
Hiram is furnishing King Solomon in exchange
for 20,000 measures of wheat, 20,000
baths of oil and 20,000 baths of wine. These
cedar3 have been cut down and trimmed in
the mountains of Lebanon by the 70,000 axmen
engaged there, and with great withes
and iron bolts are fastened togetner, and they
are floating down to J Oppa to be taken across
the land for Solomon's temple, now building
at Jerusalem, for we have lost our hold oi
the Nineteenth century and are clear back in
taa ages.
The rafts of cedar are guided into what i<
called the Moan Pool, an old harbor south
of Joppa, now filled with sand and useless.
With long pikes th9 timber is pushed this
way and that in the water, then with divers
3iidmanya loud, long "Io, heave!" as the
carters get their shoulder under the great
fKft imKan'e fnetfliiorl thft irao*.
ons and the lowing oxen are yoked to the
load, and the procession of teams moves on
with crack of whip und drawled out words
which, translated, I supoose would correspond
with the "Whoa, liaw, gee!" of modern
teamsters, toward Jerusalem, which is
thirty miles away over mountainous distances
which for hundreds of years defied
all engineering. And those rough cedari
shall become carved pillars and beautiful
altars, and rounded bannisters, and traceried
panels, and sublime ceiling, and exquisite
harps and kingly chariots.
As tho wagon train moves out from Joppa
over the plain of Sharon toward Jerusalem I
say to myself, what vast numbers of people
helped build that temple of Solomon, and
what vast numbers of people are now engaged
in building the wider, higher, grander
temple of righteousness rising in tne earcn.
Our Christian ancestry toiled at it, amid
sweat and tears, and hundreds of the generations
of the good, and the long train ol
Christian workers still moves on; and as in
the construction of Solomon's temple some
hewed with tho ex in the far away Lebanon,
and some drove a wedge, and some twisted
a withe, and some trod tho wet and slippery
rafts oa the sea, and some yoked
the ox, and some pulled at the load,
and 9ome shoved the plane, ana some
fittod the joints, ana some heaved
up the rafters, but all helped build the temple,
though some of these never saw it, so
now let us all put our hauds, and our shoulders,
and our liearts to the work of building
the temple of righteousness, which is to fill
the earth; and one will bind a wound, and
another will wipe away a tear, and auother
will teach a class, and another will speak the
encouraging word, and all of us will ba
ready to pull and lift, and in some way help
on tna work until the millenial morn shall
gild the pinnacb of taat finished temple, and
at its shining gates the world shall put down
its last burden, and in its lavers wash off its
last strain, and afc its altars the last wanderer
shall kneel. At the dedication of that temple
all the armies of earth and heaven will
"snouiaer arras" ana 'present arms ana
"ground arms," for "beheld! a greatar than
Solomon is here."
But my first day in the Holy Laud i3
pnded. The sun is; already closing his eye foi
tin night. I stand on the balcony of a hotel
which was brought to Joppa in pieces from
the State of Maine by some fanatics who
came here expecting to see Christ reappear
in Palestine. My room here was
once occupied by that Christian
hero of the centuries?Euglish, Chinese,
Egyptian, world-wide General Gordon, a
man mighty for God as well as for tha
world's pacification. Although the first of
December and winter, the air is full of fragrauce
from gardens all a-bloom, and under
my window are a:acia and tamarisk and
mulberry and century plant3 and orange
groves and oleander. From the drowsiness
of the air and the fatigues of the day I feel
tlespy. Good night 1 To-morrow morning
we start Tor Jerusalem.
The principal peanut-growing States
are Virginia, North CaroUuia and Tea*
aeswe. _
SABBATH SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOP,
OCTOBER 10.
Lesson Text: "The Spirit of True Service."
Luke xxii., 84, 37?Golden
Text: Phil, ii., 5?
Commentary.
24. "And there was also a strife amen;
them, which of them should be accounted the
greatest." He had kept His last passover
with them again typically foreshadowing
Hi3 sufferings and death: He had instituted
I the supper which would keep constantly before
them His humiliation unto death; He
; had just said that one of them, one of the
i twelve, should prove false to Him and betray
' Him; and yet all these things so little affect
| them that, even at such a time, instead of
being in sympathy with Him, and feeling for
Him in view of His approaching sufferings,
they are selfishly and apparently unfeelingly
talking of their own personal advantage and
superiority in His Kingdom.
25. "And He said unto them. Tha kings of
the Gentiles exercise iordship over them; and
they that exercise authority upon them are
called benefactors." The Jews were chosen
from among all nations to show unto all the
reality of the only living and tiue God, one
who in supernatural ways would guide, protect
and care for His people who put their
trust in Him; pitying and providing for
them as a father, comforting and nourishing
them as a mother. They were to glorify Him
by an implicit and constant reliance upon
Him and by being meekly subject to Him in
all things. They W9rs? not to be anxious even
about tcod and raiment, for then* Heavenly
Father knew that they needed such things
and would surely provide them (Matt, vi^
00*
20. "But ye shall not be so; but he that is
greatest among you, let him be as the
rounder; find hs that rhiof ot Via +Vid^ I
I loth serve." Th s was a lesson that He was
ever teaching them (Matt. xviii., 3, 4; si.,
25-27; xxiii., 11), but one so hard for poor
human nature to learn. The sin of the disciples
has come all the way down the ages.
It started in Eden 'when the serpent tempted
Adam aud Eve to eat the forbidden fruit by
telling them that they would then be as gods
i (G-sn. iii., 5). It seems to be older than that
I if Isa. xiv., 13, 14, refers to Satan himself:
"Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend
! into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the
! stars of God; I will be like the Most High."
"For whether is greater, he that sittath at
i meat or he that serveth? Is not he that siti
t:-th at meat? But I am among you as He
that serveth." Or as Ho said on another oc
casio'n: "The Sou of Man came not to ba
ministered unto but to minister, and to give
I His life a ransom for many" (Matt, xx., 2S).
| The incident of the feet washing recorded in
' John xiii., 4-17, occurred at this time, for it
i is -written that "He rose from supper, laid
aside His garments, took a towel and girded
Himself," etc.; then when He had finished
He said: "I have given you an example that
| ye should do as I have done unto you."
j ?8. "Ye are they which have continued
I with Me in My temptations." How kind of
' Him it was to say so. Outwardly they wore
j -with Him; they had left all for Him; they
followed Him wherever He went, and minI
istered unto Him; but as we have seen they
| did not feel for Him in His trials and would
! not believe that the cross awaited Him! They
j were themselves a trial to Him with their
unsympathetic sayings and doings aud sug
gestions anci desires, anuyet rie is gracious*
| ly pleased to say to them, "3Te have con1
tinned with Me."
j 29. "And I appoint unto you a Kingdom,
as My Father hath appointed unto Me/' He
j will wean them from desire for present pre!
eminence by assurances respecting their fu'
ture glory.
30. "That ye may eat and drink at my
! table in My Kingdom, and sit on thrones
I judging the twelve tribes of Israel."' ComI
pare Matt, sis., 28, where the same promise |
j is a little more full. There He says it will be
iu the regeneration, when the Son of Man
3hall sit on the throne of His glory. If any
Dna should ask on what throne He is now,
Rev. iii., 21, says that He is with the Father
on the Father's throne. Fail not to observe
the promise to the overcomer in that verse.
Shall the twelve apostles (one being put in
| Judas's place) actually rule over the; twelve
! tribes ot Israel? If not, let those who call
i this a figure explain tho tigure'satisfactorily.
1 I prefer the simpler way of believing it as it
I reads, even though I be counted a fool for it.
But you don't think people will literallv oat
and drink iu His Kingdom? If the Lord Himself
aud angels ate the food provided by
Abrarn and Sarab, an J Jesus in his resurrection
body ate broiled fish and honeycomb,
then why shall we not eat in His Kingdom,
even though we may not need tot' JJo let us
believe God.
81. "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon,
behold Satau hath desired to have you thai
hp riiiiv si-'t von n? rrhp.-it." Satan seamed i
to hare a special hatred of those whom the
I Master is about to use; he had already used
| the lips of Peter to say tempting words
j (Matt, xvi., 22, 23), and now, as in the case
of Job, he lias made special request for Peter
to give him a sifting. It is comforting to
know that Satan cannot touch a child of God
without special permission from Heaven, and
that it is our privilege, therefore, to see God
in everything, even though Satan be the instrument.
22. "But I have prayed for thee that thy
faith fail not; and when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren." If the prayers or
a rigutocus man availeth much, how all prevailing
must tha prayer of Jesus: and how
quiet and thankful we should bo that "He
liveth to make intercession for us'' (Jas. v.,
16; Hah. vii, 25).
vs. "Ana he said unto Him, Lord, I am
ready to go with Thee, both into prison and
to death." Have you never, dear reader,
been so conscious of the presence of God and
the love of God that you, too, have felt just
like that, even if you did not say it? But
how long did it last?
24. "And He said, I tell thee, Peter, the
cock shall not crow this day before that thou
shalt thrice deny that thou kuowest Me."
The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked; who can know it? I the
Lord (Jer. xvii., 9, 10). He needed not that
any should testify of man, for He knew what
was in man (John ii., 25); and He is reading
us just as He read Peter. It is no use to make
f>romises unless we make them in humble reiance
upon Him and only in His strength.
35. "And He said unto them, When I sent
you without purse, and scrip, and shoes,
lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing!"
r?o good thing will He withhold from
them that walk uprightly (Ps. lxxxiv., 11);
much less from those whom He sends forth
in His name.
30. "TheD said He unto them, But now ho
that hath a purse let him take it, and likewise
his scrip, and he that hath no aword,
let him sell his garments and buy one." This
sounds strange ia view of His former teaching,
that if they should seek first the
Kingdom of God and His righteousness
all necessary temporal things would be
added: and also when we remember that
Peter a little later used a sword and Jesus
told him to put it up, saying, ; 'All they
that take the sword shall perish
with the sword" (Matt, xxvi., 52). He never
contradicts Himself'. He never changes. The
sense seems to be this: lam now joinertn
be at sent from you in person, and if you
cannot trust Me to take care of you and protect
you though unseen then rely upon yourselves.
37. "For I say unto you, that this that is
written must yet be accomplished iu Me,
and He was reckoned among the trausgrescwj
fIiimtc mniv'niin? Me havi? an i
end.'' Very soon"now?in less than twelve
hours from that time?would He say on the
cross, "It is finished." And just as surely
as He finished the work of atonement for siu,
making redemption possible, to surely shall
He finish the work of redemption in Ilis
coming Kingdom, and in due time hand this
earth over to the Father as pure and beautiful
as before siu entered rh> garden of EJen.
?Lesson Helper.
the sudden, unexpected death of
three persons has saved the life of one
man. Azero Folley, a "West Virginian,
was to be tried for an assault on Julia
Hester, the penalty of which, in that
State, U death. The only witness was
the girl herself, her sister and her
mother, and all three of these were
killed a few days ago in a railroad disaster
on the Chesapeake and Ohio. The
case against Polley has, therefore, neoessarily
been dismissed.
Power obtained from a fall of water
a mile distant is to be used for lighting
the tower of the Segorbe in Spain.
-
RELIGIOUSJiEADlNG.
llF.F.D THE TRUTH.
0, soul. upon the ocean
Of life's tempestuous sea;
Give beed to chart and compass,
Le>t, awful wreck for thee.
For tierce the winds are blowing, ; j
And loud the billows roar; .1
The winds of strong temptation,
And breakers on the shore.
Fa'se lights for thee are gleaming,
On head-land and the sea; * . j
To draw thee to destruction,
- ii? -
r ui iiiiic, ciemum
Beware! lest foul suggestion,
May drive thee leagues away;
And siren songs may cheat thee
Of everlasting day.
GOODNESS NEEDS NO MONUMENT. i
John Howard, the father of prison reform,
was a noble Christian philanthropist. When
it was proposed to cm't a statue to him, '
which most men would cheerfully accept M j
in honor, he promptly declined it. On his
3eatli-bed lie exclaimed, -'Let roe beg of you,
33 you value, your old friend, not to suffer
my pomp to be used at my funeral, nor auf
monument or monumental Inscription to
mark where I am laid; but lay me quietly
in the earth, place a sun-d'al ?\er my grave,
and let me be forgotten." No wonder George
III. said of this good man. "He needs no
statue; his virtues will live when every
*tatue will have crumbled into dust."
m.IAL DEVOTION TO F.VTHCTS IN CHKIST. ^
If soldiers in a campaign stood back to see
how the plans of their superiors were going
to work, no very a>tu'e prophet would beVT
needed to foretell the outcome of even the
best schemes of the most skilful strategists.
In the warfare waged by the Christian
church much rests 011 the pastors: but an es- '
seutial of success is union of the people
among themselves, and perfect fidelity to the
pastor and hearty co-operation with him. r\
If Elijnh knew what is implied in "blue;-..
Monday,"' it is not surprising that an earnest, A
worker today should sometimes be found
Minder a juniper tree," when it seems that
lie is left alone in standing for the right.
Too often, when the pastor becomes als*
ncnrncred. lie has no need of fleeine to the.
wilderness in order to gain solituHe. As
soon as the meetings ct-asrd to be inspiring.
Sfich man has ttsked bis neighbor whether
iftairs do not seem to be in a very low co?- dition,
and bus announced his owu purpose
to remain at home.
Mo.-es was more fortunate- than many of
his successors in that it was just when be
was wearied with bis eft'orts for the people
that his followers came to his assistance in-,
stead oI getting off into a corner and begin- .
tiing to whisper about its being high time
for them to look around for a younger man
to lead so great a company. Making a pastor
disheartened is one of the shrewdest of
8 itan's devices, but a still shrewder one is.
that which makes any discouragement on *<
the pastor's part an unfailing prophecy of
immediate desertiou on the part of his fol- y
lowers.
One may be bringing God's message to His
despondent servant In assuring liim that '
there are many ready to work with him; it
would have been better, however, had the
despondency beeu forestalled rather than removed.
A pastor comcs. like his Lord, to
minister unto others; and that he may do so
he requires their co-operation. He eannot
meet the individual needs that he desires to,
unless he is told what they are, and what
words of his have proved helpful.
A physician is not expected to heal one
without being told anything of the symptoms.
One who does any ennrch work at j
the minister's reque t has not thereby conferred
a personal favor, and laid the minis- ter
under a perpetual obligation, any more
than the man who has recovered bis strength
by following the physician's directions has
tfierebv placed the physician under a heavy
debt of gratitude.
The pastor in giving his parishioners a
work to do for Christ is thereby, helping
them to fulfil what should be their dearest
wish in life; and when pastor and people
thus labor and pray wit a eacn otner aau ior
each otber in their common service, thergJjfl
mu?t grow up an affection between them-lHflj^H
that between parent and child, and the worK1^
of the Lord must prosper in their liands.? . 5?
[Golden Rule.
LEISURE MOMENTS.
The following, from the Guide (Glasgow),
will be found profitable reading, especially
to young men.
Leisure moments rre perhips among the
most powerfultests that can be applied to
one's character. AVbon the soul is undisturbed
by outward influences, and sitting
alone ana in the silence of her own presence
chamber, when the inward eye is awake,
and our thoughts are in some measure the
natural outcome of our inner consciousness,
we seem to feel keenly a sense
of our mental poverty; the barrenness cf all
within is oppressive"; or it may even be that
the corridors and passages of 'the mind resound
with the tramp of the blackened
forms of evil?thoughts that one day develop
into deeds if not overcome?so that by ana
by we almost dread being alone. A man is
sometimes his own worst enemy. We wonder
at the strange undercurrents of evil that
have their place within us. "We know not
Low or wheuce they come, but we cannot
doubt I heir existence.
Leisure and loneliness have their uses.
They may be as twin lights to reveal the
crrur or the emptiness within, they may lead
to a consciousness of inward restlessness and
discontent, a sighing after something better
and higher than' any thing we have hitherto
known, a blind groping after something
vague and impalpable; we are conscious of
the desires and aspiration.*, but how to meet
and satisfy them is the difficulty. Is relief
to be found by joining in the busy whirl of
the world? Or must we seek rest in the
sweets of intellectual enjoyment?in books,
paimini', music? Or shall we sink into the
moral depths of what is practically unbelief
and infidelity?
It is not to be denied that srme, it may be
all of these alternatives have certain advantages
peculiar each to itself. There is happiness
to be had from each, but it is short- J|
lived, llickering and delusive. These things <
touch not the centre of the soul's disease. ^
drink ever so deeply of these streams and
you will still thirst. There is no getting
away from it. There is but one link that
can join you to peace, fiappiness and heiven,
and that is Christ. Christ and Him alone.
You may not think so. You find it hard to
bring your mind to believe it can be so.
It isl nevertheless, whether you believe it
or not, and whether you put "the fact to a
practical test or not. Christ is peculiarly the
companion of silent and solitary hours;" the
ineffable sweetness of His presence, the joy
of having Him in your soul, is as the music
of singing birds; the light and irlory of
heaven are transferred into your life; instead
of the old blackness and bitterness you
are surrounded by pii atmosphere that has in
it the warmth anil brightness of the summer's
sunlight.
And so C'Brist will become ihe touchstone
of all your after life. He will come to you in
the leisure moments of your days, and your
communion with Him shall be sweet; your
thoughts will revert to Him at such times
more lovingly than you are wont to think ol
absent earthly friends. You can bring to
Him the difficulties of every kind that beset
your life, and you will find th t living close
to Him the full energies of your being are
called into actiou and that you arc moving
forward into ever brightening light; navuig
Him you Lave the ne plus ultra of yout
aspirations. 11c will bo to you the center ol
all things.
It is in our leisure moments often that the
highest inspirations of life come to us; like
the lightning's flash to the lonely traveler lu
the darkness of night we see the* realities ol
things, as it were, hut for a raomeut, and
then all is gloom around lis. It is ever wise,
therefore, to note the guiding of these su?
prciue mt mcut.s of our existence.
^faking Paupers Support Themselves.
It has just come out that it is the custom
in many London parishes for the
poor boards to provide able-bodied pau- t
pers with brooms and assign them to
sweep certain crossings, making them
support themselves from what they can
get in tbis way, and thu3 reducing the
workhouse expenses proportionately.?
Chicago Times.
How did Henry Yin. differ from
ather men as a suitor? He married his
wives and axed them aftarvaxda.