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SUCCESS. If to some theme 'tis thy intent to rise, j Thou must attend how best to tune thy lyre; { Else will disdain thy well picked notes inspire. Herein the secret of the triumph lies, When thou would'st rear a ?rk of mighty jv size, | Advance but slowly as a growing fire, I Scan well thy path lost hasty actiou tire, Or like a fla:iio thy ardour's impulse dies. Proceed with hope; believe the goal in view, Let not mere failure prey upon thy heart; Great oaks, remember, from small acorns grew. ! Though it be trivial, well perform thy I part; And, persevering till thy labor's through, T^--11 w?'l 1 infn V?oir?tr tfnrf. r Uli UU?VUtU outucoo I?m amws wvw. v. ?Edward K. Cowing,in Detroit Free Press. AN IDYL 0F_THE " HT." It is sunset at the HT' ranch. Four or five cowboys sit gloomily about, outside Jhe ranch house, awaiting supper. The .Mexican cook has just begun his fragrant task, so a half hour nust elapse before these Arabs are fed. Their ponies arc turned into the wire pasture, their big Colorado saddles repoi.e astride the low yale fence which surrounds the house, and it is evident that their riding is over iov the day. : Why are they gloomy? Not a boy of them can tell. One is from Princeton, too. They have been partners and companeros and "worked" the HT cattle together for months and nothing ever came U1 LUiOUUUtlObUUUiUg V* axv ranch house is their home and theirs has been the unity of brothers. | A week ago a pretty girl, the daughter, of one of the owners, came to- the ranch from the East. She was protected in the venture by an old and gnarled aunt, watchful as a ferret, sour as a lime. Not that the pretty girl needs watching; she is indeed in every move propriety's climax. No soft or dulcet .reason woos her to the "West; she comes on no love I errand. She is elegantly and profoundly ' ^ of the East, that is all, and longs IjEg'Jlfeftfor Western air and Western sights. She IfegaPpbas been at the HT ranch a week and the ^^8P?boys have met her, every one. The $g%ffifofc;pieeting or meetings were marked by ^^.a|5awkwardness as to the boys, utter indifjjcaB|Bference as to the pretty girl. She met Fggffi*phem as she met the ponies,'cows, horned ^^^Mads and other animals, domestic and in^g^^genous to eastern New Mexico. While saESSSBBiery cowooy was uiusuicgiy cuusuiuua i her, she was purely and serenely ; ^^^agwltlcss of giving him a thought, ^^^^g^efore this pretty girl came the boys ^^^^were friends and the calm tenor of their k relations with each other had never a rippie. She was not there a daj before ] each drew himself insensibly from the others, and a vague hostility shown 1 , k. dimly in their eyes. , It was the instinct i ftf the fighting male animal aroused by i WT \ presence of the pretty girl. i ences 'V.dark, vague, impalpable, differ- \ ures fro^c^ cut eacQ of these creat- j with an unr3^3 feU?ws aQd inspired him I hate had growlonSnS ^ immeasurable fr their existence "tvith thc brief wcek of 1 look for trouble so& Philosopher would ] 4'What did you g8n the HT" die for, yes;erday, tin**0 Tsad," Moore to a cowboy by the. i Watkios. " 'Cause I allows I'll ride it * ? says Watkins. "Though! it might 1 to carry a high-grade cow-punchen 1 cncc." * | "Well! don't take it no more," said fc Moore, moodily, ignoring the gay inso- w lence in the reply. "Leastwise, don't come a-takin' of it an' say in' nothin.' 0i You can palaver Amcricano, can't yon? st When you aims to ride my Eaddle again, 0i ask for it; if you can't talk, make signs, ar an' if you can't make signs, shake a busli, but don't go to Injunin' off no pi eaddle of mine no more." "Whatever do you allow is liable to g0 happen if I take it agin tomorry?" in- gn quired Bill in high scorn. th Bill was of a more vivacious temper than the gloomy Moore. "You takes it agin an' I mingles with you a whole lot, mighty prompt," re- wl plied Moore in a tone of obstinate injury. ^ ey< These boys were brothers in affection before that pretty girl came, and either ^i ^^^^^would have gone a-foot all day to lend H^^^hj^yddleto the other. Going a-foot, an< let me assure you sh( the 9S9BHwSHE?^^^nPlj^^iKcyou, over on BKsMflb)|B puts him in the iire j 8B^9j^HHSBSP|^aty of fuu with him.1' |ra?^HRop the play now, right ycre," said j ^HBgH|om Rawlins, the 1IT range boss, who c;tH'nrr ^Ingp at" llftnd- t{YQU_alL-? g "** " ???? ? - # spring trouble :iouDd yere an' 111 be in ] it. "VVhatever's the matter with all you 3 people anyway? You're like a passel of ^ sore 'head' dogs for raore'n a week now. i You're shorely too many for me to sabe t an' I cl'ar gires you up." I 1 "The boys started some grumbiug reply, but the cook called them to supper just , one animalism becoming ovcranother, they forget cheir vague animosities in thoughts I lOTvaP&jiog their hunger. Toward the 1 repast, Rawlins arose aud f another room begau overlook- c entries in tho ranch books. i pretty girl did not cat at the i '-iiroda'table. She had little banquets in t ^ y room. Just then she was in a ^ N&aj|Trom and began singing in & low t tenor some tender little love song that t seemed born of a sigh and a tear. The 1 boys at supper heard her, and their re- 1 Beniment 01 eacn oiaer s existence oegan * again to flame in their breasts and bum i deeply in their eyes. None of these suv- 1 ages was in the least degree in love with 1 the pretty girl, either. They might have 1 become so, all or any of them. I The singing went on in a cooling, soft, s -way that did not bring you the words? t only the music. ( "What I says about my saddle a while back, I means," said Moore, finally, turniug dark looks on AVatkins. "See vere!" said Wntkias in an ex- |i L asperated tone?he was as viciom as s "HMoore?''if you're p'intin' out for a war r with me, don't fool 'round none for ] ns, but jest let 'er roll. Come a- 1 an' don't bother none with cere- ( have to have no reasons i BgKgSraffiggl^^one," said Moore. J&BBB?b3SBbI^B8EB&S$^^NL. Anyone's HiyflfegnWgwfllHBlBlMM?BiC^^d iest for fun B6wHMBj|BaigaM j "As you all seem to feel that way," said Moore, "I'll step out an' shoot with you right now." "Well! I'll shore go you," said Watkins. They arose and stepped out at the door. It was gathering dark, but it was light enough to shoot by. The other cowboys followed in silence. Not one said a word in comment or interference. They were grave and serious, but passive. It is not good form to interfere witn otner people s a ueis in the Southwest. The pretty girl was still singing, and the strains fell softly on the ears of the cowboys. Every one, whether onlooker or principal, felt inspired with a licking, pleased anticipation of the blood to be scon set flowing. Nothing was said of distance. They separated to about forty paces and turned to face each other. Each woro his "Colt's 45," the loosely buckled letting it rest low down on the right hip. Each threw down his big hat and stood at apparent ease, with his thumbs caught in niofrtl holf XII. I/UV j/lOlil/l UV4V. "Shall you give the word, or me?" said Moore. "You give it,'.'said Watkins. "It'll be a funny passage in American history if you get your artillery to the front any sooner than I do, then." ?" "Be you ready?" asked Jack. "Shore." "Then?go!" "Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!" went both pistols together, and with rapidity not to be counted. Moore got a crease in his left shoulder?a mere ? a ?? t% ? ?j TtT.n_? wound to me nesn?ana watiuns zeu with a bullet in his side. Rawlins, the range boss, came running out. He understood all at a look. Hastily examining Moore he discovered that his hurt was nothing serious. The others carried Tfatkins into the house. "Take my pony, saddled at the fence, Jack," said Rawlins, "and pull your freight. This yere man's goin' to die." "Which I shorely hopes he docs," said Jack Moore, bitterly, "I'll go, though; I ain't cot no use for none of these yere he-shorthorns around the HT." So he took Rawlins's pony, and when he stopped riding in the morning it was no marvel that the poor pony hung his head dejectedly, while his flanks steamed and quivered. He was almost 100 miles . from his last corn, and cooled his nervous muzzle as he took his morning drink in the Rio Pecos, a stream far to the west of the HT. * # * * * * "Some shooting scrape about their saddles, Miss; that's all." So reported Rawlins to the pretty girl. "Isn't it horrible!" shuddered the pretty girl, in reply. me next morning tne pretty giri ana her gnarled and twisted aunt paid the injured Watkins a visit. This sight so affected the other three cowboys that they at once saddled and rode away to the northwest to work some cattle on the Ocate Mesa. They intended to be gone three months. They looked black and forbidding as they galloped away. 'It's a pity Jack Moore ain't no better pistol shot," said one, as the picture of tnc pretty girl visiting the wounded Watkins arose in his mind.- i ' 'That's whatever, ' assented the others. I The pretty girl was full of sympathy \ for the stricken Watkins. It occurred to i ber, too, that his profile was clear and I handsome. He was certainly very pale j and this stirred the depths of her femi- i nine nature. She and her aunt came to i see the invalid every day. Once, the J pretty girl said she would bring him a U^ok to read and while away the hours, ' seemed shod with lead. . c*%n't read," said Watkins, in a tone ! F n PflnoA. i .1 x i a t ! r?^saame. 1 never learouu. 1 lould like ly^ read, too, but there's no j le to teach So that settles that," J id the rascal expressed a deep sigh. , Watkins lied. lHLwas he who was the I rinceton man. So the pretty, girl cam^* every day and | ,ve Watkins a reading leslj^p, while the i larled aunt read a book ano^ watched < em through the open door, "By the way," said Watkins on^^^ay, ( there's Moore?" < "Why?" asked the range boss, I torn the question was put. ] "You tell him," said Watkins, his t? ;s beginning to gather rage, "that 3 ten I get out, I'll be lookin' for him ^0! th something besides a field glass." "Oh, no!" said the pretty girl, rising fat 1 coming toward his couch. Her tone wa -nun uwiiwtqtQcc ana tear at the DU >ught-^lj^g&>-. trc ke^gatet? herthe look changed tur dFlllihl'1. 1 yiloore gave place ;o something else. "H&Y.he'faid at last. "Tell him it's ill right, Rawlins." The . pretty; girl thought him very AVafkiua flps out in five weeks and :ouldi^go about the ranch. One night Rawlins thought he heard a pony in the rard and arose to remedy the matter. \.s he stepped out a couple passed him n the moonlight. It was Wakins and he pretty girl. The caitiff's arm was ouud her.?Kansas City Times. The Oldest and Rest Oat. A "Washington correspondent of the lartford,(Conn.) Times writes: "Mrs. tfoah W. Bradley's cat, Israel, aged about ourteen years, and the oldest and withtut question the best cat that ever lived, n the town, is dead. It was a favorito n the household and had such kindly raits and sagacity as to win the hearts of ill. For years every night Israel slept at he foot of its mistress bed, and always lad a special chair, cushioned, for its lse in the kitchen and sitting-room. Death was the result of asthma. The renains were placed in a casket with as nuch care and tenderness as though they lad been those of a child, and they were itcrally covered with flowers. A grave vas dug'near the house and the casket jlaced in it, and upon the mound will :oon appear a slab of granite displaying ho name, date of death and age of debased." A Biff PIcce of Mftconry. ; The greatest piece of solid masonry of nodern times is now in course of con- j itruction in the Bombay' presidency. ( rhere being danger that the water sup- < )ly of the city of Bombay would soon " jecome insufficient, it was decided to in- J :lose the watershed of the valley, which 1 irains into the sea south of the city, by 1 neanfl of a dam. The gigautic struc- ! ;ure, which will be completed in Mi^Bh t lext, is two miles long, 118 feet in heignt md. 103 feet wide at its base. The road- j rav on the ton is to be twentv-four feet in , width, and the stonework "will cost t $2,500,000. The lake of water which 1 tis dam "will imprison will be eight j in area.?Boston Journal, ' i t ; KEY. DR. TALMAGE. THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN DAY SERMON. Subject: "The Waters of Merom." Text: "And when all these kinqs wen met together theij came and pitched together at the waters of Merom to fight against Is raeV'?Josh, xi., 5. We are encamped to-night in Palestine by the waters of Merom. After a long march we have found oar tents pitched, our fires kindled, and, though far away from civilization, a variety of food that would not compromise a tirst class American hotel, for the most of our caravan starts an hour and a half earlier in the morning. We detain only two mules, carrying 60 much of our baggage as we might accidentally need and a tent for the noonday luncheon. The malarias around this Lake Merom ore so poisonous that at any othei season of the year encampment here is perilous, but this winter night the air is tonic and healthful. In this neighborhood Joshua fought his last great battle. Tbe nations had banded themselves together to crush thij Joshua, but along the banks of tbese waters Joshua left their carcasses. Indeed it is time that we more minutely examine this Joshua of wliora we have in these discourses caught only a momentary glimpse, although he crossed and recrossed Palestine, and next to Jesus is the most stirring and mighty character whose foot ever touched the Holy Land. Moses was dead. A beautiful tradition says the Lord kissed him, and in that act drew forth the soul of the dying lawgiver. He had been buried, only one Person at the burial, the same One who kis363 him. But God never takes a man away from any place of usefulness but he has some one ready. The Lord does dot go looking around amid a great variety of candidates to find some one especially fitted for the vacant position. He makes a man for that place. Moses has passed off the stage, and Joshua, the hero, puts his foot on the platform of history so 6olidly that all the ages echo with its tread. He was a magnificent fighter, but he always fought on the right aide, and ho never fought unless uoa toia him to fight. He got his military equipment from God, who gave him the promise at the start: "There shall not any man be .able to stand before thee all the days of thy life.* God fulfilled this promise, although Joshua's first battle was with the spring freshet, and the next with a stone wall, and the next leading on a regiment of whipped cowards, and the next battle against darkness, wheeling the sun and the moon into his battalion, and the last against the king of terrors, death?five great victories. This first undertaking of Joshua was greater than the leveling of Fort Pulaski, or the thundering down of Gibraltar, or the overthrow of the Bastile. It was the crossing of the Jordan at the time of the spring * freshet. The snows of Mount Lebanon had just been melting, and they poured down into the valley, ana the whole valley was a raging torrent. So the Canaanites stand on one bank, and they look across and see Joshua and the Israelites, and they laugh 41 A V?? f a Via I fhoTT nonnnf. Hlaf,nph 11a CLUU. COJ, i vuvj ^ in time?until the freshets fall; it is impossible for them to reach us." But after a while they look across the water and they see a movement in the army of Joshua. They say: "What's the matter now? Why, there must he a panic among these troops, and they are going to fly, or perhaps they are going to try to march across the River Jordan. Joshua is a lunatic." But Joshua, the chieftain, looks at his army and cries, "Forward, march!" and they start for the bank of the Jordan. One mile ahead go tyro priests ^carrying a glittering box four feet long .and two feet wide. It is the ark of the convenant. And Lhey come down, and no sooner do they just touch the rim of the water with their feet than by an Almighty flat^Jordan parts. The irmy of Joshua marches'right on without getting their feet wet over the bottom of the river, a path of chalk and broken shells and pebbles, until they'get to the other bank, rhen they lay hold of the oleanders and tamirisks and willows and pull themselves up i bank thirty or fortv feet high, and, having gained the other bank, they clap their shields ind their cymbals and sing the praises of the Sod of Joshua. But no sooner have tnev reached the bank than the water3 begin to iash and roar, and with a terrific rush they break loose from their strange anchorage. Dut yonder they have stopped, thirty miles )f distance they halted. On this side the waters roll off toward the salt sea. But as the land of the Lord God is taken iway from the thus uplifted waterswaters perhaps uplifted half a mile?as the AJmighty hand is taken away those waters rushdowD, and some of the unbelieving Israelites say: "Alas, alas, what a misfortune! Why could not those waters have staid parted? Because perhaps we may want to go back. 0 Lord, we are engaged in a risky business. Those <Canaanites may eat as up. How if we want to go back? Would it not have been a more complete miracle if the Lord had parted the waters to let us come through and kept them parted to let us go back if we are defeated?" My friends, Bod makes no provision for a Christian's retreat. He clears the path all the way to Canaan. To go back is to die. The same gatekeepers that swing back the amethystine and crystalline gate of the Jordan to let Israel pass through now swing shut the ameAutine and crystalline gate. 3uVLthis is no ttme for the host to stop, shu^^kgives the command, "Forward, J'ch ."'^ Lln the distance there is a long )\e of blfees, and at the end of the grovo i city. itTBje a city of arbors, a city with j ills seeming^^o reach to tUo heaven, tc ttress the ver^BUjcy- It is the groat me ipolis that comrcuMK18 the mountain pass is Jericho. The cJR> was afterward cap qd x u.ijpoj, and It was atterr.ard , captured by Herod the Great, and it was afterward captured by the Mohammedans, | but this campaign the Lord plans. There , shall be no swords, no shields, no battering t ram. There shall be only one weapon of ( war, and that a ram's horn. The horn of , the slain ram was sometimes taken, and i boles were punctured in it, and then the j musician would put the instrument to big , lips, and he would run his fingera over this ; rude musical instrument and make a great j leal of sweet harmony for the people. That was the only kind of weapon. Seven prieits j ; were to take these rude rustic musical iu- , struments, and they were to go around the | ;ity every day for six days?once a day for | six uays ana taen on une seventa aiy <.u?y ivere to go arouncl bio win 5 these rude musical nstruments seven times, and then at the dose of the seventh blowing of the rains' 10ms on the seventh day the peroration of ;he whole scene was to be a shout at which ;hose great walls should tumble from capitone co base. The seven priests with the rule musical nstruments pass all aroun 1 the city walls 011 ;he first day, and a failure. Not so much as 1 i piece of plaster broke loosa from the .wall; e lot so much as a loosened roclr, not so much c a a piece of mortar lost from its place, t There." say the unbelieving Israelites, t 'didn't I tell you so? Why, those ministers t ire fools. The idea of going around the city b vith those musical instruments, and expect- t ng in that way to destrovit! Joshua has I >een spoiled; he thinks becausa he has over- 1 hrowu and destroyed the spring freshet ( le can overthrow the stone wall. iVhy, it is not philosophic. Don't rou see there is no relation wt.woAn t.hn hlnwinf of thMA muai.^a.1 instru- ? nents and the knocking down of tho wall? It isn't philosophy." And I suppose there yere many wiseacres who 6tood with theii j arows knitted and with the forefinger of tha ight hand to the forefinger of the left hand * irguing it all out and showing that it was , lot possible that such a cause could produce iuch an effect. And I suppose that night in . ;he encampment there was plenty of philos- , >phy and caricature, and if Joshua had been 1 lominated for any high military position he tfouM not have pjot many vote3. Joshua's stock was down! The second day ' tho priests blowine the musical instruments jo around the city, and a failure. Third day, mda failure; fourth day, and a failure; fifth , lay, and a failure; sixth day, and a failure. , rhe seventh day comes, the climacteric day. i rnslmn ic im parlv in tha moraine and ex imines the troops, walks all around about, ' ooks at tlie city wall. The priests start to nake the circuit o? the city. They go all wound once, all around twice, three times, tour times, five times, six times, seven times, ind a failure. There is only one more thing to do, and ;hat is to utter a great shout. I see the israelitish army straightening themselves ip, filling their lungs for a vociferation such is was never heard before and never heard ifter. Joshua feels that the hour has come, ind he cries to his host, "Shout, for the Lord liath given you the city!" All the peoplo begin to cry, "Down, Jericho! down, Jeri\ ' : v: cho!" And the Ion? line of solid masonry begins to quiver, and to move, and to rock. Stand from under! She fallsf Crash! go the walls, the temples, the towers, the palaces, the air blackened with the dust! The huzza of the victorious Israelites and the groan of the conquered Canaanites commingle, and Joshua standing there in the debris of the wall hears a voice saying. "There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life." Only one house spared. Who lives there? Some great king? No, 8ome woman distisguished for great kindly deeds? No. She had been conspicuous for her crimes. Tt is the house of Rahab. Why was her house spared? Because she had been a great sinner? No, but because she repented, demonstrating to all the ages that there is mercy for the chief of sinners. The red cof3 of di vine injunction reaching from ner window the ground, so that when the people Raw that red cord they knew it was the divine indication they should not disturb the premises, making us think of the divine cord of a Saviour's deliverance, the red cord of a Saviour's kindness, the red cord of a Saviour's mercy, the red cord of our rescue. Mercy for the chief of sinners. Put your t rust in that God, and no damage shall befall you. When our world shall be more terribly sur" - - ' rounded taan was j encuo, ev?a uj u? uuw pets of the judgment (lay, and the hills and the mountains, the metal bones and ribs of nature shall break, they who have had Ra* liab's faith shall have Rahab's deliverance. But Joshua's troops may not halt here. The command is, "Forward, march!" There, is the city of Ai; it must be taken. How shall it be taken? A scouting party comot back and Enjs, "Joshua, we can do thai without you; it is going to bo a voryeasy job; you just stay here while we go and capture it." They march with a small regiment in front of the city. The m?n of Ai look at them and give one yell, and the Israelites run like reindeer. The Northern troops at Bull Run did not make such rapid time as these Israelites with the Canaaniter after them. They never cut such a" sorry figure as when they were on the retreat. Anybody that goes out in the- battles of God with only half a force, instead or your taking the men of Ai, the men of Ai will take you. Look at the church of Qod on the retreat. The BorneSian cannibals ate np Munson, the missionary. "Fall back!" said a great many Christian people. "Fall back, 0 church of God! Borneo will never be taken. Don't you see the BorneBian oanni* * - - * -?- ?*? nil bals have'eaten up Munson, rne missionary t Tyndall delivers hislecturo at the University of Glasgow, and a great many good people say: "Fall back. 0 church of GodI Don't you sea that Christian philosophy is going to be overcome by worldly philosophy? Fall' back!" Geology plunges its crowbar into the mountains, and there are a great many people who say: "Scientific investigation is going to overthrow the Mosaic account of the creation. Fall back!" Friends of the church have never had any right to tail back. Joshua falls on bis face in chagrin. It is the only time you ever see the back of his head. He falls on his face and begins 'to whine, and he says: "Oh, Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side" of Jordan. For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round and cut off our name from the earth." God comes and rouses him. How does he rouse him? By complimentary apostrophe? No. He says: "Get thee up. Wherefore liest thou upon thy face?'' Joshua rises, and I warrant you with a mortified look, but his old courage comes back. The fact was that was not his battle. If he had been in it ho would have cone on to victory. He gathers his troops around him and says, "Now, let ii- <rn nn nnd nanfcura the citv of Ai: let US go up right away." They march on. He puts the majority of the troops behind a ledge of rocks in the night, and then he sends comparatively email regiments up in front of the city. The men of Ai come out with a about. The small regiments of Israelites in stratagem fall back and fall back, and when all the men of Ai have left the city and are in pursuit of these scattered, or Beemingly scattered regiments, Joshua stands on a rock?I see his locks flying in the wind as he points his spear towards the doomed city, and that is the signal. The men rush out from behind the rocks and take the city, and it is put to the torch, and then these Israelites in the city march down, and the flying regiments of Israelites return, and between these two waves of Israelitish prowess the men of Ai are destroyed, and tho Israelites gain the victory. And while I see the curling smoke of that destroyed city on the sky, and while I hear tho huzza of the Israelites, and the groan of the Canaanites, Joshua hears something louder than it all, ringing and echoing through his soul. '"There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life." But this is no place for the host of Joshtia to stop. "Forward, march!" cries Joshua to the troops. There is the city of Gibeon It has put itself under the protection of JoBhua. They sent word, "There are five kings after us; they are going to destroy us; sand troons aaiok: send us help right away." Joshua baa a three days' march at more tban doable quick. On the morning: of the third day he is before the enemy. There are two long lines of battle. The battle opens with great slaughter, but the Canaanites aoon discover something. They say; "Tbat is Joshua. That is the man who conquered the spring freshet and knocked down the stone wall and destroyed the city of Ai. There is no use fighting." And they sound a retreat, and as they begin to retreat Joshua and his host spring upon them like a panther, pursuing them over the rocks; and as these Canaanites with sprained ankleB and gashed forehead* retreat, the catapults of the sky pour a volley of hailstones into the valley, ana all the artillery of the htavpus with bullets of iroa pound the Canaani'cps sgsiuaC the ledges of -Bfth-Jjoron. "Oh!" says Joshua, "this is sure/.r a victory." "But do you not see the sun is going J Sown? Those Amoritos are going to get J away after nil, and then they will come u?? some other time and bother us, and perhaps destroy us." See, the sun is going dowipj Oh, for a longer day than has ever been sewtJ in this climate! What is the matter witlPl Joshua? Has he fallea in an apoplectic tit? d No. Ho is in prayer. Look out when a good man makes the Lord his ally. Joshua raise3 his face, radiant with prayer, and looks at the descending sun over Gibeon and at the faint crescent of the moon, for you know the queen of the night sometimes will \ linger around the palaces of the day. Point-/ ingone hand at the descending sun and th# xi._ /.-Mnnnf rtf mnnn Otucr Ul lII? IUIUI ucotonw v..?. tho name of that God who shaped the worlds apd moves the worlds, he cries. "Sun, stand thon still upon Gibeon; and thou moon, in tho valley of Ajalon." They halted. / Whether it was by refraction of th/sun's ays or by the stopping of the whole planetary system I do not know and/do not :aro. I leave it to the Christian Scientists tud the infldel scientists to settle tnat quesion, while I tell you I have seeyi the same hing. "What!" say you, "n^t the sun tnnding still?" Yes. The same miracle is jerformed nowadays. The wicked do not ive out half their day, and the sun sets at loon. But let a man start out in buttle for iod and truth and against sin, aud the day >r his usefulness is prolonged and prolonged ,nd prolonged. But it is time for Joshua to go home. 3e is 110 years old. Washington went lown the Potomuc, and at Mount Vernon ilosed his days. Wellington died peaceully at Apsley House. Now, where shall loahua rest? Why, he is to have his greatest battle now. After a hundred and ten rears he has to meet a king wbo has more mbjects tnan all the present population of ;he earth, his tltrono a pyramid of skulls, ills parterre the g;rave yards and the cemeteries of the world, his chariot the world's learse?the Kim? of Terrors. But if this is Joshua's battlijf it is going to bo Joshua's greatest victory. He gathers his Iriends Around him and gives his valedictory, and t is full of reminiscence. Young; men tell ivhat they aro going to do; old men tell ivhat they, have done. And as you have leard a grandfather or great-grand'ather, ieated by the evening fire, tell of Monmouth ar Yorktown, and then lilt the crutch or itafF as thouarh it were a musket, to flirht failed." And then he turns to his family, as a dying parent will, end says: "Choose now whom you will eerve, the God of Israel, or the God of the Amorites. As lor me and mv house we will serve the Lord." A dying parent cannot be reckless o r thougntieas in regard to his children. Consent to part with them forever at the door of the tomb we cannot.- By the cradle in which their infancy was rocked, by the bosom oa. which they first lay, by the blood of the covenant, by the God of Joshua it shall not be. We TfiU QOt peft. we cauQot. p&r^ Jehovah -I JTrehT'we' fake ^hee~at thy" promise? ill will be a God to thee and thy seed after thee." Dead, the old chieftain mast be laid oat. Handle him very gently; that sacred body ia over a hundred and ten years of age. Lay him out. etretch ont those feet that walked -dry-ehod the parted Jordan. Close those lips which helped blow the bla*t at which the fnl1 T?oM t.ha arm that and show how the old battles were won, so I Joshua gathers his friends around Ids dy- | ing couch, and ho tells them the story of what he has been through, and as he lies there, his white locks snowing down on his wrinkled forehead, I wonder if God has kept his promises all the-way through. As he lies there he tells tlio stor> one, two or three time3?you hare heard old people tell a story two or three times over?and he answers: "1 go the way of all the earth and not one word of the promise has failed, not one word thereof has failed; all has come to pass, not one word thereof has lifted the spear toward the doomed city of Ai. Fold it right over the heart that exulted when the five kings felL But where shall we get the burnished granite for the headstone and the footstone? I bethink myself new. 1 image that for the head it shall be the sun that stood still upon Gibeon. and for the foot the moon that stood still in the vallej of Ajalou. A Knee of Dwarfs in British Columbia. Captain J. S. Prescott, who recently returned here from Victoria, British Columbia, describes an interesting experience which he had while north. lie was in victoria at a ume waeu, uuusiderable excitement bad been caused by the discovery of ancient human remains in some mounds. The little hillocks were dug into and ghastly skeletons were brought to sight by the shovel and pickaxes. A number of local scientists, among whom were Messrs. 0. C. Hastings, Cowlie and Smith, became interested in the strange revelation of an unknown race. The discovery was made at a placo called Macaulay's point. A workman clearing away what he thought was a natural rise in the ground touched a hard metallic substance with his pick. On digging further the object came to view. It was an iron war weapon shaped like a harpoon, only much shorter and stouter. Curious characters were ctched in it, and their lines had survived through centuries. An investigation followed. One of the mounds was excavated and a flat stone was exposed. It had been designed as a door to a sepulchre, for -on ' being raised a grave walled on all sides Dy ugmiy ccmeutcu atuuca mu awu. it was a dwarfed body doubled up in a setting posture, a custom" followed by the ancient Indian tribes along the entire Pacific coast. The formation of the skull was like that of a Chinese. The body, though small, was that of an adult dwarf. Several other graves were opened, and the occupants of nil of them were similar in anatomical construction and size. In many of the graves rough hewn utensils evidently used for cooking were found, together with arrow-heads known to have been used by coast tribes extinct for centuries. At Cadboro Bay similar mounds were excavated with like results.?San Francitco Chronicle The Obelisks of Cleopatra. Although the Egyptian obelisk in the Central Park, New York, is slowly disintegrating, that on the Thames Embankment in England seems to be bearing without injury the vicissitudes of the English climate, so unlike that of Egypt. This seems to be due to the peculiar composition of the granite of which it, as well as all the other known obelisks were cut, and which is marked by the total absence of mica. In all other granites this readily destructible material exists. Centuries havo passed away since this ancient monument was erected by Pha raoh Rameses II. at the main gateway of his great temple at On, the Heliopolis of the Greeks. There it stood for eighteen centuries, and was, about twenty-three years B. C., removed by order of Cleopatra to the palace she was erecting at Alexandria for her frend and constant visitor, Juliu3 Caesar. The architect appointed by her was Pontius, the father of Pilate, the Governor of Judea. The rounded corners of the bases of these two obelisks had doubtless been chipped off by the gatekeepers at On and sold to the pilgrim visitors. Pontius Architante had eight bronze crabs cast and placed them under the rounded corners of the stone3, and on the big claw of enqof the two crabs which alone remaingtH^as, when the pedestal was cleaned7 o{, its surrounding sand, found th&inscription: "In the sixth yeni of Aqg^fcof'C'K&r, I, Barbarua, prefect jj?f4EgyrftjVcaused these obelisks to be ^rected'bjrj^&ntius, the architect." Since vttea" JSnotiier nineteen centuries uavt _passejaf'" and eve t this 3700 years of .djireattiering has not erased one single porsftbi/of the hieroglyphics.?Christian a\ t Charles Pearsall ate thirty soft boiled /eggs each morning aDd afternoon for six 1 consecutive days, in a restaurant in New York City, ending on April 5, 1884. Chief Simon Pokagon, -who was educated to be a Catholic priest, has just sent six more remnants of his once powerful Pottawatomie tribe to a Kansas Indian collegc. He says his people in Michigan will be entirely annihilated in half a century. A French attorney was writing ont a brief. He was in splendid health, onlv forty years old, and was writing rapidly, when all at once he stopped, and from that moment could not tell his own name. Memory went out from him like a flash of lightning. A Maine girl, flncGng ft inoonvenlent to carry ohewing gum with her, established stations in various parts of tho town, where she sticks her quids. One is in a dry-goods store, one in the church choir, one in her own dining-room, one at a school, and soon. In Moscow may be seen in the street!! my day a beggar who was a few years ago one of the nchest men in me city. Hid father loft him. $7,500,00fl, but he gambled it all away. He carod literally for nothing but gambling, and if he had the money again he would risk it once more iu the same way. There is a growing tendency among chemists to rogard the elements as varying arrangements ? produoed at enccessive stages in the process of cooling?of one original form of atom. Evidence in favor of the hypothesis is claimed in the fact that some elements seem not to have formed in the snn, while yet more are absent from still hotter stars. _ I ^ .. pv ? ' *' RELIGIOUSJEADING. ? WEAVING. "We are weaving every clay, as we pass along our way, Intent upon our busy work or just as busy play, Beneath the casual gaze of men, the angels' steady eves, The Robe9 of Resurrection in which we shall arise. When the trumpet's thrilling call upon our ears shall fall, And our dust shall throb and quiver, and its vanished life recall, When each hurrvlm* atom seeks its own. though di?tance disallow, We shall wear the Resurrection Robes that we are weaviug now. Then the threads we sadly spun, and to darkness one by one Wove in the fabric, wishing that the. long, hard task was done, Shall gleam ami glimmer as a mi3t of lovely rose and blue. And the blacker threads of sorrow shall be made lovely, too. * ?? The glimmering glints of gold from a patience manifold snail mase a pattern sweet ana strange, ana beauteous to behold; And the while of purity shall shine, the tearspots fade away, As we don our Resurrection Robes upon that last great day.0 King of joy and pain, let us not weave In vain! Touch thou the fabric of our lives and make them fair amain, That, when our task is finished, within the heavenly place, Clad in our Robes of Righteousness, we may behold Thy face. ?[Susan Coolidge, in S. 8. Times. FAITH NOT DEPENDENT UPON KNOWLEDGE. Prof. C. J. Little, LL. D., in Zion's Herald, sets forth the truth that it is not necessary to know all mysteries in order to be a Christian. He says: Heaven is not exclusively for theologians. Theology haa, in my judgment, the same relation to a simple, saving credo in Jesurn Christum that a science of optics has to light and sight. Thank Cod! thousands can see who have never heard of Huys&ens and Helmholtz, and to whom Melloni is an utter stranger. Most of us would go stark blind if seeing depended upon our individual mastery of the secrets of quivering nerve and trembling sunbeam. THE TESTING. Travelers tell us of a tree in ^topical conn- J tries the inner parts of wlifdh are sometimes ' eaten out by ants, while the bark and leaves -| remain apparently as fresh as ever; and It is not till the tornado comes and sweeps it' down that its weakuess is discovered. Bat the storm did not make the tree weak it only revealed how weak it was, and its . feebleness was the result of the gnawing of "1 insfcts through a long course of time. In like manner, if we let our characters be honeycombed by constant neglect ot com* mon duty, or by. daily indulgence in secret sin, or bv habitual yielding to some temptation, we caunot expect anything else than ruin when the testing hour shall come.? [W.N.Taylor. t ' JT( \ napoleon'S happiest day. When Napoleon was in the height of his prosperity, and surrouuded bv a brilliant company of the marshals and courtiers of the empire, be was asked what day be considered to have been the happiest of his life. When all expected that he would name the occasional some glorious victory, or some great political triumph, or some great august celebration. or some signal recognition of his-genius and power, he answered without a moment's hesitation, "The happiest day of my life was the day of my First communion." At a reply so unforeseen there was a general silonce. when he added, as if to ' himself, "I was then an Innoccnt child."? j [Compauion. THE FOOJITAIN HEAD. f Beloved in the Lord, you can even now live upon Qod himself,and there is no living comparable to it. You can get beyond all the cisterns, and come to the river of the water of life, even as they do in heaven. To Jive by second causes is a very secondary life; to Jive on the First Cause is the first of living. I exhort you to do this with regard to the inspired Word. This is a day of man's opinions, views, judgments, criticisms. Leave tnem all, good, bad, and indifferent, and come to this Book, which is the pure fount of inspiration undetiled. When you study the Word of God, live upon it as his : Word. I am not going to defend it; it needs no defence. I am not going to argue about its inspiration ; if you know the Lord aright, His Word is inspired to you, if to no oue else. You know not only that it was inspired when it was written, but that it is inspired i still; and, moreover, its inspiration affects vou in a wav in whicb no other writings can ! ever touch you; it breathes upon you; it ! breathes life into you, and makes you to speak words for God, which prove to be words from God to other souls. Oh, it id wonderful, if you read the Word of God in a little company morning by morning, simply read it, and pray over it, What an effect it may have upon all who listen! I speak what I do know.?[Rev. C. U. Spurgcon. SOMETHING FOR ALL. The Bible is a book for the race. It book for all times, for all nations, and for ! all classes. It Is alike for Jews .-and Gen- i tiles, for the rich aiul,lhc_j>et>r. for the j lscrned and the uhlearned. whoever may 1 read it with a teachable disposition, will read I it with the conviction that its Author is by means of it, speaking to himself. And the Bible is not only a book for all, but for all in all circumstauces. Our circnmstanccs change. They are not two days precisely the same. In the course of a year they may widely differ. The p'rovidences of God bring to pass great changes regarding us, prosperous or adverse. But whatever these changes may . it.!? i_ ia be, mere is someuuug iu luu uimic mat ,a suited to our condition. We there read of those who have been iu like circumstances, and of their experiences In them; or, we meet witb promises adopted to our case, they are as well suited to our condition, as though tbeir Author had foreseen it, and had caused them to be written for our special benefit. And who can say that it was not indeed so? There is another interesting fact in regard to the Scriptures, and that is, that it is a common experience with those that are accustomed to read them, that oftentimes when they have been in special need some special portion of the Word of God just suited to their condition has been brought to their notice. Sometimes it has come iii theii way in tbeir regu'ar course of reading. Tbf Scripture, for the day has proved just the Scripturc that they most needed. Or, it has come to pass in a seemingly casual manner. They have opened tiie Bible with no definite passage in view, but the chapter that they were led to read proved to them a word in season?the very word most suited to theii condition. The writer well remembers sucb instances in his own experience, and doubt* less also does the reader. Now, in view of these two facts, viz: that the Bible is suited to the condition of all in nil their needs, and that iu times of need special portions of it are so often brought tc tneir uotice?we infer two things: First, ' ?1 l" n'itlt oil Allf ttr.it a ueing wuu is aui{uaiutvu nuu needs muse have been the author of tbia book, and second, that the Iloly Spirit ofteu brings special portions of It to our attention. Unbelievers may doubt nud cavil, but it is not in their power to shake the faith of the humble child of God in the inspiration of His holy Word.? [N. Y. Observer. The excavations of the Greek Arch* oxjloRical Society on the Acropolis of Mycouto have been rewarded by the discovery of some sixty different objects of antiquity, among which are bronze swords and knives, several hatchets, a razor, a round mirror and some gold ornaments. Judge (bald-headed)?If half what the -witnesses testify against you is true your countenance must be as black as your hair. Prisoner - If a man's conscience is regulated by his hair, then your Honor hasn't got any conscience at all. . ? -? i \ Mr & . snnnHB|njra INTERNATHHRHBH^HKH r- Lesson Text: "Idolatry la I Kings, III.. 25-33-GoIdel^| Ten: Exodus xx., 4? ! Commentary. 1 - > ; a 25. "Then Jeroboam built Shechem in I Mount Ephraim and dwelt therein." Re* 2j hoboom having been warned by Shemiah, E the man of God, not to go againat the revolt- | ing tribes to sutxltia tnem, returned noma 'with his amy and contented himself to be ^ King of Juaahonly, according to tte word of the Lord (vs.. 23-24). Thus the twelve tribes became two nations, not to be united .. again till tharpming of the son of David in power and glory (Ezek. xxxvii., 21-28). Shechem "became for a time the capital of the kingdom of the ten tribes. 1 "Ana went oat from thence and built Penuel." Here the angel of the Lord wrestled' . with Jacob and changed his name to Israel. Jacob'called the name of thdplacd Penuel (the face of;God)? for, said he, l have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved (Gen. xxx., 28,30). 26. "And Jeroboam said in his heart, *now shall the Jbigdom return to the house of David.'" --jy evidently did not know in his heart anyWig or cue meaning oreisner onechem (shora^r) or Penuel (the face of God). His heart had not received the precious prom- -< iae of Deat. xxzill ^12. n<5r did he know Him of whom it is written "the government shall be upon His shoulder" <Isa. ix., 6). Although God had promised to build him a sure house if only he would hear and obey and do right in Hte sight (xL, 88). It is evident that he 3 knew not the face of God nor cared to walk before Him. 27. "If this people go up to sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, unto Rehoboam, king of Jadah, etc." v There is no gratitude to God in this, nor any ' confidence in Him, but there Is a thought of direct disobedience; for Jeroboam knew that God had commanded that sacrifice should be offered only in the city and at the place which Be had chosen (Deut xifi., 8,14). The Lord God had chosen Jerusalem and put His name there, that there, and there only, Israel should worship Him (Dent xii., 11; I Kings ix, 3) as He manifested His glory in the Holy of Holies, above the mercy seat, between the _1 .VI TT? .1 uucx uuiui. uau vowwarn ucou uuouwuv w God it would have been well with him, and he would bare been a stranger to-this fear of losing his kingdom and his life. 28. "Whereupon the.kiag took counsel and made two calves of gold/' It waanot the counsel of God,7 If must have beeuttoe coonEel of the ungodly-. He taost have known the story of the golden calf iij the wilderness and of the "thousands who fell because a of that sin. He had the spirit of Cain, who preferred his own thoughts and ways to those of God, and feared not to disobey. ; 29. "And he set the one in Bethel, and the 1 other put he in Dan." What' a desacrator of holy places! Bethel (house of God), where God gave to Jacob such a glorious vision of i heavenly things and nich promise? for the future (Gen, xxviii.f 11-19); where Gbd set upon a ladder' that reached- to hsavwi and Jacob dedicated a pillar to God, here this rebel sets up an idol and establishes Idolatry.' Had ha thought of the meaning, of Dan (Gen. f -r-r-r Q?irtHcmfint?ho miBrht nerhafla have 5 feared to set an idol there j'titat"he"~823mato | have thought of nothing except the fear of I losing his Kingdom. 30. 'And-tola thing became a an." Not only a sin against God, bat a sin against himself and&ll ms house to cut it off, aud to destroy it from off the face of the earth (xiii, 34). He that sinneth against God wrongoth his own soul, and all they that hate Him love death (Prov. viii., 36j. "The people went to worship' b'efldre the one, even unto Dan." It would be such worship as Cain offered, the worshipof disobedience, and therefore hateful to God. Thoy were breaking the first and second commandments - ? of the law,, besides all the other commands which God bad given ooncecnibgjfte only place of worship. There is no particular place now where we are to worship God, but as Jesus taught the woman of Samaria, God i seeketh true worshipers who will worship , Him in spirit and in truth. -j 31. "And he made an house of high places, and madfe priests of the lowest of people which weranot of the sons of Levi." Notwithstanding the command: "Thou shalt give theLevitesunto Aaron, and to his sons, * * * and the stranger that cometh nizh shall be put todeath'^um. iii., 9, 10), t?is man takes any one and sets him apart as a , priest. It is not enough to despise the only true God, the God of Israel, and the Holy rstv nnd the Temnle. the onlv aDDOinted place oi, sacrifice, but be also despises God's ' j chosen priesthood and sets up one of his own. I We do not need to seek far,even in our own day, for a man-made priesthood, many of H whom, to judge by their conduct, are among the lowest of the people, and if they do not worship calves they certainly do worship golden eagles. Nor need we step outside the Protestant church, nor even enter the Episcopal church, to find them, for they may be , found in all denominations. 1 33. "And Jeroboam ordained a feast * * like onto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the alter." Moses did notprdain feasts; everything connected with the tabernacle and temple, and worship and feasts was appointed by God; but this man takes the place of God and imitates God. He reminds us of one described in II Thess. ii., 4, "who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of Jjod, showing himself that he is God." the calves that he had made, and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he bad made." God was the architect of tabernacle and temple, but these places of worship were made by this man, to whom God had been so kind, and who was now so vigorously setting himself and his people against God. 33. "So he offered upon the altar." Notice this expression three times in this verse and In the last, and also the phrase "yhich he bad made" the same number of times. It is ill bis doing, and God is excluded. "In the month which he had devised of his own heart." It was all- the devising of his own heart, an unbelieving, hateful heart, just like yours and mine before we were born from above. Naturally we are away from 5 i?i.f raf ITo Iatm ITQ and is uruu tuiu a^auuu uuu, j **v ? ? kind to the unthankful and the evil. His love and His goodness should lead us to repentance (Rom. ii., 4), but many like JeroDoam only despise it.?Lesson Helper. if tne -waiters are in earnest in determination not to have their employers count in tips' as a part of their wage3, they can easily arrange the whole matter by making it a rule of their association that no member shall receive fee. Of course when this is oq^fl understood the men are put upon a pe^ fectly definite and satisfactory footing with their employers, and the pnblio will not be likely to be incensed at the move. It might be considered, moreover, that the waiters, by refusing to receive gratuities, put themselves upon a self-respecting plane, and consequently one respected by others. It i3 idle for the waiters to hope to be treated like independent artisans while they extend a catch-penny hand to the tipgiver. Manifestly their only course is either to give np tips and be contented with a fixed and adequate wage, or keep in as they are. They are likely, however. to fail in an attempt to Aret both. A gigaxtic pendulum has been suspended from the center of the second platform of the Eiffel Tower. It con sists of a bronze wire 38U teet ion}?, with a steel globe weighing about 198 pounds at the end. Its object is to exhibit the rotation of the earth bj the Foncault method. Sara Bernhardr has dresses enough to fill forty-eight large trunks. If Sara should get lost in them it would be lik? looking for a needle in a haystack to find her. >