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u ?r IN AN OLD GARDEN f,3-. . Weeis run riot where lilies grew, Stately and lovely and pure as truth, In the old, dearl days when the garden knew -s The beauty that blesses the time of youth. Nettles creep to the crumbling sill. And briars Climb where the rose once ' bloomed, But a clump of rue holds its tenure still. And remembers the beauty that fata has doomed. Moss grows quick on the path where trod The feet of youth in the days gone by, And the feet of those who ware nearing God, And the time to lay work down and die. I wonder if ever on moonlit nights, Ghostly footfalls, through mold and moss, Come and go whore the old delights j Of life and loving gave place to loss? Lovers have walked here hand iu hand: Here, by this dying tree, was told A story sweeter to understand Than the tales of all poets, young or old. Where is the lover who told his love? Where is tho maiden whose lips he kissed? Ah, but the grave-grass grows above Those who no longer are mourned or missed. Poor old garden of dead delights, Haunted I know you are, night and day. "Tha frn-n tlia son in hw lnnrlroAr^ Li. flights, Hints of th3 fleet years that flew away. Ever and ever while nettles spread Over the beds where the lilies grew, You think of th9 past and its long-since dead, And the beauty and brightness that once you knew. Your heart is truer than hearts of men, O poor old garden, for men forget; They bury their dead and go on again. And life has room for but brief regret; But you mourn forever for lost delights; You grieve for the l? luty that could not , last; And I share your sorrow on lonesome nights "When my heart remembers its happy past. ?Ebcn E. Rexford, in Lippincott. THE SCOUT'S ESCAPE. In June, 1867, while Geu. Custer,with 1 lis command, was at the forks of the 1 Republican River, in Western Kan3as, ' and the Indian war had fairly begun, I 1 was doing duty with several,others as a 1 scout. On the morning of the 19th a ( young man named Robinson reached the { camp and reported that he, with three ^ others had been hunting to the west of 1 us, and bad been stampeded by the Sioux 1 Indians. One had been killed, as he be- 1 lieved, while the others had made a dash t ~ for it and scattered, each takinghis own J course. Robinson had bluudered upon 1 -our camp after riding all night. Custer was at this time hopeful of 1 making peace with the redskins, and the 1 camp at the forks would be pcimanent 11 for at least a fortnight. It wfH with this ? understanding of the situation that I set ' out with Robinson, after he h?d had an < all-day's rest, to hunt up his stampeded i companions and bring them in. "VV'c left s camp just after dark, both of us heavily i armed, and rode straight to tu west. As s I had never seen Robinson under fire I 1 ft was more anxious than if one o2 my fel- c low scouts were with me, but in the s coursc of a couplc of hours I had made i up my mind that he had plecty of t nerve and could be depended upon. As t near as he could judge his party was I thirty miles west of the forks when stain- 1 I . peded. At midnight,after an easy canter i of five hours, we halted, dismounted and t went into camp for the remainder of the ( night, believing we were close upon the spot where the hunters were attacked. Both of us slept from that hour until just before sunrise. We had a cold bite for breakfast, and ' had scarcely mounted our horses when we caught sight of the carcass of a horse lying on the plains about a quarter of a mile a vay. As soon as we reached it Robinson identified the animal as having beem the one he saw fall a3 the stampede b>egan. Its rider was a man named McHenry, who had previously been employed as a civilian at Fort Lamed. The buzzards and wolves had been at the carcass, but we made out that the horse had received three bullets and dropped in his tracks. Saddle, bridle and all other portable property had been removed. Robinson estimated that the attacking ? party numbered fifty. After half an hour's search I put the number at twenty. He believed that all who dashed away were pursued. I found that none of them had been followed over half a mile. Had McHenry been killed or seriously wounded by the volley which killed his horse, his body would have been found lying beside the carcass. As it was not, I reasoned that he- had been captured unhurt and taken away a prisoner. The trail of the Indians led to the north, as if making for the south fork of the Platte River, and we followed it at a cautious T\ono A f r? nn/I nf firn milno a*A mr? , paWi A4V VUW VI U T V LU11W If v vuuiv I 2 to the spot where the baud had encatnpcd ) for the -night. It was on the banks of a j small creek, in a scattered grove, and the < first thing we saw was the dead body of i McIIenry. The Sioux chiefs had declared their anxiety for peace, and were ] j ' professing the greatest friendship for the !, soldiers. Indeed, Pawnee-Killer had j visited Custer to shake hands and sign a t declaration of peace. While the old j hypocrite was declaring and protesting s fris whole tribe was making ready for , war and indulging in atrocitie3. While ^ the big chief was "how-howing" in Cus- | ter's camp and declaring his love for the , white man, one of his bauds only thirty j miles away was subjecting a hunter to , the most agonizing tortures. They cut ( out his tongue, blew powder into his , body, cut off his toes, broke all his j fingers, pricked him with knives and j finally ended by scalping him. He must , lave suffered for many hours before death ] finally came as a glad relief. The body ? was not yet cold when we fouud it, and j there were evidences that the Indians j had not been gone more thau an hour. ! ] Of the two who stampeded and got j j cleur, one went to the northeast and the ' i other vo the northwest. Robinson had held due north and thus leached our ! camp, although he was not aware of its j location. Wc took up the trail of the | one going to the northeast, bciiewng I, that he was in the greatest danger. He | went at a wild pace for at least ten miles, never seeming to have looked back and discovered that pursuit had ? been abandoned, or to have turned to the right or the left, to throw the redskins oil his route after darkness came, j It took us three hours to cover the dis- j tance lie rode iu one, as we expected to | see Indiaus at any moment. About j twelve miles from the spot where wo I found Mclienrj'a horse we cuuie upon j I? - ? ' jjj?' " -r- -;V that of Jackson, whom wc were following to the northeast. The wild ride had exhausted the animal,and as he fell down, Jackson had abandoned him and pushed along on foot. The animal was on liis nnH rrrnrirnr nc Trr? fnnnrl liim hlltsn I lame that he could scarcely move. We removed the saddle aud blankets, and found Jackson's revolvers in the holsters. From this point we had no trail to guide us, and the ground was badly cut up with ridges and washouts. We rode forward duriug the rest of the day, hop- ! ing to overtake the man, and neglecting no precaution to insure our own safety, i Just at sundown we followed a dry gully up a long ridge and debouched from it, seeing a sight which for the moment ap- ] peared to be an optical delusion. There i were Indians on our right, on our left,in j front, and I turned in uiv saddle to see < other Indians closing iu behind us. As 1 we halted and looked around us many of the redskins expressed their humor by grunts. They had probably been riding ] to the right and left of us for hours, and had finally lormed this cul de sac for us to ride into. It was taking a great ' deal of pains for nothing, but the Indian j sometimes exhibits a queer vein of humor. ' They were not disappointed in thinking ! we would be surprised. 1 It was fully two minutes before a chief ' rode forward and said "How-how," and rtvfftn/lflil V*ic V*o nrl fn mo OnH fiQ Vlf> HlH UAbVUU^U UIO UilUU UiVt u? so the whole body closed in. I am ] so unfortunate as to be marked on the left temple with that birthmark known ] as a wine stain, the spot being as large as a silver dollar. My hat was well up, and ' my hair back as the chief rode up, and the instant he noticed the mark he let 1 go my hand and said something to those ' crowding up. Pretty soon he pushed in and touched my face, perhaps thinking ' the mark to be a wound or sore. Others 1 did the same, and when they found it was ( a part of the skin they expressed much ' wonder and reverence. While I had served as a scout only a 1 few months, I knew considerable of Cn- 1 dian character, and was not long in re- 1 alizing that I had made a hit. While no ' violence was offered us, we were disarmed and our horse3 were led behind the ' ponies of the Indians as we moved off to ' the east. We traveled until about mid- ' light before halting, and then reached ' in Indian village on Soldier Creek. As ' ive descended from our liorsc3, Robinson ] ;vas led off by two v arriors, while I was 1 conducted to the wigwam of Red Trail, ' i sub-chief in command during Pawnee 5 Killer's absence. I had been busy plan- ( ling during the ride, and had made up ny mind to pretend to be without the 1 jower of speech. I found opportunity ( ;o whisper to Robinson to pursue the ( ;ame policy, but unfortunately he had * lot the nerve to carry out the idea. The act of his being captured broke him all 1 lp. The recoilcctiou of what McHenry ' nust have suffered unstrung his nerves, 1 aid I heard him begging and entreating 1 is he was carried away. Red Trail closely examined the mark * >n my face, and was as much mystified is the others. I still had a power in reicrve. Having served through the war n the navy, it was but natural that I hould carry a sailor's passport. On my ^ eft arm was a tattoo representing an an- J ,-hor. This was seen a3 two warriors ] itripped my buckskin shirt off to look y or further marks. Not an Indian in ( ;hat camp had ever seen anything like ] he iuark, and when the examination had ? jeen completed I felt sure that I was ] ooked upon with awe and mystery, if \ lot veneration. I was conducted to a j ;epee and motioned to turn in, and had t ivcry reason to congratulate myself on , he plan I had pursued. I had made ( iigns that I could not talk, and the in- ( 'ormation had been accepted. s Next morning Pawnee-Killer arrived , n the village. He had agreed to surrenler his tribe and go on a reservation, but ( t was bold-faced lying on his part. His f rery first move wa3 to order the village ( n iin find mnvfi bank about twentv ? niles. This consumed the entire day. t \.s we were ready to start I received ray v lorse to ride, and my hands and legs t vcrc left entirely free. I saw Robinson t jrought out, and he wa9 loaded down s vith kettles aud led by a rope. At 110 v ime during the day was he near enough j ,o exchange a word, but on several oc- r :asions I saw him kicked and beaten by ? ;he squaws and boys. It was nine o'clock in the evening be- g 'ore I was taken into the presence of s Pawnee-Killer. He seemed to have ac- ? ?epted the belief of the others, and, in t ess than a quarter of an hour, waved me t )ut of his wigwam. I may state here L ;vhat I learned two or three years after, a [t was the belief of the Indians that I had c jecn struck by lightning as I slept, and t ;hat the fluid had left the two marks to c jrove that I was invulnerable, t rhcy further reasoned that -I lost 1 ny speech at the same time, and was ;hcrcfore an object of veneration. I was ;n no wise hampered or restricted, but I "ound shelter as soon as possible and was oon asleep.' I wanted to do something ( 'or poor Robinson, but just how to do t 11 could not figure. The treatment ac- [ :ordcd him during the day did not augur c veil for the future. 1 When morning came again I had a s icarty breakfast; and then two old men, 1 inned with only bows and arrows, took j a nc down the creek about a mile and hen sat down on the grass. It wa3 an a ioui or two before I could make out the 1 ;igniGcauccof the move, but I then heard [ ;ounds from the direction of the camp ivhich satisfied mc that Robinson was jeing put to the torture. Oac of my >uarus soon left for the village, and an lour later the other suddenly rose, and vithout a word walked away in the same lirection. Unable to make up my mind ,vhat to do I remained where I was during he entire day. In later years I learned Torn , one of the warriors of the fate )f Robinson. His tortures lasted niue ong hours. He first ran the gauntlet, rhea he was tied to a stake and every form of mutilation which the fiends could invent was practised on his poor body, [t was with great animation tint my infornnnt related how the poor fellow begged and cried and entreated?what wonderful vitality he had?how he could iiiive been preserved an hour or two 1 longer h id not everybody grown tired of the sport. It was Pawnee Killer him- ( self, fresh from signing a treaty of peace, who exhibited the most fiendish spirit. I had a much closer call than I knew. The two old men who took mc out i doubted that I was what the others took 1 ine for. They had some arrows made on purpose to kill witches aud keep of! i bad spirits, and they were to take me oil i and see if these arrows would kill me. ' In going down the creek one of them i came near stepping on a rattlesnake, aud | this was tiken as a sign that they must ! i not shoot. When they returned to the j j . village and reported it was hoped that I would go away, and therefore no one came near me. As night fell I started off to the west, expecting every moment to be overhauled, putting in a good twenty miles before daylight. I wm picked up by a scouting party of cavalry just before noon. It was about three months after my escape before the Indians learned that I was a Government scout, and that they nau oeen uupea. xvca irau ana rawneu Killer then offered live ponies each to the warrior who should bring in my scalp, ;md for the next year [ was perhaps "wanted" more than any other man on the plains. It was a curious turn of affairs, that, while Red Trail had no les3 than five of his best warriors out on expedition after me, I ciept ioto his camp one night and secured his own scalpiOck,rillc and pony, and got away.?New York Sun. Hott the Elk Changes His Antlers. Those who take an interest in the sturly of natural history may be pleased :o know that in a few weeks the stag elk !n the deer glen in the park will undergo i decided change. He will soon be shorn of the royal antlers that have mado him the pride of the glen. With the loss of the antlers the stag tvill change his disposition entirely aud become as docile and tractablc as a lamb. will oV^atit an inrlitvif.inn in rniirt public petting rather than avoid it. He svill remain in this condition of temper until the beginning of March, when he will show a disposition to lurk in seques- 1 tered spots of the glen and timidly avoid the presence of all, even of his kind. During this period, on the spot where the late sntlers were, a pair of protuber- j inces wall make their appcarance cov- 1 *red with a soft, dark, velvety skin. 1 rhesc will attain a considerable growth J in a few days. The carotid arteries ol these protuberances will enlarge with them in order to supply a sufficiency ol aourishment. When tho new antlers Siavo attained their full growth, which (vill be in ten weeks after the old ones iave been shed, the bony rings at the sase through which the autlers pass will Ijcgin to thicken, and gradually filling jp will compress the blood vessels and ilfimotolir nl\lifornfo tVinm Tllf* vpl. I rety skin that surrounds the bone, be- ' ng thus deprived of nourishment, will ose its vitality and will be rubbed off in ;hreds by the stag on the edges or rocks )r other hard substances. As soon as the full size of the antlct s attained the docile disposition of the :!k will disappear, and he will becorce >nce more for the year the fierce king of he glen. Tho age of the elk, according to vriters on natural history, is computed jy tfea number of points on the antlera. j It the present time there are six. The lext set will bear seven, showing that ieven summers have passed since the late or his birtn.?aan rranciuo vnromle. Enrlal of a Japanese Girl. Recently a sixteen-year-old Japtraese jirl, named Saski Nitsu, died on the ;rain en route to Columbus, Ohio, from Louisville. She was a member of a wire-walking troupe, and she had crelentials from the chamberlain of the Emperor certifying to her wonderful ibility. "With the troupe were Saski tfitsu, a sister, a brother and her father, ! )esides five other Japanese. Next morn- \ ng there was a Japanese funeral cero j nonv at the office of the coroner, which vas witnessed by quite a nnraber of litizens. As soon a3 the girl died intense of some kind was burned and a sword placcd j? uss her breast to keep jvil spirits away. The troupe were taken to the coroner's )ffice wearing their best garments, the eet being covered with a kind of white :loth stockings, having a place for the >ig toe and wearing woodcu shoc3 about, wo lacnes nign, neiu in piace uy a vhite cord passing obliquely from about j he center of the foot to a point between ; he big toe and thencc to tho opposite I ide, where it is again fastened to the vood. These shoes are only worn dur- ' ng muddy weather, but they were all | low and indicated that an ample supply iad been brought for an emergency. As the party filed into the room they j gathered around the casket, and at a ign each reverently put his hands together, placing the ends of the fingers on he lips and offering a silent prayer, ? vhich was continued about one minute. I Ifter this simple ceremony the sister cut i lock of hair from the head of the de- J :eased, the four men carried the casket o the hearse and the procession pro- | :ession proceeded to Green Lawn cemeery, where the interment wa3 made.? 1 Washington Star. m,tm An Educate! Tarantula. A half-breed boy of Mexican and In- , nan Diooti recently attracted rauca atention at Winslow, Arizona, by the perorinances of au educated tarantula he , >wns. He carries the big, formidable- I ooking insect in a large wooden box luug about his neck, which, when ex- ' libiting his pet, he places on the ground is a sort of stage. At thj command of its master the tarintula mounted a small ladder, rung a >ell aud performed on a miniature tra>eze. Then, to the thumping of a tamjourine in the handsvof the boy, it pro:ccded to revolve slowly about as if valtzing, and when it had finished salltcd the crowd by lifting one leg three imes. After its performance was over it :rawled to its master's shoulder,where it at,occasionally running around his neck >r down into his bosoiu. The boy says ic tamed the spider when it was young, irst by feedingit everyday until it gretv iceustomed to him, then taught it the ricks it knows. He declares that it is much more iniclligenl thaa any dog, and very tractible, though uncompromising in its canity to any one but himself. It is as a.gc as a silver dollar, when curled up, h >ugh its legs are two or three inches ong. The body is au ugly dull brown, covjred with shod, coarse black hair, which xlso covers the limbs, but it is verysparse ind bristly. The eyes are small and lilrn fliimrkttil flip U.VV v % ' - mouth is furnished with slender, overlapping fangs. The power of spring in these creature^ is said to be something iucrcdiblc, a leap of tet' feet being uo tremendous exertion. The boy,who owns the only one who has ever made friends with any other liviug creature, is from the Mongollon Mountains, lying south of here six miles.?Dei' ert {Arizona,) Nctcs. i , REV. DK.TALMAGE. / THE BROOKLYN DIYINE'S SUN DAY SERMON. * " Subject: "Come." Texts: "Come."?Gen. vi., 18. "Come/ ; ?Rev. xxii., 17. | Imperial, tender and all persuasive Is this word "Come." Six hundred and seventy! eight times it is found in the Scriptures. It 1 stands at the front gate of the Bible as in my ' first text, inviting antsdiluvians into Noah's ark, and it stands at the other gate of the Hihlo in tntr ?*inrmrl t.cnrt: in v if. in or tha postdiluvians into the ark of a Saviour's mercy. "Come" is only a word of four l letters, but it is the queen of words, and ! nearly the entire nation of English vocabu! lary bows to its scepter. It is an ocean into | which empty ten thousand rivers of moaning. Other words drive, but this beckons. I All mood3 of feeling hath that word I "Come." Sometimes it weops and sometimes it laughs. Sometimes it prays, sometimes it tempts and sometimes it destroys. It sounds from the door of church and from the seragI lias of sin, from the gates of heaven and the I gatss of hell. It is confluent and accrescent 1 of all power. It is the heiress of most of the past and the almoner of most of the future. I "ComeT' You may pronounce it so that all the heavens wi'l b3 heard in its cadences, or pronounce it so that all the woes of time and eternity shall reverberate in its one syllable. I It is the mightiest of all solicitants either for ! good or bad. ! Tn-rtav T wAiVh anchor and haul in tha | planks, and set sail on the great word, al| though I am sure I will not be able to reach | the further shore. I will let down the fathoming line into the sea and try to measure I Its depths, and though I tie together all the cables and cordage I have on board, I will not be able to touch bottom. All the power [ of the Christian religion is in that word "Come." The dictatorial and commandatoi'y in religion is of no avail. The imperative j mood is not the appropriate mood when we would have people savingly impressed. They may be coaxed, but they cannot be driven. Our hearts are like our homes; at a friendly knock the door will be opened, but an attempt to force open our door would land the assailant in prison. Our theological seminaries, which keep young men three years in their curriculum before launching them into the ministry, will do well if in so short a time they can teach the candidates for the holy office how to say with right emphasi3 and intonation and power that, one word "Come!" That man who has such efficiency In Christian work, and that woman who has such power to persuade people to quit the wrong and begin the right, went through a series of losses, bereavements, persecutions and the trials of twenty or thirty years before they could make it a triumph of grace every time they uttered the word "Come." You ip.ust remember that in many cases our "Come" has a mightier "Come" to conquer before it has any effect at all. Just give mo the accurate census, the statistics, of how many are down in fraud, in drunkenness, in gambling, in impurity, or in vice of any sort, and I will give you the accurate census or statistics of now many have been slain by the word "Come." "Come and click wine glasses with me at this ivory bar." "Come and see what we can win at this gaming table." "Come, enter with me this m?A<Mi1afiAn " l,Pnmo Trif.K rr?A AtlH UUUUblUi opc^uiAViuu. \/v.?w ...v. read those infidel tracts era Christianity." "Come with me to a place of bad amusement." "Come with me in a gay bout through underground New York." If in this city there are twenty thousand who are down in moral character, then twenty thousand fell under the power of the word "Come." I was reading of a wife whose husband had been overthrown by strong drink, and she went to the saloon where he was ruinei, and she said: "Give me back my husband." And the bartender, pointing to a maudlin and battered man drowsing in the corner of the barroom, said: "Therehe is. 'Jim, wake up; here' s your wife come for you.'" And the woman said: "Do you call that my husband? What have you been doing with him? Is that the manly brow? Is that the clear eye? Is that the noble heart I married? What vile clrug have you given him that has turned him into a fiend? Take your tiger claws of? of him. Uncoil those serpent fold3 of evil habit that are crushing him. Give me back my husband, the one with whom I stood at tho altar ten years ago. Give him baclc to me." Victim was he, as millions of otheis have teen, of the word "Comer' With that word which has done so much for o'.:hers I approach you to-day. Are you all right with God? "No," you say, "I think not; I am sometimes alarmed when I think of Him; I fear I will not be ready to meet Him in the last day; my heart is not right with God." Come then and have it made right. Through the Christ who died to save you, come! What is the use in waiting?" The longer you wait the further off you are, and the deeper you are down. Strike out for heaven! You remember that a few years ago a steamer called the Princess Alice, with a crowd of excursionists aboard, sanK ill ine j. names, auu meru was uubwiui tacriflce of life. A boatman from the shore put out for the rescue and he had a big boat and be got it so full it would not hold another person, aud as he laid hold of the oars to pull for tbe shore, leaving hundreds helpless and drowning, he cried out, "Oh, that I had bigger boat!" Thank God, I am not thus limited, and that I can promise room for all in this Gospel boat. Get in; get in! And yet there is room. Room'iu tbe heart of a pardoning God. Room in heaven. I also apply the word of my text to those who would like practical comfort. If any ever escape the struggle of life, I have not found them. Thev are not certainly amonz rne prosperous classes, in most cases it waa a struggle all the way up till they reached the prosperity, and since they have reached these heights there have been perplexities, anxieties and cries which were almost enough to shatter the nerves and turn tha brain. It would be hard to tell which have the biggest fight in the world?the" prosperities or the adversities, the coaspicuities or the obscurities. Just as soon as you have enough success to attract tbe attention of others the envies and jealousies are let loose from theii kennel. The greatest crime that you can commit in the estimation of others is to get on better than they do. They think your addition is their subtraction. Five hundred persons start for a certain goal of success; one reaches it and the other four hundred and ninety-nine are mad. It would take volumes to hold the story of the wrongs,outrages and defamations that have come upon pou as a result of your success. Thj warm sun of prosperity brings into life a swamp full of annoying Insects. On the other hand the unfortunate classes have their struggles for maintenance. To achieve a livelihood by one who had nothing to start with, and after a while for a family as well, and carry this on until children are reared and educated ami fairly started in the world, and to do this amid all the rivalries of business, and the uncertainty of crops, and tho fickleness of tariff legislation, with an occasional labor strike, and here and there a financial panic thrown in, is a mighty thing to do, and t'.ere arc hundreds aud thousands such heroes and heroines who live unsung and die uuhonored. What we all need, whether ud or down in life, or half way netwadu, is tne ludnite solace of tne Christian religion. And so we employ the word "Come!" It will take nil eternity to find out the number of business men who have been strengthened by the promises ol God, and the people who have been fed bv the ravens when "other resources gave out, and the men and women who, going into this battle, armed only with nee He, or saw, or ax, or yardstick, or pen, or type, or shovel, 01 shoeiast, have gamed a victory that marie the heavens resound. With all the resources of Go.1 promised for every exigency no one need bo left in the lurch. I lika the faith displayed years a;o in Drury Lane, Loudon, in a humbo homs where every particle of food had given out. and a kindly soul entered with tea and oth -r table supplies, and found a ketth on the fire ready for the tea. Tho benavolent lady sai l, "How is it that you have ihs kettle ready for the tea when you had no tea in tho house?" And the daughter in the home said: "Mother would have me put the kettle on the tire. anil whon I said 'What is tho use of doing so, when wo have nothing in the house?' she said 'My child, God will provide. Thirty years Ho has already provided for mo through all my pain and helplessness, and He will not leave me to starve at last. Ho will send us help, though we do not see how.' We have bean waiting all the day for something" t.0 comn. hub until wo caw vnn knew not how it was to came." Such things ;he world may call coincidence*, but 'I call tliem almighty deliverances, and, though jrou do not hear of them, thev are occurriug ?very hour of every day and in all parts of Christandom. But the vrord "Come" applied to those who / k ~ ? aeed solace will amount to nothing unless it j ba uttered by some ona who has experience 1 shat solace. That spreads the responsibility of giving this Gospel call among a great many. Those who have lo8t property and been consoled by religion in that trial are tha ones to invite those who have failed in busi- j ness. Thosa who have lost their health and been console! by religion ara the ones to in- j vite those who are in poor health. Those who have had bereavements and bean con- I soled iu those bereavements -are the ones to sympathize with those who have lost father or mother or companion or child or friend. What multitudes of us are alive to-day, and in good health, and buoyant in this life, who 1 i would have been broken down or dead long as*o but for the sustaining and cheering help ! of our holy religion 1 So we say "Cornel" , i Iks well is not urv. The buckets are not t empty. Th9 supply Is not exhausted. There i is just as much mercy and condolenca and j soothing power in God as before the first grave was dug, or the first tear started, oi j the first heart broken, or the first accident happened, or the first fortune vanished. | Those of us who have felt tha consolatory | power of religion have a ri^ht to speak out I ot our own experiences, ana say tomer I What dismal work of condolence the | world makes when it attempts to condole! ! The p'.aater they spread does not stick. The j broken bones under their bandage do not J knit. A farmer was lost in the snow storm i on a prairie of the far West. Night coming j on, and after he was almost frantic from not knowing which way to go, his sleigh struck ! a rut of another sleigh, and he said, "I will follow this rut, and it will take me out to i safety." He hastened on until he heard the bells of the preceding horses, but, coming up, he found that that man was also lost, and, a* \s tne tendency or ttiose wno are thus con fused in the forest or on the moors, thej were both moving in a circle, and the runnel of the one lost sleigh was following the runner of the other lost sleigh round and round. At last it occurred to them to look at the north star, which was peeping througn the j night, and by the direction of that star they got home again. Those who follow the advice of this world in time of perplexity are in a fearful round; for it is one bewildered soul following another bewildered sou', and only those who have in such time got their eye on the morning star of our Christian faith can find their way out, or be strong enough to lead others with an all persuasive invitation. "But," says some one. "you Christian people keep telling us to 'Come,' yet you do ntft tell U3 how to come." That charge shall not be true on this occasion. Come believing I Come repenting!''"Come praying! After all that God has been doin~ for six thousand years, sometimes throuzh Datriarchs and sometimes tnrou^n propaets, and at last through the culmination of all tragedies on Golgotha, can any one think that God will not welcome your coming? Will a father at. vast outlay construct a mansion for his sou, and lay out parks white with statues, and l green with foliage, and all a-sparkle with J fountains, and then not allow his son to live I in the house or walk in the parks? ^as God i I built this house of Gospel mercy aud will He > then refuse entrance to His children? Will a Government at great expense build life saving stations all along the coast, and boats that can hover unhurt like a petrel over the wildest surge, and then when the lifeboat has reached the wreck of a ship in the offing not allow the drowning to seize the lifeline or take the boat for the shore in safety? Shall trod I I provide at the cost of His only Son's assas; sination escape for a sinking world, and then j turn a deaf ear to the cry that comes up from | the breakers? "But," you say, "there are so many things I I have to believe, and so many things in the ; shape of a creed that I have to adopt, that I ] am kept back." No no! You need believe : but two things?namely, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, and that ! you are one of them. "But," you say, "I do i believe both of those things!" Do you really j believe them with all your heart? "Yes." | Why, then, you have passed from death into ! life. Why, then, you area son or a daughter 1 of the Lord Almighty. Why, then, you are an heir or an heiress of an inheritance that | will declare dividends from now until long ! after the stars are dead. Halieluiah! Prince ; of God, why do you not come and take your coronet? Princes3 of the Lord Almighty, ; why do you uot mount your throne? Pass ! up into the light. Your boat is anchored, why do you not go ashore? Just plant your I feet hard down, and you will feel under them i the Rock of Ages. I challenge the universe for one instance in | which a man in the right spirit appealed for I tho salvation of the Gospel and did not get I it. Man alive! are you going to let all the ! years of your life go away with you without 1 your having this great peace, this glorious j hope, this bright expectancy? Are you go' ing to let the pearl of great prica lie in the | dust at your feet because you are too indol lent or too proud to stojp down and pick it ; up? Will you wear the shain of evil habit i when near by you is the hammer that could [ with one stroke snap the shackle? Will you stay in the prison of sin when here is a Goi| pel key that could unlock your incarceration? No. no! As the one word "Come" i lias sometimes brought many souls to Christ, I I will try the experiment of pilling up into a mountain and then sending down in an aval: ancho of power many of these Gospel ! "Comes." "Come thou and all thy house j into the ark;" "Come unto Me all ye who I labor and are heavy ladeu and I will give you j rest;" "Come, for all things are now ready;" J "The Spirit and the Bride say 'Come,' and and let him that heareth say 'Come,' and let . him that is athirst come." The stroke of one bell in a tower may be sweet, but a score of bells well tuned, and I rightly lifted, and skillfully swung in one I great chime fill the heavens with musio i almost celestial. And no one who has heard ' the mighty chimes in tbe towers of Amster, dam or Ghent or Copenhagen can forget coem. Now, it seems to me that in this i 3abbath hour all heaven is chiming, and the | voices of departed friends and kindred ring iown the sky saying "Come!" The augels (vho never fell, bending from sapphire thrones, are chauting "Come!" Yea, all the towers of hea>en, tower of martyrs, tower )f prophets, tower of Apostles, tower of evangelists, tower of the temple of the Lord God ind the Lamb are chiming. "Come! Coma!" Pardon for all, and peacj for all, and heaven for all who will come. "When Russia was in one of her great wars the suffering of the soldiers had been long ind bitter, and they were waiting for the and of the strife. One day a messenger in great excitement ran among the tents of the army shouting "Peace! Peace!" The sentinel on guard asked, "Who say3 peace?" And the sick j soldier turned on his hospital mattress and I asked, ' Who says peace?" and all up and ; down the oncamument of the Russians weat I ' " (lllritn nnanflS" TllOn fVla j tne quesuuu, ?? uu ockjo pcn^u. * VMW messenger responded, "Tie Czar says, : peace." That was enough. That meant going home. Tnat meant the war was over. No more wounds and no mora Jong marches. So to-day, as one of the Lord's messengers, I move tnrough these great encampments of j souls and cry: "Peace l^tween earth and heaven! Peace between God aud man! Peace between your repenting soul and a pardoning Lord!" If you ask me, ''Who says peace?" I answer, '"'Christ our King declares it." "My peace I give unto you!" "Peaco of God that pasaeth all understanding." E verlasting peace! Dr. Kai*ch of the Illinois State Board of Health thinks there is a stronp probability that the cholera will reach this country next spring. The dreadful scourge has already stalked over its | periodical route to the east of us, and during the summer just passed ten thousand deaths were recorded against it in Spain, Japan and Syria, while it likewise laid low thirty thousand pilgrims to Mecca. While it is not well to take undue alarm regarding Dr. Batch's prognostication, it is muloubtj cdly the 1 art of prudence to keep out I cities in gnod sanitary eondi ion and to , gnai,d against the mtrouuc:ou ui uw , ease from other lands. Through care in the ninttoi- of cleanliness other diseases mar be prevented or their effects mitigated, even though there should bo . no danger of a cholera visitation. 1 * ) Americans who have affec1*1^ to | ridicule the young emperor of -be Ger- i mans will change their tuu'e when they learn that he has just borrowed ?iout ?:G,00i),00i) on his note of hand. It id big man who is able to.do that even in j' Amarirvi. . - ? i ' A - ' Vfte.} -V^; -w"' RELIGIOUSJtEADING. ~ STRENGTH IX WEAKNESS. I He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He iucreaaeth might.? Jsa. xi., 29. It is 110 dream, Great Comforter, * But very truth to mc, That all earth's strengthless. fainting ones May be made strong in Thee. The years have taught me many things, Bat none so sure as this: That shelter, solace, joy, and strength 1 Are always where 'God is. r, So now, when hope and courage fail, ? And only fear is strong, My heart will sing as itfthe past, Cl An unforgotteii song. (5 "God is my refuge and my strength, ^ I will not be afraid5 And though the night be wild and dart, I meet it undismayed. ; The strength to bear, or work, or wait; k Is Thine, 0 God, to jrive. And who shall weak and strengthle33 be Tj That learns in Thee to live? is ? [Marianne Farningham, in Loudon Chris- it tiau World. fl ; U IN CHRIST. ^ It is said that the paintings of a certain ^ artist can always be recognized by one face. ^ It is sometimes the face of a little girl, a] sometimes of a young woman, sometimes of au old woman. But it is always the same 0 face?that of the artist's mother. He could w not paint a picture without the face. Iu the ^ epistles of Paul there is one beautiful ex- ^ pression constantly occurring. It is "in jr Christ." The precious teaching of John xv. was a living principle with the great apostle. It has been said that the expresslou "in Christ,'' in the sense of the vital ^ union, as of the branch to the vine, occurs ^ seventy-eight times in his epistles. n( ft ai CONFESSION OF SIN. E Confession of sin is not a meie abandonment of sin as a losing game. That was a shrewd but not a very flattering estimate i found on record in the private thoughts of j ? an old divine. "I believe," he says, "that , ? it will be shown that the rcpentance of most i " men is not so much sorrow for sin as sin, or j *! real hatred of it, as sullen sorrow that they ( {*< are not allowed to sin." When any indi- i vidua! surrenders an iniquitous occupation j because he perceives public opinion is setting against it, and that eventually he will ?;e iu jured by its continuance, it is simple mockery A for him to trv to make moral capital out of in IUC lUJiUUU.'OUlULUl. ?T UCU 4* jyU'ifc UUHU forsakes dissipation because it endangers his Ju place with his employer; when a merchant . gives up dishonest trademarks because his i tt tricks are becoming transparent and honesty j to seems the best policy?this is not penitence j for sin; it is only the hypocrlsv of worldly j se wisdom. ''Godliness is profitable unto all of things, having promise of the life that now is and of that whicli is to come." But lie re will fail wno simply seeks it for the profit. th ?[Dr. C. S. Robinson. w ... * i i 1 '* m "STKENGTHEN THY BRETHREN." "We are living either to awaken or depress th our fellow-believers, or to hold up their hands, deepen their faith, and inspf-e them be with new courage. We may prove a bin- of drance to some by a mournful and fretful se appearance, which in no wise recommends w! the service of the Master whom we love; w. we may also te the means of weakening the w; Christian life of others by a thoughtless jest on Scriotural matters?a careless play upon ar words that to the listener convey such sa- H cred associations. We have heard of a wit & who, when dying, found uo comfort in the th texts repeated to him, because he had at di some time or other turned all such into jokes, la and Christian people must set their faces (E agains.. this thoughtless habit of bringing w: into amusing conversation the Bible words to with which we should indeed be familiar, but cc with a spirit of the most loving reverence. And those who have the courage to hi speak out and stop such joking, though en- m couraged by laughter, cannot fail to impress ch for good, and will ensure the witness of their w; own conscience that they have actcd aright, he And let us beware lest we sometimes spoil G the effect of a sermon on the minds of others Di by our own critical spirit. Two gentlemen y? were once leaving a place of worship, show- th ing all the weak points in the discourse, when one less gifted, but in a more earnest fo frame of mind, quietly told how he had been "i nrfVctcd by a certain portion of the sermon: la ' The one" part worth hearing," said one of ar the gentlemen, ''but his naming that part taught me a lesson, and made me repent my aa criticism. i.oc lis neon our zuara agamsi se quenching the spiritual yearnings and en- ot leebiing the strength of those around us. he The Master bids "Comfort ye My people," Gi and each one ofllis followers should pray th and strive for more of- Ilis spirit of under- w standing and svmpath v.?[Quiver. sh Pi th LOVE FOR CHRIST. dc The disciple must love as well as believe. ^ Chri-t and hii kingdom are real to Satan n? and his demons, so real as to occupy their wj thoughts and make them fools with confus- ^ iosi ami madness. Men sometimes discover toward the end of life that there is no good ca for them but God, and yet through the habit 59 of a life-long selfishness they continue to hate the go-d and call it evil. It is possible for a man who is enrol'ed among the dis- Q ciples of Christ to be very mucn tortured in ^ spirit by a keen sense of reality of the things xj of tbe kingdom of Christ, and yet be held g& fa t by the habit of avarice or llcshv lust. W) It is" only when love briugs a man into be henrtv, happy submission to the will of God s0 that faith becomes an inspiration. The new-born child of God will naturally and properly be lilled, for a time, with the joy of his own salvation. He needs to measlire as well as he can how great a thiug it is je that God han come to him, bringing redemp- th tion from eternal death, and glorious life g. through his own abiding presence. That fact is to be to him forever a fountain of ever-flowing gratitude and zeal. But as a ^ fact it has two side*, his side and Christ's ru side. It is he that is saved. Yes! Let him shout for jov that he has escaped from sin " and hell. But it is Christ that Las saved tj, him, died for him, regenerated him, come to w. be bis new self as well as his captain and his king. And if lie is to he a follower of this 0? captain, a servant of this king, a fruit-hearer ej whose fruit shall abide, lie must very soon j?0 lose sight almost wholly of the self-side of m, this fact of his redemption in the adoring contemplation of the Christ?ide of it. A yi church needs to he composed of disciples who have well-nigh ceased from the conteniplation of the advantages to them-elves t of their relationship to Christ, so completely wi is their gratitude for personal snlva- m' tion swaltowed up in their adniira- e_ tion and passionate love for the Being whose u holiness reaches its supreme perfection in lv bearing the sins of the guilty world, and whose wisdom attains its crowning g.'ory in the transformation of a lost soul into a holy ' child of God. Gratitude can never be wanting in the believer's love. It will grow ^ stronger rather than weaker. But his love, wi like his Master's for a lost work!, must rise far above the thought of self, and burn pure and strong for his inertablv glorious Lord. %r the King eternal?the God who is man. and who in his perfect manhood shows the vrc world what its Creator and Redeemer is. aj, Such love is a sweet and blessed passion that sanctities and glorifies, an energy that ia taxes all the power of the soul to endure its pe activity, a creative, life-giving energy, cross- k:, I..v.,I'arh'nif tliO wntfl lTlfft tlu* likeness of the divine nature. It i< such sh transforming love as this that qualities a | ea disriple or a church to hear abiding fruit. A f little of it will doubtless bear a little fruit. 101 but the fruit-henrinir church whose fruit is of, to he both abundant and abiding must ej abound iu it. ?? \vl Even* new we hitv* ?omo active vol- is canoeenergy on our earth, th ni-.i we know that in former days the inl volcauoes must have been still more tli powerful: that, in fact, the Vesuvius of th: the present must be merely a popgun lie in comparison with volcanoes whi.h fly have shaken the earth in those pviui- mi itive days when if hail just cooled down we from its original fiery condition. It seems not impossible that some of these early volcanoes may in the throes of their mighty eruptions have driven up mi] pieces of iron and volcanic substances mQ Vuh a violence great enough to shoot | gg? iben off into t | Kl . . ^ SABBATH SCHOOL " ^vfl NTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR FEBRUARY 8. jesson Text: "Ahab's Covetousness," I Kings, xxl., 7-16? - ' Golden Text: Luke xil., '* V 16?Commentary. """" 1. 1 'And it cane to pass after theia things." "he previous chapter gives a record of two Bmarkable victories of Arab and his army ver the king of Syria and bis army: the rmy of Ahab being lilie two little flocks of ids before the Syrian?, who filled tha ountry (xx., 27); but it was ail the work of -od, that Ahab mi^ht know that God was ehovah (xx., 13, 28i. and act accordingly. .habis, however, so little in sympathy with -nri that he after all mado frianaa with the ing of Syria, and let bun escape. For this e was rebuked by a prophet, and went to his ouse heavy and displeased (xx, 42, 43). "Naboth the Jezreelite." We are now in oduced to a man who is mentioned only in lis chapter and in II Kiugs ix. His name N given here nineteen timas, and six times is Naboth the Jezreelit;. Naboth sign!as "prominent," and Jezreel "tbe seed of oa," so that we find the seed of God promlent hard by the palaci of ungodly Ahab. hat a wicked person, hating God and His ays, should have such a contrast so close to im is too much for wicked flesh to stand* d, like Cain, be is troubled by it. 2. '-Give me thy vineyard * * l?ause it is near unto my bouse.'' A right)usness life is a constant rebuke to unrighfcjusness and cannot J?e tolerated, espscially hen the spirit of Goi is striving with' the ipenitent as He was with Ahab. 3. "The Lord forbideth me that I should ive the inheritence of my fathers unto lee." Although Ahab offered him a better Lneyardor its full value in money, this l? . J. Is reply. Naboth fears Jehovah, but does at fear Ahab, and the inheritance of his ithers is more to him than monev or than / ay other inheritance. Had he been Ilk* sau he would have sold it cheap. 4. "And Ahab came into his house heavy 3d displeased." In the last chapter we saw im in his house, heavy and displeased beiusa the Lord by the prophet had rebnked im; and now he is in the same place and in le same state of mind because the Lord haa gain rebuked him through JJaboth. ""1 i frequented the house at the Lord and in is trouble gone like Elijah into the sanolary (Ps. Lxxiii, 17) he would have found a ire for his sadness; but he was not that nd of a mau. He lived for Ahab and hab'3 will and Ahab's way, and whatever iterfered with that cast bim down. 5. "Why is thy spirit so sadr "Sad" is ist the same word as "hoavy" in verse 4 and *, s., 43, and it is only foilnd these throe .nes in the Bible. This is his wife's question i him. He will not And help in the right rection from her, for sho incited hkn to li himself to work wickedness in the sight. ' the Lord (verse 25). C. "I will not give thee my vineyard." He hearses to her his request of Naboth and Is, Naboth's reply. Thank God for all ho say to the world, the flesh and the devil: am tho Lord's property, you cannot liave e or anything belonging to me; and no oneynor any other inducemrfit can per- i ado me to give to any but my Lord at which is truly and only His. 7. "I will give thee the vineyard of Na>th the Jezreelite." Thus speaks this woman Satan, this defier of the true God and His rvants. She talks liko the devil himself hen he said t& our Lord Jesus, "All this ill I give thee, * * * to whomsoever I ill I give it" (Luke iv., 6). . 8. "So she "wrote letters in Ahab's name, id sealed them with his seal." Thus did aman, another adversary of the people of -J in??u HI 10\ T%.,? ?ill tha Kaaaf. and JU \A9bU. 111., X.t*) AUU0 T?*M www e false prophet act in the power of the _ agon, that old serpent, the devil, in the st days before Jesus comes in His glory Lev. xiii., 4, 7, 15, ctc.). In all ages "the icked watcheth the rig hteous and seeboth slay Him" (Ps. xxzni., 32), and it shall i&tinue so till Jesus comes. 9. "Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on gh among the people." Or as in R. V. argin, "at the head of the people." A lila of God may conclude that something is rong when the enemies of God do him an >nor or in any way set him on high. When od elevates a man as He did Joseph and avid and Daniel He is able to keep them; ' <- : jt see how Satan shot at them ana sought ieir ruin. 10. "And set two men, sons of Bolial, bare him to bear witn&ss against him." v Sons of Belial" signify worthless, reckless, wlcss fellows. They abound everywhere, id are ready to every evil work. 11. 12. "And the men of his city *> * * did i Jezebel had sent unto them." Were the rvants of Christ only half as ready and jedient as the servants of the adversary, 'J >w the name of Christ would be magnified, od glorified, the elect church called out and e kingdom hastened. The3e men did jost hat Jezebel said?took her to mean what e said aDd went about it. So many of the nfccaori fniinwAP.<5 of Jesus cannot believe at He means what He says, and will not > > as He says. ' v,'. . 13. "Naboth did blaspheme God and the ng." This is the lie which thess false witisses give utterance to. Naboth could say ith David and with Jesus: "Fals3 witnesses d riso up; thoy laid to my charge things at I knew not. They hate me without a use" (Ps. xixv., 11; Ixix., 4; Matt. xxvL, -til; John xv., 25). "They stoned him with stones that he died." would s?em from II Kings ix., 35, that his ns also were murdered. Thus in later days ey stoned Stephen and Paul (Acts viL, 59; . v., 19). The same hatred of God and His ed murdered Jesus, and has in various crucl ays put to death multitudes of those who ilieve in Him. And it saems to human sight strange; but we must wait. God isloye. A y, 3d of love can do no wrong. 14. "Naboth is stoned, and is dead." Or, in tho next verse, "Naboth is not alive, it dead." Satan had done his \corst. isus taught His disciples not to fear ose who could only kill the body. The jirit, through Paul, says that "to die is tin," "to depart and be with Christ is far itter." Jesus tells us that when Lazarus < ed the angels carried hi-n ?not his poor, coripting body, but himself, apart from the ail tabernacle in which he had been sojourng?'to Abraham's bosom; and He said to e thief on the cross: "To-day shaltthou be ith Me in Paradise." 15. "Arise, take possession of the vineyard Naboth the Jezreelite which he refnsed to ve thea for money." Thus speaks Jezebel her heavy and displeased husband. The omiuent seed of God is no longer in his ay as a rebuke to him, and too coveted ueyard is now his without money. 16. "Ahab rose up to go down to the vineir(j ? c * to take possession of it." But ! is not prepared to hear the fearful tidings hich await him from the Lord by the outh of him whom he is pleased to term his eniy. The Lord Las seen it all. "Does all lick thy blood," "dogs shall eat Jezebel" ersas 19-23); fearful words, but fulfilled in ia time most literally (xxii., 38; II Kings ., 35, 36). Covetous and God-defying men d women may seem to accomplish their rposes and triumph over the righteous, t* there is a God who sees and hears ana 11 do right.?Lesson Helper. A compositor m tue omce or tae i\v York Staats Zeilung, whi'e at --1- lilo nnao foil ftrwl dipfl befoi'f JLIX ay aa*o _ 1 could reach him. He hid worked the same capacity for the same par for thirty-five years. He stood at i case all through the war and did his are to tell the people the news of eh anxious morning. He worked here the perfecting press was dreamed and when the greatest papers printtheir matter directly from the type; leu the telephone was as far away as aerial :;aviga-.i.}n to-day, and when e steam service to Europe and to the erior of the country was primitive to e point of being but a shade better mi tlie sails and the horses of the ear r days. The experience of thirtyc years of such work iu such a place ist have been marvelous anil the >ariues3 of it inexpressible. [t is only within a few years that otography has been applied to the J estigation of the heavens with so ich success as to make it one of tha >st po >verful and fruitful means of reirch in astronomy. ' v?~- -K- '