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$' y "THE GOOD NATURED MAN. \ The man -who is good aatured is a bl?ssing to f . 5 humanity; a Tor uaver hear bira growliug nor indulging p in profanity. He's loved by big and little; e'e i the dogs in p his community v "With wagging tails will foliow him at every r opportunity. f; He gives bis only dollar to whoever is un fortunate. 0 He lends a sympathetic ear to those who are c importunate; No matter how you treat him he will greet you with urbanity And set a good example to professors of Christianity. n P Incase he meets a parson with a suicidal r tendency f; He makes him see the beauty of the world in J its transcendency, n And drives away his blueness with a merrv ri jocularity S1 That sends the gloomy person into spasms of T hilarity. ti This man is good natured, never practices s duplicity; The life he leads is honest and a marvel of a simplicity? u He never has an enemy; he feels no ani- c mosity, * And everywhere establishes a friendly re- t' ciproclty. n p."- S] With him you get acquainted without waiting for formality ? And right away you like him for his unre- ^ served cordiality; a JHe may be plain of feature but you never" jj see his homeliness, u for pleasant smiles and kindly tones impress (j you with his comeliness. 0 He being always happy, has a wonderful ir -- facility a Of making those around him share and show 0 his amiability; n - The good he does in cheering his too much ^ depressed fraternity Gives them a joyous life on earth and Gts *( them for eternity. ?H. C. Dodge, in Chicago Sun. I A FRIENDLY FOE. jj BY WILLIAM M. GRAYDOX. B As strange an adventure, perhaps, as ei any man can relate, fell to my lot while sj jjjjp" 1 was superintending the construction of it ?s?r * branch railway in the Province of m &?' ilydrabad, Southern India. ei This branch was one hundred miles in jV length, runniug from Hydrabad to a d< small military post called Wadi, where fr it joined the Western Railway of India, ai From Wadi almost half way to Hydrabad c;i .extended the immeuse jungle of Osur, it P -frequented by various wild annimals,and \g* by a still more savage people, a class of depraved Hindoos, who lived in huts in ? the recesses of the forest, and subsisted aj ou wild fruit and game. bi To these people the railway was ac object of detestadon. They had a whole- th - some dread of the English, however,and to P. with the exception of an occasional II theft of tools, or the casting of spears at our workmen, they did not molest us. d( Tf ti'ia n linrlorfnUnrr tn nr build a roadbed through such a dense ju ' and marshy jungle, but we overcame all difficulties nobly and were soon nearly ! pa half way to Hydra bad. ! sli As the railway progressed the tele- j m -graph line was put up at the same time, ( di and thus constant communication was th B&J;: iept up with Wadi. At a point only five w; miles distant from the eastern edge of the jungle, and nearly forty-fivt miles a, [: from Wadi, we erected a transit station, vv installed therein a telegraph operator, tvi and brought forward large quantities of ac ,"tools and machinery from "VVadi. Just ' -when everything looked most favorable cr fc. we were startled by a rumor that the ai L wild men of the jungle were arming ki ; themselves and swarming together with ju K/T avowed intention of slaying the in -engineeriDg corps, and destroying the jtation. N The news came to us from sources,the cc reliability of wnicn we bad no reason to ro PI -doubt. Our party comprised five Eng- bi lislimen and a large number of native se K" workmen. These latter we promptly m W; :. armed, and prepared in other ways to b< defend the station. The jungle men owned very few fire- fo L. 'arms, and if only our own workmen m p ahowed proper valor, we had little fears It -as to the result of the attack. That very tr ; night, however, every one of the rascals scuttled off, fearing to face the enemy. p< Only the five of us were left, and our situation was decidedly serious. It be- ol if- came even more so an hour later when ei we discovered that telegraph communi- c( 5cation with Wadi wa? cut off. ri "Tbc rascals mean business,"said Jack Hunt. "This looks as though they were at preparing for an immediate attack, ol ?'- "What had we better do? Strike for d: Hydrabad or make a stand of it?" "The station must be defended," I re- ei plied decidedly?for of course the re- si sponsibility was all on my shoulders. V( "Wc can't afford to lose our tools and tc Uiawiiiuvi j x \.au otv L/ub uaw *? <?j iu save them, I must take the trolly, try d to run through to Wadi, and bring Cap- tl tain Kennedy back with a detachment of ci , " troops. Meantime you fellows must hold r< cut like grim death." "You'll never get through,"said Jack; a 4<it's madness." lc "I'll try it," I replied briefly, "and c' *ny way it's our only chance." ci No further objections were made, and I was soon ready for the start. 9( A mysterious noise coming from the 1 direction of our feet led to the discovery ^ of two of our runaway workmen who tl we:e hiding under the station floor. The n rascals a?reed to accompany me as trolly- tl men on condition of complete forgivejiess. a! The trolly is simply a comfortable s' -seat, mounted on four wheels, which a juns of its own accord down grade and * is propelled over steep places by the P trolkmen. for whose convenience a step gWi. ? is attached to the rear of the seat. Under e the trolly was a small rack, and in this I ^ stowed myjriflfi and ammunition, retain- w ~ a revolver in my hand, ready foi use. The first five mile stretch was perfectly I level. The trollymen bowled me along i h rapidly, and I kept a close outlook on | 1' both sides of the jungle. Six miles from v ihe station a heavy down grade commenced, nearly two miles in length, and as we approached this point my spirits began to rise. I could hear the labored y breathing of the trollymen as they panted v - long. Suddenly this ceased entirely, 1 and glancing round in response to a shrill t ' -cry of alarm I saw my two cowardly at- ) tendants making off as fast as their two c legs could carry them. \ The trolly had just rounded a small I bend and looking ahead I was confronted 1 by a spectacle that made my blood run s & .cold. ' i _ ? Barely twelve yards distant, in the ery ceuter of the track, lay a tigress ondling two cubs, and by her side stood i huge tiger, gazing straight at the apiroaching trolly. For a moment I was deprived of all lower of action, and in that brief interal the trolly, which was moving at a apid pace, was almost upon the savage amily. The tigress rose and walked leisurely ff the track, followed by one of her ubs, almost in frout of the iron wheels. The other youDgster was not quick nough, and the wheels rolled over the ittle brute's tail. The sharp yowl of agouv that followed lade ray hair fairly stand on end. I was iast the spot by this time, and glancing ound I saw the enraged father of the amily bounding over the tics in pursuit, ly revolver had slipped from my haud a juiiiuuL uuiuic, auu ao x lcaucu. uvvvli iv each my rifle, I lost my balance and tumbled forward on the narrow step, ery nearly rolling out on the track. The iger was coming closer, roaring at every tep. A sudden idea flashed into my mind, nd without an instant's hesitation I crept nder the seat, and crouched in the rack lose beside the whirring wheels, which rcre now moving faster than ever, for be trolly had reached the comraencelent of the long slope and was gaining peed with every second. From under the seat I had a brief limpse of the brute'3 striped hide, and tieD the whole trolly shook as though bout to leap from the track. I knew istantly what had occurred. The tiger ad gained possession of the seat and all aat separated us was that frail plank vcrhead. As the trolly swept on down the slope t dizzy speed the brute growled ferociusly, and thrust a great paw into the ick from one 3ide while his tail dangled :om the other. I had to snuggle together pretty closely ) get out of reach, aud when I turned ic rifie round toward the front of tho oily I realized what a fix I was in. The brute wa3 as secure from my fire 5 though he were mile3away in the junle. I could point the muzzle of the fie down the track?and that was all. y and by, when the trolly Reached the id of the slope, and its momentum was )ent on the level stretch that lay beyond would come to a standstill and the laddened tiger would speedily make an id of me. These pleasant reflections were sudjnly interrupted by another vicious dig om my unwelcome fellow passenger, id this time the sharp claws actually lught my sleeve, and had I not jerked quickly loose, I might have beeu dragout on the track. I crept to the extreme edge of the rack i -until my head was almost pressing \ rninet- +lii? whppJa?anrl tinrrifid the ! ute'fi blows with the rifle barrel. I could easily have put a riflo ball rough his foreleg, but I did not care his ferocity to any greater degree, e was quite savage enough already. Meanwhile the trolly was spinning >wn the slope at the rate of half a mile sr minute, and the level stretch that I stly dreaded was close at hand. Glancing down the long, shining exmse of track-, I saw in the distance the ight curve that marked the coramenceent of the level. My attention was verted at this moment by a roar frctu e tiger, and when I looked again I as right at the curve. The trolly swept round the angle with jerk that scraped my hegd against the heels, and then I saw, only a yard or ;o a head, a big tree lying prostrato ross the track. Instantly there came a tremendous ash, the trolly went right up into the r like a balloon, and the next thing I lew I was tangled up in a clump of ngle grass with my face jammed an ch deep into the mire. I rose unsteadily ana shook my3elf. o bones were broken, I thankfully dis>verea, and I was in the act of looking UUU ior me tiger >vueu a o?v?ge jcu i oke on my eir, and I was horrified to | e half a dozen fierce-looking jungle- j en advancing od mo with spears and )ws. I believed ray last moment had come, ?r I was totally unarmed, and I knew y savage foes would show no mercy, was no doubt they who had placed the ee on the track. But help was to come from an unexscted quarter. Out of a clump of bushes by the side : the track sprang ray late fellow passiger, apparently none the worse for the jllision. He landed with a savage roar ght in the midst of the junglemen. I heard their cries of fright and agony, id, without waiting to see the outcome I th2 fray, I took advantage of the iversiou 10 uuu iuiu tins lurest. I ran on for half aa hour, expecting rery moment to hear the sounds of pur?it, but, as all continued quier, I sntured to take to the track, and trotid briskly over the ties toward "Wadi. Two hours later, when I was ready to rop from fatigue, a whistle echoed irough the jungle; and presently a small ogine with a passenger car attached junded the bend ahead. On board were Captain Kennedy and company of native troopc. They had ;ft Wadi that morning as soon as the utting of the telegraph wire3 was disovered. They took me on board, and wc were son at the scene of my late accident, he trolly, smashed beyond repair, was ring near the track, and close by it was ic mangled body of one of the juugleien. No trace of his companions or of ac tirrer could be found. The tree was soon out of the road, ad we steamed rapidly ahead to the lation, ariving just in time to disperse swarm ot bloodthirsty natives who rere bent on the slaughter of my comanions. The presence of the soldiers put an od to further trouble. The cowardly :oikmen came back one by one, and a reek later the roadway was completed to lie edge of the jung'e. The ti^er that saved my life was never card from again, and I hope that he is iviog happily in some jungle retreat ath bis little family.?The Arquay. Hops. Hops are first mentioned by Pliny, the ouag plant being at that time used as a egetablc, much as we use asparagds. Jot until the sixteenth century were they ised as an ingredient in making beer. Vhen their cultivation was first introluced into England from Flauders, there vas a great outcry raised against it. The jeople petitioned Parliament against alowinga "weed" cultivated "that would ipoil the taste and endanger the people." ?St. Louis Republic. m DR. TALMAGE. THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN. I DAY SERMON.' '.Subject: "Baleful Amusements." Text: "Let the young men now arisi and play before us."?II Samuel, ii., 14. There are two armies encamped by tha pool of Gibeon. The time hangs heavily on their hands. One army proposes a game of sword fencing. Nothing; could be more healthful and innocent. The other army accepts the challenge. Twelve men against twelve men. the sport opeDS. But something went adversely, Perhaps one of the swordsmen got an unlucky clip, or in some way had his ire aroused, and that which opened in sportfulness ended in violence, each one taking his contestant bv the hair, and then with 4-u u; 4-u~ tuc onuiu tUMlMUIj; 111UI III tuc SillC, DU IIIUV I that which opened in innocent fun ended in the massacre of all the twenty-four sportsmen. Was there ever a better illustration of what was true then, and is true now, that that whuh is innocent may be made destructive? What of a worldly nature is more important and strengthening and innocent than amusement, and yet what has counted more victims? I have no sympathy with a straightjacket religion. This is a very bright world to me, and I propose to do all I can to make it bright for others. I never could keep step to a dead march. A book years ago issued says that a Christian man has a right to some amusements. For instance, if ne comes home at night weary from his work, and feeling in need of recreation, puts on his slippers, and goes into his garret and walks lively round the floor several times there can be no harm in it. I believe the church of God has made a tremendous mistake in trying to suppress the sportfulness of youth and drive oat from men their love or amusement. If God ever implanted anything in U3 ho implanted this desire. But instead of providing for this demand of our nature, the church of God has, for the main part, Ignored it. As in a riot, the mayor plants a battery at the end of the street, and has it fired off so that everything is cut down that happens to stand in the range, the good as well as the bad, so there are men in the church who plant their b?.t l/trios ui wuuemiiai/nju uuu uio ?>??/ muu- i criminately. Everything is condemned. | But my Bible commends those who use the world without abusing it, and in the natural world God has done everything to please and 1 amuse us. In poetic figures we sometimes speak of natural objects as being in pain, but it is a mere fancy. Poets say the clouds weep, but they never yet shed a tear; and j the winds sight, but they never did have j any trouble; ana that the storm howls, but ' It never lost its temper. The world is a j rose, and the universe a garland. I am glad to know that in all our cities 1 there are plenty of places where we may find elevated, moral entertainment. But all 1 honest men and good women will agree with j me in the statement that one of the worst plagues of these cities is corrupt amusement, j Multitudes have gone down under the blast- | Ing influence never to rise. If we may judge 1 of what is going on in many of the places of ! amusement by the Sodomic pictures on ' board fences and in many of the show 1 windows, there is not a much lower depth of profligacy to reach. At Naples, Italy, they 1 keep such pictures locked up from indis- j criminate inspection. These pictures were exhumed from Pompeii and are not fit for ' public gaze. If the effrontery of bad places of amusement in handing out improper advertisements of what they are doing night by night grows worse in the same propor- 1 tion, in fifty years New York and Brooklyn ? >1 i * ?* ?i? T> u..?. I Win utfttl uuu uuiy iuiu^cu, uuu uvuuuj, To help stay the plague now raging I pro 1 ject certain principles by which you may judge in regard to any amusement or recreation, finding out for yourself whether it ' is right or whether it is wrong. I remark in the first place that you can ' judge of the moral character of any amusement by its healthful result or by its baleful reaction. There are people who seem made 1 up of hard facts. They are a combination of multiplication tables and statistics. If you show them an exquisite picture they will begin to discuss the pigments involved in the coloring. If you show them a beautiful rose they will submit it to a botanical analysis, which is only the post-mortem examination of a flower. They have no rebound in their nature. They never do anything more than smile. There are no great tides of feeling surging up from the depths of their soul in billow atter billow of reverberating laughter. They seem as if nature had built them by con tract and made a bungling job of it. But, blessed be God, there are people in the world who have bright faces, and whose life is a song, an anthem, a psean of victory. Even their troubles are like the vines that nmsrl nnthft ride of a cTeat tower.on the toD of whicfi the sunlight sits, and the soft air of Bummer hold perpetual carnival. They are the people you like to have come to your house; they are the people I like to have come to my house. If you but touch the hem of their garments you ara healed. Now it is these exhilarant and sympathetic and warm hearted people that are most tempted to pernicious amusements. In proportion a3 a ship is swift it wants a strong helmsman; in proportion as a horse is gar, it wants a stout driver; and these people of exuberant nature will do well to look at the reaction of all their amusements. If an amusement sends you home at night nervbus so that you cannot sleep, and you rise up in the morning, not because you are slept out, but because your duty drags you from your &1 umbers, you have been where you ought not to have been. There are amusements that send a man next day to his work bloodshot, yawning, stupid, nauseated; and they are wrong kinds of amusement. They are entertain*- ients that give a man disgust with the drudgery of life, with tools because they are not swords, with working aprons because they are not robes, with cattle because they are not infuriated bulls of the arena. If any amusement sends you home longing for a life of romance and thrilling adventure, love that takes poison and shoots itself, moonlight adventures and hair breadth escapes, you may depend upon it that you are the sacrificed victim of unsanctiSed pleasure. Our recreations are intended to build up, and if they pull us down as to our moral or as to our physical strength you may come to the conclusion that they are obnoxious. There is nothing more depraving than attendance upon amusements that are full of innuendo and low suggestion. The young man enters. At first he sits far back, with his hat on and his coat collar up, fearful that somebody there may know nim. Several nights pass on. He takes off his hat earlier and puts his coat collar down. The blusli that first came into his cheek when anything indecent was enacted comes no more to hij cheek. Farewell, young man I You havs pronaoiy siarieu un me mug ruau nuitu ends in consumrr.ate destruction. Th? stars of hope will go out one by one, until you will be left in utter darkness, Heai you not the rush of the maelstrom, in whos? outer circle your boat now dances, making merry with the whirling waters? But you are being drawn in, and the gentle motion will become terrific agitation. You cry foi help. In vain! You pull at the oar to put back, but the struggle will not avail I You will be tossed and dashed and shipwrecked and swallowed in the whirlpool that has already crushed in its wrath ten thousand hulks. Young men who have just como from country residence to city residence will da well to be on guard and let no one induce you to places of improper amusement. It is mightily alluring when a young man, iong a citizen, offers to 6how a new comer all around. Still furth-r. Those amusements are wrong which lead you into expenditure beyond your meaus. Money spent iu recreation is not thrown away. It is all folly for us to come from a place of amusement feeling that we have wasted our money and time. You may by it have made an investment worth mora than the transactions that yielded you hundreds or thousands of dollars. But how many properties have been riddled by costly mi utse men is. The first time I ever aaw the city?It was the city of Philadelphia?I was a mere lad. 1 stopped at a hotel, and I remember in the eventide one of these men plied me with his infernal art. He saw I was green. He wanted to show me the sights of the town. Ho painted the path of sin until it looked like emerald; but I was afraid of him. I shoved back from the basilisk?I made up my mind he was a basilisk. I remember how he wheeled his chair round in front of me, and with a concentrated and diabolical effort attempted ro destroy my soul; but there were good angels in the air that night. It was no good resolution on my part, but it was the all en"N-npassing grace of a good God that delir- j SJ . eredme. Beware I beware! oh, vonng maa "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is death." The table has been robbed to pay the club. The champagne has cheated tne children's wardrobe. * The carousing party has burned up the boy's primer. The tablecloth in the comer saloon Is in debt to the wife's faded dress. Excursions that in a day make a tour around a whole month's wages; ladies whose lifetime business it la to "go shopping;" large bets on horses have their counterpart in uneducated children, bankruptcies thai shock the money market and appall th< church, and that send drunkenness stagger ing across the richly flsjured-carpet of th? mansion and dashing into the mirror and drowning out the carol of music with th? whopping of bloated sons come home tc break their old mother's heart. I saw a beautifid home, where the bell rang violently late at night. The son had been off in sinful indulgences. His comrades were bringing him home. They carried him to the door. They rang the bell at 1 o'clock in the morning. Father and mother came down. They were waiting for the wandering son, and tbsn the comrades, as Boon as the door was opened, threw the prodigal headlong into the doorway, crying: "There he is5 drunk as a fool. Ha, hal1' When men go into amueements they cannot afford they first borrow what thoy cannot earn and then they steal what they cannot borrow. First they go into embarrassment and then into lying and then into theft; and when a man gets as far on as that ho does not stop short of the penitentiary. There is not a prison in the land where there are not victims of unsanctifled amusements. Merchants of Brooklyn or New York, is tnere a disarrangement In your accounts? Is there a leakage in your money drawer? Did not the last account come out right last night? I will tell you. There is a young man in your store wandering off into baa amusements. The salary you give him may meet lawful expenditures, but not the sinful Indulgences in which he has entered, and he takes by theft that which you do not give him in lawful salary. How brightly the path of unrestrained imusement opens. The young man says: "Now I am off for a good time. Never mind economy. I'll get money somehow. What i, fine road I What a beautiful day for a ride! Crack the whip, and over the turnpike! Come, boys, nil high your glasses. Drink! Long life, health, plenty of rides just like this! Hard working men hear the clatter of the hoofs and look up and say: "Why, I wonder where those fellows get their money from? We have to toil and drudge, fhey do nothing." To these gay men life is a tnrm ana an excitement. i ney stare ac >ther people, and in turn are stared at. The .vatch chain jingles. The cup foams. The cheeks flush. Their eyes flash. The midnight hears their guffaw. They swagger. They jostle decent men )ff the sidewalk. They take the nam* if God in vain. They parody the hymn they earned at their mother's knee; and to all pictures of coming disaster they cry out, 'Who cares!" and to the counsel of some Christian friend, "Who are you?'' Passing along the street some night you lear a snriek in a grog shop, the rattle of the watchman's club, the rush of the police. What is the matter now? Oh, this reckless roung man has been killed in a grog shop Eight. Carry him home to his father's house. Parents will come down and wash his wounds and close his eyes in death. They forgive him all he ever did, although he cannot in his silence ask it. The prodigal ha3 jot home at last. Mother will go to her little garden and get the sweetest flowers, ind twist tbem into a chaplet for the silent tiparfc of the wayward bov. and push back from the bloated brow tUp long locks that tvere once her pride, and the air will ba rent with the agony. The great dramatist says: "How sharpar than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thanlcless child." I go further, and say these are unchristian amusements which become the chief business of a man's life. Life is an earnest thing. Whether we were born in a palace or hovel, whether we are affluent or pinched, we have to work. If you do not sweat with toil, you will sweat with disease. You have a soul that is to ba transflgured amid the pomp of a judgment day; and after the sea has sung its last chant and the mountain shall have come down in an avalanche of a rock, you will live and think and act, high on a throne where seraphs sing, or deep fa a dungeon where demons howl. In a world where then is so much to do for yourselves, and so much to do for others, God pity that man who hai nothing to do. Your sports are merely means to an end, They are alleviations and helps. The arm oi toil is the only arm strong enough to bring up the bucket out of tha deep well of pleasure. Amusement is only the bower when business and philanthropy rest while on theii way to stirring achievements. Amusement! are merely the vines that grow about the anvil of toil and the blossoming of the hammers. Alas for the man who spends his life in laboriously doing nothing, his days in hunting up lounging places and loungers, his nignts in seeking out some gas lighted foolery 1 The man who always bason hit sporting jacket, ready to huut for game is the mountain or fish in the brook, with no time to pray or work or read, is not so well off as the greyhound that runs by his side, oi the fly bait with which he whips the stream, A man ? ho does not work does not knov? how to play. If God had intended us to do nothing but laugh He would not have given us shoulders with which to lift, and hands with which to work, and brains with which to think. The amusements of life are merely the orchestra playing while the great tragedy of life Dlunges through its five acta '?infancy, childhood, manhood, old age and .death. Then exit the last earthly opportunity. Enter the overwhelming realities of an 'eternal world 1 | I go further, and say that all those amusements are wrong which lead into bad company. If you go to any place where you nave to associate with the intemperate, with the unclean, with the abandoned, however ,well they may be dressed, in the name of God quit it. They will despoil your nature. They will undermine your moral character. They will drop you when you are destroyed. .They will give not one cent to support your children when you are dead. They will weep not one tear at your burial. They will 'chuckle over your damnation. I I had a friend at the west?a rare friend. He was one of the first to welcome me to his new home. To fine personal appearance he added a generosity, frankness and ardor of nature that made me love him like a brother. But I saw evil people gathering around him. They came up from the saloons, from the gambling hells. They plied him with a thousand arts. They seized upon his social nature, and he could not stand the charm. 1 I-.*? 4L- wu ? full iney aruve mui uu me rut*?, n?ko a. imp iui> winged, shivering on the breakers. I used to admonish him. I would say, "Now I wish you would quit these bad habits and become a Christian." "Oh," ho would reply, "I would like to. I would like to, but I have gone so far I don't think there is any way back." In his moments of repentance he would go home and take his little girl of eight years, and embrace her convulsively, and cover her with adornments and strew around her pictures and toys and every thing that could make her happy; and then, as though hounded by an evil spirit, he would go out to the enflaming cup and the house of shame, like a fool to the correction of the stocks. I was summoned to his deathbed. ] hastened. 1 entered the room. I found him, to my surprise, lying in full every day dress on the top of the clothes. I put out my hand. He grasped it excitedly and said, "Sit down, Mr. Talmaget right here." I sat down. He said: "Last night I saw my mother, who has been dead twenty years, and she sat just where you sit now. It was no dream. I was wide awake. There was no delusion in the matter. I saw her just as plainly as I see rrnn Wifn T wish mil wnnM tfllfA thns* strings off of me. Inhere are strings spun all around my body. I wish you would take them off of me." I saw it was delirium. "Oh," replied his wife, "my dear, there is nothing there, there is nothing there." He went on, and said: "Just where you sit,Mr. Talmage, my mother sat. She said: 'Henry, I do wish you would do better.' I got out of bed, put my arms around her. and said, 'Mother, I want to do better. I have been trying to do better. Won't you help me to do better? You used to help me.' No mistake about it. No delusion. I saw her?the cap. ana tne apron, and the spectacles, just as she used to look twenty years ago; but I do wish you would take these things away. They annoy me so. 1 can hardly talk. Won't you take them away?" I knelt down and prayed, conscious of the fact that ho did not realize-what I was saying. I got up. I said, "Good-by; I hope your will be better soon." He said, "Good-by, good-by." That night his soul went to the God who gave it. Arrangements were made for the obsequies. Some said, "Don't bring him in the church; he was too dissolute." "Oh," I said, "bring him. He was a .good friend, of mine while he was alive, and I shall stand bv him now that he is dead firing him to tne chnrch." As I sat in the pulpit and saw his body coming up through the aisle I felt as if I could weep tears of blood. I told the people that day: "This man had his virtues, ana a good many of them. He had his faults, and a good many of them, but if there is any man in this A.n/lionr?n -who ie TpiMiniih oin lot him I cast the first stone at this coffin lid." On one side the pulpit sat that little child, rosy, I sweet faced, as beautiful as any little child , that sat at your table this morning, ! I warrant you. She looked up wist- j fully, not Knowing the full sorrows of an orphan child. Ob, her countenance haunti me to-day like some sweel face looking upon us through a horrid dream. On the other side of the pulpit were the men I who h*d destroyed him. There they sat, 1 hard vlsaged, some of them palo from ex- | haustlrg disease, some of them flushed until it seemed as if the fires of iniquity fiamed through the cheeks and crackled the lips. They were the men who had done the work. They were the men who had bound him hand and foot. They had kindled the fires. They had poured the wormwood and gall into that orphan's cup. Did they weep? No. Did theysigh repentingly? No. Did they say: "Whata pity that such a brave man should be slain?" No, no: not one bloated hand wat lifted to wipe a tear from a bloated cheek. They sat and looked at the coffin like yultures gazing at the carcass of a lamb whose heart they had ripped outl I cried in their ears as plainly as I could: "There is a God and a judgment day!" Did they tremble? Oh, no, no. They went back from the horio or tK>a, ana that night, though their victim lay in Oakwood Cemetery, I was told that they blasphemed, and they drank, and they gambled, and there was not one less customer in all the houses of iniquity. This destroyed man was a Samson in physical strength, but Delilah sheared him, and the Philistines of evil companionship dug his Byes out and threw him into the prison of j evil habits. But in the hour of his death he < rose up and took hold of the two pillared curses of God against drunkenness and uncleanness, and threw himself forward, until down upon him and bis companions there came the thunders of an eternal catastrophe. Again, any amusement that gives you a distaste for domestic life is bad. How many bright domestic circles have been broken up by sinful amusements! The father went off, the mother went off, the ^hild went off. There are to-day the fragments before me of blasted households. Oh, if you have wandered away, I would like to charm you back by the sound of that one word, "home." Do vnu not know that vrm hava hut little mora 1 time to give to domestic welfare? Do you not see, father, that your children are soon ' to go out into the world, and all the influence for good you are to have over them you must have now? Death will break in on your con- 1 jugal relations, and, alasl if you have to ' stand over the grave of one who perished ! from your neglect! I saw a wayward husband standing at the I deathbed of his Christian wife, and I saw her point to a ring on bar finger, and heard her say to her husbanu, "Do you see that ring?" He replied, "Yea, 1 see it." "Well," said she, "do you remember who put it there?' "Yes," said he, ?'I put it there," and all the past seemed to rush upon him. By the memory of that day when, in the presence of men and angels, you promised to be faithful in ioy and sorrow, and In sickness and inhealtn; by the memory of those pleasant hours when you sat together in your new home talking of a bright future; by the cradle and the joyful hour when our life was spared and another given; by that sick bed, when tha little one lifted up the voice and called for help, and you knew he must die, he put one i arm around each of your necks and brought you very near together in that dying kiss; by the little grave in Greenwood that you never think of without a rush of tears; by the family Bible, where, amidst stones of heavenly love, is the brief but expressive record of births and deaths; by the neglects of the past and by the agonies of the future; by a judgment day, when husbands and wives, parents and children, in immortal groups "will stand to be caught up ia shining array or to shrink down into darkness; by Ml that, I bag you to glva to home your beat j affections. Ah, my friends, there is an hour coming when our past life will probably pass before us in review. It will be our last hour. If from our death pillow we have to look back and see a life spent in sinful amusement there will be a dart that will strike through our soul sharper than the dagger with which Virginius slew his child. The iniquities and rioting through which wo have passed will come upon us, weird and skeleton as Meg Merrilies. Death, the old Shyloek, will demand and take \"he remaining pound of flesh, and the reinai ling drop of blood, and upon our last oppo.-tunity for repentance, and our last chance .For heavan the curtain will forever drop. The Paradise Fisli. The paradise fish, like the German canary, is a product of cultivation, as there is no place known where it is found in a wild state. It is a native of China. There they are cultivated and kept in aquaria as ornamental fish only. The male is the larger of the two sexes, measuring, when full grown, from the mouth to the end of the caudal fin, three and a half inches. The body is shaped very much like that of the pumpkin seed sunfish. Its colors surpass in brilliancy any fish heretofore cultivated for the aquarium. ' 1 1 ??? ww/vf-tlA 1 TOlfll me Iieail is asny graj, uiumcu >i..u irregular dark spots. The gills are azurine blue, bordered with brilliant crimson. The eyes are yellow and red, with a black pupil. The sides of the body and the crescent shaped caudal fin are deep crimson; the former having ten or twelve vertical blue stripes, while the latter is bordered with blue. The under surface ot the body is continually changing color?sometimes it is white, at others gray or black. The dorsal and anal fins are remarkably large, hence the generic name of the fish? macro, large; podus, the foot or fin. Both fins are shaped alike. They are striped and dotted with brown and bordered with blue. The duil-colored yentral fins are protected by a brilliant scarlet-colored spine, extending threefourths of an inch behind the fins. The pcctoruls, situated directly above the ventral fins, are well shaped, but, being transparent, show no color.?Nature's Realm." ^ A Bamboo Watcli Spring. It is welt known that the Japanese are remarkably skilful in wood, ivory and other carving, but a well-authcntk catcd story which has just come from Japan would indicate that the wily Jap docs not confine himself to the beaten paths in the exercise of his ingenuity. It appears that a gentleman who was traveling in the interior of the country broke the mainspring of his watch, which he took to the nearest jeweler, a native who lived in an obscure village. Somewhat to his surpise the watch was returned to him apparently in as good runuing order as ever, and it ran all right until the rainy season set iu, when it stopped. Being in the city of Tokio at that time, the traveler took the watch to an English workman, who, on making an examination was astonished to find that the cuuning Jap had put in a | spring made of bamboo, which, so long as it kept dry, remained clastic, but during the wet weather had gathered dampness and lost its power. ? Chicago News. Electrical Utilization of Insects. An electric apparatus supplies a strong light which attracts the insects and moths; a suction fan worked by the electric current draws them in when they appror/:h the light, and carries them into a small mill, also worked by the electric current, where they are ground j up and mixed with flower and thus converted into poultry food of excellent ! quality. Thia is said to be a Bavarian 1 contriTftnce.?Sctintifie American* . ? r- -^ . -7>.v~ RELIGIOUS READING. "NOT A3 I WILL." Blindfolded and alone I stand With unknown thresholds on each band; The darkness deepens as 1 grope, Afraid to fear, afraid to hope; Yet this one thing I learn to know Each day more surely as 1 go, That doors are opened, ways are made, Burdens are lifted or are laid By some great law unseen and stiil Unfatliowed purpose to lultill. "Not as I will." Blindfolded and alone I wait; Loss seims too Litter: gain too late; Too heavy burdens in the load, And joy is weak aud grief is strong, Aud years aud days so long, so loLg; Yet tuis one thing I iearu to know Each day more surely as I go, That 1 a'rn glad the good and ill By changeless law are ordered still, "Not as I will." "Not as I will,'' the sound grows sweet Each time my lips the words repeat. ' Not as I will,'' the darkness feels More fcafe than light when this thought steals Like whispered voice to calm and bless All unrest und all loneliness. "Not as I will," because the one Who loved as first and best has icone , Before us ou the road, aud still Fwl ui must all his love fulfill? '"Not us we will." ? [Helen Hunt Jackson TAKING COD AT HIS WORD. In the ii.quiryroom, during a revir.il of religion, a gentleman was conversing with a man who was evidently deeply impressed, but who seemed to find no rest or comlort to his soul. "What," he asked, "is it that is not plain or seems wrong to you?" "Wrong?" said the other, '-everything is wrong with me. My soul is lost and I have only now found it out, ami I do not see any way of escape and safety." "Are there no persons known to you," asked the gentleman, "whom you can aud do believe, whatever they may say to you?" "Yes," replied the other, "there are such persons." "Just as you believe them, then, are you willing now to believeGod? He says in His word that he desires not the death of any, bat that all might receive eternal life, and to all he says, "Come unto me, all yc that labor, and f will give you rest." "Let me sec that for myself," t^ata the man, and the gentleman, opening the liible, was about to read the words to him, when with earnestness he said, "Give me the book that I may read it for myself," t i:d with his finger "pressed upon the page he read it over and over again. His face lighted up with a new and joyous expression, and he cricd, "O God, 1 take thee at thy word and give myself entirely and forever to thee!'' And "soon he felt that his burden was gone and that he had indeed foui.d in Jesus rest to his soul*?[Am. Messenger. god's gifts. Did you ever think that God measures ids ?ift8 to us only by our capacity to receive? 7)o you remember the story of the prophet'8 widow who went to Elisha in her sore distress and was hidden to borrow all the empty 11 c?? i?KKnra vessels sne couiu iruiu umwiig uci u^uuv.. and pour into them the scanty supply of oil which was contained in her own pot? She was told to provide ;'not a few'' vessels; but suppose she bad thought, as might be natural, that surely a very few vessels would be sufficient to bold tbe oil, how she would have stood in her own light by disobeying tbe projibet's command! She determined by hex faitn the measure of her blessing. Each one of us is likewise determining his own spiritual blessing. Our blessing is limited by our capacity to receivc?nothing else, God, the all-bountiful One, is never straitened ; it is his delight to give royally, like a kirg. If wc are straitened, we are straitened in ourselves; our capacity to receive is nol large ehough. If we are expecting the gift of the Spi; it, we do not provide room enougfc to receive it. If we are hoping to conqnei our spiritual foes, wc arc like the ancient king of Israel who came to mourn atEtisha'j death-bed. Elisha bade him smite upon th( ground, and he fmote three times and stopped. Thus he would only smite Syria thrice, instead of consuming her. H< bad limited his own victory. We do 110I know how often we limit our victories anc blessings; we are constantly running againsl the limitations of our faith. "According tc thy faith be it unto ibce,'' was the Saviour^ formula of healing; but where faith stopped the blessing stopped. Nazareth could re ceive no mighty work because of unbelief and there are many unsuspected Nazarltej among us today who are placing impassabN barriers between themselves and the diviiu blessing. But if we cherish a feeling of oui net d and a belief in Go>'s omnipotence anc willingness to help us, then we may believ< that he will give us bountiiully, even to th< measure of our capacity.-- [American Mes Kpw'pr. "" a FAULT-FINDING. There are certain rocks on which hom< happiness, if it strike, is very likely to split One of these is fault-finding. The babit o crumbling is fatal to family peace, and if in dulged in habitually by any single meinbei of a household is sure to disturb the harmonj of all the rest. Like most bad habits this ii formed insensibly, and many inveterate ant fretful fault-finders are so unconscious o their besetting sin that in their own eye they aro models of amiability. "If," the} say, "so and so were done or undone w< would never complain, but?" Alas! in most houses there are <fifs'' anc "buts." The most delightful and lovabli people are only human after all, and havi their nervous days and their forgetful dayi and their days of being generally out of sort: and blue. Very many people have thel: sharp points, which must be avoided, ant their weak place?, which are getting in th< way; and in fact there are very few of ui who have not somewhere a spot where i wnnlil hu onite safe to erect such a warning post ns in winter stands at intervals 011 thi skating pond, ''Danger here!" To live witl people in the familiarity and complete un reserve of domestic life, and to live so gent ly and pleasantly that no one's foibles an made manifest, 1*10 one's feelings wounded and no one's personality nniustJy invaded implies tact,unselfishness and almost siintlj patience on the part of all concerned. Then are homes where love is so completely tin motive power, and courtesy so unfailing!] the custom, that a ripple of trouble rarely disturbs their calm. Unfortunately, sucl homes arc not in the majority. In far to< many houses there are often undignified ani unnecessary scenes at breakfast, dinnei and tea. which are not quite quarrels, bti which are probably worse in their effeeis. "But there arc" legitimate occasions fo: fault-timling, are they not-?'" inquires somebody. Very likely, and when such arist meet them as it is the best w y to meet every difficulty in life fairly, squarely :iiu bravely. Say the act is wrong in plair words and liavc done with it. It is oni thing to reprimand or reprow> where re proof or rebuke is a duty: it is quite anothe; to keep up a scattering lire of small shot ir the way of sarcasm, iiuumdo and complain for half a day at a time. The true remedy in nine cases out of ten when circumstances are contrary, is to ac cept the situation. "Beware of desperati steps?the darkest day, live till tomorrow will have passed away." The most aggra vating servant,the most provoking neighbor --.1 .i,r> mn.t Wit rill phi Id an? not nroo against serene self-eontroi and generous kind ues.?. while fault-tinding sows seed that comes up in a harvest of new antagonisms Accept the situation, whatever it is witt courage and che rfuiness, and reiwmbei that neither nerves, temper, carving-knives nor eoflee, were ever in the slightest dejirci improved by scolding. ?[Mrs. Sanger it Christian Intelligencer. Tho Dlflerrnco in Flaff Stones. Funny, isn't it, about these flag stones? Did you notice? After th( rain?you can see it most any rainj day?some parts of the stone "will b< wet as can be. and other parts on th< same level will be quito dry, as thougl they had been wiped with a rag jual moist. Sometimes one flag will ge your shoes all wet and the next will b< a dry one. It's just a difference in th< grain, that's all. This one is porous and the water is all absorbed, and th< next one close-grained, and the wate: stays on top until it evaporates. , rrrM- , ~1 SABBATH SCHOOL. J INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR APRIL 12.-1; /,? Lesson Text: "The Good and Evil fa Jehu," 2 Kings x., 18-81?Golden Text: 1 Samuel x Ti., 7 ?Commentary. 18. "And Jehu fathered all th? nwnU f/v gether." We fina this man's name nearlj torty times in this and the preceding chapter, and not over a dozen times elsewhere. In verse 36 we read that he reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-eight years. The manner of his being anointed king is given in chap, ix., 1-7, and in the same chapter we are told how he slewj the king of Israel and Jezebel, and also the king of Judab. The first mention of him is found in I Kings xix., 10.17, where Elijah is commanded to anoint bim king of Israel, in connection with Eazael a* king of Syria and Elisha as prophet in Is- ' rael. He is evidently the Lord's minister of judgment upon sin and sinners, bnt does not appear to have been a true worshiper of the i true God. 19. "I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal." Thus said Jehu as he commanded to be gathered together all the prophets, priests and servants of Baal that he might destroy them. Baal was the chief male deity of the Phoenicians and Canaanites. The word signifies master or possessor, and is used fifteen times in this chapter, which is more often than it is found in aiiy other chapter in the Bible. It is found, in connection with at least twelve other words, as Baal-Berith (lord of the covenant), Baal-Peor (lord of the opening) Baal-Zebub (lord of the fly). (Jude. viii.. 33: Num. xxv.. 3: II Kinra l. I 3. etc.) The worship of Baal meant the forsaking of the only true God. the God of Israel, and an identification with the false religions of the nations, and was a great provocation of Jehovah (Judg. x., 6?10; Jer. xi., 17). 20. "And Jehn said. Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal." His purpose is stated in the previous verse to have been that he might destroy the worshipers of Baal, but he is doing it deceitfully, and a God of truth cannot deceive nor authorize deceit. 21. "And Jehu sent through all Israel; and all the worshipers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not." And we read that the house of Baal was full from one end to the other. Here is a devotion worthy of a better cause, but it is even so to thu present day. Let some of the other lords or possessors that control so many call for A gathering of their devotees, and the place will be filled, while the true God seems to have but few who desire to follow Him fully j and only. 00 *4 Wrinff vocfmanfa frtf nil f.Vift 1 worshipers of Baal. And he brought them forth vestments." Thus while outwardly i honoring them and seemingly encouraging them he was robing them for slaughter. Death, not life, was before them, and it was death leading to the second death. The separation of soul and body is not to be dreaded if we are clothed with Christ's righteousness, and that death Christ Himself r teaches us not to fear (Matt. *., 28; see also Phil, i., 21-23). hut the eternal separation of the soul from God, which is the fate of all unbelievers, no matter with what outward vestments clothed, is the fate to be dreaded, and against which the Saviour kindly warns J us in Matt, x., 28. ; 23. "Jehu and Jehonadab, the son of Recbab." See in verse 15 the greeting and union of these two, and if not familiar with the story of the descendants of Jonadab, read [ it in Jer. xxxv., and mark the blessings of | obedience. "Search and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the Lord, but the .? worshipers of Baal only." How would such 1 a proclamation affect the people who gather at the popular places of amusement in our day? If the word went forth in the theatre some night, "Let all who call themselves Christians leave quickly," would any sects . be vacated? And if so, now many? ' Ol HAri A wlion +Vio<r wanf in [ sacrifices and burnt offerings." Hera . is Jehu officiating as a priest of ; Baal, while at the same time he instructs ' eighty men that on penalty of death they , are not to allow one of those present to i escape with bis life. Compare Elijah proving before all the people that Jehovah is God, , as he offered sacrifice unto Him, and then [ slew the prophets of Baal after showing them their folly. With Elijah all was open f Qod righteous. The way of 'Jehu is not so. ' God commissioned him to destroy Baal, but God did not commission him to practice deI ceit or to worship Baal. ; 25. "Go in and-slay them; let none coma forth." This is tho obedient part, as when ' the Levites went in and out throughout the ' camp and slew every man, his brother and ; companion and neighbor, because of their ' sin against God (Ex. xxxii., 26, 27: sec also I Deut. xiii., 6-11: Ezek, ix., 5-7). Thuscom\ pletely were the people cut off in the days of [ Noah, but not until the long suffering of God had borne with them, and preached to them, and Dleaded witii them all the 120 I v*?ars that Noah was building the art and waiting upor. God. 26. l,And they brought forth the imagei ^ out of the house of Baal and burned them." 3 Not only the idolaters but their idols doe* * He destroy. These idolatrous Israelites knew that they were disobeying the God of Israel; they knew what Gideon had done to Baal, r and they were familiar with the recent ac1 tionof Elijah (Judg. vi.,25-38; IKingsxviii., | | 40), so that they had been taught and solemn* _ |! ly warned, and had no one to blame for their ~ * death but themselves. 3 I 27. "And they brake down the image of r | Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and i j made s draught house unto this day." ' Not only the idolaters and tho idols but also ' j the very house of worship. This is thorough ? * I work, and would seem to strike at the root ' I of the whole thing. 3 | 28. "Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of 3 Israel." It was a sore evil, and required sell ! vere treatment and received it. It seems to 1 | have been Jehu's special mission to put away - ! this iniquity; but he did not win Israel bacK ? 1 i - j U_11 T(- <o fn J VU UUU, us no suau ocd. i? u uub >u>ut v1 put away evil, but quite another to make " people righteous. - 29. '"Howbeit. from the sins of Jeroboam i the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them." * Though Baal was destroyed, the golden calves 3 at Dan and Bethel still remained and were worshiped. What a record this is concern> ing Jeroboam in this verse and verse 31, and r in about eighteen other places in the two ^ books of Kings, that he made Israel to sin I 8 30. "And the Loru said unto Jehu, Because f thou hast done well iu executing that which f is right in mine eyes." He is commended for 1 his thorough judgment upon the house of J Ahab. Contrast the lack of thoroughness 1 in Saul when sent to destroy Amalek (I Sam. r xv., 9-11). The Lord does not commend ' Jehu's deceit. While he commends the faith of Rabab of Jericho He does not r commend her deceit either. He cannot commend what is wrong in any one. "Thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel." And so it 1 came to pass (chap, xv., 12). His thorough1 ness brought him and his children a torn* J poral kingdom for four generations. If wo ' who believe in Jesus are faithful to Him we r sfcail sit with Him on His throne (Rev. iii., } 31). ana in bodies like His (Phil, iii., 21) reign with Him over ;his whole earth (Jfcav. v., 9, 10; Dan. vii., 27). ' 31. "But Jehu took no heei to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart.'' The chief thing wasneglected. Let :i!iy one read in Deuteronomy, and notico how often in that one book Israel is commanded to observe and do the commandments of the Lord, and this statement will make Jaliu's goodness seem very questionnlile. He showed no mercy to thenouseot Ahab, nor to the worshipers of Baal, but ha worshiped the golden calves, and transgressed the laws of the Lord. Where then is Wis righteousness? He stands be1 ore us Mentlliel with Jeroboam, a sinful man whom <!>l saw fit to us j nn'd reward with some favor.-.?Lesson Helper. A prominent New York physician , says that all persons who do not take 5 their meals regularly are more or less r insane. There it is again?anything to ) hurt the feelings of the poor newspaper ) man. t Sharpson (reading flattering inscrip3 tion on tombstone)?That sounds as if j somebody were trying to give him taffy. Phlatz?Epitaphy, you mean. r It is rations the Indiancf'w&nt, not orations. i m