Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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SCYTHE SONG. Mowers, weary and brown and blythe. What is the word methinks ye know. Endless over word that the scythe , Sings to the blades of the grass below! Scythes that swing in the grass and clover, 15 Something still they say as they pass, "What's the word that over and over ! Sings the scythe to the flowers and grass? Hush, ab, hush! the scythes are saying, Hush, and heed not. and (all asleep; Hush, they say the grasses swaying; Hush, they sing to the clover deep; Hush, 'tis the lullaby time is singing; Hush, and heed not, for all things pass; Hush, ah hush! the scythes are swinging Over the clover, over the grass! ?Andrew Lang. ANNIE O'BRIEN. jft A TRUE TALK. The Counaught Castle had arrived in New York. The cabin passengers had gone ashore. The steerage people were being carried away by their friends or by the boarding-house keepers who always lie in wait for them. Those yet uncalled for sat about the decks. "Wistful eyes turned shoreward auxious to see a familiar face and form among all those steerage occs. Pat Nolan had ccme aboard in all his via*i;ij? a ucv >;iu^ luai jiuu^ that it might not conceal the shiniag | watch-chain dangling from his vest j pocket, his hat tipped to one side in true | Counaught fashion, with a mighty show of Ivhite collar and cuffs and blue necktic, and his boots for oncc polished by an "Eyetalian." He threw his shoulders back and looked his best, for i;:lidn't he come aboard to bring his sweetheart, Annie O'Britn, home, aud wasn't she the puitiest girl in ten countries and hadn't she crossed the oceau for his sake?'1 Pat felt as though every one that saw him must kuow his business there. Standing still he looked about him, expecting to see his little Annie somewhere not far. "Sure, an' wouldn't she be as anxious to mate him as he would be to mate her?" He was a little late, for there had been a delay of a train in which he came down j from the place where he was working as | conch man and gardner. But surely Annie would never have gone ashore without him. He walked about for full ten minutes, lookiug everywhere, but still missing the face he wanted. Every now and then a gay ribbon or a bright coil of hair would make his heart dance, but it was never Auuie's hair or [1 Auuie's bonnet. At la3t he made up his j: mind that she had gone ashore; but in that case she had left word for him, of course?word where she had betaken 1 herself. "I beg pardon, sir,'' he said, stepping up to a man who wore a gold band L"' - ^ upon his cap, ant1 was presumably an * officcr; 1'I beg pardon, sir, but I'm Pat i Nolan. Is there a bit of a message left 1 fftr m? mil L-nnxv Qtr .v? jv? "Not that I am aware," the officer re- < K[%i plied. i "It was Annie O'BricD," said Pat. I*?' "Sbe came over ou this steamer; she h lp;. expected me to mate her. We're to be , mwried, you know sir, and she'd lave 8r word where sho is gone?Annie ! i O'Brien." j The officer turned a curious, startled ; 1 gaze upon him. ' Annie O'Brien," he repeated. "A 11 steerage passenger?" "In coorse, sir," said Pat. "She's 1 comin' over to marry me, and she's a ' I tfftc workia' girl. We're nayther iv us !rich." i The officer looked at him agaiu. "I know the name," he said. ! "You couldn't help noticing the i efirl," said Pat. "She's a purty crajther, is Annie, wid eye? like the sky and gold- 1 en hair and a waist ye could span will , ?5i yer two hands?ban-in' she wouldn't : permit yc to do it?and a foot light as a ! &t; bird's upon the floor. A little jewel is1 my Annie. You'd not fail to notice I her." "Sit down a moment, Mr. Nolan," | said the officer, "I will make some in- ' quiries. Wait here for me." "A mighty polite gentleman, though j he's as solemn as a fuueral," said Pat to | himself. "I hope he'll not delay long, j I'm wild to see Annie. I wonder is she crvin' her eves out for not seein' me? It | was what she had a right to expect?the first oneaboord." The officer was returning. He looked more serious than ever. "Mr. Nolan, he said, gravely, "the captain would like to speak to you. I wi^l take you to him. We have had a?' very stormy voyage, as winter voyages j ofteu are." "But you come into port on as pleas- : ?? ant a day as there is in the calendar," j Pat said, cheerfully. "A C'hiistmas L couldn't be brighter." t "But we have, had a very unpleasant j & voyage," gai^le officer gravely. Hk He op'enea the door of the captain's j - cabin. Pat entered with his hat in his i / hand. The captain--a grave, bronzed man with iron-gray hair?sat at a table before ; an open book, on which his hand lay. 1 ' Sit down." he said. "Thank you, sir. It's as easy staud- ; Pjijj- ing," said Pat, with a bow. You had better sit down," siid the j captain. "I may have to talk to you for some minutes. I have romethiog very J very particular to say if your are the j K* right man. Your name is " "Pat Nolan,1' said Pat, beginning to . feel astonished: but then perhaps the ; captain knowing that he was to be married that evening, wanted to congratulate. him. or perhaps it was the way j Stegsr- of the captaius -sj ocean steamers to be | slow and solemn, not thinking how he j kept people from their sweethearts. So j Pat sat down, put his hat on the floor, and, not knowing just what to do, cracked all his knuckles one after the other as he waited. ??Vrm? nnmr> i? Pjjtrirk- Nnllin." Said ' the captain again, "anil you came on board to find a young woman?a frieud of yours I" i "3Iy sweetheart promised to me. We are to bs married to-day," said Pat. j "If God wills it," said the captain. "Ay, sir; we can do nothing widout ; [ that, I well know," said Pat. "The < I good Lord above and Father Dunn will | help me; but I'll do the best I can to i I furder it myself.'' J The captain looked down upon the : I pages of the book before him. ( "Aud the name of the young girl you : I are asking for?" he said. L "Annie O'Brieu," said Put, beginning j to think the captain very stupid? "Annie 0 Brien. She's the Widdy ! O'Briea's daughter?a decent woman is ! the widdy, and well respected. They arc neighbors at home in the ould counthry." The captain ran his fingers down a long column of names, and stopped at last and looked at Pat again. "We had a very unpleasant voyage," he said slowly?"a very, very unpleasant voyage." 'The other gentleman wa3 telling me that, sir," said Pat, wishing that this old gentleman would stop talking about the weather and tell him something about Annie. "Bad weather must be a threat on the say," he said, in order to be polite. "And wid all thiin passengers to be watchin' and carin' for?worse than a stableful of bastes!" "Yes," said the captain, "we try to care for our passengers; but the steerage i3 a little crowded. They are often very sick." "Yes, sir. I was that sick myself I thought I be dyin'," said Pat. "Some are severely ill," said the captain. * a* l J. - !...* i Ills lime fat ni:iuu a? auswcr, uau stared at him with a hot flush rising to his face. "Sometimes they are so very ill that they die," the Captain went on. "Delicate women, you know?little children ?rrAmfln " UUU UUitV/UkC n uuivu. Pat still looked at him ia silence. "When I said that we had a very unpleasant voyage I meant that''?said the Captain?"that we had serious illness? that we had death ou board. Two steerage passengers died. One was William O'Rourke, au old mau coming over to live with his son." "God rest his soul!" said Pat. "The other, who was very ill, was a woman," said the Captain?"a young woman, and very pretty. Mr. Nolan, we have to prepare for storms in this life ?we have to brace up and bear them as wall as we can. They are very hard to bear. I have had a great many myself, j At my age that goe3 without saying, but j you are young and full of hope. I am very sorry to say that I am afraid you are about to suffer a terrible shock. It is a paiuful task to tell you. Brace up, j my lad. The other passenger was a i young woman, and her name, as we have i it written here, was Aunie O'Brien." All the color had gone out of Pat's' face by this time. It was white?lips and all. He dropped his arms on the table and hid his face on them, and great sods snooK ms irame. The captain wiped the tears from his own eyes. ' Talk does no good," he said. "Time only can comfort you." "It seems as if I could not believe it, captain," Pat cried, lifting his tearswollen face. "Annie?my iittle Annie! Arc you sure it was Annie?" "There was but one Annie O'Brien on our list," said the captain. "She gave her name just before she breathed her last. The only steerage passenger of the name of O'Brien died on the voyage of a fever. The doctor cared for her as well as he knew how. The women nursed her kindly. We buried her at sea, and the i -1 :?' ?? ?;.j K? ? uunui scrviuc ?aa saiu uj a vaiuuul i clergyman who was oa board. You might like to know that, so I tell you." "My Annie?my Annie at the bottom :>f the say!" moaned poor Nolan. <;An' I'll niver see her again; niver kiss her red lips; niver feel her two arms about me neck! Ah, Annie, I won't live after you?I won't live after you! Lile is too hard to bear wid that to think of. It's turned me to a woman, sir, I'm thinkin'; but it's the worst blow I iver had in me loife." There was a knock at the door just then. Pat hid his tear-stained face again. ""NTn admittance ilist now." cried the captain. " I didn't mane to come in, plase sir,*' said a sweet voice; "but I'd like to spake toyc, captain, af ye'll let me. I'm waitia' this loug time till me frind comes aboord to bring me home, and I'm gettin' anxious, fearin' something has happened him. What will I do, sir? I know nD one in Americay. Perhaps he might be on boord and me not know it. He'd be askin' for Annie O'Brien and he'd be Pat Nolan, that I'm promised to. Would ve " But the captain had flung wide the door; and Pat was on his feet, and with a roar like that of a buffalo had flung his arms about her. "Glory be to God and all the saints!" he cried. "You're not dead at all! You're alive! I've got you safe and sound! They've been telling me you J _ J I- it. i.1 L L were aeati. urou ueip uie man iutti put the thrick 011 me, for I'll lave but the bones ay him!" "Quiet, there!" shouted the captain. "Down with your fists or I'll put you in irons!" What did you mean by asking for Annie O'Brien, a steerage passenger, when you wanted Annie Bailey, a first cabin passenger? That is the girl that ! stan Js there. That is the name she gave ! us?Annie Bailey." "Captain dear," cried Annie, clutch- ; ing her Pat by the coat tail, "captain , darlin', Pat niver knew?he did not. J Since writin' him. mv mother?a widdv ?married again wid Mr. Peter Bailey, that kapes a foine tavern in our town. So long a3 I was a goin' from her, and he a proposin' to her, why woulin'tshe? And he havin' moaey to spare, said I should cotuc like a lady, aud paid me passage in the foinest place; and out iv compliment to him ?being my mother's husband and so generous to me?I sailed as Annie Bailey. That i3 the way it was, captain: and iudade all the trouble arose lrom it?for I wanted Pat to find me seated in the illigant saloon, and re- j mained there waitiu' for him." "You'll excuse me, sir,''said Pat bowing low. "cn account of what I've been through." > "All right," my man," the captain answered; and then Pat threw his arms about his Annie and led her away, the happiest man aiive.?New Orleans Delta. lialr and Teeth. The increasing number of bald nates among the western nations has been explained on the principle that nature is too economical to perpetuate any useless portion of the annual organism, and that hats and night caps have made our natural head cover rather superfluous. The inornucintr ilomoml fnr fppf-H might l>e traced to a similar cause. Hot coffee is said to crack and destroy the enamel of our teeth ; a passionate fondness of that same beverage does not, however, prevent the Turks from having excellent teeth: but like their Arabian neighbors they eai hard barley cakes, while baking-powders aad hash-mills forestall the functions of our natural masticating apparatus. Unless hygenic rofiipmc aVimilrl chnnorp niir nrftshnf. mrwlec JUWIUW guvu.v* Ow I of lif j, the coming man risks to get toothless aud naillesa, as well as hairless. jVW York Vfficc. _ WOliDSOF WISDOM. A. good conscience is a good sleeper. To bo contcnt is simply to cease re- \ sistance. Discontent is the want of self reliance| it is infirmity of will. People sometimes keep their secrets in order to keep their friends. There is a continually growing de . mand that other people be good. A man never outlives those who hav< f seen him make a fool of himself. The superiority of some men is merely ) local. They are great because their as- 1 sociates are little. , Fathers who whip their^boys for doing ] on the sly what themselves are doing i openly, make a big mistake. < No man is without a friend so long as ' his mother lives, or in need of pity if h< , has a wife who believes in him. s Young men who think they know it ; all, and that father and mother don'i i know anything, make a big mistake. ] Don't be too profuse in your thanks o! 1 the man who lets you have your owi 1 way. He may be doing it to cure you ol , a folly. i No womaQ can be handsome by the j force of features alone, any more than i she can be witty only by the help oi i speech. A man was never so rich or so power- ( erful that he had friends who would care ' for his children if he should become 6ud ' denly poor. * Everything that looks to the future ele- 1 vates human nature; for never is life so ] low, or so little, as when occupied with I the present. Frivolity, under whatever form it ap pears, takes from attention its strength, from thought its originality, from feeling its earnestness. He who sedulously attends, pointedly asks, calmly speaks, coolly answers, and ceases when he has no more to say, is in possession of some of the best requisites of man. Food of Moles. It is stated in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" that mole3 are entirely carnivorom, are exceedingly rapacious, and will die if left longei than eight or ten hours without food. Says a correspondent of the Scientific American: "I recently kept a living mole for a time to study its habits. I shut it iu a ventilated wooden box, giving it a tin lid lull of water and sonic grains of corn. It drank the water, refused the corn, and, while kept strictly in the dark, was quiet. After twelve hours captivity I offered it boiled rice, which it refused. After sixteen hours lasting, it ate bread and milk, though not freely. When I had had it twenty hours, I gave it cracked oats, soaked well in milk, but uncooked. This it ate ravenously. I then released it in the room, and it traveled about, seeking a placc to burrow, and made itself troublesome, tearing at the carpet and upholstery. I threw down a large, tbick woolen mitten, which it speedily found and entered, thrusting its head into the thumb. If undisturbed, it would hide in this way for hours, the light and warmth of the room seeming greatly to annoy it. It lived in the mitten for three days, coming out to eat oats soaked in milk, but rCIUSlOg COOK.CU oats. Ab vvti* f5ncu uut j J small meal of raw meat. At the end of ' four days it was killed, being apparently in a healthy conditiou, and not having lost any flesh." Decrees of Misery. Travelers who have visited the deserts of Kaffir-land or the colder latitudes of South America might easily come to the conclusion that some tribes of savages are more wretched than the most miserable slum-tenants of civilization. But it is a curious fact those pitied barbarians are themselves by no means conscious of their misery. General Booth, of the Salvation Army, will have no difficulty in getting thousands of colonists for his Redemption town, and the paupers of Italy emigrate in spite of Government appeals to their patriotism; but the housej less natives of Tierra del Fuego cannot | be persuaded to leave their dreary birth land. Caffir orphans desert from their civilized foster parents ana rejoin tneir i kinsmen in the baboon-haunted wilderness ; expatriated Laplanders pine away with homesickness. The fact seems to be that an abundance of savage freedom will reconcile human beings to hardships which, in conjunction with the restraints of civilization, would seem wholly intolerable.?Nevo Yor'c Voice. Origin of Safe Deposit Vaults. I was told recently that the safe dc- j | posit companies, which are now so pros; porous all over the civilized world, had , their origin in New York in an accident. [ A man who kept a restaurant nearouo of j the markets U3ed to take care of the 1 cash boxes of the marketmen who were [ j bis regular customers. One day he was <: at an auction, and seeing a large safe go- 1 ! ing for a very low price he suddenly ' | thought it would be a good thing to buy t i the safe aud lit it up in compartments * which he would rent to the marketmen ** for enough to cover the cost. ( He acted on the idea, and his patrons r gladly accepted the improvement upon \ the old method of caring for their cash. (; An enterpiising financier heard of the 9 new idea, paid a visit to the restauraut 1 in question, aud then set to work and ^ formed a safe deposit company with an } office and storage vaults on lJroadway. t It was successful from the start, and has c had numerous successors iu the business | of the safe keeping of valuables?Boston I Traveller. r They Worship a Log. There is a log of yullowiali colored > wood standing just outside of Ch'l Hui j (late, Peking. mis log nas remained id < its present position since the fall of the ! j old Ying dj nasty. It is in good pre- j I serration, and has commanded the re- , spect of all classes and conditions of peo- : | pie. Insects in China usually m ike in- ! j roads on timber in a very short while, J j but they are said never to al:giit upon , j this sacred tree truuk, aud it is true that , they have not left a single trace of their I work upon it, while the timbers in every ' I direction are a perfect honeycomb of in- j | scct work. The Chinese people believe I j that the log is the habitation of some god, 1 i and, on that accouut, gather and worship : at its base at least once a year. Among the higher classes the day for this unique 1 ' species of worship is the first of each ; succeeding month, unless that day should happen to be a new moon day. On October lof every year the Emperor com, mands the Board of Ceremonies to appoint a committee to pay their respects to the deified log.?St. Louia Republic. _ REV. DR. TALMAGE. I CHE_J5ROOKLYN DIVINE'S 8UN^ SERMON. Subject: "Invitation to a Wedding.' Text: "Come, for all things are now ready."?Luke xiv., 17. Holy festivities to-day. We gather other iheaves into the spiritual garner. Our joy is like the joy of Heaven. Spread the banquet, fill all the chalices. We are not to-day it the funeral of a dead Christ; we are celebrating the marriage of the King's Son. It was an exciting time in English history tvhen Queen Elizabeth visited Lord Leicester at Kenilworth castle. The clocks in all the towers and throughout the castle were stopped at the moment of her arrival, so continuing to point to that moment as the jne surpassing all others in interest. The doors of the great banqueting hall fvere opened. The queen marched in to the souud of the trumpets. Fourteen hundred servants waited upon the guests. It was a scene that astonished all nations when they aeard of it. Five thousand dollars a day did ihe banquet cost as it went on day after day. She was greeted to the palace gates with loating islands and torches and the thunders jf cannon and fireworks that set the night ablaze, and a burst of music that lifted the whole scene into enchantment. Beginning m that way, it went on from joy to joy and rrom excitement to excitement and from rapture to rapture. That was the great aauquet that Lord Leicester spread in K.enilivorth castle. Cardinal Wolsey entertained the French imbafsadors in Hampton Court. The best x>oks of all the land provided for the table. L'he guests were kept hunting in the parks ill the day, so that their appetites might be teen, and then in the evening hour they were shown into the banqueting hall, with ;able aglitter with imperial plate and ablush eyimi mo verj uuawiieab uiura, auu tuo seuuuu :ourse of the feast was made of food in all shapes, of men and birds and beasts, and lancing groups, and jousting parties riding lpou each other with uplifted lances. Lord3 ind princes and ambassadors, their cup3 gleaming to the brim, drank flr9t to tne wealth of the king of England, and then to ;he health of th9 emperor of France. That was the bauquet that Cardinal Wolsay spread in Hampton Court. But to-day, my brothers and sisters, I inrite you to a grander entertainment. My Lord, the King, is the banqueter. Angols of iod are the cupbearers, all the redeemed are :he guests, the balls of eternal love frescoed with light and paved with joy and curtained ivith uufading beauty are the banqueting jlace, the harmonies of eternity are the nusic, the chalices of God are the plate, and [ am one of the servants come out with incitations to all the people, and oh that you night break the seal of the invitation and :ead in iuk of blood, and with the tremulous land of a dying Christ. "Come, come, for ill things are now ready." Illustrating my text I go on, and in the first slac j 8ay that the Lord Jesus Christ is ready, Sardiual Wolsey did not come into the banlueting hall until the second course of the feast, and wnen he entered, booted and ipuvred, all tli9 guests arose and oheered him; but I have to tell you that our banqueter, the Lord JeBUs Chris , comes in at the beginning )f the feas'. Ay, he has been waiting for lis gaests, waiting for some of them 185H rear.-", witing with mangled feet, waiting with land on the punctured side, waiting with land on the lacerated iemplc3, waiting, wait* ng! Wonder it is that the banqueter did not get ireary and eay, "Shut the door, and let the laggards stay out." "No, he has been waiting. How much he is in earnest! Shall I show rou? I gather up all the tears that flooded iio in sTmnithr. all the blond that Slianneled bis brow and back and band and 'outto purchase our redemption. leather ip all tho srraani coming from midnight chill, jud mountain hunger, and desert loneliness, md I put them int j one bitter cry. I galher ip all the pangs that shot from cross and jpike and spear into one groan. I take one 3tgp of sweat on his brow, and I put it under Lie gl&83 of the gospel, and it enlarges to rakes of sorrow, to oceans of agony. That Christ to-day, emaciated and worn and weary, :on:es here, and with a pathos in which every ivord is a heartbreak and every sentence a martyrdom. Lesays to you. and he says to me, 'Come, come, for all things are no v ready." A ! there is oue word of live letters thit I ironid like to write, but I have no aheei. fair 5n< ugh to write ?t on. and no pencil go.id ?nough to inscribe it. Give me a sheet from ;lie heavenly record*, and some pencil usedby xugel in describing a victory, and then with iand struck with supernatural energy, mud ivith pencil dipped in everlasting morning, I ivill write it out in capitals of love, J-E-S-U-S. lesu.s! It is this One that is waiting for you in 1 for me, tor we are on the same platform Mifore God How lon<r he waited for me! How Ion? he has waited for you! Waiting as a Dauqueter waits for bis deUytd guests, the meat* smoking, and the beakra brimming, m/i tho niiiiatrnl with his finder on stiff strinc ready to strike at tbe first clash of tbe hoofs at the gateway. Waiting as a mother waits for 3. boy that ten years ago went off dragging her bleeding heart after him. Waiting. Oh, can foil not give me some comparison intense ?nougb, importunate enough, bigh as heaven, Seep js bell, and vast as eternity? Not expecting that you can help me w.th snch a comparison, I simply eay he is waiting as only an ill sympathetic Clinat knows how to wait for a wandering soul. l)o you know what it was that saved Martia Luther? It was that one verse, "The juat ball lire by faith." Do you know what it was that brought Augustine from his horrible dissipations? It was that one verse, "Put ye on tho Lord Jesm Christ, and make no provision *? xu_ a __i_ a _ r. ion xi__ n _ m ,, Tv_ lur tuu ucsu. iu iuiuu ma luacs laereoi. uu yon know what it was tbat saved HedJej Vicars. the celebrated soldier? It was the one passage, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou sh&lt be saved." Do yon know what it was that broujbt Jonathan Edwards to Chris:? It was the one passage, "Now unto him be elory forever and eve One Thanksjiving miming fa church I read my text, "Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good," and a young man Btood in the gallery and said to hlmsell: "I have never rendered one acceptable offering of gratitude to God in att my life. Here, Lord, I am thine 'orjver.'1 By that one passnga of 8cripture ho was brought into the kingdom, and if I might t 11 my own experience, I might tell how one Sjbb ith afternco i I wa? brought to the peace >f the sospel by reading of the Syro-Phoenir.an's cry to Christ, where he said: ''Even the I0.1K eat of the crumbs that fali frnm the maker's table." Philosophic sermon? neversaved mybody. Metaphysical scrtnon3 never saved I nybody. An earnest plea going right out of h j heart bleBse 1 or the Iloly Ghost, that is vhat Haven, that is what br' n^s people int) the :ing.lom of Christ. i Ku:>:)oje the world thought that Thomas Jlul:ner.s preached great fermons in Irs early nimstry. out rnomas unuimers say.< ne never reached at all until years after he had ooculied a pulpit ho came out of his sick room, and, ??ak and emaciated, lie HtooJ and t 'Id the to-y of Christ to the people. And in the great lay of eternity it will be found that not so mic!i the eloquent sermon? brought me? to Jbrist as the story told perhaps by those who v<.re unknown on earth, the simple story of iie Saviour's love and mercy, sent by t epow>r of tbe i oly Ghoat straight to the heart. ;ome, tioiv uhost. Ay. Ho is h?re this mornng. He fills all th9 place. I t^ll you the 3oly Ghost is ready. Then I no on and tall yon the church is etdy. There are thoso h re who say, "No >n: cares for my soul." We do caro for it. Lou see a man bowing bis head in pravor, ind you say, "That man is indifferent. ' Tint nan bows his head in prayer that the truth nay go to every heart. Tho air is full of prayirs. They are goins; up this morning front his assombly. Hundreds of prayers straight o the throne of a liPtening God. Tbe air is 'nil of prayers? prayers ascending nojn by ioou from Fulton street prayer meeting, Fitlay night by Fridav night ail ov^r this land, ?oing up from praying circ'es. Yea, there is IDt a uuiiuie Ui uu ll'jur m any imv uiivt wicio ire not supplications ixaccnuiug to the throne if mercy, 'l'ho church ia realy. And if you should this morning start for your Father's bouae there would be hundreds and thousands in this assemblage who would aay if they knew it, "Make room for that man. make room for liim at the holy sacrament; bring the silver bowl for hia baptism; give him fu!l right to all the privileges of the churoh of Jesus Christ." Do not say you have never been invited. I invite you now to the King's feast. One and alL All! All! But I go further and tell you that the angels are ready. Some people think when we spaak about angels wo are getting into the region of fancy. They aay it is very well for a man when he has just entered the ministry to preach about the angels in Heaven, but after he has gone on further It is hardly worth wbile. My friends, there is not any more evidence in the Bible that there ia a Gr?l than that there are angels. Did they not - j iwarm around Jacob's ladder? Whan Laziris's sou! went up did they not escort it? Did oot David say, "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels?" Are they not represented as the chief harvesters of the judgment day? Did not one ingel in one night slay 180,030 of Sennacherib's troops? Oh, yes, our world is in coaimunica.Ion with two other worlds. All that communication Is by anf?elB. When a bad man i* to die, a man who has despised God and rejected the Gospel. the bad spirits coma on sulphurous wing and they shackle him, and try to pueh him off the precipices into the ruin, and they lift a guffaw of diabolical exultation. But there is a line of angels, bright and beautiful and loving angels, mighty ansels, reaching all the way from earth to Heaven, and when others gather like them I suppose the air 1b full of them. Thej hover. * They flit about. They pu3h down iniquity from your heart. They are rsady to rejoice. Look! Tliore is an angel from the throne o' God. One moment ago it stood before Christ and heard the doxology the redeemed. It is here now. Bright immortal, what news from the golden city? Speak, spirit ble3t. The answer comes meltiiiR ou the air, "Come, come, for all things are now ready." Angels ready to bear the tidings. Angels ready to drop tiie benediction. Angela ready to kindle the joy. All ready. Ready, cherubim and seraphim. Ready, thrones and principalities and powers. Ready, Michael tho archangel. Yhp, I go further and say that your glorified kindred are ready. 1 have not any sympathy with modern spiritualism. I believe it is born ,n perdition. When I see the ravages ii mates with human intellects, when I see th? homes it has devastated, when I see the bad morals that very often follow in its wake, I have no faith in modern spiritualism. I think if John Milton and George Whitfield I have not anything better to do than to crawl under Rochester tables and rattle the leaves, they had better stay home in glory. But the Bible distinctly teaches that the glorified in heaven are in sympathy with our redemotion. Now, suppose you should pass into the kingdom of Goa this morning, suppose you should say, "I am done witn the sins of this world. I Me UDon all these folliei. O Christ! I take thee now, I take thy service, I respond to thy lore, thine am I forever." Why, before the t:ar of repentance had dried on" your cheek, before your first prayer had closed, the angel Btanding with the message lor thy sonl would cry upward, "He is coming!" and angels poising in midair would cry upward, "He is coming!" all along the line of light from doorway to doorway, from wiag tip to wing tip, the news would go upward till it reached the gate, and then it would dash to the house of many mansions and find your kindred out, and those bofora the throne would say: <;R9joice with me, my prayers are answered. Give me another harp with which to strike the joy. Savad, Bave.1, save J!" Now, my friends, if Christ is ready, and the Holy Ghost is ready, and the church is ready, and the angels of God are ready, and your glorified kindred are ready, are you ready? I give with the emphasis of my soul the question, "Are you ready?" If you do not get into the king's fea3t it will be because you do not accept the earnest invitation. Arm stretched out soaked with blood from elbow to finger tip, lips quivering in mortal anguish, two eyes beaming everlasting love while he says, "Come, come, come, for all thing9 are now ready." Old man, God has been waiting for thee long years. Would that some tear of repentance might trickle down thy wrinkled cheek. Has not Christ done enough in feeding thee and clothing thee all th^ss yeara to win from theo one word or gratitude? Come, ail tne young. Christ is the fairest of the fair. Wait not till thy heart gets hard. Gome, the farthest away from Christ. Drunkard, Christ can put out the fire of that thirst. He can restore* thy broken home. He can break that shackle. Come now, to-day, and get his pardon and its strength. Libertine, Christ knew where you were last night. He knows all the story of thy sin. Come to him this day. He will wash away thy sin, and he will throw around theo the robe of hi9 pardon. Harlot, thy feet foul with hell, thy laughter the horror of the street? I) Mary Magdalen! Christ wait* for thee. And the one farther off, farther off than I have mentioned, a case not so hopeful as any I have mentioned, self-righteous "man, feeling thyself all right, having no need of Christ, no need of pardon, no need of help?0 self-righteous man! dost thou think in those rags thou canst enter the feast? Thou canst not. God's servants at the gate would tear off thy robe and leave thee naked at the gate. O self-righteous man! the last to come. Come to the feast. Come, repeat of thy sin Come, take Christ for thy portion. Day of grace going away. 8badows on the cliff reaching farther and farther over the plain. The banquet baB already begun. Christ baa entered into that banquet to which you are invited The gnests are taking their places. The servant of the king has his band on ihe door of the banqueting-room, and he begins to swing it shut. Now is your time to go in. Now ia my time to enter. I must go in. You must go in. He is swinging the door f>hut. Now, it is half shut. Now it is three-fourths shut. Now, it is just ajar After awhile it will be forever shut! >Y uy Will JU WiiHU UU u?iog That life which God's compassion spares? While in the endless round of thought The one thing needful is forgot. The forces of nature were utilized in a remarkable manner at the West Hartford, Conn., reservoirs, and a good doal of money was saved to the city thereby. The new reservoir, No. 5, wae drawn down last summer in ordei to be cleaned out. The job had not been finished when cold weather cams on, about one-third of the bottom still being untouched. The water was shut out, but a small quautity of rain and melted snow soon covered the bottom with several inches of water. This froze solid over the muck which covered the uncleaned portion of the reservoir bed. Later on the gate was opened and the reservoir allowed to fill with water. A3 the water rose the layer of ice on the bottom rose also, bringing with it the mass of muck on which it lay and to which it was firmly attached. Thi3 operation was per' ? ?5 i. 1-- :? 1 i. formed graauauy, ana me iu? a.ept growing thicker. At length the water rose to its full height, and then the ice with its burden of muck was hauled ashore, where it now lies. The bottom of the reservoir was perfectly cleaned, and the work thus easily done would have kept a large gang of men at work for a considerable period. In the Revue d'Hygiene, M. Bourrier, inspector of meat for the city ol Paris, describes his experience with meat impregnated with tobacco smoke. Some thin slices of boef were exposed for a considerable time to the fumes ol tobacco, and afterward offered to a dog which had been deprived of food for twelve hours. The dog, after smelling the meat, refused to eat it. Some oi the meat was then cut into small pieces and concealed within bread. This the dog ate with avidity, but in twenty miuutes commenced to display the most distressing symptoms and soon died in great agony. All sorts ol meat, both raw and cooked, soma grilled, roasted aud broiled, were exposed to tobacco smoke and then given to animals, in all cases producing Bvmptoms of acute poisoning. Even the process of boiling could not extract from the meat the niootine poison. "Give u3," loudly and emphatically exclaims the New York Mail and Ex press, "more water and less beer!" The Colonel knows what he wants and is not afraid to say so. Some persons would have kept on ordering been rather than have any fuss about it. The Sultan of Turkey has attached to his bodyguard a soldier who is 110 jews old, - - - RELIGIOUS READING. OCR ONE LIFE. 'Tis not for man to trifle! Life is brief A sin is here. Our age is but the falling of a leaf, A dropping tear. "We have no time to sport away the hours; All must be earnest iu a world like ours. Not many live?, but only one have we? One. only one; How sacred should that life ever be, Toat narrow span! Day after day filled up with blessed toil, Hour after hour still bringing in new spoil. Our being is no shadow of thin air, No vacant dream, No fable of the things that never were, But only seem; 'Tis full of meaning as of mystery, Though strange ana solemn may that mean iug be. Our sorrows are no phantom of the night, No idle tale; No cloud that floats along a sky of light On summer gale; They are the true realities of earth. Friends and companions even from oui birth. O life below! how brief and poor and sadOne heavy sigh! O life above! how lonx and fair and glad? An endless joy! Oh, to be done with daily dying here! Oh, to begin the living in yon sphere! O day of lime how dark! O sky and earth, How dull your hue! 0 day of Christ, how bright! 0 sky an J " earth. Made fair and new! Come, better Eden, with thy fresher green, Come, brighter Salem, gladden alf the scene. ?ffloratius Bonar. WORLD-SHAKING POWER. ''What has become of the Church's power.'' ?ay3 an able minister of these times, "I cannot tell. It is partially, almost wholly, lost. The Church is now prudent, self-regarding, self-admiring, self-protecting, trimming her edges, locking her gates, repairing her walls, talking much withiu her borders. Where is the old world-.-haking power? So far gone down that men mockingly say, 'Presently there will be no Church, of there will be a "Church without an altar.' Oh, for a lamp enklndied by other than human hands!" This is the feeling of men who are possessed of spiritual vision, and are able to see the real spiritual state of our Zion. Other eyes may be attracted by numbers, and wealth and c-remony; but "those whose eye) have been opened to see, are not blinded "by this outside show. Underneath all this is clearly seen moral weakness, which is gradually sapping the foundation of the whole structure. The great need of the Church is a baptism of lire, to consdmethe rubbish of formalism and cerearonv, and bring forth what remains as "gold tried in the fire," or as "silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven time3." ,l Bl'STLED OUT OF HIS SPIRITUALITT." Dr. Chalmers is quoted by the eauor 01 the London Sunday School Chronicle as saying in a time of intense activity that he was "bustled out of his spirituality." How many Chriitian workers can re-echo that sentiment! So much trading, so many calls, so much studying, so many newspapers to read, so much of this, that, and the other, that there h no time for meditation and quiet thoughtfulness. Many Christians are bustled ont of their spirituality by their religious work itself. Their re igion consists in going to meeting, and serving on committees, and sewing for the heathen, nnd visiting the sick, and distributing tracts,?all mo9t excellent and necessary forms of service, and yet all of th? stirring, busy kind. .A voice comes to all such: "These things ought ye to have done, and not to have left the others?prayer, communion and meditation ? undone."' Busy, bustling work is no substitute for quiet, thoughtful preparation of the heart. The fallow ground yields tlie largest increase: the rested soul krt oiraofotif urtirifllll frflita. life seems to necessitate intensity of action. Bustling activity is thrust upon as. In the langu ge of the street, every one who gets along must hustle and rustle', which are the modern equivabnts for Dr. Chalmers's I bustle. We have a good deal of respect for the Christian who can "rustle," but we have still more for the one who knows not only 1 how to rustle, but how to rest, how to dosI sess his soul in patience, how to be still in ! God's presence as well as active in his serj vice. i A real danger of modern life, a danger far < more imminent now than in the time of Dr. Chalmers, is that we shall be hustled out of all spirituality; but the tendency can be corrected, the danger can be overcome. A halfhour a day spent alone with God and God's Word will leave us all the time we need ror active service, and will prevent any danger of being bustled out of our activity.?[Golden Rule. wisn and PArra. The "Junk of Pork" is the name given to certain rocks off the coast of Maine. On these rocks the schooner Ida Parker struck a few weeks ago. One of the masts in falling made a bridge over which five or six men passed to the long and narrow ledgo which ro9e out of the sea. There they raised their signal?a shirt on an oar?and then crouched together, protecting one another as well as they could. It was a fearful place in a fearful storm. They wished some vessel would come to their rescue. They I longed to be saved. But there was little hope that they would be seen, and if they were seen there was not much chance i that thev could be taken off. The same watchful Providence, the kind Father who made the broken mast act as a bridgejurned a revenue cutter that way, and the*signal I was seen and the men were found. But it was impossible to reach them. The wi9h had soon grown toward hope, but the hope I was close to despair. The men on the cutj ter longed to save them, but the boat whioh I was lowered was dashed back against the. vessel. It could, dot live in such a sea. At last the ' men on the rock saw the cutter turn away. Then they had hone. I-'or they knew' the heart of the sailor. They knew that the officers and crew would not leave them to perish. They knew that the vessel had gone to return with the means of reaching them. They believed in the men on the cutter though they did not know what they would do. This was i faith. Thev could not see l.ut j they believed. They hail confidence in the men because*, while they did ! not know their names, they knew their hearts?their courage and patience and humanity. .So they waited in faith through the long night, with the sea breaking over them. The fakli was rewarded. In the morning the cutter was there again, with more men ; and with the means of reaching the ledge. | The sea hail gone down a little but was still fearful. Yet the rocks were reached and all the men were taken off. and they were cari rled in safety into Portland harbor. Wishing is one thing: faith is another. Faith rests on knowledge. We trust men whom we know to be trusty. A shipwrecked man on a rock can trust the s?ilors wtio see him from their masthead, and he will do as I they tell him and be will be saved. We wisli to be saved from our sin and its desert. We hope to enter heaven when we die. But we need mo*e than to wish and hope?we need faith. We know Jesus the Saviour; we ; know what He has promised and what He has done. We may not know all which He will do, but we know Him. He assures us that He will save us if we trust Him to do as He tells us. We must let Him take us from the rock: we mu>t get into His boat: and He will carry us to the shore of the Heavenlveountrv. Believe on the l.ord .Tesus < hrist and thou shalt be saved.?[The Sea Breeze. A Cinvvin 1-inilortfllrftr. not to 1)* I XX kMM?.v> , behind everybody else in business it that city, advertises '"a grand spring and summer opening of things in mj j line" That's right. There are styles In coffins as well as in hats, and all o: as want the latest thing out. They are trying to make out that it b a very strange thing that a Camden girl of 14 never saw a Bible in hei j life. There are figures to prove that j 100,000 families in this country nevei j I bad such a book in the house. I ' 3 SABBATH SCHOOL \ INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOB MAY 31. r ? ? Lesson Text: "The Temple Repaired,* 2 Chronicles, xxiv., 4-14? Golden Text: 2 Cor. ix., 7?Commentary. 4. "And it came to pass after this that Joasb was minded to repair the house of the Lord." We now go backward in the history to a period about a hundred years earlier than the last lesson. Joash was the seventh king of the two tribes, and began to reign about a hundred years after the death of Solomon. Only seven ys'.rj old when he beSan to reign, ho reigned forty years (vs. 1). inly four kings reigned longer than he? three in Judah and on? i > Israel. Joash was one of the eight kings o?! Judah of whom it is written that "he did right in the sight of the Lord." But it is written that he did right through the instruction of Jehoiada, the priest (II Kings xii., 2). The temple was first plundered in the fifth year of Renoboam, about thirty-four years " after it was dedicated (II Chron. xii., 2, 9). This is suggestive of the death of Christ (the true Temple) in His thirty-fourth year. During the reigns of Abija, Jehoram and Ahaziah the temple was much neglected and during the six years immediately preceding the reign of Joash, while the wicked queen Athaliah reigned (chap, xxii., 2, 3,12), wickedness must have prevailed exceedingly. The house or temple of the Lord was th3 center of the nations life, and their treatment of it, or rather of Him who manifested His presence in % indicated the health of the nation or otherwise. The purpose of Joash to repair or renew the house points to blessing about to come on the people. 5. "And he gathered together the priests and the Levites." The whole tribe of Levi was set apart by God for the special service of the siuctuary (Num. iii., 5-8). Of this tribe Aaron and his descendants were to be the priests, while all the re3t of the tribe was given to him for special service (Num. iiL, 9, 10). i "Go out into the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter." This would have been a sort of compulsory taxation for the house of God, and was contrary to the principle laid down in Ex. xxv., 2?"Of evc-ry man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take My offering." 6. "And the king called for Jehorada, the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levitea to bring in out of Judah and Jerusalem the collection?"' The priest and the Levites probably understood their business better than the king did. It was not in their commission to go out collecting money, but it was comtnanded that the people should bring in their I offerings according to their ability (Dent. xvi., lo, 17; Mai. in., 10). It is a poor state of affairs when a worker of God has to go | around collecting his salary, or when money I for the Lord's work has to be wrung from I unwilling bearte. j 7. "For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, bad broken up the house of God." This was the woman who counseled her son Ahaziah (the last king) to do wickedly, and who, after his death, reigned six years (chap. xxii., 3, 3, 12). See her miserable end in chap, xxiii.. 15. ' And also al^the dedicated things of the house of the Lord did^they bestow upon Baalim." If we are children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, then we are no longer our own, but bought with a price (the blood of Christ} that we may glorify God (I Cor. yi., 19, 20). O " ??I -4 .V Ot " AiiU (XI/ CUD ftiug o wuiiuauutuouu vucj made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the Lord." There was a hols in the lid of the chest, a ad it was set beside the altar on the right side as one cometh In to the house of the Lord (11 Kings, xii., 9). Things are looking better now; this is mora like God's way, and there will surely be a blessing. 9. " And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring into the Lord the collection that Moses, the ssrvant of God, laid upon Israel in the wilderness." This is more fully stated in II Kings, xii., 4, 5, and carries us back to Ex., xxx., 11-16, where all who were numbered were to give a half shekel as an offering unto the Lord to make an atonement lor tneir souis, the rich not giving more and the poor not giving le 8 than half a shekel. This silver, like ths sacrifice, was a symbol of atonement. 10. "And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the che3t until they had made an end." This pleased the Lord, tor "God loveth a cheerful giver," and 'If there be first a willing mind, ft is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he bath not (II Cor. ix.. 7; viii., 12). 11. "lhus they did, day by day, and gathered money in abundance." As the chest wa^ filled it was emptied, counted, put up in bags and set In Its place again (II Kings, xii.. 10). 12. "And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the bouse of the Lord." And they laid it out to the carpenters and builders, and to masons and hewers of stone, and to. buy timber and hewed stone to repair the breaches of tha house of the Lord (II Kings xii., 11, 12.) They did not, like many nowadays, get ths work done first and then look for the money to pay for it, but they first saw the wherewithal on hand and then went forward with the work. 18. "So the workmen wrought, and tha work was perfected." King, priest, peogl? and workmen, an jauurere Kjjtoi,un. uw now every preacher, teacher, missionary, evangelist, or the humblest scholar who gives a penny to help send the gospel to others, are all laborers together in building up the great temple, the cnurch or body or Christ, which shall in due time be perfected (Eph. ii., 19-22; I Cor. iii., 9). i "And they set the hou3e of God in His state and strengthened it." In the margin of the R. V. "His state" is "according to the proportion thereof." The Spirit had given David the plans for the temple (I Chron. xxviii., 12-10), and they now ragaired it according to the design of the pirit. 14. "And when they had finished it the> brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada." Why did they not use uja all the money, or put in a bill for extras? W nat loois mey wvuiu uu m mu cjco many to-day! How easy to say that the work cost more than they expected! But sea their faithfulness. The surplus was made into vessels of gold and silver for the house of the Lord. Let the surplus of wealthy Christians be devoted to sending forth vessels of mercy to the unsaved, ana what joy such faithfulness would bring forth in heaven and on earth! "They offered burnt offerings in the house of the "Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada." This goo.l priest lived to the extraordinary age of 130 years, but when he died there was a sad change in Judah, both on the part of the king and the people. Sea the rest of this chapter, and notice the idolatry, and the murder of the priest Zechariab, the son of Jehoiada, and also the murder of of Joash, the king. How sad a termination to a reign that began so well! We are Christ's disciples, indeed, only if we continue in His word (John x., 27-29). If on the other hand, we are only good because an older and wiser friend is controlling us then when we lose that friend we shall be apt to fall. Let us hide in Jesus, Rock of Ages, our Great I t-r;~K Pfioct loan rtnlir on Him tnist Him I fuify, and all will be well.?Lesson Helper. A bookkeeper In a Wall street banking house has made the discovery that ink stains can readily be removed from the fingers with the head of a parlor match. Moisten the ink-stained spot and rub it gently with the head of the match, keeping the skin wet so that it will not be burned. Tho stain rapidly disappears. The match should not bo used where there is a cut. Violet ink stains can often be removed dv ruouing iueu wnu a rough woolen cloth. A coat sleeve answers very well. _ _ Ax English sailor named John "Williams, who was cast away in the South Seas, would have been killed and eaten but for his double chin?the lirst of the kind the natives had over seen. Instead of frying and eating him they named him Two China and made him % chief.