Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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fllEV. DR. TALMAGE. THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN: OAY SERMON. Subject* "Kindness." Text: llThe barbarous people showed us no little kindness?Acts xxviii., 2. My text puts us on the island of Malta, noma fnv Thi? ldnnH tchif?h has always been an important commer cial centre, belonging at different times to Phoenicia, to Greece, to Rome, to Arabia, to Spain, to France, now belongs to England. The area of the island is about one hundred square miles. It is in the Mediterranean sea, and of such clarity of atmosphere that Mount Etna, one hundred and thirty miles away, can be distinctly seen. The island is gloriously memorable, because the Knights of Malta for a long while ruled there, but most famous because of the apostolic shipwreck. The bestormed vessel on which Paul sailed had "laid to" on the starboard tack, and the wind was blowing east-northeast, and the vessel drifted probably a mile and a half an hour ere she struck at what is now called St. Paul's bay. Practical sailors have taken up the Bible account and decided b?yond controversy the piace of the shipwreck. But the island which has so rough a. coast is for the most port a garden. Richest fruit and a profusion of honey characterized it in Paul's time as well as now. The finest oranges, tigs and olives grow there. When Paul and his comrades crawled up on the beach, saturated with salt water and hnngry from Ions abstinenco from food and chilled to the bone, the Islanders, though called barbarians because they could not speak Greek, opened their doors to the shipwrecked unfortunates. Everything had gone to the bottom of the <Wep, and the barefooted, bareheaded apostle and ship's crew were in a condition to appreciate hosoitality. About twenty-five such men a few seasons ago I found in the life station near Easthampton, Long Island. They had got ashore in the night from the sea, and not a hat nor shoe had they left. They found out, as Paul and his fellow voyagers found out, that the sea is the roughest of all robbers. My text finds the shin's crew ashore on Malta, and around a hot tire drying themselves, and with the best provision the islanders can offer them. And they go into government quarters for three days to recuperate, Publius, the ruler, inviting them, although be bad severe sickness in the house at that time?his father down with dysentery and typhoid fever. Yea, for three months they staid on the island watching for a ship and putting the hospitalities of tne islanders to a savere test. But they endured the test satisfactorily, and it is recorded for all the ages of time and eternity to read and hear in regard to the inhabitants of Malta, "The barbarous people showed us no little kindness." Kindness! What a great word that is. It * * - J ? * would ta.ite a reeu as iuuk ?? i>u?u <ru<wu ws apocalyptic angel used to measure heaven to tell the length, the breadth, the height of that munificent word. It is a favorite Bible word, and it is early launched in the book of Genesis, caught up in the book of Joshua, embraced in the book of Ruth, sworn by in the book of Samuel, crowned in the book of Psalms, and enthroned in many places in the New Testament. Kindness! A word no more gentle than mighty. I expect it will wrestle me down before I get through with it. It is strong enough to throw an archangel. But it will be well for us to stand around it. and warm ourselves by its glow as Paul and his fellow voyages stood around the fire on the island of Malta, where the Maltese mads themselves immortal in my text by tho way they treated these victims of the sea. "The barbarous people showed us no little kindness." Kindness! All definitions of that multipotent word break down half way. You say it is clemency, benignity, generosity; it is made up of good wishes, it is an expression of beneficence, it is a contribution to the happiness of others. Some one else says: "Why, I can give you a definition of kindness: It is sunshine of the soul, it is Allection perennial, it is acroivuiu^ g,i ouo, m is the combination of all graces, it is compas- ' sion, it is the perfection of gentle manliness and womanliness." Are you all through? You have made a dead failure in your definition. It cannot be defined. But we all know what it is, for we all felt its power. Some of you may have folt it as Paul felt it, on some coast of rock as the ship went to pieces, but more of us have again and again in some awful stress of life had either from earth or hoaven hand stretched out, which "showed us no little kindness." There is a kindness of disposition, kindness of word, kindness of act, and there is Jesus Christ, the impersonation of all of them. Kindness! You cannot affect it, you cannot play it as a part, you cannot enact it, you cannot dramatize it. By the grace of God you must have it inside you, an everlasting summer, or rather a combination of Juue and October, the geniality of the one and the tonic of the other. It cannot d*T?il with arrogance or spite or revenge or malevolence. At Its tlrst appearance in the soul all these Amalekites and Gergishites and Hittites and Jebusites must quit, and quit forever. Kindness wishes everybody well, every man well, every woman well, every child well, every bird well, every horse well, every dog well, every cat weil. Give this spirit fuS swing, and you would have no more need of societies for prevention of cruelty to auimals, no mora need of protective sewine woman's association, ana it would dull every sword until it would not cut skin deep, and unwheel every battery till it could not roll, and make gunpowder of no more use in the world except for rock blasting or pyrotechnic celebration. Kindness is a spirit divinely implanted, and in answer to prayer, and then to be sedulously cultivated until it fills all the nature with a perfume richer and more pungent than mignonette, and, as if you put a tutt of that aromatic beauty behind the clock on the mantel or in some corner where nobody can see it, you find people walking about your room looking this way and that, and you ask them: "What are you looking for?" And they answer: "Where is that flower?" So if one has in his soal this infinite sweetness of disposition its perfume will weim < verything. Cut if you are waiting and hoping for some one to be bankrupted or exposed or discomfited, or in any way overthrown, then Kindness nas not wisea pus??iuu w jw> nature. You aro wrecked on a Malta where there are no orange*. You are entertaining a guest so unlike kindness that kindness will not come and dwell under the same roof. The most exhausting and unhealthy and ruinous feeling on earth is a revengeful spirit or retaliating spirit, as I know by experience, for I have tried it five or ten minutes at a time. When some mean thing has been done me or said about me I t have felt "I will pay him in his own coin. 1 will show him up. The ingrate! The trator! The liar! The villain!" But five or ten minutes of the feeling has been so unnerving and exhausting that 1 ,havo abandoned it, and I cannot understand ' how people can go about torturing thornselves five <>r t;u or twenty years, trying to get even with pomobody. Thi only way you will ever triumph over your enemies is by forgivinz them an! wishing them all good and no evil. As malevolence is the most uneasy and profitless and dangerous feeling, kindness is the most healthful and delightful. And this is no: an abstraction. As I have trie 1 a litt'e of the retaliation, so I have tried a littiooi tiie forgiving. I do not want to leav* tuis world until I have taken vengeancs upon every man that ever did me a wrong by doing him a kindness. In most of such cases I have already succeeded but there are a few malignants whom I am vet pursuing, and I shall no; content until I have in soma wise helped them or beneflfcol thern <>r hlossed tham. Let us all pray l'or this spirit oi kiaineis. tt will settle a thousand questions. Ic will change the phase of everything. It will mellow through and through our entire nature. It will transform a lifetime. It is not a feeling gotton up for occasions, but perennial. That is the reason I like petunias better than morning glories. They look very much alike, and if I should put in your hand a petunia and a morning glory you could hardly tell which is the petunia and which the moraine glory: but the morninfr glory blooms only a few hours and thea Sluts up for the day, while the petunia is in as widespread a glow at twelve o'clock t noon and six o'clock in the evening as at sunrise. And the graoft of kindness is not spasmodic, is not intermittent is not for a little wtile, but it irradiates tne whole nature, all ihrough and clear on till the sunset of our earthly existence. Kindness! I am resolved to get it. Are you resolved to get it? It doss not come by haphazard, but through culture under the divine help. Thistles grow without culture. Rocky mountain sage grass grows without culture. Mullen scalks growwithout culture. But that great rs;l rose iu the conservatory, its leaves packed on leaves, deep dyed as though it had bean ooligeu co ngac tor lis oeauty ana it wom still reeking with the carnage of the battle, that rose needed to be cultured, and through Ions: years its floral ancestors were cultured. O God, implant kindness in all our souls, and then give us grace to watch it, to enrich it, to develop it! The king of Prussia had presented to him by the empress of Russia the root of a rare flower, and it was put in the royal gardens ou an island, and the head gardener, Herr Fintelmann, was told to watch it. And one day it put forth its glory. Three days of every week the people were admitted to these gardens, ana a young man, probably not realizing what a wrong thing ho was doing, plucking this flower and put it in his buttonhole, and the gardener arrested him as ha was crossing at the terry, and asked the king to throve open no more his gardens to the public. The king replied: "csnall I deny the thousands of good people of my country the privilege of seeing this garden because one visitor has done wrong? No, let them come and see the beautiful grounds." And when the gardener wished to give the king the name of the offender who had taken the royal flower, he said, "No, my memory is very tenacious and 1 do not want to have in my mind the name of the offender, lest it sUouid hinder me granting him a favor somo other time." Now, I want you to know that kindness is a royal dower, and blessed be God, the King of mercy and grace, that by a divine gift and not by purioining, we may pluck tins royal <i/->trrar- anH not wB?r it <-?n the outside of OUT I nature, but wear it on our soul aod wear it iorever, its radiance and aroma not more wonderful for time than wonderful for eternity. Still further, I must speak of kindness of word. \Vben you meet anyone do you say a pleasant thing or an unpleasant? Do you tell him of agreeable things you have heard about him, or the disagreeable? When he leaves you does he feel oetter or does he leol worse? Oh, the power of the tongue for the production of happiness or misery! One would think from the way the tongue is caged in we might take the hint that it has a dangerous power. First, it is chained to the oack of the mouth by strong muscles. Then it is surrounded by the teeth ot the lower jaw, so many ivory bars, and thon by the teeth of the upper jaw, more ivory bars. Thon outside of all are the two lips with the power of compression and arrest, and yet notwithstanding these four imprisonments or limitations, how many take no hint in regard to the dangerous power of the tongue, and the results and laceration, salification and damnation. There are those if they know a good thing about you and a bad thing, will mention the bad thing and act as though they had never heard the good thing. Now there are two sides to almost everyone's character, and we have the choice of overhauling the virtue or the vice. We can greet Paul and the ship's crew as tbey come up cue ooacn or Maita witn the words:" What a sorry looking set you are I How little of navigation you must know to run on these rocks! Didn't you know better than to put out on the Mediterranean this wintry month? It was not much of a ship anyhow, or it would not have gone to picces so soon as that. Well, what do you want? We have hard enough work to make a living for ourselves, without having thrust on us two hundred and saventy-six raga muffins." j Not so, said the Maltese. I think they j said: "Coma in! Sit down by the flro and warm yourselves! Glad that you all got off with your lives. Make yourselves at home. You are welcome to all wa have until some ship comes in sight and you resume your voyage. Here, let me put a bandage on your forehead, for that is an ugly gash you got from the floating timbers, and here is a man with a broken arm. We will have a doctor come to attend to this fracture." And though for three months the kindness went on, we have but little more than this brief record, "The barbarous people showed us no little kindness." Oh! say the cordial thing! Say ttie useful thing! Say the hospitable thing! Sav the helplui thing! Say the Christlike tiling! Say the kind think! I admit that this is easier for some temperaments than for oth- ! ers. Some are born pessimists, and some are born optimists, and that demonstrates itself all through everything. It is a cloudy morning. You me;t a pessimist -_.j ?.... uitfw.i 4.1 ,i? ?v! tr? I auu juu 'ifc.y, "unt wcatuci -** J : a-iv; answers, "It's going to storm," and um- I brella under arm and a waterproof over j coat show that he is honest in that utterance. On tbo same block, a minute after, you meet an optimist, and you say, "What weather to-day?" "Good weather, this is only a fog and will soon scatter." The ; absence of umbrella and absence of water j proof overcoat show it is an honest utter- J ance. On your way at noon to luncheon you | meet an optimistic merchant and you say, j "What do you think of the commercial < prospects?" aDd he says: "Glorious. Great j crops must bring great business. We are | going to have such an autumn and winter j of prosperity as we have never seen." Gn ] your v. ay back to your store you meet a pessimistic merchant. "vvhat do you tuink of the commercial prospects?" you ask. And j he answers: "Weil, I don't know. So ; much grain will sux'teit the country. Farmers have more bushels but less prices, and i the grain gamblers will get thtir fist in. | There is tae McKinloy bill, and the hay : cfop is short in ?ome peaces, and in the | southern part of Wisconsin they had a hail- j storm, and our business is as dull as it ever ! was." You will find the same difference iu ; judgment of character. A man of good 1 reputation is assailed and charged with some ! evil deed. At the first story the pessimist j will believe in guilt. "The panera said so, j and that's enough. Down with him." The optimist will say: "I don't believe a ! word of it. I don't think a man that his ; been as useful and seemingly honest for ) twenty years could have got off the track like that. There are two sides to this story, and I will wait to hear the other side before I condemn him." My hearer, if you are by ( nature a pessimist, make a special effort by \ the grace of God to extirpate the dolorous j and the hypercritical from your disposition. , Believe nothing arainst anybody until the ' wrong is established by at least two witnesses of integrity. And if guilt bo proved, find out the extenuating circanstances if there are any. And then commit to memory st> that you can quote for yourself and quote for others uiat exquisite mirieeum uuupujr ui r irst Corinthians about charitv that suffers long and is kind, and. hopeth all things and enduretn all things. By pen, by voice, in public and in private, says all the good about people you can think of, and if there bo nothing good, then tighten the chain of muscle on the back end of your tongue, and keep the ivory bars of teeth on the lower jaw and the ivory bars of teeth on the upper jaw locked and the gate of your lips tipiatly closed and your tongue shut up. What a place Brooklyn would be to live in, and all the other cities ana neighborhoods to live in. if charity dominated! What if all the younc; and old gossipers were dead! The Lord hasten their funerals! What if tittletattle and whispering were out of fashion! What if in cipering out the value of other people's character, in our moral arithmetic, we stuck to addition instead of substra^tion! Kindness! Let us morning, noon and night pray for it until wj get it. When you can spank a goou word for so.no on a speak it. If you can conscientiously giva icttor of commendation, giva it. Watch for opportunities for doing good fifty years after you are chad. All ray lif>3 has boen afTasfcsl by the letter of intro luction that the Rav. D;\ Van Vranken, of New Brunswic'.: Theological Saminary, wrote for me, a boy under hiin, when 1 was seeking a settlement in which to praach the Gospel. Tne lettar gave me my first pulpit. Dr. Van Vranken has been dead mora than thirty years, yet I feel the touch of that magnificent old professor. Strango sansation was it when I received a kind m^sage from Rev. Thomas vtuara, 01 Baltimore, tne great alecnoaist orator, six weaks after his death. By way otf the eternal world? Oh, no. by way of this world. I did not meet the friend to whom he gave the message until nearly two months after Thomas Guard had ascended. So you can start a word about some one that will be on ita travels and vigorous long aftir the funerul psalm has been sung at yo ir obsequies. Kindnes3! Why, if tifty men all aglow with it should wailk through the lost world, methinks they would almost abolish perdition. Furthermore, there is kindness of action. That is what Joseph showed to his outrageous brother* That is what David I showed to Mephiboiheth for hia fataar Jonathan's sake. That is what (Jneslphoru3 i I showed to Paul in tha Roman penitentiary. i That is what William Cowpar recognize! 1 when he said ho would not trust a mau who would with his foo t nes ibssly crusii a worm. ] That is what our assassinated Presi- < dent Lincoln demonstrated waea his 1 private secretary found him in the i Capitol grounds trying to get a bird back to the nest from which it had fallen, and which quality the illustrious man exhibited years before, when having with some lawyers in the carriage on the way to court passed on the road a swine fast in the ? ?'* ?a mkila /twSnrl f a Vtia hAMa/to 44U/-*!>' Ill llo, MpLvui atfuiio u icu uj uio uv/i oca( xxv/i and said to the gentlemen, "I must go back aud help that hog oat of tne mire." And he j did go bock and put on solid ground that most uninteresting quadruped. That was tho spirit that was manifested s by my departed friend, Honorable Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia (and lovelier man never exchanged earth for heaven), when at Washington. A senator's wife who told my wife of the circumstances, said to him, "Mr. Stephen, come and sea my dead canary bird." And he answered, "No, I could not look at the poor thing without crying." That iB the spirit that Grant showed when at the surrender at Appomattox he said to General Lee, "As many of your soldiers are farmers and will need the horses and mule3 to raise the crops to keep their families from suffering next winter, let each Confederate who can claim ahorse or a mule take It along with him." That is the spirit which, last night, ten thousand mothers showed to their sick children coming to give the drink at the twentieth call as cheerfully and as tenderly as at tha first call. Suppose all this assemblage, all to whom these words shall come bv- printer's type, should resolve to make kindness an over* arching, undergirding and all pervading principle of their life, and then carry out the resolution?why, in six months the whole earth would feel it. People would say: " What is the matter? It seems to me that the world is getting to be a better place to live in. Why, life after all is wortn living. Why, there is Shylock, my neighbor, has withdrawn his lawsuit of foreclosure against that man, and because he has had so much sickness in his family he is going to have the house for one year rent tree. There is an old lawyer in that young lawyer's office, and do vou know what he has gone in ttiere for? Why, he is help lllg iix up ? uihw waiuu m i/uu uig jlui tuts young man to handle, and the white haired < attorney is hunting up previous decisions ( and making out a brief for the boy. Down , at the bank I heard yesterday a note was due, and the young merchant could * not meet it, and the old merchant 1 went in and got for him three months' ex- ] tension, which for the young merchant is i the difference between bankruptcy and success in business. And in our street is 1 an artist who had a fine picture of the I 'Rapids of Niagara,' and he could not sell it, { and bis family were suffering, and they themselves were in the rapids; and a lady 1 heard of it and said, 'I ao not need the i picture, but for th> encouragement of art and helping you out of your distress I will < take it,' and on the drawing room wall are t&e 'Rapids of Niagara.' "Do you know that a strange thing has < taken place in the pulpit and all the old ministers are helping the youn* ministers, and all the old doctors are helping the young doctors, and the farmers are assisting each other in gathering the harvest, and for that farmer who is sic? the neighbors have made a 'bee,' as they call it, and they have all turned in to help him get his crops into the garner. And they tell me that the older and more sfciutui reporters j who have permanent positions on pap?rs are ! helping the young fellows who are just be- I ginning to try and don't know exactly how | to do it. An af tar a few erasures and inter- | polations on the reporter's pad they say: 'Now here is a readable account of that tragedy; hand it in and I am sure the managing editor will take it.' "And I heard this morning of a poor old man whose tbrea children were in hot debate I as to who should take care of him in his declining days. The oldest son declared it was his right because he was the oldest, and the youngest son said it was his right because hft was the youngest, and Mary said it was hep right because she better understood father^ vertigo and rheumatism and poor spells and knew better how to nurse him, and the only way the difficulty could be settled was by the old man's promise that h<* would divide the Eear into three parts, and spend a third of is time with each one of them. "And neighboring stores in the same line of goods on the same block are acting kindly to each other, and when one is a little short of a certain kind of goods his neighbor says, 'I will help you until you can replenish your shelves.' It seems to me that those words of Isaiah are being fulfilled when he says, Tho carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smooths with the hammer, him that smoto the anvil, saying it is ready for the soldering.' What is the matter? It seems to me our old world is picking up. Why, the millennium must be coming in. iUnaness nas gotten me victory. My hearers, you know and I know we are Jar from that state of thin^?. But why not inaugurate a new dispensation of geniality. If we cannot yet have a millennium on a large scale, let us have it on a small fcale. ana under our own investments. Kindness! If this world is ever brought to God that is the thing that will do it. You cannot fret the world up although you may l'ret the world down. You cannot scold it into excellence or reformation or godliness. The east wind and the west wind were one day talking with each other, and the east wind said to the west wind: "Don't you wish you had my power? Why, when I start they hail me by storm signals all along the coast. I can twist off a ship's mast a3 easily as a cow's hoof cracks an alder. With one sweep of my wing I have strewn the coast from Newfoundland to Key West with parted ship timber. I can lift and have lifted the Atlantic Ocean. I am the terror of all invalidism, and to fight me back forests must be cut down for fires, and the mines of continents are called on to feed the furnaces. Under my breath the nations crouch into sepulchres. Don't you wish you nad my power?" said the ease wind. The west wind made no answer, but ctiruH nn itu mission. nominir somewhere out of the rosy bowers of the'sky, and all the rivers and lakes and seas smiled at its l coming. The gardens bloomed, and th? orchards ripened, and the wheat fields turned their silver into gold, and health clapped its hands, and joy shouted from the hill tops, and the nations lifted their foreheads into the light, and the earth had a doxology for the sky, and the sky an anthem for the earth, and the warmth and the sparkle, and the gladness, and the foliage, and the flowers and the fruits, and the beauty, and the life, were the only answer t :e we3t wind made to the insolence of tfco east windTs interrogation. Kindness to all! Surely it ought not to bo a difficult gracj to culture when wa sea towering above the centurios such an exI ample that one glimpse ought to melt and I transform all nations. Kindness brought | our Lord from heaven. Kindness to mis| creants, kindness to persacutors, kindness | to the crippled and the blind, and the cataleptic and the leprous, and the dropsical, and the demoniacal charactsrizjd Him all the way, and on the cross, kindness to the bandits suffering on the side of Him, and kinduess to the executioners while yet they pushed the spear, and hammered the spikes, and howled the blasphemies. All the stories of the John Howards and the Florence Nightingales and the Grace Darlings and the Id* Lewises pale before this transcendant example of Him whose birth i and life an t death are the greatest story that tue wori'l ever heard, and the thonio of the mightiest hosinna tint heaven over lifted. ] Yea, the very kindness that allowed both j hands to be nailed to the horizootal timber | of the cross with that cruel thump! thump! ! now stretches down from the skies those | fame hands filled with balm for all our j wounds, forgiveness tor all our crimes, res- | cue for all our serfdoms. And while we take this matchless kindness from God, may it be found that we have uttered our last bitter word, written our last cutting paragraph, done our last retaliatory action, felt our fast revengeful heart throb. And it would not be a bad epitaph for any of us if by the grace of God from this time forth welived such beneScdnt lives that the tombstone's chisel could appropriately cut upon the plain slab that marks our grave a suggesfion from the text: "He showed us no little kindness." But not until the last child of God has got ashore from the earthly storm that drove him on the rocks like Mediterranean Kuroclydons, not nntil all the thrones of heaven are mounted and all the conquerors crowned,and all the harps and trumpets and organs cf heaven are thrummed or blown or sounded, and the ransomed of all climes and ages are in fall cborui under the ; Jubilant swing of angelic baton, and we shall for thousands of years have seen J i tbe river from under the throne rolling into | J the "seaof glass mingled with fire," and this / world we now inhabit shall bo so far in the j past that only a strotch of colestiai memory can recall that it evar existed at all. not an- _ til tben will we understand what Neherniah calls "the great kindness," what David calls "the marvelous kindness," and Isaiah calls "the everlasting kindness" of God! c WOKDS OF WISDOM. . 1 A man cannot be truly eloquent if he cnows not how to listen. Tact can afford to smile while genius ind talent are quarreling. Both courage and fear owe much to ;he armed neutrality of prudence. The seeming length ot a sermon is i jenerally proportioned to its needs. It is expensive economy to make a j )art of the truth suffice for the whole. v The balloon route to the top of Olym- \ jus has never been successfully traveled. 1 Virtue and laziness may live together, j >ut they are not usually on the best of t :erms. j All that is wise has been thought t ilready; we must try, however, to think n t again. 1 ? j Money and property are a costly knife, i >ut do not use it to hurt, but to distrib- * iite bread. 1 f Beware of the vicious man who pro- s )oses to reform his life on the instal- s neat plan. ) It's a good rule never to do for the take of gain what one wouldn't do for ove or duty. t ' < The Pholas. \ There is a email species of bivalve t ihell having the remarkable faculty of 1 soring into the hardest rock. It is one ( >f the greatest wonders known to the 1 :onchologist. Great blocks of granite 1 ind marble, that have fallen overboard ] )r been sunk in foundered vessels, have | t>een found, years afterward, completely I Honeycombed by these curious little ' borers, they themselves being imprisoned ' in the cavity, obtaining their food from 1 the water that flowed in and out. Many explanations have been given as to the method by which they bore into such j extremely hard rocks. 1 The shell is known to contain aragon- 1 ite, and some suppose '..hat constant fric- , tion enables the shell to subdue the rock. Others, again, are of the opinion that < the shell secretes some corrosive fluid ! which dissolves the rock and enables the A I a?? ),? CrdiilUre LU UUlD XIO UUIC. uurng Ui buv most interesting samples of its work known to the scientists may be seen in < the pillars of the Temple of Serapis, j Italy. There the land became submerged . long enough for the shell to do its curi- j ous work. After a lapse of ages the land 1 has now risen, and the holes with their , empty shell are plainly to be seen, the < marble pillars being comparatively ' permeated by them. These and other ( exhibitions of its work have caused i Pholas to be called "the shell miner," 1 and curiously enough, it is furnished ' with a lamp?a rich blue-white light , that shines out all over the entire body, i Some remarkable experiments have been made with the shells of Pholas. It ap- ! pears that they arc equally luminous , whether dead or alive, wet or dry. One scientist who was testing different substances, in view of obtaining light without heat, put one of the shells' in a jar of milk and use it to read by. In clear distilled water the light shines witn un- i diminished brightness for years. Placed in honey, the color of the light is turned to a light green; even then, however, the shell continues to give a good light for years.?Farm and Fir aide. A Submarine Forest. For a long while past many settlers on the East coast have labored under the impression that at a portion of the Bay of Plenty, opposite to "Whakatane, a forest of totnra is actually growing under the sea. It has been pointed out in our columns that the so-called trees were probably only a variety ot coral, known as horn coral, which grows in a branchy form, that the Maoris and settlers might mistake for a submarine forest, but until j July 6th we have not naa an opporiu- i nity of inspecting a specimen of this submarine growth. A piece was deliv- j ered at our publishing office, with one ; of the tops of a branch twig tied to the upper part of the stem received. The specimen received was divided at the lower part into three branches about thirty inches in length, and the upper twig, which had been broken off and j tied on, was about eight inches in length j and branched with tiny feathery sprays : somewhat resembling a tree, but for all that it is only composed of horn coral, ! which appears to have been dead some time before being drawn to the surface. On the top of the twig was coiled in graceful folds a good sized starfish, and all along the branches of the coral were , clustered a large number of ascidians, a species of small jelly fish. There were also several shellfish belonging to the crenetta, together with several barnacles, and at least one species of annelid. As J tlia aforficVi OTP not gOUU spcoiuiguo Ul KUV u>u.uuu easy to be obtained we have handed the coral tree, together with all the craaturea clustered upon it, over to Mr. Cheeseman of the museum, where it will bo prepared for exhibition.?New Zealand Herald. Danger iti Canned Stents. A German physician, who has been making investigations as to the cffcct* of time upon canned meats, expresses the opinion that preserved meats, hermetically sealed, may remain wholesome for , a year or more, but after the lapse of longer periods of time there i3 danger in ' their use. To guard against the sale of such meats which have been kept in i stock beyond the period of safety, he suggests that the date of the sealing of j the package be iudelibly stamped upon < it. This is a wise suggestion that should | 1 receive due consideration by those who ' are interested in legislation aimed to guarantee the purity and wholesomenes3 of food articles; and if it is favorably re- ' garded all canned goods should be brought within the scope of any law that may be enacted in accordance with it. With tho date of sealing plainly 1 stamped upon cach package, dealers l coula indulge ic no deception as to the age of food articles, and consumers j themselves would be made responsible j for the results of their use. There have been comparatively few cases of poisoning by the consumption of stale canned foods, but the canned goods business is growing so rapidly that it would be well to safeguard the people as much as possible in that particular.?Evening Wit' comin. ?? RELIGIOUS READING. a wren. 'here's a legend old of the midnight watch That at sound of the midnight bell. IJ i voice rung out through the silent town Aud the cry was "All is well?" _ "Ail's well?" P| )b, friend, when thy midnight hour shall t< come, " With the sound of the passing knell, a lav a voice ring out to thy weary heart u And the cry be: "All is well!" a: "All's well!" tl & TRIFLES THAT MAKE A 1'EIIFECT nOME. ''What have I done today?" the tired nothcraslts. "Nothing but take care of dt taby, plan the meals and 'pick up.' My life cc s wasted on tritles." Take courage, weary R nother! The progress of the world de- ? ends on the devotion of good women to ustsunh "trifles." Who can do a greater vork than these?care for a child and look fter the interests of a home? She, who vith patient mother-love gently prepares a "j luman soul for life's responsiblities, does 'aliant service for both God and man. Durng the lirst year of a child's life the atten- g ion of its" mother must, of necessity, * ?e devoted to the care of tne ^ )ody, but the body should be made a fit J* emple for the indwelling of au immortal J* oul. Taking care of the baby is surely no *1 rifle when viewed in this light. And what ? ire the other services luat go to make a 81 lome? Innumerable as the aands of the ? easbore for number, and in themselves al- ,{ nost as insignilicant in character, but the ;rand sum total serves. :is does the sandy ihore, to stem the hwelling tide of outside in and suffering that menace with sullen r var the sanctity of home aud safety of soci- j, sty.? [Mothers' Magazine. " t 1 I.ONELY VTOBEF.U.S. 1 Many Christians have to endure the soli- * ude of unnoticed labor. They are serving c 3od in a way which is exceedingly useful, T jut not at all "noticeable, liow vjjry sweet o many workers are those little corners of t ;he newspapers and magazines which de- * icribe their labors and successes; yet some, vho are doing what God will think a great a leal more of at the last, never saw their E latnes in print. Yonder beloved brother is B plodding away in a little country village; t hobody knows anything about him; but he is bringing souls to God. Unknown to fame, the angels are acquainted with him, and a Tew precious ones whom be bns led to Jesus tnow hira well. Perhaps yonder sister has i little class in the Sundav-school; there is nothing striking in her or in her class; nobody thinks of her as a very remarkable (vorker; she is a ftower that blooms almost unseen: but she is none the less frarrant. There is a Bible woman; she is mentioned in the report as making so many i visits a week; but nobody discovers all that she is doing for the poor and needy, and many are saved in the Lord through her instrumentality. Hundreds of God's dear servants are serving Him without tbe encour- S igement of man's approving eye, yet they i ire not alone?the Father is with them.?[0. EI. Spnrgeon. TnK DKKP WATERS. borne think tliat manliness means a Hrge leqtiaintance with the world, by which is meant, not only the pleasures of "the world, but many of its follies and some of its secret sins and impurities. When they say: "We must .see something of the world.'' they mean what we call the underground world, not the world as it is in broad daylight and pure beauty. The world of the prodigal son gave him more knowledge than he would have acquired at home, but did it give one touch of nobility to his character? It afforded him a close view of Sodom and its sensualities; but when he tumid his back upon it, was his retrospect a happy one? Through eternity that prodigal will not forget and will not cease to regret the period of his degradation, when he was a feeder and an euvier of the swiue. The underground world, where the "fast livers" dwell, had better be unknown forever; and the literature of that region must be turned away from as from a moral miasma, unless -Tiii-JdiBl allium tn fhr- niiinnft 1 U1C1I \Jl VtV k 0|/II|CUUI V|/M4.M ?'/ ?MV which comes down from Heaven. The 1 brilliant but impure literature of the period 1 needs dealing with as Satan when arrayed in robes of light. A thoughtful gentleman, 1 once speaking to an old tutor of ours of an j Impure poem, written by one of England's geniuses, said: '! would freely give $500 today if I could erase from my mind the recollection of that poem.'' j A young gentleman was one day riding in a fine steamer down one of the world's broad 1 rivers when he fell into conversation with 1 the pilot. "Ilow long," he asked, "'nave you been a pilot in these waters?" The old j man replied, ''Twenty-five years; and I j tame up and down a great many times be- j ' fore I was pilot." Then the young gentle- i ! man said, "I should think "you would! know every rock and every sandbank in the river." The old man smiled ! at his friend's simplicity, and replied. "Oh, J no I don't; but I know where the deep water ' id." It is not necessary for young men fc> have intimate and experimental knowledge of , every sand-bunk of moral d:mgcr and every ( rock where ehuraeter nnd hopes may be shattered; it is enough to know where the i deep waters are, the waters of purity,health. , noblemlndedness and righteousness; and with the pilot of Galilee on board, the vessel , wili be kept, in deep waters.?[Rev. W. Mid- i . dk'ton. JOY IN TIIK LORD. < If I could take you with me to my home von would think it a luxurious one. My house is nieely furnished. 1 have carpets and curtains, armehairs and sofas, pictures : on the walls, and much thit is ornamental , as well as useful; and the food that is on my ; table is abundant. You would say with all this I ought to be a happy man, and 1 do from my heart thank Gou for all his goodness to me". 1 am indeed a happy man, but , I do not think my furniture and food have much to do with ic. Every day I rise with a J sweet consciousness that Go.l loves me and | , cares for me and I know I love Him. lie bas i pardoned all ray many sin's for Christ's i sake, and I look*forward to the future with no dread: his Spirit, which dwells in me, reveals to me that ail this blessed peace is only the beginning of joy which is to list throughout eternity. Hut supposing it were j possible for some one to convince me 'hat this happiness was altogether a delusion on my part, and had no foundation in truth; that there was no God, no future; that, in reality, everything happened to us by chance: that we drift about the world for a < little while, and then disappear. Supposing. ] I say. 1 could be convinced of this, my sofa ami arm-chairs would give me lit- ( tie repose, my food would often remain i on the table untasted. I should wake in the morning with the feeling that it was scarcely , worth while tc get up?there was so little to live for. The sun might rise or might not; * it would be all dark to me. You see, my friends. 1 could not honestly advise you to 1 do what some of you say you wish to do? 1 live without Coil in the world, when ail the J time for myself my heart is crying out: "For ' without thee I cannot live.'' It is often a pleasure to me to remember that the costly ] things in my house, which you can s by no possibility share wiili me, t are not the things out of which 1 my happiness is made. Were they nee- t essary to my hap'iu-ss. I should often look round with a sigh and wonder why they ( are given to so few. Had I to leave them all tomorrow and take to the humblest of j homes, I should carry all my joy with me. J I rejoice that, in my own life, what exceeds ^ in value all other things is what I share iu j common with you; it is within your reach ( as well as mine. .My most earnest de-ire j. and prayer for veu is that in this hall, in r your own hearts, in your own homes, Christ may reveal himself to you. satisfying, as I know lie only can. every desire of your bun- \ gry hearts.?[Lord Cairns. " j \ c A good many American ladiea are * not going to Europe this season. The l novelty of smuggling things home is t worn off, and there ia no longer any t fun in it and therefore nothing to go for. _ j Thebe was one Incident In the Em- ] peror William's visit to London which j shows conclusively that he ia a man of j excellent judgment in some respects at < least. He got quite badly stuok on an < American girl. 1 .. I . kmM TEMPERANCE. ALCOHOL HOT A RZMEDT. Dr. N. S. Davis, President of the Ciiicazo [edical College, says: "Becausa tho sansaons of alcohol are generally considered aly, many individuals are ever ready to rescribe intoxicating beverages to relieve ae baby's colic, to strengthen the mother, j relieve the father's weariness and to preent the boys and girls from taking colds, nd of course doctors and people are all nited in calling them tonics, stimulants, nd restoratives. Alcohol does not lessen tie effects of evils, but diminishes the conciousncss of tl eir existence." a "home" for drunkards. Among all the movements for reforming rinking men, that of John G. Woolley immends itself to us most highly. At est Island, Minnesota, he is establishing a ome for them, not an "institution," but a )me in the best sense of that word. There ley will have opportunities, under most ivorable circumstances?pleasant, healthil surroundings and employments, and rerious influences?to break the chains that mdthem. Mr. Woolley is working with aart, soul and strength to accomplish his rand object, and desirea the help of everyody. He writes: "Help me build the Rest iland National Mission. We are turning icq away every week becau99 we have no uildings". We'have the land, bat must have le cottages, and stock, and tool, and books, end checks, or dollars, or dimes." We ncerely trust that this appeal will receive warm response. Address John G. Woolly, Lake City, Minnesota.?Union Signal. FORTY TEARS A DBD7TKARD. An old man with snow white hair and nustache and trembling voice, but with the tnpressive eloquence which heartfelt convicion and sincenty produce, stood up in the Vater Street McAuley Mission on a recent tight, and, wbile women wept and boarded aen uttered fervent amens, told the story if his conversion and rescue from a career if confirmed drunkenness which had lasted, nth brief intermissions, nearly forty years. The man was Reuben Johnson?"Uncle tube," as he was familiarly called by tha requenters of the mission. He said he was ver seventy years of age. Many years go, b?/ore rum had obtained complete doulnion over him, he was weil known as a killed mechanic and operator of printing >r esses. He was converted a year ago at he McAuley Mission, and at the same time eased drinking. It is customary at the McAuley Mission vhen a convert has remained faithful to his >ledges of reformation for a year to hold an ! ?? J,|m I mux wrsary u?ci mm ?uu ^g? uiiu j o mouut the platform and tell the 'story of | lis life and conversion. On a recent night I vaa "Uncle Rube's" anniversary, and, as ha s considered, not to speak irreverently, the itar convert of the mission, there was a i treat gathering there of people interested ints work. In plain, unaffected language, and with ione of that ostentation of oiety, which concerts sometimes display, 4"Uncle Ktfce" told lis story. He be^an to work whence was 'ourteen years of age, finding employment n the press room oi a newspaper. Wittflja earnings he helped support his widojvea^, nother, who was a devout Christian. He vas of a sociable disposition and soon learned to take a glass of beer now and then with the nen on pay day. A little later he occasionally took a glass of sweetened gin. <Be svas promoted rapidly and earned good wages. As bis wages increased be drank more frequently, but without any suspicion that he might some day become a slave to the habit. Alter be reached manhood be occasionally ;ot tipsy, but he always managed to conceal such lapse3 from his mother. He married tvhen he was thirty. Three years later he Inst his mother, and a vear after that his wife died. While his wife was living he only :ook an occasional glass, but ofcer that sad bereavement he abandoned himself to drink. "I could always endure physical suffering," be said, "but mental anguish made me a coward, and I went to rum for solace. Then, when I got sober my conscience would ihide me and accuse me, and to escape from self reproacn I would again have recourse to drink. And so it went on, until before I was aware of it, the habit had enslaved me md bound me in shackles that strive as I would I could not break." It was soon after he began drinking steadily that, at a hint from his employers, he gave up his situation in the pressroom, where he had been getting $45 a week. He never again worked at his trade, and for years lived a most precarious existence, swiftly sinking toward the gutter. He cared little what bard shifts he was put to for food is long as he could satisfy his craving for rum. About fifteen years ago he obtained admission to an inebriate asylum in the hope that he might there be cured of his terrible ippetite. But after staying there three months he found that its intensity had not been diminished, and in a few hours after IpRvinf it was as drunk as he had ever been in bis life. He went back to the asylum several times, but always witb the same remits. "The only advantage that tho place lifers to the drunkard," he said, 'is that be can't get drink there. Except for the ibsence of rum the atmosphere of the place is that of a third-rate barroom. There is no Christianizing influence about it." Except for brief intervals of respite when be was in some asylum Johnson lived for pears the life of a drunken sot. Five years igo he went to the McAuley Mission, "uungry, destitute, ragged, vermin infested?a wreck physically, mentally and morally." He got converted, as he thought. Alter Keeping sober for a few days he was consigned to the care of a convert in Brooklyn. But he found that this convert had lapsed from grace and was drinking freely. The temptation proved too much for him. Again he "fell, this time if possible lower than ever. For three years he lived almost literally in the gutters, without hope of any ort, except the faint one that if things ame to the worst he might escape by suiade. A year ago he again visited the mission for the purpose of getting a night's lodging. Again the prayers, the hymns and the addresses so wrought upon him that again he was led to hope that he might be saved and escape the terrible curse that had afflicted him more than half his life. "I had no Jaith in myself,'' said the old nan, while tsars of gratitude stole down his :heeks, "but 1 asked Jesus to help me, and Be did it. I am a Christian now. The old -1*Kao rtrtHO V/P1/1 V/* fit! muau IUI luiua UM hwuv. ?,v.v . v. Herald. TEMPERANCE NEWS AND NOTES. Eight polls have beon taken this year in Canada under the Scott Act, and in six cases prohibition was adopted. Chicago capitalists are projecting six adlitional lar^e breweries. They iutend to lood the World's Fair with bear. Any man giving drink to an aboriginal or lalf-caste of any district in Fiji is liable to a >enrJty of ?30, or imprisonment. The Philadelphia W. C. T. U. holds meetngs weekly in the Philadelphia almshouse ind hospital. The meetings are well at:em!ei and looked forward to with great deight by the inmates. The report of the Cominissio2teF3 of Inland Revenue for 1890-91 shows that the conumption ot rum in tne United Kingdom for he period named amounted to 4,478,718 galons, against 4,291,455gallons in 1889-90, or m increase of 187,2tf3 gallons. The report of the temperance committee )f the Wesleyan church scates that there are >714 bands of hope, with a membership of 176.540, an increase of 145 bands and 5859 nembers. The number of bands connected vith Sunday-schools 3373, with 350,175 mem)ers, an increase of 6825. The number of emperance societies is 772, with 51,545 mem)ers, au increase of 120 societies and 8064 nember.-:. Among the savages of New Guinea there s a tribe of people called Papuans. A Queensland gentleman has givea a most avorable account of them as a healthy and vigorous people. They have no knowledge >f anv intoxicating drink?not even kava, ho Fijian beverage made from palm. 'Thereiore," says the chronicler, "if they do lot imbibe the vicious tastes of civilization, here is no reason why thoy should not lerpetuato their race for many centuries to ome." The barbers of Kansas City recently resolved to do do shaviDg on Sunday. But as that is the only day in the weefc ;hat the people of that town indulgi n auch a luxury, the barbers have railed a meeting for the purpose oi wnaidering the propriety of rescinding the original order. '--r * , : .. ,J. . .v.-v. // ' - V?i . ji'. V.-J/I j '! .? v.V" Odd Use of Words. s\ . Many words once written witM dignl**J| fied motive now cause U3 to read passages of standard literature with a guffaw^ 9 The word "imp" was once a term oR^ high honor. But how now sounds tbm - M line from Spenser, "Ye sacred imp* tb&?B on Parnasso dwell?" Over many a grafts j of the old French nobles may be reMplH the line: "Gere lies that noble imp," Bacred Doom, written by Gascoisme thCMflH centuries ago, begins a stately address the posterity of Abraham with the ffordlig|8| "0 Abraham's brats,"brats being thea * ;|3 word of stately meaning. Opening a a old dictionary at randottt-'^a one day my eye happened to fall on the a|| word "tragedy." A note explained thafc J it comes from a Greek word which ffiaMp|a| 'a goat song" because the oldest tr^ga-jjij dies were exhibited when a goat wit ttfr.'M| rificed or given as a prize to thfe best "11 actor. The word "infant" means erally "not speaking." "Hare yoa pug dog? Did you ever think his f*c? 1 , looks like that of a monkey?" Th? -,|l monkey he most resembles is the pugmonkey, which gets its name from Pog; -'|i or Puck, as Shakespeare writes?1 sprite of mischief. Canter is an abbreviated form of Oa?terbury gallop, so called because pB#|39 grims to Canterbury rode at the p*03 erf* $>3 moderate gallop. A grocer, so says th? vJ dictionary, was originally one who aotdk".,|?j by the gross. A "grenade" derives name from its s&ape, wnicn resemoies effle pomegranate, A "biscuit" means "twiflim baked," because, according to militaty^ practice, bread or biscuits of the Romaa?|v were twice prepard in the ore as. DMram you ever notice the leaves of the daftdbgfl lion? They are said to reremb'e, in fotnftaS and size, the tooth of the snd the French call it the de lion, and "the dandelion." J The pope was formerly called papc," which means the same as upapa^w^ or father. Vinegar comes from tw^^m Latin words, vin and acer, meaning fl "vine''and "soar." These are onIy*'? few of the many curious and interesttagijS things I found in my afternoon's search , m in the old dictionary.?Irish Timet. J Legends Abont Bells. J In early times bells were supposed tjfcj? have the power of driving away evU^g. spirits, dispersing storms, otc.,anddo?il3 even to a comparatively recent date perstitions existed regarding them. une 01 me must, ruLuar&amc vi *uvbvi3K was at the little village of St. Filians, Pertahire, The villagers there belieVtt?0 Vthat the chapel bell there possessed power of curing mad people. On tha^ night before the bell was made tns|H for the purpose the villagers usually a?-':^: sembled outside the chapel, and formia^fa themselves into a procession, at the he^EM of which the bell was carried, entered!! the chapel. After the prayer had been said the bett|ji was securely bound with ropes. day it was carried out, and with gree^JS solemnity placed upon the heads of lunatics, but with what result we aronbfrjft told. It was believed that if this bell:. was stolen it would extricate itself from. >S the hands of the thieves and return t9lttf$i| place, ringing all the way! For marir3j| years it has been locked np to prevent fmSm being put to any superstitious use. '?|8 There is a curious legend connecte(tij?P with the bells of Messing ham. Church/-mIB is said that a long, long time ago a trav^^s eler was passing through Messingharn, ':r.$ when he noticed three man sitting on m| stile in the churchyard and sayin&gfl "Come to church, Thompson: coupe -wsj church Brown," and so on. Bsinj much surprised, he asked what it meaning and was told that, having no bells, thaf^n called folks to church in that way. H The traveler remarked that it was | pity so fine a church should oe wjcnoas^a j bells, and at the same time asked tbfcjS men if they could make three for th?|p church, piomising to pay tor them hi?self. They undertook to do this. ThejP&S were respectively a tinker, a carpenter)*!! a ad a shoemaker. When next the tnrafl eler passed that way ho found the thre?.;<jj men ringing three bellt, which said^ra 4 4 Ting, tong, pluff," being made re- 'Sspectively of tin, wood and leath^.?r-ia London Tit-Bit*. A Submerged Forest. 'J9 There is to-day in view the top of xwaRsjj 100 trees of the wonderful submerged M forest of Lake Samamish. Many of them are two and a half fe*S out of water and extend along the ioutl* shore of the lake, the group extendiM^ tnree-ioursoa ot a ouic up >uu uur> * lake and from 200 to 300 yards in widtlu-| The lake now being about Are feet low- ^ ertban during the winter month* tops of the trees are in view. Rapharf?# 'Coombs, while on a via it at Samatnish,^ made actual measurement of the deptbof water at the deepest places, where the". 'M largest trees stand, and found it over 100 A; feet. The largest tree at the surface meaa-\|* ured four feet without any bark, and the tree must have been equal, if not larger, than the one lately shipped from Joice'ir camp, near NorthJSend, and sent by rail . , ^ to Chicago. The theory now most believed as to how J this large cluster of mammoth trees b* ' cave so submerged is that as at the shore, ?-vjj of the lake at this point the land is level, and about a quarter of a mile back from there the Newcastle coal hills rue very is steep, it is believed that a landslide cam* | from this hill down a gorge, forming a 'J dam, which crowded a portion of this flat land out into the lake. The bed of ?? the lake from the shore pitches vciy. v; abrupt?an angle of ninety degrees-? and pitching thus until the bottom bo- y comes level, whore this submerged forest '(s is now located and rests. One of the oldest Indians that lire* near-by could tell nothing of the forest* 3] The water in this lake is so clear that ' during calm weather the standing treoe can be seen many feet under water.? Seattle (Washington) Press-Timet. The Unhealthlest Toirn in Earope. <3 The British Consul at Brest, irv his last report, says tbat ever since the *l<i war, when the English prisoners died ' there in large numbers, Morlaix has been known as an unhealthy place. Re- ft cent information, however, discloses a '< most startling state of things, and evca the local papers pronounce the town tha "unhealtniest in Europe." From Jana ary 1 to November 29, 1S90, there were 618 deatiis over births, the ezcess of deaths over births being 220 in less tbaa ' eleven months. The population is kept jJ up merely by the fact that a certain S number of country people settle in the town every year. Were it not for this d immigration the population of Moriais & would be extinct in lass tbaa tvq ccntur. ies.?Commercial Advertiser.