Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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W REV. DR. TALMAGE. iTHB BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. (Subject: "Standtng on the Plain With Christ." Text: "And He came down with them and stood in the plain."?Luke vi., 1". ' Christ on the mountains is a frequent study. We have seen Hira on the Mount of .Olives, Mount of Beatitudes. Mount Moriah, 'Mount Calvary, Mount of Ascension, and it is glorious to study Him on these great natural elevations. But how is it that never be\ lore have we noticed Him on the plain? jAmid the rocks, high uo on the mountain, Christ had passed the night, but now, at early dawn. He is coming down with some especial f riends, stepping from shelving to shelving, here and there a loosened stone rolling down the steep sides ahead of Him, until He gete in a level place, so that He can be approached without climbing from all rides. He is on the level. My text says, "He came down with them and stood in the plain." Now that is wiat the world wants to-day more than anything else?a Christ on the level, easy to get at, no ascending, no descending, approachable from all sidesChrist on the plain. The question among all consecrated people to-day is. Wh it is the matter with the ministers? Many of them 9?X engaged in picking holes in the Bible and apologizing for this and apologizing for that. In an age when the whole tendency is to pay too little reverence to the Bible, thev are fighting against Bibliolatry, or too much reverence for the Bible. They are building a fence on the wrong side of the road; not on the side where the precipice is and off which multitudes are falling, t at on the upper side of the road, so that people will ?1?I+ Uawa ia i !A Hanrrnr UUL iOil up Lltll, UL n UIVU l<UOl O u I,?v umu^v* There is no more danger of Bibholatry, or too much reverence for the Scriptures, than there is that astrology will take ttie place of astronomy, or alchemy the place of chemistry, or the canal boat the place of the limited express rail train. What a theological farce it is; ministers fighting against too much reverence for the Scriptures; ministers making apology for the Scriptures; ministers pretending to be friends of the Bible, yet doing the Book more damage than all the blatant infidels on all the earth. The trouble is our theologians are us in the mountain in a fight above the clouds about things which they do not understand. Come down t\A IvaoiHo Phriof, who i/U iuo piaiu auu ciauu wttuw ? never preached a technicality or a didactioisrn. What do you, 0 wis9 headed ecclesiastic, know about the decree3 of God? Who cares a fig about your sublapsarianism or your supralaparianism? What a spectacle we have in our denomination to-day?committees trying to patch up an old creed made two or three hundred years ago, so that it will fit on the Nineteenth century. Why do not our millinery establishments take out of the garrets the coal scuttle hats which your great-grandmothers wore and try to fit them on the head of the modern maiden? Tou cannot fix up a three-hundred-year-old creed so as to fit our tune. Princeton will sew on a little piece, and Union seminary will sew on a little piece, and Alleghany seminary and Dan - ? Tine seminary wiu sen uu utun uuu the time the creed is done it will be as variegated as Joseph's coat of many colors. Think of having to change an old creed to make it clear that all infants dying go to heaven! I am so glad that the committees are going to let the babies in. Thank you. So many of them are already in that all the hills of heaven look like a Sunday-school-anniversary . Now what is the use of fixing up a creed which left any doubt on that subject? No man ever doubted that all infants dying go to heaven, unless he ba a Herod or a Charles Guiteau. 1 was oppose! to overhauling the old creed at all. but now that it has been lifted up and its imperfections set in the sight of the world, I say. Overboard with it and make a new creed. There are to-day in our denomination five hundred men who could make a better one. I could make a batter one myself. As we are now in process of changing the creed, and no on? knows what we are expected to believe, or will two or three years hence be expected to believe, I could not wait, and so I have made a creed of my own which I in tend to observe the rest or my me. i wrote It down in my memorandum book some six months ago, and it reads as follows; "My creed: The glorious Lord. To trust Him, love Him and obey Him is all that Is required. To that creed I invite all mankind. T. De Witt Talmage." The reason Christianity has not made more rapid advance is because the people I are asked to believe too many things. There are, I believe, to-day millions of good Christians who have never joined the church and are not counted among the Lord's friends bee .use they cannot believe all the things I that they are required to believe. One-htuf the things a man is expected to believe in order to enter the church and reach heaven ' have no more to do with his salvation than j the question. How many volcanoes are there I in the moon? or, How far apart from each f other are the rings of Saturn? or, How many teeth there were in the jawbone with which Sampson smote the Philistines? I be' lieve ten thousand things,' but none of them onTrfViino- tn fin with mv salvation ex cept these two?I am a sinner and Christ cams to save me. I Musicians tell us that the octava consists only of five tones and two semitones, and all the Handels and Haydns and Mozarts and ^ Wagners and Schumanns of all ages must do tteir work within the range of those five 1 tone* and two semitones. So I have to tell about God, and their opinion about the soul and their opinion about eternity. Have you any idea that your opinion will have amy effect upon the two tremendous facts? that you are a sinner, and that Christ is ready at vour earnest prayer to save you? i In the final day of accounts how much will } you opinion ba worth? Your opinion will > no.t be of much importance before the blast 'x of the archangel's trumpet. When the life ^ o* this planet shall be thrashed out with the v flail of thunderbolts nobody will ask about | your opinions. Come down out of the moua\ tain of opinionativeness and meet Christ on the plain, where you must meet Him, or Soever meet Him at all, except as you meet Him on the judgment throne. A Christ eftjy to get at! No armed sentinel to challenge you. No ruthless officer to scrutinize the?paper.s you present. Immediate response. Immediate forgiveness, immediate solace. Through what struggle people must go to get a paraoa irom woriuijr authority! By what petition, by what hindrance, by what nervous strain ot anxiety, by what adroitness. A count of Italy wes condemned to be put to death at Milan. The countess, hearing of the sentence, hastened to Vienna to seek his pardon. The death warrant was already on its way. The countess, arriving in Vienna in the night, hastened to the palace gates. The attendants forbade her entrance at all and especially at night, but she overcame them with her entreaties, and the empress was wakened and the countess pleaded bafore her for the life of her husband, and then the emperor was wakened to hear the same plea. Commutation of sentence was granted, but how could she overtake the officer who had started with the death warrant, and would up by controversies, and men with whole libraries on their backs are disputing as to what proportion of sweet oil and cavenne pepper should make up the creed. "I cry, "Get out of the way and let the hungry world come in." The Christian church will have to chango its tack or it will run on the rocks of demolition. The world's population annually increases fifteen millions. No one pretends that half that number of peopb are converted to God. There are more than twice as many Buddhists as Protestants; more than twice as many Buddhists as Roman Catholics. Protestants, 133,000,000; Catholics, 195,000,000; Buddhists, 400,000,000. There aro 175,000,000 Mohammedans and 220,000,000 Brahmans. Meanwhile, many of tbe churches are only religious clubhouses, wheie a few people go on Sunday mornin?, averaging one person to a pew or one person to a hair doz?n pew3, and leavin; the minister at night to sweat through a sermon with bere and there a lone traveler, unless, Dy a ounaay evening aauou concert, he can get out an audieiice of respectable size. The vast majority of the church membership around the world put forth no direct effort for the salvation of men. Did I say there would have to be a change? I correct that and say, there will be a change. If there be fifteen million persons addea every year to the world's population, then there will be thirty million added to the church, and forty million and fifty million and sixty million. How will it be done? It will be done when the church will meet Christ on the plain. Come down out of the mountain of exclusivensss. Come down oat of the mountain of pride. Come down out of the mountain of formalism. Come down out of the mountain of freezing and indifference. Old Dr. Stephen H. Tyng, great on earth and in heaven, once said to me: "lamin favor of a change. I do not know what ii t.:e best way of doing things in the churches, but I know the way we are doing now is not tho best way, or the world would be nearer its salvation than it seems to b?." 80 I feel; so we all feel, that there needs to be a change. The point at which we all come short is presenting Christ on the plain, Christ on the level with all the world's woes and wants and necessities. The full change will have to come from the rising ministry. We now in the field are too set in our ways. We are lumbered up with technicalities We have too many concordances and dictionaries and encyclopedias and systems of theology on our head to get down on the plain. Our vocabulary is too frosted. We are to3 much under the domination of customs regnant for many centuries. Come on, young men of the ministry. Take this pulpit, take all the pulpits, and in the street, and the market place, and the family circle preach Christ on the plain. As soon as the church says by its attitude, not necessarily by its words, "My one mission is to help for this life and help for the life to come all the people," and it proves it3 earnestness in the matter, people on foot and on horseback and in wagons and in car riages will coma to the churches in such numbers that they will have to be met at the door by ushers, saying: "You were here last Sunday; you cannot pome to-day. Gent'emen and ladies, you must take your turn." And it will be as in the Johnstown freshet and disaster, when a government station was opened for the supply of bread, and it took the officers of the law to keep the sufferers in line because of the great rush for food. When this famine struck world realizes that the church is a government station set up by the government of the universe to provide the bread of eternal life for all the people, the rush will be unprecedented and unimaginable. Astronomers have been busy measuring worlds, and they have told *us how great is the circumference of thi3 world and how great is its diameter, yea, they have kept on until they have weighed our planet and found its weight to be six s?xtillion tons. But by no science has the weight of this world's trouble been weighed. Now, Christ .'stand ing on the level of our humanity stands in sympathy with every trouble. There ars so many acning heads; His ached under the thorns. There are so many weary feet; His were worn with the long journey up and down the land that received Him not. There are so many persecuted souls. Every hour of His life was under human outrage. The world had no better place to receive Him than a cattle pen, and its farewell was a slap on His cheek and a spear in His side. So intensely human was He that there has not been in all our race a grief or infirmity or exhaustion or pand; that did not touch "Him once and that does not touch Him now. The lepers, the paralytics, the imbecile, the manic, the courtesan, the repentant brigand?which one did He turn off, which one did He not pity, which one did He not help? The universal trouble of the world is bereavement. One may escape all the other troubles, but that no soul escapes. Out of that bitter cup every one must take a drink. For instance, in order that all might know how He sympathizes with those who have lost a daughter, Christ comes to the house of Jarius. There is such a big crowd around the door Ho and His disciples have to push their way in. Jf'rom tne cnrong 01 people i conclude that this girl must have been very popular. She was one of those children whom everybody likes. After Christ got in the house there was such a loud weeping that the ordinary tones of voice could not be heard. I do not wonder. The dead daughter was twelve years of age. It is about the happiest time in most lives. Very little children suffer many injustices because they are children, ant childhood is not a desirable part of human existence?they get whacked or set on. But at twelve yesrs of age the child has come to self assertion and is apt to make her rights known. And then, twelve years of age is too early for the care3 and anxieties of life. iSo this girl was, I think, the merriment of the household. She furnished for them the mimicry and the harmless mischief, and roused the guffaw that often rang- through that happy home. But now she is dead, and the grief at her departure is as violent as her presence had beeD vivacious and inspiriting. Oh, the bereavement was so sharp, so overwhelming 1 How could they give her up! I suspect that they blamed themselves fbr this or for that. Oh, if they had had some other doctor, or taken some other medicine, or had been more careful of her health, or if tbey had not given her that reproof some time when she had not really deserved it. If they had been more patient with her hilarities and, instead of hushing her play, had participated In it? You know there are so many things that parents always blame themselves for at such times. Only twelve years of age! So fair, so promising, so full of life a few days ago, and now so still! Oh, what it is to have a daughter dead! The room is full of folks, but ponder is the room where the young Sleeper is. ine crowu cannot go in there. Only six persons enter, live besides Christ?three friends, and, of course, the father and mother. They have the llrsc right to go in. The heaviest part of the grief was theirs. All eyes in that room arc on the face of this girl. There lay the beautiful hand, white and finely shapen, but it was not lifted in greetiog to any of the group. Christ steppad forward and took hold'of that hand and said, with a tone and accentuation charged with tenderness and 'command, "Damsel, I say unto thee, arise I" And without a moment's delay she arose, her eyes wide open, her cheeks turning from white lily to red rose: and the parents cry: "She lives! She lives!" and in the next room they take up the sound, "She lives! She lives!" and the throng in front of the doorway repeat it, "She lives! She lives.*7' Will not ail inosa wno nave ioas 1 a daughter feel that such a Christ as that can sympathize? Christ on the plain. I care not from what Bide you approach Him, you can touch Him and get His help. Is it mental depression you suffer? Remember Him who said, "My God, My'Grod,why hast Thou forsaken Me?' Is it a struggle for bread? Remember Him who fed the five thousand with two minnows and five biscuit?, neither of the biscuits larger than your list. Is it chronic ailment? Remember the woman who for eighteen vears was bent almost double and He lifted her face until she could look into the blue sky. Are you a sailor and spend your life battling with the tempests? Remember Him who flung the tempest of G-enesarath flat on the crystal pavement of a quiet sea. That Christ is in sympathy witn all who have trouble with their eyes, and that is becoming an almost universal trouble through much reading in rail cars, and the overpressure of the study in the schools where children are expected to be philosophers at ten, boyg and girls at fourteen wita spectacles. I say with all such trouble Christ is in sympathy. Witness blind Bartimeus. Witness the two blind men in the house. "Witness i the two blind men near Jericho. Witness the man born blind. Did He not turn their perpetual midnight into midnoon, till they ran up and down clapping their hands and saying, "I see! I see!" That Christ is in sympathy with those who stammer, or have silenced ear?, notice bow promptly He canie to that man with impediment of speech and gave him command of the tongue so that be could speak with ease, and, putting His fingers into the ears, retunea the tympanum. Is there a lacs of circulation in your arm, think of Him who cured the defective circulation and the inao tive muscles of a patient who had lost the U3e of hand and arm, by saying, "3tretch forth thy band!" and the veins and nerves and muscles resumed their offices, and though in doing so the joints may have cracked from long disuse, and there may have been a strange sensation from elbow to finger tip, he stretched it forth! And nothinz is the matter with vou, but you may ap peal to a sympathetic Christ. And if you feel yourself to be a great sinner, hear wnat He said to that repenting Magdalen, while with a scalding sarcasm He dashed her hypocritical pursuers. And see how He made an immortal liturgy out of the publican's cry, "God be merciful to me a sinner," a prayer so short that the most over whelmed offender can utter it, and yet long enough to win calestial dominions. It was well put by a man who had b?en converted, and who remembered that iu his dissolute days ha found it hard to get occupation, because he could not present a certificate for sood character. In commending Christ to the people he said, "JBless God, I have found out that Jesus will take a man without a character 1" Christ on a level with suffering humanity. My text says, "He came down with "them and stood in the plain." No climbing up ) through attributes you cannot understand j . ' '' ?5* ! No ascending of the heights of beautiful rhetoric of prayer. No straining after elevations you cannot reach. Nohunting for a God that you cannot find. But going right straight to Him and looking into His face and taking His hand and asking for His pardon, His comfort, His grace. His heaven. Christ on the level. When during the siege of Sebastopol an officer had commanded a private soldier to stand on the wall exposed to tne enemy and receive the ammunition as it was handed up, while he, the officer, stood in a place sheltered from ^ n?j? the enemy's gaas, uenerai uoruua icapeu upon the wall to help and commanded the officer to follow him, and then closed with the words, "Never order a man to do anything that you are afraid to do yoursolf." Glory be to God, the Captain of our salvation has Himself gone through all the exposures in which He commands us to be courageous. He has been through it all, and now offers his sympathy in similar struggle. One of the kines of England ona night in disguise walking the streets of London, and not giving account of himself, was arrested and put in a miserable prison. When released and getting back to the palace, he ordered thirty tons of coal and a large supply of food for the night prisoners of London. Out of his own exoariences that night he did this. And our Lord the King aforetime endungeoned and sick and hungry and persecuted and slain, out of His own experiences is ready to help all, and pardon all, and comfort all, and rescue all. AL in 'Via nloin A Q lrtTltT ftfl Vfl, JU1U 1XIU1 1U VUV ?o you stay up in the mountain of your pride you will get no help. That is the reason so many of them never find the Gospel. They sit high up on the Mont Blanc of their opinionativeness, and they have their opinion you that all the tneoiogy tnat will be of practical use in our world is made oat of the two facts of human sinfulness and divine atonement. Within that octave swing "The Song of Moses and the Lamb," the Christmas chant above Bathlehem and the Hallelujah of all the choirs standing on seas of glass. Is there not some mode of getting out of the way of these nonessentials, these superfluities, these divergencies from the main issue? Is there not some way of briuging the church down out of the mountain of controversy and conventionalism and to put on the plain where Christ stands? The pres. ent attitude of things is like this: In a famine struck district a table has been provided and is loaded with food enough for all. The odors of the meats fill the air, E very thing <? rpfulv. The Dlatters are full. The chalices are fulf. The baskets of iruit are full. Why not let the people in? The door is open. Yes, but there is a cluster of wise man blocking up the door, discussing the contents of the caster standing midtable, They are shaking their fists at each other. One says there is too much vinegar in that caster, and one says there is too much sweet oil, and another says there is nof the proper proportion of red pepper. I say, "Get out of the way and let the hungry people come in." Now our blessed Lord has provided a great sapper, and the/>xen and the fatlings have been killed, and fruits from ftjl the vineyards and orchards of heaven crown th# table. The world has been invftad to coma and they look in, and they are hungry, aqq the people would pour in by the inulloos to this world wide taole, but the door is blocked she be too late to save the life of her husband? By four relays of horses, and stopping not a moment for food, she reached the city of Milan as her husband was on the way to the scaffold. Just in time to save hjmt and not a minute to spare, she came up. You see there were two difficulties in the /r?i__ ?? "">* *KanoHAn fliarnf&i way. 1 UB ouo naa iiv i *?>!? . s.w? , and the other to bring" to the right place in time. Glory be to God, we need go torough no such exigency, No long road to travel. No pitiless beating at a palace gate. Pardon here. Pardon now, Pardon tor asking, Pardon for ever, A Saviour eas/ to get at. A. Christ on the plain 1 WORDS OF WISDOM. mtraa a triflfi meanlv is meaner than the trifle. It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness. If tou have a Jonah among your friends don't sit down and cry about it; be a whale. Beware of desperate steps; the darkest day, live till to-morrow, will have passed away. A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity to freshen into smiles. The trouble with the so-called idle lies is that as soon as they are uttered they atop being idle. There are few defects in our nature s< glaring as not to be veiled from observation by politeness and good breeding. Your friends may sometimes act mac because you do not come to see them. ' * ? ? ? A. an fkntf onam out iney ure now ua muu as mci occw. A Sketch of Recent Egyptian History. Egypt has been a dependency o( Turkey since ths year 1517, at which time, as the result of a series of wars that had been waged since the days of Constantino III., it fell into the hands of Selim I., who had vanquished Touman Bey and made it a Turkish province governed by a pasha. His rule continued, though not without frequent and violent rebellion on the part of the mamelukes, t that kept the country in great distrac[ tion, until the invasion of Napoleon in 1798. The results of his campaign, which terminated in the famous battle of the pyramids, where the great gene.al leminded his soldiers that forty centuries were looking down upon them are too well known to need repeating here. Suffice it to say that three years later Eagland joined with Turkey, drove the French from Egypt and asjain restored it to the control of the Ottoman Porte. After this the country sank back into its old condition of lethargy and decay. The advent of Mohamued Ali in 1803 changed the apparent order of thingi considerable. Amonsr the first of hii acts be proceeded to kill off the mamelukes in a wholesale and shocking manner, to raise a standing army, improve the old methods of irrigation, and to introduce many features of European civilization. He was a man of keen intelligence, with considerable ability as a ruler and skilled in military science. Moreover, he was both ambitions and aggressive, and at one time came very near ascending the throne of Turkey himself, but the quadruple alliance of 1840 interfered with his plans and compelled him to limit his power to the pashalik of Egypt. Mohammed A.li died in 1859, and was succeeded by Abbas Pasha, his grandson, who was in turn replaced by Said Pasha in 1854.?Chicago Post. I ~ An Electric Mail Car. One novelty in the way of electric traction on the St. Louis and Suburban Railway, now in successful operation iu St. Louis, Mo., is the application of electric motors to a United States mail car, which makes regular trips over the entire line, distributing and collecting the mail at different railway stations, as is I done on steam railways. This car is of I the same length as an ordinary steam railway mail car, and is equipped with double trucks with thirty-six inch wheels, a Thomson-Houston motor of fifteen horse power capacity being connected to each truck. A very high speed is attained, and the delivery and collection of mail is made without stoppiug the "car, as in steam service.?Scientifia i American. " \ ^ " " " " ' / ' . RELIGIO (JS_READING. DOWN THE STREAM. Love! It began with a glance, Grew with the growing of flowers, < 8miled in a dreamful trance, BXKReckoned not the passage of hours; Our passions' flood rose ever, Flowing ior beranu me, Till the brook b.came a river, i And the river became a sea. j Grief! It began with a word, Grew with the winds that raved; A prayer fcr pardon unheard, Pare Ion in turn uncraved; The bridge so easy to sever, The stream so swift to be free! Till the brook became a river, And the river became a sea. Life! It began with a sigh, Grew with leaves that are dead; Its pleasures with wings to fly, Its sorrows with limbs of lead; And rest reinainetb never For the wearier hours to be, Till the brook shall become a river, And the river become a sea. , PRAYER. I have great hope, from the promise made to prayer, that I shall begin to live before I die. What is the meaning of prayer, but that God would do what we cannot, and how vainly do we ask the help which we do not think* we want? I If we prav at all, we must be poor, help- ( less, and resigned; neither thinking we have I , already what we ask, or setting a time, or I prescribing a measure to God.?[T. Adam. < i BE HOLY. < Christian reader, do not turn away your ' eye from the admonitiou of your Lord. He i has made it your distinguished privilege to ; obtain deliverance from ail sin. Oh! come up to your high privilege. He has promised 1 to do this great work for you. Oh! may it i be accomplished upon thy heart! He commands it:?therefore heed the imperative command of your Lord, "Be ye holy!" God 1 is holy?angels are holy?heaven "is holy. | Would you ever dwell there with them? i Nothing unholy or unclean shall enter there, j Without holiness no man shall see the , Lord. Then be holy. Be holy in heart. 1 Let all your affections be sanctified, and placed where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Be holy in your life. Let your whole character bear tbe impress of the holy religion which you profess. Then shall ye shine as lights in the world. Be holy in conversation. Let not your lips be polluted b^ prorane or nuny conversation, oi luunou talking or joking, which are not convenient for Christians. Be holy in your thoughts. Let all your meditation run in a holy channel. And I pray God that you may he sanctified wholly, tbrouehont soul, body and syirit, and preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A NOBLE RESOWE. A counsellor of a great kingdom in Europe, charged with the superintendence of its public instruction, of instruction for the people, thus expresses the inspiring, guiding idea under wuicn ne worneu; x iiruunscu God," says he, "that I would look upon every Prussian peasant child as a being who could complain of me before God, if I did not provide for him the best education, as a man and as a Christian, which it was possible for me to provide." Noble purpose! and'is it one that it well becomes each one of us to form, who would glorify God by improving man's estate? He who goes forth to rule and guide the flock of Christ, should he not say, "I will hold myself accountable for all of sorrow and evil wfcich I am not honestly and heartily endeavoring to remove; my duty is bounded only by my ability." is irrengion rue inrougnouc me jbuui Tben let me count myself irresponsible only when, in person and thought, the voice and ( efforts of all whom I can inspire by my example, or move by my remonstrance, I have labored to the utmost that God's ways may 1 be honored, and his saving health known and accepted by all. Is there crime In our highways and even in our homes? Is there dark depravity and sensuality In our lanes and valleys? Let me nevter protest, in regard to it, my innocence before heaven, until I have done all that in me lies, to educate and humanize the young, to reclaim the mature in age and to shut off all the parent sources of his iniquity. Are there social usages which still prove, as they always have proved, abounding sources of immorality and crime? Let me llot bold myself acquitted before God. unless 1 have done, by precept and example, all j fKot- T miorhf tinM drmp to nrotest ae&inst I tbcir continuance. Is there idolatry of wealth *nd pageantry ?senseless servitude to the tyrannical fashions of the day? Let me not hold myself innocent, unless I have steadily and urgently recommended a nobler service; unless i have bten myself a model of simplicity and frugality. In one word, let me resolve, like Dinter, that I will regard every bumble being, old and vounp, gentle and simple, who may be reached and benefited by my prnyers and exertions, ns one wbo cin complain of me before God, if I have not done him good at every opportunity, and by every means.? "a 9TRANGF.R IN THE EATtTH." I am not acquainted with all the people In - -? J u tbe small piace w?er? jl u??e uwon iui ukoc Jast thirty years of my life. Many of their faces are unfamiliar to me. and less of their names can I call; and when I pass the limits of this town ard enter those that adjoin, the faces that I meet are still less familiar and their names yet more strange; and the farther I go from home, the les9 I know and am known. When I pass the boundaries of my native state, where I have lived most of mv days, it is but here and there one that I recojrnize, or that recognizes me. When I enter a rail-car. I find among our fellow-travellers scarcely one that I have met before; and when I walk the streets of some populous city the thronging crowds pass me without a look of recognition. or a seeming thought of whom and whnt I am. I feel all a'one among thousands. And if I cross the seas and dwell in foreign lands, not a face do I see that I have seen before; all nre strange to me, ana ineir speech, too, is strange. Not a word of their utterance can I understand, nor they a word of mine. I feel lonely nnd sad. lean hold little more intercourse with them than with the dwellers on the distant planets. And in yet another sense I am a straneer in the earth. I am a stranger as regards my inner man and the inner man of others. How little do they know of my thoughts end feelings, of my joys and sorrows, and how little do I know of theirs! "The heart knoweth his own bitterness and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy." How many nre my heart experiences thut I do not feel free to speak of to othprs!?bow many thai my nearest and dearest friends know nothingof! To bow large an extent am I all alone in the I world, livinz a life by myself! In heaven I shall know even as I am known. There wiil be no concealment there; there will be nothing to conceal and all will be open nnd naked to the view of all. There will be no strangers and no strangeness. It is here "in the earth" that I am a stranger. And yet there is One to whom even here I am not a stranger and who is not a stranger to me. He is a Friend that sticketli closer than a brother?a Friend more kind and condescending and sympathizing than all others, and to whom I feel the utmost freedom in unbosoming all my thoughts and feelings. He is a Friend that is ever near me. He goes with me wherever I go, and stays with me wberevtr I stay; nnd hi? ma i.< tki* ivnrlil. wherp T am yt ruci.vg ?**?.?? iuv it? M..7 a piljrrim ami a stranger, cheers and sustains me and makes my abode here comfortable. To have such a Friend with me in such a worl?l is worth mo e than all earthly riches, and I would th:it all but knew him aad had him for theirs.?[X. Y. Observer. Chinese Tea Culture. It is estimated tlwt 100,000,000 of the Chinese people are engaged in the culture, preparation, sale, carriage, and exportation of tea, and their Interests are adversely affected by the rivalry of other countries \ Our Defontlnr*, Gasper (during the procession)?It (s a terrible thing for women and children to be in a crowd like this. Casper?Yes, indeed; when they , have no one with them to protect ' them from the DQlicfi.?Puck. M India's Famous "Towers of Silence." J Dr. H. C. Yarrow gives a wonderful description of the ramous "Towers of Silence," in which the'Parsees of India bury their dead. These towers are erected on the top of Malabar Hill in r> 1 j 3 1 Domoay, aou are approauueu uy a ruau which is barred by strong iron gates against all except Parsees. The garden is beautifully kept and filled with flowering shrubs and palm trees. Fve in number are the towers, built of black granite, about forty feet in diameter and twentyfive feet in height. The oldest and smallest of them was built about 200 years ago, when the Parsees first settled in Bombay,and is used only for a certain family. A sixth tower of square shape stands alone, and is only used for criminals. Though wholly destitute of ornament the parapet of each tower possesses an extraordinary coping, which instantly attracts and fascinates the gaze. It is a loping formed not of stone, but of living cultures. These birds are ordinarily jeen ranged side by side in perfect order ?nd in a complete circle around the parapet of each tower, with their heads pointing inward. So motionless are they while resting from their hidious banquets ;hat they might be imagined to be iarved out of the stonework. Within ;he parapet of each tower is a sort of loor divided into seventy-two compartnents, with a well in the middle. These jompartments are arranged in concentric ings, separated from each other by larrow nagesoi sione,wuwu mcgivuTEu I 10 as to act as cha.aels far conveying all noisture from the receptacles into the veil and to the drains below. No one is allowed to enter the towers ;xcept the corpse bearers, nor is auy one permitted within thirty feet of the immediate precincts. Of a typical Parsee funeral Mr. Monier Williams writes as follows: %jgmfMfaqsv -1 T0WBB8 OP SILENCE. While engaged in conversation near the towers a sudden, stir among the vultures made us raise our heads. At least ? hundred birds collected around one of the towers began to show symptoms of excitement, while others swooped down f*/\TT? noitrVihnrtncr trees. The cause of e>??s this sudden abandonment of their previous apathy soon revealed itself. A funeral was seen approaching. However distant the house of a deceased person, whether rich or poor, the body is always carried to the towers by the official corpse bearers, the mourners walking behind. "The funeral I witnessed was that of a child. The body was wrapped in a white sheet and placed in a metal trough. When the two corpse bearers reached the path leading by a steep incline to the door of the tower me mourners mracu back and entered one of the prayer houses. The two bearers unlocked the door of the tower, reverently conveyed the body of the child into the interior, and unseen by any one laid it uncovered in one of the Etone receptacles nearest the central wall. In the outermost circle of the stone receptacles are placed the bodies of males, in the middle circle those of females, and in the inner circle nearest the well those of children. "Presently the bearers reappeared with the empty trough and white cloth, and scarcely had they closed the door 1 J ? ? anfAnno^ ^AVTn wnen a uu?u vunui? onvuj/vu apoQ the Sody, rapidly followed by othjrs. Iq five minutes more we saw the jatiated birds fiy back aQd lazily settle 3own upon the parapet. They had left nothing behind but a skeleton. In a fortnight or so the bearers returned, and with gloved hands and implements relembling tongs, placed the dry skeleton n the central water. There the bones ind their la9t resting place, and there ,he dust of many generations of Parsees :ommingling is left undisturbed for :enturies." The First Woman Preacher. Anne Hutchinson was the first womao jre:?cher in America. She arrived in Boston, Mass., from England in 1634, ind being admitted to membership in the :hurch, she began the advocacy of doc;rines, which carried with them her commission to preach. In 1637 a synod of i the church was called at Newtown,Mass,, | and her views being condemned as erroneous, she was, after two days' trial sentenced to banishment from Massachusetts. The first woman ordained in the United States was Antoinette Brown Blackwell. She was the first woman theological student that graduated from Oberlin College. A.t the time of her ordination, thirty;ight y?ars ago, she wa3 pastor of the Jhurch or "South Butler and Savannah," New York State.?Detroit Free Pres3. A Trip to Chinatown. - -New York Truth. s i?? A French court has decided lhat the Pope is a sovereign, and entitled to hold property in France just as any other sovereign. ' a. * : -= yY'. '> ; y' t . : A Hasical Genins. Miss Leonora von Stosch is a young riolinist of New York who comes so near being a musical genius that those who have heard her play say that her performances on the violin are wonderful?in fact, almost sublime. Miss Leonora has long wanted a real good violin. A short time ago Mr. McKay, a wealthy New Yorker, heard this young lady play; he had also heard of her longing to posess a really fine instrument. So he said to her: "Is there any violin in New York that ?ou would like to have!" "Oh, yes. I played 011 one of the grandest instruments in the world last WW I * 1 f - K I : r-A-r'lw r MISS LEONORA VON STOSCH. week. It is a genuine Stradivari us owned by Mr. Hauser. I would give anything to own that." "Tell me about it, will you please?" She told him of her experience with that violin,and Mr. McKay listened very eloselv. keeninsr his eves on her face nil the time. "Do you think Mr. Hauser would sell it?" he asked. "Yes, he is very anxious to sell it, but he won't take a cent le3s than $5000 for it." Mr. McKay seemed to be lost in hard thought for a few moments, and then he remarked: "Now, Miss von Stosch, I am going to buy that instrument. I have quite a collection of violins, and I have always wanted a Stradivarius. When I get it you may have it to play on as long as you like. You can take care of it and keep it until I send for it. How would you like that?" Ifiss von Stosch expressed her please ure in fitting words, and to make a long story short, Mr. McKay bought her the violin, though it co3t him ?500U to get it. Therefore it comes about that the young lady has an instrument worthy of her best efforts, and on which she hopes to add fresh laurels to the fame she has already won.?Chicago Post. A Victim of the Chileans. Charles W. Riggin was one of the two American sailori who were brutally murdered in the streets of Valparaiso. His home was in Philadelphia, where he was well and favorably known as a steady, ambitious young fellow, who worked hard to advance himself as a man-of-warsman. His brother, John L. Riggin, is still living in Philadelphia. Captain W. 8. Schley wrote: "Itis with feelings of the greatest sorrow that I have to communicate to you the death of your brother, Boatswain's Mate Charles W. Riggin, while on his liberty at this place. His tragic death at the hands of a mob embittered against all Americans has left a wound in the hearts of his shipmates that may not sood heal, and the time will soon come when it will be avenged by all who remember his worth and his genial good manners. I feel more than ordinary sorrow as the commanding officer in beiog the messenger of such sad intelligence to you, but I can assure you that his name and his worth will not be forgotten as long as nonor her records keep." Riggin's brother and aisters, Mrs. Mary Zimmerman and Mrs. Ellen Matthews, have administered upon the affairs of their dead relative and have, at the request of the Navy Department, forwarded to "Washingion his discharge papers of former cruisers and other documents. boatswain's mate uiggin. The medal which he earned on the Tennessee bears on its face the inscription, "C. S. C., No. 5791, Charles W. Riggin, U. S. S. Tennessee, February 10, 1887," surrounded with the words, "Fidelity, Zeal, Obedience.On the reverse is the figure of the old sbi|> Constitution inclosed in a circle of chain and anchor. The body of the boatswain's mate lies with that of William Turnbull, his fellow victim, in the British Cemetery at Valparaiso. A monument has been placed over their grave by the officers and men of the Baltimore. Emoainuuff cmms. A Vienna chemist predicts that the present methods of our taxidermists will >oon be superseded by the use of emonlmicg fluids?mineral fluids that can be injected into the veins of animals and birds (aud even iuto coliular tissues of plants) and by hardening to the consistency of stone give th'> impregnated obicct a fairly natural appearance. Experi meuts have much cheapened the prepa- j ration of the iluids which embalmers ure j using in many of 'tie larger Europeau cities, and petrified mummies vill soon lie turned out at $10 to $12 apiece.?New York Telegram. Recer.i explorations in the District of Sonora, Mexico, show that tho coal deposits in the San ?furoial Valley v;ill amount to fully GO,UOO,COO,iJ(JO tons, and it is of cxccliciit quality. ?it;.. . . . ' ./ J POPULAR SCIENCE. Barrels are being made successfully JS? from paper in England. , ' London, England, has electric fire enJ ,3 ginea now on exhibition. . The density of population is greatest) i|l in Europe, where it averages ninety-seven to the square mile. A fresh discovery of tin is reported to "' ? have been made at Kowloon, opposite ifi, Hong Kong, China. A Paris (Prance) photographer has invented a process by -which the colon- of his subjects are reproduced. Tii ?j?:_ ?...L < ???#? <4*ir JClieCiriV JJU3LI UUlliUlU, lUlUg uij u??- , .k.-. xi.-M teries, are in successful operation on th? , cable road in San Diego, Cal. An {electric atop-watch is now made $ -/JS which will show the time to within tht . ?9 one-hundredth part of a second. The average annual rainfall in the -''M United States is 29.6 inches, the variations ranging from 0 to about 125 : inches. v \ It is said that if the "voice'' of an # ' y? elephant were as load in proportion as /;? that of a nightingale, his trumpeting could be heard round the world. ? \ It has been found that by the use of ' :|j the sand blast the lettering on tomb-! :'M stones can be done at greatly reduced '';?j rr.af irith nrt aanriflefi of baautv in the result. . ' The star Sirius, which is shown to b? about double the size of our sua emitii from forty to sixty fold more light thani (he sun, owing to its matter being much more diffused. A Frenchman has invented a new and ' ;$?| ingenious frictional machine. Mercury is forced by means of a pump through' the pore3 of a piece of chamios, and ' electricity in considerable quantities is generated by the frictiou. ^ $Su A man of science has demonstrated bj] ' facts and figures what moat people havoi . . always believed, that colds are ofteoer' '^$3 caught by those who wrap themselves up' ; -.?8 and avoid the severity of the weather VlS than by those who brave the elemeattfJ A knowledge of the physiology of the; .. p' human larnyx has made it possible to> : supply artificial voices to people whoi ..." have been deprived of the one nature j gave them, and a number of eases are on rouuru wucio i<ud mtilj una uoou u^ivuvv^ . and alarnyx, made of suitable material! /fyS with rubber membranes, has been inserted and become of practical use in Of rooma of poor heariog qoalitio* ^ Dr. Ephraim Cutter says: Every hall or church has its keynote, and the audiencei ' will hear better if the speaker's voice is <] pitched and held to the keynote of the room. To find the keynote, sing the; Sfx&U natural scale slowly, evenly and smooth- j ly, or play this scale on piano or organ.! The note which is most prominent is the. keynote. Until recently it was supposed that; ' '-a the small star near the North Pole known; :;'?m as No. 1830 Goombridg?, which travel? 81 5Hfl race OI AOii lllliea a IWVUU| uaui the greatest velocity of any in the hear- i ens; but it is now known that Ma in[ ' : Cassionola has a velocity of 305 miles a seoond, while if the observations*of Dr.) Elkin are accepted, Arc turns is traveling! . . at a speed of 375 miles a second. The durability of iron railway bridges . is being investigated by several of th? l-ffi European Governments as a Consequence, of the late serious bridge disasters. The- M result of exiended English and German' investigation seems to show that under the most favorable circumstances iron bridges are not safe for a period exceed* [ &ja ing seventy-five years, and under certain conditions their life is much shorter. < . '..dSomething Abont Slam. . | Siam has been until lately, a terra In- ; $ cognita, a country whose only product, so far as was known to Amerioans and' Englishmen, was the famous Siamese . twins. The first treaty of commerce wis made by the Siamese Government with . . England in 1857, since which a little has been added to our knowledge of tho country and its people. The area of Siam is twice that of Great Britain and . Ireland. The population is said to be "S<raflj about 7,000,000. v:| The Siamese sovereigns have usually been of considerable ability, and In energy and enlightenment are superior to most Asiatic potentates. The late King of Siam and his successor have done what ,/^jj iney couia to iuuuuuuo mo ivmu v> .. Western civilization. Bangkok, the capital, has the electric light, tram can,, and Government offices of European architecture, and the present king has also shown himself a reformer of abuses, j especially of the worst of Siamese social evils, the universality of serfdom and the prevalence of slavery. Further and much-needed reforms ore expected from him, but even were the political and fiscal administration of the kingdom very much better than it is the Siamese, a light-hearted nation of Buddhiats, fond of amusement and accustomed to frequent holidays, are little ~'M fitted tp develop the great resources of tboir country. Its internal traae is chiefly in the hands of Chinamen, who, with the Malays, add some miUiutu more to the estimated population already stated. Railways are being constructed and Europeans have been encourged by the policy of Siamese royalty to settle at Bangkok and to develop the external trade of Siarn.?St. Louis Post-Dispatch. ? A Button as a Detect Ire. The Southern Pacific furnishes a good story. It began with a burglary. While the agent was at supper, the- depot at Devers station, near Houston, Texas, was robbed of several pieces of bagrmnrp. a few ex Dress packages and a small ? * w amount of money. J. P. Long, a special officer, was sent to the scene, but could find no trace of the thieves. The only clew was a button on the window sill. Mr. Long gave up the search and carried away the button as a souvenir of his unfruitful trip. A week later Mr. Long was at Lake Charles. Near the town he saw same tramps by the road-. side. He casually looked them over and noticed that one of the tramps had on a coat Irom which a button was missing. The other buttons looked familiar. Mr. Lons tried to account for the fact that the buttons caught his eye. Suddenly he pulled the souvenir button from his pocket. The mystery was cleared. It matched the other buttons on the coat, and the wearer was without doubt one of the Devers burglars. The tramp was arrested, lodged in jail at Lake Charles, confessed the theft, implicated several others who were also arrested, and th? ,0 one little button is about to play an important part in breaking up a dangerouj gaug of miscreants.?New Orleans june. j