The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, April 27, 1892, Image 7
Si; . . -. ">'.
/ REV. DR. TALMAGE.
, THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'3 SUN- i
v niv SRRMOV
Subject: "The Glorious Palm .*
Text: "They took branches of palm trees
i \mnd went forth to meet Him."?John xii.,13.
How was that possible? How could palm
ifcranches be cast in the way of Christ as He
approached Jerusalem? There are scarcely
any palm trees in Central Palestine. Even
the one that was carefully guarded for many
years at Jericho has gone. I went over the
very road by which Christ approached Jer?isalem,
ana there are plenty of olive trees
and fie trees, but no palm trees that I could
see. You must remember that the climate
has changed. The palm tree likes water,but
by the cutting down of the forests, which
aro leafy prayers for rain, the land has become
unfriendly to the palm troe. Jericho
once stood in seven miles of palm grov*.
0?ivat was crowned wfth palms. The Dead
Sea has on its banks ths trunks of palm
trees that floated down lrom some oldtime
palm grove and are preserved from decay
Jby the salt which they received from the
l>ea1 Sea.
' Let woodmen spare the trees of America,
If they would not ruinously change tbe climate
and brine to the soil barrenness instead
of fertility. Thanks to God and the legislatures
for Arbor Day, which plants trees,trying
to atone for the ruthlesaaess which has
destroyed them. Yes, my text is In harmony
with the condition of that country on
the morning of Palm Sunday. About three
million people have come to Jerusalem to
| attend the religious festivities. Great news!
Jesus will enter Jerusalem to-day. The sky
is red with the morning, and the peopie are
flocking out to the foot of Olivet, and up
and on over the southern shoulder of the
mountain, and tbe procession coming out
from the city meets tne procession escorting
Christ, as He comes toward the city, mere
Is a torn in the road where Jerusalem suddenly
bunts upon the vision.
We had ridden that day all the way from
Jericho,and had visited the ruins of the house
of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, and were
somewhat weary of sight seeing, when there
suddenly arose before our vision Jerusalem,
the religious capital of all Christian ages.
That was the point of observation where my
text comes in. Alexander rode Bucephalus.
Duke Elie rode his famous Merchezay, Sir
Henry Lawrence rode the high mettled Conrad,
Wellington rode his proud Copenhagen,
bat the conqueror of earth and heaven ndes
colt, one toat had been tied at the roadside.
It was unbroken, and I have no doubt fractious
at the vociferation of the populace. An
extemporized saddle made ont of the garments
of the people was put on the beast.
While 6ome people griped the bridle of the
oolt, others reverently waited upon Christ at
the mountain.
Thn fwrt nrnr^winns of neoDle now become
one?those who came out of the city and
those who came over the hill. The orientals
are more demonstrative than we of the
western world, their voices louder, their
gesticulations more violent and the symbols
by which they express their emotions more
significant. The people who left Phocea, in
the far east, wishing to make impressive
that they would never return, took a red hot
b&li of iron and threw it into the sea, and
aid they would never return to Phocea until
that ball ro3eand floated on the surface. Be
pot surprised, therefore, at the demonstraI
tion in tne text.
As the colt with its rider descends the
slope of Olivet, the palm trees lining the
road are called upon to render their contribution
to the scene of welcome and rejoicing.
The branches of these trees are high up,
and some must needs climb the trees and tear
off the leaves and throw them down, and
others make of these leaves an emerald pavement
for the colt to trod on.
Long before that morning the palm tree
had been typical of triumph. Herodotus and
Strabo had thus described it. Lsyard finds
the palm leaf cut in the walls of Ninsveb,
with the same significance. In the Greek
athletic games the victors carried palms. I
am very glad that our Lord, who five days
after had thorns upon His brow, for a little
while at least had palms strewn under His
feet. Ob, the glorious palm! Amarasinga,
aqIIc if Irino flmnnor
HUO X11UUW OVUV/mi, VOMO ?W ?ruv >?Q ? -o
; the grasses." Linnaeus calls it "the prince of
vegetation."
Among all the trees that ever cast a
shadow or yielded fruit or lifted their arms
< toward heaven, it has no equal for raulti\
tudinoua uses. Do you want nowers? One
palm tree will put forth a hanging garden
of them, one ciuster countod bv a scientist
containing 207,000 blooms. Dc you want
food? Itis the chief diet of the whole nations.
[ One palm in Chile will yield ninety gallons
of boney. in Polynesia it is the chief food
of the inhabitants. In India there are multitu
es of people depsndent upon it for sustenance.
Do you want cable to hold ships or cords
to hold wild beasts? It is wound into ropes
' unbreakable. Do you want articles of house
furniture? It is twisted into mats and woven
into baskets and shaped into drinking cups
and swung into hammocks. Do you want
medicine? Its nut is the chief preventive of
disease and the chief cure for vast popula
tions. Do you want houses? Its wood turn,
iebes the wall for the. homos, and its leaves
thatch them. Do you need a supply for the
pantry? It yields sugar and starch and oil
and sago and milk and salt and wax and
vinegar aud candies.
Ob, the palm! It has a variety of endowments,
such as no other growth tbat ever
rooted the earth or kissed the heavens. To
the willow, God says, "Stand by the water
courses ana weep." To the cedar He says,
"Gather the hurricanes into your bosom."
t To the flg tree He says, "Bear fruit and put
it within reach of all the people." But to
the palm tree He says, "Be garden and
j _ storehouse and wardrobe and ropewalk and
chandlery and bread and banquet and manufactory,
and then be type of what I meanl
k when I inspired David, My servant, to say,
f The righteous shall flourish like a palm
tree."
k Oh, Lord God, give us more palm trees?
\ men and women made for nothing but to be
\ iioctui, uis^vDtiiuus ou auiwui, viauvuco m
J influence laden with fruit; people good for
\ everything, as the palm tree. If kind word*
\ are wanted they are ready to utter them.
I If helpful deeds are needed tbey are ready
I to perform them. If plans of usefulness are
I to be laid out they are ready to project
ahem. If enterprises are to be forwarded
toey are ready to lift them. People who
si^y "YesI YesT'when they are aslced for
assistance by word or deea, instead of "Nol
NdT
Most of the mysteries that bother others
do not bother me, because I adjourn them;
but che mystery that really bothers me is
why God made so many people who amount
to nothing so far as the world's betterment
is concerned. They stand in the way. They
object. They discuss hindrances. They
suggest possibilities of failure. Over the
road of life, instead of pulling in the traces,
they are lying back io the breechings. They
are the everlasting JJo. They are t> ram Die
trees, they are willows, always mourning;
or wild cherry trees, yielding only the bitterror
crab apple trees, producing only the
sour, while God would have us all flourish
like the palm tree. Planted in the Bible that
tree always means usefulness.
But how little any of us or all of us accomplish
in that direction. We take twenty
or thirty yeare to get fully ready for Christian
work, and in the after part of life we
take ten or twenty years for the gradual
cloeingof active work, and that leaves only
so little time between opening an 1 stopping
work that all we accomplish is so little an
angel of (Jodneedj to exert himself to see it
all.
Nearly everything I see around, beneath
and above in the natural world suggest)
useful service. If there is nothiag in the
Bible that inspires you to usefulness, go ou/t
and study the world around you this spring**?
loom the or eat lesson of useful
' nees.' "What art thou doing up there, little
star? Why not shut thine eyea and sleep,
ftr who cares for for thy shining?" "No,'
eaith the star, "I will not sleeo. I guidi
the sailor on the sea. I cheer the traveler
among the mountains. I help tip the dew
with light. Through the window of the
poor man's cabin I cast a beam of hops, and
the child on her mother's lap asks in glee
whither I come and what I do and whence I
go. To gleam and glitter, God set me here.
Away I I have no time to sleep."
The snowflake comes straggling down.
'Frail, fickle wanderer, why comest thou
hare J" "1 am no idle wanderer," responds
the snowflake. "High up in the air I was
born, the child of the rain and the cold, and
at the divine behest I come, and I am no
straggler; for God tells me where to put my
crystal beeL To help cover the roots, the
grain and grass, to cleanse the air, to make
sportsmen more happy and the ingle fire
* : :
' , at?
moreTirfg&t, I come. Though 90 lijrht I am
that you toss me from your muffler and
cru9h me under your foot, I am doing my
best to fuimi what l was made for. Clothed
in white 1 come on a heavenly mission, and,
when my work is done and God shall call,in
morning vapor I shall go back, drawn by
the fiery courses of the sun."
"What doest thou, insignificant grass
blade under my feet?" "I am doing a work,"
says the grass blade, "as best I can. I help
to make up the soft beauty of field an l
lawn. I am satisfied, if, with millions of
others no bigger than I. we can give pasture
to flocks and herds. I am wonderfully made.
He who feeds the ravens gives me substance
from the soil and breath from the air, and
He who clothes the lilies of the field rewards
me with this coat of green."
j "For what, lonely cloud, goest thou across
the heavens?" Through the bright air a
voice drops from afar, saying: "Up and
down this sapohire floor I pace to teach men
that like me they are pa&sing away. I gather
up the waters from lake and sea, ana then,
when the thunders toll, I refresh th9 earth,
making the dry ground to laugh with harvests
of wheat and fields of corn. I catch
the frown of the storm and the hues of the
rainbow. At evening tide on the western
slopes I will pitch my tent, and over me
shall dash the saffron, and the purple, and
the Are of the suoset. A pillar ot cloud like
me led the chosen across the desert, and surrounded
by such as I the Judge of Heaven
and Earth will at last descend, for "Behold
He cometh with clouds!"
Oh, my friends, if anything In the inanimate
world be useful, le't us immortal men
and women be useful, and in that respect be
like the palm tree. But I mast not be
tempted by what David .says of that grsen
shaft of Palestine, that living and glorious
pillar of the eastern gardens, as seen in olden
times?the palm tree;I must not be tempted
by what the OJd Testament says of it, to
lessen my emphasis of what John, the evangelist,
says of it in my text.
Notice that it was a beautiful and lawful
robbery of the palm tree that helped make
up Christ's triumph on the road to Jerusalem
that Palm Sunday. The long, broad, green
leaves that were strewn under the feet of the
colt and in the way of Christ were torn off
from the trees. What a pity, some one
might say, that those stately and grace ul
trees should be despoiled. The sap oozed out
at the places where the branches broke.
The glory of the palm tree was appropriately
sacrificed for the Saviour's triumphal procession.
So it always was, so it always will
be in this world?no worthy triumph of any
sort withcut the tearing down of something
else.
Brooklyn Bridge, the glory of our continent,
must have two architects prostrated,
the one slain by his toils and the other for a
lifetime invalided. The greatest pictures of
the world had. in their richest coloring, the
blood of the artists who made them. The
mightiest oratories that ever rolled through
the churches had in their pathos, the sighs
and groans of the composers, who wore their
lives out in writing the harmony. American
independence was triumphant, but it moved
on over the lifeless forms of tens of thousands
of men who fell at Bunker Hill and
Yorktown and the battles between which'
were the hemorrhages of the nation.
The kingdom of God advances in all the
earth, but it must be over the lives of missionaries
who die of malaria in the jungles
or Christian workers who preach and pray
and toil and die in the service. The Saviour
triumphs in all directions?but beauty and
strength must be torn down from the palm
trees of Christian heroism and consecration
and thrown in His pathway.
To what better use could those palm trees
on the southern shoulder of Mount Olivet
and clear down into the Valley of Gethsemane
put their branches than to surrender
them' for the making of Christ's journey
toward Jerusalem the more picturesque, the
more memorable and the more tiuinphantl
And to what better use could we put our
* ' -*?? ?? r*\
lives than into toe saurjuuo xui ^u uv auu
His causa and the happiness of
our fellow creatures? Shall we not be
willing to be torn down that righteousness
shall have triumphant way? Christ
was torn down for us. Can we not afford
to be torn down for Him? If Christ could
suffer so much for us, can we not suffer a
little for Christ? If He can afford on Palm
Sunday to travel to Jerusalem to carry a
cross, can we not afford a few leaves from
our branches to make emerald His way?
The process is going on every moment ia
all directions. What makes that father
have such hard work to find the hymn to*
day? He puts on his spectacles and holds
the book close up, and then holds it far off.
and is not quite snre whether the number of
the hymn is 150 or 180, and the fingers with
which be turns the leaves are very clumsy.
He stoops a good deal, although once he was
straight as an arrow, and his eyes were keen
as hawk's, and the hand he offered to his
bride on the marriage day was of goodly
shape and as God made it.
I will tell you what is the matter. Forty
years ago he resolved his family should have
no need and his children should be well educated
and suffer none of the disadvantages
of lack of schooling from which he had
suffered for a lifetime, and that the wolf of
hunger should never put its paw on his doorsill,
and for forty or fifty years he has been
tearing off from the palm tree of his physical
strength and manly form branches to
throw in'the pathway of his household, iz
has cost him muscle and brain and health
and eyesight, and there have been twisted
off more years from his life than any man
in the crowd on the famous Palm Sunday
twisted off branches from the palm trees on
the road from Bethpage to Jerusalem.
What makes that mother look no much
older than she really is? You say sh9 ought
not yet to have one gray line in her hair.
The truth is the family was not always as
well off as now. The married pair had a
hard struggle at the start. Examine the
tins of the forefinger and thumb of her right
hand, and they will tell you the story of the
needle that was plied day in and day out.
Yea, look at both her hands, and they will
tell the story of the time when she did her
own work, her own mending and scrubbing
and washing.
Yea, look into the face and read the story
* " "* * ?' ? ? J anri
01 scariet levers suit uuuus ouu
watching tnen none but God and herself ia
that bouse were awake, and then the burials
and the loneliness afterward, which was
more exhausting than the preceding watching
had been, and no one now to put to bed.
How fair she oaee was, and as fair as the
palm tree, but all the branches of her
strength and beauty were long ago torn off
and thrown into the pathway of her housebold,
Alas! that tons and daughters, themselves
so straight and graceful and educated,
should ever forget that they are walking today
over the fallen strength of an industrious
and honored parentage. A little
ashamed, arc you, at their ungrammatical
utterances? It was through their sacrifices
I that you learned accuracy of speech. Do
I yoa lose patience with them because they
are a little querulous and complaining.
I guess you have forgotten how querulous
and complaining you were when you were
getting over that whooping cough or that
intermittent fever. A little annoyed, are
you, because nor n earing is poor auu ju?
hare to tell her something twice? She was
not always hard of hearing. When you
were two years old your first call tor a
drink at midnight woke her from a sound
sleep as quick as any one will waken at thi
trumpet of the resurrection.
Oh, my young lady, what Is that onder
the sole of your fine shoes* It is a palm leaf
which wa>> torn off the tree of maternal
fidelity. Young merchant, young lawyer,
young journalist, young mechanic, with
good salary and fine clothes and refined surroundings,
have you forgotten what a time
your father had that winter, after the summer's
crops had failed through droughts or
floods or locust, and how he wore nls old
coat too long and made his old hat do, that
he might keep you at school or college?
What is that, my young man, under your
floe boot to-day, the boot that so well fits
your foot, such a boot as your father could
never afford to wear?
It must be a leaf from the palm tree of
your father's self-sacrifices. Do not be
ashamed of him when he comes to town, and
because his manners are a little old fashioned
try to smuggle him in and smuggle him out,
but call in your best friends and take him to
the house of God and introduce him to your
pastor, and say: "This is my father." If he
i had kept for himself the advantages which
he gave you he would be as well educated
and as well gotten up as you. When in the
English Parliament a member was making
a great speech that was unanswerable a
Lord derisively cried out, "I remember you
when you blackened my father's boots!"
"Yea," reDlied t&e man, -ana l did not ao ie
well?" Never be ashamed of your early
surroundings. Yes, yes, all the green leaves
we walk over were torn off some palm tree.
1 have cultivated the habit of forgetting
the unpleasant things of life, and I chiefly
remember the smooth things, and as far as
J I remember now my life has for the most
" -V-.
part moved over a road soft with green
leave*. They were torn off two palm trees
that stood at the start oC the road. The
prayers, the Christian example, the good
advice, the hard work of my father and
mother. How they toiled! Their fingers
were knotted with hard work. Their foreheads
were wrinkled with many cares.
ineir Dacira stoopec irom carrying our
burdens.
They long ago went into slumber among
their kindred and friends on the banks of
the Raritan, but the influences they threw in
the way of their children are yet green as
leaves the moment they are plucked from a
palm tree, and we feel them on our brow
and under our feet, and thay will strew all
the way until we lie down in the same slumber.
Self sacrifice! What a thrilling word.
Glad am I that our world has so many
specimens of it. The sailor boy on shipboard
was derided because he would not
fight or gamble, and they called him a coward.
But when a child fell overboard and
no one else was ready to help, the derided
Bailor leaped into the sea, and, though the
waves were rough, the sailor, swimming
with one arm, carried the child on the other
arm till rescued and rescuer were lifted into
safety, and the cry of coward ceased and all
huzzaed at the scene of daring and self
sacrifice.
When recently Captain Burton, the great
author, died, he left a scientific book in
manuscript which be expected would be bis
wife's fortune. He often told her so. He
said, "This will make you independent and
affluent after I am gone." He suddenly
died, and it was expected th^t the wife w6uld
publish the book. One publisher told' her
ne could himself make out of it $100,000.
But it was a book which, though written
witn pure scl entitle design, she fait would
do immeasurable damage to public morals.
With the two large volumes, which had
eost her husband tbe work of years, she sat
down on the floor before the fire and said to
herself, "There is a fortune for me in this
book, and although my husband wrote it
with the right motive and scientific people
might be helped by it, to the vast majority
of people it would be harmful, and I know
it would damage the world." Then she
took apart the manuscript sheet after sheet
and put it into the fire, until the last line
was consumed. Bravo! She flung her
livelihood, her home, her chief worldly
resources under the best moral and religious
interests of the world.
How much are we willing to sacrifice for
others? Christ is again on the march, not
from Bethpage to Jerusalem, but for the
conquest of the world. He will surely take
it, but who will furnish the palm branches
for tbe triumphant way? Self sacrifice is
the word. There is more money paid to destroy
the world than to save it. There are
more buildings put up to ruin the race than
churches to evangelize it. xnere is more aeE
raved literature to blast men than good.
terature to elevate them.
Ob, tor a power to descend upon us all like
that whioh whelmed Charles G. Finney with
mercy, when, kneeling in his law office, and
before he entered upon his apostolic career
of evangelization, he said: "rhe Holy Ghost
descended on me in a manner that seemed
to go through me, body and soul. I could
feel the impression like a wave of electricity
going through and through me. Indeed it
seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid
love. It seemed like the breath of God. I
can recollect distinctly that it seemed to fan
me like immense wings. I wept aloud with
joy and love. These waves came over me
and over me one after another, and until I
recollect, I cried out, 'I shall die if these
waves continue to pass over me.' I said,
Lord, I cannot bear any more.'" Ana
when a gentleman came into the offlcq and
said, '"Mr. Finaey, you are in pain?" hereplied,
"No, but so tiappy that I cannot live."
My hearers, the time will came when upon
the whole church of God will descend such
an avalanche of blessing, and then the
bringing of the world to God will be a matter
of a few years, perhaps a few days or a
few hours. Ride on, O Christ! for the
evangelization of all nations. Thou Christ
who didst ride on the unbroken colt down
the sides of Olivet, on the white horse of
eternal victory ride through all nations, and
may we, by our prayers, and our self sacrifices,
and our contributions, and our consecrations,
throw palm branches in the
way. 1 clap my hands at the coming victory.
I feel this morning as did the Israelites
when on their march to Canaan, they came
not under the shadow of one palm tree, but
of seventy palm trees standing in an oasis
among a dozen gushing fountains, or as the
Book puts it, "Twelve wells of water and
threescore and ten palm trees." Surely
there are more than seventy such preat and
glorious souls present to-day. Indeed, it is
a mighty grove of palm traes, and I feel
something of the raptures which I shall feel
when our last battle fought, and our last
burden carried, and our last tear wept, we
hall become one of the multitudes St. John
describes "clothed in white robes and palms
in their hands."
Hail thou bright, thou swift advancing,
thou everlasting Palm Sunday of the skies!
Victors over sin and sorrow and death and
woe, from the hills and valleys of the heavenly
Palestine they have plucked the long,
broad, green leaves and all the ransomed?
some in gates of pearl, and some on Battlements
of amethyst, and some on streets of
gold, and some on seas of sapphire, they
shall stand in numbers like the stars, in
splendor like the morn, waving their palms I
The Century Plant is Valuable.
The century plant is a species of cao?
tus, which matures at different ages in
different climates. In tropical countries
it attains its perfect state in about ten
jears, while in colder climates it often
requires from seventy years to a full century
to reach its maturity. When the
plant has matured it send? up a stem
which grows to the height of from
' * fant out nf
iweay-iuur iv ?uu tj-? ?
which grows numerous branches, forming
a perfect cylindrical pyramid, and
each is crowded with a cluster of greenish,
yellow flowers, which continues in
perfect bloom for several months. After
flowering the plant always dies to the
ground, but the rot continues to live
and send up new shoots. The century
plant, or Agave Americana, its botanical
name, grows through all the central part
of the American Continent, from Mexico
to Chile. It is called the maguey in
South America and the mezcal in Mexico.
From the leaf fibres of the plant a coarse
flax is made. The dried flcwer stems
make a thatch which is perfectly impervious
to rain. From its sap is obtained
a fermented liquor known as
pulque. .From the centre of the stem,
split longitudinally, a substitute for a
hone or razor strop is obtained; and an
extract of the leaves is made into 9oap
balU, which are largely u?ed in Mexico
for washing.?St. Louis Kepublic.
Remarkable Case of Longevity.
Cases of longevity el ways have a peculiar
interest for the public apart altogether
from their scientific value aa
showing the possible extent to which
the human life may be prolonged. News
received from Drezaica in the district
Mostar, in Hertzegoviuia tells of a peasant
named Anton Jurictch who, if the documents
he has made are to be credited, and
there seems to be no reasonable grounds
| for disbelief, is 130 years old. One would
think that at such a patriarchal age he
had been exempted from all the toils of
life, yet such is by no means the case,
i for this old man still works in the viaeJ
. t? ? ? A..
yaru as ue uaa uceu atuuaiumcu ij uu
lor generations past, and he goes to
church every Sunday, although it tikes
him two hours to walk the distance
which separates it from his home. His
eyes are still bright and he can see at a
considerable distance. His eyebrows,
however, in all these years have bccome
long and very bushy, and they meet
I over his nose and hang down so far that
I fkon Kono #-/v Ka ouf an aq nnK t.n rth.
struct his sight. The old chap likes to
sit and talk with the young people, to
whom he tells interesting anecdotes of
his young days, and the incidents he
remembers. His mother died a good
while ago at the advanced age of one
hundred and twenty, but his father died
when quite joun?. ?iBoston TranaCriot.
I RELIGIOUS READING.
i
i
EASTER CAROr..
1 Break, 0 glad morning, break thou in splendor;
Night, with thy sceptre and darknetta be
crone !
'Tis morning, glad morning, that early
should render
The homage now due to the conquering
One !
Go tell his disciples the Master is risen,
He has buret from the tomb with its thrall
and its chain;
He has freed him from death, he has broke
from its priuon:
He's risen, he's living, and ever shall
reign!
They in their sorrow the news scarce believing,
Haste to the sepulchre empty and lone,
And there a sweet vision of angels receiving,
They knew that the night of their weeping
was done.
Oh great was the power, the strength oh so
mighty,
That broke from the grave and conquered
its sting,
That opened death's gate so massive and
weighty,
Ob praise ye his power as our Saviour and
King!
Down from high heaven an angel came
flying
a nA fmm fcliA ilurk .<w>nulnhre rolled the
great stone,
And he who so lately bung bleeding and
dying
Arose iu his migbt ns the conquering One.
Oh spread tbe glad tidings, go tell every
nation;
Oh spread the glad tiding, go spread them
abroad.
Our Jesus has risen in robes of salvation;
Yes. Jesus has risen, our Saviour and
Oud!
?[Anna D.Walker, in American Messenger.
LOOKING UNTO JEf 03.
A lady bad a dream, in which she fancied
herself ac the bottom of a deep pit. She
looked around lo see if there were any way
of getting out; but in vain. Presently, looking
upward, she saw in that part of tbe
heavens immediatelv above the mouth of the
pit a beautiful, bright star. Steadily gazing
at it, she felt herself to be gradually lifted
upward. She looked down to ascertain how
it was, and immediately feund herself at tne
bottom of the pit. Again her eye caught
sight of the star, and again she felt herself
ascending. She had reached a considerable
height. Still desirous of an explanation of
so strange a phenomenon, she turned her
eye downward, and fell to the bottom with
fearful violence.On recovering from the effect
of the shock, she bethought herself as to tbe
meaning of it all, and once again turned her
I eye to the star, still shining so brightlv
above, and yet once again she felt herself
I borne upward. Steadily did she keep her
eye upon its light, until at length she found
I Horanif nut nt the hnrrlblc Dit. and her feet
| safely planted on the solid ground above. It
\ taught ber the lesson that, in the hour of
danger aad trouble, deliverance is to be
found, and found only in looking to Jesus.?
[Dr. Guthrie.
TRANSLATED INTO LIFE.
In an address before the British and Foreign
Bible Society, Rev. Dr. R. W. Dale
spoke eloquently on this topic as follows:
You translate the Scriptures into a new
tongue. You print and distribute them.
Then is your work done? No; it is only just
beginning. That which you have translated
begins to be translated again into the life and
conduct of men whom you will never see.
The power of it Is revealed in a new faith in
God, in a new reverence for God's authority,
In a new joy in his love. It is revealed In
habits of purity and habite of truthfulness
and acts of compassion.
It is revealed in the peace of families,in new
tenderness and affection between husbands
and wives, brothers and sisters, parents and
children. It is revealed in all the virtues
which constitute tne strengm 01 earimy
states, and which reveal in this mortal order
the august dignity of God's etornal kingdom.
These are the translations we want tbo
most. We want tbem in .England as well as
every other part of tbe world. We want
to see tbe contents of Holy Scripture translated
into tbe lives and characters of merchants
and of tradesmen, of masters and of
working people, of politicians and of journalists
; and God grant that every member of this
society who has contributed to the translation
of Holy Scripture into the tougaes
of people of foreign race may remember
that his first duty is to get the Holy Scriptures
translated into his own life in such a
form that its contents may become intelligible
to those who are nearest to him. The
real meaning of Holy Scripture is never discovered
until that translation has been
effected. You never know the meaning of
the acorn until the acorn has appropriated
to itself tbe mysterious powers of tbe sun
and tbe rain and the dew and the light and
the air. If anybody asks you the meaning
of tbe acorn, point to tbe oak with
its massive trunk and its mizhty branches
and its pomp of leaves. That is what
tbe acorn mean*. If anybody asks me for a
final proof that there is life and the very life
j ofGodintbe book that we are assembled
this morning to circulate all tbe world over,
I anmsiir The lunf nrnnf fhst
JL ft, I?0 IUC OBU1U AUgn^it ?.uv Vw?
tbe acorn is not dead, and that God made it,
is that the oak come* from it; and tbe best
proof that the very life of God is in the Bible
is to be found in the Bible's power.
No, sir. you do not know what you are
really doing. You send off bales of Btble9
from Queen Victoria street to India or to
China. You are like a seed merchant sending
bales of seed to the farmer. If
he wants to know what it is doing he must
go in autumu and see the country covered
with the brown corn ripening in the autumn
sun. If you want to know what your
Bibles are doing, follow them in thought to
the people to whom thev are sent. Measure
the moral and spiritual results which the
Bible has produced in you. What has been
done for you by the story of the descent of
the ?ternal Son from the heights of God to
effect our redemption by his
death for tbe sin of the world, by
his resurrection and ascension into
heaven and his eternal glory?what has been
done for you by these great contents of Holy
Scripture will be done for the people of every
land and under every sky to which your
Bibles are sent. Ah. sir! but if you could
follow your Bibles and discover their results
in human life and character in this world,
still you would not know the magnitude of
the work you ore doing. The Word of the
Lord Hve'th and abideth forever. It is a
Divine force. Eternal life is in it. It cannot
reveal all its powers and all its grace under
the limitations of these mortal years. The
Word of God in human life in this present
world is like a tropical tree planted on a Yorkshire
moor. Tbe life in it cannot be revealed
under these grey skies. Our winds are too
cold, tne son 13 100 pmu iui ncc w <** ?..
ifeat all its perfection. You must carry It
back to the land from which it came, a land
nearer the sun, before nil the stateliness aud
beauty of it can be achieved; and not until the
life which is rooted iu the Divine Word is
carried back to the world from which that
Divine Word came, that it may grow in the
1 verv light and glory of the Eternal, ca? we
linow the power, the beauty, the perfection
thai come to human nature from receiving
the living Eternal Word of God.
Prejudice is tbe conjurer of Imaginary
wrongs?overpowering reason, strangling
truth, making strong men weak and weak
men weaker. God give us the large-hearted
1 charity which -beareth all things, believeth
all things, hopeth all things, endureth all
1 things"?which thinketh no evil.?[J. R.
Macduff, D. D.
Every temptation to evil temper which
can assail us today will be an opportunity
to decide the question whether we shall gain
1 the calmness and rest of Christ, or whether
we shall be tossed by the restlessness and
agitation of the world.?' K. W. Robertson
There 1b trouble In Washington
because the German minister hangs
his washing out In his front yard, to
the scandal of passers-by. The astute
diplomat is trlng to combat the curcent
belief that clean linen and for*
eign noblemen do not so together.
The Dubuque News is said to be
th?i smallest full-fledged weekly paper
in the country. Its size is about 6x9
inches, and it has two editors. Persons
who dislike "blanket sheets*
should try the Dubuyue News.
' V'- . .? Witt 3 -
MARY WASHINGTON.
A MOUNFMENT TO THE MOTHER
OP THE IMMORTAL HERO.
The First Tribute ot Its Kind. Erected
by Women For a Woman?
What the Nation Owes
to Mary 6all.
tioa was given
the Lyceum Theatre.
It was an interesting occasion. The
Secretary of the Navy sent orders to the
New York Navy Yard to supply all the
National colors for trimming the theatre.
Mr. Lewis F. Gottschalk, the
composer, wrote a gavatte, which waa
danced by young ladies and gentlemen
in colonial costumes, and some of the
best known amateurs in New York appeared.
The entertainment was given under
the patronage of the Daughters of the
American Revolution and was brought
about, says the New York World, by the
indefatigable labors of Mrs. Roger A.
Pryor, who is absorbed in the praiseworthy
work of raising funds to build e
suitable monument to the mother of
George Washington, a monument which,
with the grounds and lodge, shall cost
not less than $60,000, and which will be
the first monument ever erected to a
woman by women.
It is to be erected on the spot near
Fredericksburg, Va., where Mary Washington
was wont to spend her hours in
meditation and prayer during the dark
days of the Revolution, where she desired
to be buried and where her lonely,
neglected grave is now marked only by
a tumbledown, uncompleted monument,
blackened and riddled by the shot and
shell from both Confederate and Federal
armies.
? 1
4
. THE
OLD HOUSE OF
Tbe monument will stand near the
rock shown in the picture and overlook
the former bed of tbe Rappahannock.
Twenty thousand dollars have already
been collected for the monument fund
from various States of the Union, Virginia
havin? donated $1000 of that sum.
To Mrs. Pryor, one of the Vice-Presidents
of the association, belongs the
credit of having set the ball rolling.
Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, Mrs. Levi P.
Morton, Mrs. Nicholas Fi9h and Mrs.
Spencer Trask guaranteed tneir patronage
to Mrs. Pryor for any entertainment
she might plan for this purpose. The
latter is a stately Virginia lady, whose
resemblance to Mary Washington is so
striking that she was selected to impersonate
her at the colonial ball given last
summer at White Sulphur Springs. On
that occasion Mrs. Pryor wore a kerchief
or needle point and cap which belonged
to the mother of Washington. From her
throat daDgled a medallion containing a
painted miniature of the General. These
xelics, furnished by the ladies of Fredericksburg,
were secured from sotne of
Mary Washington's descendenta.
Mary Ball was born at Epping Forest,
in that part of the Old Dominion known
?- V/vafkAvn Tho Kroxra nl^
U5 LUC lU'UUClu XI?. uu w>??v
manor-house is yet standing. Mary Ball
was a beauty and belle, and was known
far and wide as "the Rose of Epping
Foiest." The portrait herewith, which
has never before been published and
which represents her at the age of
eighteen, is from an original painting
taken in England, and now in the possession
of one of her decendants, Sirs.
Benjamin Story, of New Orleans. The
authenticity of this picture is discussed
and established by Lossing in his "Mary
and Martha Washington."
Wc owe Mary Washington a good
ileal. ISot oniy aia sae give us ucurgs
but she preserved him to fight our battles
for us. But for, her wisdom and
Bpirit he would have passed his youth
upon the deck of a British man-of-war.
Colonel Lawrence Washington procured
for his half-brother, when not quite I
fourteen years of age, a midshipman's
warrant in the British navy, and George's |
lugjjage was actually on board a British
ship in the Potomac when Madam Washington
forbade his going. Let your imagination
run riot for a moment- and
fancy George in a scarlet coat whistling
"God Save the King!"
The entire current of the nation's
history would have been turned by a
mother's weakness. The nation owes
the mother of Washington an endless
debt and a suitable monument to mark
her iast resting-place.
Mrs. Ella Bassett Washington says in
a Century article that those who remembered
Mary Wishington's appearance in
the later years of her life describe her
person as being of medium size and well
proportioned, the dignity of bearing, the
erect carriage, giving something ol statelmess
to her presence, while her features
were regular aud strongly marked, her
brow fine and her eyes a clcar blue.
At Fredericksburg, on the day of her
r..nn^ot .,11 Wtttinpas whs stisnendprl _
I X UUtKHj ?*?' 1 7
knd, though the August sun shone hot,
crowds of citizens Irorn town and the
country around "througed St. George's
Church, * * where the impressive
funeral service of the Protestant Episcopal
Church of America * * * was conducted
by the lie v. Thomas Thornton,
her pastor." And then, borue reverently
in her coffin by stong men, the mortal
remains ot Mary Washington were conjtV.W.'j--.
j.-..; : .
i
eyed to the spot she had chosen for her
burial, followed by a long procession.
MART WASHINGTON AT EIGHTEEN. .
Colonel Custia, Dr. Lossing and other
!a. 1 - t _
writers uave eiupiioai4cu iuc ti?u?uiittou
accounts of her death, telling how
"clergymen throughout the land spoke
eloquently from their - pulpits of the
honored dead, while members of Congress
and many private citizens wore the
usual badge of mourning in respect of
her memory." In a long letter to his
sister?recently givea in Ford's publication?Washington
speaks religiously and
tenderly of their mother's death and her
Christian character.
For many years her grave remained
unmarked. About the year 1830 there
was a plan proposed to remove the remains,
and to place them in a vault
under the Presbyterian Church; but to
this the Washington family positively refused
to consent. Many other suggestions
and proposals were made,but nothing
was done till at last, in 1833, the
Hon. Silas E. Burrows, of New York,
offered to raise a monument at his
private expense. The cornerstone was
laid with imposing ceremonies by the
President of the United States, Qederal
Andrew Jackson, in the presence of the
TAlnfiirAB mnnr riiatinoriliflhed fTUfcfltfl and
a large concourse of people.
Unfortunately, 'when the monument'
MARY WASHINGTON.
was almost completed, the generous
donor, meeting with sudden and severs
reverse of fortune, was unable to finish
the work of placing the obelisk upon its
handsome base. Hoping to rally from
his financial prostration, Mr. Burrows requested
the committee to wait awhile
until be could have the work finished,
but not long afterward he died before
recovering anything of his fortune.
Then disagreements arose regarding the
matter, and the shaft lay prone upon the
ground, slowly disintegrating for .nearly
sixty years,until the women of the country
rallied to the rescue, as they did for
Mount Vernou, and the Mary Washing
ton Monument Association, organized a
few years ago and now successfully
working, will before loug complete their
patriotic plan, and perfectly restore the
now mutilated monument.
Onward to the North Pole.
Dr. Trityof Nansen, who is known
from having traversed Greenland from
east to west, is of the opinion that all
the expeditions which have hitherto gone
out to iind the north pole have gone the
wmng way. The pole can only be approached
from Asia, he thinks. Some
objects found on the coast of, Greenland
cannot have come from parts south af
that country, but only from the north.
It is concluded that they have most
likely been carried there by a current
running from the northern coasts of Si
bena across, or arouna toe poie iowmu
Greenland. Dr. Nansen proposes to go
to the mouths of the river Yenisei either
around the North Cape of Norway and
the coast of Russia or through Bering's
Strait all along the northern coast of Siberia.
Should he find the current which
he expects to discover he will steam
along it toward the pole. His steamer
holds about two hundred and fifty tons
and is built so that pressure from the
bottom must lift it out of the water before
it can be crushed by ice. He will
take a crew of twelve men and provisions
for six years. The engine also produces
electric light. A balloon and gas to
fill it will be taken. Tents will be taken
| for expeditions that may become necessary,
also sleighs and boats.?Chicago
I Hwald.
Determined to Get Even.
'Well, little boy. what's your name?"
"Shadrack Xebucbadnezzcr Jones."
"Who pave you that name?"
"I don't know. But yer bet c'ner life
if I find out, when I gets me growth
they'll be sorrv for it."?Life.
The largest library in the world is that
at Paris, France.
. "V " "..-'Sjs
.
_ , ? ' ('Jf
Jndge Ljuch'e First fallows.
'Lynch law" is a synonym for tha
prompt and effectual infliction of the
popular will without due recourse to tha
legal tribunals of justice. Out West
l(Tnilm) T.imM." io onnivwtil hr mnm
| ?-"Pi"
i popular fiction to be the presiding ofli- ' ?|
cer, but whc he originally was history ; yyijB
says not. Theories are "as thick as the *
leaves of Vallambrosa." That, however, /M
which bears upon its face the expression
of greatest credibility is one which goes > ;=
back to the colonial times.
On the lawn before the old family
mansion in Lynchburg, Va., still stands
the famous walnut tree under which V oQ
Tories and other miscreants were pun- ' ^
ished. Death was never inflicted.
"Thirty-nine strips on the bare back was /
the usual penalty for giving information
to the British or for minor crimes* the
culprit being tied to the tree." Part of
it is dead, as it is at least 150 years old,
but the rest bears an annual crop of nuti.
After receiving punishment the victim
had to shout "Liberty forever." Such to ^
thp Virginian account of the origin of 'M
the phase "lynch law," and it is more
^THE^OLD LtSCH LAW TRUE.
than likely that from this acorn of ex*'
preasion of popular indignation grew the :y.|a
spreading oak of lynch law as it is
understood in modern times. ?Mail and
Express. ;
Oxen in India.
To the stranger (in Iodia) the great 'Ipl
variety of breeds and their adaptation to 'Jj&a
a wide range of needs and conditions are "
not at flrst.apparent He sees an ox and ., $
another ox as he qees a native and an- '% >'>3!
other native, witnont noticing that they
belong to distinct families. Orientals
hare a passiontfor classifying things, and
see scores of differences m rice, cotton, ?|
wheat, cattle, and horses, which are -
barely perceptible even lo trained English
eyes. But among cattle, though . *"
there is a bewildering variety of load ^
breeds, some broad differences may be ^
easily learned. The backward slope of , |
the horns of the large and small breeds ,?3
of Mysore cattle?perhaps the most popu- lar
type in use?the royal bearing of the enlaniiirl
n/ViifA or fswn oxen of OiiMrnt,
and the transport and artillery cattle i A
bred in the Government farms, at once --?
strike the eye. These are the aristocrats
of the race, but they have appetites pro- '/Jg
'portioned co their size, and are too costly ... jg
for the ordinary cultivator. They trot ' ^
rftMPJBATrVE RI7.R8 OF INDIAN OXEN. "
in bullock coaches or draw the Hpnngleas
and uncomfortable but delightfully
picturesque native rath or canopied oxcart,
the wagons ot the Government cominissariat
and of the various Government
baggage services.?Kipling's "Beast and
Man in India."
A Mighty Squirt Gun.
One of the fireboats in New York harbor
has recently been equipped with a
~ u"ll
A INCH VIBJ^KOZZLS.
fire nozzle that throws a stream !5^ inches
in diameter a distance of 280 to 290 feet. . ..
The manner in which this stream is controlled
may be gathered frcm this illus- ... -i
tratioD, taken-from Engineering News:
A hand wheel with a worm aud gear
not unlike the steering apparatus of some
yachts serves to control the nozzle, which V 3
can be moved from a lit'le below the r' J
horizontal to the vertical position, and
plso rotated in a complete circle. A
6tream from this nozzle at full pressure -'v.,
would make short work with a solid *
brick wall.
-.Vrs
l ?
Curious Cat Tnils. -^f
The Isle of Man has varictv of cat
that is entirely destitute of tails. Another
variety of tailless cat is found in
the Crimea. The domesticated Malay
cat has a tail only about half the length .
of the ordinary variety, and nature haa
oddh enough tied it up into a sort of . ^
knot which cannot be itraightcued out.
?Picayune.
ia
In Newloundland, the pine, spruce,
birch, iuniper, aspen, mountain ash an t
|arch furnish plenty of timber lor the
lumber trade and for shiobuiLiinar.
4
{
\4
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