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i REV. DR. TALMAGE. f THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. [J , Subject: "Shortened Lives." v Test : " The riqhteoua i.i fnken away from A the evil to come.'"?Isaiah Ivii., i. We have written for the last time at the head of our letters and business documents the figures 1893. With this day closes the year. In January last we celebrated it? birth. To-day we attend its obsequies. A? other twelve months have been out out oi our earthly continuance, and it is a time for absorbing reflection. We all spend much time In panecryric of longevity. We consider it a great thing to live to be an octogenarian. If any one dies in youth, we say, "What a pity!" Dr. Muhlenberg in old age said that the hymn written in early life by his own hand no more expressed his sentiment when it said i I would not live alwav. If one be pleasantly circumstanced, he never wants to go. William Cullen Bryant, the great poet, at eighty-two years of age, standing in my house in a festal group reading "Thanatopsis" without spectacles, was just as anxious to live as when at eighteen years of age he wrote theimmortal threnody. Cato feared at eighty years of aire that he would not live to learn Greek. Monaldesco at 115 years, writing the history of his time, feared a collapse. Theophraatus writing a book at ninety years of age was anxious to live to complete it. Thurlow Weed at about elghty-eix years of age found life as great a desirability a? when he snuffed out his first politician. Albert Barnes, so well prepared for the next world, at seventy said ne wouia ratner stay here. So it is all the way down. I suppose that the last time Methuselah was out of doors in a storm he was afraid of getting his feet wet lest It shorten his days. Indeed I some time ago preached a sermon on the blessings of longevity, but in this, the last day of 1893, and when many are filled with sadness at the thought that another chapter of their life is closing, and that ther have 365 days less to live, I propose to preach to you about the advantages of an abbreviated earthly existence. If I were an agnostic, I would say a man is blessed in proportion to the number of years he oan stay on ''terra flrma," because after that he falls off the docks, and If he is ever picked out of the depths it is only to be aet up in some morgue of the universe to see if anybody will claim him. If I thought God | made man only to last forty or fifty or 100 Kan Kq mofl fn Infrrt ATI nihiln ttUU buuu uv nwo ?v Q w >m>w ??? tion. I would say his chief business ought to be to keep alive and even in good weather to be very cautious, and to carry an umbrella and take overshoes and life preservers and bronze armor and weapons of defense lest he Xall off into nothingness and obliteration. But, my friends, you are not agnostics. You believe in immortality and the eternal residence of the righteous in heaven, and ^ therefore I first remark tnat an abbreviated earthly existence is to be desired, and is a blessing because it makes one's life work very compact. Some men go to business at 7 o'clock in the morning and return at 7 in the evening. Others go at 8 o'clock and return at 12. Others go at 10 and return at 4. I have | friends who are ten hours a day in business, others who are five hours, others who are one hour. They all do their work well? ?"A?lf ****<-? than f hotr rn_ VUOj UU lUOit OUIUO nvi*, auu luwu *uv; *wtarn. Which position do you think the most desirable? You say, other tilings being equal, the man who is the shortest time detained in business and who can return home the quickest is the most blessed. Now, my friends, why not carry that good sense into the subject of transference from this world'/ It a person die in childhood, be gets through his work at 9 o'clock in the morning. If he die at forty-flve years of age, he gets through his work at 12 o'clock noon. If he die at seventy years of age, he gets ^ through his work at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. If he die at ninety, he has to toil all the way on up to 11 o'clock at night. The aooner we get through our work the better. The harvest all in barrack or barn, the farmer does not sit down in the stubble field, but, shouldering his scythe find taking bis pitcher from under a tree, he makes a straight line for the old homestead. All we want t<j be anxious about is to get our work dono and well done; the quicker the better. Again, there is a blessing In an abbreviated earthly existence in the fact that moral disaster might come upon the man It h6 tarried longer. A man who had been prominent in churches, and who had been admired for his generosity and kindness every where, for forgery was sent to State prison for fifteen years. Twenty years before there was no more probability of that man's committing a commercial dishonesty than that you will commit commercial dishonesty. The number of men who fall into rUin between fifty and seventy years 'of age is simply aopalling. If they had died thirty years before, it would have been bettor for theic and better for 'their families. The shorter the voyage the less chance for a cyclone. : There is a wrong theory abroad that if one's youth be right, his old age will be right. You might as well say there i3 nothing wanting for a ship's safety except to get it fully launched on the Atlantic Ocean. I have sometimes asked those who were schoolmates or college mates of some great defrauder: "What kind of a boy was he? What kind of a young man was he?" and ? they have said: "Why, he was a splendid fellow. I had no idea he could ever go into such an outrage." The fact is the great temDtation of life sometimes comes far on in midlife or In old age. ^ The first time I crowed the Atlantic Ocean It was as smooth as a millpond, and I thought tbe sea captains and voyagers had slandered tbe old ocean, and I wrote home an essay for a magazine on "The Smile of the Sea"" bat I never afterward could have written that thing, for before we got home we got a terrible s baking up. The first voyage of life may be very smooth ; thela3t may be a euroclydon Many who start life In great prosperity do not end it in prosperity. The great pressure of temptation comes sometimes in this direction : At about fortyfive veais of age a man's nervous system ' changes, and some one tells him he must lake stimulants to keep himself up until the stimulants Keep mm down, or a man Has been going along for thirty or forty years in unsuccessful business, and here is an opening whew by one dishonored action he can lift himself and his family from all tlnanolal embarrassment. He attempts to leap the ehasm, and ho falls into it. Then it is in after life that the great temptation of success comes. If a man makes a fortun-s before thirty years of age, ne generally loses it before fort}-. The solid and the permanent fortunes for the most part do not come to their elimax until midlife or in old age. The most of the bank president have white hair. Many of those who have been largely successful have been full of arrogance or worldlinesa in old age. They may not have lost their integrity, but they have become so worldly and so selfish under the influence of large success that it Is evident to everybody that their success has been a temporal calamity and eternal damage. Concerning many people It may be said it seems as if it would have been better if they could have embarked from this life at twenty or thirty yaars of age. Do you know the reason why the vast majority o* people die before thirty-five? It is because they have |? not the moral endurance for that which is " beyond the thirty, and a merciful God will not allow them to be put to the fearful strain. Again, there is a blessing in an abbreviated earthly existence in the fact that one is the sooaer taken ofT the defensive. As soon L as one is old enough to take care of himself, he is put on his guard. Bolts on the door to keep out the robbers. Fireproof safes to beep off the flames. Life insurance and fire insurance against accidents. Receipts lest you have to pay a debt twice. Lifeboat against shipwreck. Westinghouse airbreak against railroad collision. There are many ready to overreach you an;l tafce all you have. Defense against cold, defense asrainst heat, defense against sickness, defense acrainst the world's abuse, defense all tho way down to the grave, and even the tombstone sometimes 1 is not a a sufficient barricade. If a soldier who has been on guard. shivering and stung with the cold, pacing up and down the parapet with shouldered musket, is glad when someone comes to relieve guard and he can go inside the fortress. oui?bt not that man to shout for joy wbo can put down his weapon of earthly defense and go into the king's castle? Who is the more fortunate, the soldier who has to stand guard twelve hours, or the man who has to stand guard six hours? We have common sense about everything but religion, common sense about ~ ever/thins but transference from this world. ~ At;ain, there is a blessing in an abbreviated earthly existence in tho {act that one es - capes so many"bereavements. The longer we live the more attachments and the more kindred, the more chorda to be wounded or rasped or sundered. If a man live on to seventy or eighty years of age. how many graves are cleft at his feet? In that lone roach of time father and mother go. brothers and sisters go. children go, grandchildren go, personal friends outside the family circle whom they Jiad loved with a love like that of David and Jonatnao. uesiaes tnac, some men nave a natural ! trepidation about dissolution, and ever and anon during forty or fifty or sixty years this horror of their dissolution shudders through soul and body. Now, suppose the lad goes at sixteen years of age. He escapes fifty funerals, fifty caskets, fifty obsequies, fifty awful wrenchings of the heart. It is hard enough for us to bear their departure, but is it not easier for us to bear their departure than for them to stay and bear fifty departures? Shall we not, by the grace of God, rouse ourselves into a generosity of bereavement which will practically say, '"It is hard enough for me to go through this bereavement, but how glad I am that he will never have to go through it!" So I reason with myself, and so you will find it halpful to reason with yourselves. David lost his sod. Though David was king, he lav on the earth mourning and inconso lable for some time. At this distance of time, which do you really think was the one to be congratulated, the short lived child or the long lived father? Had Davied died as early as that child, he would in the first pl&oe have that particular bereavement, then he would have escaped the worst bereavement of Absalom, his recreant sou and the pursuit of the Philistines, and the fatigues of his military campaign, and the jealousy of Saul, and the perfidy of Ahithophei, and the curse of Shitnei, and the destruction of his family at Zlklag, and, above all, he -would have escaped the two great calamities of life, the great sins of uncleanness and murder. David lived to be of vast use to tho church and the world, but so far as his own happiness was concerned, does it not seem to you that it would have been better for him to have gone I early? Now, this, my friends, explains some J I things that to you have been inexplicable. This shows you why when God takes little j children from a household he is very apt to take the brightest, the most genial, the most sympathetic, the most talented. Why? It is because that kind of nature suffers the most when it does suffer and is most liable to temptation. God saw the tempest sweeping up from the Caribbean, and He put the delicate craft into the first harbor. '"Taken away from the evil to come." Again, my friends, there is a blessing in an abbreviated earthly existence in the fact that it puts one sooner in the centre of thin??. All astronomers, infidel as well as Christian, agree in believing that the universe swings around some great centre. Any one who has studied the earth and studied the heavens knows that God'3 favorite figure in geometry is a cirsle. When God put forth His hand to create the universe. He did not strike that hand at right angles, but He waved it in a circle, and kept on waving it in a circle until systems and constellations and galaxies and all worlds took that mo tion. uur plane: swinging arouau tuo sua, other planets swinging around other suns, but somewhere a great hub around which the great wheel of the universe turns. Now, that centre is heaven. That La the capital of the universe. That is the great metropolis of immensity. Now, does not our common sense teach us that in matters of study it is better for us to move out Irom the centre toward the circumference, where our world is? We are like those who study the American continent while standing on the Atlantic beach. The way to study the continent is to cross it or go to the heart of it. Our standpoint in this world is defective. We are at the wrong end of the telescope. The best way to study a piece of machinery is not to stand on the doorstep and try to look in, but to go in with the engineer and take our plaoe right amid the saws and cylinders. We wear our eyes out and our brain out from the fact that we are studying under such great disadvantage. Millions of dollars for observatories to study things about the moon, about the sun, about the rings of Saturn, about transits and occuttations and eclipses, simply because our studio, our observatory, is poorly situated. | We are down In thecellar trying to study the palace of the universe, while our departed I Christian friends have gone up stairs amid the skylights to study. Now, when one can sooner get to the centre of things, is he not to be congratulated!1 Who wants to be always in the freshman class? We study God in this world by [ the Biblical photograph of Him, but we all ! know we can in five minutes of interview | with a friend get more accurate idea of him [ than we can by studying him fifty years through pictures of words. The little child that died last night to-day knows more of God than all Andover, and all Princeton, and all New Brunswick, and all Edinburgh, and all the theological institutions in Christendom. Is it not better to go up to the very headquarters of knowledge? Does not our common sense teach us that it is better to be at the centre than to be clear out on the rim of the wheel, holding nervously fast to the tire lest we be suddenly hurled into light and eternal felioity? Through all kinds of optical instruments trying to peer in through the cracks and the 1 1 ? fUnf Ksvto /Iaam Keyaoies Ul ucavou?auaiu luav uuiu uuuia of the celestial mansion will be swung wide open before our entranced vision?rushing about the apothecary shops of this world, wondering if this is good for rheumatism, and that is good for neuralgia and something else is good for a bad cough, lest we be suddenly ushered into a land of everlasting health, wherethe inhabitant never says, "lam sick." What fools we all are to prefer the circumference to the centre! What a dreadful thing it would be if we should be suddenly nshered from this wintry world into thft Maytime orchards of heaven, and if our pauperism of sin and sorrow should be suddenly broken up by a presentation of an emperor's castle, surrounded by parks with springing fountains and paths up and down which angels of God walk two and two. We stick to the world as though we preferred cold drizzle to warm habitation, dis cord to cantata, sackcloth to royal purpleas though we preferred a piano with four 01 five keys out of tune to an instrument fully attuned?as though earth and heaven had exchanged apparel and earth had taken od bridal array and heaven had gone into deep mourning, all its waters stagnant, all its harps broken, all chalices cracked at the dry wells, all the lawns sloping to the rivei plowed with graves, with dead angels undei the furrow. Oh, i want lo break up my owd infatuation, and I want to break up your in fatuation for this world. I tell you if we are ready, and if our work is done, the sooner we go the better, and if there are blessings in longevity, I want you to know right well there are also blessings in an abbreviated earthly existence. If the spirit of this sermon is true, how consoled you ought to feel about members of your families that went early. '"Taken from '*>? tr> />om? " this book savs. What a fortunate escape they had I How glad we ought to feel that they will never have to go through the struggles which we have had to go through. They had just time enough to get out of the cradle an I run up the springtune hills of this worldand see how it looked, and then they started for a better stopping place. They were like shipa that put in at St. Helena, staying there long enough to let passengers go up and see the barracks of Napoleon's captivity and then hoist sail for the port of their own native land. They only took this world "in transitu." It is hard for us. but it is blessed for them. And if the spirit of this sermon is true, then we ou?ht not to go around sighing and groaning because another year has pone. But we ought to go down on one knee by the milestone and see the letters and thank God that we are 3G5 miles nearer home. We ought not to go around with morbid feelings about our health or about anticipated demise. We ought to be living, not according to that old maxim which I used so hear in my boyhood, that you must live as though every day were the last: you must live as though you were to live forever, for you will. Do not be nervous lest you have to move out of a shanty into an Alhambra. One Christmas morning ono of my neighbors. an old sea captain, died. After life had departed, his faca was illuminated as though he were just going into harbor. The fact was. he had already gone through the ''Narrows." In the adjoining room were the Christmas presents waiting for his distribution. Long ago, one night, when he had narrowly escaped with his ship from being run down by a great ocean steamer, he had made his peace with God, and a kinder neighbor or a better man you would not find this side of heaven. Without a moment's wurnin? the nllot of the heavenlv harbor had met him just off the lightship. The captain often talked to me of the goodness of God, and especially of a time when he was about to go In New Y?rk har\ bor with his uhlp from Liverpool, and he was suddenly impressed that he ought to put back to soa. Under the protest of the crew ;ind under their very threat, he put baok to sea, fearing at the same time ho was lo9ing his mind, for it did seem so unreasonable that when they could get into harbor that uicr'nt they should put back to sea. But they pat back to sea, and the captain said to his mate, ''You will call me at 10 o'olock at uisrht." At 12 o'clock at night the captain was aroused and said : '-What does this mean? I thought I told you to call me at 10 o'clock, anil here it is 12." '-Why/'said the mate, "I did call 3*>u at 10 o'clock, and you got up looked around and told me to keep right on this same course for two hours, and then to call you at 12 o'clock." Said the captain: "Is it possible? I have no remembrance of that." At 12 o'clock the captain went on deck, and through the rift of the cloud the moonlight Fell upon the sea and showed him a shipwreck with 100 struggling passengers. He helped them off. Had he been any earlier - " ' . 1 or any later at inai pomi 01 tuo ?o? ?uum have been of no servioe to those drowning people. On board the captain's vessel they began to band together as to whatthey she uld pay for the rescue and what they should pay for the provisions. "Ah," says the captain, 'my lads, yoa can't pay me anything. All I have on board 13 yours. I feel too greatly honored of God in having saved you to take any pay." Just like him. He never got any pay except that of his own applauding conscience. Oh, that the old sea captain's God might be my God and yours. Amid the stormy seas of this life may we have always some one as tenderly to take care of us as the captain took care of the drowning crew and the passengers. And may wo come into the aarbor with as'little physical pain and with as bright a hope as he had, and it it should happen to be a Christmas morning when the presents are being distributed and we are celebrating the birth of Him who came to save ctir shipwrecked world, all the better, for what grander, brighter Christmas present CWUIU WO JLUftVO 1 lift 11 uoavoMi . Extracting toe Perfumes of Flowers. The correspondent of a foreign journal writing from Grasse, France, has this to say of the extraction of flower perfumes: The jasmine harvest here is in full swing. Grasse is permeated by an overwhelming perfume of flowers. In the factories they are working day and night to extract the valuable essence of the flowers as quickly as possible. There are three ways of doing this. The first and coarsest method, which is used for lavenier, thyme, pepperment, and geranium, is by boilin/? down the flowers. The second, which is used for roses, heliotrope, lilac and ordinary violets, is the old plan of distillation. And the third, which is reserved for Parma violets, jasmine, tuberoses, and such expensive essences, is the so-called cold method, the slowest, and therefore the dearest, but the most effective of all. For this last the flowers, which are first carefully weighed, are heaped upon a table round which are seated about twenty girls, each with a frame before her like a good-sized window pane. The glass of this frame ig, so to speak, buttered on both sides with a mixture of Teal fat and a little oiL On the glass the girl strews as many flowers as will lightly cover it, and covers them with another glass similarly treated, then comes anotner layer 01 nowers anu another glass, till there are ten glasses in a heap. The next day, the flowers, which are by this time quite faded and have given ont all their scent into the grease above them, are removed, and fresh flowers are strewn in their place. This proceeding is repeated eight or ten times. The perfumed grease is then put into large, closed, copper vats, with an equal quantity of spirit. In the vats are wheels which are turned by machinery. The rapid revolutions of the wheels beat out of the grease most of the perfume it has soaked in; the grease sinks to the bottom, and is used to make soap, pomade, etc., and the spirit which contains the true essence of the flowers is bottled, and fetches the highest prices given for scent. The Hawaiian Tipple. The fact that the yearly sales of awa licenses is agam advertised by the Government is supplemented by the following brief account of the manufacture and use of the article. The natives of Hawaii and other tropical islands of the Pacific drink awa chiefly because of its intoxicating qualities, but some use it for its medical properties. Awa is grown in high altitudes on the mountain sides. There are several kinds of awa, but the favorite variety, used by the kahunas (priests), is the awahiwa. The species bring a high price, especially when the victims of the kahunas' arts apply for such* The tubers of the awa are first dug and thoroughly dried in the sun. When it is dry (although some natives use it freshly dug from the ground) it is ready for use. A group of natives when preparing to drink awa, gather around a large container, generally of wood, and chew small pieces of the rnnf. YY hon f V?rvv/-\n rrVilrr mftcn* it is ejected with the saliva into the container. The quantity thus prepared depends upon the number of those who intend to imbibe. Small boys and girls are preferable as "awa chewers," but when these are not at hand, then the old folks give a hand, or rather a jaw. Some natives pound their awa in stone mortars with pesties, but the "good old natives" prefer the chewed or "mama" awa. When there is sufficient chewed awa in the basin a quantity of water is added. The process of separating the chewed fibers is called "hoka awa," or sieving "ahuawa." Sometimes sisal rope is Used for straining, until nothing but the pure liquid is left in the basin. After this process is repeated two or three times then the ,awa is ready for use. After drinking awa the natives nsually eat bananas, potatoes or sugar cane to kill the peculiar taste. Awa is said to be "ona," that is, possessing intoxicating qualities. The effects of ikn i n ^ rv VI AO f 1 A n nrQnOfol 1 TT Wlfll. biIO lUWiiwami/u in an hour and last from six to eight hours. The intoxication produces much the same effect as opium. ? Honolulu Gazette. Mr. Gladstone's Sleep. Sleeplessness seems to be Mr. Gladstone's chief trouble, and it is only of late years that it has bothered him. It used to be said that he could gc home at any hour, lie down on the sofa, tell Mrs. Gladstone when he TOant.^rJ t.o be ur>. and be atjleep in a I " *T' a. very few minutes. Indeed, to tliiij happy faculty was ascribed much ol the vigorous health which he enjoyed. ?Westminster Gazette. . RELIGIOUS READING.! BTJflrXE80 AND PBA7EB. ^ If a profaned disciple would not hare his Htx-uinr ousiuoss DBComo as a mmsiuuf iiuuui Liis neck to drown him in perdition, he must . be a man of prayer; ho must daily secure spiritual communion with God. If he suffer his business to consume his time and spirits so as to deprive him of opportunities for prayer, reading the Bible, and real communion with God, he mu3t decay in piety, and his service of mammon eat up ills service of God. No one who believes that God answers prayer, will think of omitting either secret or family ' devotion for want of time, even when busi- ' ness is unusually urgent. Which is worth j most to you or your family, an additional period of your own unblessed labor, or the J blessinsr of God on your efforts, won by 5 spending that time in pleading with Him in ] prayer? The plea of want of time is essentially atheistical; none should urge it but those who regard prayer a3 an empty mockery that never received an answer from the Lord. Let the day begin with communion with God, let the disciple pass the whole dav in the spirit of prayer, and all its duties will become spiritual duties, and all its scenes be inscribed with "Holiness to the Lord." But this must be real communion with God, and not a mere formal prayer. Many morning prayers are a sort of paying compliments to the Most High. A Frenchman, it is said, visited his ohapel in Paris, to say his dally devotion, but he found no priest in attendance, and the building undergoing repairs, He walked up to the altar, laid hia card on it, with a low bow, and withdrew, well satisfied with the homage he had paid to the Lord. It is to be feared that too many of 1 ? ? A# rtl Afiflfr on/1 fKfl mo murmur pruyetu ui uic uiusw ?uu vuv < family are little more than laying a card upon the altar, a complimentary presentation of i respects. But nothing leas than such a com- j munion with God as touches the heart and draws forth its earnest desires, can be any , safeguard to us in the busy scenes of the day. Hegce it were well if every Christian would ' make and keep the resolution by which some have been profited, to have so many seasons | of prayer, and continue them so long as to keep the heart in a tender and lively spiritual frame, so as never to leave the closet without some meltings of the heart, some sensible ! manifestations of God's love. This point may best be enforced by the words or a devoted disciple of Christ. He , said with great earnestness and simplicity, "I ' have made a discovery this summer which I j regard as of great value. I used to defer my : morning devotions till after the first work of j tii? mnminff. Rut this summer, immediately on rising, before doing aught else, I pray, j and I pray till I feel God's presence. Then I read the Scriptures till breakfast, when I find j my heart warm and ready to engage with interest in family prayer. At noon the hay wants turning, but I push off to spend a sea- ' son in prayer, and the heart having become ; warm in the morning, it needs but little to restore its fervor, and I am soon at work again with a lively sense of God's presence. When all is done, I look back on a day spent 1 with God, and give thanks for all his mercies j commeudlng myself to him. And now (he ! added with the greatest animation) I can commend this plan to all Christians. It ha3 carried me all through haying and harvesting, and in the busiest of it all I have had as much ^ enlargement of heart and spiritual joy as ever ' in my life."?[London Tract Magazine. LOOKING UNTO JESUS. Words full of moaning comprising the sut> stance of a Christian's duty and privilege. The doubt and darkness with which many are afflicted may be traced to a neglect of this council. How many dwell intensely on inbred sin, poro over the wickedness of their hearts, feeling at times that there is no deliverance, no salvation for them. But this oc- ' cupation of the thoughts will not help them if made exclusive; the habitual and uninterrupted attention to their own wickedness will not bring relief to their burdened spirits. Nothing short of looking to Jesus can infuse peace, or inspire hope. It is right, it is essen* ' tia!, that we see, understand, feel our disease ; but it is equally important that we know the remedy; that wo become acquainted with, and apply to the physician. We are indeed sinners, grievous sinners; but He cleanses from sin by His own blood. We are j destitute of holiness but He isthe Lord of our righteousness. We are under condemnation by the law; but being justified by faith, we shall be saved from wrath through Christ There is now no condemnation to them that a^e in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the j flesh but after the Spirit It hath pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell, and of this fulness we may all receivo grace upon grace. Look then to Jesus as the objective ground of your acceptance with God. Look to Him "for the gracothat upholds and , preserves to eternal life, for the supply of the Spirit that sanctifies the heart, and makes meet for the heavenly glory. Look lo Him for each day's need, for each moment's support ; for the eye that sees Him, the faith that beholds the invisible: look unto Him for everything. Thus hath God simplified our faith in His dear Son. Severing us from all other dependencies, and weaning us from all ! self-confidence, He would shut us up to C hr.st alone, that Christ might be all, and in | all." THE REWARD OF SUFFERING. I have a friend who was in the Crimean war: he told me that he had received a medal witu inKerman upon u?iur umi wiu un umtlo; but he said the most touching part of it 1 all was the experience of a friend of his who fought at his side. A cannon ball took off one ' of liia legs, but the brave follow sprang up im- | ' mediately and, taking hold of a tree, drew his sword and was ready to light even to death. Immediately another cannon ball came crashing past and took off the other leg. They carried him, wounded, bleeding and. as they supposed, dying to the hospital. Strangely enough, he came back to life again, and when the day came for the awarding of medals they carried him upon his stretcher before Her Majesty, the Queen. To the other soldiers she had simply given the medals by the hands of her secretary, but when she saw this man carried in oil a stretcher, his face so thin and pole, she rose from her throne, stooped down by his side, and pinned with her own hands the medal upon his breast, whilo the tears fell like rain upon the face of the brave soldier. Ah us I trust it will be with many of us. We shall come into his presence, stand face to face with him, and he will rise from his throne, coming forward to receive us, and a9 we look up into his face, thrones will vanish away and crown* will be as nothing, for to 8?e him with all his beauty will be the full reward.?[J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D., in The Ivory Palaces. The story is familiar that once Frederick the Great, before a company of skeptics, asked General Ziethen, .well known for his faith and loyalty, to give him a short and conclusive argument to prove Christianity, aad tho answer was, '"May it please your Majesty, the Jew." The whole company was silent and with reason. The prophecies of the New Testament required that the Jewish . nation should maintain their national exist- ' ance until these latter days. Their enemies must uot succeed in destroying < them, nor their friends in so favoring < them thai they should be amalgamated i with other nationalities. Nor should they be J absorbed by Christian churches so as to cease J to exist as a separate community. How re- J markably these conditions have been complied ' with everybody knows. All the eontempora- ' ries of the Jews of our Lord's time have 1 riiannm?iireil. but the covenant people, ' though hat<*d. scattered aud ' persecuted a? no other people ever were, and that through all the centuries, still remain, bearing all their well known mental and physk'al characteristics. Nothing will explain this fact, which stands alone in all human history, but the record contained in Scripture. The survival of the Jew is duo, not only to their ''toughness." a? some say, but to the providence of Gjd.?Christian Intelligencer. California's Largest Irrigation Flume. The largest irrigating flume In California has just been completed. It is in Fresno County, and is flfty-two miles lonz, extending from Stevenson Creek, at an elevation of 500 feet, to Covis. twelve miles from Fresno, at an elevation of 400 feet. It will carry 300 cubic feet of water per second, aud will bring 40,uw acres 01 now muu umuw uuiur?tion. Many million feet o! lumber will also be floated down annually. A Present or Mammies. The Khedive of Egypt ha3 pres??ited the ' National Museum in Washington with seven mummies, all covered with the queer in- < scrlpiions such as the ancient Egyptians < were woat to use to coavij their ideas'. I SAJiM'm SCUUVL. INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR JANUARY 21. Lesson Text: "Cain and Abel," Genesis iv., 3-13 ?Golden Text: Hebrews xi. 4?Commentary. 3. "And in process of time ("at the end of 3ays) it came to pass that Cain brought of he fruit of the ground an offering uuto the Lord." It is probable that somewhere near :he east of the garden of Eden, before the presence of the Lord, manifest in the flaming iword between the cherubim, was the place vhere they came to worship Jebovah (Ex. IXv.. 22 : Ps. Ixxx., 1; xcix.. 1). It may ba hat ud to this time Adam had been in the labit of offering sacrifice on behalf of his hildren, as did Job in later days (Job i.. 5). This offering of Cain may have been the best le had, bat it lacked the essential element of Jlood, signifying a life laid down. Compare chapter IU., 21, with Lev., xvii., 11; Heb. x, 22. 4. "And Abel, he also brought of the flrstingsof his flock and of the fat thereof. And :he Lord had respect unto Abel and to his jffering." Here is obedience, for it is writ:en that by faith he did this fHeb. xi., 4), and inasmuch as faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Bom. x., 17) :here must have been some command of God which Abel obeyed tn bringing this aacrifloe. [t Is probable that the Lord accepted Abel's rffenng by sending-fire to consume it, for :hus He did with Cfcideon, Manoah and EUjah. and at the dedication of the tabernaole ind the temple (Judg. vi., 21; xiii., 19. 20; [ Kings xvili., 24,38,39; Lev. ix, 24; II Shron. vii.} 1). 5. "But unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, ind his oountenanoe fell." His offering lay anconsumfid; no Are fell upon it. It was loabtless much more attractive than Abel's Dloodv sacrifice and was perhaps the finest :he earth produoed, but it was of man and not of God. There was no confession of sin ind no need of atonement recognized?just like those to-day who insist that if they do Lhe best they can God will accept them. C "And the Lord said unto Gain, Why art thou wrothV And why is thy countenance Fallen?" Although Cain is willfully wrong, ret the Lord condescends to reason with him, and if possible win him to the right way. He is not willing that any should perish, and He seeks In every possible way to leaa slnnere to accept the ransom He has provided (II Pet. illM 9; Job xxxiii., 24, 29, JO ; Isa. L, 18 ; lv.. 1, 2). 7. "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be iccepted? And if thou doest not well sin !ieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his lesire, and thou shalt rule over him." Being tbe oldest son, the birthright was his and might continue his if he would only be obedient The word here translated "sin" Is the word in Leviticus and Numbers so often translated "sin offering." If Cain would only confess his sin and offer God's appointed sin offering, all would be well. God has but one appointed way, and where :hnt is rejected there is no forgiveness [Acts iv., 12 ; I Co. ill., 11). All religions In. the world will come under that of Cain or Abel. Cain represents man's way and will include all the ways of men. Abel stands for God's way, and it is but one and very simple. Jesus said, "I am the way" (John xiv.. 6). 6. "And Cain talked with Abel, his brother, and It oame to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him." tiere are the two seeds, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, for although both could call Ere mother and Adam father the one stands for the righteous and the other for the wicked. All are not children of God, for many religious people who profess to worship God are all the while children of the devil (John viil.. 44). Cain was of the wicked one and slew his brother because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. 9. "And the Lord said unto Cain, Whore is Abel, thy brother? And he said: I know not. Am I my brother's keeper?" How sin hardens and deadens to all that is good and true! Cain is proving himself a good child of the devil, for he is now both murderer and liar (John viil., 44). Is it possible that any of us are guilty in respect of our brethren in India or China or Japan or Africa? And as the question presses upon us concerning their salvation, do we feel inclined to ' ft3k, "Am I mv brother's keeper?" or- try to quiet conscience with the thought that perhaps the Lord will let Cain's offering suffice for them. 10. "And said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." All sin cries to God for vengeance. Even if a house is built by fraud, the stone shall cry out of the wall and tine beam out of the timber shall answer It (Hub. ii., 11). How much more the blood of those who are slain for Christ's sake (Rev. vl, 9, 10). Another view of it, more in line of the last verse, is found in Ezek. xxxiii.v8, where the blood of the unwarned is to be required at the hands of those who know, but do not tell. In Heb. xlL, 24, we are pointed to the blood which speaketh better things than that of Abel. Abel's blood cries for ? Inr mornr nr if If- re V auu Ulii wt, O- AW* . w .... fers to the blood of Abel's sacrifice that was a type of Christ. 11. ''And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand." This is the- first direct curse on man. The first curse was pronounced upon the serpent and the next on the ground (chapter ill., 14, 17). It is suirgestive that the last word in the Old Testament Is "curse." We fly to Him who pleaded in vain with Cain and rejoice that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. and we look for the time when even on this earth there shall be no more curse (Gal. ill., 18 ; Rev. xxii., 3). 12. "When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth." Adam was told that the earth would bring forth thorns and thistles, and that in the sweat of his face he should eat his bread (chapter ill., 18, 19), but this is much worse, for it looks as if the earth would henceforth give this man little If any return. Some one has said that Adam's sin brought on the ground frultfulness in evil, while Cain's sin brought barrenness in good, perhaps helping to drive them to the mechanical arts and the building of cities. As to fugitive and vagabond," both words signify fleeing, removing, wandering up and down,and the word for vagabond is "nood." which is very suggestive of Nod. where Cain afterward dwelt (verse 16). 13. "And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear." Ox 1- >l\rtnn inlnnlfv <a pernaps. us in iue aiuD greater than that it may be forgiven." There is forgivenness for all who accept the Son oi God as their sin offering, but apart from Him there is 110 forgivenness. Hee Math, xii., U1; John v., 16.--Lesson Helper. Removlngthe World's Fair Exhibits. The work of removing the World's Fair sxhibits from Jackson Park, Chicago, goes jn very slowly. Two-thirds of them still remain. Nearly 9000 carloads of goods were received on the grounds, and the rate of renoval has been about fifty carloads a day. Although the shipments are t? be poshed .-is rapidly as possible, i1: will be three months jefore the park is cleared. Of the foreign jxhibits the Germans have shown themselves :he moat active in packing and sending away foods, and the French are r.Iso very busy, [t has been estimated that 800 carloads of foods and material were received originally 'rom the Germans. 500 from the French, 150 !rom the Russians, 1.50 from the Italians, and 125 from the English. Various reasons are ?iven for the delay in clearing the grounds. Foreign exhibitors assert that the custom louse officers have not been as alert as they nieht have been, and also that the railroads lave not furnished the requisite number of ::irs to meet the demand. On the other irtnd, the custom officials say the work baa ;on? on as rapidly as possible. While )ond<*d goods are being packed the services >? an inspector are required to waton every trticle that is being taken away and checK t off on tbe original receipt list, showing ust what was brougnt to the exposition by he exhibitor on which duty was charged. 1 }n the Midway Piaisance demolition has jeen rapid. Tbe different foreign theatres lave become the property of the housenrreukers ; the cafes and other buildiasshave )6en soia lor saivascr. fV War Musp *n for South Carolina. The South Carolina authorities have desided to establish a war museum. It will :ontaln relics of Confederate and Revolutionary wars. RAISING WRECKS. HOW SUNKEN VESSELS ARE HOISTED TO THE SURFACE. Immense Floating Derricks Constructed Specially For The Work ?The Diver and His Queer Dress?Up She Comes! "| TEW wrecks are of such magni1=/ tude that a wrecking company I Cannot bring one to the sur6 face in less than a day, bnt to reach the point where this speed can be accomplished thousands npon thousands of dollars have to be invested in mechanical appliances, so that the price for saving a vessel, even w"hen she is deep under water, is not measured by the length of time taken to accomplish the work, but is measured by the number of tugs, derrick boats and men it take? to accomplish the task. So prices vary from 8100 to $50,000, and the most important part of the worft is in 'affaking a contract for its accomplishment. As soon as the arrangement is made for the work <-:the wrecking company dispatches an odd cnft to the sobmerged ship or steamer. It is a oostly portable derrick, capable of raising at least 150 tons in weight. 'If the submerged craft is of such dimensions that one derriok cannot' raise it, as many as necessary are sent to do the work, and so powerful are several derricks joined together that a gigantic full-rigged ship can be raised by four ofthem from beneath more than 100 fept of water. The derrioks stand upon a scowshaped boat. The largest size of these craft is the well-known Reliance, of the Chapman Derrick and Wrecking Company. She is 120 feet in length, with a forty-foot beam and is ten feet in dfjfth. In her centre is a huge derrick, of iron and wood, which has a lifting capacity of 150 tons. Upon the deck of the scow is a hoisting engine, a steam pump of gigantic force, and she is fitted up with numberless capstands, with'an electric light plant and with other necessary machinery to be used in the work at hand. But it is in her huge derrick that the greatest power lies. The "main fall blocks" of the derrick weigh two tons each, and the gearing upon the boom weighs thirty-seven tons, which gives her tremendous lifting power. Her tackle is of spun steel and she is worked by one of the most powerful of modern hoisting engines. This splendid piece of modern engineering skill is quickly towed by tugs to the scene of the wreck, where it is moored alongside, and active work It ? 1 Tli L XL. IS tnen oeguu. .first, cue uaver has to get himself in readiness for his plunge down into the depths of the ocean, to examine the sunken vessel, and see what mast be done to raise her. For this purpose he dons his. diver's suit. First he puts on his head a sort of helmet and shoulder protector. It is madfc of copper, threesixteenths of an inch in thickness, and weighs forty-six pounds. This would be a gigantic weight to carry around on the earth, but it will not be a great weight far down beneath the buoyant water. -* 4.1*^ 11 IB IlKUebttarj iu wtvo iiuc cupper head and shoulder protector, too, of quite thick copper, for water has a mighty pressure, and if the protector was of thinner stuff the water would crush it like an eggshell, and the diver would be drowned like,. a rat iu a hole. / The headpiece is about four times the size of a man's head, so that when it is in position there is plenty of space around the diver's head for air to circulate. In the centre of the copper head-like affair are two eye holes, six inches in diameter, glazed with heavy plate-glass, capable of sustaining any amount of pressure. These eyeholes are protected by heavy copper rivets, and through them the diver can peer around at his work. Next the diver jumps into a big suit of woven rubber. Boots, trousers and shirt are all woven together without seams. The suit at the shoulders is fastened to the armor-like headpiece by a system of clamps, which effectually prevents water from leaking through it. Then the diver dons a pair of iron, sandal-like shoes. These weigh fourteen pounds each, and while on the surface of the water they are heavy and unwieldy, in the depths of sea they are no heavier than ordinary shoes. Around the waist is then fastened 100 pounds of sheet lead, woven in a weather belt, and then the helmet is finally closed by a system of clamps, and the man is ready for his descent beneath the surface of the sea. At the back of the helmet a rubber pipe, capable of resisting enormous water pressure, is securely fastened to a tube, which allows air to be pumped through it into the helmet. The mo. ? V -1 A. 1 J ? A I* ment trie neimec ib ujubcu uu me ucw of the derrick an air pnmp starts, and it keeps the diver perfectly supplied with the life-giving ozone through the. rubber tube. The diver, too, has a line of half-inch manillarope, fastened to his shoulder, as a life line, and when beneath the water he signals to the men on the derrick his wishes along this line. He regulates his supply of air by signals made by pulling the air tube, and when all is ready he jumps overboard, and soon is clambering about the wreck, making up his mind what is necessary to do to raise the sunken craii. When a diver starts down under the sea, he has strapped to his wrist three little incandescent light globes, which are powerful enough to turn the darkest depths into light, and thus the diver can see as well as if he were upon land. The use of electricity as a lighting agent is one of the greatest 6teps that modern wrecking companies have taken in advance of the older methods. As soon as a diver has thoroughly inspected a wreck far down beneath the surface of the water, numberless heavy chains are lowered to him. These chains he fastens around the wreck, and after all this hard work is performed his duty is done. He gives three long pulls upon his lifeline, and soon is pulled to the scow, where he clous nis smc. Then the steam hoisting machine on the derrick is started, and with a great whiiling of parting waters the sunken 3hip, filled with water as she is, is ' ' VwSsrjSB * ^'*1 ^ hoisted out of the depths just as easily as yon can pick ap a pin from the carpet in your room. . Carpenters board her and tempo* rarily patch up the big hole in her bow which let in the treacherous water that made her sink. The big cataract centrifugal pumps on ^ha scow are started, and shortly the hold] of the craft is emptied of water, and the ship is towed to a drydock, where I she is repaired, ana is soon, once mora proudly sailing the waters as if she had never disappeared beneath them. ?New York Journal. Wonderful Feats ot Memory. Among those who have perforaedT great feats of memory are Dr. Fuller, author of the "Worthies England." He could repeat another man's sermon after hearing it onoe, and oould.repeat 500 words in an unknown language after hearing them twice. Ho one day undertook to walk from Temple Bar to the farthest end of Cheapaide and to repeat on his return every sign on either side of the way in tha order'of their occurrence, and ho did In such feats as this the eye plays 0 chief part: yet blind people, alao* have good memories. The Bev. B, 9. Johns, Chaplain of the blind asylum, | London, testifies that a large number of pupils learn the Bwlter tad that one young man was there who could' repeat not only the whole of the 150 prayer book Fsalms and a large namber of metrical psalms and hymns, aa well as a considerable amount of modern poetry, including Goldsmith's "Deserted Tillage," but the whole of Milton's "Paradise Lost," with marginal notes and a biography. Lord Macaulay on one occasion repeated to himself the whole of "Par*? dise Lost" while crossing the Irish unannei. At aiio mer ume, waiuu^ ui a Cambridge coffee house for a post chaise, he picked up a country newspaper containing two poetical pieces ?one the "Reflections of an Exile" and the other a "Parody on a Welsh Ballad"?looked them once through.never gave them a further thought4for forty years and then repeated them without the change of a single word. Macaulay's mind, some one has said, was like a dredging net, which took in ) all that it encountered, both good and bad, nor ever seemed -to feel the burden. Very much unlike a dredging net, and more like a strainer, are the minds of some other persons who carefully select what they will retain or '/ have a natural faculty for remember- i, ing special classes of facts?George Bidder for figures, Sir W. Scott for verses, Mezzofanti for languages.? Cassel's Family Magazine. vm ? A Gold Coast Bade* J. Brockelbank, now in busineai upon Tenth avenue, is a retired se? captain with a rich fund of remini* cence regarding his adventurous lit* on the ocean wave. "What is the queerest thing I'evac saw ?" he said in response to an inquiry the other day. "Well, about tha queerest thing, in a small way, is a Gold Coast dude. * The natives of thai region would swap their souls for a chance to put on style. Palm ofl^ tusks of ivory, gold dust, menageria specimens?anything in fact, that o*n be won only by toil and danger, goea for a bit of finery. The women lika gaudy cloth and glass beads, but th? dudes! Say, they're sights! Tha ultra-fashionable dress is a plug hat, a white shirt and tall boots. "What those fool natives want with | heavy boots and shoes in that hot cli mate is more than 1 can ten. never* ' theless, the footwear trade to the Gold Coast is quite an item. The one? . tomers have large feet, and a special line of goods has to be made for them.' Nothing under No. 10 for a man would answer. The shoes for women here red and green stamping on the insteps and from the tops of the men's boot* hang red silk tassels. For a fiat, shirt and boots?with a bottle of gin thrown in?the native trades goods that easily bring $50 at New York or London."? Boots and Shoes Weekly. Queen Victoria's Income From Nothing, A curious discussion took place afr Southampton Town Council yesterday. The Finance Committee recommended the payment to "the Queen's most excellent Majesty" of $50 for fee-farm rents. The junior bailiff $as called cm to explain, and he replied that the committee had been searching for the farm, bat could not find it. The money had been paid to the Crown for cen< turies, bat the locality of the farm could not be traced. It was suggested that the check should be withheld, and the Government told to distrain on the land if they could not find it, bat it was stated that the money had already been' paid. It was directed that diligent search should be made for the estate, and no further checks drawn on* til the farm was discovered. One of the committee strongly protested against referring the subject back. For years they had been trying to discover the whereabouts of the land, and it was a wild-goose chase altogether. It was suggested that the best way would be to call upon the Crown to show the land upon which fee-farm rents were charged. ?Wesminster Gazette. Bank Notes That Vanish. A few days ago the Bank of England presented a return to the House of Commons showing that there were - - - J. -M _V_ notes of theirs to tne amount 01 uvtuxj ?10,000 that were issued more thanforty years ago and had never been presented for payment. Bank notes, like other slips of paper, occasionally get destroyed by accident. They get consumed when a house takes fire, and not a few are lost when ship? founder at sea. Occasionally one may have heard of their being eaten by rats, and there is at least one story current of a young spendthrift who, when out shooting with an old muzzle~ * "* J _ loader, in a suaaen emergency useu ? couple of bank notes as wadding for his gun. ?London Daily News. For Thirst. A wholesome drink for persons afflicted with inordinate thirst is made by pouring a little mora than two quarts of boiling water over two tablespoonfuls of pearl barley and a quarter of a pound of loaf sugar. Add the peel of a fresh lemon, let it stand all night and atraiu in the morning.? 1 JNew lors YYonu. ;; Jr