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n-nTT "r\T* rn k nri nn KttV. V&. IAJjMAIjJCJ. THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Subject: "The Bread Question." Tfxt : Te hare (he poor abniys with you."?Matthew xxvi.. 11. Who said that? The Christ who never owned anything duriu? His earthly stay. Hi? cradle and His crave were borrowed. Every fig H-* ate was from some one else's tree. Every drop of water He drank was from some one else's wall. To pay His personal tax. which was very small, only 31}/ cents. He had to perform a miracle and make a fish pay it. All the heights and depths and lenzhts and breadths of poverty Christ measured in His earthly experience, nnd when Jtt.0 comas ro speau oi iiuiuuuuu nimvjj f?peaks sympatheticallv. rind what He said then is as true dow?"Vehave the poor always with you." For 6000 years th^ oread question has beea the active and absorbing question. Witness the peopl* crowding up to Joseph's storehouse in Egypt. Witn^s the famin? in Samaria and Jerusalem. Witness the 7000 hungry people for whom Christ multiplied the loaves. Witness the uncounted millions of people now living, who, I believe, have never vet had one full meal of healthful and nutritious food in all their lives. Think of the 354 great famines in England. Think ot the 25.000,000 people under the hoof of hunger year before last in Russia. The failure of the Nile to overflow for seven years in the eleventh century left those regions depopulated. Plague of inserts In England. Plague of rats in Madras Presidency. Plague of mice in Essex. Plague of locusts in China. Plague of grasshoppers In America. Devastation wrought by drought, by deluge, by frost, by war, by hurricane, by earthquake, by comets flying too near the earth,by change in the management of National finances Dy tjiueiui causes nmumeruuie. i proceed to give you three or four reasons why my text is markedly and graphically true in this year 1894. The first reason we have always the poor with us is because of the perpetual overhauling of the tariff question, or, a3 I shall call it, the tariffic controversy. There is a need for such a word, and so I tak^the responsibility of manufacturing it. There are millions of people who are expecting that the present Congress of the United States will do something one way or the other to end this discussion, but it will never end. When I was Ave years of age, I remember hearing my father and his neighbors in vehement discussion of this very question. It was high tariff or low tariff or no tariff at all. When your great-grandchild dies at ninety years of age, it will probably be from over-exertion in discussing the tariff. Ontheflay the world is de#troyed, there will be three men standing on the postoffice steps?one a high tariff man, another a low tariff man. and the other a free trade man?each one red in the face irom fxcictHi argumeui uu iuia ouv ject. Other questions may get quieted, the Mormon question. the silver question, the \ pensiou question, the civil service question. A.U questions of annexation may come to peaceful settlement by the annexation of islands two weeks' voyage away and the heat of their volcanoes conveyed through pipes under the sea made useful in warming our continent, or annexation of the moon, dethroning the queen of night, who is said to be dissolute, and bringing the lunar populations under the influence of our free institutions : yea, all other questions, National and International, may be settled, but this traffic question never. It will not only never be settled, but it can never be moderately quiet for more than three years at a time, eaoh e getting into power taking one of the years to fix it up. and then the next party will fix it down. Our finances cannot get well because or too many doctors. It is olrtb1 XT nflrtno ao ttrlfK ainlr in ^ i vri H 11 n 1 a Here is h man terribly disordered as to his body. A doctor is called in. and he administers a febrifuge, a spoonful every hour. But recovery is postponed, and the anxious friends call in another doctor, and he says; "What this patient needs is blood letting; now roll up your sleeve!" and the lanret flashes. But still recovery is postponed, and a homeopathic doctor is called in. and he administers some small pellets and says: "All the patient wants is rest." Recovery still postponed, the family say that such small pellets cannot amount to much anyhow, and an allopathic doctor is called in. and he says, ''What this patient wants is calomel and jalap/' Recovery still postponed, a hydropathic doctor is called in, and he says: "What this patient wants is hot and cold baths, and he must have them tight away. Turn on the faucet and get toady lor the shower baths. '* Recovery is &V111 ^usiyuu^i, nu uinnii uu-ivi *j v.ancu la, and he brings all the schools to bear apoa the poor sufferer, and the patient, after a brave struscrle for life, expires. What killed him? Too many doctors. And that Is what is killing our National finances. My personal friend?. Cleveland and Harrison and Carlisle and McKinley and Sherman, as talented and lovely and splendid men as walk the earth, all pood doctors, but their treatment of our lanzuishfng finances is so . different that neither treatment has a full odErtunitv, aud under the constant changes it simply wonderful that the Nation still es. The tariff question will never be setlied because of the fact?which I have never heard any one recognize, but nevertheless the fact?that high tariff is best for some neople and free trade is best for others. This iariffle controversy keeps business struck through with uncertainty, and that uncertainty results in poverty and wretchedness lor a vast multitude of people. If the eternal gab on this question could have been fashioned into loaves of bread, there would not be a hungry man or woman or child on all Ihe planet. To the end of time, the words of the text will be kept true by the tariffic controversy?4iYe have the poor always with fOU." Another cause of perpetual poverty is the eause alcoholic. The victim does not last long. He soon crouches into the drunkard's grave. But what about his wife and children? She takes in washing, when she can get it, or goes out working on small wages. . because sorrow an<> privation have left her incapacitated to do a strong woman's work. The children are thin blooded and gaunt */! ?nl<v nn/4 ?vaaL* ufonrlino orAlinrl In 1IUU paic auu n van, Otauuiu^ u?vuu>? w.w rooms, or pitching pennies on the street corner, and munching a slice of unbuttered breau when they can get it, sworn at bypassorsby because they do not get out of the way, kicked onward toward manhood or womanhood, for which they have no preparation, except a depraved appetite and frail constitution, candidates for aimhouse and penitentiary. Whatever other cause of povertv may fail, the saloon may be depended on to furnish an ever increasing throng oT paupers. Oh, ye grogshops of Brooklyn and New Tork and of all the cities : ye mouths of hell, when will yo cease to ernunoh and devour'/ There is no danger of the liquor business failing. All Other styles of business at times fail. Dry goods stores go under. Hardware stores go ' 1. TT under, urocery stores gu uuucr. nuriiess makers (nil. druggists fail, bankers fail, batchers full, bakers fail, confectioners fail, bat the liquor dealers never. It is the only secure business I know of. Why the permanence of the alcoholic trade? Because, in the first place, the men in thnt business, if tight up for money, only have to pat into large quantities of water more strychnine and logwood and nux vomica and vitriol and other congenial concomitants foe adulteration. One quart of the real genuine pandemoniac elixir will do to mix up with several gallons of milder damnation. Besides that, these dealers can depend on an increase of demand on the part of their customers. The more of that stuff they drink, the thirstier they are. Hard times, which stop other business, only increase that business.for men go there to drown their troubles. They take the spirits down to keep their spirits Tip. Ther? is an inclined D*an? down wnich aico noiism slides its victims?ciarer. cnampagne, port, cognac, whisky, torn and jerry, sour mash, on and down until it is a sort or mixCure of kerosene oii. turpentine, toadstools, swill, essence of the horse blankets and general mistiness. With its red sword of flame, that liquor power marshals its procesflion, and they move on in ranks long enough to girdle the earth, and the procession is headed by tho nose blotched nerve shattered, rheum eyed, lip bloated, soul scorched inebriates, followed by the tromen, who, though brought up in comfortable homes, now sro limping past with aches and pains and pallor and hunger and woe, (followed by their children, barefoot, un,combed, freezing, and with a wretchedness Of time and eternity seemingly compressed 1c their agonized features. "Forward, march !" cries the liquor business to that army without banners. Keep that Influence movinsr on, and you will have the poor always with you. Report cornea from one of the cities, were the majority of the inhabitants are out of work and dependent on charity, yet last year they spent more in that city for rum than they did for clothing and groceries. Anottier warranty that my text will prove true in the perpetual poverty of the world is the wicked spirit of Improvidence. A vast number or people have such small incomes that they cannot lay by in savings bank or life insurance one cent a year. It takes every farthing they can earn to spread the table and clothe the family and educate the chil 1 Kl? a annh nonnla fnr im. I area, turn n jvu uiomy duv?* . ? providence you enact a cruelty. On such a salary as many clerks and employes and many ministers of religion live, and on suoh wages as many workmen receive, they cannot, in twenty years, lay up twenty cents. But you know and I know many who have competent incomes, and could provide somewhat for the future, who live up to every dollar, and when they die their children go to the poorhouse or on the street. By the time the wife gets the husband buried, she is in debt to the undertaker and gravedigser for that which she can never pay. While the man lived he had his wine parties and fairly stunk with I tobacco, and then expired, leaving his family [ upon the charities of the world. Do not send for me to come and conduct the j obsequies and read over such a carcass the beauMful litugy, '-Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord," for, instead of that, I will #>-!>?** Arnt* fKo lotroa rvf fho "Rihl A ffk T I Timothy v., 18, where it says: "If any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel," or I will turn to Jeremiah xxiL, 19. where it says, "He shall be buried with the burial of an ass. drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem." a I cannot imagine any more unfair or meaner thing than for a man to get his sins Eardoned at the last minute, and then go to eaveu, and live in a mansion, and go riding about in a golden chariot over the golden streets, while his wife and children, whom he miprht have provided for, are begging for cold victuals at the basement door of an earthly city. It seems to me there ought to be a poorhouse somewhere on the outskirts of heaven, where those guilty of such improvidence should be kept for awhile on thin soup and gristle instead of sitting down at the King's banquet. It is said that the church is a divine institution, and I believe it. Just as certainly are the savings banks and the life insurance companies divine institutions. as out or evil good oiten comes so out of the doctrine of probabilities,calculated by Professor Hughes and Professor Pascal for games of uuauucf Uttiuo iuo uaiuuiunvuo ui iuu piuuabllities of human life as used by life Insurance companies, and no business on earth is more stable or honorable, and no mightier mercy for the human race has been bora since Christ was born. Bored beyond endurance for my signature to papers of all sorts, there is one style of paper that I always sign with * feeling of gladness and triumph, and that is a paper which the life insurance company requires from the clergyman after a decease in his congregation, in order to the payment of the policy to the bereft household. I always write my name then so they can read it. I cannot help but say to myself: ''Good for that man to have looked after his wife and children after earthly departure. May he have one of the best seats in heaven!" Young man! The day before or the day after you get married, go to a life insurance company of established reputation and get the medical examiner to pat the stethoscope to your longs and his ear slose up to your heart with your vest off, aud have signed, sealed and delivered to you a document that will, ia the case ct your eud den departure, make for thAt lovely girl the difference between a queen and a pauper. I have known men who have had an income of $3000, $4000, $5000 a year, who did not leave one farthing to the surviving household. Now, that man's death is a defalcation, an outrage, a swindle. He did not die; he absconded. There are 100,000 people In America to-day a-hungered through the sin of improvidence. ''But," say some, "my Income is so small I cannot afford to pay the premium on a life insurance." Are you sure about that'? If you are sure, then you have a right to depend on the promise in Jeremiah ill*., 11, "Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alivev and let thy widows trust in Me." But if you are able to, remember you have no right to ask God to do for your household that which you can do lor them yourself. For the benefit of those young men excuse a practical personality. Beginning my life's work on the munificent salary of $800 a year and a parsonage, and when the call was placed in my hands I did not know how in the world I would ever be able to spend that amnnnt nf mon?v. and I remember indulff log in a devout wish that I might not be led into worldliness and prodigality by suoh an overplus of resources, and at a time when articles of food and clothing were higher than they are now, I felt it a religious duty to get my life insured, and I presented myself at an office of one of the great companies, and I stood pale and nervous lest the medical examiner might have to declare that I had consumption and heart disease and a half dozen mortal ailments, bat when I got the document, which I have yet in full foroe, I felt a sense of manliness and confidence and quietude and re-enforcement, which is a good thing for any young man to have. For the tack ef that feeling there are thousands of men today in Greenwood and Laurel Hill and Mount Auburn who might as well have been alive and well and supporting their families. They got a little sick, and they were so worried about what would become of their households in case of their demise that their agitations overcame the skill of the physicians, and they died for fear of dying. I nave tor many years been sucn an ardent acjyocate of life insurance, and my sermon on ''The Crime of Not Insuring' has been so long used on both sides of the sea by fhn nhiftf Hfft insurance oomnanies that some people have supposed that I received monetary compensation for what I have said and written. Not a penny. I will give any man $100 for every penny I have received from any life insurance company. What I have said and written o& the subject has resulted from the conviction that these institutions are a benediction to the human race. But, alas, for the widespread improvidence! You are now in your charities helping to support the families of men who had more income than you now have, and you can depend on the improvidence of many for the truth of my text in all times and in all places, "Ye have the poor always with you." Another fact that you may depend upon fot perpetual poverty is the incapacity of many to achieve a livelihood. You can go through any community and And good people with tncirA than usual mental caliber, who never have been able to support themselves and their households. They are a mystery to us, and we say, 4iI do not know what is the matter of them, but there is a screw loose somewhere." Some of these persons have more brain than thousands who make a Hplendid success. Some are too sanguine of temperament, and they see bargains where there are none. A common minnow is to them a gold fish, and a quail a flamingo. and a blind mule on a towpath a Bucephalus. They buy when things are highest and sell when things are lowest. Some one tells them of city lots out We?t. where the foundation of the first house has not yet been laid. They say, "What an opportun Jty!" and they put down the hard cash for an ornamented deed for ten lots undei water. Thoy hear of a new silver mine opened in Nevada, and they say. "What 0 chance!" and they take the little mone> they have in the savings bank and paj It out for as- beautiful a eortittnnta /\f minino at/-*r?L- na prPr nrinttfd and the onlything they will ever cet out oi the investment is the aforesaid illuminated lithograph. They are always on the verge of millkmairedom an<1 are sometimes worried as to whom they shall bequeath their excess of fortune. They invest in aerial machine* or new inventions in perpetual motion, stnd they succeed in what mathematicians think impossible, the squnrimr of a circle, for they do everything ou the square and win thf whole circle of disappointment. They are good honest, brilliant failures. They dfc poor, and leave nothing to their families but a model of some invention that would no! work and whole portfolios of diagrams of things impossible. I cannot help but like thein, because they are so cheerfnl T?nf- t-lts-tiM AKIMrun \yuii ^rcai CApw;iaiivua. uui mcui vunuiuu are h bequest to the bureau of city charities. Others administer to the crop of the world's misfortune by being too unsuspecting. Honest themselves, they believe all other? are honest. They are fleeced and scalped and vivisected by the sharpere in all styles of business and cheated out of everything between cradle and grave, and those two exceptions only because they have nothing to do in buying either of them. Others are retained for misfortune by inopportune sickness. Just as that lawyer was to make the plea that would have put him among the strong men of the profession, neuralgia stung him. Just as tbat physician was to prove his skill in an epi?ir. kin A?n nAAii Kanlfk ^ mni^annaH him UOUJAVJ, 1113 UYTU puvi UVUUU liupuovuvu Utua* Just a3 that merchant must be at the store for some decisive and introductory bargain, he sits with a rheumatic joint on a pillow, the room redolent with liniment. What an overwhelming statistic would be the story of men and women and children impoverished by sicknesses! Then the cyclones. Then the Mississippi and Ohio freshets. Then the stopping of the factories. Then the curculios among the peach trees. Then the insectila devastation of potato patches and wheatfields. Then the epizootics among the horses, and the hollow horn among the nerds. Then the rains that drown out everything, and the droughts that burn up naif a continent. Then the orange groves die under the white teeth of the hoar frost. Then the coal strikes, ana me iron emices, ana tne mecaamcs amuoo, which all strike labor harderthan they strike capital. Then the yellow fever at Brunswick and Jacksonville and Shreveport. Then the cholera at the Narrows, threatening to land at New York. Then the Charleston earthquake. Then the Johnstown flood. Then hurricanes sweeping from Caribbean Sea to Newfoundland. Then there are the great monopolies that gulley the earth with their oppressions. Then there are the necessities of buying coal by the scuttle instead of the ton, and flour by the pound instead of the burrel. and so the injustices are multiplied. In the wake of all these are overwhelming illustrations of the truth of my text, '*Ye have the poor always with you." Remember a fact that no one emphasizes? a fact, nevertheless, upon which I want to put the weight of an eternity of tonnage? that the best way of insuring yourself and your children and your grandchildren against poverty and all other troubles is by helping others. I am an agent of the oldest insurance company that was ever established. It is nearly 3000 years old. It has the advantage of all the other plans of insur ance?whole life policy, endowment, joint life and survivorship policies; ascending and descending scales of premium and tontine?and it pays up while you live and it pays up after you are dead. Every cent you give in a Christian spirit to a poor man or woman, every shoe you give to a barefoot, every stick of wood or lump 01 coai you give ro a ureiess hearth, every drop of medicine you give to a poor invalid, every star of hope you make to shine over unfortunate maternity, every mitten you knit for cold fingers, la a payment on the premium of that policy. I band about 500,000,000 policies to all who will go forth and aia the unfortunate. There are only two or three lines in this policy of life insurance?Ps. xli., 1, "Blessed 1b he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble." Other life insurance companies may fail, but this celestial life insurance company never. The Lord God Almighty is at the head of it, and all the angels of heaven are in its board of direction, and its assets are all worlds, and all the charitable of earth and heaven are the beneficiaries. "But,'* says some one, "I do not like a tontine policy so well, and that which you offer is more like a tontine and to be cbiefly paid in this life.*' "Blessed Is be that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble." Well, if you prefer the old fashioned policy of life insurance, which is not paid till aftur death, you can be accommodated. That will be given you in the day of judgment and will be handed you by the right hand, the pleroed hand of our Lord Himself, and all you do in the right spirit for the poor is payment on the premium of that lite insurance policy. I read you a paragraph of that policy: "Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, 'Come, ye blessed of My Father, for I was hungered, and ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Ms in; naked and ye clothed Me.'" In various colors of ink other life Insurance policies are written. This one I have just shown you is written in only one kind of ink, and that red ink, the blood of the cross. Blessed be God, that is a paid up poilcy, paid for by the pangs of the Son of God, and all we add to it in the way ot our own good deeds will augment the sum of eternal felldtifls. Yes, the time will come when the banks ot largest capital stock will go down, and the fire insurance companies will all go down, and the life insurance companies will all go down. In the last great earthquake all the cities will be prostrated, and as a consequence all banks will forever suspend payment. In the last conflagration th? fire insurance companies of the earth will fall, for how could they make appraisement of the loss on a universal tire? Then all the inhabitants of the round world rhmp mortal Hxistencp. and how could life insurance companion pay for depopulated hemispheres? But our celestial life Insurance will not be harmed by that continental wreck, or that hemispheric accident, or that planetary catastrophe. Blow it out like a candle?tne noonday sun' Tear it down like wornout upholstery?the last sunset 1 Toss it from God's finger like a dewdrop from the anther of a water lily?the ocean! 8catterthem like thistledown before a schoolboy's breath?the world! They will not disturb the omnipotence, or the composure, or the sympathy, or the love of that Christ who said it once on earth, and will say it again in heaven to all those who have been helpful to the down-trodden, and the cold and the hungry, and the houseless, and the lost, "Inasmuch as ye did It to them, ye did to Me 1" Dosr and Crane Fight It Oat. In the fall a big white crane got in the habit of stealing fish from Mrs.. Myra Hooker's carp pond in Sickler'a Creek, says a Scran ton (Penn.) letter to the New York Sun. The long legged bird was so handsome that Mrs. Hooker liked to look at it, and as there were a good many more carp in the pond than she could make use of, she let the crane come around and help itself to fish as often as it pleased. Before long the crane saw that Mrs. Hooker meant to be friendly, for. instead of stealing up to the pond as it had done at first, it alighted near the pond as though it had a right to, waded in leisurely, and soon sailed off to the swamp with a carp flopping in its strong jaws. Within a fortnight Mrs. Hooker'e mongrel dog, Dick, began to take a dislike to the big bird, and one morning he laid plans to nab it. He hid in some woods, and whenf the crane alighted he sprang out at it, and met with the sorriest surprise of his life. Dick made a miss, and the spunky bird hammered him on the head with his long bill, licked him in less than u minule, and sent him howling to the house with his left eye badly bunged up. Mrs. Hooker saw the lively spat. ' i -- - l-'~ arm weni 10 jl/iuk a ?sBinmutc. uuc began to doctor the wounded eye, but her tender nursing was in vain, for the crane's bill had pierced the centre of the optie, and the sight was destroyed. Dick kept away from the pond and did a good deal of thinking while his wound was healing. He must have made up his"mind to have revenge on the crane, Mrs. Hooker said, for as soon as his eye had got well he crawled under a root at the edge of the pond one morning and concealed himself till the crane waded in. raised one on/l iirotomlpil to be dozinsr. 4VVW r'v? 7 ~ owhen he made a spring and caught it by the neck. The crane kicked and flopped its wings, but Dick had a good hold, and he hauled the strangling fish thief out of the water, dragged it around the meadow on a canter till he had choked it to death, and then snaked it to the dooryard, where he ' danced and barked around it in triumph that he had killed the enemy that had put out hia eye. RELIGIOUS READING. KEEP STEADT. Koet>steady, young man, koop steady? Nor waver when put to the test. When Satan assails, be ready: Defeat him by doing your beet. With plausible words he advances: With cunning he strengthens hlschancea; He does all his planning with care; He's wily and wicked. Beware I Resist all his sly approachesYield never an inch to the foe. Whenever that foe encroaches, Resort to a resolute No! With flattery, cunning, he plies you; With sympathy, artful, he tries you; His wiles he keeps well out of sight; He comes as an "angel of light 1" Let truth be your watchword ever, Let right be the law of your Ufa. With these for guides you never Will suffer defeat in the strife. Give battle to vices that tempt you? Your virtues can never exempt you. Temptations will como, but be strong; Give battle to all that is wrong. Don't falter, young man, don't falter, But trust in the arm of the Lord. No infidel scoffs can alter The glorious truths of His Word. The God of your fathers defends you; '.the Spirit most holy befriends you; The Saviour from heaven came down To give you a robe and a crown! Then steady, young man, keep steady, Whatever vain worldlings may say. For labors of love be ready? The calls of the Master obey. Unworthiness freely confessing, Stand fast on God's promise of blessing. The world with its favor or frown Is naught to the robe And the crown. ?John M. Mobse in New York Observer. i saw him oo it. I saw a laborer returning weary from his worK. i saw mm sioop imu tuna a oiuuc, that lay In the pathway of passing wheels, and cast it out of the road. That sight did me good. That stone might be struck by a passing wheel, to the discomfort, perhaps, of the traveler, and possibly the injury of the vehicle. It was kind in the man to remove it. ';What a trifle, that, for a newspaper paragraph !" says a captious one. Not so, my friend. The act was small, but the motive noble?the act small, the principle on which it was based of unspeakable value to the human race. I love to trace things, especially such things to their fountain. That man had emotion in his soul when he stooped to remove that stone. He felt or he would not have acted. Hefeltright. It was kind in him. I have a right to think that act was but one of the links of a chain?and never was achainmade of better material?love for the welfare of others. Such a chain is all gold. The man had done just such things before, and would do just such things again. It cost him something to do this, for there was a pelting storm of sleet, and he carried an umbrella, and he *- * u 11- A* 4+ musi pause m ma rapiu warn, iu uu Well done, my humble friend. If every other man would stop and pick out of the path of his fellow-traveler through life the things that vex and annoy them, how many sunny faces there would be in place of scowling ones!?Drops make a shower ;give us enough of them. Such acts as this man's?give us enough of them?and how great the shower of blessings! How much misery would be prevented. I shall not stop here. The man that will do such a thing will do greater things. Tnat will show what the fountain is. He has a kind heart. He will remove a larger stone than that from the pathway of human life. Give me that man for my adversity. He who has honored the small draft will honor the greater. His good will was not all exhausted by that effort. It was a trifle, was it? Please thea think, my friend, it can then be but a trifle for you to do such a thine. Do every such . sort oi thing?any thing that will remove obstructions out of the path of human happiness. Give your neighbor a jog to do so too. Perhaps be will pass the iog along, and we shall {?og some of the selfishness out of the human teart. A HOLT TALK. A missionary some years ago. returning from South Africa, gave a description of the work which had been accomplished there through the preaching of the Gospel. Among other things be pictured a little Incident of which he had been an eye witness. He said that one morning he saw a converted African chieftain sitting under a palm tree with his Bible open before him. Every now and then he cast his eyes on his book and read a passage. Then he paused and looked up a little while, and his lips were seen to be in motion. Thus he continued, alternately, to look down on the 8;riptures and to turn his eyes upwards towards heaven. The missionary passed by without disturbing the good man, but after a little while he mentioned to him what be had seen, and asked him why it was that sometimes he read and sometimes he looted up. This was the African's reply: "I look down to the book and God speaks to me. Then I look up In prayer and I speak to the Lord. So we keep up, this way, a holy talk with each other." As I read the account of this touching little scene, the words of Psalms xxvii. 8. flashed over me. This picture is but a mirror to re-, fleet the eighth verse of the twenty-seventh Psalm: "When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek." First, God talking to us; and then, our talking to God. A CHKTBTIAX HOME. Oh, great! unspeakable, is the bleasing of a goodly home. Here is jhe cradle of the Christian. Hence he aajffes forth for encoun ter with the world, armed at au points, disciplined in all means of resistance and full of hope and victory under his heavenly leader. Hither he ever afterwards turns a dutiful and affectionate look, regarding it as the type and pledge of another home. Hither, too, wnen sore wounded in the conflict, he resorts to repair his drooping vigor. Here when abandoned by the selfish sons of this world, he finds, as in a sanctuary, the children of God ready with open arms to receive him. And here the returning prodigal, enfolded in the embrace of those who knew not the impuritiesof the world with which he has been mixing, feels all at once his heart burst witn shame and repentance. Mercifi'il God, what a city of refuge hast thou ordaiued in the Christian home! A true Christian home can scarcely be said to die. It may disappear from the eyes of flesh, but its better parts, those which are truly valuable, belong also to our everlasting home. It has but to throw off the elements of flesh, and it becomes at once the spiritual home to which eternal bliss iy appended. All its occupations are preparations for another life: all its actions converge to that point: its society originating in the flesh has long ago beeii established in the spirit. Its inmates regard ench other as companions of the life to come, and deride the power of any separation which this world can effect They look with contemptuous pity upon the miserable expedient for union after death to which worldlings resort, the lay tig up of their bones in a costly vault, thus making mockery of home in a disgusting assemblage of mouldering skeletons. Being-one in spirit whether in the same grave or with half the world between, they are still in union.?Lit. W. Evans. Only in the sacredness of inward silence does the soul truly meet the secret-hiding God. The strength of resolve, which afterward shapes life and mixes itself with action, is the fruit of those sacred, solitary moments when we meet God alone.?Frederick William Robertson. ^ "Supplies ior tne snlpwrecked: Dr. John B. Driggs, a medical missionary 3f the Episcopal Church, who for five years bas been the oaly white resident of Point Hope, Alaska, has written a letter to the church's board of missions asking it to lay before the United States the advisability of keeping at Point Hope a considerable store of provisions for the use of crews shipwrecked in the Polar seas, who succeed in reaching there. He says that the town never has more than two weeks' supply of provisions at a time, and that any considerable acsession to the number of mouths would speedily reduce all to a state of starvation. This wan tho fata of a crew which was wracked there three years ago. Forty men succeeded in getting to the shore, but of these only eight reached San Francisco. The rest perished of starvation. c - ?.* :r._ CJ 4 DD 4 run cnTAAT ! OADDill CL DULLWJU. INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOS JANUARY 28. Lesson Text: "God's Covenant TT'.lb Noah," Genesis ix., 8-17 : ? Golden Text: Genesis, lx.f > 13?Commentary. ft. "And God spoke unto Noah and to bii sons with him. saying." We have passed over orobablv 1500 rears since the last les son, during which time the views of Cain and Abel bad full time to develop and bear fruit. In the line of Seth, who took the place of Abel, his brother, the most notable of those recorded in chapter v. was Enoch, the seventh from Adam (Jude 14), who walked .with God at least 300 years and was then translated without tasting death. The descendants of Cain, who turned away from God. gave their attention to building cities, inventing musical instruments, working in brass and iron and trying to make this world a happy place without God. The result of Cain's wayi3 seen in chapter vi.. 5, and the only remedy was the deluge, which came after long warning, destroying all except Noah and those with him in the ark. 9. "And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your seed aft.et you." This is the first covenant, so called, in the Scriptures and is first mentioned in ohapter vi., 18. It concerns the whole earth. Then we have 4G0 years later the covenant with Abraham,Jlstaac and Jacob concerning the land of Canaan ana tne people wnu should inherit it as a center of blessing to the whole earth. These two are unconditional. About 400 years later we have the conditional covenant at Horeb. Compare Deut. v., 2, 3, and Gal. ill., 17. Then some 400 years after that we have the unconditional covenant with David concerning the throne and the kingdom. Happy are all who can make the last words of David their own and rest quietly in the faithfulness of God? "Although my house be not so with God, yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure" (II. Sam. xxiil., 5). 10. "And with every living oreature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark to every beast of the earth." The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works (Pa. cxlv.. 9). Even the sparrows of which five are sold for two farthings are cared for- by Him (Luke xlL, 6). And the whole creation which still groaneth and travaileth in pain because of sin shall yet be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom. viil., 21. 22). 11. "And I will establish my covenant with you. Neither shall all flesh be cat off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to dsstroy the earth." The next purification of the earth shall be fire, after wnlch there shall be a new earth filled with righteousness to abide forever (II Pet. iil, 6, 7, 10, 13). The earth will not be destroyed?that is, annihilated?but purified from all 'defilement, loosed (as tne word "dissolved" signifies) from its bondage of sin. And as it was in the days of Noah so shall it be in the days preceding that purification ruiKe xvu., zo, ?7). 12. "And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations." In great mercy and loving kindness God condescends to give to man outward and visible signs of. His faithfulness. The token to Abraham was circumcision ; in the passover it was the blood upon the door; to Bahab it was the scarlet cord; to Gideon the fire from the rock; to Ahaz it was the virgin's son (Gen. xvli.. 11 ;Ex. xll., 13 ; Joshua 1L, 12. 18 ; Judg. vl.. 17, 21; Isa. vii., 14). The last, even Jesus Himself, is to us Che sign that He will do all that He has said. 18. "I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth." This is the first time that we rsad of the rainbow, and it is only spoken of in four places, here and in Ezek. i.. 28 ; Bev. 1 v., 8 . x., 1. Four in Scripture is the perfect number concerning the earth, and In eaoh of these four place* the bow speaks of a redeemtd earth. In the other f ? i- *kf? U in 4n tnree places us wen as m mu n. ? oocu <u connection with Him who Is the only Redeemer. 14. ;,Anl it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the clouds.'' The olouds would be more interesting to us if we remembered that He brings them and that they are the dust of His feet (Nab. i., 3). He led Israel by a pillar whloh was a cloud by day and a fire by night, and whloh He also spread over the whole encampment as a covering (Ex, xiii., 21, 22; Ps. cv., 39). At the transfiguration a cloud overshadowed Him, when He ascended a cloud received Him, and when He shall come again in His glory bringing His saints with Him it will be in the clouds of heaven (Math, xvil,, 5; xxvi., 64; Acts i., 9). Clouds sometimes teaoh that, though His way be not clear to us, yet we are to trust Him implicitly. 15. "And I will remember my covenant, which is between Me and you, and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters sliall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh." See also what Ha will remember in Lev. xxvi., 42, 45, and Ezet. xvi., 60. Consider what we are to remember in Deut. vli., 18: viii., 2 ; I Chron. xvi., 12 ; Eccl. xii., 1; I ri?- ?* nA ok ToL*u nnm frsrt n.lqn in urhaf VU1. AX, , *-Xf ?u. Auav vvlm.W.. He will not remember (Isa. xllU., 25 ; Heb. vlii., 12 ; x., 17). Notice that in the margin of Isa. ixli., 6, 7, we are called '-the Lord's remembrances" and observe carefully what we ore to remind them of. The R. V. says we are to take no rest and give Him no rest till He does this. He does not need to be reminded, but He condescends to let us do this, and loves to have us plead His promises. 16. "And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." How many of us ever think when we see a rainbow in the clouds'that God is looking specially upon it and is interested in it; that the cloud is His, and the bow is His, and the covenant is His, and when we are interested in that which interests Him then we have fellowship with Him? When the clouds come in our lives, may we, bv fa*th see also the bow and rejoice that however things may seem to go we are in the bonds of an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure. 17. "And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is upon the earth." The word for "establish" is often translated "raise up," "confirm'' "perform," "accomplish." and is the very word used when speaking io Moses of CbriJt. "I will raise them up a prophet like unto thee.'1 Ail things that God says or does are established in Christ. When we are in Christ by simple faith, and just taking Him at His word, we, too, become established, but not otherwise (II Chron. xx.. 20: Isa. vii., D).? Lesson Helper. Fostofflces in zne country. The total number of postoffices in operation in the United Statea on January 1,1894, was 68,806. This is shown in a statement prepared at the Postoffice Department showing the number of postofflces in the country by classes in effect January 1. The number of offices of the three presidential classes is 8424. There are 151 in the first-class, where the receipts are more than $40,000; 674 in the second-class, where receipts range from $8000 to $40,000, and 2599 in the third-class, where the receipts range from $1900to $8000. There are also 65,382 fourth-class offices, where appointments of postmasters are not made by the President, and where the compensation of the postmasters for each of the last four quarters of the year amounted to $250 and the receipts of $1900 or less. The recent raising oi forty-three fourth-class postofflces to the presidential class took effect January 1 und these are embraced in the statement. Tn Terror or Siberia. Sigmund Massakovvski, a Russian refugee, committed suicide iu Chicago a few days ago, rather than run the risk of being extra- j dited and sent to Siberia. He had Deen an officer in the Czar's army, and about four months ngo was suspected of being mixed up in ft political plot, and fled from tho country. He had hoped to be able to bring his family from St. Petersburg, but the Russian Government forbade them to leave the country, and, as the unlortunate u4an understood. put spies on his track, and he was in constant fear of being arrested for extradition. Death, he told a countryman in Chicago. was better than Siberia. AGRICULTURAL TOPICS OF INTEREST RELATIVE TO FARM AND GARDEN. ABUNDANT DRINKING WATER FOB STOCK. Hogs and sheep are often sufferers from lack of water. Hogs especially are liable to be shut up in a pen or pasture without water and kept there for weeks with nothing to drink except the swill and slops at feed time. A lack of water induces a feverish and unhealthy condition of the meat and makes it unfit for food. Lack of water is a cause of ewes not owning their lambs and of sows eating their young. It checks growth, and it is a cause of a weak and uneven fiber in wooL Pure water is as necessary as good food for the best results.?American Agriculturist. FEEDING DBT COWS. A drvcow should be fed well enouch to keep her in a good condition, but not ao well as to make her fat. If the calf is not expected for three months it may be necessary to keep up the meal feeding, reducing the ration onehalf or three-fourths, remembering that exposure to cold calls for some extra food to maintain a healthful condition, and that it would not therefore be advisable to stop the grain food altogether. This must be left to the individual judgment, keeping the cow in good flesh, but not fat. All the hay or ensilage the cow will consume without waste, and, if hay is only fed, two quarts of cornmeal a day will be safe to feed. It is not to be forgoti - - it i Jiii .J it. If J _ ten inai ine conuiuon 01 me can uepends greatly on that of the cow, and that this will suffer before the cow does if the food is not sufficient to maintain both in good health. And the better the feeding,, so that it is not excessive, the better the cow ^ill milk after the calf is dropped.?New York Times. KITCHEN SCRAPS FOB CHICKENS. From the kitchen come many of the very choicest titbits which find their way into the capacious craws of the chicks, and it not only relieves the monotony of grain food, but it turns to profitable account what wohld otherwise be cast out and lost. Bits of bread and meat, the crumbs from the tablecloth, the bits of celery and soraps of cabbage are all relished by the fowls. XlTTiilA fchfi fowls will creedilv take thejie just as they come from the kitchen, there are many other things which could be profitably used as chicken food if but a little care and time be bestowed upon its preparation. There are the potato parings, which are usually consigned to the swill tub or thrown out where they will be of no account except to become a nuisance. These can be readily utilized by boiling them a few minutes, and while still hot mixing a few handsful of fine cornmeal with them, after which they can be set away to steam. "When they are cool the mess can be fed to the fowls, and they will soon clean up every particle. They can also be used without the cornmeal. Turnip parings can be similarly treated.?Poultry World. HOUSE PLANTS. House plants are as easily grown as onions if once the knack of taking caro of them is learned, says the Orange * i t - i-J.tA, i 11 ?.!_ ducia jarmer. Ana n ib wen worm while to become acquainted with their habits, for there is no situation in life to which a growing plant will not add cheer. There are plants suitable for every kind of indoor decoration? trailing vines and lovely palms for the bay window, lilies and hyacinths for the parlor table, begonias and geraniums for the dining room, and hundreds of graceful forms for baskets, corner shelves and out-of-way nooks. Give those which are not in an active, growing condition little water, but as soon as there are signs of growth increase the supply, keeping in mind the fact that many more plants are injured by over watering than from being kept too dry. Apply no manure of any kind to a plant not in a condition of growth. Some persons, when they see that a plant is not growing, dose it with stimulants and fertilizers, and in most cases kill it. All plants are sure to be injured by an onttlinafinn nf thin Irtnd nnlpAS in ft condition to make use of' it. Tarn them frequently to keep symmetrical. If this ifl neglected the young and growing branches will be drawn toward the light, and in time the plant will become one-sided. A little care at the proper time will prevent this. More healthy plants would be seen in sitting room windows if they were given air daily. Many seem to get the idea that they do not require much air, and do not recognize the necessity of their obtaining fresh supplies. It is well to open a door some distance from the plants for some minutes daily and let fresh cold air mix with fVio mirra hflfnrfi pominff in contact with the plants. If you can change the air from time to time, can regulate the temperature, keep the atmosphere moist, and can have plenty of sun, success is assured. Roll up the shades, throw back the curtains, and let the light come in. Your carpet may fade, but the plants will take on enough extra brightness to make up for all losses. HOW TO DRIVE A HORSE. The health, length of life and usefulness of horses depend largely upon the manner in which they are treated. At the start it is important that the owner or driver should thoroughly unflprstancl the disposition, condition and ability of the animal that he drives. Some men can drive a horse thirty or even forty miles at a good rate of speed and have the animal in better condition at the end than another after driving Ae same horse uve miles. It is not by any means driving fast that injures a horse so much as improper driving. Often more strength and vitality are taken out of a horse in two miles of fretting through the mismanagement of the driver than in going several times this distance with proper care. Some men cannot drive without a whip in their hands, whether it is needed or not, and while there is no - - - 11. . doubt but tnat in some cases me wmp is necessary, yet it is often the cause of more fretting on the part of a lively horse than any other one thing. : 'M I The driver who thinks that bec^uM his hcrse is fresh he can stand it to be driven fast at the start for several miles, and then given a chance to real by going slow, or one who drives fact for awhile and then slows down to walk in order to rest np ready for aa-j * other sport, will not get the bem Knead ont of a horse with the leaaU H waste of vitality, especially in going; long distances. It is a steady gait that counts most and wears the horse least. Give him ? chance to get warmed np first, audi then let the gait be a steady one. Another item is not to feed too ' ?'r heavily before driving. A light feed! of oats will be far better than if heavier feed of a more bulky graia.: ' .^3 Exercise or action too soon after eating' retards digestion, and the animal thai! must travel at a good gait with $1 rtQnilA+ ViTlf flTlOW thft tVVUCU OWU4WVU VUUMVW wvk. W?.T. . _ effects, and if driven rapidly Vox eves.1 a short distance after eating a hearty . meal there is considerable risk of thfit colic. Watering properly is fully as important as feeding. When a horse bv being driven on the road he should noil* at any lame be allowed to overload hit a stomach with a large quantity otfH /, water. So far as is possible the ruloj should be to give water frequently,, and, while he should have all that by > M will drink, it should be given in small! doses. t A horse in good health can stand) more work and more driving vitbout^ ininrv than one that is in anv Wav OUlt! of .condition, The feed and oaval should be each as are best calculated! * .53 to maintain health and thrift, awl then, when on the road, care must b? '.j8 taken to use this strength and vigor t) the best advantage. ; The good driver can tell by the vrmj his horse goes the amount of work should have.?St. Louis Republic. PABH AND OAKDEK 50TB8. 'M Teach your team to pull together. Make all things ready for the spring work. Feed liberally and give plenty of exercise. Fair geldings bring more money than fair stallions. As some of the orohard trees die oft others should be set out to take their rafl Most colts are fond of sweet apples,! and an occasional feed of them is ast ,-J excellent diet. ( ' Let your horses come to heavy pull-1 ing gradually, and not until their '^JJ bones are well matured. Why not raise more geese? They in easily reared, cost but little for food, and are in good demand. Very severe punishment when ap plied to a young horse is apt to confirm him in his bad ways. The eheep has been often oompared . to a Government bond. It carries its coupon on its back and yon can dip it ego annually. , . There is no standing still with stock.' They either go forward#or backward, , jj and the latter process is the more rapid one. In selecting small fruit for hom4 use or for market, it is well to ohooMf several varieties which ripen at different times. If the corn is all ont it would be good plan to clean up and paint some nt marhinerv : oi* how about the farm wagon? If the horse becomes restless do not jerk the lines; a strong, steady poll will be more effective and will not in- ' jure a tender month.1 Corn standing in the field should be gotten ont as soon as possible, for! every rain and every wind beats somo of it down, and there is a waste. The man who is sure his incubator is running orazy, but who will not leave his bed to set it going right, will' never make success of the business. - ' w? Leghorn pullets will begin laying when they are five months old, boil pullets of the larger breed often wait ten months, or even a year, before laying. AH incnDacor IB not a fcuy, ao buuui suppose, bat a machine founded oa scientific principles to help ns govern our operations and simplify chicken J'i raising. I While using the sleigh would be a good time to paint the farm wagon. The busy, pasting farmer can alwaya find something to do to keep the work ahead. The majority at the recent beekeepers' meeting in Chicago favored a smaller hive than the ten-frame Lang- ~ ^$1 stroth for comb-honey- Forty-two* preferred an eight-frame. Hens are fond of a variety of food, and will have better appetites if different kinds are given them. As the appetite influences egg production the feeding of variety is more important than quantity. The average price of Irish butter in the home market has advanced during the past three years, and may brf partly attributed to the introduction of separators and the creamery system of butter making. The recent introduction of so-called - i self-bleaching varieties of celery hatf also very mnch reduced the work and * cost of bleaching, high banking witfr the spade and shovel now being unnecessary with these varieties. The tim3 has come for moubatoj' operators to do away with sentiment and get down to the plain, hard factsIf you have better success following plan of your own than when following the instructions of others, stick to your plan and win. In moat localities it will not be necessary to grow crops especially for honey. Alsike. alfalfa and white Dutch clover are th~ most profitable, as they pay well for grazing and hay ns well as for honey. Of trees basewood is the best for honey. / In the selection of a site for the beehives a sonth or an east slope i? best, but almost any locality is better than a northern slope. The ground should bo reasonably level and> thorough drainage should be supplied. If protection can be given on the north all the better. If the cattle arc stanchioned all daydo not neglect to give them a brushing}or carding. When loose they can attend to it themselves, either with T their tongue or by rubbing or by both. When you change their surroundings do not deprive them ol this health-giving privilege.