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*,T KEY. DR. TALMAGE. 'HE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Subject: "Laughter" Tixt : "Then was our mouth filled with lUghter."?Psalm cxxvi., 2. "He that sitith In the heavens shall laugh."?Psalm >? xmrty-eignt times does the Bibio maw rference to this configuration of the feairee and quick expulsion of breath which '6 call laughter. Sometimes it is born ol te sunshine and sometimes the midnight, ometimos it stirs the sympathy of angels Qd sometimes the cachinnation of devils. II healthy people laugh. Whether It leases the Lord or displeases Him, that deends upon when we lautjh and at what we nigh. My theme to-day is the laughter of xe Bible?namely, 8arah's laugh, or that of fcepticism; David's lausrh, or that of splrital exultation ; the fool's laugh, or that ol aful merriment; God's laugh, or that ol iflnite condemnation; heaven's laugh, oz lat of eternal triumph. 8cene, an oriental tent. The occupants. Id Abraham and Sarah, perhaps wrinkled nd deorepit. Their three guests are three ogels, the Lord Almighty one of them. In Jturn for the hospitality shown by the old eople God promises Sarah that she shall ecome the ancestress of the Lord Jeeas hrist. Sarah laughs In the face of ttod. he does not believe it. She is affrighted at 'hat she has done. She denies it. She its, "I did not laugh." Then God retorted lth an emphasis that silenced all disputaon, "But thou didst laugh." My friends, le laugh of skepticism in all asres is only xe echo of Sarah's laughter. God says He III accomplish a thing, and men say it canotbe done. A great multitude laugh at the liraoles. They say they are contrary to the iws of nature. What Is a law of nature? ; is God's way of doing a thing. You orInarlly oross a river at one ferry. To-mor>W you change for one day. and you go JT08S another ferry. You made the rale. I ave you not the right to change it? You rdinarlly come in at that door of the churoh. upposa that next Sabbath you come in at le other door. It is a habit you have. Havo 9u not a right to ohange your habit? A W of nature is God's habit?His way of olng things. II He makes the law. has He ot a right to ohange it at any time He wants > change It? ' Alas! for the folly of those who laugh at od when He says. "I will do a thing," ley responding. "You can't do it." God lys that the Bible is true?it is all true, whop Colenso laughs, Herbert Spencer ughs, Stuart Mill laughs, great German Diversities laugh, Harvard laaghs?softly, great many of the learned institutions, ith long rows of professors seated on the noe between Christianity and infidelity. ,ugh softly. They say, "We didn't laugh." hat was Sarah's trick. God thunders from te heavens, "Bat thou didst laugh I" The irden of Eden was only a fable. There sver was any ark built, or if it was built It aa too small to have two of every kind, he pillar of fire by night was only the orthem lights, the ten plagues of Egypt aly a brilliant speoimen of jugglery. The ia parted because the wind blew violently a raat while from one direction. The sun id moon did not put themselves out of the ay for Joshua. Jacob's ladder was only orizontal and picturesque clouds. The deroying angel smiting the firstborn In crmt wab onlv flholpr*. lnfn.nt-nm hMnoirin ildemlc. The gullet of the whale, by witive measurement, too small to swallow prophet. The story of the Immaculate moeptlon a shock to all decency. The me, the dumb, the blind, the halt, cured r mere human surgery. The resurreotion 1 Christ's friend only a beautiful tableau, hrlst and Lazarus and Mary and Martha sting their parts well. Myxfrlends, there not a doctrine or statement of God's holy ord that has not been derided by tho epticism of the day. I take up this book of King James's transt m. I consider It a perfect Bible, but b.o are skeptics who want it torn to pieces, ad now, with this Bible in my hand, let etear out all those portions whloh the cepticism of this day demands shall be torn it What shall go first? "Well." says some* le In the audience, "take out ail that about e creation and about the first settlement the world." Away goes Genesis. "Now," ys some one, "take out all that about the lraculous guidance of the children of Israel t the wilderness." Away goes Exodus. Now," saT8 some one else In the audience, there are things in Deuteronomy ana lugs that are not fit to be read." Away go euteronomy and the Kin^a. "Now," says ime one, "the book of Job is a fable that ight to come out." Away goes the book of >b. "Now," says Bome one, "those passJ68 in the New Testament whloh Imply the vinitv of Jesus Christ cratrht to cr>m? nnt_" way go the Evangelists. "Now," says Hue one, "the book of Revelation?how reposterous! It represents a man with the oon under his feet and a sharp sword in s hand." Away go;s the book of Bevelaon. Now there are a few pieces left. What tall we do with t&em? "Oh," says ssme an in the audience, "I don't believe a ord in the Bible from one end to the othWell, it is all gone. Now you have it out the lust light for the nations. Now is the pitch darkness of eternal midnight, ow do you like it? But I think, my friends, we ha4 better ep the Bible a little longer intact. It has me pretty well for a good many years, lien there ore old people who And it a com* rt to have it on their laps, and ohlldren ce toe stories in It. Let us keep it for a triosity anyhow. If the Bible is to be irownoutof the school and out of the mrtroom, so that men no more swear by it, ia k is to do pot in a a&ric oorrxaor or thy ty library, the Koran on one side and the rltings of Confucius on the other, then let > each one keep a copy for himself, for we ight have trouble, and we would want to ) under the delusions of its consolations, id we might die, and we would want the dusion of the exalted residence of God's ght hand, which it mentions. Ob, what an rftxl thing it Is to laugh in God's face and irl His Revelation back at Him! After rhilethe day will come when they will say ey did not laugh. Iheu all the hyperitlclsms, all the caricatures and all the arned sneers in the quarterly reviews will i brought to judgment, and amid the rockg of everything beneath and amid the uning of everything above God will thunsr, '"But thou didst iaugh!" I think the ost fascinating laughter at Christianity I wremember was a man in New England, e made the word of God seem ridiculous, id he laughed on at our holy religion until > came to die, and then he said: ">Iy life is been a failure?a failure domestically, have no children. A failure socially, for I a treated in the streets like a pirate. A ilure professionally because I know but one inlsterthat has adopted my sentiments." >r a quarter of a century he laaghed at lrlstianity, and ever since Christianity has ten laughing at him. Now, it is a mean lag to go into a man's house and steal his tods, but I tell you the most gigantic burarv ever Invented is the proposition to eal these treasurers of our holy religion, tie meanest laughter ever uttered Is the mrh of the skantic Q?Le next laughter mentioned in the Bible David's laughter, or the expression of itdtoal exultation. "Then was our mouth led with laughter." He got very much >wn sometimes, but there are other chapn where for four or Ave times he calls upon ,e people to praise and exult. It was not a ere twitch of the lips?it was a demonstra)n that took hold or bis whole physical nare. "Then was our mouth flllnd with nghter." My friends, this world will never i converted to God until Christians cry less id laugh and sing more. The horrors are poor bait. If people are to be persuadej adopt our holy religion, it will be because ey have made up their minds it is a liappi 11 prion. They don't like a morbid Christ .ntty. I Know tnere are morbid pesple who joy a funera'. They come early to seethe ends take leave of the corpse, and they steal lide to the cemetery, but all healthy people joy a wedding better that they (Jo a burial. >w. you make the religion of Christ pulchral and hearselike, and you ike it repulsive. I say plant the rose of aron along the church walks and lumbine to clamber over the church wall, d have a smile on the lip, and have the rath filled with holy laughter. There 1* man in the world, exoept the Christian, it has a right to feel an untrammeled glee. i Is promised everything is to be for the it here, and he is on the way to a delight lich will take all the processions with palm inches and all the orchestras harped and mbaled and trumpeted to express. "Oh," a say. "I have so much trouble.-' Have | you more trouble than Paul had? What does he say? '-Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Poor, ret making many rich. Having nothing, yet possessing all things." The merriest laugh I think I have ever heard has been in the sickroom of God's dear children. When Theodosius was put upon the rack, he suffered very great torture at the first. Somebody asked him how he endured all that pain on the rack. He replied "When T was first put on the rack, I suffered a great deal, but very soon a young man In whito stood by my side, and with a soft and comfortable handkerchief he wiped the sweat from my brow, and my pains were relieved. It was a punishment for me to get from the rack, because when the pain was all gone the angel was gone." Oh, rejoice evermore 1 You know how it is in the army?an army in enoampment. If to-day news come3 that nnr clrin hou bar! a Hafpof nnrf tA-mnirftW another portion of the tidings comes, saying we have had another defeat, it demoralizes all the host. But if the news comes of victory to-day and victory to-morrow the whole army is impassioned for the contest. Now, in the kinsrdom of our Lord Jesus Christ report fewer defeats tells us the victories?victory over sin and death and hell. Rejoice evermore, and again I say rejoice. I believe there is more religion in a laugh than in a groan. Anybody can groan, but to laugh in the midst of banishment and persecution and indesoribable trial, that required a David, a Daniel, a Paul, a modern heroine. The next laughter mentioned in the Bible that I shall speak of is the fool's laughter, or the expression of sinful merriment. Solomon was very quick at simile. When he makes a comparison, we all catch it. What is the laughter of a fool like? He says, "It is the crackling of thorns tinder a pot." Thn kettle is swung, a bunch of brambles is put under it, and the torch is applied to it, and there is a great noise, and a big blaze, and a sputter and a quiok extinguishment. Then it is darker than it was before. Fool's laughter. The most miserable thing on earth is a bad man's fun. There they are?ten men in a barroom. They have at home wives, mothers, daughters. The impure jest starts at one corner of the barroom, and crackle, crackle, crackle it goes all around. In 500 such guffaws there is not one item of happiness. They all feel bemeaned if they have any conscience left. Have nothing to do with men or women wno teu immoral stones. I have no confidence either in their Christian character or their morality. So all merriment that springs ont of the defects of others?caricature of a lame foot, or a curved spine, or a blind eye, or a deaf ear?will be met with the judgment of God, either upon you or upon your children. Twenty years ago I knew a man who was particularly skillful in Imitating the lameness of a neighbor. Not long ago a son of the skillful mlmio had his leg amputated for the very defect which his father had mimicked years before. I do not say it was a judgment of God. I leave you to make your own inference. So all merriment born of dissipation, that whioh starts at the counter of the drinking restaurant or the wineglass in the home circle, the maudlin simper, the meaningless joke, the saturnalian gibberish, the paroxysm of mirth about nothing which you sometimes see in the fashionable clubroom or the exquisite parlor at twelve o'clock at night, are the crackling of thorns under a pot. Such laughter and such 6in end in death. When I was a lad, a book came out entitled, "Dow Junior's Patent Sermons." It made a great stir, a very wide laugh, all over the country, that book did. It was a caricature of the Christian ministry, and of the word of God, and of the day of judgment. Oh, we had a great laugh! The commentary on tho whole thing is that the < author of that book died in poverty, sluime, debauchery, kicked out of society and cursed of Almighty God. The laughter of such men is cne ecno 01 iaeir own damnation. -? The next laughter that I shall mention as being in the Bible is the laugh of God's condemnation, "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh." Again, "The Lord will laugu at him." Again, "I will laugh at his calamity." With such demonstration will God greet every kind of great sin and wickedness. But men build up villainies higher and higher. Good men almost pity God because He is so schemed against by men. Suddenly a pin drops out of the machinery of wickedness or a secret is revealed, and the foundation begins to rock. Finally the whole thing is demolished. What is the matter? I will tell you what the matter is. That crash of ruin is only the reverberation of God's laughter. In the money market there are a great many good men and a great many fraudulent men. A fraudulent man there says, "I mean to have my million." He goss to work reckless of honesty, and he gets his first $100,000. He gets after awhile his $200,000. After awhile he gets his $500,000. "Now." he says, "I have only one more move to make, and I shall have my million." He gathers up all his resources. He makes that one last fraud move, he fails and loses all, and he as not enough money of his own left to pay the oost of the ear to his home. People cannot understand this spasmodic revulsion. Some said it was a sudden turn in Erie Kailway stock, or in Western Union, or In Illinois Central; some said one thing and some another. They all guessed wrong. I will oil rmi Trhnt If wjlh. "3a that sittath in th? heavens laughed." A man in New York said he would be the richest man in the city. He left his honest work as a mechanic and got Intfr the city councils some way and in ten years stole $15,000,000 from the city government. Fifteen million dollars! He held the Legislature of the State of New York in the grip of his right hand. Suspicions were aroused. The grand jury presented indictments. The whole land stood aghast. The man who expected to put half the city in his vest pocket goes to Blackwell's Island, goes to LudJo w street jail, breaks prison and goes across the sea, is rearrested and brought back and again remanded to jail. Why? "He that sltteth in the heavens laughed." Rome was a great empire. S he had Horace and Yirgll among her poets ; she had Augustus and Con3tantine among her emperors. But what mean the defaced Pantheon, and the Forum turned into a cattle market, and the broken walled Coliseum, and the architectural 'skeleton of her great aque iuctsV What was that thunder? "Oh," you say, ' that was the roar of the battering rams against her walls." No. What was that quiver? "Oh," you say, "that was the tramp of hostile legions." No. The quiver and the roar were the outburst of omnipotent laughter from the defied and insulted heav T>? UTu luiirvharl har QU3. AtVUJU UCilVU MVU) UUU UV tuuguwv* uv* dowD. Thebes defied God, and He laughed her down. Nineveh defied God, and He laughed her down. Babylon defied God, and He laughed her down. There is a great difference between God's laush and His Bmile. His smile is eternal beatitude. He smiled whe? David sang, and Miriam clapped the cymbal9, and Hannah made garments for her son, and Paul preached, and John kindled witlv apocalyptic vision, and when any man has anytliing to do and does it well. His smile! Why, it is the 15th of May, the apple orchards in full bloom ; it is morning breaking on a rippling sea; it is heaven at high noon, all the bells beating the mar* riage peal. But His laughter?may it never fall on us! It is a condemnation for our Bin ; it is a wasting away. We may let the satirist laugh at us, and all our companions may lausjh at us, and we may be made the target for the merriment of earth and hell, but God forbid that we should ever come to the fulfillment of the prophecy against the rejectors of the truth, 'I will laugh at your calamity." But. my friends, all of us who reject Christ and the pardon of the gospel must come under that tremendous bombardment. God wants us all to repent. H<? counsels. He coaxes, He importunes, and He dies for us. He conies down out of heaven. He puts all the world's ?ln on one shoulder. He puts all the world's sorrow on the other shoulder, and tnen wun that Alp on one side and that Himalaya on the other He starts up the hill back of Jeruj 6aleni to achieve our salvation. He puts the palm of His right foot on one lorg spike, and He puts the palm of His left foot on another Ion? spike, antf then, with His hands spotted with His own bloo 1. He gesticulates, saying : "Look, look and live. With the crimson veil of My sacrifice I will cover up nil your sins ; with My dying groan I will shallow up all your groans. Look! Live!" But a thousand of you turn your baok on that, ana then this voice of Invitation turns to a tone divinely ominous, that sobs like a simoom through the first chapter of Proverbs. "Because I have called and ye refused, I have stretched out My right hand, and no man regarded, but ye have set at naught all My counsel and would none of My reproof, I, also, will laugh at your calamity." Oh, what a laugh that is ?a deep laugh, a long, reverberating laugh, an overwhelming laug'j. God grant we may never hear It. But In this day of merciful visitation yield your heart to Christ, that you may speDd all your life on earth under His smile and escape forever the thunder of the laugh of God'a indignation. [ The other laughtee mentioned la th? Bible, the only one I shall speak of, la heaven's laughter, or the expression of eternal triumph. Christ said to His disciples, ^'Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh." That makes me know positively that we are not to spend our days in heaven singing long meter psalms. The formall3tIc and stiff notions of heaven that some people have would make me missrable. I am glaa to know that the heaven of the Bible Is not only a place of holy worship, but of magDiflcent sociality. "What," say you. "will the ringing laugh go around the circles of the saved?" .1 say yes?pure lauchter, cheering laughter, holy laughter. It will be a laugh of congratulation. When we meet a friend who has suddenly come to a fortune, or who has got over some dire sickness, do we not shake hands, do we not laugh with him? And when we get to heaven nnd see onr friends there, some of them having come up out of great trihulation, why. we will say to one of them, "The last time I sawyouyou had been suffering for six weeks under a low intermittent fever." or to another we will say: "You for ten years were limping with the rheumatism, and you were full of complaints when we saw you last. I congratulate you on this eternal recovery." We shall laugh. Yes, we shall congratulate all those who have come out of great financial embarrassments In this world because they have become millionaires In heaven. Ye shall laugh. It shall be a laugh of reassociation. It is just as natural for us to laugh when we meet a friend we have not seen for ten years aa anything is possible to be natural. When we meet our friends from whom we have been parted ten or twenty or thirty years, will it not be with infinite congratulation? Our perception quiokened, our knowledge Improved, wo will know each other at a flash. We will have to talk over all that has happened since we have been separated, the one that has been ten years in heaven telling us all that has happened in the ten years of his heavenly residence, and we telling him in return all that has happened during the ten years of his absence from earth. Ye shall laugb. I think George Whitefleld and John Wesley will have a laugh of contempt for their earthly collisions, and Toplady and Charle3 Wesley will - - - * u - e f/-vw fhair an rf h 1 XT I nave a mu^ii ui cumoiupi iw misunderstandings, and the two farmere who were In a lawsuit all their days will have a laugh of contempt over their earthly disturbance about a line fence. Exemption from ail annoyance. Immersion in all gladness. Ye shall laugh. Christ says so. Ye shall laugh. Yes, it will be a laugh of triumph. Oh, what a pleasant thing it will be to stand on the wail of heaven and look down at satan and hurl at him defiance and Bee him cased and ohained and we forever free from his clutches! Aha! Yes, it will be a laugh of royal greeting. You know how the Frenchmen cheered When Napoleon came back from Elba ; you know how the English cheered when Wellington came back from Waterloo , you know how Americans cheered when Kossuth arrived from Hungary; you remember how Rome cheered when Pompey came back victorious over 900 cities. Every cheer was a laugh. But, oh, the mightier greeting, the gladder greeting, when the snow white cavalry troop of heaven shall go through the streets, and, according to the Book of Revelation, Christ in the red coat, the crimson coat, on a white horse. andhH the armies ol heaven following Him on white horses! Oh, when we see and hear that cavalcade we Bhall cheer, we shall laugh! Does not your heart beat quickly at the thought of the great jubilee upon which we are soon to enter? I pray God that when we get through with this world and are going out of it we may have some such vision as the dying Christian had when he saw Written all over the clouds in the sky the ,letter "W," and they asked him, standing bv Jhis side, what he thought that letter "W" * ' "ak ? ha ooiH "that stands for wel liioauia VU, uw come." And so may it be when we quit thii world. "W" on the gate, "W" on the door of the mansion, "W" on the throne. Welcome ! Welcome! Welcome! I have preached this sermon with five prayerful wishes?that you might see what a mean thing is the laugh of skeptioism, what a bright this 1$ the laugh of spiritual exultation, what a hollow thing is tne laugh of sintul merriment, what an awful thing Is tli laugh cf condemnation, what a radiant, rubl? cund thing is the laugh of eternal triumph. Avoid the ill; choose the right. Be com* forted. "Blessed are ye that weep now?ye shall laugh ; ye shall laugh." The Book Spoke. Not many clays ago a few gentlemen connected with the telegraphic or electric business were assembled in a room in the eleventh story of the new Postal building, in Broadway, opposite the City Hall Park, New York City. xney naa noi ueeu w?d vcxjr luug when astonishment was depicted on their faces, and by and by found expression in words. i A book on the table about which they stood or sat was speaking. "It is possible," exclaimed Mr. Chandler, of the Commercial Cable Company, "that those spoken words can come from that book?" "Yes, it is," said Mr. Francis W. Jones, the electrician of the company; "that is Mr. Marshall's telephone." William Marshall, of No. 709 Lixington avenue, had prepared this remarkable feat for the electricians. He began by taking up an ordinary book and placing in the leaves several slips of tinfoil about one and a half inches wide and four inches long. Then he attached a couple of fine wires, closed the book and carried the other end of the wires to another room, where they were attached to the transmitter of a telephone. Then a conversation began, with Mr. Masshall in one room and one of the per flia Vinrtlr 1 ntt I bUUH 1U bUC L KJULU. nucic iuu wuvik Each word that came from the bo6k could be distinctly heard iu every corner of the room. The visitor had never experienced anything of the kind before, and they said it would eventually revolutionize telegraphy. The invention of Mr. Marshall's does away with the painful "hailoos," in which so much time is wasted. The new principle is the direct opposite of the Bell principle.?Atlanta Constitution. Sierra Snow Plant. There is a fortune awaiting the person who will discover the secret of propagating snow plants. The seeJ does not eeem to grow and the roota or bulbs do not appear to stand transplanting. Thousands of snow plauts could be sold iu America if a method could be found of assuring their growth. There is a mystery about themethol in which these plants are propagated. People generally dismiss the subject by thinking that snow and ice and climate and peculiarities of soil coaxprise the principal factors of the > problem. This is not wholly true, however, for snow plants caunot bo raised artificially even in Truckee. They spring up in different places each year, but will not stand trans* planting, nor can they be raised from seed. If they could be grown here they could be raised in other localities. The Lady Washington lily, whose home is in the Sierra mountain tops, is now sold by all the principal flower dealers of America and is extremely popular. Why may not the wonderful snow plant become equally popular and as widely disseminated?? Truckee (Cal.) Republican. STRIKE IMTMTION. CLEVELAND'S PROMISE TO THE LABOR LEADERS. He Agrees to Appoint an Arbitration Commission on Condition That the Strike Should Bo Ended and All Violence and Mob Rule CeaseCommissioner Wright's Aids. President Cleveland Informed a committee iJ i J iUni rapresuunuy urgtim^ou utuui wui uo vruutu jn tho near future, appoint a commission composed of three members, of whom the United States Commissioner of Labor shall be tho Chairman, under Chapter 1063 of the laws of 1898, to Inquire Into and investigate thoroughly the causes leading up to the labor disturbances of the country. This announcement was made at the Executive Mansion at 5 o'clock p. m. to J. W. Hayes, General Secretary of the Knights of Labor; T. B. McGulre and C. A. French. These gentlemen called by an appointment arranged earlier in the day. They were shown into the President's working room, where they presented their credentials and made formal application to the President to appoint a Board of Arbitration under the law of 1888. The President listened to the labor men present their views and then told them that, as a condition precedent to making such an appointment, all strikes must be called off by organized labor and all vlolenoe and mob rule cease. He informed them that law and order must be restored before he took any step3 looking in the direction of ascertaining the causes that produced the present condition of affairs. United States troops would be still retained in the disturbed sections to see that the orders of the United States Courts were enforced. Inter-State traffic must be resumed and peace restored throughout the country. The Labor Committee was given to un derstand that this commission would be appointed apart from any demands made by the strikers for arbitration. In fact, the commission would have under the law no p?wor to arbitrate, but simply to Investigate and report its conclusions to the President and to Congress Private Secretary Thurber authorized the following statement in regard to the President's intended appointment of a commission : The law passed on October 1, 1833, especially authorizes the appointment of such a commission, and defines its duties. The commissioners have not been selected, and It Will probably be a number of days before the appointments are announced. The following telegram was sent to President Cleveland from the labor conference called at Chicago by President Gompers, of the American Federation of Labor "To the President of tho United States: "The gravity of the Industrial situation demands extraordinary and exceptional action of a conciliatory character at the hands of all men. "'Recognizing the fact, the Executive Counoll of the American Federation of Labor and the undersigned executive officers of tho national and international trades unions and brotherhoods of railroad organizations of America, are in conference in this city. "We ask you in the name of the working people and the entire citizenship of the country to lend your influence and give us your aid, so that the present industrial crisis may be brought to an end, alike to the advantage of the people of our country and the institutions under which we live. "We therefore ask you to come to Chicago, or if the state of public business does not warrant such a course, that you will deputiva tnmo nna no vnnr rfinrftsfliitfltlve." This telegram was signed by Samuel Gompere, President of the American Federation of Labor; the four Vice-Presidents of the Federation, by Secretary Christopher Evans and Treasurer John B. Lennon, and by seventeen other executive officers of national and international unions, brotherhoods and associations. PRENDERGAST HANGED. Execution Accomplished Without a Dramatic Scene. EUOKNE PBENDBBQAS?. Eagene Prendergast was hanged in the county jail at Chicago, for the murder of Mayor Carter H. Harrison last October. The drop (ell at 11.40 z. m. He did not break j down at theiast as his keepe.-s had expected. Between six and seven o'clook a. m. ne partook heartily of a breakfast, and at about nine o'clook sent work to the jailer that he [ was again hungry, and was served with anI other hearty meal. He talked freely with his spiritual advisers. As the hour for his ?aniifinn (vimA nearer, he showed some signs of nervousness, but on the whole was remarkably calm. The jury of physicians at 11.10 inspaatei the scaffold and appurtenances. Fifty deputy sheriffs were ranared around the sides of the corridor and after a short wait the march to the soaffold was bejrun. 8heriff Gilbert anil Jailer Morris appeared at the right of the scaffold, and the prisoner walked behind them. He stood without apparent nervousness as his arms wore being pinioned, and seemed determined to die game. A white shroud was placed about him, and the jailor placed the rope around his neck and the white cap over his head. An Instant later he shot downward. His neok was apparently broken. He hung surrounded by the jury of physicians for nine minutes and was then pronounced dead. Toe body was then lowered, plac id in a coffin, and taken Into the outer court for delivery to his relatives after the customary formalities. Prendergast made no nudible sound from the time he left his cell. He was dissuaded by Sheriff Gilbert from his determination expressed earlier in the day to make a sp9ech. The crime which Patrick Eusrenc Prondergast expatiated with his life was the murder of Mayor Carter Harrison, of Chicago, on the night of October 23. 1S93. The assassiu oalled at the Mayor's residence and Bald he was a city official. He walked past the sorvant and found Mr. Harrison. A few minutes Liter the crack of a revolver was hear 1, and Prendergast rushed out of the front door. Tho Mayor died in a very snort time. About 9 o'clock of the same evening the assassin gave himseir up to the police. Prendergast was indicted by the Grand Jury Octobor 30, two days .after the commission of the crime. The trial resulted in a verdict of guilty four days after Christmas, and the execution was set for March 23. The defense claimed that Prendergast was Insane, and, as the law of Illinois forbids the execution of a prisoner while insane, a stay was secured and an insanity trial ordered. The arguments and postponements were long, but a decision that the accused was sane was finally reached, and the date of execution set for July 13. The Natic/nal Soulpture Society has ofTered [ prizes for the best designs for a silver dollar, the competition to bu made public next winter at the annual exhibition. At Jesup, Iowa, a t?lrteon-year-old boj I ?as handling a gun when it was dlaoharged, tat-My Injuring hla two goungerjjrothers. TEMPERANCE. LIQUOR AKD LiBOH. "In one of the towns of Illinois a banker pat his private mark on the money he paid oat on Saturday night to the wage-workera of the town who patronized his bank; and on Monday night, of the 8700 paid out. and marked privately, over 8300 had come back to him from tho saloons of that town! There is nothing that cramps, belittles and dwarfs the possibilities of the labor movement in America like the saloons."?Frances E. Willard. MORE REGULATION*. The citizens and free men of Canton Urf, In Switzerland, have lately introduced a special clause into their code to this effect. Any hotel-keeper or inn-keeper who ??ive3 his customers sufficient intoxicating liquor to render them unconscious, or unable to walk straight or steadily home, shall be obliged to afford them a bed for the ni?ht, and adequate board and lodging till au-*h time as they are completely recovered. No fee, cost or oharjre shall be made by the said hotelkeeper for the said board aad lodging.?The Constitution. LIQUOR IX MAX. . In the Isle of Man the burning question of the hour is that of liquor licensing. For several years illicit sale of liquor in boariinirhouses bas been winked at by the authorities, until it has been assumed by maliy as a right. The Governor now proposes to urant boardins-houso keepers leave to supply visitors with beer at dinner and supper only. The bill, however, contains regulations and conditions of such a natute that interested parties demur to accepting it. In the House of Keys the bill was passed, considerably . amended, it boins: provided that permits should only be grantod houses of over forty pounds annual value. Permits are onlv to take effect from May 1st to September 13th each year. The act is to continue in force for two years, nnd its operation is confined to Douglas. Nearly 300 houses ore affected by the bill. The temperance party in the House offered a strenuous but unavailing opposition.?The Christian. EDUCATE THE CHILDREN*. In a sagarestiv* editorial,entitled "Temperance in Schools,'' the Good Templar Record, of Dunedin, urging the importance of temperance instruction for the children, says : "If wo in New Zealand are to hold our position already gained in relation to the trrck aVioll VinvA / ? haafir /Mir. selves in this matter of school teaching. There is a dancer of feeling ourselves too sure of our victory, but we should learn to realize that we will never be safe without a watchful guard being kept at every point. One of the most important positions of defense lies in the minds of the children. If we succeed in havim; them imbued with the impregnable facts of the nature and effects of alcohol on the human bo iy, and the body politic, that would be a sourco of strength we could not hope to establish by any other means." What is thus urge 1 a3 a fundamental need in New Zealand, is quito as important also for our country.?National Temparauce Advocate. ALCOHOI. AND -OXGEVITT. A misleadinc statement coneeruin? a Ri? port of the British Medical Association ou the subject of temperance and health has been going the rounds of the press, to the effect that the relative longevity of abstainers is less than the free drinkers and the decidedly intemperate ; also that D.. Richardson had changed his views on the subject. Dr. Richardson was recently written to in relation to this absurdly improbable statement. and the rumor concerning himself, by Dr. W. V. R. Blighton, of Tonawanda. N. Y., and his reply is as follows : "I have received your letter, and assure you that I have not changed my views in the least, and that rny Cantor Lectures, I believe, stand on as tlrm a basis as ever. The table which you give in your letter relating to mortality under alcohol has been answered here most Inlly many times, and has, in fact, been disowned almost ;is many times, in re gam ro tue raise lnierpreuuiou pui ujjiju u by Dr. Isambard Owen (theSecretary of the committee1) himself, la plain words, that table conveyed an entire misrepresentation , its foundations were insufficient, and it wii altogether inadequate. I hav<! asked Dr. Ridge, the editor of the Medical Pioneer, to read the letter vou have sent me. anl, if lw sees well, to make it the subject of an elitorial in his journal, wnlca shall be pDstel to you. I may add that in our Temparauci Hospital, where we use no alcohol waatev.jr, in a thousind cases annually ol a severe kind, our results are most satisfactory. [ shall deal with this matter in my uexc Asclepiad, where you will lln 1. I hope, pleuty of tacts in support of your views and practice. " the iurrex, w\i sever z.uptt. I wns personally acquaintod with a liquor dealer who on one occasion exhibited a barrel, and whiie doin<?so said : "I bought that barrel five years ago. It was full of the best of whiskj* when I bought it. I have been selling from it every day since. It is no: empty yet. and I have not purchased a drop of that brand slnc.ithe barrel came into my possession ; and yet I have not put a drop of whisky in it in all these years." I was curious to know how he managed to work a miracle and inquired as to his method of I U.* A1A tynt- mva rvw? fr?? rapine but he stated that he had a prescription for making whisky, and for less than 810 he had kept that barrelful of "the bast" for flva years. He bought the barrel when it was full of whisky and thus "ainai a right to have in on exhibition, so that whisky drinkers would soe it and believe that he sold that brand. I came near forgetting to state that about a pint of his "prescription" would change a barreful of peaceable, well-lisposed water into tho most successful ingredient for tangling the leg? of poor humanity that was ever invented. I have heard oil topers assert that they could uot bo fooled on whisky, that they could tell tho name of the brand by licking the cork of the bottie in which the whisky was contained ; but here was an experience which trave the lie to all the drinkers I have conversed with, for alter tho barrel I speak of was emptied of its original contents it never again had a drop of the same quality of liquor inside of it. and yet the men who dropped in to that place for the sake of taking a glass of Nose Itedden' r s Best never noticed the chauge when the original contents had given way tor the prescription." They kept right on drinking at the same old stand, out of the same old barrel, and benzine, aquafortis, tannic acid, soapsuds, vitriol, and rain water? liguised as Nose Reddener's Best?went down tno throats ot tho drinkers to assault the linings of their stomachs with malice aforethought and do untold damage to tho inner man.?T Y. Powderly. TEMPEHAXCE SEWS AN'D NOTES. Ninety-two per oout: of cur crime is tho result of intoxicating liquors.?Carroll D. Wright. Lord Roseberry has assured a deputation of English temperanco women that the Government will use its best endeavors to miss the Veto bill this session. Sir Andrew Clark, the general physician in the largest hospital in London, says that seven out of every ten person treated there owe there ill-health to drink. The drinking habit is disappearing in Iceland, and with it rime. Iu 1.800 only eight persons w -ro imprisoned on the whole island, the pooulatiou of which is a little ovnr 40,000, Japan has been peculiarly blessed in temperance missionary work, says Sho X ituoto. Calls come Iroai ail the provinces for meetings an I lectures, an I youuu people especially are earnest aud interested. A prominent physician of San Francisco says : "No cigarette that I over heard of is tree from opium. Beyoul question the boy who smokes cigarettes stunts his growth, wrecks his nerves aud weakens his heart an I kidneys long before lie reaches mauhool.'' Ohio Weslevan University at its recent commencement conferral upon Miss F.'E. NVillardthe title LL.D., in recognition of her statesmanlike ability and her inestimable services lor the purifljatiou of tho laws of this country aud their righteous enforcement. Miss Willar.i says : ' '[ onc^ asked Thomas A. Edison if he were a total abstainer, and when he told me that he was I said, 'May I inquire whether it was homo influence that made you soV iini he replied, "No, I think it was oecausa 1 feu that 1 had better use for my head.'" RELIGIOUS READING. THE HELP OF THE HOLY SPIBIT. When Christ told his disciples that it was best for them that he should go away, he promised them that he would 9end unto them the Comforter, even the Holy 8pirit, which promise wa3 fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, and since that day, the Holy Spirit has been j a necessary power in the life of every true Christian. He is inseparable from the Father, inseparable from the Son. When we endeavor to comprehend the length, breadth, and depth of this living reality, our minds are lost in wonder, love and praise. Without the Holy Spirit we can do nothing. Even when we pray, it is the Spirit that inditeth our petitions for us, for we know not what to pray for aright The Spirit enables us to see ourselves as we are, poor, blind, and lost in the dark waves of sin, and when he has opened our eye3, it is he that leads us to Christ, and says to us, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." He opens our blind ftvAQ thnt- tTA mnv behold wondrous thincs out of God's law. He comforts U9 in sorrow, and when passing through the deep waters of earth's trials which lie in our pathway, it is he that helps us to look to Jesus, who wili gladly carry our burdens, and help us to pass through them all, and bring us safe on the other shore, free from earth's pollution, with our garments washed and made white in thr> blood of the Lamb. It is the Spirit that gives light, that Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. It is the Spirit that gives power, power over our foes, foes within and foes without. It is tho Spirit that gives strength to overcome, and have enabled us to conquer, he will give us strength to stand. Who would not be led by the Spirit ? Who would not have his presence ever dwelling within, to sanctify us unto all truth ? Let us depend more upon the Spirit and less upon ourselves. Let us feel more the importance of his help. Let us pray more earnestly for his power In us, then we may make our Christian lives show to those around that we are abiding in Christ, and the Holy Spirit abiding in us.? Religious Herald. Look upon success and sweetness of thy duties as very much depending upon the keeping of thy heart closely with all dilligence.?Havel. HOW HIS CHILD LED HIM. Several years ago my brother was la Springfield one cheerless day, with about half an hour on his hands before train time. Strolling along near the depot, he noticed a tidy restaurant, and went in for 1 1 nnnVi A f H/%tr noma fn falra hla nrrlor and as soon as ho brought it sat down to his lessons. A respectable man, evidently the proprietor, was seated near the lire, with a disabled foot propped up in a chair. When my broiher had finished his meal, he approached him. saying: "You have a bright boy to wait on your customers." "Yes, indeed," said the man, with parental Eride, "I couldn't hire so good a boy as that; e is my son, and was the means of "my opening this place instead of keeping a saloon, which was the way I got my living for some years; and I'll tell you how it was. Hecamc j from school one day heavy-hearted, and when I asked him what was the matter he began to cry but couldn't speak. After I had urged him, he said that in recess some of the boys asked each other what their fathers did. One said that his father was a plumber; another that his was a carpenter; and when tney came to my boy, who said his father kept a saloon, one of them said: 'That's the meanest kind of business,' and I could see that thev all felt the same way. That made me feel awfully ashamed, so. father, if you will only give up the saloon, I '11 do anything I can to help you.' With that he threw his arms around my neck, and, sobbing, begged me to give it up. Well, the end of it was I sold out. I don't make so much money as I did selling liquors, but it goes farther, and we have a happy nome. jny wiie can noip aiuujj ueutiuoo decent people come here for their meals, but before I did not like to have her around, there was so much low talk. My boy has been as good as his word. I couldn't ask for a better son." My brother thanked the man for his confidence, and after giving his hearty approval went his way.?Julia Billings, in" the Little Christian. 8PIHITUAL JOT. The plain truth is this, that what hinders our joy is allowed sin. The power of sin to do this is great. This little hand, said Whitefield, placing his hnnd near his eyes, as he was preaching jn the field, while the glorious sun was flooding creation with his beams? this little hand hides all the lustre of the sun from my eyes, and so a little sin may evolve the soul in darkness, though the spiritual world bo all bright as heaven itself. But should we therefore be content to live in darkness, or set ourselves with more resolution against all forms ant) degree? of sin? The latter is the course of duty, and is It uot also the course of wisdom? Is it Idle to ask the question. What manner of person ought we to be. in all holy conversation aud godliness? Why is it we do not understand that 0115 onjy concern in this world is, to keep a g'uileless spirit, n conscience void of offence? Aias, that we should offer such things as love of lucre, or pre-eminence, or of "sensual pleasure, or jealous, and envious and irrascible feelings, to rest in our posoms. and stay here from day to day, and week to week, and month to month, in the place which should be ever sacred to the gracious affections; in the temple of the Holy Ghost! Alas, that we should be so infrequent, so cursory, so cold in prayer; so 3eldom in fastings, so formal and lifeless in the duties of tho sanctuary; that we should be so uncircumspect in "speech, so little intent on walk ing in the Spirit: in all the pursuits of life so regardless of the great principle of Christian morals, which demands that we do all things, even to eating and drinking, to the glory of God. Here is the secret of our want of religious joy, of our spiritual doubts and fears; and also of our readiness to justify them. THE DYING YOUTH. There is no place on earth like a dying bed. There is no hour in man's brief journey across this world, like a dying hour: so solemn, so impressive, aud so full of dread interest to each individual when he arrives at that place, I ami feels that his hour has come. Then the soul makes a pause. She looks back on a receding world, and onward into a dark unfathomed eternity. There is no retreat. The hour of exchaugiughif; worlds has oome. To have then a Rood hope of pardon, and of heaven, how blessed aud invaluable! To have no hope then, when Ilesh and heart fail, and all mortal ties are about to be sundered, and to die in despair, how dreadful beyond imagination to conceive! To avoid it "is worth a whoie life of ceaseless effort and prayer. And yet such dread hours do come, with ail their indescribable solemnity. That hour came in the history of a youth of sixteen, the child of many prayers.?New York Evan. CHRIST CAME TO MAKE MEN' HOLY. About one thing there can be no doubt: Christ came to this world to make men holy. Whether we take his own words or those of his disciples, this alone was the object of his mission among men. Indeed, the one thing on which all agree is, that Christ puts a new and larger meaning into the words righteousness" and "holiness.'' We find it in every phase of his teaching. No other conception of salvation in a pure heart aud righteous living is to be found in the New Testament writings. The contention of Christ with the religionj ists of his time was that they had lost the idea of spiritual religion out of their hearts and therefore out of their worship. Scribes and Pharisees alike knew as they listened of his teaching that they were not to his school; that he must be sih-iiced or his idea of religion would prevail.?Centra' Christian Advocate. ^ J I An Aquatic Sport. Chicago is rejoicm? in a new nqtnt> sport, which has proved very popular, an I is bringing the happy originator a mint of money. Jt is cat led "Shooting the Chute." and consists of a sloping trough sonvi 275 feet long. with a fall of sixty feet, down which a stream of water tumoles into a lake about 350 feet long. The descent is made in flat-bottomed boats, which carry about eight passengers each, an ' go flying 'Vva the watery road to bob aud dance overlie waters of the littlo lake to the shore. It is said to be very exciting an'l perfectly safe, and the rush of people to .vide down the watery road is something immense. SABBMH SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR AUGUST 5. Lesson Text: "The Baptism of JeJ Bus," Mark i., 1-11?Golden Text; Mark L, 11? Commentary. 1. "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God/' This is the gospel specially of service. In it we are reminded; of the words, "Behold, I will bring forth my Servant, the Branch!" while "Behold, the Man whose name is the Branch!" is seen more clearly In Lake's gospel (Zech. Hi., 8; vi., 12). Here Jesas is the patient servant and sacrifice for others, spending and being spent to serve the sons of men. This gospel, is written that the same life of unwearied; service may be in some measure reproduced1 in us (II Cor. lv., 11), but as we are in thlaj first verse introduced to the Son of God so we must be sons of.God before we can serve God. "Let My Son go that He may serve Me," said the Lord of Israel (Ex. iv., 23). 2. "As it is written in tbo prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee P* The whole story of His sufferinzs and srforr Is written In the prophets (I Pet. 1., 11; Lake rriv., 25-27). They also spake of the heralds who should precede Him, John the Baptist, in the spirit and power of Elijah before his ilrst coming, and Elijah himself before his second coming. Compare Mai. iv., 5, Lnke i? 17; Mathl rvii., 10-13. As to preparing His way, every believer can, in a measure, be His messenger to do that. What an honor to be sent of Him in His name! 3. "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight." When John was asked if he was the Christ or Elijah or the prophet, he said that he was neither, but only a voice proclaiming the Christ (John i., 23). He sought no honors for himself, but rejoiced to decrease that Christ might increase (John iii., 29, 30). 4. "John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." A sample of his preaching may be found In Math, ill., 7-12, and Luke ill., 7-18. He made it plain that unlessthelr lives afterward manifested that they had become new creatures their baptism would amount to nothing. One of the last commandments of Christ was that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name amogg all nations, beginning at Jerusalem (Luke xxlv.. 17). 5. "And there wont out unto Him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of Him In the river of Jordan, confessing their sins." There must be asenseof sin, a true conviction of sin, and the deeper the better, before any one will come to Christ, for He came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. This I* the work of the Holy Spirit (John rvi., 8, margin), and He uses the word and the llvee of believers. In Acts v., 31; xl., 18, Chris! Is said to give or grant repentance. 6, "And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about bis loins, and he did eat locusts and wild heney." Thus was Elijah clothed (II Kings L, 8), and, as to locusts, they were among the creatures which God had permitted Israel to eat (Lev. xl., 22). John was oertainly not extravagant in the matter of food and raiment. What a contrast was Isaac, who loved Esau because of his venison and would bless him only in connection therewith (Gen. xxv., 28: xxvii., 3, 4). Jesus has taugnt us not to think too muoh about either food or raiment (Math, iv., 4: vl., 25), but has assurred us that if we make His kingdom and His righteousness our first cogcern He will see to all our need in that direction (Math, vl., 33). 7. "And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I alter me, the latchet o! whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.,' John sought not to attract people to himself, but to the Lamb of God, whom he came to herald. He had no ambition to make himself a name, but only to honor Him of whom he said, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John ill., 30). He sought not great things for himself (Jer. xlv.. 5) but his watchword was "Not I" (GaL ill, 20; I Cor. xv., 10). 8 "I indeed have baptized you with water, but He eball baptize you with the Holy Ghost." Both Matthew and Luke add "and with flrn" fMnth IN 11. T.?L-a 1H 1fiV which Are seems, from the context, to refer to the judgments of His second coming aa King and Son of Man. As the Servant, which'he Is peculiarly in Mark, He does not speak of Are. But how much we do need to be filled wtth the Spirit?in fact, it is a command laid upon us, and as much a command as not to be drunken (Epb. v., 18). Then what a comfort to know that He, who is oar Saviour, Brother, Friend, is the one who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost (John i., 33). We need not think we must beg and entreat Him, but simply ask Him (Luke xi., 18). 9. "And it to pass in those aays that C-ZLi- i'rom Nazareth pf JttVS baptized of John in Jordan. Ili iil., 23, it is wrlten that He was about thirfy years of age. In Math. iii., 14,15, it is said that at first John forbade Him because ol I Joha.'3 greater Qeod to be baptized of Bijj,', but Jesus said, "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. He humbled Himself from heaven downtothe manger of Bethlehem, and the home ih Nazareth, and the life of rejection, even to Gethsomano and Golgotha, all for us, and surely it is becoming in us to humble ourselves for Him, yet it seems strange to say so, for whereas He actually came down from great glory, we, oeing nothing, have nothing to come down from but sinful * pride. 10. "And straightway coming up out of thfl wntur Hi> saw the heavens ODened. and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him." Here in this gospel we meet the first "immediately," used about eighty times in the New Testament, and forty times in this gospel, and eleven times in this chapter, sometimes translated "anon" or "forthwith." It is the word for a *ood servant. The opened heavens make us think of Ezek. i., Hath. iii., John i., Acts vll. and x.. Rev. iv. and xix.. in each of which chapters heaven is opened and always concerning Christ or His church. The Spirit coming as a dove makes us think of the dove that found no rest except in the ark while the waters of judgment were on the earth. Jesus, the true ark, is the only place where the Spirit can rest fully. If we are filled with Spirit, wo will rest only in Jesus. 11. "And there came a voice from heaven, sayin?. Tliou art mj* beloved Son. in whom I am well pleased." See also chapter ix., 7. where the same testimony was given at the transfiguration. in jotin viu., ~Z'J, jesus says, "I do always those things that please the Father," and in Rom. xv.. 3. it is said, "Even Christ pleased not Himself." Since the Father is well pleased with Jesus, when we are well pleased with Jesus and accept and abide in Him, God is well pleased with us for Jesus's sake. Let us abide in Him (I John ii., 28).?Lesson Helper. Au Aquatic Sport. Chicago is rejoicing in a new aquatio sport, which has proved very popular, and is bringing the happy originator a mint of money. It is called "Shooting the Chute," and consists of a sloping trough some 275 feet long, with a fall of sixty^feet, down which a stream of water Uimbles into a lake about 350 feet long. The descent is made in flat-bottomed boats, which carry about eight passengers each, and go flying down tho watery road to bob and dance over the Waters of the little lake to the shore. It 1$ said to be very exciting and perfectly safe, and the rush of people to ride down the watery road is something immense. A I'lague of Tramps. There is a plague of tramps throughout the fruit belt of N'ew 1'oric and the growers are rfsoruu^ iv unuuii; n; n>x themselves of it. They othsr diiy they organized at Marlborough and in "a short timo corralled Ufty bummers. A train oa the West Shore Road was stopped, the tramps were forced to boardemptv cars aud warned 110: to leave them until the county line had been passftd. /.nother round-up. it is expect t'd, will be sufficient to ri>l t lie community tor the season. Santo TTiis TiOst Ills "Serve. A despatch from Lyons, France, says o? Caseria Santo, the murderer of President Carnot: "His spirit is completely broken. He lies on his cot and groans continually that he is only twenty years old, and does not wish to die. The guards watch him most carefully to prevent hi3 sniolde." Piippr Telegraph Poles. Papor telegraph poie3 are the latest d?velo^ment of the art of making paper useful.