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'k. REV. DR. TALMAGE. | THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Subject: "Th? Tragedy of Dress." < Tkxt : "Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and ,the wearing of sold or of puttim: oa of apparel. but lipt it be thp hidden man of the heart."?I Peter iii..3, 4. J1 That we should all be clad is proved by the opening of the first wardrobe in o?r*dis?, With its apparel of dark green. That we should all. as far as our means allow us, be | dutifully and gracefully appareled is i proved by the fact that God never made a wave bat He eilded ft with golden sunbeams, or a tree but He garlanded it with blossoms, or a sky but He studded it with stars, or allowed even the smoke of a furnace toascend I tout He columned and turreted and domed and scrolled it into outlines of indescribable j gracefulness. When I see the apple orj obards of the sprint: and the pageantry of I the autumnal forests, I come to the conclusion that, if caturo does ever join the church, while she may be a Quaker in the silence of 3ier worship, she never will be a Quaker in the style ot her dress. Wby the notches of a fern leaf or the stamen of a water lily? Whv, when the day departs, does it let the folding doors of heaven stay open so long When it might go in so quickly !1 One summer morning I saw an army of a million spears, each one adorned with a diamond of the first water?I mean the grasd, with the dew on it. When the prodigal came home, his father not only put a coat on his .back, but jewelry on his Hand. Christ wore a be.ird. Paul, the ibachelor apostle, not afflicted with any sentimentality, admired the arrangement of a woman's hair when be said in his epistle, "If a woman have long hair, it Is a glory unto her." There will be a fashion in heaven as on aarth hnt if will hn a different kind ot .fashion. It will decide the color of the dress, and the population of that country, by a beautiful law. will wear white. I say these things as a background to my sermon to show you that I have no prim, precise, prudish or cast iron theories on the subject of human apparei. But the goddess of fashion has set up her throne in this world, and at the sound of the timbrels we are all expected to fall down and worship. The Old and New Testament of her Bible are the fashion plates. Her altars smoke with the sacrifice of the bodies, minds and souls Of 10.000 victims. In her temple four people stand in the organ loft, and from them there comes down a cold drizzle of music, freezing on the ears of her worshipers. This goddess of fashion ha3 become a rival of the Lord of heaven and earth, and it is .high time that we unllmbered our batteries against this Idolatry. When I come to count the victims of fashion, I find as many masculine as feminine. Men make an easy .tirade against woman, as though she were the chief worshiper at this Idolatrous jshrine. and no doubt some men in the more conspicuous part of the pew have already (OAst glances at the more retired part of the pew, their look a prophecy or generous ais,trlbn tlon. My sermon shall be as appropriate lor one end of the pew as for the other. ! Men are as much the idolators of fashion aswomen. bnt they sacrifice on a different part of the altar, With men the fashion goes to cigars and elabrooms and yachting parties and wine suppers. In the United States the men chew up and Bmoke $100, 00.000 worth" of tobacco every year. That is their fashion. In London not lone a'go a man died who started in life with $750,000. but he ate it all up in gluttonies, sending his Agents to all pans of tne earth for some rare delicacy for the palate, sometimes one plate lot food costing him $300 or $400. He ate tip his whole fortune and had only a guinea left. With that he bought a woodcock and had it dressed in the very best style, ate it, 'gave two hours for digestion, then walked out on Westminster bridge and threw himself into the Thames and died, doing on a large scale what yon and I have often seen done on a small scale. Bat men do not abstain xrom mniinory una emuurauuu ul s^iu through any superiority of humility. It is only because such appendages would be a blockade to business. What would sashes and trains tbr?? and a hail yard3 long do in a stock market? And yet men are the disciples of fashion just as' much as women. Borne of them w^nr boots so tight they can hardly walk in the paths of righteousness. And there are men who buy expensive suits of clothes and never pay lor them, and who go through the streets in great stripes of color like animated checkerboards. I say these things bwau3e I want to show you that I am Impartial in my discourse, and that both sexes, in the language of the surrogate's office, shall "share and share alike." 'As God may help me, IshAll show you what re the destroying and deathful influences of Inordinate fashion. ; The first baneful influence I notice is in frapd, illimitable and ghastly. Do you know that Arnold of the revolution proposed to ell his country in order to get money to support his wile's wardrobe? I declare here neiore uoa ana tdis pec is mat cue euori to keep up expensive establishments in this country is sending more business men to temporal perdition than all other causes combined. What was it that sent Gilman to the penitentiary and Philadelphia Morton to the watering of stock, and the life insurance presidents to perjured statements about their assets, and ba? completely upset our American finances? What was it that overthrew the United States secretary at Washington, the crash of wuosh fall shook the continent? But why should I go to these famous defaulting to show what men will do In order to keep up great home style and expensive wardrobe when you and I know scores of men who are put to their wits1 end and are lashed from January to December In the attempt? Our politicians may theorize until the expiration of their terms of oS floe a* to the best way of Improving our monetary condition in this country. It will be of no use. and things will be no better until we can learn to put on our heads and baoks and feet and bands no more than we Ban pay for. There are clerks in stores and banks on Limited salaries who. in the vain attest to keep the wardrobe of their family as showy u other folks' wardrobes, are dymg of muffs and diamonds and shawls and high hits, and they have nothing left except what theygive to cigars and wine suppers, and they die before their time, and they will expect us ministers to preach about them astnough they were the victims of early piety, and after a high class funeral, with silver handles at the ride of the coffin of extraordinary brightness, It will be found out that the undertaker is cheated out of his legitimate expenses. Do not send to me to preach the funeral sermon of u man who dies like that. [ will blurt out the whole trutu and tell that he was strangled to death by his wife's rib jons. uur countries are aressea 10 ueatn. fou are not surprised to find that the puling up one public building in New Yo rk so3t mllll6us or dollars more than It ought o hare cost when you find that the man who gave oat the coatracts paid more than 15000 for bis daughter's wedding dress. Cashmeres of a thousand dollars eaoh are UOt rare on Broadway. It is estimated that there are 10,000 women iu these two cities who have expended on their personal array M000 a yea?. What are men to do Jn order to keep no rach home wardrobes? 8teal? That Is the only respectable thing they can do ! During the last fifteen year* there have been Innumerable fine businesses shipwrecked on :he wardrobe. The temptation comes in this way: A man thinks more of his family than of all the world outside, and if they ipend the evening in describing to him the mperior wardrobe of the family across the itreet that theycaunot bear the sisht of the nan is thrown on his gallantry and on his wide of family, and without translating his eelings into plain language he goes into exortion and issuing fals<> stock and skillful >enmanship in writing someboly else's lame at the foot of a promissory note, and hey nil go down together?tho husband to he prison, tho wife to the sewing machine, he children to be taken care o f by those who rere called poor relations. Oh, for some new lhakespeare to arise and write the tragedy ?f human clothes! Will you forgive me H I say in tersest hape possible that some of the men have to orge and to perjure and to swindle to pay ortheir wives' dresses. I will say it whether ou forgive me or not! Again, inordinate fashion is the foe of all Jhristian almsgiving. Men and women put o much in personal display that they often lave nothing for G od and the cause of suferlng humanity. A Christian man cracking lis Palais Boyal glove across the back by Banning up bis haridfo hidothe oent ba pats Into the poorbor. A Christian woman, at tbe story of the Hottentots, crying copious tears into a $25 handkerchief and then giving a two cent piece to the colleotion. thrusting it under bills so people will not know but it was a $10 goldpiece. One hundred dollars for incense to fashion; two cents for God. God gives us ninety cents out o f every dollar. The other ton cents by command of His Bible beloua; to Him. Is not God liberal aocoFcTCng to His tithing system laid" down in the Old Testament? Is not God liberal in giving us ninety cents out of a dollar when He takes but ten? We do not like that. We want to have ninety-nine cents for ourselves and one for God. Now, I would a great deal rather steal ten cents from you than from God. I think one reason why a great many people do not get along in worldly accumulation faster Is because they do not observe this divine rule. God says, "Well, if that man is not satisfied with ninety cents of a dollar, then I will take the whole dollar, and I will give it to the man or woman who is honest with Me." The greatest obstacle to charity in the Chris* tian church to-day is the fact that men exDend so much monev on their table, and wo men so much on their dress, they have got nothing left for the work of God and the world's betterment. In my first settlement at Belleville, N. J., the cause of missions' was being presented one Sabbath, and a plea for the charity of the people was being made, when an old Christian man in the audlenoe lost his balance and said right out in the midst of the sermon, "Mr. Talmage, how are we to give liberally to those grand and glorious causes when our families dress as they do?" I did not answer that question. It was the only time in my life when I had nothing to say. Ac^ain. inordinate fashion is distraction to public worship. You know very well there are a good many people who come to church just as they go to the races?to see who will come ouf first. What a flutter it makes in church when some woman with extraordinary display ot fashion comos in! "What ft love of a bonnet!'' says one. "What a perfect fright 1" says 500. For the most merciless critics in the world are fashion critics. Men and women with souls to be saved passing the hour in wondering where that man got his cravat or what store that woman patronizes. In many of our churches the preliminary exercises are taken up with the discussion of wardrobes. It is pitiable. Is it not wonderful that the Lord does not strike the meeting houses with lightning? What distraction ot f nbllc worship! Dying men and and women* whose bodies are soon to be turned into dusf, vet before three worlds strutting like peacocks, the awful question of the soul's destiny submerged by the question of navy blue velvet and long fan train skirt, long enoug to drag up the church aisle, the husaand's store, office, shop, factory, fortune and the admiration of half the people in the building! Men and women oome late to churoh to show their clothes. People sitting down in a pew or taking up a hymnbook, nil absorbed at the same time la personal array, to sing: Else, my sool, and stretch thy wings; Thy better portion trace. Rise from transitory thin*?* Toward heaven, thy native place. I adopt the Episcopalian prayer and say, "Good Lord, deliver as!" Insatiate fashion also belittles the intellect. Oar minds are enlarged or they dwindle just in proportion to the Importance of the subject 011 which we constantly dwell. Can you imagine anything more dwarfing to the human intellect than the study 01 fashion? I see men on the street who, judging from their elaboration, must have taken two hours to arrange their apparel. After n few years of that kind ot absorption, which one of McAllister's magnifying glasses will be powerful enough to make the man's character visible? They all land in idiooy. I have seen men at the summer watering places, through fashion, the mere wreck of what they once were. Sallow of cheek. Meagre of limb. Hollow at the chest. Showing no animation save in rushing across a room to pick up a lady's fan. Simpering along the corridors the same compliments they simpered twenty years ago. A New York lawyer at United States Hotel, Saratoga, within our hearing, rushed across a room to say to a sensible woman, 'Tou are as sweet as peaches!" The fools of fashion are myriad. Fashion not only destroys the body, but it makes idiotic the intellect. Yet, my friends, I have given vou only the milder phase of this evil. It shuts a great multitude out of heaven. The first peal of thunder that shook Sinai declared, "Thou - * - vc~ H 1 sua.it nave 110 ocu?r uuu uoiuto jit:, ?mu you will have to choose between thegoddos3 ot fashion and the Christian God. There are a great many seats in heaven, and they are all easy seats, but not one seat for the devotee of fashion. Heaven is lor meek and quiet spirits. Heaven i3 for those who think more of their souls than of their bodies. Heaven is for those who have more joy in Christian charity than in dry goods religion. Why. if you, with your idolatry of fashion, should somehow get into heaven, you woiild be for putting a French roof on the "house of many mansions." Give up this idolatry of fashion or give up heaven. What would you do standing beside the Countess of Huntington, whose joy it was to build chapels for the poor, or with that Christian woman of Boston who fed 1500 children of the street at Faneuil Hall on New Year's day. givins cut as a sort of doxology at the end ot rne meeting a pair of snoes to each one of them, or those Dorcases of modern society who nave consecrated their needles to the Lord, and who will get eternal reward for every stitch they take? Ob, men nnd women, give up the idolatry of fashion ! The rivalries una the competitions of such a life are a stupendous wretchedness. You will always find some one with brighter array aud with more palatial residence, and with lavender kid gloves that make a tighter fit. And if von buv this thini* and wear it yoa will wish you had bought something else and worn it. And the frets of such a life will bring the crow's teet to your temples before they are due, and when you come to die you will have a miserable time. I have seen men and women of fashion die. and I never saw one of them die well. The trappinsp off, there they lay on the tumbled pillow, and there were just two thingsthat bothered them?a wasted life and a coming eternity. I could not pacify them, for their body, mind and soul had been exhausted in the worship of fashion, and they could not appreciate the gospel. When I knelt by their bedside, they were mumMins out their regrets and saying : 4;0 Go.i! O God!" Their garments hung up in the wardrobe, never again to be seen by them. Without any exception, so far as my memory serves me. they died without hope and went into eternity unprepared. The mo3t chastly deathbeds on earth ore theone where a man dies of delirium tremens and the other where a woman dies after having sacrificed all hsr faculties of body, mind and soul in the worship of fashion. My friends, we must appear in judgment to answer for what we have worn on our bodies as well as for what repentences we have exercised with our souls. On that day I see coming in Beau Brummel of the last century, without his cloak, like which all England trot a cloak, and without his cane, like which all England got a cane, withoat his snuffbox, like which all England got a snuffbox?he, the fop of the age.<, particular about everything but hi3 morals, and Aaron Burr without the letters that down to old age he showed in pride to prove his early wicked gallantries, and Absalom without his hair, and Marchioness Pompadour without her titles, and Mrs. Arnold, the belle of Wall street, when that was the oenter of fashion, without her fripperies of vesture. And in great hacgardness they shall go away Into eternal expatriation, while among the queens of heavenly society will be fouud Vasntl, who wore the modest veil before the palatial bacchanalians, and Handah, who annually made a little coat for Samuel at the temple, and Grandmother Lois, the ancestress of Timothy, who imitated her virtue, and Mary, who gave Jesus Christ to the world, and many of you. the wives and mothers and sisters and daughters of the present Christian church, who, through great tribulation, are entering into the kingdom ot God. Christ announced who would make up the royal family of heaven w hen He said, ' Whosoever doeth the will of God. the same U My brother, My sister, My mother." TJrajjgea *119 iramny into suiciae. One Satschowski, a locksmith, his wifa and two sons handed themselves at Berlin, Germany, without other apparent reason than that the father, a consumptive, compelled the others to join him in suicide. Troops Sent Bear Hunting. Finland has been invaded by bears, who are ravaging the farm stock. Troops haya been sent to kill them. TEMPERANCE. LATEST VERDICT OF SCIEN'CE. A writer in the?Popular Science Monthly, clving the latest ver.lict of science in the case of alcohol, makes the following striking statements: ' The evidence up to this time from the chemical laboratory, from experiments, from hospital studies, from statistics and I other sources, clearly proves that alcohol is i a poison and is positively dangerous to health. The facts concerning its ravages and baneful influence are loo (?mmon to be called in question, and the statement that it is the greatest peril to modern civilization has a basis in actual experience." A STRIKING OBJECT LESSON. The large railway corporations an* doin? much to promote abstinence among their numerous employes. The "Big Four" system not lonor ago furnished a striking object lesson, enforcing the rule that its employes shall not frequent saloons. Eight engineers and sixteen trainmen were notified that their services were no longer required, xiio reason of their discharge was that they had I been made defendants in a justice's court in proceedings instituted by a saloon keeper to collect bills for liquor sold to these railway men. Alcohol prevents the be3t work of which those who use it are capable, in all departments of useful activity.?National Temperance Advocate. AI.COHOL AXD ANARCHY. There is another great hot bed of anarchy and crime in our modern civilization that can never bo passed by, or overlooked, when we are considering the dangers that threaten \is with universal destruction?the traffic in drunkness. One of the most alarminsr features of the present age is the awful and shameful fact that the fourteen most civilize,'! nations of the earth devote one-fourth of their labor and agricultural land to the production of this demoralizing and destructive force. Forty-four million acres of the best soil God has given to man is being used to produce a pauper-making, anarchy-breeding drink, while multitudes die of want and nations stand back aghast before the deadly work of anarchists.?Rev. Louis Albert Banks. MUSK AND THE DOrTOHS. The pretension or men and women that they need liquor for their health is one ot the greatest oi fallacies. Sickness offers no excuse for tlfc use of wine or beer. The best doctors never prescribe either. Well* read, thinking physicians use other remedies instead of alcohol, and with better re* suits. Dr. Davis, of Chicago, declares that it is never necessary to prescribe intoxicants. Many physicians, however, are so weak as to prescribe what the patient likes, and this is very often alcohol. This leads to much drinkmg by women, and after a time the physician must prescribe liquor? for these persons or lose his practice. Perhaps he would rather not do it, but he has begun it. and he must keep on, or his patients will get another doctor. If he had never bogun it he would have had no trouble. Now his duty to his patient and himself is to^stop off short, at once, and | prescribe no more ariaK as meuiciue. DRIKK IXP MISSIONS. For one really convertod Christian ns the fruit of missionary laho*, the drinking practices of the English have made one thousand drunkards.?Archdeacon Jeffries after thir ty years spent in India. I The slave trade has been to Africa a great i evil, but the evils of the rum trade are far worse.?Rev. James Johnson. Missionary in Africd. We beg of vou to send us more Gospel an J Ip-ss rum.?Ugaiia; a Congo native. I dread the arrlvai of an American ship, for though she may have more missionaries in her cabin, she brings in her hold the death waters of damnation.?Rev. John Williams, Paeiic Islauds. The native kings are petitioning the Government to stop the liquor trade. It is ruining thsir people. One king says, if they rontinue, it will cause him to" leave his country and jjo where the white man's rum cannot roach his people. ?Hon. B. Bower.. C. S. Consul at Sierra Lscivj. ABSTINENCE AND AB3TAIXERS. The great American orator exclaimed : "If I thought there was a stain on the remotest bem of the garment of my country. I would use my utmost labors to wipoitoff." But the abuse of drink constitutes no mere stain on the garment of England; it clothes her in garments dyed with blood. Now, if all the most influential voices tell us that it is of supreme and primary importance to combat and suppress this vice?if, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury, this is ' 'in one way the work of this present day of Christ, for unless it is done very little else can be ' ' > * - - * ? i4 x a ?1 ?- _:?.U lasilDRiy Clone; n ajoru ouuneauurj, wilu his unrivaled experience, was right in his conviction that "it is impossible, absolutely impossible, to do anything permanently or considerably to relieve poverty until wo have got rid of the caree of drink if, as Lord Bsaconsfleld said, in the success of our efforts to control it "is involved the triumph of the social virtues and the eharacter of the great body of the people if, according to Lord Chief Justice Coleridge, wo might, but for drink, shut up nine out of every ten jails in England ; if we could thus, in the opinion of men like Bright and Cobdon, make England such a pasadise as at present we hardly dream, then total abstainers are hardly deserving of beinj? held up to scorn and contempt ior flowing, by their personal example, how easy it would be for the multitudes to find safety and happiness in the small and even pleusureable self-denial which they haw adopted. If the ?135.000,000 per year, or more, which we annually spend on intoxicating drink, which results so infinitely disastrous alike to the nation and to individuals, were more wisely used and less ruinously wasted.not only would drunkenness and the most prolific causes of crime be nearly exterminated, but squalor and pauperism would become hideous phantoms of the past, and most of the frichttul evils by whien we are now afflicted would cease to drag down our prosperity as with a hand of fire. I have not, in this paper, urged even a tithe of the arguments which weigh with us ; but I trust that enough has been said.to oonvince every lair and reasonable man that the example of total abstainers might be profitably followed by many who now despise it, and might tend to an immense amelioration In the happiness ol the human race.?Archdeacon Farrsr. TEMPERANCE NEWS AND NOTES. God is hard to find for the man who seelcs Him with a bottle in bis coattall pocket. Canada does not allow a liquor-dealer or saloon-keeper to hold a municipal office. Drunkards in the Argentine Republic are sentenced to sweep the streets for eight days. Reports show 20,903 children's temD-rance societies in England, au increase of 995. the members numbering 2,673.000. The wif?> of a drunkard in Ottawa. Ohio, has won three civil damage suits against saloons for $1000, $550 and $200. Over 30,000 railroad men in the United States wear a littlo button bearing the letters "R. T. A.,1' which mean''Railroad Temperance Association.'' The Canadian Temperance League recently presented a gold medal to the pupil in the publlo schools of Toronto who passed the best examination in the study of temporance and physiology. Palo Alto, Calfornia, has recently incorporated, and has provided that each deed shall contain a clause stipulating that no liquor shall be sold on the premises, under penalty of forfeiting the land. A bushel of corn makes four gallons ot whisky, which retails for $1G. Out of this the Government gets $3. the railroads $1, the manufacturer 34. tno renaur 91, me farmer forty cents, and the drinker tho delirium tremens. Behind the rum-seller is tho law that licenses the business. Behind the license law is the Legislature that makes the law. and behind tho Legislature are the individual members of society who elect the legislature. ?Rev. A. B. Leonard. In its closing hour, the Ontario Medical Association in convention declared drunkenaess not a crime but a (disease, and adopted a petitioutothe Lieutenant-Governor asking that industrial reformatories may be established by the Ontario Qovcrnmont for the reception of dipsomaniacs. Take especial care that thon dollght not in wine, for there was not any man that came to honor or preferment that loved it. For it transformoth a man Into a beast, decayeth iiealth and maketh a man contemptible, sooa old, and despised by all worthy men, hated in thy servants, in thyself and companions, for it is a bewitching and infectious vice.?Fir Waiter Raleigh. SABBATH SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR AUGUST 26. Lesson Text: ''First Miracle of Jesus," John II., 1-11?Golden Text: John II., 11? Commentary. 1. t;Ar.d tho third day thorp was a marriaeo in Cnna of Galilee, and tho mother of Jesus was there." The number three is one of the most suggestive o" Bible numbers from Genesis to Revelation. It stands for solidity or fullness and. in connection with the Trinity, divine fullness. The third day r\ f rocnrronfirtn in Ihtt resurrection of Isaac and Jouah and Jesus (Gen. xxii., 4- Math, xii., 10: H03. vi.. 2). This first miracle makes us think of the marriage of the Lamb. which will probably take place ou the morning of tho third day. 2. "And both Jesus was called and His disciples to the marriage." The disciples at this time were probably Andrew, SiraoD, John, James, Philip and* Nathanasl. and it may have been, for aught wo know, the marriage of Nathanael. for he belonged to Cana (John xxi., 2). Some day we shall know, if necessary. We may think of Mary and Jesus and the disciples finding time to attend a marriage and glorifying God by so doing. It is safe to go anywhere with Jesus and serve or wait with Him. 3. "And when they wanted wine the mother of Jesus saith unto Him. They have no wine." There was then a necessity unsupDlied, which will give Jesus an opportunity to work. Happy will we be if we see in every time of need an occasion for Jesus to manifest Himself. And are not all needs permitted to come to the children of God just to give occasion to fulfill tho promise. "My God shall supply .all j-our need according to His riches iu'gloryby Christ Jesus'?" (Phil. iv., 19). Wine must be good when God makes it and provides it, lor there would surely he no leaven in it. no evil, and yet we read, "Thy lovo is better than wine" (S. of Sol. i.. 2). 4. "Jesus"saith unto ner* Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come." .Whatever apparent difficulty there may be in these words, wo may be sure that there was nothing disrespectful to Mary, for Jesus never said nor did a wrong thing, nor anything out of place. As to tho time not being come, God is never too fast nor too slow in anything He does. The year and month and day and hour and moment are all clear and known to Him for every evenr. no is never ian.eu uj outprise, never unprepared. 5. "His mother saith unto the servants. Whatsoever Ho saith unto yow. d# it." She did not misunderstand Him nor take amiss what He had said, but sure that He would see to it. she gives this order to the servants. How would it do to hand nil servants over to Him for His management and rest in His ordering ot persons and thint??? Certainly it would be well for us all to take delight in being His bond servants ready to 1111 promptly all His appointments (II Sain, xv., 15). 6. liAnd there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the puri' lying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece." Vessels for purifying. How suggestive! And six of them, the human number, the number of man. and Jesus will presently use them. How many verses come to mind. "A vessal meet for the Master's use," "We have this treasure in earthen vessels,"' and sometimes they are vessels of only a second sort (II Tim. ii.. 21: II Cor. iv.. 7 : Ez. i., 10). The great thine: is to bo ready to His hnud and empty?ready if Ho wants me, having no plans nor purposes but His : willing, if He should not require me, in silence to wait on Him still, my heart singing. "Tnou art worthy. O Lord, and I am for Thy pleasure that" Thou mayost bo magnified." 7. "Jesus saith unto them. Fill the water pots with water. And they lllled them up to the brim." It was wiue they wanted, but He orders water. Aeain how perfect! Doru of water, a well of water sprinirinc: up, rivers of living water (John iii., 5; iv., 14; vii., 3S). And filled to the brim. Dear tellow believer. would you be of use to Him in connection with His approaching marriage? Then let the servants All you with living water, even His word an 1 Spirit (John vi.. 63). 8. "And He saith unto them, Draw oat now and bear unto the governor of the least, and they bare it.'' We receive the water not for ourselves, but for others. We receive it only to pass it on. and unless we pass it on we are not usini; it origin. We are supposed to live not unto ourselves, but unto Him who loved us and cave Himself for us, to the governor tir-t. Whether writing a letter or making a call, teaching a class or preaching the Gospel, it mast be ''unto Him," not as pleasing men, but God, who trieth our hearts, studying to show ourcaK-oe -innrm-p.-l untfi God il TheSS. I]'.. 4 II Tim.7l.r 15 V 9. "When the ruler of the feast hai tasted the water that was made wine and knew not. whence it was, but the servants whicli drew the water knew, the governor of the feast called the bridegroom." See how the water, probably as it was drawn out. was changed into wine. A3wogive fourth the living water it maketh glad the heart of man. like the wine ol the kingdom. The true bridegroom, whose approaching marriage we greatly rejoice in, is J"sus Himself, and it is well when the water we bear to others makea them so glad that they inquire for the bridegroom. People say : Where do you get such good wine? How do you find so much an i such precious things in the book? The servants who draw the water know He does it all. I 10. "And saith unto Him. Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and when men have well drunk then that which is worse, hut thou hast kep: the good wine until now." Confining ourselves lor a moment to ttie actual event in Cana that day, see bow Jesus, who wrought the miracie. is passed by and the brldezroomgets the credit. It requires great grace t > be the instrument in a good work and see another get the credit of it. but His grac * is sufficient even forthat. Let us see that we in all things magnify the Lord 5is we hope that bridegroom did that ' day, informing the governor as to the author of the wine. In all the feasts where theLord provides it is better further on. and the last will be the best. 11. "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory, and His disciples believed on Him." His glory will be manifested at His own marriage era He shall return for the judgment of pations, the conversion of Israel and the establishment of His kingdom under the whole heaven (Dan. vit.. 27). Then Shall all our cups of cold wate* bo changed into the new wine or the kingdom, and all Israel shall believe on Him as they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced and sing: '-.Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord." This is our God. Yfe have waited lor Hiia."?Lesson Helpor. It's a Home Product. The naval officials, who are conducting exhaustive experiments at the Indian Head proving grounds, near Washington, with the view of obtaining satisfactory smokeless explosives for big guns, were astonished by the remarkablo results obtained with a sample submitted by tin American company. With eighty-five pounds of Leonard nitro-gylcerine smokeless powder behind a 250-pound pre jectilo in an eight-inoh rifle, forty calibres In length, the enormou3 muzzle velocity of 2650 leet per second was secured with a chamber pressuro of only 14.8 tons. What a remarkable velocity this is can be appreciated only by comparing it with the best Brown Hexagonal powder, tho regular service explosive, which under similar conditions gives but 2100 foot velocity with ilfteen tons pressure. The Leonard powder, however. is a nitro-glycerine compound, and its keeping qualities havo yet'.o be demonstrated. In xhenaval service, where tho vessels make long cruises, frequently in tropical latitudes, explosives composed lu part of uitro-glycerino have deteriorated rapidly and soon become unfit 1'or U3e. If the new powder, however, meets tho expectations of its makers, who claim to have provided against the development of defects by keeping, the navy has at last secured a smokeless explosive incomparably superior to any possessed by European nations. A Ijarge 31ctcor's Flight. A meteor was seen falling in the southeast portion of tho heavens over Tracey, Cal., from an altitude of sixty degrees. It was a ball of fire, leaving a bright streak behind it. It left a large, white luminous body that remained stationary for some time. Twenty-five minutes after the meteor disappeared a loud explosion, resembling a slnp of thunder, was heard to the southeast, and the white track of the meteor could be seen. It was also observed at Fresno, Lodi, Stockton, San Jose and Los Angeles. RELIGIOUS READING. LIGHT THROUGH OOKFKSSrOX. In a large city I noticed an old man who had remained through the first and second meetings, and was standing as though he were hesitating whether to leave the room or to tarry in order to confer with others. J asked a gentleman who was then my associate to speak to him, and, approaching him, he said: "My friend, are you a Christian?'' The old man said, -'No, sir, I am not a Christian; but I want to be. I have been trying all my life to find out how to be a Christian, but I have not been able to receive any satisfaction in connection with my endeavors in that respect. I have bee* to church all my life, and read the Bible. I have attended mei-tings like those, and yet have received no light as to what I need to do in order to be a Christian. When Mr. Moody was here, several years ago, I attended almost all of his meetings, and talked with him and others personally, and when the meetings were done I was as far away as ever. Now I don't suppose it is of any use, but I would be very glad if you would tell me what I need to do in order that I might becomo a Christian." My friend said to him: "Have you ever confessed Christ with your lips?" The old man said: "No, I was waiting to become a Christian before I should do that" My friend said to him: "That is just the way to become a Christian," and quoted a passage upon that point from the tenth chapter of Romans, and said: "I believe you need to commence tonight with an open acknowledgment of Christ as your Master." The old man snid: "It is too late to do it tonight, for the service has been dismissed." My friend looked about the room, where there may have been ten persons tarrying, and said:'"Suppose you confess Chri9t to these people who are now in this room?" After a moment's hesitation the old man walked down the room and held out his band to a gentleman whom he knew, and said: "Air. W , I want to confess Christ to you." .and then went to others and said practically the same thing. I think I was the last one to whom ho spoke that night, and I told him not to let the adversary make him think that he had not commenced tlf3 Christian life that night, but to count the matter settled, and to think of himself as a follower of Christ The next morning, when I came in to the ten o'clock service, the old gentleman was seated in the front seat, and with him was another man about 75 years of age. The first man camo to me, and said: "I have brought a friend to meeting this morning. He is a little hard of hearing. Will you please speak out so that he can hear, and be sure to say something about confessing Christ?" I said to him: "Has the light come to you?" And he said: > "Yes, and I want my friend here to confess Christ, too." Before the day had done the second old man had risen in the meeting to express his Intention of being a follower of Christ, and after that it was a joy to see the two old men. side by side, with their faces beaming with the satisfaction that was brought to them by their new life. I believe that what God puts first we need to put first also, and that there is no greater aid to the faith of one who would be a disciple than open acknowledgment of his first intention to be a follower of Christ?B. Fay Mills, in Golden Rule. THE PROFIT OF LIVING. "Most surely." he says, "those latter yean have had a peace and fulness which t'nere did not used to be. I say it in deep reverence and humility. I do not think it is the mcro quietness of advancing age. I am sure it is not indifference to anything which I used to care for. I am sure it is a deeper I knowledge and a truer love of Christ. "And it seems to me impossible that this should have come in any way except by the experience of life. I find myself pitying the J friends of my youth who died when we were j j twenty-five years old. because, whatever may | j be the richness of the life to which they have , I gone and in which they have been living ever since, they never can know that particu- j lnr manifestation of Christ which he makes ! to us here on earth at each successive period of our human life. All experienoe comes to be but more and more of pressure of his life on ours. It cannot come by one flash of light or one great convulsive event. It comes , without haste and without rest in this per- I liuiniT nf nur livM with him. And all I I |/?ku?? J tbo history of outer or inner life, of the changes of circumstances, or the changes of thought, sets its meaning and value from this ; constantly growing relation to Christ. "I cannot tell you how personal this grows ' to me. He knows me and I know him. It is no figure of speech. It is the realest thing in ! the world. And every day makes it realer. , And one wonders with delight what it will j grow to as the years go on.?Phillips Brooks. ' THE CHCBCH AND THE SALOOX. The church of today, much more the church of ihe future, must take to its heart the duty of combining and massing its forces against that gigantic atrocity, that diabolical conspiracy, that nameless monstrum horrendum of Christian civilisation, that mothers I nine-tenths of the woes and sorrows which | blight and curse our modern age?the traffic j in intoxicants, which hides its deformity under forms of law. How long' shall the faoe of our Christinn sge blister with this j worse lhan pagan shame"? Has the virtue of our time degenerated so low that we do not even blush at the legislated traffic in the | j souls of our own children? That by the very I doors of our homes and by our temples an army of miscreants should, by authorization of laws made by Christian law-givers, prosecute a work of murder and death ! Are we reduced to the shame of admitting that a civilization which has grown up about our alI tars is impotent to cure the evil? How can j we go to the heathen with this cancer of I mA.ua Hmn hooHion festerinc in our I bosom??Bishop Foster. A. VOICE OF DEPENDENCE. Tho child strotches its arms and calls to its father and mother for help. And the parents love its call. That voice of dependence, desire, confidence is music to their hearts. No Earent, however tender and wise, would wish is child never to ask anything from him. It would be very unnatural for a child to say: "My father has arranged all for me; he will do his best, and I need never tell him a trouble or a wish. Every true parent loves to hear his child asking comfort in trouble, protection in danger and thesupply of its wants. And God. who made a father's heart, represents himself as a Father, und teaches us as children to "call upon him in the day of trouble."? Rev. Newman Hall. THE KTEBLASTINO ARMS. 'The everlasting arms"?I think of tba? whenever rest is sweet. How the whole earth and the strength of it. that is almightyness, is beneath every tired creature to give it rest, holding us always! No thought of God is closer than that No human tenderness or patience is greater than that which gathersin its arms a little child and holds it, heedless of weariness. And He Oils the great earth and all upon it with this unseen foreeof His love. ?A, D. T. Whitney. A negative relation to Christ has always ended in His crucifixion. Pilate said, find no fault in HimHerod said. And no fault in Him: ' but they gave Him up to the murderers! From the spiritual necessity of the ease that was inevitable. This i? tho irresistible sequence. Beware of it! There is no security in negiitiverows. If you merely "find no fault in Him" you wilt assuredly give up Christ under external pressure. Christ asics us for no good conduct ccrtilicate. He a?ks us /or the loyalty of the heart's whole trust. He claims the throne of our undivided lov??.?l?r. Joseph Parker. Dried Fruit Crop. The California ?lriod apricot crop this year will reach the enormous total of 12,000 tons, or nearly double tnat or any previous season. This is duo largely to tho failure of growers to ship any fcosli fruit E ist because of tho railroad blockade. Oallforaia dealers ire holding for ten cents a pound, but Eastern oilers don't exceed seven cents. Tho dried peach crop will also be much larger than usual for the same reason. Large shipments of fresh fruit are now beinar made, as the railroads are in condition to handle ill fruit offered. It was a great piece of ifood fortune for fruit growers and the railroad companies that the season was so late, is peaches and pears that usually ripen early In June are just maturing. ' ' " \ ' ! Sjg? ;{ AGRICULTURAL. TOPICS OF INTEREST RELATIVE TO FARM AND GARDEN. TO GET BID OP WEEDS. Weeds beginning to seed should be cut back. It will pay to go over each field and cut every plant with seedstalk or flowers. Each seed which germinates means another plant, j which causes foul field and loss of fertilizer from the soil. Go over each field carefully every fortnight. Frequently after hard rains the weeds, roots and stems may be easily pulled by hand while the soil is soaked with water.?New York World. POOD FOR CHICKENS. The often-recommended 7ariety of cooked food for chicks is a waste of labor and of valuable time. They want nothing of the kind, and egg custard, baked cakes, and such foods are not at all required. Simply cracked wheat and rather coarse cornmeal, with a little finely-chopped meat occasionally, are all that the chicks need when they are confined in yards; otherwise, the last-mentioned will not be necessary. The first few days after hatching, the cracked wheat may be Bteeped in water, but after that the plain food only will be needed. Pure water should be given several times a dav. The lees fussinsr there is over chicks the better for them.?New York Times. TO CURE LOCKJAW. A writer in Clark's Horse Review gives his experience in curing lockjaw in which he says: "If a nail is picked up get it out, of course, as soon as possible; then get a half pailful of hot water?as hot asthehoraecan possibly stand it?pour in plenty of vinegar and also plenty of salt. This is all, only it must be so hot that at first when you put the horse's foot into it he will pull the foot out of the water, put it in again, and keep on doing so until you can hold the foot in it steadily. Hold it in half an hour or longer and repeat it again after two hours. Do this at least four times or more the first day, and repeat the process the next day. In nine cases out of ten it will save the horse. It has been tried on man, and I used it myself on my own horse. Some one may say that tins remedy is no good, but if 1 bad a valuable horse it is the remedy I would try. Nothing -will kill the blood poison quicker if taken in time." DESCRIPTION OF A MODEL STEER. Apart from the Polled-Angus, of which there are very few in this country, the Durham grade generally commands a first place in the butcher's eye, said T. McMillan at a Canadian farmers' institute. It is a well known fact that the Durhams have been more largely used for the improvement of other cattle than any otner oreea, ana i. tninK tnat, so far as experience has gone, it has borne out the wisdom of such a course of breeding, as the Durham seems better adapted for this purpose than any other breed, owing no doubt to their better ability to transmit their own qualities to their offspring. In breeding and raising beef animals for the British market, they should be of good quality, with soft skins and as evenly fleshed as possible. The main points are a good straight, broad back, well sprung and deep in the rib, well filled behind the shoulders, good hams and brisket, short legs, a fine, cleancut neck and head,_ with nice and well set horns. In fact, our advices from the British market are constantly calling for a prime article. During the time this trade has been in existence our beef cattle have gained a most desirable reputation in the British market, and it is the plain duty of every farmer to endeavor by a system of selection and judicious feeding, not only to hold that reputation, but to continue to improve it. AN UNDEVELOPED MINE. In relation to the agriculturist, poultry occupies the position of an undeveloped mine of wealth, says Director Gilbert, of the Ontario College. Tbe farmer asks the reason for its value. The answer is for the capital invested there is nothing about the farm that, with proper management, will return so great a profit. It is the only department of the faim that will utilize what might be waste, and give in return for it: 1. The egg, representing cash at all times. 2. The young, which are revenue producers in three to five months. 3. The valuable manure. i. The body of the hen, which will bring a fair price after rearing several broods of chickens and laying a large number of eggs. It seems to make no difference with poultry whether they are housed beneath the slate roof of a pretentious building or in a deserted pig pen, so long as they are kept dry, fairly warm and well attended. The farmer inquires : What percentage of profit may I expect? In answer I quote from Stoddard, author of twenty-five works on poultry. He says: "One dollar per hen profit, where large stocks are kept, is a very good profit; that is about 100 per cent, on the investment. In smaller flocks $2 and even $3 per ; hen is realized. But such prices are the exception and not the rule." 1 You tell a farmer that there is 1 money in poultry, and he replies that 1 there may be, but it takes a lot of knowledge and work to get it out or them. It takes intelligence and trouble to look after any department on the farm. The man who invents a business that will make money for him while he sits down and looks at it will be the richest man the world has ever produced. SECURING COMB HONEY. It is needless to say that to be successful in securing comb honey, remarks 8. F. Freeman, in Gleanings in Bee Culture, all colonies must be | strong at the beginning of the surplus honey season. Until that time I confine each of my colonies to such a number of combs as will enable the queen to keep each filled with brood and eggs, except a little space in the corners of each. When my bees begin to gather honey from white clover, if ihe requisite number of combs are not > .-\v- v?Vv filled with broods (each bee-keepet* must determine for himself what that) number is), I add to my strongest col-( onies combs filled with hatching brood) taken from other colonies, until each) contains the number of brood-comba to be used during the surplus-honey season. When a colony swarms I hive thenew swarjn on empty frames?thai number used depending upon th? strength of the colony?and place it. on the old stand, removing the oldl colony a few feet away. After tha new colony gets well started in building combs, say in two or three days? the length of time depending upon; how rapidly honey is being gathered' ?I remove all the frames and new combs, except three, and supply their places with combs filled with hatching brood taken from the old colony, being very careful to remove all. queencells from the combs thus used, and at the same time I remove the surplus from the old colony, and place it upon the new. I never require the new colony to build more than three new combs; and as the season advances I: reduce the number of combs to be; built to two. and. toward the close of the season, to one. I furnish the old' colony with empty combs to take the place of the broodcombs removed. By this method nearly ail the work of the new colony is thrown into the surplus-chamber, all the working fore? is retained in the new colony, and it, is kept at' its full strength by the;hatching brood that was supplied from, the old colony. After the new colony has been supplied with frames of brood from the old colony, the old one should be removed some distance away from the new, thus throwing the whole field force of bees into the new. If the season is favorable, the old colonies thus manipulated will become strong enough to winter well, and with their young queens, will make the most * profitable colonies for the next sea[ son's work. If some of the old colo{ nies, at the close of the season, should be found too weak to winter well, they can be reduced in number, and HtrAncthflnfid hv nnitiiiff. By this plan of operating we secure all the advantages of non-swarming, , and more; for we keep the whole working force in the new colony, and we also get the benefit of the extra energy always exerted by bees that have swarmed. FABM AND GARDEN' NOTES. Many a calf is stanted in July and August. See that none of yours are.' Provide shade for all of the cows; ,and enough so the incoming ones will be sure to get in it if they wish. "Withhold cornmeal from the soonto-be-fresh cows. A little oil meal and bran or either will not come amiss. 1 If the pasture is drying up the cows will fail in milk and flesh if they do not have a supplemental feed of grain, ensilage or fodder. Have you commenced to cut corn fodder for jour cows yet? If not, what are you giving them to keep up the milk flow theae dry, hot days? Experts do not believe in watering milk after it is taken from the cow, but they do believe in letting the cow have all the water she wishes, whether she puts it in the milk or not. It is not only humane to have fresh water where the cows can get at it at all times these davs, but it is strictly business. There are dollars and cents in it to-day and next month. Fact. It is an advantage for the farmer to grow his own vegetable seed if it is done rightly, but not otherwise. A great mistake is made when the earliest and best specimens are sold and only the culls arc left to grow for seed. Let no man, boy or dog chase cows these days, if you ever allow it. Use particular care in this regard in the case of cows soon to come in. Quiet rest in the shaded nook should be theirs rather than dogged exposure to sun. During the dry hot spell is when the wise farmer sees to it that the cows have all the wholesome water they wish, and enough of fodder or other feed to supply the want created by the failure of the pasture to furnish a full feed. The potato crop is one of the most profitable of the staples that a farmer can take hold of as a specialty. The man who goes into potato culture understanding^, having the proper soil and giving the needed cultivation, rarely fin .Is himself looking about for anything better. John Boyd thinks it essential in milkinc to take hold of the teat as near to the point as possible, so as to excite the nerve that runs from this point to the milk glands, and he adds that the more this nerve is excited by manipulation the greater the success of the milker, especially in cows that are rich milkers. To check the strawberry leaf blight, the vines should be sprayed with tha Bordeaux mixture after the crop has been gathered. First mow the plantation and burn ii over, then spray when the new leaves are well started. The new strawberry bed should be sprayed several times during the season if blight prevails. The Scotch and English farm stock raisers continue their agitation against allowing foreign meat being sold as a British product. The Minister of Agriculture recently said in the House of Commons that the offering of such for sale as English or Scotch meat was a - ' i i~- ir .-i.. A -A. ? violation 01 ".uerciitinm.se jwrss aui, . and those doing so could be proceeded against under it. Men who rely upon clover as their basis for maintaining the fertility of the farm rarely have cause to fear the sheriff". The clover need not be fed directly to the soil, but perhaps is all the more beneficial if it goes first to good beeves and milch cows and mutton sheep. But one must not lose sight of the fact that its fiml destination is the soil, says a writer. A good form of the Bordeaux mixture for spraying is made by mixing two pounds of powdered copper sulphate and one and one-half pounds of lime with thirty-two gallons of water. This is a rather dilute mixture, but strong enough for most purposes. To make ammoniacal carbonate of copper, dissolve four ounces of carbonate of copper in two quarts of ammonia and add it to a barrel of water.