The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, October 24, 1894, Image 7
TjW
HIGHEST ON EARTH.
THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT
IS LOFTIEST OF ITS KIND.
Interesting Details of the Origin,
Erection and Completion of a
Great Obelisk?Wonderful
View From the Top.
T 7EW people who have never Been
1=/ the Washington monument
I (ion nntipoivo nf its fitrentrth.
; ' w ?? ? yr .
the statuary of Washington which represents
the father of his country is
simply execrable in taste and horrible
in drawing and execution.
ir its majesty, and yet its grace I
and beanty of outline. Indeed, it
may -well be regarded as one of the
architectural wonders of the world.
It is the loftiest structure ever reared
by man. From the base line, or,
rather, sill of the door of the main
entrance, to the apex of the cap-stone
is exactly 555 feet and four inches.
This makes the Washington monument
the tallest edifice or structure in
the world. The next highest is the
famous old Cheops pyramid in Egypt,
which is 543 feet, but as that is of im*
mense area at its base and rises in
easy slopes to the summit, old Cheops
conveys little more impression upon
the eye than would a lofty mountain
from a plain. The great cathedral at
Cologne has a spire which reaches
into the heavens 524 feet, and there
is a cathedral at Antwerp whose spire
extends upward 476 feet St. Peter's
spire, or rather, dome, at Rome, is
only 448 feet. When the big tower
on the City Hall in Philadelphia is
completed it will rival the Washington
monument, but even then will
not equal it, for it is only designed
to run that up 535 feet. The great
Washington obelisk, therefore, stands
alone in the grandeur of its elevation,
the symmetry of its outlines and the
solidity of its construction. The
world has never seen anything like it
before, nor is it likely that the genius
* ? j ? _f :n
UU patXIULIMLU UI ULi?U WU1 ugouu
attempt so ponderous a work. As
there is never likely to be another
Washington, so it may be safely said
that there will never be another
memorial bnilt to commemorate him
or any of his successors. The great
Washington shaft will stand alone, as
, long as the Republio lasts.
Thousands have made the ascent on
foot, but it is a dreadful task, and
there is a certain something in the awful
solitude?the sense of being shut
in within fonr solid walls, with the
-dimmest of lights, that makes nerV'
Tons people long for the end. But
th,ere seems to be no end. There are
p 900 iron steps to climb. True, the
staircase is broad, but the faces of the
Steps are worn smooth with the tread
of many feet, and the end?well, the
the end is afar. Long before you get
to the top yon wish you had not
started. The guide books will tell you
that you can stop the elevator at any
of the landings and get on, bat that
is a fiction- The elevator makes
straight runs. Like some of the elevators
in Chicagu, it runs as a limited
v .express, though not a very fast one,
for it takes seven minutes to cover the
CIS feet which lands one at the plat.
form under the capstone. To the man
f who starts to walk up there is enough
to interest him in tne study of the
memorial stones, the intaglios and
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WASHINGTON MONUMENT.
other tablets which adorn every fiftyfoot
level as high as 200 feet,but above
that everything is a dead blank. One
sees nothing but the dim light of the
incandescent lamps reflecting on the
cold granite walls, the steel skeleton
frame of the stairway and the endless
wind and wind and wind upward.
They were a dear old lot of enthusiasts
who conceived the monument,
and right manfully did they prosecute
the work. The movement began away
_ -i- _ 1 onn _ _ / ? i c r% a
dock m jloz?, wnen uaie <e oeaion,
then making enormouB sums oi money 1
on the Government printing contracts,
first mooted the project. They got
interested with them old Peter Force,
George "VVatterson, Librarian of Congress,
and William Cranch, an old
land owner, and formed a society, and
they succeeded in getting Chief Justice
Marshall, then in his eighty-fifth
to act as President. The first idea
was to build the monument by dollar
subscriptions, but it was Boon
JaUw/I iUta **rsxnl/l T^ I
1UUUU KJLUO rr uuiu ^iv/w n xu ujUA.
, the society several years to raise
$80,000. Then they raised the "ante,"
bo to speak, and in a short while they
had about $100,000?enough to begin
on plans at least. Every man over
forty years old remembers in his school
books and current prints pictures of
the "proposed monument to George
Washington." When the committee
was raising money they sent this print
out broadcast and thousands of them
are to-day stored away in the garrets
of the country. This was the design
of Robert Mills, at that time an arch"*
itect of the Capitol. His design
was a huge building in the form of a
circular peristyle or colonnade 250
feet in diameter and 100 in height.
At points equidistant on the roof of
this structure were to be bronze equestrian
statues of Washington, modeled
from studies of various incidents in his
career. From the middle of this circular
colonnade was to rise an obelisk
500 feet high. This design was bold,
but the society abandoned it because
of the cost, and resolved upon the
plain obelisk that we have to-day?a
lucky change, many think, for most of ^
k ... .
ROBERT C. WINTHROP.
It was a noted crowd that witnessed
the laying of the corner stone of the
present structure, July 4. 1848.
Among them, was the venerable Mrs.
Alexander Hamilton, then ninety-one
years old; George Washington Park
Custis, then proprietor of the Arlington,
and father-in-law of Robert E.
Lee; Mrs. Dolly Paine Madison,
" ' Tfc -J x . -\/T TA?
Widow or tQe uuiju t
VIEW OF MONE^fEKT FBOM DOl
Quincy Adams, widow of another exPresident
; Chief Justice Taney, Lewis
Cass, of Michigan; ex-President Martin
Yan Buren, and Millard Fillmore,
who had just been nominated for
Vice-President -with Zachary Taylor.
Robert C. Winthrop, the Speaker of
the House, delivered the oration, and
it will be remembered that at the final
completion of the monument and its
formal dedication, February 22,1885,
the then venerable Mr. Winthrop was
ag^in present, one of the most honored
guests. But for many years after
1854 the project lagged. The association
got to the end of its money (it
had raised and spent $250,000) and
then the thing stopped. The monument
was up 165 feet, then it was
housed over and so remained. Nor
was it until twenty-two years later, in
1873, that Congress could be induced
to do anything. The spirit engendered
in the centennial year set the
machinery in motion, and the press
and people took the matter up in such
vigorous shape that Congress made an
appropriation to begin the work of
completion. The result wasx that in
eight years thereafter the work was
complete. On December 6, 1854, the
capstone was set and the work ended.
It is a mistake to suppose that the
great shaft is a "marble column." It
is not. For the first 400 feet the main
structure is of blue granite, the lower
walls being fifteen feet thick. The
thickness of the walls decreases until
about the 450 feet level, when they
cease, and the rest of the altitude is
reached by solid blocks of marble,
from two and oue-half feet thick to
eighteen inches. Inside this, however,
is built an interior structure and
p.rcn, witn a Keystone wnicn supports
the capstone, that weighs just one and
one-half tons.
Inside this Bhaft rise fonr iron
standards, which run Irom top to bottom
of the opening. These are bolted
to the inner walls and form the framework
of the Btairs and elevator shaft.
They are marvels of strength. In
fact the -whole interior of the great
shaft looks and is as strong as the
3teel frame of any of Chicago's sky
scrapers. If it were possible by any
natural or other force to topple over
or disturb the Washington monument
from its perpendicular, this interior
structure alone would keep it from
CAPSTONE OF THE MONUMENT, SHOWING
THE ALUMINUM TIP.
coming down. There ia never the
slightest vibration, deflection or movement,
the result of either cold or heat.
The elevator as one of the largest
and strongest ever made. It is suspended
by four two-inch steel cables
and is drawn by a 175 horse power
engittt in the basement of the shaft"
Everything about the elevator gives
way to safety precautions. The safety
clutches are double clutches. The
frame of the elevator is light but made
of the best of steel. The elevator is
limited to thirty people, but it would
carry weight three times that number.
But it runs very slow?another measure?and
no amount of persuation will
induce the elevator man to get a move
on him. After looking at the shaft
from a distance one is surprised to
how much room there is in the platform
from which a visitor looks out
over the country. On each of the
four faces of the pyramidal cap are
two lookout windows. From the ground
they do not look larger than bull's
eyes, but once up there there is room
for ten people at each window. Fifty
people can move about on the upper
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lanumg huu ucver uuue gci iu mu
other's way. The view from this landing
is one of the grandest ever spread
before the human eye. It makes a
nervous person shake a little, and not
every one cares to glance downward
to the base of the shaft, for the effect
is disturbing. By the laws of perspective,
parallel lines converge in
the distance, and the effect of this is
that the base of the monument, by
convergence of its two visible corners,
seems smaller at the bottom than at
the top, and the sensation is that the
whole shaft is just about to topple
over. By the same laws of perspective
objects not so far away look
smaller, even though they be larger
than those in the greater distance.
V" I
5^"Sfip* <v' 1' '
WvmP2'd ?
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ra OP THE NATIONAL CAPITOL.
Thus the Capitol looks a good deal
smaller than the old ship house in the
Navy Yard, a mile farther oft. And
the tower of the Soldiers' Home, two
miles farther away, looks twice as big
as the dome of the Capitol.
A** lnlAvnofin^ ofn/lw nf fnn mnnn.
J*ll 1L1 fV/JL OVUVAJ V* VUV U1VUM
ment is the tablets?the memorial
stones, which for more th&n a generation
a patriotic people and an admiring
world have been sending to adorn
the interior of tbe structure. These
tablets date from away back in 1849,
and some of them are immensely
funny viewed at this late day. All
sorts and kinds of human impulse
seem to have prompted these memorials.
National patriotism, local pride,
oorporate vanity and rivalry, religious
z^al, private greed and hope of gain,
all these conditions are visible, and
not only visible, but palpable. Some
of the tablets are very elaborate and
must have cost a great deal of money.
Tho-e, for instance, seDt by the cities
of New York and Philadelphia are
splendid specimens of marble sculpture.
IN THE ELEVATOR.
Virginia did not content herself \?ith
one tablet, but has a dozen, in which
naturally references to the "Father of
His Country" and "Virginia's Noblest
Son" predominate. The Western States
are but poorly represented. Some of
the tablets which seem now odd and 1
out of place are those, some of them
very handsome, donated by the old 1
volunteer fire departments of the vari- 1
ous cities. There are others, too, by
individual fire and hook and ladder
companies. The chief aim of the fire (
laddieB of the past seems to have been
to get their individual names emblazoned
upon the tablets of fame. Thus
every memorial sent by an engine or
hook ana iaaaer company nas tne
name of every member cut in the face.
New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore
seem to have got up a aerous rivalry
as to which should have tho biggest
representation in the monument.
Some of the offerings are very elaborate
sculptures in marble, and must
have been costly. The favorite designs
were representations of old hand
engines, hydrants, with hose coiled
about, firemen's hats and trumpets in
vignette, and pictures of fire laddies
rescuing women and children from
burning buildings.
Of Sunday-school tablets there is .
no end. It looks as if during the ten
years before the war every Suudaysohool
in the Eastern States had accomplished
a memorial tablet for the
Washington monument. And the same i
with the Odd Fellows and Masons,
who have, altogether, over seventy
"
five offerings; some of them my
handsome. Foreign countries are also
represented by Brazil, Arabia, China
(in native language), Greece and one
|I
isllSi
ENTRANCE TO THE MONUMENT.
from Switzerland inscribed, "This
block of stone is from tlie original
chapel built by William Tell in 1338,
at the very spot, Lake Lucerne, where
he escaped from Gessler."
Some of the lesser tablets are very
odd. In 1856 B. Norris &Co., locomotive
builders of Philadelphia, got
out a locomotive in basrelief, carved
in marble, and, with their name and
occupation on it, the stone now occupies
a conspicuous place. New Bedford,
Mass., sent a stone with nothing
on it but the name of the town and
a representation of a big harpoon,
which, of course, at the time, told its
own story. Another old stone is a
block of granite, inscribed "From D.
D. Hitner's Quarry, Montgomery
County, Pennsylvania." Mr. miners
"Quary's" fame is thus perpetuated
through countless generations.
The control of the monument is
vested with the War Department, and
it is under immediate charge of Colonel
Wilson, of the public buildings
and grounds. Congress appropriates
$12,000 annually for its maintenance.
?Chicago Herald.
Calilornia Flying Fish.
Eastern anglers unacquainted with
the California flying fish find novelty
in its peculiar habits and characteristics.
Fish are supposed to confine
themselves to the water, but a fish
that oan fly does what man is unable
to do successfully.
The California flying fish, which in-.
habits the coast from San Diego to
Monterey Bay, is, of all flying fish of
the world, the most remarkable for
superior powers of 'flight. It is no
mere skipper, like the so-called flying
fieh of the Atlantic, commonly known
as the "skipjack," but is a true flier,
tbe same as a bird. Tbe flying fisli
swims rapidly, having an exceptionally
powerful tail. On rising from
the water 1 the movements of
the tail are continued some sec*
onds until the whole body
is out of the water. While the tail is
in motion the pectoral fins vibrato
rapidly and the ventral fins are folded.
When the action of the tail ceases
the pectoral and ventral fins are
spread, and, so far as can be seen, are
held at rest. On this plane of outstretched
fins the fish seems to sail
through the air several feet above the
water, without any perceptible movement
of its wings. As the fish begin
to fall the tail touches the water and
the motion of the pectoral fins begins
again, enabling the fish to continue its
flight for a quarter of a mile or more,
A a 1\tt A foil inf A TOO for mifV?
uuu guuu \jj u luii IUVV ?uw nwiv* > *?*
a splash. While flying it resembles a
huge dragon-fly. The motion is swift;
at first it is in a straight line, but this
becomes deflected to a curve, the pectoral
fin on the inner side of the arc
being bent downward. The fish is
able, to some extent, to turn its course
and shy off from a vessel, although
the motion of the fish seems to have
no reference to the direction of the
wind. These fish are about eighteen
inches long. Frequently they fly in
flocks.
One of the amusements of the guests
a n <-in w Qon T^ifi/v/% 1 CI
txv n ocaoiuc uutci UCUI uau x/icgu ig vkj
spear flying-fish at night. With a
torcb, rowboat and spear the angler
patrols the ocean not .+'ar from shore.
The fish fly at the torch, thus becoming
easy victims of the spear. It is
novel sport to. have the fish literally
flying into the boat. Ardent sportsmen
have tried shooting these fish on
the wing in the daytime with some
success. ?San Francisco Examiner.
Illiuiitability of Space.
"A cannon ball," says Sir John
Herschell, "would require seventeen
years to reach the sun, yet light travels
over the same space in eight minutes.
The swiftest bird, at its utmost
speed, would require nearly three
weeks to make the tour of the earth.
Light performs the same distance in
much less time than is necessary for a
single stroke of its wing; yet its rapidity
is but oommensurate with the
distance it has to travel. It is demonstrable
that light cannot reach our system
from the nearest of the fixed stars
in less than five years, and telescopes
disclose to us objects probably many
times more remote."
Farmer Greene's Mistake.
Farmer Greene first invests in a
new hat?and then in a hair cut.?
Judge.
Eurasians (half-breeds), according
to a recent decision of the Indian Government,
are not to be allowed to enter
British regiments, or even to form
a regiment by themselves.
REY. DR. TA1MAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY
SERMON.
Subject: "Hadasssah."
Text: "A.nd he brought up Hadaaaah,"
! Esther if.. 7.
A beautiful child was born in the capital
of Persia. She was an orphan and a captive,
her parents having been stolen from their
Israelitish home and carried to Shushan and
had die'!, leaving their daughter poor and
in a strancre land. But an Israelite who had
been carried into the same captivity was attracted
by the case of the orphan. He educated
her in his holy religion, and under the
roof of that crood man this adopted child began
to develop a sweetness and excellency
of character, If ever equaled, oertainly never
surprised. Beautiful Hadaasah! Could
that adopted father ever spare her from his
household? Her artlessness, her girlish
sports. her Innocence, her orphanage. had
wound themselves thoroughly around his
heart, just as around each parent's heart
among us there are tendrils climbing and
fastening and blossoming and growing
atroneer.
I expect he wag like others who have
loved ones at home?wondering sometimee if
sickness will come and death and bereavement.
Alas, worse than anything that the
father expects happens to his adopted child?
Ahasuerns, a princely scoundrel, demands
that Hadassab, the fairest one In all the
kingdom, become his wife. Worse than
death was marriage to such a monster of ln'qulty!
How srreat the change when thid
young woman left the home where God was
worshiped and religion honored to enter a
palace devoted to pride. Idolatry and sensuality
! "As a lamb to the slaughter!"
Ahasuerus knew not that bis wife was a
Jewess. At the instigation of the infamous
prime minister the king decreed that all the
Jews in the land should be slain. Hadassah
pleads the cause of her people, breaking
through the rulps of the court and presentin?
herself in the very face of death, crying,
"If I perish, I perish!" Oh, It was a sad
time among that enslaved people! They had
all heard the decree concerning their death.
Sorrow, gaunt and ghastlv. sat in thousands
of households, nnd mothers wildly pressed
their infants to their breasts as the days of
massacre hastened on. praying that the same
sword stroke which slew the mother might
also slay the child, rosebud and bud perish4nrr
In fKa oomo Kloof
But Hadassah la bus7 at court. The hard
heart of the king Is touched by her story,
and although he could not reverse his decree
for theslaylnpr ot the Jews he sent forth
an order that they should arm themselves
for defence. On horseback, on mules, on
dromedaries, messengers sped through the
land bearing the king's dispatches, and a
shout of joy went up from that enslaved
people at the faint hope of success. I doubt
not many a rusty blade was taken down and
sharpened. Unbearded youths arrow stout as
giants at the thought of defending mothers
and sisters. Desperation strung up cowards
Into heroes, and fragile women grasping
their weapons swung them about the cradles,
Impatient for thnm to strike the blow In behalf
of household and country.
The day of execution dawned. Government
officials, armed and drilled, "cowed before
the battle shout of the oppressed people.
The cry of defeat rang back to the palaces,
but above the mountains of dead, abovi
75,000 crushed and mangled corpses, sounded
the triumph of the delivered Jews, and their
enthusiasm was as when the highlanders
eamo to the raHaf of Tnrtfennw. nnd tha Enc
lish army, which stood In the very jaws of
death, at the sudden hope of assistance and
rescue lifted the shout above belching canton
and the death groan of hosts, crying:
"We are saved! We are saved!"
Mr subject affords me opportunity of illustrating
what Christian character may be
under the greatest disadvantage. There is
no Christian now exactly what he wants to
be. Your standard is muoh higher than anything
you have attained unto. If there be
any man so puffed up as to be thoroughly
satisfied with the amount of excellency he
has already attained, I have nothing to sny
to such a one, but to those who are dissatisfied
with past attainments, who are toiling
under disadvantages which are keeping
them from being what they ought to be, I
have a message from God. You each of you
labor under difficulties. There is something
in your temperament, in your worldly circumstance?,
in your calling, that acts powerfully
against you. Admitting all this, I
introduce to you Hadassah of the text, a
noble Christian notwithstanding the most
gigantic difficulties. She whom you might
nave expected to be one of the worst of women
is one of the best.
In the first place, our subject is an lllustration-of
what Christian character may be
under orphanage. This Bible line tells a
long story about Hadassah. "She had
neither father nor mother." A nobleman
become her guardian, but there is no ona
who can take the place of a parent. Who so
ableat night to hear a child's prayer, or at
twilight to chide youthful wanderings, or to
soothe youthful sorrows? An individual will
go through life bearlng the marks of orphanage.
It will require more strength, more
persistence, more grace to make sach a one
the right kind of a Chhris:ian. He who at
forty years loses a parent must reel under
the blow. Even down to old age men are
accustomed to rely upon the counsel or
be powerfully influenced by the advice of
parents, if they are still alive. But how
much greater the bereavement when it comej
in early life, before the character ia self reliant,
and when naturally the heart is unsophisticated
and easily tempted!
And yet behold what a nobility of disposition
Hadassah exhibited! Though lather
mother were gone, grace had triumphed over
nil disadvantages. Her willingness to self
sacrifice, her control 07er the king, her
humility, her faithful worship of God. show
her .to have been one of the best of the world's
Christians.
There .are those who did not enjoy remark
able oarly privileges. Perhaps, like the
Deautnul oaptive or the text, you were an
orphan. You bad huge sorrows In your little
heart. You sometimes wept in the night
when you knew not what was the matter.
You felt sad sometimes oven on the playground.
Your father or mother did not
stand in the door to welcome you when you
came home from L long journey. You still
feel the effect of early disadvantages, and
you havo sometimes offered them as a reason
for your not being as thoroughly religious
as you would like to be. , But these excuses
are not sufficient. God's grace will triumph
If you seek it. He knows what obstaolesyou
have fought against, and the more trial the
more help. After all, there are no orphans
In the world, lor the great God is the Father
Of us all.
Again, our subject is an illustration of
what religion may be under t'ne pressure of
poverty. The captivity and crushed condition
of this orphan girl and of the kind man
who adopted her suggest a condition of
poverty. Yet from the very first acquaintance
we had with Hadassah we find her the
same happy and contented Christian. It
was only by compulsion she was afterward
taken into a sphere of honor and affluence.
In the humble homo of Mocdecai. her
-adopted father, she was a light that illumined
every privation. In some period
In almost every man's life there comes a
season of straitened circumstances, when
the severest calculation and most scraping
economy are necessary in order to subsistence
and respectability. At the commencement
of business, at the entrance upon a
profession, when Jriends are lew and the
world IB airaia 01 you uecuuso iuoid is ?
possibility of failure, many of the noblest
hearts have struggled against poverty and
are now struggling.
To such I bear a message of good cheer.
You say it Is a bard thing for you to be a
Christian. This constant anxiety, this unresting
calculation, wear out the buoyuncy
of your spirit, and although you have told ,
perhaps no one about it cannot I tell that
this Is the very trouble which keeps you
from being what you ou?ht to be? You have
no time to think about laying up treasures
In hpaven when It Is a matter of great doubt
whether you will be enabled to pay your next
quarter's rent. You cannot think of strivine
after a robe of righteousness until you can
get means enough to buy an overcoat to keep
outtheoold. You want the bread of life, hut
you think you must get along without that
until you can huv another barrel of flour for
your wife and children. Sometimes you sit
down dlscouragod and almost wish you were
dead.
Again, our subject Illustrates what relicion
may be under the temptation of personal attractiveness.
The inspired record save of
the heroine of my text, "She was fair and
beautiful." Her very name signified "a
myrtle." Yet the admiration and praise and
*. ' / r. '
flattary of the world did not blight her humility.
The simplicity of her manners and
behavior equaled her extraordinary attractions.
It is the same divine goodness which
puts the tinge on the rose's cheek, and the
whiteness into the lily, and the steam on the
wave, and that puis color In the oheek and
sparkle In the eye, and majesty In the forehead,
and symmetry Into the form, and
gracefulness into the gait, but many,
through the very charm of their personal
appearance, hava been destroyed. What
simperlngs and affectations and Impertinences
have often been the result
.of that which God has sent as a
blessing! Japonicas, anemones and heliotropes
never swagwr at the beauty
which God planted In their very leaf, sepal,
axil and stamen. There are many flowers
that bow down so modestlv vou cannot see
the color In their cheek until you lift up
their head, putting your hand under their
round chin. Indeed any kind of personal
attractions, whether they be those of the
body, the mind or the heart, may becomo
temptations to pride and arbitrariness and
foolish assumption. The mythological story 1
of a man who, seeing himself mirrored in a
stream, became so enamored of his appearance
that he died of ttie effects illustrates
the fatalities under which thousands of both
sexes have fallen by the view of their own
superiority. Extraordinary caoaclties oause
extraordinary temptations. Men who have
good moral health down in the valley on the
top of the mountain are seized of consumption.
Monlmla, the wife of Mithrldates, was
strangled with her own diadem. While the
most of. us will not have the same kind of
temptation that Hadassah must have felt
from her attractiveness of personal appearance,
there may be some to whom it will be
an advantage to hold up the character ofthe
beautiful captive who sacrificed not her humility
and earnestness of disposition to the
world's admiration and flattery. The chief
secret of the beauty of the violet la that,
away down In the grass, from one week's
end to another, it never mistrusts that It is
a violet.
Again, our subject exhibits what religion
may be under bad domestic Influences.
FTftdoMnh was flnfttnhftd from thn trodlv
home Into which she had been adopted and
Introduced Into the abominable associations
of whloh wicked Ahasuerus was the center.
What a whirl of blasphemy and drunkenness
and licentiousness! No altar, no prayer,
no Sabbath, no God! It this captive girl
can be a Christian there, then It Is possible
io be s Christian anywhere. There are
many of the beat people of the world who are
obliged to contend with the most adverse
domestic Influences, children who have
grown up into the love of God under the
frown of parents, and under the discouragement
of Dad example. Some sister of the
familv having professed the faith of Jesus
is the subjeot of unbounded satire inflicted
by brothers and sisters. Yea, Hadassah
was not the only Christian who had a queer
husband I It Is no easy matter to maintain
correct Christian principles when there Is a
companion disposed to scoff at them and to
asoribe every imperfection of character to
hypocrisy. What a hard thing for one member
of the family to rightly keep the Sabbath
when others are disposed to make it a day of
revelry, or to inculcate propriety of speech
in the minds of ohlldren when there are
others to offset the instructions by loose or
profane utterances, or to be regularly in attendance
upon church when there is more
household work demanded for th'e Lord's
day than for any secular day. So I speak to
any laboring under these blighting disadvantages?
My subject Is full of encouragement.
Vast responsibilities rest upon you. '
Be faithful, though you stand as muoh
alone as did Lot in Sodom, or Jeremiah in
Jerusalem, or Jonan in rwneven, or HaaasBah
in the coart of Ahasuerus. There are
trees which grow the best when their roots
clutch among the jagged rooks, and you verily
have but poor soil in whioh to develop,
but grace is a thorough husbandman and
can raise a crop anywhere. Glassware is
molded over the Are, and in the same way
you are to be fitted as a vessel of mercy. The
best timber must have on it saw and gouge
and beetle. The foundation stone of yours
and every other bouse oame out only under
orowbar and blast. Files and wrenches and
hammers belong to the ohurch. The Christian
victory will be bright just in proportion
as the battle is hot. Never despair being a
thorough Christian in any household which
is not worse than the court of Ahasueru9.
Finally our subject illustrates what religion
may be in high worldly position.
The last we see in the Bible of Hadassah is
that she has become the queen of Persia.
Prepare now to see the departure of her
humility and self-sacrifice and religious
principle. As she goes up you may expect
grace to go down. It is easier to be humble
In the obscure house of her adopted father
than on a throne of dominion. But you
misjudge this noble woman. What she was
before she Is now?the myrtle. Applauded
for her beauty and her crown, she forgets
not the cause *f her suffering people, and
with all simplicity of heart still remains a
Worshiper of the God of heaven!
Noble example followed only by a very
few. I address some who, through the goodness
of God, have risen to positions of Influence
in the community where you live in
law, in merchandise, In medicine, in meshanics
and in other useful occupations and
professions. You hold an influence for good
or for evil. Let us see whether, like Hadas>ah,
you can stand elevation. Have you as
much simplicity of charaoter as once you
evidenced? Do you feel as much dependence
upon God, as much j-our own weakaess,
as much your accountability for talents
Intrusted, or are you proud and overdemanding
and ungrateful and unsympathetic
and worldly and sensual and devilish?
Then you have been spoiled by
four success, and you shall not sit on
this throne with the heroine of my text. In j
the day when Haclassah snail come to the
grander coronation, in the presence of j
Christ and the bannered hosts of the redeemed,
you will be poor indeed. Oh, there
are thousands of men who can easily endure
to be knocked down of misfortune who are
utterly destroyed if lifted up of success.
Satan takes them to the top of the pinnacle
of the temple and shoves them off. Their
head begins to whirl, and they lose their
balance and down they go.
While last autumn all through the forests
there were luxuriant trees, with moderate
out branch and moderate height pretending [
but little, there were foliage shafts that shot ]
far up, looking down with contempt on the
whole forest, clapping their hands In the
breeze and shouting, "Aha, do you not wish
you were as high up as we areV" But last
week a blast let loose from the north oame
rushing along, and grappling the boasting
oaks hurled them to the ground, and as they
went down an old tree that had
been singing psalms with the thunder
a hundred summers cried out, "Pride
gceth before distinction and a haughty spirit
before a fall." And humble hickory and
pine and chestnut that had never said their
prayers before bowed their heads as much as
to say, "Amen!"
My friends, "Good resisteth the proud,
but giveth grace to humble.'-' Take from
my subject encouragement. Attempt the
service of God whatever your disadvantages,
and whatever our lot let us seek that graoe
which outshone all the splendors of the pal*
aces of Shusham.
Remarkable Surgical Experiment
A wonderful surglc.il experiment has just
been performed on Edward K^rwin, of New
Haven, Conn., whose baofc was broken by a
fall. Dr. W. W. Hawkes, of the local hospital,
found tho vertebrae separate! by an
Inch, also the cartilage lacerated and a profuse
hemorrhage. He removed the broken
processes of the vertebrae and wired the
vertebrae to keup them in place. Kerwin is
on the high road to recovery. A similar
operation was but onoe before performed In
Connecticut and that was by Dr. Hawkes.
The South's Prospects.
Reports from all parts of the South show
a steady tendency toward improvement in
business circles. N>t o:irninL?s of Southern
railroads are showin,' an Increase over the
u? l?ot Mar The stock
| currespuuiiju;^ uw * ?
holders of a leading N?w England cottou
mill company having vote! to sp-jnd $G00,D00
in building a n?w cotton mill in th?
South, several otherN'ewEniland companies
are expected to follow tho example.
A Lonjf March Tor Cavalry.
The cavalry troops at Fort Bowie, Arizonia,
wUch have been ordered to Fort Logan,
near Dxuver, Cal., will march t&e entire distance,
720 miles. About forty davs will be
allowed for the march. It will be the longest
march made by cavalrymen since the
opening of railroads.
A Prehistoric (iiant Unearthed.
The skeleton of a prehistoric plant ha9
been exhumed at the old fort in Kentucky
twelve miles below Portsmouth, Ohio. It is
I eight feet high and four feet acrose the
I Bhooldeis.
*
LATEB NEWS.
Cobxell Student Taylob, sentenced for
contempt by Justice Forbes, at Ithaca, for
refusal to answer all questions relative to
the chlorine outrage, was ordered released
by the Court of Appeals.
Mary Kebsee was shot and killed by
Frank Bezeck, at Olyphant, Penn. The girl
had refused to marry Bezeck.
Louis Kessleb, of Buffalo, shot and killed
his wife and then himself at Holland, Erie
County, N. T.
Evebett P. Wheelee, of Now York City,
wa3 nominated by the dhepard Democrats
for Governor against David B. Hill, and the
third ticket was completed by indorsing
Lockwood and Brown. The State
Democracy, at its County Convention, nominated
the Committee of Seventy's ticket for
Now York City, with the substitution ofEdward
J. H. Tamsen instead of Otto Kempner
for Sheriff, and Dr. Anderson instead of Dr.
O'Heagher for Coroner.
The twenty-third anniversary of the great
fire was celebrated In Chicago.
The Department of State has received
from the Chilean Government the fall
amonnt of the awards made to America by
the recent Chilean Claims Commission,
aggregating more than $250,000.
There was a report in Yokohama that the
Japanese had captured Che-Foo ; a second '
Japanese army is said to be advancing upon
Monkdet).
Dusing a fog a freight train running over
a crossing near Chertram, Kent, England,
struck a wagon fall of hop-pickers, eight of
whom were killed and five badly injured.
The following city and county ticket was
placed in the field in New York City by
Tammany Hall: For Mayor, Nathan Straus;
for Recorder, Frederick Smyth ; for President
of the Board of Aldermen, Augustus
W. Peters; for Judge of the Superior Court,
Charles H. Truax; for Sheriff, William
Sohmer; for Coroners, John B. Shea and
Jacob A. Mittnacht.
The funeral of ex-Governor Andrew G.
Curtin took place at Bellefonte, Penn.
Oliver Wendell Holmes was burled at Boston.
The twentieth annnal convention of the
American Bankers' Association was held at
Baltimore.
The American Debenture Company, of
Chicago, failed, with liabilities of $1,500,000.
The President has appointed A. D. Garden
United States Marshal for the District
of West Virginia, vloe S. S. Vinson, resigned.
Some thirty lives were lost in the storm in
Newfoundland waters, and about fifty vessels
are ashore there.
It was reported that the Czar of Bussia
had pyromia. Professor Leyden was summoned.
Fbance, England. Russia and Germany ,
have agreed to form a quadruple alliance to
protect foreigners in China and to put an
end to the war between that country and
Japan.
finiyrM a totter t . a wt .ttr's TEH
New Head of the G. A. R. to VisII
Eastern' Departments.
Commander-in-Chief Thomas G. Lawler,
of the G. A. B., has established his head*
nnoi4oM In fVin rtlfr nt Til Tf iff
announced unofficially that he will 8009
visit New York and other Eastern depart*
THOMAS O. LAWLBB.
ments. 8lupe the war Commander-in-Chief
Lawler has been one of the most aotlve
members of the Grand Army, holding every
office from Po9t to Department Commander#
For many years he served as Colonel of the
Third Regiment National Guard of Illinois,
and was Postmaster of Bockiord under
Presidents Hayes, Garfield and Harrison.'
He is a prominent business man of Boekfonl*
GIRL AERONAUT KILLED.
She Falls 1600 Feet From a Ballooq
at Frankllnvllle, N. Y.
Beatrice vonDressden,the young lady bal?
loonist, made an ascension on the Franklin-r
vllle (N. Y.) fair ground at 5 o'clock p. m.,
and when over 1600 feet from the earth fell
Kollnnn anrl wftS InStSIltlV killed.
Jtuiu LUO Ulliivvu UUV. MX* ?
She had a paraohute attachment, and was
either trying to loosen It and lost her bait
ance, or became unconscious. Great Inter-*
eat was taken In the event, because Miss Von
Dressden was a nativo of the town. In recent
years, however, her home nas been la
Frankfort, Ky. She bad been a professional
aeronaut for tkree years, an 1 in that time
has made twenty ascensions. She had just
passed her seventeenth birthday, and was
pretty and vivacious.
When the hour for the ascension arrived
the wind was blowing rather strong, and
| she was advised not to make the ascension.
I Her father and mother, who were present,
tried lb dissuade her, but she declared that
she would not disappoint her hundreds of
old friends, and the balloon was released
from Its; moorings. It went up all right,
but somewhat more rapidly than usual.
At a height of About 1600 feet the orowd
below saw that Miss Von Dreasdsn was preparing
to make her parachute jump. She
appeared at the side of the basket trying to
unfasten the paraohute, which was attached
to the balloon. In some way, not olear to
those below, she lost her hold of both the
balloon and the paraohute, and her body
came whirling to the ground. The body
struok within the fair grounds and was imbedded
nearly a foot in the ground.
The girl had worn the costume ordinarily
worn by aeronauts, so as to give freedom of
limb, and it was torn open by the force of
her tall. She was dead when the people
L 5 *?-? ? "11 V? <-?* K/\nao nrnva Kmlran
rCHCIlKU UOl, UUU Oil UWI l/v/uoo r.??v. V.??M
Her father and mother wero among the first
;o rench the body and their demonstrations
3t griet were terrible. The accident brose
ap the fair.
DYNAMITE ON THE STOVE.
Five Persons Killed by the Recklessness
of a Michigan Miner.
John Ravell, a miner, of Ironwood, Mich.,
put a half box of dynamito on the kitchen
stove to thaw it out for use in the morning.
The family, consisting of seven persons, was
gathered about the stove, chatting over the
Hvent9 of the day with'a neighbor, Mrs. Peterson.
Suddenly there was a terrific explosion,
hy which the following were killed: John
Ravell, Peter Ravell. Dan Ravell, Louis
Ravell, Mrs. Louise PetersoD. The three
others present wore terribly injured. The
house was blown to atoms.