The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, March 20, 1895, Image 7
MEXICO'S RULER.
PRESIDENT DIAZ IS A POPULAR
IDOL AMONG HlS PEOPLE:
His Official Life and ResidencesSirs.
Diaz?Martial Spirit of
the Mexicans?The Country's
Standing Army.
SPEAKING of tho recent dispute
between Mexico and
Guatemala, a Mexico correspondent
of the Washington
Star says:
Mexico has a population of 12,000,000,
a standing army oi 85,000
men on a peace footing, and ^65,000
men that can be called into service in
case of war. Guatemala has just onetenth
of the population of Mexico,
>With a standing army of 3000 men,
i *rhich might be increased, of course,
in time of war.
General Diaz is considered the best
Boldier in tho republic, capable of
active service. He is sixty-four years
old, bnt he looks twenty years younger.
He has an erect and athletic figure,
and appears, physically, perfectly
capable of undergoing the hardships
of a campaign. Diaz is the
popular idol here. The present indications
are that he can continue in
tre Presidency as long as he chooses.
There is practically only one party
here, and that is the Diaz party. Ever
since he drove Lerdo from j*ower and
became President, in 1877, Diaz has
had the people witu mm, ana ne oas
PRESIDENT DIAZ.
been President ever since that day,
with the exception of the term from .
1880 to 1884. when General Gonzales |
was President. His present term will
expire in 1897, but it is said he will
succeed himself, there being now no
* law or precedent limiting the number
of terms a President may serve.
General Diaz derives great strength
from the fact that the business men
of the republic and the foreign capitalists
interested in Mexico, as well as
the people at large, demand his con*
tinuance in office. There is an impression
that it would be dangerous
to the republic to have Diaz retire.
It might mean revolution, or a series
of small wars inaugurated by men ambitious
to rule. Confidence in popular
government is not yet thoroughly
-established in Mexico. In fact, it is
doubtful whether one can say popular
government is yet firmly established,
for the elections seem to be
1 * _xx - e ? i__ a_
largely matters 01 iorm umy. ou
Mexico is fortunate in having at the
head of her affairs a man with a record
brilliant enough and a spirit and
bearing dashing enough to make him
a popular hero, and at the same time
prudence enough to win to his support
the men who appreciate the value
of a stable government. His administration
has been one of progress in
Mexico. The discouragements once
met by Americans and others desiring
to engage in business in the republic
have largely disappeared.
In fact, the principal duty of one of
the Government departments is to encourage
immigration and promote the
development of the country. Every
inducement is offered to foreign capitalists.
There are many Americans in
Mexico, some of them representing
large investments, and they all praise
Diaz and hope for his continuance in
offioe. President Diaz has a comparatively
modest home of his own in the
city, but his residence as President,
?1?
JLiitu xio uuuupica ail tuc jcai, |
is at the Castle of Chapultepec, a place
known in school histories, because it
was here one of the fiercest fights of
the war of 1847 took place. Chapultepec
is a rocky and precipitous hill
rising out of the plain, at the edge of
the city, just at the end of the famous
Paseo de la Reforma, the broad and
splendid avenue laid out by Maximilian
and inherited from the empire
by thee rpublic. The hill is crowned
by the palace and castle, together
with the building and inclosure in
which is located the National mili
tary scbool, or Mexican west i'omi.
Sj?reading around the hill is a
spacious park, adorned with many
giant cypress trees, beneath which
winds a beautiful driveway, one of the
favorite resorts of the fashionable and
wealthy people of the capital. At tli9
foot of the hill on the city side is a
fine marble memorial, on which is engraved
tho names of the cadets who
fell in battle at the storming of
Chapultepec. The palace, which
stands where once stood an Azteo
temple, overlooking the city, is a low
^ CASTLE OF C
ljuildiug, Potr.peiian iu style, ivitli
oourte, terraces and arcades. The
grounds aro closed to the public at 8
o'clock, and a military guard, stationed
at the gate, protects the palace
from intrusion. This is a long established
custom, and, of course, v
gives no offense. At .the President's p
city hoifSfc, however, he is obliged to i
admit callers at night or offend them, j
The President does not have regu- i
lar hours for public receptions, and s
people who have to see him on busi- 1:
ness must cultivate the virtue of pa- I
tience. Appointments are made days t
in advance. The explanation for this r
made to me by a prominent Govern- 1
luent official is somewhat singular. It t
is not because the President is exclu- t
sive. It is because the customs of the t
country are 6uch that ho cannot stop f
a man from talking or cut snort an | a
Cr_l-:^=SSL' --asans
NATIONAL PALAC
interview. When a man gets adm:s- 6
sion to the President the President is \
obliged to listen to all he has to say j
or else give mortal offense. As a ,
consequence the President is unable
to see more than three or four per- ?
sons daring the hours he can give to <
interviews. I know of one young ,
Mexican Congressman who was ]
-t:?? -? aUw fs\y Atror fi tCAplf i
Will LI LI 1U duo V1VJ tvj. vw* v* .. vv. ,
merely to have an interview with the \
President. }
Mrs. Diaz is qnite famons for -her (
beauty and mucti liked for her vivu- |
cious and cordial manners. She i3 j
much younger than the President, be- ,
ing only about thirty years old. She j
has a neat figure, a Spanish face, with (
well cut features, and dreBses in aim- ,
pie but excellent taste. She is the .
daughwr of Romero Eubio, the Sec- ,
retary of the Interior, and one of the ,
richest men in Mexico. I Baw the
President and Mrs. Diaz and '
Mrs. Diaz's unmarried sister, a
young woman also remarkable for
beauty, at a private reception a
few evenings ago. Of course the
President and his wife were the central
figures of the gathering, but they bore
themselves in a most unassumiug
manner, chatting easily and pleasantly
with the guests.
Mrs. Diaz speak% English quite fluently.
When they took their leave
the President shook hands all around,
and Mrs. Diaz following a pretty
Mexican fashion, kissed each of her
lady friends twice, first on one cheek
and then on the other. The only evinposflnfffl
nf r nfirson of
UCUV/C Vi 4*4W - - ? r -
unusual prominence was a file of
mounted guards drawn up in front of
the house. ?
The Mexicans have a martial spirit,
but the ordinary Mexican soldier, as
seen even about the National palace,
is not an inspiring object. He is all
or half Indian, as a rule. He is somewhat
undersized, and is ragged and
dirty. Often he is barefooted or wears
only sandals made of rawhide and
bound to the soles of his feet by
leathern thongs. > Those on guard at 1
the palace and aronnd other public <
offices usually wear shoes, and look as (
though they had been partially cleaned '
for this duty. There is a big barrack
in the rear of and attached to the
National palace, which, by the way, is ,
a long, rambling building, occupying ,
all one side of the Plaza de Armas, j
and accommodating the principal de- j
partments and offices of the Federal j
Government,
A visit to the barracks at most any
time will show a crowd of very untidy-looking
soldiers. Their garments
need patching as well as cleaning. At
meal times there will be a throng of
women at the big gateway, bringing j
baskets of provisions. The Mexican (
army has no commissariat. The com- ,
mon soldier is paid twenty-five cents ]
a day, and he gets his pay every day.
When he gets his silver quarter, such ,
is his suspicious nature, he bites it to
see if it is good. That is all the Govvernment
give him to bite. He has
to "find" himself. In recent years
the Government has suppled the
means of cooking provisions, but the
soldiers have to supply the raw
materials.
This is the regular standing army
of Mexico. There is another body,
which is virtually a military body,
/liwa/iitnn A f fKa Tn _
UUl 10 UUUC1 UUC uucuuiva v*. vuu
terior Department. This is the corps
known as "the Rurales"?a sort of
mounted police that patrol the country
outside of the cities. Lieutenant
Dwyer, the military attache of the
American Legation, told me that these
Rurales formed probably the finest
body of cavalry in the world. They
are picked men, every one being unusually
skillful as a horseman, even
in this country, whtre half the people
live on horseback. The Rurales wear
tawny leather fiuits, big Mexican
sombreros, heavily ornamented with
silver, and besides their sabers and
pistols, carry carbines. They have a
rakish, devil-may-care appearance.
It is considered quite an honor to be
a member of this troop. When a man
joins it he has to famish his own
horse, and give a bond for the proper
care of the arras and equipments supplied
him by the Government.
On great public parades the Rurales
are given the post of honor. In reality,
though not now under the War
Department, tney form a very effecC
S??s=)
- 1 ~'"1 ~
IHAPULTEPEC.
tive and imposing part of the military
force that Mexico could put in
the field. In addition to the Federal
army every State has a sort of militia
organization.
V
The Mexican Indians or half-breeds,
?ho compose about nine-tenths of the
>opulation, and from -whom the army
s recruited, are a patient and hardy
>eople. Many of them own nothing
n the world but their zarape and big
ombreo. The zarape is their cloak
>y day and their blanket by night,
t is said that they can and will go
hree or four days without food and
tot complain. They are inured to
tardships. They are lithe and active,
hough of small size, and are said to
>e courageous, because they have litle
or no fear of death. It is supposed
or these reasons that they make good
oldiers. Santa Anna's troops were
?E OF MEXICO.
itarved for two or three days before
;he battle of Baena Vista. Maybe if
;hey had had something to eat they
? ? At f ill _
mgnt nave won me Dame.
An observant American, who has
jpent many years in Mexico, gave it
Jo me as his opinion that the Mexicans,
if called into the field by any
large military operations, would proTe
themselves to be as good soliiers as
there are in the world. The Mexican
navy amounts to very little. It is
composed of four small gunboats and
two unarmored wooden ships. Mexico
has no good harbors on the gulf,
and few on the Pacific side. Though
it has many hundreds of miles of eea3oast,
the Mexicans have not yet become
a maritime people. Perhaps
when the mountains are conquered
and there is easy railroad communication
with the Pacific they will berrin
+.n hnild or buv shins.
O ^ A
Father of the House ot Commons.
Jlf m
V/ J. ,
0. P. VILLIERS.
This is the picture of C. P. Villiers,
the "father of the British House of
Commons." Mr. "Villiers is ninetythree
years old and nas sat for the
!time constituency sixty years.
Arrangements for the Paris Interaational
Exnibitio i of 1900 are being
made. The area designed for exhibits
will be about 4,500,000 square
feet, of which 180,000 square feet will
be reserved for electrical exhibits.
A THREE-DECK IRONCLA
A well-known English expert on
naval matters, Mr. . Laird Clowes,
urges the building of three-decked
ironclads. The old wooden threelecker
was one of the most magnificent
ships afloat. The new one would
be the moBt tremendous.
It has been pointed out that the
three-decker has been the highest
form of fighting ship in the many
periods of naval history. The trireme,
the most complicated fighting machine
of classical times, had three
banks of powers. When guns were
introduced on ships a one-decked ship
' 1
THREE-DEC]
wag at first necessarv. but in course of
time the line-of-battle ship with her
three tiers of guns was evolved. *Then
came 6team and one deck again.
An Italian ironel&d, the Sardegna,
launched recently, is almost a threedecker,
but Mr. Clowes wants a more
complete one for the British Navy.
He proposes a ship to carry 101 guns.
These are the other general detaiU of
his plan:
"Speed, twenty-three knots; tonnage,
12,000; guns, sixteen six-inoh
quick-firing, twenty 4.7-inch quicktiring,
twenty twelvo-pounders quickfiring,
twenty eix and throe-pounder
quick-firing, twenty-five improved
Maxim guns." ,
The ship would be completely
covered with six inches of steel armor,
Cotton Baling. >
The ruinous low pricSB which pre*
rail for cotton only emphasize more
strongly the need for greater econ
-?
AMERICAN BALE, INDTAN BALE,
500 POUNDS. 400 POUNDS.
omy in raising and marketing this
crop, says the New York World. In
no direction is reform so urgently required
as in the manner of baling the
cotton etro ngly, so that it may be
shipped abr oad in good condition.
The pack ing of American cotton is
a source of fruitful complaint by manufacturers.
The work is so carelessly
done that when the bales reach their
destinatio n several of the iron bands
are missing and the jute covering is
so torn that the cotton is exposed to
mud, tire, water and theft. These
losses, it is needless to- add, do not
fall upon the manufacturer, but on
the producer ; and, as if these were
not enougn, he mnst also pay extra
freight, as his imperfectly pressed
bales occupy more than double the
space needed by the compact Indian
and Egyptian bales. The illustration
shows plainly the great difference in
the method of baling and the insufficiency
of seven hoops to the bale?the
average used by the Southern planter.
It is plain that a more secure packing,
a much closer pressing and greater
care in covering or wrapping up would
be of inestimable and permanent bene
fit to the cotton trade of the United
States.
A Remakabie Herriny.
In many respects the herring is one
of the most remarkable of living
things. It was calculated three years
ago that no less thaa 11,000 miles of
herring netting were cast yearly in
the North Sea alone.
Two of the species of whales feed
exclusively upon herrings, while the
cod is a most voracious foe. Dr.
Neil, the naturalist, calculated that
the one colony of gannets at St. Kilda
consumed annually 214,000,000 of
herrings. Yet it is not, as fishes go,
gifted with very large fertility ia reproduction.
While the mackerel has
been estimated to produce duu,uuu
eggo, the sole 1,000,000 and the cod
3,400,000, the herring is said to spawn
only 33,000 at a time.?Mail and Express.
Kentucky Mutton Prized by Epicures.
A few butchers in this town make a
specialty of Kentucky mutton. It is
killed on the farm, kept there a suitable
time, shipped with great care, and
when it reaches New York it is hung
for several weeks by the butchers. It
is then sold to special customers that
demand particularly fine mutton. It
fetches a high price, but the epicures
think it worth the money.?New York
Sun. '
Beauregard Wilson, who lives near
Yazoo City, Miss., raised 300 bales of
cotton last year, and though he has
Rnlfl it, at fivfi oents a nound he has
cleared $-3950 from it.
The German Kaiser has sent to the
[Russian Czar as a wedding present a
magnificent porcelain table service
made at the royal factory.
D FOR NATAL WARFARE;
and Mr. Clowes says: "No ship in existence
could stand up against her and
from her no ship in existence could
escape."
At a moderate computation she
could from one broadside fire 400
aimed shell every minute. In the
midst of a hostile fleet she could discharge
a dozen shells in a second, and
at the same time ninety, bullets from
her Maxim guns. Steaming only five
VvAfwann fwA Vl oaf i 1 a VAQflplfl.
Lumuugo uwvnvuu HI w
she could aim at each of them in that
time between ten and twelve thousand
shots of all kinds.
rr TTjAvnr A T\
No swift cruiser could live within
range of her guns. Only the heaviest
of existing ironclads could hope to escape
immediate destruction, and they
would be far inferior in speed and in
armament. Ten minutes is reckoned
as sufficient time to settle one of these.
There would, of course, be great
difficulties in the building of such a
nhip. More than a thousand men
would be required for her. Three
decks would be absolutely necessary
to accommodate her guns. Naval experts
have long urged the importance
of maintaining a strong end-on fire of
placing many of the guns at a good
height from the water level. 11 is
also believed that a three-decker
would have better sea-going abilities
than the present large ironclads.
REV. DR. TALMAGE.
SUNDAY'S SERMON IN THE NEW
YORK ACADEMY OF KUS:G
Subjcct: "New Ground."
Tf.tt: "Lest I should build upon another
man's foundation."?Romans xv.. 20.
Aft^r. with the help of others. I had built
three churches in the sam9 city, and not
feeling called upon to undertake the superhuman
toil of building a fourth church.
Providence seemed to point to this place as
the field in which I could enlarge my work,
and I feel a sense of relief amounting to exultation.
Wherounto this work will grow I
cannot prophesy. It is inviting and promising
beyond anything I have ever touched.
The churches are the grandest institutions
this world ever saw, and their pastors have
no superiors this side of heaven, but there is
a wortc which must be done outside of the
churches, and to that work I join myself for
awhile, i!Lest I build on another man's
foundation."
Th? f'hnroh ia a fortress dlvlnelv built.
Now, a fortress la for defense and for drill,
and for storing ammunition, but an army
mu9t sometimes be on the march far outside
the fortress. In the campaign of conquering
this world for Christ the time has come for
an advance movement, for a ''general engagement,"
for massing the troops, for an
invasion of the enemies' country. Confident
that the forts are well manned by the ablest
ministry that over blessed the church. I propose,
with others, for awhile, to join the
cavalry and move out and on for service in
the open field.
In laying out the plan for his missionary
tour Paul, with more brain than any of his
contemporaries or predecessors or successors.
sought out towns and cltle3 which had
not yet been preached to. He goes to Cornith,
a city mentioned for splendor and vice,
and Jerusalem, where the priesthood and
sanhedrln were ready to leap with both fe9t
upon the Christian religion. He feels he has
a special work to do. and he means to do it.
What was the result? The grandest life of
usefulness that man ever lived. We modern
Christian workers are not apt to imitate
Paul. We build on other people's founda
no as. xi we erect tt cuuruu, we preier i?v
hiive it filled with families all of whom have
been pious. Do we gather a Sunday-school
class, we want good boys and girls, hair
combed, faces washed, manners attractive.
So a church in this city is apt to be built out
of other churches. 8ome ministers spend all
their time in fishing in other people's ponds,
and they throw the line into that church
pond and jerk out a Methodist, and throw
the line into another church pona and bring
out a Presbyterian, or there is a religious
row in some neighboring church, and the
whole school of fish swim off from that pond,
and we take them all in with one sweep of
the net. What is gained? Absolutely nothing
for the general cause of Christ. It is only
a3 In an army, when a regiment is transferred
from one division to another, or from
the Fourteenth Regiment tcf th9 Sixty-ninth
Regiment. What strengthens the army Is
new recruits.
The fact is, this is a big world. When in
our sohoolboy days we learned the diameter
and circumference of this planet, we did not
learn half. It is the latitude ana longitude
and diameter and circumference of want and
woe and sin that no figures can calculate.
This one spiritual continent of wretchedness
reaohes across all zones, and if I were called
to give its geographical boundary I would
say it is bounded on the north and south and
east apd west by the great heart of God's
sympathy and love. Oh, it is a great world.
Since 6 o'clock this morning at least 80.000
have been born, and all these multiplied
populations are to be rea^had of tie gospel.
In England or in Eastern American citie3
we are being much crowded, and an
acre of ground is of great value, but oul
West 500 acres is a small farm, and 20,000
acres is no unusual possession. There is
a vast field here and everywhere unoccupied,
plenty of room more, not building
on another man's foundation. We need
as churches to atop bombarding the
old iron clad sinners that have been proof
against thirty years of Christian assault, and
aim for the salvation of those who have
never yet naa one warm uenriou ?uu puiui
blank Invitation. There are churches whose
buildings might be worth $200,000, who are
not averaging five new converts a year and
doing less good than many a log cabin meeting
house with tallow candle stuck in wooden
socket and a minister who ha3 never seen a
college or' known the difference between
Greek and Choctaw. We need churches to
get into sympathy with the great outside
world, and let them know that none are so
broken hearted or hardly bestead that th9y
will not be welcomed. "No!" says some fastidious
Christian: "I don't like to be crjwded
in church. Don't put any one in my
pew." My brother, what will you do in
heaven?. When a great multitude that no
man can number assembles, they will put
fifty in your pew. What are the select few
to-day assembled in the Christian churches
compared with the mightier millions outside
of them? !
At least 3.000,000 people In this cluster of
seaboard cities, and not more than 200,000 in
the churches. Manv of the churches are
like a hospital that should advertise that its
patients must have nothing worse than tooth/>?
((.nn nuAtin^o 11 hnf nahi*A!rAn haariq
nUUO Ui tUU aiuuuuiny /?? uv
no crushed ankles, no fractured thighs.
Give us for treatment moderate sinners, velvet
coated sinners and sinners with a gloss
on. It Is as though a man had a farm of
8000 aorus and put all his work on one acre.
He may raise never so large ears of corn,
never so big heads of wheat, he would remain
poor. The church of God has bestowed
its chief care on one acre and has raised
splendid men and women in that small inclosure,
but the field is the world. That
means North and South America. Europe,
Asia and Africa and all the islands of the
sea.
It is as though after a great battle there
were left 60,000 wounded and dying on the
field and three surgeons gave all tneir time
to three patients under their charge. The
major-general comes in and says to the doctors,
"Come out here and look at the nearly
50,000 dying for lack of surgical attendance/'
"No," say the three doctors, standing there
and fanning their patients; "we have three
important cases here, and yre are attending
them, and when we are not positively busy
with their wounds it takes all our time to
keep the flies off." In this awful battle of
sin and sorrow, where millions have fallen
on millions, do not let us spend all our time
in taking care of a few people, and when the
command comes. "Go into the world." say
practically: "No; I cannot go. I have hero
a few choice cases, and lam busy keeping off
the flies." Thete are multitudes to-day who
have never had any Christian worker look
them in the eye, and with earnestness in the
accentuation say, "Come!" or they would
long ago have been in the kingdom. My
friends, religion is either a sham or a tremendous
reality. If it be a sham, let us cease
to have anything to do with Christian association.
If it be a reality, then great
populations are on their way to the bar of
God unfitted for the ordeal, and what are we
doing?
In order to teach the multitude of outsiders
we must drop all technicalities out of our
religion. When we talk to people about the
hypostatic union and French encvjlopediuniatn
and erastianism and compltitensianism,
we are as impolitic and little understood as
if a physioian should talk to an ordinary patient
about the pericardium and intercostal
muscle and scorbutic symptoms. Many of
us come out of the theological seminaries so
loaded up that we take the first ten years to
show our people how much we know, and
the next ten years to get our people to know
as much as we know, and at the end find
that neither of us knows anything as we
ought to know. Hero are thousands of sin
nins;, struggling anil rtytng people wno neeu
to realize just one thing?that Jesus Christ
fame to save them, and will save them now.
But we go into a profound and elaborate
definition of what justification is, and after
all the work there are not outside of the
learned professions 5000 people in the United
States who can tell what justification is.
I will read you the definition:
' Justification is purely a forensic act, the
act of a judge sitting in the forum, in which
the Supremo Ruler and Judge, who is accountable
to none, and who alone knows the
manner in whioh the ends of His universal
government can best be attained, reckons
that which was done by the substitute, and
not on account of anything done by them,
but purely upon account of this gracious
method of reckoning, grants them the full
remission of their sins."
Now, what is justification? I will tell yon
what justiflcatieb is. When a sinner believes.
God lets him off. One summer in
Connecticut I went to a large factory, and I
saw over the door written the words, "No admittance."
I entered and saw over the next
tloor, "No admittance." Of course I entered.
I got inside and found it a Din factory, and
they were making Dins, very serviceable, fine
ami useful pins. 80 the spirit of exclusiveness
has practically written over the outside
door <yf many a church, "No admittance."
And if the stranger enter he finds practically
written over the second door, "No admittance,"
and if he goes in over all the pew
-doors seems written, ''No admittance," while
the minister stands in the pulpit, hammering
out his little niceties of belief, pounding out
the technicalities of religion, making pins.
In the most practical, common sense way,
and laying aside the nonessentials and the
hard definitions of religion, go out on the s
God given mission, telling the people what 0
they need and when and how they can get it. h
Comparatively little effort ai yet has been c
made to save that large class of parsons in fc
our midsi called skeptics, and he who goes e
to work here will not be building upon d
another man's foundation. There is a great f
multitude of them. They are afraid of us c
and our churches, for the reason we do not s
know how to treat them. One of this class \
met Christ, and hear with what tenderness I
and pathos and beauty and success Christ c
dealt with him: '*Thou shalt love the Lord \
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy \
soul, aud with all thy mind, and with all thy ^
strength. This is the first commandment, t
and the second is like to this?namely, thou t
ah a If lAvuthv noirrhhAP 00 fhiraalf Thara 4a f
no other commandment greater than this." r
And the scribe said to Him, "Well, Master, r
Thou hast said the truth, for there 13 one
God, and to love Him with all the heart, c
and all the understanding, and all the soul. \
and all the strength, is more than whole i
burnt offerings and sacrifices." And when t
Jesus saw that he answered discreetly He t
said unto him. "Thou art not far from the c
kingdom of God." So a skeptic was saved r
In one Interview. But few Christian people f
treat the skeptic in that way. Instead of tak- I
lng hold of him with the gentle hand of love, f
we are apt to take him with the iron pinchers 1
of ecclesiasticism. . s
You would not bo so rough on that man if c
you knew by what process he had lost his t
faith in Christianity. I have known men \
skeptical from the fact that they grew up in
houses where religion was overdone. Sun- s
day was the most awful day of the week.
They had religion driven into them with a
trip hammer. They were surfeited with
prayer meetings. They were stuffed and
choked with catechism3.- Thoy were often
told they were the worst boys the parents
ever knew, because they liked to ride down
hill fetter than to read Bunyan's "Pilgrim's
Progress." 'Whenever father and mother
talked of religion, they drew down the corners
of their mouth and rolled up their eyes.
If any one thing will send a boy or girl to
ruin sooner than another, that is it. If I
had such a father and mother, I fear I should
have been an ia del. Wh9n I was a boy in
Sunday-school, at one time we had a teacher
who, when we were not attentive, struck us
over the head with a New Testament, and
there is a wav of usimr even the Bible so as
to make it offensive. '
Others were tripped up of skeptioism from ]
being grievously wronged by some man who i
professed to be a Christian. They had a ?
partner in business who turned out toba a
nrst-olass scoundrel, though a professed t
Christian. Many years ago they lost all faith I
by what happened in an oil company which 1
was formed amid the petroleum excitement, i
The company owned no land, or if they did t
there was no sign of oil produced, but the s
President of the company was a Presbyterian r.
elder, and the treasurer was an Episcopal i
vestryman, and one director was a Methodist (
class leader, and the other directors prominent
members of Baptist and Congregational
churohes. Circulars were gotten out telling t
what fabulous prospects opened before this l
company. Innocent men and women j
who had a little money to invest, and that e
little their all, said, '*1 don't know anything ?
about this company, but so many good men (
are at the head of it that it must be excellent, s
and taking stook in it must be almost as i
good as joining the church." i
So they bought the stook and perhaps re- t
celved one dividend so as to keeD them still, s
but aftQjr awhile they found that the com- i
pany had reorganized and had a different c
president and different treasurer and differ- i
ent directors. Other engagements or ill t
health had cau?9d the former officers of the t
company, with many regrets, to resign, a
And all that the subscribers of that stock had \
to show for their investment was a beauti- t
fully ornamented certificate. Sometimes j
that man looking over his old papers comes
across that certificate, and it is so suggestive
that he vows he wants none of the religion
that the presidents and trustees and direc- ,
tors of that oil company professed. Of
course their rejection of religion on such
grounds was unphilosophical and unwise. I
am told, that many of the United States army t
desert every year, and there are thousands '
of court martials every year. Is that a
anything against the United States Gov- I
ernment that swore them in? And r
if a soldier of Jesus Christ desert, is that
anything' against the Christianity which t
he swore to support and defend? How do
you judge of the currency of a country? By i
a counterfeit bill? Oh, you must have pa- <
tience with those who have been swindled by
religious pretenders. Live in the presence of t
others a frank, honest, earnest Christian life, (
that they may be attracted to the same 8av- f
iour upon whom your hopes depend. 1
Remember skepticism always has some
reason, good or bad. for existing. Goethe's c
irreligion started when the new3 came to ]
Germany of the earthquake at Lisbon, Nov. (
1, 1775. That 60,000 people should have <
perished in that earthquake and in the after
rising of the Tagus so stirred his sympathies
that he threw up his belief in the goodness of
God. * j
Others have gone into skepticism from a
natural persistence in asking the raason why.
They have been fearfully stabbed of the interrogation
point. There are so many things <
they cannot get explained. They cannot ua- (
derstand the Trinity or how God can be sor- *
ereign and yet a man a free agent. Neither *
can I. They say: "I don't understand why 1
a good God should have let sin come into the }
world. Neither do I. You say: "Why v/as 1
that child started In life with such disadvantages,
while others have all physical and *
mental equipment?" I cannot tell. They go
out of church on Easter morning and say: i
"That doctrine of the resurrection con- I
founded me." 80 it is to me a mystery be- 1
yond unravelment. I understand all the pro- *
oesses by which men get into the dark. I c
know them all. I have traveled with burning B
feet that blistered way. The first word which" <
most children learn to utter is: "Papa," or
"JVIamsjia," but I think the first word I ev?r
uttered tfiw: "Why?" I know what it is to
have a hundred midnights pour their. ?
darkness into one hour. Suoh men ar6 not
to bo scoffed, but helped. Turn your back
upon a drowning man when you have the
rope with which to pull him ashore, and let
that woman in the third story of a house ?
perish in the flames when you have a ladder
with which to help her out and help her t
down, ramer man mru yuut unua. owumu^ij i v
on a skeptic whose soul is in more peril than t
the bodies of those other endangered one$
possibly can be. Oh, skepticism is a dark a
land. There are men in this house who c
would give a thousand worlds if they pos- (
sessed them to get back to the placid faith of f
their fathers and mothers, and it is our place
to help them, and we may help them, never t
through their heads, but always through j;
their hearts. Those skeptics, when brought f
to Jesus, will be mightily effective, far more
so than those who never examined the evi'
dences of Christianity.
Thomas Chalmers was once a skeptic
Robert Hall a skeptic, Robert Newton a skeptio,
Christmas Evans a skeptic. But wheu a
once with strong hand they took hold of the "
chariot of the gospel they rolled it on with h
what momentum! If I address such men s.
and women to-dav, I throw out no scoff. I 0
implead them by "the memory of the good a
old days, whan at their mother's knee they c
said, "Now I lay me down to sleep," and by f
fKnaa rioua itnH ni<?hiq of scarlet fever in J
which she watched j*ou. giving you the I
medicine at just the right time and turning o
your pillow when It was hot, and with hands
that many years ago turned to dust soothed
away your pain, and with voice that you will n
never hear again, unless you join her in the k
better country, told you to never mind, for li
you would feel better by and by, and by that ti
dying coueh, where she looked so pale and v
talked so slowly, catching her breath between d
the word/;, and you felt an awful loneliness v
coming over your soul ?by all that I beg you
to come back and take the same religiou. It
was good enough for her. It is good enough ii
for you. Nay, I have a better plea than
that. I plead by all the wounds and tear.; ij
and bicori ami groans ana agonies ana aeatn e
thro93 of the Son of God, who approaches c
you this moment with torn brow, and lacer- f,
atnd hand, and whipped Dack, and saying,
"Coma unto Me, all ye who are weary aud
heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Again, there is a field of usefulness but lit- 3
tie toucned occupied by those who are astray t]
in their habits. All northern Nations, like
those of North America and England and ?
Scotland?that is, in the colder climates?are j
devastated by alcoholism. They take the
Are to .keep up the warmth. In southern
cpuntries, like Arabia and Spain, the blood b
is so warm they are not tempted to fiery ij
\v ' :'-? /
' '
g
iquids. The great Roman armies nevee
Irank anything stronger than water tinged?
nth vinegar, but under our northernclimat* r
be temptation to heating stimulants is most)
nighty, and millions succumb. When ai
nan's habits go wrong, the church drojNf
dm; the social circle drops him; good ln-t
luence drops him; we all drop him. Of all|
he men who get off track, but few ever getj
in again. Near my summer residence ther?
a a life saving station on the beachJ
.'here are all the ropes and rockets, the
ioats, the machinery for getting people oi?
hipwrecks. Ofie summert saw there fifteen,
ir twenty men who were breakfasting after
invmg juse escftDoa wim tneir lives ana
lothing more. Up and down our coasts are
milt these uaefui structures, and the mariiere
know it, and they feel that if they are
Iriven into the breakers there will be apt
rom shore to come a rescue. The*
hurches of God ought to be so many life r
aving stations, not so much to help those >
vho are in smooth waters, but those who
lave been shipwrecked. Come, let us run
iut the lifeboats! And who will man them?
Ve do not preach enough to such men.
Ve have not enough faith in their release.
Lias, if when they come to hear us we are lar _
>oriously trying to show the difference be-:
ween sublapsarianism and supralapsariansm,
while they have a thousand vipere of reuorse
and despair coiling around their imQortal
spirits! , ok
The church is not chiefly for goodish sort
>f men whose proclivities are all right, and
vho could get to heaven praying and slngng
in their own homes. It is on the beach
o help the drowning. Those bad cases are
he cases that God likes to take hold of. He>
an save.a big sinner as well a3 a small cin-;
.~ ruill
lci t duu >vuuu u mau luzuvsiiy uvw
or help He will go out to deliver such a one.!
f it were necessary, God would cojne down}
rom the sky, followed by all the artillery of
leavea and a million angels with drawaj
words. Get 100 such redeemed mea in each',
if your churches, aad nothing could standi
>efore them; for such mea are generally
varm-hearted aad eathosiastlc.
Furthermore, the destitute ohildren of the
treets oiler a fleld of work comparatively
moccupied. The uacared for children are
a the majority ia most of our cities. Their
ioadltioa was well illustrated by what a boy
a this city said whea he was fouad uader a
:art gnawiag a boae aad some one said to
dm, '-Where do you live?" and heauswered,
Doa't live aowhere, sir!" 8eveuty thousand
>f the childrea of New York City can neither
ead nor write. When they grow up, If uniformed.
they will outvote your children,
tad they will govern your children. The
vhiflky ring will hatch out other whisky
-lags, aad grogshops will kill with their horrid
steach public sobriety, ualess the church
>f God rises up with outstretched arms and
afolds this dyiag populatloa ia her bosom.
Public schools caanot do it. Art galleries
:annot do it Blackwell's Islaad caaaot do*
t. Almshouses caaaot do it New Yorld
rombs caanot do it Sing Slag caaaot doiti
?eople of God, wake up to your magnificent}
nlssion! You can do It. Get somewhere,
lomehow, to work! ,
The Prussian cavalry mount by putting.
;heir right foot into the stirrup, while thai
American cavalry mount by putting their left!
!oot into the stirrup. I don't care how yoo.
nouat your war charger if you only get into
his battle for God, and get there soon, right
itirrup, or left stirrup, or no stirrup at alL
Che unocoupled fields are all around us. and
vhy should we build on another man's founiation?
f
I have heard of what was called the ' '%
'thunder legion." It was in 179, a part off
he Roman army to which some Christiana) t
>elongod, and their prayers, it was said, were
inswored by thunder and lightning and hafl!
ind tempast, which overthrew an invading;
irmy and saved the Empire. And I would tol
>od that you could be so mighty in prayer,
ind work that you would become a thunder- ,
ng legion before which the forces of sto
night be routed and the gates of hell madJ,
o tremble. All aboard now on the gospel}
ihlp! If you cannot be a captain or a first
nate, be a stoker or a deckhand, or ready at
?? ~J ollmnk 4-V?a TTnar?a avaV
/Jill IllttUU ly V.11U1U luo labUUQO) mwmw vnty, , . c.
low, lads! Shake out the reefs in the foreopsail!
Come, 0 heavenly wind, and fill ,
he canvas! Jesus aboard will assure our
iafety." Jesus on the sea will beckon us for-1
vnrd. Jasufr on the shining shore will wel- j
iome us into harbor. '"And so it came to
)3ss that they all escaped safe to land."
CANCELLED-STAWIP CRAZE. I
i
V. Postofflce Demoralized by a. Collecting
"Chain," and Prohibition Asked.
The friends of Edna Kane and Mettie Gornan,
of Eaneville, I1L, who instituted a
'chain" of letters seeking cancelled postage
itamps, for the benefit of the latter, a cripple,,
lave at last driven the Postoffice Departnent
into making an investigation. I
The scheme has caused great annoyance to
he Department, aggravated by a new
'chain" inaugurated at ?1 Paso, Texas, In.1
nock sympathy for the Postmaster, whose
)fflce has been flooded with, mail as a result.;
The number of cancelled stamps found iu
;he room of the beneficiary of the system ia
>stimated at 15,000.000 and the report says
'armors' boya supplied with sacks have carried
off many of the letters.
An inspector reports that the scheme has
caused complete demoralization at the ?1 Paso
Postoffice and that an immediate remedy is
lemanded. He recommends a prohibitory
>rder.
HOW $5 GREW TO BE $248,
;
rohn H. Folk's Discover/ a Good L?uoa
for the Improvident.
There i3 a fine object ie3son to the improvi- '
lent in a story told to Surrogate Fitzgerald,
>f New York City, showing how $5 put in a- *
lavings bank grew to $243. Jacob Lowz&rdir
died July 20, 1843. leaving a wife and:
lothing else that anybody was aware of. Tbo
vidow married Jotgi H. Folk and in her turn
lied.
In overhauling her belongings Mr. Folk,
he widower, came upon a bank book made*
; in the name of Mrs. Folk's first husband.!
i allowed a credit for a deposit of $5 made
rlarck 20,1820, in the Bleecker Street Savings
3ank. Mr. Folk concluded that the $5 would
eel just as good to him as it did in the vaults
>f the bank. He investigated, and to his *
iinazement he found that interest had accumulated
until the $5 had grown to $213.
School Notes. ^
Cases of suicide are by ho means rart
imong German schoolchildren. . ?
The public schools of Carthage, Mo., are
o b9 supplied with telephones.
Three thousand Boston children of school
ige can't get into the overcrowded schools.
Iu sparsely settled New Hampshire <!!?
ricts the experiment is to be tried of hiring
sarriages to collect children from long (Usances
to a centrally placed school.
Six little Indians attending Drury College
it Springfield, Mo., will have to stop school
>n account of th? failure of the Choctaw
Council to appropriate sufficient money to
>ay their expenses.
The Rev. Frank Spauiding, principal err
he Jarvis Half Military Academy of Coloado
Springs, Cal., with his professors, is to
>e tried for beating two boys with a knotted "
ope until they fell in a faint.
Iftmall Pasha U Dead.
A despatch from Constantinople, Turkey,
liuounces that Ismail Pasha, formerly
[hedive of Egypt, is dead. Ismail Paaha
eld the record as spendthrift during the
i*teen years he was the ruler of Egypt. Not
nly did he bankrupt himself, but he saddled
debt of more than 8400,000,000 on hi*
ountry by his extravagance. Ismail Pasha
ras the son of Ibrahim and the grandson ot
lehemet Ali Pasha. He was born in 1830.
t was through Ismail Pasha that New York
btained Cleopatra's Needle.
The experiment of cooking dinner for 7500
len belonging to the guards in a single field
itchen at the Muneheberz station, near Barin,
took place the other day, before the
roops left for their headquarters. The affair
ras completely successful. Thirty-.'lve hun?
red pounds of beef an t 1500 pounds of hams
,*ere ccck-i,
A terrible volcanic upheaval Is de-astatiir
the New Hebrides. Half the fertile island
fAmbroin is covered with ashes, and its 8003
^habitants hava nearly all disappeared. The
rater of the sea of lava is three miles in oiruinference,with
walls rising from. 800 to 1700
set above the iloor.
The Coroner's office, New York City, shows
bat since January 1 thirty-nine men and
Dven women have committed suicide. For
fie same period during 1894 forty-three suiidi*?
were reported, three of which wer?
romen. It is an average of one suicide a
ay
Mrs. Chatty Grean celebrated hor 103d
irthday not long ago in an old lady's horn*
3 Boston. She Was born a slave.
>*< . v