Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

LOVE JNDJ BY ?ius.h; HAwmL CH.1PTEB III. I Tho next morning Prescott prepared A to start for the village postoffice, as j usual, to get his mail. He was just go- j ing to admonish Nina to keep within doors until he should have made a few : Inquiries which, it was to be hoped, might divulge that Grenfell had left the yivinlty, when his wife peremptorily re fused to have him drive over the lonely ; road without her. "Good gracious, you don't expect me i . to stay at home,like a rabbit in a hole!" j esc'iaimeu xrescuiu "I only know that I consider It un- / safe for you to go on so lonely a road, v yet," she 6aid. ? "Well, I must snap my fingers at the fancy," replied Prescott. "Unless I sally forth, we can never know anything more about that extraordinary j visitation of last evening. But I should ' like you to be a little cautious, your* | ' self. Keep the lower doors and windows locked. If there is to be an interview between you and this mad young sculptor, I should prefer to be present." "I hopo I shall not have to meet him." b Bhe faltered. a : "At all events we will not get fright- g ened," Prescott cheerfully responded. "You remember we made up our minds j that nothing should alarm us in this <j remote corner or loneliness, ana we v must not weaken in our resolution. ^ There's the other pistol, on your entry table. An unpleasant thought, perhaps; e but the Puritans who once lived around n here went to church with their guns, g which \va6 a worse severity?" He gay- fo ly waved his hand, an<l drove off. s Nina complied with all he said, but r, her eyes and lips had grown, over night, p very sad. s When Prescott came back from the ^ Tillage he brought a letter for his wife f, TITinalnfT "Ron11 oY* whn nppn. v AiVUi *U10. A/V44W4VJ I ?**w vvvw r eionally wrote city gossip, and snrcas- c tic comments upon up-country vacui- a ties. e By this mail she explained that she (j hoped her letter would reach Nina be- ^ fore Fleet tirenfell did so. She said 0 that he was a cousin of hers, although ^ she had never made anything of the re- l g, lationship till of late, when he had B< leaped into tforld-wide fame with his j. Joan of Arc," After arriving from a hronyl ho hnrl rirnnnpd in to RPft her: I xi and he had caught sight of the large T( photograph of Nina (in the white opera c. cloak) looking.so exactly like a statue. w But this ecstacy was changed to evi- p dent agony upon his learning that Nina g( was married. It was all very queer to Mrs. Minsing Bentlev that he should Immediately express his intention of s. going to Flitter's Lodge. However, he ^ had promised to try to persuade the a Preseotts back to town for the holidays. y Still, why on earth did Fleet "want to gj travel so far into the country side to see a girl (no matter how beautiful she t) might be) after she was dead?or rather, t] married?and gone?" p "So it -was not a ghost!" muttered ^ Presc-ott, stroking his chin, as his wife y finished reading the letter to him. "But. ? ? on the other hand, no one has seen or heard anything, as far as I could n ake out by judicious inquiry, of a stranger ^ In the villc ge. I am tasting the difficulties," he added, laughing with an ad- iT miring glance, "of having espoused C you. Marvel." "When ne comes a^ain," she said, v thoughtfully, "he will be more respectful; and I am sure we can persuade a him into bsing rational; even friendly." ^ That evening a horse's canter was v heard approaching from a long distance over the frost-hardened road. It ceased near the farmhouse; but no one asked _j admittance. A dark night, with fine snow just beginning to fail, was a bar- ^ rier to Prescott's gaze as he looked out y to see what he could see, and hoping to * hear some retreating hoof-beats; &( though he was disappointed in this. "He must be about here." the young j, husband confided to his wife, on with urawing 10 lue uueenui paxiwi. % "Perhaps it was only a peddler or some such wayfarer," she said. "If we v did not hear the horse pass on, it may be that he went upon the turf." "I give you my word, I can hardly think of anything else besides this man!" Prescott growled, in disgust. ^ Nina became pallid. But she brought out the chess-board, and their two young faces soon grew radiant over their eagerness to win, and yet not to a let each other lose. They played until w quite late, and before retiring stood over the sunset lights of their heart- h fire, in the leisurely way ot' two crea- f< tnres left weil alone to love. A log fell b apart with a faint crashing sound. ii "Did you near tnati"* suddenly ex- t< claimed Nina. a "Yes; it was a distinct utterance, as ? the loe broke to pieces, as if some one S( had cried, 'No!' " "Beneath us?" is -Yes." "Tom, we are growing horribly nerv- 0 ous!" 6 "I believe we are. It must have been Imagination. Come, let us put it all j aside, this instant and forever!" Plump had crept into the cellar, while \ Miffin dozed with her back against the (: wall, having fallen accidentally asleep ! q In the warm kitchen. There was a par- i jj tlcular spot in the cellar, dark and un promising as the place otherwise K showed forth, which Plump loved. He v had no fear of anything when he was on ^ bis way to this spot. His candle never t( i flickered or trembled as he shaded it t, with one palm, while he penetrated the dark shadows of the cellar on those for- s tunate, unwitting nights when Miffin's eyes disappeared behind her black face . 8 drowsily. The old negro patted along, ! 0 half smiling, picking his footsteps with j eyes Lent upon the ground. A fragranc e emote his grotesque no-trils and he ^ raised his glad gaze. Then he ben ; e down in terror, as if he were bur- I ^ dened with a ton's weight upon his i u shoulders. Sitting upon a keg of win<- j \i | was a young man who smiled, with | e i raised eyebrows, and quaffed a deep o draught rroni the contents of a hottle ot I c old port, which he had taken off of an j adjacent shelf, and held, empty, over j s his knee. Ho drank from a mug with rlump had supposed was undiscover- a ably hidden in a cranny of the cellar r wall. j "Massa! massa!" mumbled Plump, a "we got burglars, shu' 'nutf!" "Don't call your 'massa,' " the ap- t! parition retorted, in a low, penetrating i h voice. "I'm only one of the devils. If } you let me alone, I will not throttle v you." s ! The negro began to retreat back- , h ward. ' t v | I "Stop that," said tho youth. j , s j "Massa will as' you to como upstairs," ^lump averred, with a nauseat- t ling excess of manner and sweetness. ^ [still making his escapo in a surreptiftlous way. "I tell ma6sa a nice young trabbler popped in?so very companion- f able " : \ "No!" the other cried, slipping from ! ] .the keg and springing upon Plump. "If i -you say a word," he went on, In a clear j j 'whisper, "I will kill every ono of you! | , "I should like nothing better, and am ) | only sitting here for a quiet drink, out { !of the kindness of my heart." t ; "I won' say a word, young- gem man; I ? J won' tell, I won' tell!" | 1 I 1 "Then go. I keep my promises, and 118 SHADOW >RNE LATHROP. "ou snaii keep this one of yours, sir t is made to me." The stranger fto I __?we got burglars, 6hd ncff:" i6 eyes upon trie negro's rolling or] nd caught them with a fierce, scorn :lance. Plump gave ud all volition to t ouncr man who stood over him. ! oted on the lordly fellow's power rill, although he believed his own 1; ung on a turn of the vise-like hand. The next day was one of deep< nowing. The world was snow up t< ailo overhead. All voices of men a ounds of all sorts?there happened e more passing than was customarj eemed to ride in a closely wall oom; but what a room! The atmc here was as stimulating as youth elf, and. as free from poison as i reath ot angels. The rustling of t llling snow shivered like aspen leav eard in the dream of a seraph. Pre ott and his wife had thrown off all cai In + Avirtoforl + Vi f 1IU WC1C DUUU IUIVAIVUI^U Tf?wu V lixir of the breeze at the open wi ows. They dressed themselves for out in the lovely storm, and roll ver in the snow and ate of it, a; ugged it to their bosoms and final at enthroned in it while Prescott ga ome experiences of his trip to Russi t was as pure and beautiful to exami s our dearest illusions. The cheeks 2e young lovers became rosy with t ?se that shines in vapor, which is !ear and light* Any one, whoever as, would have been nettled by t erfect bliss which this couple drank o impetuously without a thought 01 >ok for a third person. At evening the storm ceased. T tars flickered and gazed in tJ eavens. The moon came up not nd lar-seeine, like a saint's 6oul. T ounc neoDle leaned on their windo' ill and looked around and up. Slowly a dark figure moved towa ieir old house, along a lane ending le main-road before their door; sto ing every moment or two, and th loving nearer, sadly, then stoppin 'hat eloquence there was in the ' file lunging over the uneven, eno'v round of the broad shoulders, and le slight upward tilt of the head, as oplessly looking. "Who is it?" Prescott said, wonde lg, but carelessly. His wife's hai ressed his shoulder, and 6he murmu il: "Hush-sh! The enow carri oices a long way!" "I will go and speak to him" Prescc nswered, quickly understanding th ina thought it was Grenfell. He art imself back into the room. "Oh. noi" "My dear," the young husband d tared, "something must be done." "Then I will go, too, and 6peak wi im," Nina answered. "I will not ] ou go without me." "It might be very well for you to gc dmitted Prescott, "He will have sei ou, for one thing, and nothing will ift for him to do." In a few moments they ran out in le keen, fine air. They walked up and down and abov ut saw no one. "Are you sure it was he?" asked Pre ott. "I know it was he," Nina replied, ve luiy. XQdi mgnt Biie wept uooub jars. CHAPTEK IV. At breakfast her husband grurabl t her pale cheeks, for he was great orried. "We must leave this place at onc< e concluded. "That wretched Gre jll is probably safe in New York aga y this time. But we shall fancy he 1 the vicinity for weeks, and guess h > be at the Dottom of every footfi oa snaaow. i^et us gooa-naiurea ive up our hobby of getting rich jlitude and go away." Nina held her head proudly, and h ps looked stern. "I could not bear to be driven aw r otherwise controlled by that mur he angrily cried. "But I don't believe he is here. It who shall control you, believe me." "Well, Tom, don't ask me to gouws IT8 are happy here. We can forg irenfell. But in town all my old s uaintances would tell mo I could c ,ve on our income, nor in humble qut srs, nor expect them to invite us rand dinner parties; and yet th rould not let us hide in peace. It w e much better next year, and we sh pll fine thines of a Massachusetts wi er and our o -cupations in it." "It is delicious, this leisurely quie ighed Prescott. There was a step upon the piazza t ide the breakfast-room; another, a ther, and a man looked in upon the t was Grenfell. He stood defiantly, with his hands is pockets. He had assumed a picti sque position, with that vivid sense he tiagic and the romantic which mak d the life of some voune oersons itense individuality, who are conscio very moment of their good looks, th< xactione from life, but never of thi onscience. "Impertinent ass!" cried Presco tartinc to his feet. Grenfell pulled off his soft felt 1 nd bowed to Nina, with ever so mu eproach. Nina essayed to riBe, but fell back faint. I'rescott had at that instant rais he window, and Grenfell rapidly thn imself over the sill and sprang Nina's side, and lifted her up as e ras falling to the floor. Her husba prinkled water on her face. How wh le was himself to see her so crushed ho presence of this man. "She must not see you," ho said Jrenfell, in a sad, cold voice. "Do you think it would harm he he other answered, with deep, twi ones. Mna revived anfl looked into Grc ell's eyes as he knelt beside her ch vith his hands on her aitti supporting !n a moment she was her.->elf. "It is the first time I ever fainted, a t was not much!" she said, with a sm uid a pleasant posture of her head, lurdly knew whether you were uvisi jr not, Mr. Grenfell. Oh, I am qu strong again. Tom, thank you, deares }he added, with a loving glance as leld a glass of water for her to drink Grenfell stood ud before the wind ( and looked at her, seeming a dark portend It was plain that Nina tried to Bteaoy htr tones us 6he went on to say: t "Mr. Grenfell, this is Mr. Prescoit, my husband. Tom, Mr. Grenfell must be seated and break bread with us for go id-fellowship. The young man still stared at her, motionless. H6 was a specimen of flawless masculine beauty, -with the individuality of face which gives 6atisice faction. But Xina only wondered that ted hi6 aspect and personality had ever at all enthralled her. Her really penej trating study of faces as an artist of no j small talent had taught her the types "Tj which have strength of 6oul, and those U which have only strength of nature; I and what had once struck her its vital merit now appeared to be the coarse husks enwrapping a divine vitality, which In many young people, as in _ Grenfell, is undeveloped. But how vT 6ubtly this young genius veiled his or1| dinary characteristics by the graces of ?? earnestness! How elaborate his pag) eantry of materiality was, so that you might have Imagined a glance of h:s ? eye was worth a thousand years of spiritual deatn! "I was to be your husband," said Grenfell. "I never assured you of it; I always denied it," Nina quietly replied. "Yet I aimit that I thought it possible. Come, Fleet Grenfell; sit down. I have something to say to you." She motioned him to a chair with dipnitv and r~ unflinching gaze, "it is very true that I amired many things in you, and I IU1 liked you better than anyone else. But , I had not then met my husband. If you n? knew him at all well, you would not wonder that I chose him in preference to you," Grenfell's lips parted in suffering at t this blow, and he glanced fiercely at > a _ nd I ^ .?J ^ 1 SMHWBF he *tK JJJ. _Jj J s? a man looked in upon they. it be Prescott, whose face was suddenly in lighted by reassurance. " a " jlou are false, of course," the joung sculptor muttered, and proceeded in a he louder but hoarser tone: "A beautiful 1 be girl who does not use her power fears to j ily make herself a very commonplace wohe man. Do I not know, through you, how w- ; all that is?" "Mr. Grenfell," Interposed Prescott, rd i "I am willing to have another madcap in | wrestle with you, but we had better p- leave ray wife's presence for that, and en you had better hold your tongue." g- "I shali be the one to say the last >w -word you will hear," Grenfell coolly rery piled. in "Oh, no, you won't," Nina said. She if started up aud took one of Grenfell's hands in both of hers, and commanded: >r- "Be decent and kind." ad If fcho had not been sincere herself ( ir" she could have done nothing with him. es His unleashed animal nature was held in check by her spiritual nature, so vastly superior. Grenfell was surprised tnat ne aia not ciasp ner iu me anub, 5W but he could not have done it. A woman knows how to disenchant a fervor she does not wish to excite. By e" her eyes he could see that she was not thinking wholly of him. He dreaded their calm, and he hated it, for it wa9 et not of to-day. He seated himself at ? the table. K The door opened, and Miffin came in, behind a plate of hoe-cake. She k0 wa6 evidently galvanized at the unex- ; pected sight of the stranper, and went t0 through various feats of motion without i dropping any of the contents of the ] lt? plate; and not a sound escaped her mammoth lips, it seemed as if her eyes ] would do the shouting. But she came 1 ry of ancestors who had not murmured un- 1 0f der the lash. She made a grotesque ' 9 n f o Vvlo Trri + V* Knr I JUliK it;aui lUi HiU TT AIU UU1 1 flhin'ng black stick of an arm, and shoved the plate onto it, staring at Grenfell. He was quite worth a protracted inspection. Her youDg mistress directed her to fetch a cup for tho guest, and then Miflin let her gaze ^ glide toward Nina. All at once the f ki.n whites of her eyes dazzled about her ,iB like lightning and she was gone. 'm "MiHln is one of our amusements," { all Nina said. "Tom is giving you some of Ily our Southern dish of chicken. Tom is i by a Southerner, although we are living I in at nr\yxr In Q mimio Tf>plnn<] " I er "Yes, an Iceland," Grenfell echoed, , leaning back in his chair as lightly as if ay he might spring to the window in the t," next breath. 1 Still, Ninu's face wore the look of one I is who has become convinced of some- 1 thing higher and better and stronger i ty, than humanity. This look was detesta- t ;et ble to his animal selfishness. If it ( ic- would cnly melt into the enthralling, , tot girlish subtlety again! It let the cold ir- air of endless reaches of sa^jifice in J to upon his tender desires. If ho had kissed her hand, or even her lips, she j ,, would have been uninterested. But she ail , , J r Jl_. A A TT? I iookiu pro ounuij wuieuu uc ?Du entirely outside her need6 that she re- ' . ? gurded his love as a disease of the soul! Above all, the girl whom lie had adored i ho was beginning to venerate. He " loathed the cold wave that was curling ' ' over him. the change that was being j * wrought In him. Let him stay, he , silently begged of her spirit, in the ' warmer lights of a lower horizon, where ~f the colors were the ruby of hope and 1 the gold of gain. j He found that she was handing him a cup of fragrant coffee and smiling, both }jr gently and commandingly, into his eyes. ejr He roused himself, took the cup in an unsteady hand and set it down at random. Revolt touched a l!aruing ej ark 1 ' j to his brain and ho was lost. i ia^ ! "It must seem unaccountable to you," eh 1 he said, "that I am not able to find suf flcient delight in my art to enable me to ! bear the loss of a woman of mere per i6hable flesh. I know how it usually is ,e(j ; with a preat artist; and I do love my j art as I love myself, as I love this riahi | t0 ; hand of genius. And have I not that i jIjq ! perfect marble portrait of you, which I | m| ' made when you thought of me as a j ite ! friend, Nina," he went on, smiling ky : gently into her face, "which is a bit of < ' art enough to take the love of any man. tQ i It is constantly before my eyes, I>ut I j am not satislied." He drew a revolver rp" I from his pocket and held it on one knee. e^t i Nina sprang up, her husband rose ealmj ly. Grenfell remained sitting, studyI ing first one and then the other of these ,n. i young people who were so good to the ajr ! sight. "A dozen times In my wanderly) J ings I have spared the lives of thieves and cut-throats, at some risk of my own nd ! safety. Surely I may kill a man at my ile ' ohoice who has stolen all I cared for." -j j Nina looked at Prescott, wondering on | that he did not pull out his pistol, which i(e he was in the habit of carrying about Xt" j him. Ho answered the messace of her 2j'e ; eyes by directing his glance to the mantel Bhelf behind her, and she realized ow ' that he must have laid his pistol there i by accident. If she haiided it to him, if he stepped toward the mantel himself to take it, the delay would be toe great, and would not Grenfell as onc( fire? Prescott's face was resigned, Ho saw the deadlock, and hoped for nt rescue. "I have kept myself very close while coming here and haunting your pre clnots," Uienieii proceeaea. ino od( will trace me. The Bentleys are the only persons who know I came, anc they are not the people to tell thai they have a Robin Hood in their family. Moreover, I am not afraid to kill.' He rose and leveled the revolver al Prescott, who looked at him with noble courage. Nina sprang to the mantel like a birc for swiftness, and caught up the pistol which lay there, and held it to he] temple. Grenfell called to her, aghast, in incoherent words of appeal and lovo, anc her husband in a moment was c.t hei side, to seize the weapon from her hand But she had lowered it of her own aooord, and stepped forward. "My friend," 6he said to Grenfell," the right hand of genius has never yel, committed murder." He 6tarted, in 6pite of himself. She stepped still nearer t< him. "For art is a way to God!" He smiled incredulously. Ho hac rested the muzzle of the revolver 01 the table. ""What is God to me?" he sneered. "You men ot genius," she cried, "can all perceive Him. You, Fleet, can perceive Him even through me. If then is anything fine in my life which arousof your admiration (so hard to win); i] there is in my character anything blameless which has honestly touchet your devotion, i owe it to God! Thet is He not our friend?" She spok? tenderly, but with emphasis. "You who are so keen to adore creativ< power,?are you insensible to a powei which is creative genius? You hav< overlooked the one who chose you fron millions of your countrymen to do ari the highest honor. You have overlooked the Supreme Artist!" A quieter light came into GrerifeU'i eyes, but he answered again: "Oh, Nina, what is your God to me?' "Your guardian." sh* said. Shu laic the pistol (Prescott stood near her tc intercept any seconc attempt at suicide) upon the table before Grenfell. "You saw how easily I could have dest-oyec myself, and made the crime you con templated a useless ore. But thai would have been beneath me, and mj action was only intended to stop tliatol yours. What I really wished to do e moment ago, Fleet Gnnfell, wis tc shoot you dead in my ^usband'u defense. Each movemenl that I was eager to make was before me like ? picture, and my aim would have beer true. God forbade it." "What? me! you would have killed me?" he cried, shuddering. Suddenly he flashed a look at her. "It was love Dot the power of God " he could noi go on. He saw that she had disarmec herself; that she and Prescott hadtfiver up all thought of violent resistance. Ie whom did she trust? He turned away from tt.em both, as ii to be alone in his agony. But the lighl *^lgj r | .jJvr it mil. GRENFELL CALLED TO HER. orMr>Vi Viloqaea had Rhone full UDon him. He turned back, not looking up. "Oh, man," ho said to Prescott, "car she lead you to forgive a wretch like me?" A hand, strong but kind, grasped his. [n the stillness of the glance which the ;wo men exchanged thero came through the open window and the sunshine, froir a long forgotten room shaded by th? jlm, a strain from an iEolian harp. |THE END. | Copyright, 1893. The Latest in Guns. The eo-called dynamite gun is really i powder pneumatic gun, which throws ? projectile containing explosive gelatin by means of compressed air. The gun has three barrels. The niddle, or loDgest barrel, in which che projectile is placed, is ten ):eet long. The breech is closed, and a jartridge containing six ounces of smokeless powder is inserted in the right-hand tube and locked in. The *ua is elevated. The pulling of the lanyard explodes the powder cartridges, its gases are foroed forward and through a port which opens into the left-hand tubs. They then lind their way back to the breech, and, pressing Demna tue projeciue, ejcut it. The bore of the gun is two and a half inches. The projectile may be hurled a mile and a half. The charge of four pounds of explosive gelatin mows down cavalry and infantry within a radius of fifty feet of where it atrikes. It is said people may be injured more than one hundred feet from the place of explosion. Its effects are demoralizing, and the rervous slyjck is severe. The gun me.kes neither noise nor smoke, and an enemy's ranks are decimated without the soldiers being able to see whence the blow comes. The gun weighs 270 pounds; mounted, 560 pounds. It can be operated by four men, who can draw it around. It can bo quickly manufactured in an ordinary shop, and operated from tugs or eveD launchea. Ancicnt Barley Loaf. Bread 4400 years old was recently presented bv Professor Wittmack, of the Berlin High School of Agriculture to the Horticultural Congress at Munich. It was a piece of Egyptian barley broad, baked of flour roughly ground. It has grown almost black in the course of time, but after a piece ji ir, was blenched by the use of urnmonia, the structural peculiarities of barley could be recognized without trouble under the microscope. Another test of its genuineness was that when brought into contact with iodine, i crumb of this old bread took ';he blue color peculiar to iodine starch. This piece of bread was taken from one of the Egyptian graves at Karnak and had become so hard that some force was necessary to cut oil a crumb. From the salt wells at Hutchinson, Kan., 1,000,000 barrels of salt were obtained last yeejr. PPTT^TATTft "RTCATVTTCYr JLIJJUIU JLV UU XIUU.1/XH vn? ) } , "I PRAY THEE VISIT ME." ) 0 God. 0 kinsman loved, but not enough, 0 man with eyes majestic after death. Whose feet have toiled along our pathway? rough, Whose lips drawn human breath; > > By that one likeness which is ours and thine [ By that one nature which doth hold us kin, I By that high heaven where sinless thou dost shine, To draw us sinners in t < By Thy last silence in the judgment hall, ) By long foreknowledge of the deadly tree, By darkness.by the wormwood and the gall, | I pray Thee visit me. [ ?Jean Ingelow. THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTLINE88. Thn arf nf nhntncranhv is now SO Derfect [ that the whole side of a great newspaper r can be taken in miniature so small as to be carried in a little pin or button, and yet every letter and point be perfect. So th whole life of Christ is photographed in one > little phrase?"not to be ministered unto, . but to minister." He came not to be j served?if this had been His aim He would never have left heaven's glory, where He wanted nothing,where angels praised Him and ministered unto Him. He came to ' serve. He went about doing good. He all together forgot Himself. He served all He met who would receive His service. At last He gave His life in uttermost servicegiving it a ransom for others. He came , not to be ministered unto, but to minister. . You say you want to be like Christ. You ' pray Him "to print His own image on your : heart. Here, then, is the image. It is no ' vague dream of perfection that we are to ! think of when we ask to be made like 1 Christ. The old monks thought that they i were in the way to become like Christ when they went into tne wnaerness, away irom men. to live in cold cells or on tall columns. But that is not the thought which this picture suggests. "To min'ster"?that is the Chrfstlike thing. Insttai of fleeing away from the world we are to live among men, to serve them, to seek to bless them, to do ; them good, to give our life for them.?J. B. Miller, D. D. BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY UNIVERSAL. When you laid the white flowers upon the coffin, and listened to the dull thud of earth to earth, ashes to ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and bent eagerly forward to catch a last glimpse of that which enshrined the loved one, hidden from sight, with pale lips and breaking heart you asked once more, '"If a man die, shall he live again?" What proof have we, what evidences "the dead are not dead, but alive ?" May not immortality be. after all, only "a beautiful dream." onlj "a lofty aspiration of the human heart,' doomed to disappointment? UeneratioE after generation has come and gone, but not one of the myriads who have passed into the silent land has ever been permitted to return and tell us the great secret that lies beyond the grave. But through all that i deep, unbroken silence 01 ages, men ?nu women have never lost their faith in a fu| ture life. In every age, in every country, r men and women have had some belief in o life beyond the grave.?Rev. S. O. Fielding. t .TESC9 INSISTS ON OBEDIENCE. ' Obedience is everything in a Christian 1 life. We are told that without faith it is impossible to please.God. but faith can usually be spelled o-b-e-d-i-e-n-Cre. Obedience is t' necessary always to prove our faith. "Faith, without works. Is dead." Some people think that believing a sound creed makes one religious. But Jesus insists on obedience. He says that mere hearing His words without doing them is building on sand, and that all who build on such a foundation will be swent awav when the floods come. Creeds are important. We must have true beliefs about God and His truth, but no matter how right our creeds are, if we do not follow Christ and do His will, all our beautiful religion will be but a showy house built on the sand,which some day will be carried away in life's floods.?Forward. A PRAYER FOR SACRIFICE. * 0 thou, who comest from Edom, glorious in thy apparel, traveling in the greatness of thy strength, who speaketh in righteousness, mighty to ?ave. graciously behold thy people who call upon thee. In all our afflic - ca : J ?kn I lion IOUU WliSL uiuiuiru auu tuo ?u^v? v*. v^j presence saved us. Thou who didst tread the winepress alone, when of the people .hire was none with thee, see now the travail of thy soul and be satisfied. To thee, sacrificed for us, do we here and now, in thy presence and in the week of thy Passion present ourselves,our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy and living sacrifice unto thee, beseeching thee so to strenghen ! us by thy grace that we may both follow the example of thy patience and also be made partakers of ttiy resurrectien, who art with ! the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, i world without end. Amen. I i AS OiCE SEES HE WALK8. How differently do men walk ! One bend? forward, another backward ; one steps firm, another cautiously; one U quick and another slow. These differences are not altogether matters of muscular strength or weakness or of nerve activity. A man's stoppings and attitudes depend a good deal on his eyesight. If he has ''progressive near-sight" he is likely to show it in his mode of bodily progression. And one'? spiritual gait depends chiefly on his spiritual sight. If he sharply discerns the law of right and duty it will fell upon his "dailj walk and conversation." If he lives in intimate recognition of God's countenance hie walk will be free, unwavering, upright, undaunted, full o! grace.?S. S. Times. WITH CHRIST IS PEACE. Where is the task that terrifies the maD <vho lives by Christ V Where is the discouragement over which he will not walk, to go to the right which he must reach? You may starve him, but he has this inner food. You may darken his life, but he has this inner light You may make war about him, but he has this peace within. You may turn the world into a hell, but he carries this inner henven safely through its fiercest fires. He is like Christ Himself: he has meat to eat that we know not of. and in the strength of it he overcomes at last, and is conqueror through his Lord.?Phillips Brooks. 0 Corn of Wheat, which God for us did sow In the rough furrows of this world of woe, That Thou the Bread of Life for us might be, To nourish us to ail eternity ; Grant us, through faith, O Christ.to feed on Thee! ?Anna E. Hamilton. A bed of freshly turned earth, if allowed to lie undisturbed, will show itself to bo full of seeds we knew not of. So our life on earth is full of germs?the beginnings of all the trees of paradise or of all the poison vines and upas trees on the banks of the river of eternal death.?Itev. J. S. Wrightnour. We know that we are made in the image of God because wo cannot in our best moment? accept any standard but this?of perfection to be sought after through eternity; the grandeur of our beiug is that there will always be something beyond for us to seek. ?Lucy Larcotn. Your life needs days of retirement, when it shuts the gates upon the noisy whirl ol action and is alone with God. The true fast is the making (if an empti, ness about the soul that the higher fullness j may fill it. A MAMMOTH CAVE IN OHIO. Dli.covery of a Subterranean Passageway Which Rivals Kentucky's Wonder. A big cave has been discovered at the , source of Castalia Creek. It apparently ex- | tends underneath Castalia, Ohio. The entrance is as yet made with difficulty, but | the splendor of the interior is'marvelous when shown by the illumination^of torches. Thu State Geologist will inspect the cave, after which the opening will be enlarged. j Ic is believed that this cave is connected i with Perry's Cave, at Put-In Bay, and also | with the Flat Rock Cave, which would make , it extoud over an area greater ihan that j | of Mammoth Cave. I i SABBATH SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOB MAY 9. Lesson Text: "Paul Preaching; to the Jews," Acts xlIL, 26-39?Golden Text: Acts xili., 38? Commentary 26. "To yon is the word of this 3 Ivation sent" By invitation of the rulers of the synagogue at Antiocb, in Pisidia, to whicb place they came after* leaving Perga, where Mark deserted them, Paul is preaching on the Sabbath day (verses 14, 15). His opening words are, "lien of Israel, and y? that fear God" (verse 16), and this, in substance, he repeats in this first verse of out lesson- He begins with the deliverance from Egypt and mentions the period of the wilderness, the judges and the reigns of Saul and David, then passes at once to Jesus, the Saviour of Israel, of the seed of Da*id, who Is the salvation or u-oa prepared Tor all people, a light to lighten the gentiles and the glory of Israel. 27. "They knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Babbath day.' As it is written through John, "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not; He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (John i., 10,11). It was the complaint of the Lord through tbe prophets that His people did not know Him. "Israel doth not know, My people doth nor consider." 28, 29. "When they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a sepulcher." Although they knew Him not, yet they un wittingly luinuea tne scriptures concerning Him. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate, the gentiles and the people of Israel, with ail their indifference to or hatred of Christ, only fulfilled what God had determined before to be done (Acts iv., 27, 28), and yet they were all free agents. Spureieon once said, "My God can rule free agents, leaving them absolutely free, and yet effecting all His purposes with them." I do not understand. how this can be, but I believe it 30. "But God rAised Him from the dead." See also verses 33, 34 and 37, and let this fourfold emphasis given by the Spirit in this lesson to His resurrection from the dead show you the importance of this great truth and recall to your mind the fact that by His resurrection from the dead He was declared Ihe Son of God with power (Rom. i., 4). Our Lord Jesus was dead, but is alive for evermore, and has all power (Rev. i., 18). I We, believing in Him, are one "with Him, as children and heirs of God and joint heirs with Himself. ai "And TTn whs seen manv davs of them which came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people." He was seen at least ten times during a period of forty days after His resurrection before He visibly ascended from Olivet, to which same hill He will in due time return with all His saints (Acts I., 3,11; Zech. siv.,4,5). The one thing for a believer to do is to be a witness by life and testimony to the great fact that Jesus Christ is His living Lord and Saviour coming again to fill She earth with righteousness. When we are ready for this, He will fill us with His Spirit to this end(Act8 i., 8). 82. "And we declare unto you glad tidings." The angel at His birth Drought 'good tiblngs of great joy for all people" {Luke ii., 10), and we are commissioned to testify the gospel of the grace of God and tfie zo3pel of the glory ot_the blessed God (Acts sx., 24; I Tim. 1., 11, n. v.;. no are cuoweu Df God to be put in trust with this gospel, md we are to speak it, not as pleasing men,'* but God. who trleth our hearts (I Thees. if.. 1). But it is a trust rcommitted to us for all people on earth. Are we faithful to our trust? 33. "As it is aho written in tho Second Psalm, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee." The Second realm tells us that, in spite o All the rage and vain imaginings of the ungodly nations, God will yet set His King upon His holy hill of Zion (Pa. ii.. ' 6). And verse 7 is here explained as refer- I ring to the resurrection of Christ from the dead to that end, and not to His birth in Bethlehem, as some might suppose. It is a great inspiration to believe that notwithstanding ail hindrances and delays every promise of God shall be fulfilled; not one | :an fall (Joshua xxiii., 14; I Kings vliL, 56). 34. "I will give you the sure mercies of David." These sure mercies are set forth in II Sam. vii., 12, 13, and I Cbron.xvil., 11, 12. and are more fully stated in connection with Israel's future glory in Isa. lv. 35. ''Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." That David in Ps. xvi., 10, spoke of Christ and not of himself is made very plain in Peter's sermon at Pente:ost, and also that David saw in the promise af God, not a mortal man, but an Immortal man, risen from the dead (Acts ii., 25-31), in whom His throne and kingdom would be established forever 36. "For David, after he had in his old ige served the will of God (margin) fell on sleep." Being a child of God by faith in Ohrist Jesus, the thing for us then?to do is to let Him accomplish His will in us in serving His purpose with us while we live. Let the question search us, Am I fully in His will for His pleasure or living for my pleasure? "Even Christ pleased not Himself" (Rom. iv., 3). 37. "But He whom God raised again saw no corruption." That body, although for us It lasted death, was a3 free from corruption as from sin. We are comforted by believing that even though our bodies see corruption "This corruptible must put on incorruption," and if we tarry till He come, "This mortal must put on immortality" (I Cor. xv., 53). Death, which smites the body and makes it sleep and rass through corruption, is an enemy which shall be destroyed (I Cor. xv., 26), and concerning which God has said, "0 death, I will be thy plagues" (Hos. xiil,. 14). 38. "Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins." We are sure tbat the kingdom will come and the nation of Israel be all righteous, and the earth be filled with the glory of God, but what is the present benefit of the work of Christ? The ! "11 nl" Hit cHri nnmfl Heath iUIK? VOUC33 ui tin am. *-.j and every woe. Our iniquities separate us from God. Eut in Christ there is full provision for the complete blotting out of all our sins. The blood of Jesus Christ cleameth from all sin. One of His last commands was that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem (Luke xxiv., 47). 89. "And by Him, all that believe are justified from all things." The law cannot justify any one, for the law is as holy as God, and all are sinners. But since God in Christ ua3 taken the sinner's place and borne our sins in His own body, suffering the just for the uDjust (Isa. liii., 5; I Pet. If., 24; iii., 18). a full justification is granted freely to every sinner who receives Christ (Rom., iii., 24).?Lesson Helper. PNEUMATIC POSTAL TUBES. A Plant to be Installed In New York City. The Post Office Department has closed a contract for a system of pneumatic tubes in Now York City from station H on Forty-second street to the main office, down town, and Irom there southward to the Produce Exchange station. The contract price is $150,000 a year, and the terra is four years, Toe plant is to be in operation by September. If successful it will oe extended to include the whole city, and be placed in operation in other cJities. The tubes are to be seven inches in diameter and have a capacity for GOO letters in each carrier. The time for a carrier trip is to be forty seconds if necessary. The ordinary time will be seven minutes from Fortysecond street to the main office. It will be possible for carriers to stop at intermediate stations, where mails may be assorted and added to the carrier. New Way of JTCiiIsing; Chirity Money. Brussels is trying a new plan of raising money for charity. Public school children pick up rubbish of all sorts on their way tc school aud deliver it to the teachers. In ijiKht months they collected 1925 pounds ol tinfoil, 220 pounds of old paint tubes. 4415 pounds of old bottles and 1221 pounds ol metal scraps. Sorted out and sold the rubbish provide I clothing for 500 poor children, md sent ninety invalids to the seashore, leaving a halauce which was distributed imoug the sick poor. Krnvc in the Fnce of .Misfortune. A younu man In Portland, Mich., knowing hat he will be totally blind within a few nonths, has invested all his available means n a loom, aud is learning to weave carpet is a means of support. ! H|H TEMPERANCE? THE WINELESS DBUKKABD. WH The air should suffice for his inspiration, and he should be tipsy with water.?Etneaj ' The wineless drunkard drinks the mirth And music of the morn. , Ajid hears the glad voice of the earth Speak in the nestling corn; He drinks the whiffs from off the meads, The spray from salted seas, The fragrance blown from waving reed? And blossomed apple trees. From many lily-bordered brinks Where summer rivulets stray The gladness of the earth he drinks, The freshness of the day; He drinks, nnd life grows fair and strong! Hear ye the wineless drunkard's songi I i'1 Thft tn^onaa that mAArinw viftldfl Within his brain is wrought. I . ; 't The lushness of the tangled fields Is blooming in his tnought; ( The inland songs of murmurous brooks I Along their reedy brinks; \ The babbling strains from blossomed nook^ Of tipsy bobolinks; ] j The breaths that float from bloom andbrakflJ The songs from vale and knoll, \ Surge in upon his dreams and make A summer In his soul. \ And lofty is his joy and strong: \ Hear ye the wineless drunkard's song! ',1 ?Sam. Walter Foot. intoxicants and the 8ick. i \ As to t be use of alcohol in common colds, \ plenty of hot water, both Internally and ex- \ ternaliy, is safer and far more effective. If In collapse or the low forms of fever a stimulant is required, some of the forms of ammonia are far better than alcohol. If yoa - - J - 4 1 ~ T? A. HArma A# 4?a uetu a iuuiu, rcruvmu uam ui nuuio ui iu alkaloids are more reliable. In reference to pneumonia and typhoid fever, It is better to use nothing than alooholies. Their employment here is positively hurtful, and, we can not doubt, has cos! many a patient his life. In regard to pneumonia, it is now well established that with alcohol In the blood less oxygen is carried from the pulmonary to the systematic capillaries, or, in othek words, the oxygenation of the blood is les* r>ned by it when it ought to be increased. It I also lessens the molecular changes in the i tissue cells, and thus retards those processes ' which are essential to the ro-establishment of health. With reference to typhoid fever the ad-; ministration of spirituous liquors is absolutely dangerous. Any physician can easily demonstrate the superiority of the non-aloohollo plan in these cases by trial, without v.$ danger and with absolute benefit to his patients. We have yet to learn of one who haa made a fair and faithful trial of the non-alcoholic treatment in typhoid fever who returned to tbe old plan again. Here is a fact worthy of t^e attention of our alcobollo friends and the pubtlc generally: In a nonalcoholic hospital at Chicago the actual ratio of mortality for the whole number of cases , of typhoid fever treated, more than onq thousand, was Ave per cent., or one in twenty cases, while in the reports of the principal nt Purnno onH AmArlftA In Whlflb alcoholic liquors are freely used in the trielaS ment of typhoid fever, the ratio of morta itj Is from sixteen to twenty-flve per cent., o* one dsath in from four to seven cases.?f Sacred Heart Review. ^ ) V; HENBY W. OHADT OK TBS WHI8KY TRAFFIC. A subscriber to the Ram's Horn in Atlanta, Ga.. kindly sends that paper the following true und brave words from the great oratof and editor: ,t To-night it enters an humble home to strike the roses from a woman's cheek ondf to-morrow it challenges this Republic in th< halls of Congress. . 'ij To-night it strikes a cru9t from the 4ips of a starving child and to-morrow levies tribute from the Government itself. It defies the law when it cannot ooerci suffrage. It is flexible to cajole, but merciless in vio< tory. It comes to ruin, and it profits mainly bj the ruin of your son and mine. It comes to change the wife's love intc despair and her pride into shame. It comes to still the laughter on, the lips cl "^-1 little children. I It comes to stifle all the music of the home I and All it with silence and desolation. It comes to ruin your body and mind, to wrecK your uumtj, uuu it uuno u measure its prosperity by the swiftness and certainty with wbichit wrecks this world. It is the mortal enemy of peace and order, the despoiler of men and terror of women, the cloud that shadows the face of ohildren, I the demon that has dug more graves and sent more souls unshrived to judgment than ell the pestilences that have wasted life since Ood sent the plagues to Egypt, and all wars * since Joshua stood beyond Jericho. ^ A SAD PICTURE, In their cold room the man and his wife are asleep, she on the broken armchair, he on the floor. The candle, crumbling inta cascades of tallow, hardly illuminates witi Its red light their faces blue and black. They have fought, as they always do before whisky makes them fall, stunned. Seated on the cor, without blankets or even a sheet, the little three-year-old bdy cries of hunger and cold. But his elder sister, six yean old, takes him from his bed, wrap9 him up in a shawl wherein there are more holes than wool, and having nothing else to give to him soothes his pain, warms him and Euts him to sleep in her thin arm* by dint oj isses. Heightened by celestial love, the little girl, with her large blue eyee and ' transparent skin, is already as beautiful and serious as a younj; mother. HE KEPT HIS WORD. J A cabman signed the pledge for Rev, Charles Garrett, but soon after broke it. Conscience-stricken and ashamed, he tried to keep out of the way of his friend, but Mr. Garrett wns not to be put off. - One day he found the poor, miserable man, and taking hold of his hand, he said: "John, when the v road is slippery, and your cab horse falls down, what do you do with him?" "I help him up again," replied John. "Well, I have come to do the same," said Mr. Garrett, affectionately; "the road was slippery, I know .Tdhn nnri von fell, but there's my hand to help you up again." The cabman'3 heart was thrilled. He caught his friend's O. hand in a vice-like grip, and said: "God bless you, sir! You'll never have cause to regret this. I'll never fall again." And to this day he ha* kept his word. oas victims. Occasionally one readi in the papers of persons being suffocated by gas. The othei day a stranger stopping at a hotel turned the gas off for the night, and then unknowingly turned It on again, death being the result. Now the papers are calling for some ** legislation to prevent such things. But these same papers have not a word to say with respect to that great menace to the life and properly of the general public which is found in every licensed hotel in the land ?a veritable death-chamber is every licensed hotel. A few have died from inhaling the fatal gas. but thousauds. yen. tens of thousands, every year perish through legalized barrooms.?National Advocate. heathenism abroad axd at home. The most horrible picture of heathenism is that picture of a woman who carries bet sweet babe to the banks of the Ganges and tosses it on its turbulent waters, watching its murrnuriDg lips .sink beneath its tide; but here in Christian America we watch 200,000 a year, hopeless drunkards, take their wives aud children and throw them into the turbulent waters of a drunkard's life.?Sacred Heart Review. temperance news and notes. An order has been issued forbidding the -ale of .liquor in the restaurants of the Maine Central road. l'ho natural, temperate, and necessary beverage for the thirsty is water. Heart trouble caused by the selfishness of others, in indulging to excess in alcoholic stimulants, is the most deadly grief that can attack the human soul. The number of public houses in London' is 5104, in addition to 2243 beer houses, 218 > hotels, 120 clubs and 213 restaurants, making a total of 7904 licensed houses. The Aldermen of Haleich, N. C., have passed an ordinance requiring saloons to close at 11 o'clock p. m., and to remain closed between that hour and sunrise. Prof, von Bunge. in a recent lecture delivered in Germany, desired to "warn people against German beer, which is the most dangerous, because it is the most seductive of drinks." ? ? ?'