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IE. T A IMAGE'S SERMON. : r SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED DIVINE. ! God's Perfect Harmony and the Discord j That Was Made by Sin?The Time Is Coming; When <he World Will Again Resound to Heaveuly Harmonies. Text: "Who laid the cornerstone thereof, 1 when the morning stars sang together?"? i Job 38, 6, 7. We have all seen the ceremony at the laying of the cornerstone of church, asylum or 1 Masonic temple. Into the hollow of the stone were placed scrolls of history and 1m- J /] * /\ Ka nn t if 1 AH I'vitaui uvuuiucui?, iu uo au^^i.tw ??., *w or 200 years after, the building should be destroyed by fire or torn down. We remember *be silver trowel or iron hammer tiiat smote the square piece of granite into sanctity. We remember some venerable man who presided wielding the trowel or hammer. We remember also the music as the choir stood on the scattered stones and timber of the building about to be conrstructed. The leaves of the notebooks fluttered in the wind and were turned over |pith a great ruStling, and we remember Plow the bass, baritone, tenor, contralto and soprano voices commingled. They had for many days been rehearsing the special programme that it might be worthy of tho cornerstone laying. In my text the poet of Uz calls us to a grander ceremony?the laying of the foundation of this great temple of a world. The cornerstone was a block of light, and the trowel was of celestial crystal. All ^ j i 1 ? I c ranout anu ou mo t'luutiumicu^ \ji wivuuo stood the angelic choristers unrolling their j librettos of overture, and other worlds * olapped shining cymbals while the cere- J i mony went on, and God, the Architect, by * stroke of light after stroke of light, dedl- c cated this great cathedral of a world, with s mountains for pillars and sky for frescoed ' ceiling and flowering fields for a floor and |j sunrise and midnight aurora for uphol- j stery. "Who laid the cornerstone thereof, ? when the morning stars sang together?" 0 The fact is that the whole universe was a ' complete cadence, an unbroken dithy- 11 ramb, a musical portfolio. The great sheet ? of immensity had been spread out, and J r written on it were the stars, the smaller of 1 V them minims, the larger of them sustained notes. The meteors marked the staccato r { the whole heavens a eramut with 1 I ail sounds, Intonations, modulations, the a space between the worlds a musical in- ? terval, trembling of stellar light a quaver, ? the thunder a bass clef, the wind among 3 tree? a treble clef. That is the way God x made all things a perfect harmony. But one day a harp string snapped in the great orchestra. One day a voice sounded n out of tune. One day a discord, harsh and s terrific, grated upon the glorious antiphon. E It was sin that made the dissonance, and 8 that harsh discord has been sounding 8 through the centuries. All the work of ? Christians and philanthropists and reform- * ers of all ages is to stop that discord and E get all things back into the perfect har- * mony whioh was heard at the laying of the J cornerstone when the morning stars sang ' together. Before I get through, if I am divinely helped, I will make it plain that ? sin is discord and righteousness harmony; 6 that in general things are out of tune is as ? plain as to a musician's ear is the unhappy J1 clash of clarinet and bassoon in an orohestral rendering, t ? The world's health out of tune; weak lungs and the atmosphere in collision, disordered eye and noonday light in quarrel, rheumatic limb and damp weather in strug- 11 gle; neuralgias, and pneumonias, and con- e sumptions, and epileptics in flocks sweep the neighborhoods and cities. Where you ' find one person with sound throat, and keen a eyesight, and alert ear, and easy respira- ? tlon, and regular pulsation, and 6upple limb, and prime digestion, and steady 4 nerves, you And 100 who have to be very 3 careful because this or that or the other c physical function is disordered. The human Intellect out of tune; the c nn.nnr?lv cwnvrtH rvr thfl mpmnrv S lUUjJiUOU k n.LVUf.lJ J . leaky, or the will weak, or the temper in- 11 flammable, the well balanced mind exceptional. D Domestic life out of tune; only here and 3 there a conjugal outbreak of Incompata- 0 bility of temper through the divorce courts ^ or a filial outbreak about a father's will ~ n through the surrogate's court, or a case of wife beating or husband poisoning through ? the criminal courts, but thousands of fami- J lies with June outside and January within. J Society out of tune; labor and capital, * their hands on each other's throat; spirit s of caste keeping those down in the social ij scale who are straggling to get up, and J putting those who are up in anxiety lest they have to come down. No wonder the E old pianoforte of society is all out of tune, c when hypocrisy, and lying, and subterfuge, c and double dealing, and sycophancy, and 8 oharlatanism, and revenge have for 6000 " years been banging away at the keys and a stamping the pedals. E On all sides there is a shipwreck of har- J monies?nations in discord without realiz- E ine it. So wrone is the feeling of nation 8 lor nation that symbols chosen are fierce and destructive. In this country, where * our skies are full of robins and doves and F morning larks, we have our national sym- j| bol, the fierce and filthy eagle, as cruel a b bird as can be found in all the ornithologi- i F ?al catalogues. In Great Britian, where 1 they have lambs and fallow deer, their sym- 3 bol is the merciless lion. In Russia, where " from between her frozen north to her 3 blooming south all kindly beasts dwell, 1 they chose the growling bear, and in the n world's heraldry a favorite figure is the ? dragon, the fabled winged serpent, fero- ^ clous and dreadful. And so fond is the ^ world of contention that we climb out J through the heavens and baptize one of the other planets with the spirit of battle ' and call it Mars, after the god of war, and we give to the eighth sign of the zodiac c the name of the scorpion, a creature which c is chiefly celebrated for its deadly sting. ? But, after all, these symbols are expressive ? j\t f urav nation feals toward nation?dis- ' cord wide as the continent and bridging the seas. I suppose yon have noticed how warmly in love dry goods stores are with other dry goods stores, and how highly grocery men think of the sugars of the grocery man on the same street, and in what a eulogistic way allopathic and homeopathic doctors speak of each other and how ministers will sometimes put ministers on that beautiful k cooking instrument which the English call W . a spit?an iron roller with spikes on it and turned by a crank before a hot Are?and then, if the minister being roasted cries out against it, the men who are turning him say, "Hush, my brother: we are turning this spit for the glory of God and the good of your soul, ana you must be quiet, while we close the service with: 'Blest be the tie that binds 'Our hearts in Christian love.'" The earth Is diametered and circumfer\ ?nced with disoord. and the music that was y rendered at the laying of the world's cornerstone when the morning stars sang together is not heard now, and though here and there from this and that part of society and from this and that part of the earth there comes up a thrilling solo of love, or a warble of worship, or a sweet duet of patience, they are drowned out by a discord that shakes the earth. Paul says, "The whole creation groaneth." And while the nightingale, and the woodlark, and the canary, and the plover sometimes sing so sweetly that their notes have been written out in musical notation, and it is found that the cuckoo "sings in the key of D and that the cormorant is a basso In the winged choir, yet sportsman's gun and the autumnal blast often leave them ruffled and bleeding or dead in meadow or forest. Paul was right, for the groan in nature drowns out the prima donnas of the sky. l Tartini, the great musical composer, dreamed one night that he made a contract with satan, the latter to be ever in the i composer's service. But one night he i handed to satan a violin, on which Diabo- { ?* 1 mnain fKof tho r?nm_ 1US putyeii sui.li 3WOCI IUU.hv .uu ?... poser was awakened by the emotion and < tried to reproduce the sounds, and there- ' from was written Tartini's most famous t piece, "The Devil's Sonata," a dream in- t genious. but faulty, for all melody de- i ficends from heaven and only discords as- I " cend from hell. All hatreds, feuds, con- | troversies, backbitings and revenges are i the devil's sonata, are diabolic fugue, are i demoniac phantasy, are grand march of ] doom, are allegro of perdition. < But if in this world things in general are : out of tune to our frail ear, how muck < mnra an to helnp.q anselic and deiflc! i^[ takes a skilled artist to fully appreciafS" ^ disagreement of sound. Many have no cro eacity to detect a defect of musical execu-f^ oo, and though there were In one bar as |: many offenses against harmony as could crowd In betwren the lower F of the bass !ind the higher G of the soprano it would c;ive them no discomfort, while on the forehead of tho educated artist beads of perspiration would stand out as a result of the harrowing dissonance. While an amateur was performing on a piano and had just struck the wrong chord, John Sebastian .'mmAnfol nAmnAoar onfornH fVip> room, and the amateur rose in embarrass- j ment, and Bach rushed past the host, Who stepped forward to greet him, and before | the keyboard had stopped vibrating put his adroit hand upon the keys and changed the painful inharmony into glorious cadence. Then Bach turned and gave salutation to the host. But the worst of all discord Is moral discord. If societv and tho world are painfully discordant to imperiect man, what must they be to a perfect God? People try to define what sin is. It seems to me that sin is getting out of harmony with God, a disagreement with his holiness, with his purity, with his love, with his commands, jur will clashing with his will, the finite j lashing against the infinite, the frail igainst the puissant, the created against She creator. If 1000 musicians, with flute md cornet-a-piston and trumpet and vioonoelly, the hantboy and trombone and ill the wind and strincred instruments that i jver gathered in a Dusseldorf jubilee should resolve that they would play out of tune md put ooncord to the rack and make the 5lace wild with shrieking and grating and asping sounds, they could not make such jandemonium as that which rages in a sinul soul when God listens to the play of its I houghts, passions and emotions?discord, Ifelong discord, maddening discord. The world pays more for discord that it loes for consonance. High prices have >een paid for music. One man gave 3225 o hear the Swedish songstress in IJew fork, and another $625 to hear her in Boson, and another $650 to hear her in Provilence. Fabulous prices have been paid for weet sounds, but far more has been paid or discord. The Crimean War cost $1,700,00,000 and the American Civil War over i9,500,000,000, and the war debts of proessed Christian nations are about $15,000,00.000. The world pays for this red ticket, rhich admits it to the "saturnalia of broken ones and death agonies and destroyed lties and plowed graves and crushed learts, any amount of money satan asks. )iscord! Discord! But I have to tell you that the song that he morning stars sang together at the lay- j Qg of the world's cornerstone is to resound | gain. Mozart's greatest overture was j omposed one night when he was several imes overpowered with sleep, and artists j ay.they can tell the places in the music There he awakened. So the overture of he morning stars spoken of in my text tas been asleep, but it will awaken and be Qore grandly rendered by the evening tara of the world's existence than by the aornlng 9tars, and the vespers will be weeter than the matins. The work of all ;ood men and women and of all good hurches and all reform associations help o bring the race back to the original harnony. The rebellious heart to be attuned, ocial life to be attuned, commercial ethics | o be attuned, internationality to be atuned, hemispheres to be attuned. The whole world must also be attuned [ >y the same power. I was in the Fair- I tanks weighing scale manufactory of Ver- I iiont. Six hundred hands, and they never | lou tt SintvOl \>ULUptDlU uaiuiuuj UCboww** abor and capital, the operatives of scores if years in their beautiful homes near by he mansions of the manufacturers, whose nvention and Christian behavior made the ;reat enterprise. So, all the world over, abor and capital will be brought into unhony. You may have heard what is ailed the "Anvil Chorus," oomposed by rerdi, a tune played by hammers, great ,nd small, now with mighty stroke and iow with heavy stroke, beating a great ron anvil. That is what the world has got o come to?anvil chorus, yardstick chorus, huttle chorus, trowel chorus, crowbar horus, pickax chorus, gold mine chorus, ail track chorus, locomotive chorus. It an be done, and it will be done; so all ocial life will be attuned by the gospel iarp. Heaven'ls to have ajnewsong, an entirely tew song. But I should not wonder if, as ometimes on earth, a tune is fashioned out if many tunes, or it is one tune with the ariations; so some of the songs of the releemed may have been playing through hem the songs of earth. And how thrillng, as coming through the great anthem of he saved, accompanied by harpers with heir harps and trumpeters with their rumpets, if we should hear some of the trains of "Antioch" and "Mount Pisgah" ,nd "Coronation" and "Lenox" and "St. lartin's" and "Fountain" and "Ariel" and 'Old Hundred!" How they would bring to aind the praying circles and communion lays, and the Christmas festivals, and the hurch worship in which on earth we minted! I have no idea that when we bid arewell to earth we are to bid farewell to kli these grand old gospel hymns which aelted and raptured our souls for so many rears. Now, if sin is discord and righteousiess is harmony, let us get out of the one md enter the other. After our dreadful Civil War was over, a the summer of 1869, a great national leace jubilee was held in Boston, and as ,n elder of my church had been honored iy tho selection of some of his music to be eadered on that occasion I accompanied lim to the jubilee. Forty thousand people at and stood in the great coliseum erected or that purpose. Thousands of wind and tringed instruments: Twelve thousand rained voices. The masterpieces of all tges rendered, hour after hour and day .fter day?"Handel's "Judas Maccabaus," ipoar s ".Last juagraeni, .Deesiiuveu ? 'Mount of Olives," Haydn's "Creation," lendelssohn's "Elijah " Meyerbeer's 'Coronation March," rolling on and up n surges that billowed up to the heavens. The mighty cadences within were acompanied on the outside by the ringing if the bells of the city, and cannon on the ommons discharged by electricity,in exact ime with the music, thundering their awul bars of a harmeny that astounded all lations, sometimes I bowed my head and rept. Sometimes I stood up in the enhantment, and sometimes the effect was o overpowering I felt I could not endure t, especially when all the voices were in ull chorus, and all the batons were in full rave, and all the orchestra is full triimph, and 100 anvils under mighty hamners were in full clang, and all the towers >f the city rolled in their majestic sweettess, and the whole building quaked with he boom of thirty cannon. Parepa Rosa, vith a voice that will never again be I J <?? l-? f Ka o nnn?oli/> J : 4 U UIU U UJ oauu UUUl LUO ??. vucauQwiiv roiee proclaims that time shall be no lonjer, rose above all other sounds in herrenlering of our national air, "The Star Spanned Banner." It was too much for a nortal?quite enough for an immortal?to lear. And while some fainted, one wonanly spirit, released under its power, iped away to be with God. 0 Lord, our God, quickly usher in the vhole world's peace jubilee, and all islands >f the sea join the five continents, and all he musical instruments of all nations iombine, and all the organs that ever lounded requiem of sorrow sound only a fraud march of joy, and all the bells that oiled for burial ring for resurrection, and ill the cannon that ever hurled death icross the nations sound forth eternal vicory. And over all acclaim of earth and ninstrelsy of heaven there will be heard me voice sweeter and mightier than any luman or angelio voice, a voice once full of ears, but now full of triumph, the voice of Jhrist saying, "i aai aipoa ana omega, he beginning and the end, the first and he Ia9t." Then, at the laying of the top (tone of the world's history, the same roices shall be heard as when, at the layng of the world's cornerstone, "the mornng stars sang together." Hurled From a Runaway Bugsry, But Saved by a Bystander. The most fortunate catch ever witnessed n Elizabeth, N. J., was made a few after100ns ago, by a young man who refuses to jive his name. John Conard, of Elizabeth avenue, was >ut driving with his three-year-old child, rhe horse took fright and ran away. In f hn n n i m a I ftf r Pnnu rrr a a .IVlUfs 3kvp buv *..4.*. vvuu4vi t< v.^ ihrown out. He was cut and bruised but lot seriously. The child remained in the juggy until the horse crashed into a lamppost. The shock brought the runaway to i standstill and shot the child into the air is though thrown from a catapult. The ittle one was but a few feet from the wlniows of Horning's drug, and was thrown jtraight at them, but, while in the air, a young man who had been standing In iront of the store, caught the child. The H|e with which the child was moving 9Hw the young man agait^Khe window, ^Sdid not break it. The cpn.was badly > Jed but unhurt. . THE SABBATH SCHOOL. INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS FOR JUNE 13. Lesson Text: "Paul'* Advice to Timothy," II Tim. I., 1-7; 111., 14-17?Golden Text: II Timothy 111., 15 ? Commentary by Rev. Dr. D. M. Stearns. The second epistles are all suggestive of the last days when the world shall have corrupted the church, and contain special instructions to God's servants for times of disorders, confusions, formality, etc. The faithful witness is taught how to deal with those who "turn away from," "err concerning" and "resist" the truth, or "will not endure second doctrine" (II Tim. I., 15; U., 18; til., 8; iv., 3). 1. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Jesus Christ." He loved to think of himself as one sent forth by Jesus Christ and chosen for this honor by the will of God. Why God should choose my of us Is certainly a great wonder, but If we have truly received the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, resting wholly and jnly on His finished work of atonement, wo need not fear to believe that we were '-hosen In Him before the foundation of :he world ( Eph. 1., 4); that we should be iiolv before Him, and that He might send is forth In His name, even as the Father lent Him (John xvii., 18; xx., 21). The life that God gives is in Christ, and apart from Him there Is no life (I John v., 12). O TimAfKtf nr\tr t?lt' hfllftVoH flnn* }race, mercy and peace from God the ?ather and Christ Jesus our Lord." In I Tim. i., 2, he calls Him "My own son in the aith," and in Phil, ii., 20 (margin), He ffrote that he had no man so dear unto 3im as Timothy. We first read of him in Vets xvi,. 1, as a disciple living as Lystra, lis mother a Jewess, his father a Greek. Ind Paul on his second missionary tour :ook him with him. It is by the grace or unleserved favor of God through Jesus Christ :hat we are saved. 3 "I thank God, whom I servej from my orefathers with pure conscience, that with>ut ceasing I have remembrance of thee in ny prayers night and day." Before the iouncil he also said that he had lived in all ;ood conscience before God (Acts xxiii., 1)' )r as he puts it In Acts xxvi., 5, "After the nost straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee." He does not attempt to excuse lis great sins against Jesus Christ and His edeemed, but says that he verily thought hat he ought to do these thing (Acts xxvi., >) 4 "Greatly desiring to see thee, being nindful of thy tears, that I may be filled ..ItU ?? T5o.il nrotroH mnnh tf\r fchftClA tVlllU JUJ . X UUt |/IHJWU ?-Uv?vu. *vo whom God had given him, but he would jray, especially for such a one as his son Timothy. If Paul had the Philipplan and )ther believers in his heart (Phil, i., 7) and srayed much for them, how much more loes our Lord Jesus carry love and pray 'or His redeemed ones. We are not told he cause of Timothy's tears, but If Paul vas mindful of them how mucn more is >ur Lord of ours. There is comfort to hunan weakness in the thought that the joy >f such a one as Paul might be increased >y Timothy. 5. "When I call to mind the unfeigned aith that is In' thee." Not in him only but n both mother and grandmother; not that aith is hereditary, but children may be so aught and trained that from earliest inancy they may be true believers In the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed are the mothers and grandmothers who so train the children. Unfeigned faith makes us think >f the "most surely believed" and "know ;he certainty" of Luke i, 1, 4. 6. "Wherefore I put thee in remembrance ;hat thou stir up the gift of God which is n tl.ee by the putting on of my hands." 3e refers to this also in I Tim. iv., 14. The Spirit bestows gifts upon people severally is He, the Spirit, will, and Goa places the nembers in the body as it hath pleased 3im (I Cor. xii., 11, 18). He gives to every nan his work and something to work with, ind says, "Occupy till I come" (Mark xiii., (4; Luke xix., 13). Then at His coming He will reward every man according to his works. 7. "For God hath not given us the spirit >t fear, but of power and of love, and of a (ound mind." Judging from the portion if the epistle following, such as i., 8, 12, 16; 1., 3, 10, 12; ill.. 12; iv., 5, 16, we would nfer that the fear referred to is a fear of what one might be called upon to endure; 3ut thoughts of the perfect love of God cast )ut all fear (I John iv., 18). 8-14. "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned "and hast been aswred of." Our Lord said, "Continue ye in My love,,' "If ye continue in my word, then are ye My disciples indeed" (John xv., 9; vili., 31). I like to remember that Luke In Kafflnnlno nf hia o>r>snel that he ,olu lu vuo wwp4.*-?-n ?- o ?r-- ? I wrote concerning the thing9 which were 'most surely believed," that his friend | might know the certainty" of these things (Luke i., 1, 4), and that Abraham was fully persuaded that what God had promised He was able to perform (Rom. iv., 20, 21). 15. "And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." These could be none other than what some despise as the Old Testament writings, in which Paul testifles there was wisdom unto salvation and the way of faith In Christ Jesus. I think the way of salvation, God's way, Is nowhere in all the Bible more simply set forth than in Gen. 111., 21. The Lord Himself provided the clothing by the shedding of blood, and Adam and Eve had only to drop as useless their own works, the flg leaf aprons, and accept God's provision. Blessed are the children who from their.youth are taught these things. , 16. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous'ness." While the Bible contains the very words of God and some of the very words of the devil," as well as soma Words of good and bad men, yet the whole book, from beginning to end, was written by the 8oirit of God, He giving the men whom he used the very words to write, as Is plain from such texts as Ex. Iv., 12; II Sam. xxlll., 2; Jer. I., 7, 9; xxxvi.. 2,4, 6, 8; John xil., 49. The Spirit who wrote the book Is still In the book, and its words are spirit and life(John vi., 63). 17. "That the man of God may be per" feet, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." A man of God Is one who is first a child of God by faith In Christ Jesus, and then fully yielded to God as His purchased property for His service, the Lord's messenger with the Lord's message, receiving his orders from God an 1 responsible to God, seeking in all things His approval. While we are saved freely by grace, It is that we may walk in the works. He has prepared for us (Eph. II., 10), and the Scriptures alone are sufficient to qualify fully for all good works. If we will only yield fully, God will work in us both to will and to do His good pleasure (Phil. 11., 13; Heb. xiii., 21).?Lesson ueiper. MUD CEYSERS IN FORMATION. People Llrlng Near Moro Bay, Cal., Behold a Strange Spectacle. Residents of the country adjacent to Moro Bay, California, were startled by a report which began like the low rumble of thunder and ended with a somewhat louder blast. A few days ago a similar report was heard and a muaj geyser appearea in the small arm of Moro Bay, just opposite the town site of El Moro. This Reyser has formed a small Island, which for a week ha9 been the wonder of the people of the vicinity. Following the report Thursday evening, a second geyser sprung into existence abdut 200 yards distant from the first and a little further inland. This last geyser is an exact counterpart of the one formed last Friday night. i? It is only a short distance from the shore, and people who gathered there could plainly eeo the small island of dark mud ana sand -which had beon formed. Like the eruption of last Friday night, tho surface of the second island bears evidence of having a small-sized crater from whioh large quantitifis of the blackest mad are slowly risingutaoflt or Connecticut's Daughters. Miss Anna Maria Benton, of Windsor, Conn., was on? huudred years of age last week. Her father, Ellhu Stanley Benton, was a sailor in the Revolutionary War, and in view of this fact she was voted an honorary member of the Martha Washington Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution at a meeting held October 20, 1895. 8he is said to be the oldest living "own daughter" in Connecticut, and a gold spoon, to which all own daughters are entitled, was presented to har on January I, 1896. IN TIE QUIET HOUES. PREGNANT THOUCHTS FROM THE WORLD'S GREATEST AUTHORS. The Weaving of God'rt Web?I'urincation Through Suffering ? Lives to Endure Through Etemity-A Mother'* Prayer ?Sermon on the Mount-Loved Nature. One small life in God's great plan, How futile it seems as the ages roll, Do what it may, or strive how it can, To alter the sweep of the infinite whole! A single stitch in an endless web, A drop in the ocean's flow and ebb ; But th? pattern is rent where the stitch is lost, Or marrou where the tangled threads have crossed: And each life that fails of the true intent, Mars the perfect plan that its Master meant. ?Susan Coolidge. Purification Through Suffering. There is no place, no occasion, where God can be more glorified than on a couch of paiD, or where more real spiritual strength 1 ?? ? T mill afpunffthwn 13 llU^Ul l*3U. X UC xjuiu nut o?* ~_r>him upon the bed of languishing'. Ihcu wilt make al.. his bed in his si.ckness." To use the familiar earthly phrase, howmany in that peculiar school of suffering have "graduated with honors." They came out of "gre8.t tribulation." Tribulation (tribulum)?the threshing flail?the grainsifter, as the root-word imports, winnowing the husk from the seed. And this "tribulation worketh [not impatience, as we would have expected, but] patience; and patience, experience ;acd experience, hope." It was the smitten rook of the desert that yielded the refreshing wuters....Perhaps, though reluctant to own it, you may be among the faithful toilers who have broken down by reason of your very fidelity to duty. The bow wis overstrained, and the bowstring his snapped; the harp^ ?.l OnH tha milQlrt h AQ ceased. The life of excessive consecration has only paid its martyr penalties. Many a sick bed sufferer reminds one of the Marechal Niel rose that flowers so luxuriantly as often to bloom itself to death. By the very profusion of goodness tbe root becomes weakened, the overloaded blossom exhausts the mortal energy. But, be still! God has work for you to do,when the wings are clipped ac.d the eye is Aimed. While you may be bewailing curtailed opportunities and baffled purposes, you can in other ways "glorify him in the lires." Yours is a shadowed couch, but it is in the "shadow of His hand He hath "hid you." You may be able 10 say not hing and to do nothing, yet you can remember, in your very helplessness, Milton's noble line : "They also serve who only stand and wait." ?J. R. MacDuff, D. D., In "The Pillar in the Night." Lives Shall Endure Through Eternity. What would you say if, when pointed to a worn iidk m a cnam, tuo wuruum suunou you how strong aoine of the others are, and proposed to let it pass ? Or suppose the engineer of some great viaduct were shown a loose rivet or a fractured girder, and he should reply by pointing out how strong the piers are. and pleading that it does not look a bad bridge on the whole. Only, no engineer would reply so. No ! the fact that the rest of the structure is so good, is a reason for not giving it up as worthless, but not a reason for being satisfied with it as it is, even for one day. If it be left as it is all the strong points go for nothing ; the flaw, the weakness, gives the valuation of it and, if left in it, will by and by bring itS down. Deal with your life which is immortal at least as faithfully as with these lifeless things which are only meant to last a few short years. What are these things after all? What is the most wondrous machine, with all its most delicate movements, compared to a human life? What is earth's costliest structure compared to a good name, a stainless conscience, a true heart? What is the highest trust that man can sot you to defend,compared with that invisible fortress of the soul? A little while and these flnelywrought structures, so closely watched that each flaw may be repaired, shall be only masses ot rusting metal,and the strong forts that true men hold to tbe death shall be only grass-grown mounds, memorials of the ever-fading past. But these lives which Ood has given us to keep and use shall endure through eternity's countless years, and bear into the immeasureable future the mark of how we live and act today.?Brooke Herford, D. 1)., in "Sermons of Courage and Cheer." A Mother'* Prayer. Blessed Lord, thou are infinite in love and tenderness and dost comfort us even as a mother com forteth. Thou dost long and wait with patience day by day for the unfolding of thine own nuture within us. Thou dost rejoice in every sign of victory over the lower and ever up-reaching toward the higher. Ana so tnou an oy our aiuo wutinuallv, our divine inspirer and never failing friend. We pray thou wilt make this love of thine more real to us. Help us who are mothers to realize that we are the children of a king and that thou dost inciude jn thy dear fumily the children's children, that the yearning of our hearts for them is but the echo of thine own, and that nothing which touches their welfare is unnoticed by thy watchful eye. We rejoice, 0 Lord, that thine ear is always open to our prayers for our dear children. 0 bless them this new day ! They have not passed this way heretofore. We commend them in faith to thee. May they be respon sive to thy leading in right and pure ways. And when the evening shades gather about us and the curtains of night are drawn, may we all with unsoiled feet come around the family altar with songs of praise and thanksgiving to thee, our Father, who hast blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. The Sermon on the Mount. Manuals of devotion with complicated rules for getting on in the Christian life would do well sometimes to return to the simplicity of nature, and earnest souls who are attempting sanetiReation by struggle instead of sanctiflcation by faith might be spared much humiliation by learning the botany of the Sermon on the Mount. There can indeed be no other principle of growth than this. It is a vital act. And to try to make a thing grow is as absurd as to help the tide to come in or the sun to rise No man by taking thought has ever added a cubit to his stature; nor has any man Dy mere working ai; bis soui ever approached nearer to the stature of the Lord Jesus Christ's life unfolded itself from a divine germ planted centrally in His nature, which drew as naturally as a flower from a bud.? Drummond. Jeau* Loved Nature. The careworn are so moody and gloomy that they have no eye for the wild flowers, and no ear for the 9ong of birds or for the music of rippling brooks or autumn winds. But Jesus had aa'eye and ear for all sights and sounds of nature. '*1 say unto you that even Solomon iu all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Inquire not ouriously of what flower He spoke, as if it must needs have been some exceptionally lovely flower of gorgeous hue that called forth such an encomium. Je^us. I believe, would have said the name thing about the simplest wild flower that grows in the meadow or by t&e waysiae?me snuwuruy, tuo ptuuium ui tbe daisy. ?A. B. Bruce. To become like Christ is the only thing In the world worth caring for, the thing before which every ambition of mau is folly, and all lower achievement vain.?Drummond. If we leave our doors wide open to God he enters in and makes a heaven of our souls. Money In the Volcano. The volcano Popocatepetl has been bonded to an American syndicate, the object being to exploit Us sulphur, bring ice and wood to the city of Mexico, and carry tourists up to the crater. want a Laoor roram. Boston Building Trades Council insists that the fund ' left by BenjaminJ Franklin for the benefit of mechanics bo employed In establishing a labor forum. The fund now amounts to $400,000. Remember* the Old Patroon*. Joseph King, who died 106 years old at Lanslngburg, N. Y., remembered when the DutohTarmfln of Mew York owned alavea. A TEMPERANCE COLUMN. THE DRINK EVIL MADE MANIFEST IN MANY WAYS. ? I Since Papa Doesn't Drink?Brief Sketch of the Career of Mlsa France* E. Wlllard, for Nearly a Quarter of a Century an Active Temperance Worker. My papa's awful happy now, And mamma's happy, too, 'Cause papa doesn't drink no more The way he used to do. And everything's so jolly now! 'Taint like it used to be. vvnen papa never siayea ai Bgme With poor mamma and me. It made me feel so very bad To see my mamma cry, And though she'd smile I'd spy the tear A-hiding in her eye. But now she laughs just like we girlsIt sounds so cute, I think? And sings such pretty little songs Since papa doesn't drink. You see my pretty Sunday dress. It's every bit all new. It ain't made out of mamma's dress. The way she used to do. And mamma's got a pretty cioak, All trimmed with funny fur, And papa's got some nice new clothes And goes to church with her. Mian Frances E. Wlllard. Few women are in less need of an introduction to the people of any part of the United States than Frances E. Willard, the t^uipoi WUIKCI. rut uoojtijr a i^uouoi of a century she has been an active worker, and for most of the time a prominent leader in the cause of Prohibition. To her more than to any other person is credited the powerful organization known as the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, which has grown up since 1874 and now has a branch in nearly every town of any considerable size In the United States, and has extended itself over a large part of the world. It is said that in the early days of the Union Miss Willard visited and SDoke in every town in the United States having a population of more than ten thousand, and for ten years averaged one public meeting a day. Sho was born in the village of Churchville near Rochester, N. Y., in September, 1839, but since 1858 has lived in Evanston, 111., a pretty suburb of Chicago. Before sue u??> uicu nor me tu roiurui uiuvciucuw slie was president of the Woman's College at Evanston, and afterward its dean when it became a part of the Northwestern University. Her writings attracted the attention of Lady Henry Somerset, who wrote: "My first visit to America was as much to see and know Miss Willard as for any other purpose and to understand from her the principle upon which she had worked the marvellous organization of which she haa long been president." In 1892 Miss Willard visited England by invitation of Lady Henry Somerset and received in Exeter Hall an enthusiastic welcome from the united philanthropic societies of Great Britain. Upon her return she was greeted warmly by Immense crowds ol her friends in all the. large cities of h?r native country.?New York Tribune. Relation of Alcohol and Crime. As gathered from the Belgian prison al Louvain during the twenty-one years from 1874 to 1895. In this time there were received 2826 criminals. Of this number 12.4 per cent, were proved to be drunk wbecv they committed the crime: of those undei life-sentence, 40.7 per cent, were drunk; ol frhose condemned to die, 43.1 per cent. But of the total number received it was shown that 44.7 percent, were habitual drunkards; of those under life-sentence, 54.6 per cent, were habitual drunkards; and of those condemned to die, sixty per cent, were habitual drunkards. Thus, pari passu, as alcohol degrades the physical, mental, and moral condition of him who drinks it, it leads him to commit graver and graver crimes. Temporary drunkenness may incite to crimes, but chronic alcoholism much more so. And thus with the enormity of the crime, as a rule, Is there an increase of the drunken degradation which leads to it. ?E. Chenery, M. D. Story of a Two-Dollar Bill. A two-dollar bill came Into the hands ol a relative of mine, writes a lady In Boston, which speaks volumes on thi horrors ol strong annK or tne trarac in it. xnere was written in red ink on the back of it the following: "Wife, children and more than $10,000 all gone; I alone am responsible. All has gone down my throat. When I waa twenty-one I had a fortune., I am not yet thirty-five years old. I have killed my vbeautiful wife, who died of a broken heart; have murdered my children with neglect. When this bill is gone I do not know how I can get my next meal. I shall die a drunken pauper. This is my last money and my history. If this bill comes into the hands of any man who drinks, let him take warning from my life's ruin." Ah Victims of a Disease. It is proposed, by an Austrian measure, to treat all persons addicted to the drinking habit as victims of a disease, instead of as wilful criminals. Every person convicted of drunkenness will, therefore, instead of being sentenced to prison as a commot criminal, be conflncd in some asylum, much as the insane now are in the United States. Here he will remain for a term ol months or years, as may be deemed necessary to complete his cure. He will be under the charge of competent men and subject to sufficiently rigid rules to retain him in custody and prevent his escape; and h? will only be released upon examination 01 a medical board, which shall pronounce him cured of the alcoholic habit. Four Stages of Alcoholic Progress Stage one in the drinking of spirituous liquor, says a recent writer, is that gentle stimulation called moderate excitement 01 support. Stage two is elevation; whatever that may mean it i9 not elevation of character, of that I am satisfied. Stage three is confusion of mind, action and deed with sad want of elevation. Stage four is complete concatenation oil circumstances; all the stages perfectly matured; the journey completed, with the lying down, absolutely prostrated in mind and body. The destination is reached and found to be?a human being dead drunk and incapable. The knotty question then is this, ought a person to start on the remarkable journey of alcoholic progress at all? He "Drank Like a Fish." A young man of wealth and high social position aiea recently in .London unquestionably from drink, a9 will be seen from the following reports of the quantity of liquor put down to this youni,* man's daily account. On the day of his death he was said to ha,ve had ten glasses of whisky, half a bottle of Pommery, a glass of Benedictine, a &lass of sherry, and two bottles of Marcobrunner. This rate of consumption was exceeded on other days, and alcoholism clearly had marked this misguided young man for its.own. The doctors gave a terrible account of his condition. An Irritant and a Poison. Alcohol is not more necessary to health than any other chemical or medicinal agent'.' It excites the heart, hinders digestion, disturbs the liver, and stupefies-ttfe brain. It gives a momentary glow and stimulus, but you have to pay for them afterwards by an inevitable lessening of vital heat and animal power and mental force. Even in so-cblled moderate quantities it acts as an irritant an<f a poison. Temperance New* and Note*. The devil has a mortgage on the mar who forms the drink habit. "* Man is liable to commit any sin when in flamed with intoxicating drinks. Some men, if they prayed at all, would say: "Give us this day our daily grog." The Missouri Senate has passed a bill making it a misdemeanor to sell or give liquors to a minor without the written con sent of a parent or guardian. The drunkard leaves behind him a ruined character, a wretched example, a memory that soon rots. He bequeaths poverty, ignorance, and the memory of a life of wretchedness and shame. The editor of the Commercial Journal of Chicago says: "The fortifying of wines in Europe with beet root and potato spirit has ruined the wine trade there, and made wine-growing countries, which used to bo the most temperate and sober on earth, the most drunken" ....... ... HUCE ROCK OF MYSTERY. j Connecticut's Great Bowlder, I?rgeit If the United States. The Connecticut Lecrislature has L been considering the purchase of the State of Cochegan Rock, located midway between New London and Nor- t wich, and said by many persons to be the largest bowlder in the United States. It is eighty feet long, seventyeight feet high, contains about 70,000 cubic feet of stone, and is estimated to weigh 10,000 tons. It is unquestionably a relic of the glacial period, and was deposited in its present resting place very many centuries ago. Connecticut, says the New York Herald, has long been a famous stamping ground for the geologist and paleontologist. Almost everybody who is at all familiar with ancient birds and beasts remembers what is known * _ ^ xi r* a.: l j to science as me uuuiieuuuuii muustone footprints, footprints of birds so gigantic that it appalls one to think what they must have been like. Espec- . ially around Montville are there man; mute evidences of the glacial period, the stone, of Cochegan being the most 1 notable. This stone has been studied by the most famous geologists of the United , States, but none of them has ever been able to state with accuracy just what , variety it is. The strangest feature is ! that in appearance and in grain it is totally unlike any other stone found in Connecticut or New England, this lack of resemblance extending to other and smaller bowlders, which were also evidently deposited on Connecticut soil 1 by glaciers. Indian tradition says this stone was for centuries used as a council block by the red men of Connecticut. The first white man to own the land upon i ? ! BOCK OP MYSTEBY. ( \"'hick it stands was Samuel Chapman, and he, in 1762, sold it to Joshua Baker. It has changed owners several times since then, its present proprietor be- ( ing Alexander Atchinson. , The surface of the bowlder, r.s smooth in some portions as if it had been j operated on by a prehistoric worker j in stone, shows fantastic shapes and traces. Many persons have supposed that all this was the result of the storms of centuries beating upon it. Careful examination proves, however, i that these factors had little to do with the present appearanfce of the bowlder. To the scientific eye the marks of the i glacier are clear and distinct. It is the ice that made this strange carving and produced the almost polished surface. Just how far the rock extends into the crround has never been ascer- ] tained. i Mysteries of the Persian Gulf. Sir Henry Mance recently, in hie < inaugural address as President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, speaking of development of oceanic telegraphy, said in the Persian Gulf one occasionally witnessed natural phenomena which to the untraveled : might appear incredible. In the midst of the mountains near Mussendom he had seen during the thunderstorm sucb 1 displays of lightning as baffled descrip- 1 tion. He had, at certain seasons of the year, observed the water in bay? which was large enough to hold all the | fleets of the world?present exactly the appearance of blood. Not many miles ] from Mussendom he had witnessed mysterious fire circles flitting over the surface of the sea at a speed of 100 miles an hour?a phenomenon which no one had yet been able to explain. While steaming along the coast of Belochistan, he had been called from his cabin at night to observe the more common phenomenon of the milky sea, the r?IIao ftvvs-kiiT*/? Kninr* airvrrnlorltt I WJ4UOI IVI mi.onpiuuuu C.v , white and luminous. In the same losality the sea was, for short periods, as | if putrid, the fish being destroyed in , myriads, so that to prevent a pestil- , ence measures had to be taken to bury those cast up on the beach. This phenomenon was doubtless due to the outbreak of a submarine volcano and the I liberation of sulphureted hydrogen. In i these waters jellyfish were as large as j footballs, and sea snakes of brilliant hue were met with in great numbers. On one occasion a swarm of sea snakes forced their way up one of the creeks in Karachi Harbor, apparently for the purpose of having a battle royal, for the ground between high and low water mark was thickly covered with their bodies in positions betokening a deadly struggle. Made a Curious legacy. A curious probate suit has come up in the English law courts. An old gentleman, lately deceased, left a halfmillion dollars to found and endow a church on- the condition that ever; Sunday, before service, the. whole of the thirty-nine articles shall be read by a 'clergyman outside the church door. " Disinherited relatives are contesting the validity of the will. A Ktll-louH Duty. Mamma Hen?"Where are you go in'?" Hortense?"Oh, just for a little spin, mamma." Mamma Hen (reprovingly) ? S,I should think you would stay at home and help your mother scratch up that new onion bed that Neighbor Peaseley set out this morning." I )UR BUDGET OF HMOR." .AUCHTER-PROVOKINC STORIES FOR LOVERS OF FUN. L Foolish Will?Excessive Prudence?At>-? rnptly Ended Its Journey?Quite Daft ?Prepared for the Worst?Not in 8to?ll ?Thought It Unnatural, Etc.. Etc. "I pity Will with all my heart, But, oh, I fear that we must part, And that at once; For ho has never seemed to care To cleave the circumambient air, And so I ask, why should he share My love, the dunce? "Now Tom can ride in splendid wise, In fact, he once lugged off a prize." (Just here she sighed). "80 I must bid dear Will adieu, You'd do the same thing, wouldn't you? ,;'2? Although he's rich and handsome, too, -m He doesn't ridel" ?Cleveland Leader. ' ja Excessive Prudence. He?"You insist on my getting my [ile insured before we are engaged?" She?"Tea?even before you ask papa."?Harlem Life. Abruptly Ended Iita Journey. Bibman?"Did your watch stop when you dropped it on the floor?" Magley?"Of course it did. Did pou think it would go through?"?Tit- | Bit* Quite Daft. "Our cook is crazy about bicycling.** "Does she ride much?" "Ride! She goes on her wheel to $ bang out the washing."?Detroit Free press, :;,J| Not in Stock. Floor Walker?"She complains that , rj 70U didn't show her common civility." ;1| Shop Girl?"I showed her every- ^ V bhing iu my department."?Detroit 1 Journal. Prepared for the Wont. "Now, when you ask papa for me, JO BUXO KJ itwo HI in line a uiau. "You bet I will. He doesn't get my chance at my back if I can help v t."?Cleveland Plain-Dealer. Thought it Unnatural. Laura?"What do you think of Miss 7an Dough's singing? It is entirely ?y ear." . 'h Noble?"Goodness, I thought it '::vl jould not be by mouth."?Pittsburg ; zfyt Sews. ^|H| Inexplicable. He?"Yes, 'because' is a woman's reason?and it is about all the reason <a ihe has." She?"It is about all the reason sho .: iould have for marrying a man."? -1 Cincinnati Enquirer. Cannot Improve Perfection. He?"I think when a fellow has as opportunity to kiss a pretty girl ho V$wB jught to improve it." She?"How ungallantl Do you really mean to say that it could be improved?"?Cincinnati Enquirer. Cannibalistic Tendencies. "Who is that young fellow?" "That's Jim Dowling, better known , 'ViJjgj 13 'Cannibal.'" "Why cannibal?" "His father is a retired missionary, and Jim lives on him. "?Cleveland Ur; Plain-Dealer. A Back Number. "It's strange," said the young woman, "how things go out of vogue. ' 'Trilby' has gone. completely out of , ]/ style." "Yes," said the young man in bi- ? jycle clothes, "she's a '93 model at tho latest."?Washington Star. False Prophet*. "They told me," said he to himself, * t ''that when I married her I would be . spoken, of as Mrs. Bingle's husband. ' Bat they lied." "So they did," said she, who had ; overheard. "You are not spoken of at ill."?Indianapolis Journal. The Supreme Power. "Do you mean to say," thundered . the Court, "that you hold any human iuthority higher than the laws of the land?" "No," stammered the timid witness, "except when I'm at home. My wife makes the laws there."?Detroit Free / ;v'..A3 Press. Literally Described. "I hear that our friend recently met ; witu some serious revwraea. "Yes," replied the man who wears' bicycle clothes all the time. "I was -0 with him when it occurred. He was trying to do some fancy riding and accidentally turned two backward somer3aults."?Washington Star. Artful. James?"Do you always write a letter in such large script as you are using now? I could not help noticing it." Henry?"No; but this is to a girl. JTou know they always size a fellow's regard for them by the number of pages he fills."?Cincinnati Enquirer. Used a Jimmy. "I overestimated my pull," said the man, with a trace of regret. He was a dentist, contemplating the molar that had defied his forceps. "But," he added cheerfully, "there is another influence I can bring to bear." He reached for his miniature crowbar with clawhammer attachment and vindicated this opinion.?New York J ournal. Not Much Improvement. "I suppose you've got rid of the girl in the next room who played the * piano?" "Yes, but there's a woman in.there now who keeps her husband awake ; u?if nicrhf pnaxino1 him for a new uau uuw - 0 bicycle." "Do you know the woman?" "Yes, she's my wife."?Cleveland Plain-Dealer. A Natural Indignation. "I want to have this man courtmartialed," said the subordinate officer. "I doubt whether his offence ia specifically provided for in any way, but something ought to happen to him." "What did he do?" "He treats serious matters with undue levity. I had just remarked thai tne tiaugnty ioe woiuu ucvci ua&D quail, when I saw a puff of smoke and,' dodged. He observed it, and with! what I consider culpable flippancy re-j marked: 'The haughty foe may not; / make you quail; but it doesn't havai any trouble in making you duck/"?"? Washington Star, J- ? A