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r WONDERS OF THE WHEEL FICHTINC MOCK DUELS ON BICYCLES A NEW SPORT IN EUROPE. ???lu I? J <1 i n <*?f r?m hutnnfs Mint 15c Absolute Masters of the ' TVIicel to Win Battle*?A Father and Five Son?; Who Klite ou One VHieel. Wheelmen of England ami France now tight mock duels on bicycles. It is not a mere imitation, but a genuine contest with the foils, which calls for as much skill as the combats which j took place on foot. The tirst qualification for a duellist of this sort is to ? MR. YOM SCHEIDT AND Hi! be an expert cyclist. "Whoever attempts one of these combats on wheels must be able to perfectly manage his machine without the assistance of his hands. One of the first principles of exercise with the foils is to keep constant watch on one's opponent. The i slightest negligence of this sort may give a fencer tremendous advantage. | If his wheel distracts his mind from +1ia rvKioof ia tr.vinor in attain hp ! gives his opponent just so much advantage which he otherwise would not have. So what it really amounts to is that the man who wishes to fight his duel on a bicycle must leave the management of his wheel to his feet and knees. The combatants in a mock duel of this nature are dressed in the ordinary outing costume of the cyclist. Their hands are clothed in gauntlets. The stockings worn are usually faced with a very fine quality of chamois skins. The shoes are of the regulation bicycle fashion, with rubber soles. On the inner side of the trousers, just above the point where the leggings and the bottoms of the trousers meet, ?ifl a rou.id piece of rubber about an eighth of an inch thick and seven and one-half inches in circumference. The object of this rubber is to give the rider a firm pressure upon the machine, just as the rubber soles of his shoes act as a safeguard against his feet slipping on the pedals. ~ Each duelist wears a mask which S has over each eye a projection of wire, ^ similar in form to a small inverted tea cup. This gives absolute freedom of vision. A short time ago I was fortunate enough to witness a contest with foils between two of the most expert riders in the United Kingdom. Both were mounted on American wheels, twentyeight pounds each. The wheels were of what is called the new folding pattern. That is, the frame is so constructed that it is possible to fold the wheels so that they come side by side, the centre of the frame working on a hinge. It is claimed that a wheel of this sort enables the rider to turn more quickly, and thus forms the best possible wheel for the mock duellist. Each man took up a position about fifteen feet from his antagonist. At a given signal both mounted their steeds of steel and slowly circled about one another, just as we have seen men fighting with knives seek an opening in which to make an attack. The left hand rests lightly on the handle bar. The right hand grasps firmly the foil, held at an angle of fortyfive degrees. Slowly the two circle about, until suddenly one ridder dashes forward as if from a catapult; there is a clash, clash of steel, and the first passes are over. The circling movement is contined by both men, who grow more and more wary as the circle narrows.. "Look out!" calls the director. *'Gentlemen, no foul, if you please." FIGHTING DUELS ON BICYCL] *? ? This makes the duellist more wary, for a foul by either means the loss of the,honor of the conflict. " 'Ware!" cries one of the combatants, and a thrust is aimed at his opponent's helmet with a force that would seem sufficient to throw him from the saddle. He sustains the shock gallantly, and the sharks fly as the foils beat upon rue another. Neither cyclist has lost his equili brium for a moment. The bicycles seem almost endowed with life. The riders evidently have forgotten that they are not on steeds of flesh and blood. Parry and thrust, clever defence, ^ blows that seem powerful enough to -y cleave the mask in twain?all these occur with lightniug-like rapidity. Then like a flash of light one cyclist whirls and circles about the other, and before the latter can fairly place himself lb a position of defence the more active wheelman has touched his antagonist over the heart with the button that protects the point of his weapon. The cyclist who is thus touched is forced to dismount his wheel, and his opponent has scored a point. This is the method that is generally followed, and, as may be seen from the description givwi, is exciting in the extreme. | One interesting result in France is that it is likely to become something more serious than mere pastime. Duelling is the vogue there. At the same time a duel about which there is a novelty, is something to be cultivated. Therefore, the mock duel on wheels, which the fencing exercise is called, has suggested to the volatile Frenchman a chance to furnish wheel 3 FIVE BOYS ON A BICYCLE. men with a method of his own for recor?+inrr inanlf I SIX ON ONE BICYCLE. How a Fond Buffalo Father Taken His Five Sons Wheeling. Mr. Yom Scheidt, of Buffalo, has five boys and a bicycle. As the bicycle is an ordinary wheel intended for the use of one person, and as the boys are all of them too small to stride the paternal machine, it is difficult at first to imagine the connection between Mr. Vom Scheldt's six possessions. A glance at the illustration, which we reproduce from the columns of the Buffalo Express, will, however, show that there is something in common to all, and that there is something very vital to the enjoyment of the Yom Scheidt youngsters. The spectacle of Mr. Vom Scheidt and his family enjoying a spin upon his bicycle must be edifying indeed, espec ially when the family tackle a sharp hill on a warm Jay. At this distance from Buffalo, says the New York Herald, we can almost hear the paternal ^fjji r CHEIF JJUMA TIPLE AND HIS WHEEL. muscles groan and. sfee great drops of perspiration rolling down the Yon? Scheidt brow. The boy in front of the family group is twelve years old, and so is the boy in the rear. No. 2 on the wheel is tKo latest Vntn t.n <ir>t?r t.Viin world of siu and wheeling. He is about six months old. The boy seated just behind the baby is five years old. The next is seven. Mr. Yom Scheidt is as muscular as he is kind hearted. He has wheeled himself and his five sons hundreds of miles. He has even taken them on several occasions to Niagara Falls and back. It can readily be believed that, as a contemporary remarks, "This bi' v ^ > Ps -/\ ft 88?A NEW SPOBT IN EUROPE. I r?Tr<-?llnn.fl is t.hft cf>ntr? of observation wherever it goes." An Indian Chief Who Ride* a Wheel. This Indiau chieftain is on his flr& visit to San Francisco, and is the guest of T. H. B. Varney. He is a graduate of the Carson Indian School, being now employed by the Government as an interpreter and naval officer. He was taught to ride last year by C. C. Hopkins, and is an excellent bicyclist. Oldest Church in New Knglahd. The historv of the first parish of Dorchester, now a part of Boston, is the history of one of the oldest churches in New England. The parish was organized June 23, 1636, and the first church was built in 1641. The eecond church was built in 1646, and the third in 1677. In 1743 they erected their fourth church, and ou May 16, 1816, the corner-stone of the church burned a year ago was laid. Now a beautiful reproduction of the old church is ready for dedication. Mangle Conxists of a Clumsy Lop and Roller*. Propelled by Frail Women, Slavonin is in Austria, or rather in the extreme south of Hungary, but its people are nearly all Servian. Its plains stretch for miles in an endless expanse of perfectly flat country. Its mud is fathomless, its women's daily task of scouring and fighting ag:ainst the dirt that the "men folks" bring in from out of doors on their shoes is never done. Between times there is the manele. This is a stout plank about seven feet long, raised to a height of two feet upon rough hewn logs. The middle of the plank is gripped by a framework rising from the floor to a height of five feet, with three great beams funning across it, the whole fastened together with pegs. Upon the plank are laid two rollers, and on these rests a half log of wood just fitting between the sides of the frame. This weight is smooth on its under surface, rough hewn above, and is provided at each end with three pegs which serve as handles. The ironer, when ready to begin, takes a sheet, for instance, winds it tightly around one of the rollers and puts an old ironing clotli around the outside. Then, lifting one end of the log and placing the roller under it, ,<<he works the weight to and fro, until the wrinkles are all presumably smoothed away. Then the sheet is removed, folded and put away, and the pext "ironing"?perhaps another sheet or three or four towels, or half a dozen | handkerchiefs?substituted. The second roller acts merely to balance the log, although two ironers can work the machine, one at each end. The woman who irons is as picturesque as her tools, when she wears the Slavonian peasant cos- i tume. Her shoes are flat and heedless; ' she has no stockings, but winds linen j about her lower limbs and binds it in , i , i A SLAVONIAN" WOMAN IRONING. place with thongs, leaving a space of two inches or so bare below the edge of her kilted skirt of coarse, undyed linen. Her yellow, sheepish jacket is ornamented with patches of red and j purple leather, quilted on with bright yarns, and her head is covered with a ' gaudy kerchief. Almost as often, however, she is stripped of her finery, except on Sundays, and "wears at her work bedraggled clothing of western Europe's unattractive work-a-day pattern. Bird* a# Seed Carriers. Two centuries ago tho Dutch destroyed every nutmeg tree in the Moluccas, in order to enjoy a monopoly of the business, having planted the trees in their own possessions. In spite of their most earnest efforts, however, the islands were constantly being restocked. For a long time the thing was a mystery, but at length it was solved. The doves of that quarter of the world are of large size, and readily Bwallow the seeds of the nutmeg. They traverse wide stretches of sea f and land in a few hours, and deposit the seeds not only uninjured, but better fitted for germination by the heat and moisture of the bird's system. Ey a similar process thousands of acres of land have been covered with trees of different kinds, the birds acting as nature's agents in the dissemination of plants. Darwin found in six grains Df earth adhering to the feet of a plover three different kinds of seeds, and in ? toud sticking to the feet of ducks and geese shot in England he found the Iseds of plants peculiar to the Victoria Kyanza, in Central Africa, thus proving {lot only the extent of migration, but Mso the possibility of plants appearing in strange localities through the igency of these birds. In the mud pticking to the feet of a Texas steer the seeds of five different kinds of weeds and grasses common in Texas were found by a microscopist after the arrival of the animal in New York.? Colman's Rural World. | All the human beings that ever lived could find standing room in Pennsylvania. He Envied the Girajfe. mriwM r t\ y II1 J ^ ' "Father, if I had a neck as long aa J that I could reach up to the top shell in t^e jay closet.*' ~ I Improvidence and ?Moat Overpowering El^H^^^H^DI Working People Stronf^^^HHH^J l'lea for Earnest Christian PrinJ^^BH Text: "He that earneth wages eariSI^H wages to put into a bag with holes."?Hag^l gal i, 6. In Persia, under the reign of Darius Hvstasnes. the Deonle did not prosncr. They made money, but did not keep it. They were like people who have a sack in which they put money, not knowing that the sack is torn or eaten of moths, or in some way made incapable of holding valuables. As fast as the coin was put in one end of the sack it dropped out of the other. It made no difference how much wages they got, for they lost them. "He that earneth wages earneth wages to put it Into a bag with holes." What has become of the billions ard billions of dollars in this country paid to the working classes? Some of these moneys have gone for house rent, or the purchase of homesteads, or wardrobe, or family expenses, or the necessities of life, or to provide comforts in old age. What has become of other billions? Wasted in foolish outlay. Wasted at the gaming table. Wasted in intoxicants. Put into a bag with 100 holes. Gather up the money that the working classes have spent for drink during the last thirty years, and I will build for every n 1. Aiinn n n/1 Intr rtilf f r\y V>{m n TYuiMii/jmuu a uwuac uuu xaj uut l w *. uuu t* garden, and clotho his sons in broadcloth and his daughters in silks, and place at his front door a prancing span of sorrels or bays, and secure him a policy of life insurance, so that the present home may be well maintained after he Is dead. The most perBistent, most overpowering enemy of the working classes is intoxicating liquor. It [s the anarchist of the centuries and has boycotted and is now boycotting the body and mind and soul of American labor. It Is to It a worse foe than monopoly and worse than associated capital. It annually swindles industry out of a large percentage of earnings. It holds out Its blastings solicitations to the mechanic Dr operative on his way to work, and at the noon spell, and on his way home at eventide; oh Saturday, when the wages are paid, It snatches a large part of the money that might come into the family and sacrifices it .among the saloon keepers. Stand the saloons of this country side by side, and it is larefully estimated that they would reach from New York 'to Chicago. "Forward, march," says the drink power, "and take possession of the American Nation." rue arinic business is pouring us vunouc md damnable liquids down the throats of ] hundreds of thousands of laborers, and ivhtle the ordinary strikes are ruinous both ;o employers and employees, I proclaim a strike universal against strong drink, tvhioh, if kept up, will be the relief of the working classes and the salvation of the S'atlon. I will undertake to say that there is not a healthy laborer in the United States svho within the next ten years, if he will refuse all intoxicating beverages and be saving, may not become a capitalist on a small 1 icale. Our country in a year spends 81,- i >00,050,000 for diink. Of course the working classes do a great deal of this expendl- ' ture. Careful statistics show that the j tvage earning classes of Great Britain ex pend In liquors .?100,000,000,000 or $500,- I ulA AAA a ill*- ^Anrn onH nol.mlato nh ^ trorkingmen, how much you have ex- J pended in these directions. Add it all up. Ldd up what your neighbors have expended and realize that instead of answerng the beck of other people you might lave been your own capitalist, When you leplete a workingman's physical energy, pou deplete his capital. The stimulated workman gives out "before the unstimulated workman. My father said: "I became a temperance man in early life, because I lotlced in the harvest field that though I was physically weaker than other workmen, I could hold out longer than they. They took stimulants. I took none." A bricknaker in England gives his experience in regard to this matter among men in his jmploy. He says, after investigation: 'The beer drinker who made the fewest iricks made 659,000, and the abstainer who nade the fewest bricks 746,000. The difference in behalf of the abstainer over the ndulger, 87.000." I have no sympathy for skinflint saving, nit I plead for Christian prudence, l'ou lay it is impossible now to lay up anything or a rainy day. I know it, but we are at ;he daybreak of National prosperity. Some leople think It is mean to turn the gas low vhen they go out of the parlor. They feel imbarrassed if the doorbell rings before :hev have the hall lighted. They apologize or the plain meal, if you surprise them at he table. Well, it is mean If it is only to )ile up a miserly board. But if it be to edusate your children, if it be to ?ive iqore lelp to your wife when she does not feel itrong, if it be to keep your funeral day rom being horrible beyond all endurance, >e'cause It is to be the disruption and anilhilatlon of the domestic circle?if it be or that, then it Is magnificent. There are those who are kept in poverty >eeause of their own fault. They might lave been well off, but they smoked or ihewed up their earnings, or they lived be- j rond their means, while others on the same 1 vages and on the same salaries went on to ( lompetency. I know a man who is all the ime complaining of his poverty and'crying ?ut against rich men while he himself keeps wo dogs and chews and smokes and is full :o the chin with whi3ky and beer. Wilkins ilicawber said to David Copperfleld: "Cop>erfleld, my boy, ?1 income, expenses, 20s. t id.; result, misery. But, Copperfleld, my I >oy, ?1 income; expenses, 19a, 6d.; result, f lappiness." But, 0 workingman, take 1 'our morning dram, and your noon dram, ' ind your {evening dram, and spend every- I hlng you have over for tobacco and exour- ( lions, and you insure poverty for yourself t ind your children forever! s If by some generous flat of the capl- ' alists of this country or by a new law of * he Government of the United States 1 wenty-flve per cent, or fifty per cent, or t .00 per cent, were added to the wages of s he working classes of America, it would 1 >e no advantage to hundreds of thousands ? )f them unless they stopped strong drink. [ lye, until they quit that evil habit the more 1 nonej* tne more ruin, me more wugea me v nore holes in the bag. My plea is to those working people who * ire in a discipleship to the whisky bottle, t he beer jug and the wine flask. And what S say to them will not be more appropriate i o the working classes than to the business 3 slasseu and the literary classes and the pro- 1 essional classes and all classes, and not 1 vith the people of one age more than of all t Lges. Take one good square look at the ? lufTering of the man whom strong drink ? las enthralled and remember that toward hat goal multitudes are running. The I lisciple of alcoholism suffers the loss of 3 self respect. Just as soon as a man I ivakes up and finds that he is the cap- J ive of strong drink, he feels demeaned. I do not care how recklessly he aots. He c nay say, "I don't care;" ho does care. ' He cannot look a pure man in the eye un- r gs it is with positive force ot! resolution. 1 rbree-fourths of his nature is destroyed; lis sel f-respect is .gone; he says things he s-ouid not otherwise say; he does things le would not otherwise do. When a man i s nine-tenths gone with strong drink, the Irst thlnir he wants to do is to persuade rou that he can stop any time he wants to. ?e cannot. The Philistines have bound ? lim hand and foot, and shorn bis locks,and t >ut out his eyes, and are making him grind i n the mill of a great horror. He cannot 1 itop. I will prove it. He knows that his jjourse is bringing ruin upon himself. He " oves himself. If he could stop, ho would. ? le knows his course is bringing ruin upon jj lis family. He loves them. Hewouldstop ' f ho couid. He cannot. Perhaps he could c hree months or a year ago; not now. Just c isk hin to stop for a month. He cannot? ; le knows he cannot, so he does not try. " God only Knows what the drunkard J luffers. Pain flies on every nerve, and * ravels every muscle, and gnaws every I . 1 n..' * t, on.l i J ;unti, uiiu uuiiu mm ocij umuu, itings with every poison, and. pulls at him 1 with, every torture. What reptiles crawl >ver his sleeping limbs. What fiends stand jy his midnight pillow. What groans tear lis ear. What horrors shiver through his t iouI. Talk of the rack, talk of the Inqulsi- I ;ion, talk of the funeral pyre, talk of the p irushinff Juggernaut? he feels them all at c >nce. Have you ever been in the ward of t ;he hospital where these inebriates are dyng, the stench of their wounds driving jack the attendants, their voicessounding I ihrough the night? The keeper "ccmes up a ?nd says: "Husn, now be still. Stop mate- a Ing all this noise." But it Is ofactual ogly f loves for strong^|^HH^BRgHmB^^9| could not erst ';r^HMvMf05x^BliB^EI^B would sell his How many homes hoWH|^^H^H^RH that way no one but there anything that will for this life and damn him rMBnMfi^KH is to come? Do not tell me thsl^^^RflH| 'oe happy when he knows that he^^^H^Bg ing his wife's heart and clothing dren with rags. Why, there are oIHE roads and streets of this land to-day lln^H children, barefooted, unwashed and un-^J kempt, want on every patch of their faded dress and on every wrinkle of their prematurely old countenances, who would have been In churches to-day and as well clad as yon are but for the fcct that rum destroyed their parents and drove them into the grave. Oh, rum, thou foe of God, thou despoiler of homes, thou recruiting officer of the pit, I hate thee. But my subject takes a deeper tone, and that is that the unfortunate of whom 1 speak suffers from the loss of the soul. The Bible Intimates that in the future world, ii we are unforgiven here, our bad passions and appetites, unrestrained, will go along with us and make our torment there. So that, I suppose,'when an inebriate wakej up in tnat worm ue win leei an innnice thirst consuming him. Now, down in this world, although he may have been very poor, he could beg or he could steal five cents with which to get that which would 9lake his thirst for a little while, but in eternity where is the rum to come from? Oh, the deep, exhausting, exasperating, everlasting thirst of the drunkard in hell! Why, if a flend came up to earth for some Infernal work in a grogshop and should goj back taking on its wing just one drop oij that for which the inebriate in the lost world longs, what excitement would ifj make there! Put that one drop from off the fiend's wing on the tip of the tongue ot the destroyed inebriate, let the liquid brightness just touch it, let the drop be very small, if it only have in it the smack 3f alcoholic drink; let that drop just touch the lost inebriate in the lost world, and hel would spring to his feet and cry: "That is rum, ahal That is rum!" Ar>it would svake up the echoes of the damned: "Give me rum! Give me rum! Give me rum!" [n the future world I do not believe that it will be the absence of God that will make :he drunkard's sorrow. I do not believe it will be the absence of light. I do not believe that it will be the absence of holiness. [ think it will be the absence of rum. Oh, 'Look not upon the wine when it is red, when It moveth itself aright in the cup, for it the last it blteth like a serpent, aud It itingeth like an adder." I verily believe that although you feel grappling at the roots of your tongues an ilmost omnipotent thirst, if you will give jrour heart to Gok, he will help you by His ?race to conquer. Try it. It Is your last jhance. I have looked oft upon the desolation. Slttiner next to you in our religious issemblages there are a good many people n awful peril, and judging from ordinary :lrcumstances there is not one chance In ive thousand that they will get clear of it. rhere are men in every congregation from sabbath to Sabbath of whom I must make :he remark that if they do not change their :ourse within ten years they will, as to :heir bodies, He down in drunkards' graves, md as to their souls, lie down in a drunklrd's perdition. I know that is an awful ;hing to say, but I cannot help saying it. Ob, beware! You have not yet been cap;ured. Beware! Whether the beverage be soured In golden chalice or pewter mug in he foam at the top, in white letters, let :here be spelled out to your soul. "Beware!" (Vhen the books of judgment are open, and IA AAA AAA *1 1? a ?/\ r? nt- fKnt* iv,uuu,ui/v uiuuiLaiuo uumg up wv tuuu loom, I want you to bear witness that I, in ;he fear of God and in love for your soul, ;old you, with all affection and with all tindness, to beware of that which has ilready exerted its influence upon your lamily, blowing out some of its light?a premonition of the blackness of darkness 'orever. Oh, if you could only hear intemperance with drunkards' bones drumming on the lead of the liquor cask the dead march of mmortal 90u)s, methinks the very glance >f a wine cup would make you shudder, ind the color of the liquor would make you ;hink of the blood of the soul, and the foam >n the top of the cup would remind you of :he froth on the maniac's lip, ana you would kneel down and pray God that, rather than your children should become japtives of this evil habit, you would like :o carry them out some brignt spring day :o the cemetery and put them away to the ast sleep, until at the call of the south wind the flowers would come up all over :he grave?sweet prophecies of the resurrection. God has a balm for such a wound, lut what flower of comfort ever grew on :irunkard's sepulcher? THE ALASKAN PROBLEM. in Agricultural and Zoological Survey o; the Territory to Be Made. The Secretary of Agriculture has decided o send a commission to Alaska for the pur)ose-of making what may be termed an igricultura! and zoological survey of the territory. His object is to ascertain how 'ar the inhabitants can be made self-sup>ortlng, to ascertain what food products :an be grown there, and what can be done o encourage a native meat supply as a subititute for the reindeer and the seal, which lave been the chief means of subsistence to :he natives. There is a general knowledge hat a little wheat and corn and potatoes lave been grown on the coast, and that the eason is long enough to allow other haray vegetation to mature, cut tne rapia mirease of population and the cost of im>orting supplies Is offering a very serious jroblem to the Alaskans, and It is believed hat information that may be gathered and mblished during the present 9eason will >o utilized by the people next year. Along he coast the climate is quite mild, and iecretary Wilson believes that on the pennsulas that extend into the sea the soil is ufficiently fertile, and that other condiions are suitable for the production of egular crops of hardy grains and vegeables. The commission will consist of Dr. (elton Jackson, who has charge of Govirnment schools In Alaska and knows more ibout that territory than any other man; 'rofessor W. H. Evans, of the botanic divtion of the Department of Agriculture, and 'rofessor B. Killen, of Oregon. The latter fentleman Is an all-round scientist and a >ractioal farmer. He is one of the regents if the agricultural college of the State, and | s sufficiently familiar with both the anl- I i nnl n.nd vecret&bla kinedoms to enable him I i o make a report of great value. CANADIAN IMMIGRATION. 1 I Che Total Number of Newcpmert for 1890 Was 23,478. J The annual report of the Department of he Interior of tha Dominion of Canada ias been printed. It shows the total immigrant arrivals to have been 25,4713 in 1896, igainst 25,738 in 1895, a decrease of 310. 1 iettlement for the year in the Northwest I ?erritorie? is represented by the number 1 .0 1 *3^7 f ?> T\ rtlQUn t \ T\ O ' 350 aouls.compared with 2394,representing < 054 souls, in 1895, a failing off in entries I if 537, and of settlers of 1493. The entries 1 >f Canadians returned from the United ] Itates number 48, against 103 in 1893. j rhere were 142 natives of the United States rho took up land during the year, against 53 in 1895. Of English there were 278, rish 39, Scotch 72, French 64, Belgians 17, mstro-Hungarians 83, Germans 44, Icelanders 14, Russians 69, and Poles 12. Died In Cliurch While at Prayer. Mrs. Nancy Smith attended services a* he Free Methodist Church, Vincennes. nd., and while kneeling at the altar in iravor was stricken with heart disease, lying instantly. The congregation was hrown into a panic. The Inquiry into the Oe at the Charity i Jazaar in Paris shows that the men showed ] k great deal of cowardice, striding women md taking from, them their means of pres* irvatloo. - seemrl^HKn|n^^BHnHHH shining tMHHBHnn8B| silvery sheen sides in purple ro^HRBHMN|H gives brilliance to all precious stones, the kind. The genius worthless metallic oxidel^HMBH^^nQ which were pulverized, cleans^HQ^^uB lated?sacriilced, if you plca^^HSHBH handled to incarnate on tbe canva^^HjHB creations of his mind,and now the wnHN pigments are transmuted into a value wiHU the wealth of a Vanderbilt could not pu^B chase from the nation. How line is the analogy here! If the surrender of these worthless pigments to the hands of a Turner lifts them to such peerless value, making them the ministers of beauty through the ages, the surrender of any soul to God gives the services of that bouI an inconceivable preclousness.?George Douglas, D. D., in "The Sacrifice of Service." Inscrutable Though Not Unintelligible. Tf i: rlfol fiof lo n If tr TrVian fha KoliorAf can say, ''I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth ill me." This is not a shadow which we pursue, nor a dream of the night. The union of sunlight with flower, of heat witfi fire, of life with the body, is not more real. There is a life which is hid with Christ in God for sinful, helpless men and women: not a fanoy of the mystic in his solitude, not a prize for him who has leisure and learning, but a reality for all believers amid their temptations, troubles, duties, cares. Man has a body; he is a spirit. Spiritually he may be joined with Christ and become a son of God. But this union does not destroy personality. It Is, however, vital?the life of Christ within the believer as distinguished from external influence or assistance?so that the apostle says, "H6 that hath the Son hath life. It is inscrutable though not unintelligible. We cannot fully comprehend it. but may know it by experience. It is increasingly revealed to every faithful disciple. "Of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace."?Rev. Herbert W. Lathe, in "Chosen of God." A Prayer for Preparation. ""We present ourselves to thee today, our Father. Prepare us for what thou seest to be waiting for us in the valley of the day, now veiled in mist. Let not sin have dominion over us. If temptation assails, may it find no foothold in our hearts; if we pass through scenes where the infection of evil is strong, may we not be susceptible to it; if we are strongly provoked, may we not yield. If thou goest not with us carry us not up hence. Apart from thee we can do nothing. Be nearer to us than our dearest friend; be closer to us than the most insidious craft of the enemy. May we put on the Lord Jesus, so that he shall be the vesture of our souls. Be with us as our shepherd, keeping us; as our captain, leading us; as our friend, warning and helping us. Let the secret place of the Most High be our home and the shadow of the Almighty our abiding place. Do more than go with us, dwell in us, walk in us. possess us, use us. When we are most absorbed in our necessary business, may thy presence not withdraw itself, but be permanent and abiding. Amen. Sin and Selfishness. A brittle thiag is our earthly happinessbrittle as some thin vase of Venetian glass; and neither anxiety, nor sorrow, nor the dart of death, which is mightier than the oak-cleavir.g thunderbolt, can shatter a thing even s > brittle as the earthly happiness of our poor little homes, if we place that happiness under the care of God. But though neither anguish nor death can break it with ail their violence, sin can break it at a touch; and selfishness can shatter It, just as there are acids which will shiver the Venetian glass. Sin and selfishness?God's balm does not heal in this world the ravages which they cause!?Canon Farrer. God Stands at Threshold. In Holman Hunt's great picture called "wu. T j-Ui -i n J.JL1U JLaguir ui mo nunu, woaco vuc nuu patient, gentle face, standing at a door which is ivy-covered, as if long closed. He is girt with the priestly breastplate. He bears in His hana the lamp of truth. He stands and knocks. There is no answer, and He still stands and knocks. His eye tells of love; His face beams with yearning. You look closely and you perceive that there la no knob or latch on the outside of the door. It can be opened only from within. Do you not see the meaning? The Spirit of God comes to your heart's door and knocks. He stands there while storms gather and break upon His unsheltered head, while the sun declines and night comes on with its chilis and its heavy dews. He waits and knocks, but you must open the door yourself. The only latch is inside.?J. R. Miller, D. D. God Knows Best. We may be led of God all ,the time, and, like Moses, we should be content with the place where He bids us dwell. I doubt not that some of you may feel that you have been, and even uow are, kept back from the greatest usefulness. ... I would not have you feel thus, but rather use very carefully all that the Lord gives you. And don't oProM rh? 4,hn/?lr cMa nf t.hrt M and never think you are forsaken of God because kept Jong there. He knows just how much of quiet, humble life we need to serve Him in the beat manner hereafter.? Mary Lyoi. Trust God With Affairs. A friend went one morning to Sir Robert Peel's house and found him with a great bundle of letters lying before him, bowed over It in prayer. The friend retired, and oame back in a short time and said. *'I beg your pardon for intruding upon your private devotions." Sir Robert said: ''No; those were mv public devotions. I was just ziving the affairs of state into the hands of God, for I could not manage them." Try trusting the living God with your letter-bag jr your housekeeping.?H. W. Webb-Peploe. Lord's Smile a Recompense. If we truly feel that the Lord liveth before SVhom we stand we shall want nothing else for our work but His smile; and we shall feel :hat the light of His face is all we need, i rhat thought should deaden our love for I lirtTO tha t h 1 n iya th?* Wfl 1 ,'ever our souls by pursuing and fret our learts when we lose will cease to attract? Sow small and vulgar the "prizes" of life,as people call them, will appear.?A Maclaren. A Big Deal In Oil Land Closed. A deal has been closed by which the South Pennsylvania Oil Company has taken possession of the big Fonner well and leases In Greene County. In the purchase are injluded leases of about seventeen hundred icres of territory, and one producing well making 300 barrels a day. The consideration was $200,000 in cash, which is said to ue the largest price^ever realised for a single well. Money In Clothing. Clothinir to tha amount of 42.205.000.000 s made annually In the United States and Surope, c<(fg ramine in cuoa. An egg {amine baa resulted In Cuba fron the as the c h ris the salliHHwn^nHi 16, Rev. xx., 5, as not, other any more, bat do man put a stumbling^^KKmgjj^H^^^^H slon to fall in his brother's^^^BBSHH^^^H^ Lord, who can read the thc^HBS^^^HH^H hearts, is capable or judging correctly. "He shall not jadge sight of His eyes, neither reprove aft^^J^HHH hearing of His ears, but with righteouslH^^^n shall He judge (Isa. xl., S, 4). Bat whlll^B|H we are in some things to reserve judgmenl(^^^H we are to try the spirits as to what we hoafl tuncrhf tnr If wA hM <rnrinnaA(l to a faliflK teacher we are partaker with Him (I John .' <?3 iv., 1; II John x., 11). \ 14. "I know and am persuaded by tha Lord Jesus that there is nothing nnolean of -J itself, but to him that esteemeth anything, to be unclean to him it is unclean." The ; topic especially before the apostle'a mind 1 was that of eating or not eating certain ' j kinds of food (verses 2, 3). In another J epistle It was that of keeping certain day* . -eSS as well as that of eating and drinking (Cot t'i'M 11.. 16, 17). 15. "But, if thy brother be grieved with ';3g thy meat, now walkest thou not chartta- , bly, according to love. Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died." Love does not say: "I can do as I please. li others do nit like it, that is not my affair. I will not deny myself an innocent enjoy- /-ii ment because they do not like it." That is . ' ^ the self in us which talks that way. Love seeketh not her own and endureth all : things. "Even Christ pleased not Himself' v',;J (Bom. iv., 8), but even sought the glory of God and could say, "I do always those j things that please Him." 16. "Let not then your good be evil spoken of." One mignt say that this or; that is good for my health, and I need It, ;m and the doctor prescribes it, and there is nothing against it. Well, be it so. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in tnafr thing which he alloweth, but have it to . thyself before God (verse 22), and do not cause others to stumble. ,} 17. 'For the kingdom of God is not meat V $ and drink, but righteousness and peace / and joy in the Holy Ghost." As one has ' C"., said, the chief business of the company for v*?i whom Christ died is not eating and drink* 'jpjgS ing, but a right relation to God, our neigh- -A bors and ourselves. Peace and joy come . 7 by believing (chapter xv., 13)?that is, by '*' ? receiving Him (John i., 12), who is ou^ ;; righteousness and peace (I Cor. i., 80; Eph. J ii., 14). All food and raiment necessary tot us are made sure to us in Him (Math. xv.J < 31-88). . 18. "For he that in these things serveth < Christ is acceptable to God and approved' ;f.| of men." Acceptable or well pleasing to M God Is the maiu tiling, whether men approve or not. When we please God, the peo- ; pie of God, who are themselves right with [ God, will surely approve. Others may condemn. But consider Him who endured contradictlon of sinners against Himself lest ye be weary and faint (Heb. xii., 3). No ona oan be as well pleasing to God as His Beloved Son, and His treatment from men must be good enough for us (John xv., 1820). Let us continually "serve the living; and true God and wait for His Son from, heaven," and all will be well (I Thess. I.. 9.10). ? 19. "Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another," not peace at any price, regardless of the tight or wrong of It, but the peace whiohisol God and in fellowship with the Prince of Peace. Even He said, "I come not to send peace, but a sword" (Math, x., 34). And He spoke of trouble even in households for. His sake. We are to preach peace, to live; peace and to seek the peace even of our eremles, but it must be in fellowship with Christ and never apart from Him. I 20. "For meat destroy not the work of God. All things Indeed are pure. But It Is evil for him who eateth with offense, j In verse 15 we had, "Destroy not him," ana here it is, "Destroy not the work of God." In Eph. 11., 10, we read that "we are His workmanship." In what sense can this be! destroyed? It cannot refer to the loss oft the soul, for no truly saved soul can ever| pensn (jonn x., *i, *o, iu., ioj. out obi ( the judgment seat of.Christ is the place otf I judging here referred to, where only the ? saints shall appear to be judged for their works as believers, I have no doubt that I; Cor. ill., 14, 15, helps us to understand the I destruction here referred to. 21. "It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thv\ brother atumbleth, or is offended, or u i made weak." See also I Cor. viii., 18. This J is certainly a very self-denying line of Ufa 1 and looks unnecessarily strict, but the I whole question of our life as Christians Is J focused In self or Christ, unto myself or, J unto Him. "Unto the Lord" Is the only | correct motto and covers even our eating' and drinking (verse 8 and I Cor. x* 81).? Lesson Helper. .; ?HORSELESS CARRIAGES. They Soon Be In Reach of Everybody Who Ke?dl 0?e, ; 'fa Horseless carriages at $100 is the hope now held oat to those who would ride. Experiments have been in progress at the f&otory of the General Electrio company, at, Schenectady, N. Y., whloh have Drought forth the announcement that the market is soon to be flooded with horseless carriage# / at a price that will bring them within the ' reach of everybody. Every man who ig' now able to own a bicyole will soon b? able to own a road cart or a landau, or & victoria for the-use of himself and his family. He will need no stable in whloh t9 keep horses, no hostler or footman, no harrack or harness?but merely a shed In which to shelter from the weather. his motor cycle or automobile, or autocycle, or horseless carriage or whatever else he may Qhoose to call it. 4 Strike Cost a Million Dollars. Four years asro 1900 Pittsburg members ol the American Flint Glass Workers' Union struck, and they kept it up until May 24. The strike cost the union nearly a million dollars. It is thought that "the United States Glass Company will r?instate most of ihe men, but some of them are beyond reinstatement, nearly 400 of the strikers haying died in the four years. Ingenious Convicts. ? With a piece of string and a little sand! and grease, some Hindoo convicts recently; sawed through an iron bar two Inches La diameter in live,hours and escaped from jail, according to the Pioneer Mail, -Am