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K 1 i m 79e>J 0-=?<-v . YT AM going to give "%hWiT ?? 11 -b/mi tV>o mnriBT. / *^-^1 II Nell, and let you ^ yourself," I 1 6a^ ^rB* Thome rather wearily. "What with com^--c:> pany yesterday, and getting your dress ready to day, and Flaxie cross and half sick with a cold, I simply haven't the courage to go to the milliner's with you." The little girl looked up brightly. She was barely thirteen, and the thought of going all alone to Miss Prim's for her new Easter finery was rather pleasant to her. , "Oh, mamma, you don't need to go! I'm sure you don't! I can pick out just what I want, and if you don't like it when it comes home we can change * T t /?A ^Atvn rinrT*f. It, you Know. JL UUKUL UU..U , away and sec what Miss Prim bas. May I, mamma?" and the little girl rose eagerly. "Why yes, Nell, I suppose so. You can tell Miss Prim that you want to sue what she has and the prices, and r' . that you will be in to-morrow to take one. Don't go over two dollars and a half, Nellie. That is all I can afford this time. That ought to buy really a a very nice hat for a little girl. Not too much trimming, remember. I don't believe in so much show for Easter as some folks make. Goodby, dear; be home early." Nellie had been hastily putting on her things as her mother talked, and 'was out the door almost before she Lad finished. She tried to walk at first, but her feet keptgoing faster and faster, until she was fairly in a rnn, before-she was half way to Miss Prim's little shop, that was quite in the centre of the village. At Miss Prim's she was all upset. There were so many hats, and most of them so pretty and becoming, that she could not choose. She had almost decided upon a dainty little Leghorn, trimmed with violets and daisies,when her eye caught a hat in another case that made her forget all the others. It was richer and more profusely trimmed. When Miss Prim placed it besides the others they looked cheap ' and scanty. "Oh, Miss Prim, how much is it?" she asked breathlessly. "I have been asking four dollars for it, but it is so near faster now you , may have it oheaper. .. You may have it for three and a half." The girl's face fell. It was a dollar more than she could pay. "I am afraid it is more than mamma can afford this year," she said regret, fully. All the way home she thought of that beautiful hat. She walked rather slowly now, thinking and thinking very hard. She knew it would be useless to ask her mother to buy the more expensive hat. Mrs. Thome was kind, almost indulgent with her children, but she was firm in what she told them. Nellie did not enter the house as gayly as she had left it, and her mother thought her tired. "You have been finding it hard to choose, Nell," she said, smiling. "Tell me about it." "Yes, mamma, there were so many, I picked a Leghorn staw, trimmed with violets and daisies. It is two and a ' 'v ^!* I "OE, MIS3 PRIM! HOW MUCH IS .IT?" half. Miss Prim had another a good deal like it, only lots finer and more ! trimming for three and a half that had ! beon four dollars." "The cheaper one will do very well this year, I'm sure," said her mother gently. "We have had a good deal of oxpense, you know." i The little girl was very quiet that' evening and went to bed early. Far j in the night she woke with a start. | She had been dreaming of the two hats ' and Miss Prim. In her dream she had eaid to Miss Prim, "I cannot buy it, because I have only two dollars and a half," and Miss Prim had said, "Why yea, you have, Nellie; you have a gold dollar put away in a drawer at home." j It was this that had made her jump and wake up, for she did have a gold dollar that her uncle, Henry Thome, had given her once when she was a baby, and it was put away in a drawer, , just as Miss Prim had said. She had not thought of this before, and it was of no use to thinkof itnow, for though she had never been told not to spend the dollar, it was only because her mother believed she would never even dream of doing so. Rut Nellie did drenn nf it. nver and ovor, and each time nhe woke with a etart and lay awake a long time. She was pale and silent next morning, and when she set out for Miss Prim's the money that her mother had given her ahe carried in her little pnrse, vhile ' deep down in her pocket was Uncle flenrj Thome's gold dollar. She had BY ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE. not fully decided yet that she was going to spend it, but she had felt for it where she kept it in a little riug box under her clothes the first thing when she got up that morning and the little ring box had been pushed back under her clothes empty when she came down to breakfast. Miss Prim was unusually pleasant that morning. She brought both hats out to the light for Nellie to see and said there was more than a dollar's difference in the two, and Nellie could see that herself. But Miss Prim looked a little surprised when she saw the gold dollar. "Why," she said, "1 haven't seen one for a long time. I'll keep it, I guessrfor. a little niece of mine." Then she wrapped up the hat for Nellie, talking pleasantly. When Nellie started with her purchase there was a feeling of triumph in possessing it that wore off as she walked along. She did not feel at all happy in the way she had expected. She remembered now for the first time that her mother would no doubt wonder at the cheapness of the hat and speak of it in a way that would make her silence equal to a falsehood. She had never told her mother an untruth. Then she remembered how happily she had tripped away to MisB Prim's yesterday. It did not seem to her that she could be the same little girl. But Mrs. Thome said less than Nellie had expected. She was tired and only kissed her pretty daughter. "Why, Nell," she smiled, "I don't see what you would want of more trimming than that. I think a good deal less would have answered. It's rather old for you now, but will be i?i3?S^\J Christ Is risen! Hear the socg, jUl FHliDg all tho isles of air. 1 Where the stars of glory throng, I. Where the angels answer prayer / i Christ la risen over all? J J,) Every claim of mortal sease, Sin no longer need enthrall, jjgjCvj' Death no more life's ardor quuacu. nice with a little alteration for next year." With a Bigh of relief Nellie took her purchase to her room. That night she dreamed again. Over and over she thought Miss Prim's niece had come to see her and brought the gold dollar. Her mother had seen it and said, "Why, that is Nellie's gold dollar that her Uncle Henry Thorne gave her." And then the little girl had said, "No, it isn't ; it's mine, that my Aunt Hester Prim sent me on Easter." When she was dressed in her pretty new gown and ready to go to church next morning she certainly looked very sweet, though she was so pale that her mother said, "I'm afraid you are not well, Nellie. The excitement has been too much for you. Easter isn't only for pretty things, my dear." Flaxie's cold was no better, and Mrs. Thorne did not go to church. By and by she prepared dinner,thinking Nellie would be home presently and be hungry. Somewhat before she expeoted her the door suddenly flew open and the little girl burst into the room. The new hat she flung on the table, and rushing to her mother she bur3t into a torrent of tears and sobs. "Oh, mamma! mamma!" she wailed. "I deceived you. It is the one that cost a dollar more, and I spent the gold dollar that Uncle Harry Thorne gave me when I was littlel" Mrs. Thorne looked gr*?e. "Tell me all about it, dear," she said gently. And Nellie told her everything, dreamB and all. "And then the sermon was about the Resurrection," she concluded, tearfully, "and the preacher said that even our new dresses and our new hats were?were symbols of?of a new life, and cried as if her own childish heart were breaking. Mrs. Thorne went herBelf to Miss Prim's the next day. The little milliner had not paited with the gold dollar, and when she beard the story of it she exchanged it willingly and said she would exchange the hat too. At first Mrs. Thome thought it best not to do this, bat after reflecting a few. moments, decided that it would bo too Bevere on Nellie to make her wear so long ttfe hat 6he now hated, aud when Blie left took the pretty little Leghorn that Nellie had first chosen. Nellie herself returned a little later with the other, and Miss Prim kissed her and gave her some lemcn drops, and told her that she had proven herself a sweet and worthy child. And Nellie may nave cnea me least bit, bnt she was very happy.? Now York Herald. Easter In Olden Time. Ea9ter was at one time celebrated by feasts and games held iu the churches. These at first were decorous and useful in bringing the congregations together in rejoicing after the seven duties imposed upon them during Lent. The custom was abandoned because of the excesses, which became a scandal to the Church. New Kugland and Ea?ter Sunday. *T 71 * -1 loo* nnnfiAn nf JNtJW HiUglUUU WH3 iuo laoi oowavjll vi this country to recognize Eaater as a general holy day. FLEY EASTER EGG. | ^ The 8nrprl?? Which the Lad's Blother ? ? Uu-wlttiDRly Provided. ^ ^e*DK^o>@f@i@ie90?oie}ejefo?efo?@<efe*@i@feiei@K^ ^, , ,1.. _ A ff T Fi "R w a a and Mrs. O'Brien \m ^ *n?> ?* tea an<* *? ask for the loan She fonnd Mrs. Finn sitting in a chair bursting with laughter. Tears of delight were streaming down her ?M A l/\MWAnf ittO't? iu a iuhduv, "Sit you down, Mrs. O'Brien," said she, "and wait till I can get me breath." "And what's the raatter with yon, at all, at all?"" exclaimed Mrs. O'Brien, envying the canse of snch a joyful cyclone. "'Tis all about ..me little boy, Miokey, and his Easter egg," replied Mrs. Finn, wiping her . eyes. "A weeny joke I played on him, d'ye see? If you saw the face of the little lad whin?ah dear, I'm laughin' all day about it, Mrs. O'Brien?to see the egg, and me husband laughin' till T fVimiorVit. IiaM . hftvfl ft fit. aeu8hla. and" "Will you stop goin' malvatherin' and tell me what it's all about?" said Mrs. O'Brien impatiently. "Well, you must know this." resumed Mrs. Finn, "that Mickey wanted wan o' tbim eggs wid paint on it like they have in the candy store windys, and I had no money to buy wan. But I told him Saturday night to niver fear but he'd have a nice big egg on Easter mornin', all bine like a robin's egg. You'll mind I'm after sittin' the blue hin on thirteen eggs, and the time was near up for the chickens to come. Well, after the little lad went to bed on Saturday night I took wan of the eggs from under the hin and put it in the oven to keep it warm till the mornin'. There / | ) Christ is risen! Evil powere I I Flee like mists the morning sun, jj Truth descends In healing showers, v Jl God aad Goodness shine as onel Vv-' In these resurrection hours Lot us from our idols turn, Wreath the cross with Easter flow> ers, And the risen Christ discern. wae no fire in the stove and only a little hate in-the oven, d'ye see. On Easter mornin' I pnt the egg in some warm blnein' water before the boy got up and whin he came down to his breakqnist there it was on the plate before bim, bine as the heavens in .Tnlv 'Twaa artin' michtv nuare. though, Mrs. O'Brien, rollin' around on the plate as if the divvil was in it, and me huaband and little Mike lookin' at it as if 'twas a ghost they saw. But, Mrs. O'Brien, if ye'll believe me, I had to keep me back to the table, I was that full of laaghter. Ye'd think the ogg was tryin' to stand on its little end, 'twas that full of tricks. "'Tis only a cruked egg, and your plate is standin' down hill,' said me husband. "Whack it wid your spoon, me lad!" "So Mickey took the egg in his hand and gave it a slap with the spoon, and out came the head of a oLickeu that let a yelp out of him that 'ud wake the dead. Sure, he kicked the blue shell off him like you'd shed a petticoat, and waded up to his knees in the gravy of the pork chons. and him howlin' like a cat* bird, and egg-shells in the coffee and the mashed potatoes and me husband on the flure yellin' wid delight! Oh, glory be, Mrs. O'Brien; me sides is achin'. I'm afeard I'll bust somethin' inside o' me!"?Mickey Finn. Easter Day. If you wake up Sunday morning when It's quiet in the street, And you hear the chursh bell? chiming far away; If their melody is rich and more than usually sweet, It's because they're ringing in the Easter Day. When you see the streets alive with women radiant and fair, And hats of every fashion, hue and ray, Till you think a million butterflies are winging In the air. Then you'll Know lor certain that u'a Easter Day. If you notloe during service, when the Lenten prayers are read. And every pretty woman kneels to pray, That she's tftktng in the bonnet of her Delghbor just ahead, You'll excuse her, 'cause you know It's Ea9ter Day. When you tuck the blessed little 'uns in bed so snug and tight, And "Now I lay me down to sleep," they say, Just tell 'em 'bout their Savior 'fore you kiss 'em all good nlgbt, And tbunk the Lord we've got an Easter Day. The Mohammedan Easter. Bairam is the name of the Moham? median Easter. It follows Kamadan, which corresponds to Lent, and lasts three days. During this time visits are exchanged and presents made in much tho tame spirit as that which characterizes our Christmas. At Constantinople the streets are thronged and bands of music parade day and night. The decorations of the boats in the Bosphorua are striking and beautiful. The Sultan celebrates the day by worshipping in the mosque, after which he gives an informal reception to his friends in the palace of Dolma-baktche. During this reception the Sultan occupies a throne of great splendor placed in the midst of the vast and beautifully decorated audience hall. DB. TALMAGES SERMON. ; 1 SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED \ DIVINE. ; I IID.IItlant >.?? 1 Ban Uteil an n Horrible Example?T* He a Type of the "Wormwood Mentioned In Revelation? Text: "There fell a great star from heaven, burning as It were a lamp,? ' ' fell upon the third part of the rive upon the fountains of waters, and the nai, of the star Is called Wormwood."?Revelation x.t 11. Patrick and Lowth, Thoma? Scott, Matthew Henry, Albert Barnes and pome other commentators say that the star Wormwood of my text was a type of Attlla, klnj; of the Huns. He was so called because he was brilliant as a star, and, like wormwood, he imblttered everything he touched. We have studied the Star of Bethlehem, and the Morning Star of Revelation and the Star of Peace, but my subject calls us to gaze at the star Wormwoed. and ray theme might be called "Brilliant Bitterness." A more extraordinary character history does Dot Furnish than this man Attila, the king of the Huns, The story goes that one day a wounded heifercame limping along through the fields, and n herdsman followed its bloody track on the grass to see where the heifer was wounded, and went on back, farther and farther, until he came to a sword fast in the earth, tho point downward, as though it had dropped from the heavens, and against the edges of this sword the heifer had been cut. The herdsman pulled up that sword and presented it to Attila. Attila said that sword must have dropped from the heavens from the grasp of the god Mars, and its being given to him meant that Attila should conquer and govern the whole earth. Other mighty men have been delighted at being called liberators or the Merciful or the Good, but Attila called himself and demanded that others call him "the Scourge of God." At the head of 700,000 troops, mounted on Cappadoclan horses, he swept everything, from the Adriatic to the Black Sea. He put his iron hee'. on Macedonia and Greece and Thrace. He made Milan and Pavia and Padua and Verona beg for mercy, which he bestowed not. The Uyzantlne castles, to meet his ruinous levy, * put up at auction massive silver tables 1 and vases of tolld gold. When a city was 9 captured by Dim, tne inhabitants were J brought out and put into three classes. fl The first class, those who could bear arms, c must Immediately enlist under A'.tlla or e be butchered; the second class, the beauti- 9 ful women, were made captives to the * Hnns; the third class, the aged men and women, were robbed of everything and * let go back to the city to pay a heavy tax. 3 It was a common saying that tho gviss P. never grew where the hoof of Attila's horse t had trod. His armies reddened the waters v of the Seine and the Moselle and the Rhine c with carnage and fought on the Catalonian c plains the fiercest battle since the world P stood?800,000 dead left on the field. On * and on until all those who could not op- v poso hiin with arms lay prostrate on their 1 faces in prayer, then a cloud or dust was t seen in the distance, and a bishop cried, "It is tho aid of God," and all the people ? took up the cry. "It is the aid or God." t A.s the cloud of dust was blown.aside the o banners of re-enforcing armies marched in 0 to help against Attlla. "The 8cour?e of ? God." The most unimportant occurrences I he used as a supernatural resource. After three months of lailure to capture the city ^ Df Aqulleia, when his army had given up 5 the siege, the flight of a stork and her ? young from the tower of the nlty was taken t by him as a sign that he was to capture the ^ alty, and his army, insnired with the same s occurence, resumed the siege and took P the walls at a point from which t the stork had emerged. So brilliant ' was the conqueror (n attire that a bis enemies could not look nt him, but ? ihaded their eyes or turned their heads, c Slain on the evening of bis marriage by " his bride, Ildlco, who was hired for the as- r jassination, his followers bewailed him, t oot with tears, but with blood, cutting themselves with knives and lances. He ' was put Into three oofllns, the first of iron, C he second of silver and the third of gold, e He was burled by night, and into his t (crave was poured the most valuable coins s and precious stones, amounting to the t wealth of a kingdom. The gravedlggers ? ?nd all those who assisted at the burial n were massacred, 30 that It would never be 0 known where so much wealth was en- 1< tombed. t The Roman empire conquered the world, 0 trat Attila conquered the Roman empire. F He was right in culling himself h scourge, s bnt instead of being "the scourge of God" q he was the scourge of hell. t Because of his brilliancy and bitterness, s the commentators might well have sup- ^ posed blm to be the star Wormwood of the I text. As the regions be devastated were J ports most opulent with fountains and 8 streams and rivers, you see how graphic a my text is: "There fell a great star from r heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it f tell upon the third part of the rivers, and a upon the fountains of waters, and the name a of the star Is called Wormwood." Have you ever thought how many embit- c lered lives there are all about us, misan- 0 thropic, morbid, acrid, saturnine? The a European plant from which wormwood Is fi extracted, Artemisia absinthium, is a per- c snnial plant, and all the year round it is v ready to exude its oil. And in many hu- 0 man lives there is a perennial distillation a of acrid experiences. Yen, there are rfome t whose whole work is to shed a baleful In- a Quence over others. There are Attilas of e the home, Attilas of the social circle, At- a tllasof the church, Attilas of the State, and v one-third of tho waters of all the world are c poisoned by the falling of the star Worm- d wood. It is not complimentary to human a naturo that most men, as soon as they get t great power, become overbearing. The o more power men have tho better. If their F power be used for good. The less power r men have the better, If they use It for evil, a But are any of you the star Wormwood? c Do you scold and growl from the thrones 1 paternal or maternal? Are your children t everlastingly packed at? Are you nlwayn I crying "Hush!" to tho merry voices aud v swift feet, and to the laughter, which 1 occasionally trickles through at wrong t times, nau 13 suppressuu uy lucui uuui u tbey can hold it do longer, and all tbo f barriers burst into unlimited guffaw and t cachinnatioD, ns in high weather the t water lias trickled through a slight open- s Ing in the mllldam, but afterward makes 1) wider and wider breach until it carries all C before it with irresistible freshet? Do not it be too much offended at the noise your r children now make. It will be still enough i -when one of them is dead. Then you would d give your right band to bear one shout i from the silent voice, or one step from the fi Btlil foot. You will not any of you have to it wait very long before your house is stiller d than you want it. Alas that there are eo c many homes not known to the Society for a the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, c where children are whacked and cuffed and p ear pulled, and senselessly called to order, a and answered sharply aud suppressed, un- t til it is a wonder that under such processes * ihf?y do not all turn out Nana Sahios! ^ But I will change this aud suppose you are a star of worldly prosperity. Then you have large opportunity, you can encourage that artist by buying his picture. You J cin improve the fields, the 9tables, the b.ghway, by introducing hiKher 9tyle of fowl and horse aud eovr and sheep. You , can bless tne world with pomologlcal ? achievement in tun orcnaru. xuu u-;m ?u- i vanee arboriculture itnd arrest the death-| , ful destruction of the American forests, You can put a piece of sculpture into the niche of that public academy. You can ' endow a college. You can stocking 1003 ? bare feet from the winter frost. You can 11 build a church. You can put a missionary , of Christ on that foreign shore. You can nolp ransom a worid. A rich man with his " heart right?cau you tell mo how much ' good a James Lenox or a George Feabody j* or a Peter Cooper or a William E. Dodge 0 did while living or is doing now that ho is " dead There is not a city, town or neighbor'.'oo'l that has not glorious specimens of consecrated wealth. But suppose you grind the face of the poor. Suppose, when a man's wages are r due, you make him wait for them because P * t--l_ t.! 1* !?,>. D lie CtlDUOl UIUUMIJII. DU|!|/Ui.v WU..V, . cause his family is sick and he has had ex- . tra expenses, he should politely ask vou to raise his wages for this year, and you roughly tell film if ho wants a hotter place to go and got it. Suppose, by your manner, act as though he wore nothing and * you were everything. Suppose you are ? selfish and overbearing and arrogaut. Your first name ought to be Attila anil 2 your last name Attila, because you are the. v star Imblttored R one-third, If not three-thirds of the waters that roll past yonr employes and operative" and dependents and Associates, and ibe Ions: line of carriages which the under:alcer orders for your funeral In order to nrmketbe occasion respectable will be fil'ed with twice as many dry, tearless eye?, as there are porson* occupying them. You will be in the world but a few minute?. As compared with eternity, tbo stay of the on&rest lif" on earth is not more than a minute. What are we doing with tbat nlnute? What i.? true of individuals is true of nations. God sets them up to revolve as 'tare, but they may fall wormwood Tyrehe .itmosohere of the desert, fragrant jpices comlnc In caravans to her fairs: all *eas cleft into foam by the keels of her aden merchantmen; her markets rich with lorsea R"d camels from Tosarmah; the sasaar filled with upholstery from Dedan. with emerald and coral and a?ato from Jyria, with mines from Helbon. with itnbroldered woric from Ashur and Cliilnad. Where now the Rlenm of her towers, ivhere the roar of her chariots, where the masts of her shins? Let the fishermen who try their nets where once she stood, let ;he sea that rushes npon the barrenness There once she challenged the admiration >f all nations, let the barbarians who set let their rude tents where once her palaces rllttered answer the auestiocs. She was i star, but by ber own sin turned to wormwood And has fallen. Hundred gated Thebes?for all time to be hestudyof antiquarian and hieroglyphic. !er stupendous ruins spread oyer twentyieven miles, ber sculptures presenting in lgure of warrior and oharlot the victories vlth which the now forgotten kings of 2gvpt shook the nations; ber obelisks and iolumns; Earnak and Luxor, the stupend>us temples of ber pride! Who can imagine he greatness of Thebes in those days, when he hippodrome rang with her sports and I oreign royalty bowed at her shrines, and ler avenues roared with the wheels of prosessions in the wake of returning conqurors? iVhat spirit of detraction spread the lair >f wild beats in her royal sepulcbers and augbt the miserable cottagers of to-day :o build huts in the courts of ber temples ind pent desolation and ruin skulking bellnd tbe obelisks, and dodging among the larcophagi, and leaning against tbe colimns, and stooping among the arches, and veeping in the waters whioh go mournullyby, as though they were carrying the ears of all the ages? Let the mummies >reak their long Bllence and come up to hiver in the desolation and point to fallen ?ates nnd shattered Btatuos and defaced culpture. responding: "Thebes built not ?ne temple to Ood. Thebes haled rlghttousness and loved sin. Thebes was a tar, but she turned to wormwood and has alien." Babylon, with her 230 towers and her irazen gates and her embattled walls, the plendorofthe earth gathered within her , rates, her hanging gardens bulJt by Netuchadnezzar to please his bride. Amytls, rho had been brought up In a mountainous country and could not endure the flat ountry around Babylon. These hanging :arden3 built terrace above terrace, till at he height of 400 feet there were woods raving and fountains playiug.ihe verdure, be foliage, the glory, looking as if a mounaln were' on the wing. On the tiptop a :ing walking with his queen among the tatues, snowy white, looking up at birds irought from distant lands and drinking mt of tankards of solid gold or lookinx oft iver rivers and lnkes upon nations subdued I nd tributary, crying, "Is not this great Jaoylon which I have built?" What battering ram smote the wall9? Vhat plowshare upturned the gardens? Vhat army sbnttered the brazen gates? Vhat loDg, fierce blast of storm put out hit light which illuminated the world? Vhat crash of discord drove down the maic that poured from palace window nnd :arden grove and called the banqueters to heir revel and the dancer to their feet? I iralk upon the scene of desolation to ilnd a answer and pick up pieces of bitumen ind brick and broken pottery, the remains >f Babylon. I hear the wild waves saying: Babyton was proud. Babylon was imiure. Babylon was a star, but by sin she urned to wormwood and has fallen." From the persecations of the pilgrim athers and the Huguenots in other lands k>d set upon these shores a nation. Tbb ouncil fires of the aborigines went out in he greater light Of a free government. The ound of the warwhoop was exchanged for he thousand wheels of enterprise and process. The mild winterj, the fruittul sumaers, the healthful skies, charmed from >ther lands a race of hardy mei, who oved God nnd wanted to be free. Bofore he woodman's ax forests fell and rose gain into ships' masts and churches' illlars. Cities on the banks of lakes be;an to rival cities by the eea. The land [uakcs with the rash of the rull car, and he waters are churned white with the teamer's wheel. Fabulous bushels of Vestern wheat meet on the way fabulous mshels of Eastern coal. Furs from the forth pass on the rivers fruits from the loutb. And trading in the same market ire Maine lumbermen and South Carolina ice merchant and Ohio farmer and Alaska ur dealer. And churches and schools and .sylums scatter light nnd love and mercy >nd salvatiou upon 70,000,000 of people. I pray that our nation may not copy the rimes "of nations that have perished; that IUT UU|) VI UlKSSlJJjj lulu iu TT vi.u ,nd we go down. Iam by nature and by ;race an optimist, and I ezpeoc that tills ountry will continue to advance until the rorld shall reach the mlllenial era. Our inly safety is In righteousness toward God ,nd justice toward man. If we forget he goodness of the Lord to this land ,nd break his Sabbaths, and Improve tot by the dire disasters that have again nd again come to us as a people, and re learn saving lesson neither from ivil war nor raging epidemic, nor irought, nor mildew, nor scourge of locust nd grasshopper; If the political corruplon which has poisoned the foundations f public virtue and beslimed the high daces of authority, making free governoent at times a hissing and a byword In dl the earth; if the drunkenness and 11entlousness that stagger and blaspheme n the streets of our great oitles, as though hey were reaching after the fanue of a Cornth and a Sodom, are not repented of, we rill yet see the smoke of our nation's ruin, ."he pillars of our national and State caplols will fall more disastrously than when lampson pulled down the Dragon, and uturo historians will record upon the page ledewed with genorous tears the story that be free nation of the west arose ju plendor which made the world stare. It - 1 nrtoalMllHou' ^ f/trTrtfr IHU U1IIKU1UVCUI. puiuiviii.iv.>! >V .V.,,.. rod; it bated justice; It bugged its crimes, t baited ou its high marcb; it eeled under the blow of calamity; t fell, and as it was going down nil tbe lespotisms of earth from the top of iloody thrones began to shout: "Abal lo would we have it!" while struggling md oppressed,, peoples looked out from iutigeon bars, with t?'ars and groans and ries of untold agony, the scorn of those iDd the woe of these, uniting in the cxlamation: "Look yonder! There fell n ;reat star from heaven burning as it were i lamp, aud it fell upon the third part of he rivers and upon the fountains of raters, and the name of the star is called Wormwood!'" TO MOVE OUT OF DEBT. I Kansna Town Will Shift Its Uullditi? to h New 8ite. A new way or paving oia aeots nn? uwu llscuvored by Ness City, which is the county out at Ness County, Kansas. Tho place pas started as a boom town, and the newomers placed boavy mortgages on tbeli und. Improvements, however, wore not ncluded in the mortgages. The town debt ;rew enormously, and the population coul</ iot inoet tho interest payments. Ono mortgage holder toreclosed, and the lebtor moved his house and belougings tc mother plot of ground. This gave the owuspeople ail idea, and they liavn secured new town site three miles from tho present me, anu are preparing to move their houses nd buildings to tho new site, leaving their uruls in the old ono to the mortgage holdrs. The new location has been platted and urvoyed, aud tho buildings will be placed elatlvely in the same position as they are iow. A complete change, however, is to io made in the city government. x&e own will ohauge its name, and will bo, Id act, au entirely new town. The Dead of Our Wnr. The following statement ba3 been issued, howing the total number of deaths roportd to the Adjutant-General's office, Wasbugton, betweeu May 1, 1898, and February S, 1899: Killed in action, 329; died of rounds, 125; died of disease, 5,277; total, 731 GOD'S MESSAGE TO MAN. PRECNANT THOUCHTS FROM THF WORLD'S CREATEST PROPHETS. The Refuge of Oar Fears?One Comprehensive Principle?Love Begets Daty? Why Christ Came to Earth?The Bible in the Church?Ood Knows the Shoals. Father, although I cannot see Through mists of fear that close me round, I know the path leads up to Thee, And whom Thou seelteat shall be found. And, Lord, Thy thoughts are everywhere? With voiceless grief and loneliness, A.nd patient hearts that bravely dare A need beyond our common guess; i'ea, even with the wandering, lost, Tired prodigals who love Thee not, N'orever is Thy purpose crossed Or any soul of man forgot Yet, Lord, the cry of sin! The pain Of woman's smile that love degrades! tka i rrv xun Utimcu UU11UICU 3 huo; 1UO YIHU, Marred (aces where Thine lmsge (odes' Thoa knowest, Thou alone; and we, Condemned to (eel our brother's shazSB, In erery blessing bring to Thee The blind, the dea(, the dumb, the lame? Our brothers all, whose sorrow spills A drop o( wormwood in our cap.. Dear Lord! Thy love the heaven fills. 0 take this broken vessel up. This broken cistern o( the earth That holds no overflowing spring, Give ?in) of heaven for sin and dearth, And bread of life for nourishing. Compassion is of Thee, and strength That works and waits and will not cease. Lord! by Thy might of love at length Bring in the long expected peace. ?Isaac Ogden Rankin, in Congregationalist One Comprehensive Principle. The heaviest part of the burden of life lies in the feeling that there are two burdens ?the good of others and the good of one's self. This is what distracts life. A man does not know which way to turn. Ought he to give himself to self culture, or ought he to give himself to self-sacrifice? Shall he study for his own sake, or shall he work for others* sake? Shall he labor, or shall he pray? Which is the better, to be good or to do good? So we argue with ourselves, as i( life were a hopeless dualism where at least one-half of duty must be left undone. But ( ka f< ftf le fKof r\a annK stVtnam in Ufa ovlata One comprehensive principle of power holds up the burden ef the world. Some serve by doing and some by being: some by bearing others' burdens, and some by bearing their own; but it is ail one life,holding the thinker and the doer, the self-discipline and the generous service. Let any man carry his own burden, and be is doing much more than saving himself. He is perhaps making the best possible contribution to the strength of the common life. Let any man be lavish of his strength In serving others, and he is doing much more than helping others. He is reinforcing his own strength to carry his own burdens.?Francis Greenwood Peabody, D.D.,in "Afternoons in the College Chapel-" ] Love Beget* Duty. Love utters itself in Duty, and Duty strengthens Love. If Duty grows weak, it must climb to the fountain-head of Love and drink, it Love grows doubtful and hesttates, it must lean and steady Itself on the strong staff of Duty. You see bow it all points to the beuutiful completeness of the w*-ld, ini whioh there come& no love without its duty and no duty without its love. I: Is a most inspiring thought, that never yet did Ood put any high emotion in the soul of any of His children that God's world did not Instantly stand before that child with a duty in its hand, saying,' "'This is the task whic!%elongs to your new emotion. Do this task and the emotion shall be really yours: uot merely the fleeing gleam of a passing sunbeam on your bosom, but the settled warmth of a perpetual sunshine in your I V. 11.1 ?t- ' Uftnr Jn.'a rfu Kla that id I Vounr | does trnew iove descend from heaven that a new duty does not spring out of the earth God Alls your soul with pity and the beggar instantly knocks at yont gate. God gives you courage, and the haunted wretch flees under your strong arm of protection. God gives you light, and the cloud of some ignorance rolls up out of the night, demanding your daylight for its dispersion.?Phillips Brooks. Why Christ Came to Earth. Christ came not to revolutionize,but to en noble and to sanctify. He oame to reveal that the Eternal was not the Future,but only tbe Unseen; that Eternity was no ocean whither men were swept by the river ol time, hut was around them now. and that their lives were only real in so far as they felt its reality and its presence. He came to teach that God was no dim abstraction, infinitely separated from them in the far oft blue, but that He whs the Father in whom they lived and moved and had their being, and that the service which He loved was not ritual and sacrifice, not pompous scrupulosity and censorious orthodoxy, but mercy and justice, humility and love. He came, not to hush j the natural music of men's lives, not to fill it with storm and agitulion, but to retune every silver chord in that "harp of a thousand strings" and to mak?s it echo with the harmonies of heaven.?Canon Farrar. The Bible In tlis Church. With three things given to tho Christian Church she need never be discouraged. These are the Word of God written, the Holy Spirit's teaching und inspired men and women making divino truth known to others. The first work of the church Is to know the Bible?so to know it that its truths enter into daily life, become controlling and inspiring. No other work can gain pre-oraineuce over this without weakening Christians. Exercise etrengthens well-fed bodies, but it exhausts those which have insufficient food. Public services of the church aro often called exerciser. One reason why they aro not more numerously attended is because those who support them are not well fed. And by this we mean no disparagement to pastors. Such exercises exhaust those who, if properly nourished,would And them exhilarating. God Km wi tin* Slioal*. Wo are often obliged to pull the oars of duty wkh our bucks to the' future; we cannot tell what the morrow shall bring forth; it is our business to pull at the oars of prayrjr and labor, and to leave the rudder in ' the divine Helmsman's hand. We Commit our way to Him; Ho knows where the shoals and tho sunken rocks are, and where the doep water is also; let the Omniscient Pilot do tho steering. The poor disciples had a wAtiraK nfrvVit n# If nrli 4Ira 44 vO XT ncf o r XTAfl I asleep in tbo stern of the boat; Ho was teaching them a lesson, and when in their extremity they called up the Helmsman, the storm lulled, and their fishing-smack swam safo into harbor.?Theodore L. Cuyler, D.D. It is a striking fact that in all literature the sentence best loved by children is Christ's "Suffer little cbildreu to come unto mo," the sentence best loved by the ugod "Let not your hearts bo troubled," the sentence best loved by the men the one beginning. '-For God so loved the world."~Jiewell Dwight HillLs. After all, the kind of world one carries about in one's self is tho important thing; and the world outside takes all its grace, color and value from them.?J. U. Lowell. AVALANCHE REVEALS A MINE. A Ten-Font G'o]>j>or Vein Discovered l>y the Full of n IJouldor In Utah. An avalanche on tho Liisal Mountain, nonr Park City, Utah, has uncovered a ton VV.?.?. copper ami comai-iitm an eight-inch streak of glance ussayi urs-vnnty per cent, metallic copper. L. <!. Trcnowiib, who has been working some c!ai 'i< on tho mountain, has been 11 nil Ins coi.skii'rablo lloat carrying llfty per cent, co j?<-r, but bo could not iooato the load. A huge boulder, carried into tho gulch bv tho avalanche. broke, revealing rich nou er values. The former site of tho bonl er was marked by tho cop-1 per vein which bail ut-en uncovered by the si&Llfl THE SABBATH SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS* f FOR APRIL 2. " ' i Leiion Text; The Btlilnf of Ltmrni"-* ( John II.. 32-45-Golrfen Text! "I Am ' V the Resurrection and the Lir?"-Job? 1 II.. 25?Commentary. u| Jesns and His dlsolnles le't Brthabara _ H and drevr near the villas vof Bethany at H least Ave davs afte* the rries*? p?r had H heen dlsnatched. and four davs after tb? H death of Lazams. Martha, learning of >H His arrival, vent out to meet Him, Jeavtiuc . ViAn?o nhvnrhed in her 9 luaijr in tuu uwmwv, ... w bat unconscious of His approach. The I meeting was very tonchlncr; bat Jesus I awakened hope and prepared the way tnt 1 larger blessings by assuring her that H? 1 was the resnrrectlon nnd the Hfe. ' S3. When Martha's faith and hop* wero assured, Jean* bade her go home and brine her sister, with the mMsaare, "Th? Master Is oome, and calleth for thee." He is oar rightful master and teacher, and therefor? has a rlarht to call us. He calls us (1) by j His noble, lovelv character; (81 by Hf? J words; (31 by kind acts towards as: (4> J by His Holy Snlrlt; (5) by holding out the I ^applies for all oar wants: (W by the invftatlons and exhortations of friends; (1) by Hi Sabbaths and religion^ seryloes; (8) by His providences; (9) by affltotions: (10) by onr consciences. Mary 'Immediately H left the house and west outside of the J| village walls to the plass where Jeans eras resting. "She fell down at Hit fl| feet." Expressing tjjie .intensity of her "1^1 arrlef more visibly tharr Martha. bat utter- V log the same words. "Lord, If thou hadst ifl been here, my brother bad not died." Then Is no complaint, bat only the wish that things might have been different. 33. "He groaned in the spirit." does in* H Jeed far more exoress the feelings of inilgnatlon and displeasure than of grief. the indignation which the Lord of life felt &t all whloh sin bad wrought. He beheld JeatU In all Its fearfalness, ns the wnires of sin; and all the world's woes, of which this was bat a little sample, rose no before His aye, all the monrners and all the graven were present to Him. "And'wa* troubled." ? Troubled himself, the outward expression }f the strong Inward feellns which caused Hlm'to "groan in spirit." The word mean* to agitate, to disquiet, as the waters of the ?ea. 35. "Jesus wept." Shed, tears, wept illently, an entirely different word from ;he "weep" and "weeping" of the mourners I !n verses 31. 32. This verse gives further 1 expression to the intense and varied feel* I ings of Jesus?Indignation, grief, and sym? >f patby. It Is well that this short sentence J should be In a verse by itself, the shortest rerse la tho Bible, bat one of the moat blessed. Christianity knows of no dead Stoicism; it knows of a reflating, but of no suoh repressing, of the Natural affec- ? lions; on the contrary, it bids us to weep j$a with them that weep; and, in the beautifol words of Lelghton, that we "seek not alto* ?ether to dry the stream of sorrow, but to .a sound it, and keep It within Its banks." Tho j amotions of Jesus express' the heart of God + and his loving kindness toward the ohll* ^J5tj dren of men. 36. "Behold bow He loved hlml" Tho -jaM word for love here is the one that expresses , oassionate intensity, and nof .the word used . In verse 5 to express Jesokf'.'love for tb? Bethany family, which WM the love of sholce, of friendship, a deep spiritual love. 37. "Could not this man, whloh opened ;he eyes of the blind." This was the last, most widely known, and most marvelous 09 mlraole which had been wrought in Jeru- ? lalem only two or three months before. The Inference was natural and just. 38. ''Jesus cometh to the grave*ftomb). "It was a cave." A private tomb excavated in the sldo of the rock, and probably, as is usual, on the same level with the door. "And a stone lay npon It.** 1 u fnmh {fl 11A# irr against u. iuc reached by twenty-five descending steps. Bat this is in the centre of the Tillage, (or burials were not permitted by the Jews within towns or villages, nor nearer than fifty cubits (seventy-flve feet) from habf? Nations. The expression "a stone lay upoa It" woald be better rendered "a stone lay against it," that is, closed the entranoe Is the face of the roek. Numbers of thess tombs are to be found in'every part of > the land, sometimes with circular stones let into a groove, so as to be rolled into a recess on one side. 8om?tftnes a slab is fitted into the doorway, and sometimes merely placed against it, as seems to hav? been the oaso in this instanoe. T ere Is net a glen, not a hillside In Palestine which does not to this day bear silent testimony to the (aith of the Jews of olden time in the resurrection of the body. Not aven the Egyptians oould surpass them in their reverence for the remains of the lead. so "Afarfhn sulth." Merely giving .? her opinion as to what would naturally be Bxpected. Nothing can bo known as to the (act. fiat, it ifl asked, bad not Lazarus been embalmed? Undoubtedly he had, bat after the manner of the Jews, who limited themselves to wrapping the body in per* fumes (see John 19, 40), a process which could not prevent corruption. 40. "If thou wouldst believe." Trust to the goodness, and power, and promises ot Jesus, not iu any deflnlte work to be accomplished. For He had not told just what He would do. Sach must be our / faith. Faith is confidence la Ood and la } Jesus, not the assuranoe that some par- L. tlcular thing will be given, but that, like her, we shall see the glory of God. They would see a work of God which would manifest His power and love to men.whioh. would exalt His Son as the Messiah, and bring divine blessings to tbe family, to His disciples, and to the world. 41. "Jesus lifted up His eyes." A natural, simple, bat expressive act of worship. The natural forms of worship are an aid to worship, both for ourselves and those who are with us. "And said, Father, I thank Thee." The miraole He was to work oame in answer to prayer, and He returns thanks for the assurance. "T>?-??<? n?nnl? " The crowds 1 M. DHUttUOO W4 vuw |/wwp*^> ? gathered uround, so that they would realize that He was the Messiah seat from God, and believe oa Him. [ 43. "Cried with a loud .voice." To demonstrate most clearly thai His command woa the direct cause. 44. "And he that was dead came forth, bound band and foot." Probably eaoh limb separately, as was the Egyptian custom, for the grave clothes had been wrapped about somewhat loosely, so that "with th? new life pulsating through his body, It* was able, in obedleno3 to the word of Jesus, to come forth slowly from th? sepuk'her, and to stand there 'in the vigor of health, though In the garments of death* before the wonder-stricken company." 44. Napkin, or handkerchief, to support the chin and cover the face in part. '-Loom bim, and let him go." The "loosing" consisted, of course, In so arrranglno; or removing his grave clothes that he could, walk freely. ... 45. "Many of the Jews. ..believed.'* That was one of the purposea of th? miracle. Lazarus walked as a perpetual sermon before the oeoole. ALLECED RUNIC STONE FOUND. . Picked Up In Minnesota and Fart of tit* Inscriptions Translated. A stone bearing Inscriptions in so-called ruulc characters was found three mile* jorthoast of Kensington, in Douglas County, Minn. Professor Breda of th? Btate University, to whom the stone was submitted, said, thut when tbe inscriptions. \ were first submitted to him as being from & x possible runic stone found in the western Kart of Minnesota he wns disposed to laugh. o runlo stodes had ever b?en found in Amoricn. Nevertheless he took the stone nnd made up tbe following translation ?t the incriptions, dashes indicating the location of words of oliaracters which he could not muke out. not bfiing correct runes: "Swedes nud?Norsemen on u journey ot discovery from Vinelund west?wo camped ?olio day's journey north from this stone. We .'iiiished ono day. After \mcauie home wo found?man red with bioou aud dead, A. V. M. bavofrom?have?m?n at theoceon to look after otirsliips?day's journey from tbis island. Year? i'rou'.-sor ilreilaseems 10 lUUyiOIltt ns j.ussibly gonuiDC. lib theory is that at the time tuu fclono was deposited at tha pinca fouuti it was ou the shore of Laka buperior, which then, GOO years apo, wa<? several humireit Teet above Its present levelg ninfcing it entirely possible that the pieo? o.-round at tuat place wag nnislaud. The , EiOiir : .? l>eeu seut to Trofessor Curme, ot ^ tUf . C ' i%