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DR. TALMAGES SERMON SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED DIVINE. ?obJect:NothlnbIs Insignificant? Instances of on What a Slonder Thread Great Results Hans?A Little Thine May Decide Yonr Fate?The Importance of Trifles. [Copyright 1901.1 Washtnoton, 1). C.?A Bible incident not often noticed is here used by Dr. Talraage to set forth practical and beautiful truth; text, II. Corinthians xi, 33, "Thrnnnli n tvimlnw in a haslcet Was I let Sdown by the wall." Sermons on Paul in jail, Paul on Mars hill, Paul in the shipwreck, Paul before the sanhedrin, Paul before Felix, are plentiful, but in ir.y text we have Paul in a basket. Damascus is a city of white and glistening architecture, sometimes called "the eye of the East,'' sometimes called "a pearl surrounded by emeralds," at one time distinguished for swords of the best matevial called Damascus blades and upholstery of richest fabric called damask. A horseman of tlie name of Saul riding toward this city had been thrown from the saddle. The horse had dropped under a flash from the sky which at the same time was so bright it blinded the rider for many days, ana I think so permanently jojured his eyesight that this defect of vision became the thorn in the flesh he afterward speaks of. He started for Da V,,4.Akat. Pkriofiana hllfr. UlCU><,Ua IV UUltHCi v/**w?v?u?uw, that hard fall from his horse he was a changed man and preached Chrigt in Damascus till the city was shaken to its Joundation. * v The mayor give3 authority for his arrest, and the popular cry is, "Kill him, kill him!" The city is surrounded by a high wall, and the gates are watched by the police lest the Cilician preacher escape. Many of the houses are built on the wall, and their balconies projected clear over and hovered above the gardens outBide. It was customary to lower baskets out of these balconies and pull up fruits and flowers from the gardens. To this day visitors at the monastery of Mount Sinai are lifted and let down in baskets. Detectives prowled around from house to hoMse looking for Paul, but his friends * hid him now in one place, now in another. He is no coward, as fifty incidents in his * v- e l. u:_ i. me uemonsiraie, out nc iccia mo num jo not done yet, and so he evades assassination. "Is that preacher here?" the foaming mob shout at one house door. "Is that fanatic here?" the police shout at another house door. Sometimes on the street incognito he passes through a crowd of clinched fists, and sometimes he secretes himself on the house top. At last the infuriate populace get on sure track of him. i They have positive evidence that he is in the house of one of the Christians, the balcony of whose home reaches over the wall. "Here he is! Here he is!" The vociferation and blasphemy and howling of the pursuers ai*e at the front door. They break in. "Fetch out that gospelizer and us hang his head on the city gate. Where is he?" The emergency was terri- < ble. Providentially there was a good j stout basket in the house. Paul's fr?nds i fasten a rope to the basket. Paul steps i Ill GO it. X lie Uai'KCI/ 19 111 VCU Lilt ttf the balcony on the wall, and then while Paul holds the rope with both hands his friends lower away carefully and cautious- : jy, slowly but surely, farther down and. farther down, until the basket strikes the earth and the apostle steps out and afoot ?nd alone starts on that famous missionary tour the story of which has astonished Pirth and heaven. Appropriate entry in aul's diary of travels: "Through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall." I observe first on what a slender tenure great results hang. The ropemakers who twisted that cord fastened to that lowering basket never knew how much would depend upon the strength of it. How if it had been broken and the apostle's life had been dashed out? What would have become of the Christian Church? All that magnificent missionaiy work in Pamphyiia, Capnadoc'ia, Galatia, Macedonia, would never have been accomplished. All his writings that make up so indispensable Mid enchanting a part of the New Testament would never have been written. The etorv of resurrection would never have been so gloriously told as he told it. That example of heroic and triumphant ? J -j. ?? 1:1 endurance at irmiippi, iu liic raem terra* nean Euroclydon, under flagellation and st his beheading would not have kindled the courage of 10,000 martyrdoms. But that rope holding that basket, how much depended on it! So again and again great results have hung on slender Circumstances. Did ever ship of many thousand tons crossing the sea have such an important passenger as had once a boat of leaves from taffrail to stern only three or four feet, the vessel made waterproof by a coat of bitumen and floating on the Nile with the infant lawgiver of the Jews on board? J What if some crocodile should crunch it? What if some of the cattle wading in for a drink should sink it? Vessels of war sometimes carry forty puns looking through the northoles, ready to open battle. But the tiny craft on the Nile seems to be armed with all the guns of thunder that bombarded Sinai at the lawgiving. On how fragile a craft sailed how much of historical importance! The parsonage at Epworth, England, is on fire in the night, and the father rushed through the hallway for the rescue of his children. Seven children are out and safe on the ground, but one remains in the consuming building. That one awakes and, finding his bed on fire and the building crumbling, comes to the window, and two peasants make a ladder of their bodies, one peasant standing on the 6houlder of the other, and down the human ladder the boy descends?Joan Wesley. If vou would know how much depended on that ladder of peasants, ask the millions of Methodists on both sides of the sea. Ask their mission stations all around the world. Ask their hundreds of thouRands already ascen'dcd to join their founder, who would have perished but for the living stairs of peasants' shoulders. An English ship stopped at Pitcairn Island, and right in the midst of surrounding cannibalism and squalor the passengers discovered a Christian colony of churches and schools and beautiful homes and highest style of religion and civilization. For fifty years no missionary and no Christian influence had landed there. Why this oasis of light amid a desert of heathendom? Sixty years before a ship had met disaster, and one of the sailors, unable to save anything else, went to his trunk and took out a Bible which his mother had placed* there and swam ashore, the Bible he?d in his teeth. The book was read on all sides until the rough and vicious population were evangelized, and a church was started, and an enlightened commonwealth established and the world's history has no more brilliant page than that which tells of the transformation of abolition by one book. It did not seem of milch importance whether the sailor continued to hold the book in his teeth or let it fall in the breakers, but upon that small circumstance depended what mighty results? Practical inference: There are no insignificances in life. The minutest thing is part of a magnitude. Infinity is made up of infinitesimals; great thines an aggregation of small things. Bethlehem manner palling on a star in the Eastern sky. One book in a drenched sailor's mouth the evangelization of a multitude. One boat of papyrus on the Nile freighted with events for all ages. The fate of Christendom in a basket let down from a window on the wall. What you do, do well. If you make a rope, make it strong and true, for you know not how much may depend on your workmanship. If you fashion a boat, let it be waterproof, for you know not Tho may sail in it. If you put a Bible v in the trunk ol your boy as he goes from home, let it be remembered in your prayers, for it may have a mission as far-reaching as the book which the sailor carried in his teeth to the Pitcairn beach The plainest man's life i9 an island between two eternities?eternity past rippling against his shoulders, eternity to come touching his brow. The casual, the accidental, that which merely happened go, are parts of a great plan, and the rope that lets the fugitive apostle from the Damascus wall is the cbie that holds to its mooring the ship of the church in the storm of the centuries. Again, notice unrecognized and uare corded service. Who span that rope! Who tied it to the basket? Who steadied the illustrious preacher as he stepped into it? Who relaxed not a muscle of the arm or dismissed an anxious look from his face until the basket touched the ground and discharged its magnificent cargo? Not one of their names has come to us, but there was no work done that day in Damascus or in all earth compared with the importance of their work. What if they had in their agitation tied a knot that could slip? What if the sound of the mob at the door had led them to say, "Paul must take care c5 himself and we will take care of ourselves?" No, no! They held the rope and in doing so did more for the Christian church than any thousand of us will ever accomplish. But God knows and has made record of their And thev know. . How exultant they must have felt when they read his letters to the Romans, to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Colosscans, to the Thessalonians, and when tbey heard how he walked out of prison, with the earthquake unlocking the door for him, and took command of the Alexandrian corn ship when the sailors were nearly scared to death and preached a sermon that nearly shook Felix off his judgment seat! I hear the men and women who helped him down through the win* dow and over the wall talking in private over the matter and saying: "How glad I am that we effected that rescue! In coming times others may get the glory of Paul's work, but no one shall rob us of the satisfaction of knowing that we held the rope." Once for thirty-six hours we expected every moment to go to the bottom of the ocean. The waves struck through the skylights and rushed down into the hold of the ship and hissed against the boilers. It was an awful time, but by the blessing of God and the faithfulness of the men in charge we came out of the cyclone, and we arrived at home. Each one before leaving the ship thanked Captain Andrews. I do not think there was a man or woman that went off that ship without thanking Captain Andrews, and when years after I heard of his death I was impelled to write a letter of condolence to his family it! Liverpool. Everybody recognized the goodness, the courage, the kindness of Captain Andrews, but it occurs to me now that we never thanked the engineer. He stood away down in the darkness amid the hissing furnaces, doing his whole duty. Nobody thanked the engineer, but God recognized his heroism and his continuance and his fidelity, and there will be just as high reward for the engineer, who worked out of sight, as for the captain, who stood on the bridge of the ship in the midst of the howling tempest. There are said to be about 150,000 ministers of religion in this country. About 80,000, I warrant, came from early homes which had to struggle for the necessaries of life. The sons of rich bankers and merchants generally become bankers and merchants. The most of those who become ministers are the sons of those who had terrific struggle to get their everyday bread. The years go by, and the son has been ordained and is preaching the glorious gospel, and a great revival comes, and Bouts by scores and hundreds accept the gospel from the lips of that young preacher, and father ana mother, quite old now, are visiting the son at the village parsonage. and at the close of a Sabbath of mighty blessing father and mother retire to their room, the son lighting the way and asking them if he can do anything tc make them more comfortable, saying if they want anything in the night just to knock on the wall. And then, all alone, father and mother talk over the gracious influences of the day and say: "Well, it was worth all we went through to educate that boy. It wa9 a hard pull, but we held on till the work was done. The world mr.y not know it, but. mother, we held the rope, didn't me?" And the voice, tremulous with joyful emotion, responds: "Yes, father, we held the rope. I feel my work is done. Now, Lord, lettest thou Thy servant deoart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." "Pshaw!" says the father. "I never felt so much like living in my life as now. I want to see what that fellow is going on to do. he has begun so well." Come, let us "go right up and accost those on the circle of heavenly thrones. Surely they must have killed in battle a million men. Surely they must have been buried with all the cathedrals sounding a dirge and all the towers of all the cities tolling the national grief. Who art thou, mighty one of heaven? "I lived by choice the unmarried daughter of an humble home that I might take care of my parents in their old age, and I endured without complaint all their querulousness and administered to all their wants for twenty years." Let us pass on round the circle of thrones. Who art tliou, mighty one of heaven? "I was for thirty-five years a Christian invalid and suffered all the while, occasionally writing a note of sympathy for those worse off than I, and was general confidant of all those who had trouble, and once in awhile I was strong enough to make a garment for that poot family in the back lane." Pass on to another throne. Who art thou, mighty one of heaven? "I was the mother who raised a whole family of children for God, and they are out in the world Christian merchants, Christian mechanics, Christian wives, and I have had full reward for all my toil." Let us pass on in the circle of thrones. "I had a Sabbath-school class, and they were always on my heart, and they all entered the kingdom of God, and I am waiting for their arrival." But who art thou, mighty one of heaven, on this other throne? "In time of bitter persecution I owned a house in Damascus, a house on the wall, A man who preached Christ was hounded from street to street. ana i nia mm irom trie assassins, ana when I found them breaking into my house and I could no longer keep him safety, I advised him to flee for his dear life, and a basket was let down over the wall with the maltreated man in it. and I was one who helped hold the rope." And I said, "Is that all?" And he answered, "That is all." And while I was lost in amazement I heard a strong voice that sounded as though it might once have heen hoarse from many exposures and triumphant as though it might have belonged to one of the martyrs, and it said, "Not many mightv, not many noble, are called, but God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen; yea, and things which are not to bring to naught thinsrs which are, that no flesh should glory in His presence." And I looked to see from whence the voice came, and. lo, it was the very one who had said, "Through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall!" Henceforth think of nothing as insignificant. A little thing may decide your all. A Cunarder put out from England for New York. It was well equiDped, but in nutting up a stove in the pilot box a nail was driven too near the compass. You know how that nail would affect the compass. The ship's officers, deceived by thai distracted compass, put the ship 20C miles off her right course and suddenly the man on the lookout cried, "Land ho!" and the ship was halted on Nan lucKet snoais. a sixpenny nan came near wrecking a Cunarder. Small ropes hold mighty destinies. A minister seated in Boston at his table, lacking a Vord, puts his hand behind hii head and tilts back hi* chair to think, and the ceiling falls and crushes the table and would have crushed him. A minister in Jamaica at night by the light of an insect called the candle fly ii kept from stepping over a precipice a hundred feet. F. W. Robertson, the celfr brated English clergyman, said that he entered the ministry from a train of circumstances started by the barking of I dog. Had the wind blown one way on a cer tain day the Spanish Inquisition woulc have been established in England, but ij blew the other way, and that dropped the accursed institution, with seventy-five tons of shipping, to the bottom of the sea or flung the splintered log3 on the rocks. Nothing unimportant in your life 01 mine. Three naughts placed on the righl side of the figure one make a thousand, and six naughts on the right side of the figure one a million, and our nothingness placed on the right side may be augmen tation illimitable. All the ages of tinu and eternity affected by the let down from a Damascus balcony. THE GREAT DESTBOYEE SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT THE VICE OF INTEMPERANCE. Medical Testimony as to the Injury o> Giving Intoxicant* to Children ? Responsible For Many Diseases and Organic Troubles?A Great Evil. Professor Max Kassowitz. the most famous authority in Vienna 011 children's diseases, speaking at the session in Vienna of the International Anti-Alcoholic Congress, strongly opposed the practice of giving children intoxicants in any form, even m very moderate quantities. Beer and wine, he held, were highly injurious on account of the changing character of the bodily organs during child growth. Such liquids were absolutely unnourishing and frequently led to epilepsy and had also a deadening power in learning. _ A V ienna schoolmaster stated that on Mondays the children were dull and heavy in consequence of the beer and wine drinking on Sundav. Fifty Der cent, of the Vienna school children, it wi^s stated, take intoxicants. The New York Herald interviewed various New York medical men on the matter. Dr. Louis Fisher, a leading specialist in diseases of children, corroborated the statements of Professor Kassowitz as to the injury of intoxicants to those of tender age. Dr. Fisher was inclined from personal observation to the belief that wine and beer were frequently given to children in this city, especially among the tenement house population. - He added: "This is obsewed by any phvsician who has a dispensary practice. Among parents of Irish birth who live on the west side whisky is a favorite tonic for babies. Ths Germans on the east side give their children beer. "Parents seem to have the idea that by giving ctinaren liquor tney are matting them strong?that it will strengthen their hearts. They generally hegih the practice very early. "In consequence of this practice the growth of the children is retarded, and their digestion is disturbed. The suffering of the baby from the effects of the administration of liquor seems to give the parents the idea that more is needed to counteract the ailments. So they go from bad to worse. "To any one whose attention has been called to the subject particularly it is remarkable to note how much digestive trouble can be traced to this practice. The most deplorable part of it is that the ill-effects of the liquor are not injurious to the stomach alone, but quickly extend to the liver." Dr. Augustus Caille said the evils resulting from the practice were real and not imaginary. He declared that great care was necessary in the administration of liquors to children even by physicians. He added that he did not prescribe whisky or brandy for children except in extreme cases. Views of the Very Rov. Doan Farra?. Mv reasons for takine the Dledire wer? partly general and partly special." First?I became convinced that the usa of alcohol in any form waa not a necessity. I saw that whole nations hav* lived and flourished without it. I believed that the whole race of man had ex? isted for centuries previous to its discovery. becond?I was otruck by the indisputable fact that in England 20,000 inhabitants of our prisons, accustomed to strong drink all their lives, and the majority of them brought into prison directly or indirectly by it, could De, and were, from the moment of their imprisonment, absolutely deprived of it, not only without losa, but with entire gain to their personal health. Third?I derived from the recorded testimony of our most eminent physicians that the use of alcohol is a subtle and manifold source of disease even to thousands who use it in quantities conventionally deemed moderate; also, that all the young, and all the healthy, and all who eat well and sleep well, do not require it, and are better without it. Fourth?That the carefully drawn statistics of many insurance societies convinced me that total abstinence, so far from shortening life, distinctly and undisputably conducted to longevity. Fifth?Then I accumulated proof that drink is so far from heme requisite to physical strength or intellectual force, that many of our greatest athletes, from the days of Samson onward, "whose drink ^vas only of the crystal brook," have achieved without alcohol mightier feats than have ever been achieved with it. Drinking Habits and BncceM Are Alien. Here are some words from John D. Rockefeller, spoken in his speech before the great University of Chicago, to which he has given over ?9,000,000. They deserve to oe printed in every paper in the land. He said to the young men: "Some of the foes which threaten your success may not be apparent to you until it is too late. If you are to succeed in life it will i be because you master yourselves, and if vou are to continue masters and not slaves vou do not need that I should say to you here to-day that you must jealously guard the approach of any foe to your wellbeing. How many a young man whom I knew in my school days went down because of his fondness for intoxicating drinks! No man has ever had occasion to regret that he was not addicted to the use of liquor. No woman has ever had occasion to regret that she was not instrumental in influencing young men to use intoxicants. The chances for success are better to-day than ever before. Success j is attained by industry, perseverance and pluck, coupled with any amount of hard work, and you need not expect to achieve it in any other way." This is the estimate of drinking habits Formed by a man who has probably had opportunity to know and see as many young men succeed or fail as any other man in the land. It is fast becoming true that drinking habits and success in life will not go together. ?Baptist Argus. A Horrible Traffic. A step which is most desirable* is to repress the horrible iniquity, of which England and Germany are specially guilty, of deluging with ardent spirits?often of the most villainous quality?the savage races of Africa and other countries, ami so incurring the deadly curse of placing a stumbling block before the helpless childhood of the world. There are many evidences to show what those whom we complacently call "the inferior races" think of this shameful crime. The name given in Africa to our strong drink is Shamewater; the Maoris call it Rotten-water; the American Indians, Fire-water. "Drink is death," said the African chief Ivhama; "it is that and nothing else." "For every sincere Christian in India," said Archdeacon Jeffries, of Bombay, "we have made a thousand' drunkards." The Cruitade In Driof. The devil's most helpful ally is the liquor traffic. Governmental law has enthroned the demon traffic. Drink, combined with disease, has devastated the islands of Hawaii. jKussia, norrinea ac cne wuoiesaie tiegeneracy of her drunken peasantry, has adopted rigorous measures to remove them from temptation. France is so much alarmed at the dingrace of a drunken soldiery that the Minister of War has issued an order prohibiting the sale of drink in barracks, camp? and manoeuvring grounds. After alcohol readies the blood it is first carried into the liver, and it is especially the liver that suffers from whisky, the strongest, liquor. An imperatively ncce3sary legal measure whicn we have a right to demand is the prohibition of any sale of drink to children under sixteen. The Church of Scotland Temperance Society in seven years has increased its membership from 32,000 to 72,000, and now supports four temperance evangelists for preventive, rescue and reform work. The postal director at Doubs, Franco, has issued an order forbidding all lettercarriers from accepting alcoholic drinks from their customers, both while on and off duty. He declares that the exigencies of the service demand total abstinence .. - s,' TEE SABBATE SCEOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS FOR SEPTEMBER 15. Subject: Jacob a Frinoo With God, Gen. xxxil., l-oJi?Golden Text, Luke xvill., 1?Memory Verses, 24-'-J8?Cornmentary on tlie Day's Lesson. 1. '"Went on Ilia way." In some way God had spoken to Jacob anil told him to return to his native land. Gen. 31: 3. The Lord would not permit him to remain away longer, for he might become perverted in his religious lite and forget the promises of which he was heir, ana then, as he could no longer live in peace with. Laban it was time for him to return. "Angels of God." A host of angels. See 2 Kings 6: 17. "Met him." Literally, "enrne, drew near to him." 2. "God's host." The angels are called hosts. 1. From their multitude. 2. From their order. 3. From their power for the protection of the saints. "Mahunaim." "Two camps." 3. "Sent messengers." These messengers were probably sent before he saw the host of angels, for they seem to have returned soon after this. "Land of Seir." This is on the east and south of the Dead Sea. 4. "Unto my lord." "Yielding pacifieth great offenses." Eccles. 10: 4. Jacob Bumbled himself before his brother, recognizing him aa lord, and putting himself down as a servant. 6. "Cometh to.meet thee." Ihe mind of Esau was in that wavering atate when the slightest incident might soothe him into good will, or arouse him to vengeance. 7. "Greatly afraid." The fear of his brother was the direct consequence of his sin, the sin that embittered his whole life. "Two bands." Disposal of his company into two bands, so that if one was attacked the other might escape, was characteristic of Jacob. He was a scheming man, and never neglected to take every possiule precaution. 9. "0 God of my father Abraham." In this great emergency he had recourse to prayer. 10. "Not worthy." The Hebrew expression is "little among all the mercies;" that is, too little to have received less: less than all. "With my staff." When he passed over this Jordan he had nothing but his staff, but now he has wives and children and flocks and herds. 11. "The hand of my brother." Jacob knew that his brother-was coming toward him with an army, and he feared the worst. "The mother with the children." He must have had an awful opinion of his brother when he used this expression, which implies the utmost cruelty, proceeding in the work of slaughter to total extermination. 12. "Thou saidst." God's promises are the sure ground of all our hopes, and "to remind God of His promises is one of the privileges of prayer.' 13. "A present for Esau." Jacob did not regard praying as a rubstitute for the use of means. It was rather a guide, an inspiration from God in their use. 14. 15. "Two hundred," etc. We can learn something of his great prosperity from the fact that this present to Esau consisted of 580 animals. 16. "Every drove by themselves." The disposition of this pri*cely present in several droves, following one another at intervals, was such as to repeat the favorable impression made by eacn, as they successively came before Esau, accompanied with a conciliatory message. "Pass over before me." They were now near the fords of ue Jabbok, clo3e to the region of expected danger. 20. "Will apease him." Jacob hoped to pacify his brother and turn away his anger by the presents, and by the words of esteem which he had instructed his servants to speak to Esau. 22. "Kose up that night." Jacob took his family across in the night when there would be no opportunity for the enemy to Bee or to hinder. "Ford Jabbok." The Jabbok was a stream flowing into the Jordan about two-thirds of the distance from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. 24. "Was left alone." To be left alone with God is the only true way of arriving at a just knowledge of ourselves and our ways. "There wrestled." From Hosea 12: 4 we learn that the wrestling of Jacob was not merely a physical exercise, but also a spiritual one. "A man* This was doubtless the Lord Jesus Christ. In Ho3ea 12: 4, the man who wrestled with him i.? called the angel, and the Lord of hosts; and in verse 30 of this chapter Jacob calif Him God. 25. "He prevailed not." It would have been easy enough for the angel to prevail physically, but the Lord was endeavoring to lead Jacob to a complete abandonment of himself. "He touched?his thigh." The thigh is the pillar of a man's strength; Jacob was thus sliown his utter helplessness and dependence on God. God can bring down to the dust the stoutest 26. "I will not," etc. To say this from the heart is the secret of all true strength. "Thou bless me." The bleasing of God on the heart is of greater value than the best this world can give. 27. "What is thy name?" God directed attenticn to his name as representing his character. "He said, JacoD." That is, "supplanter." Thus did Jacob admit the true state of his heart. 28. "Israel." A prince of God, or one powerful with God. God had taiight him that his greatest enemy was not Esau, but himself "Power with God." The only sure way of having power with men is to have power with God first. Earnestness, perseverance, submission, faith?the^e will move both God and man. "Hast prevailed." All of God's people are wrestlers. Great things are promised to those who give themselves fully to God, not the least of which is that they shall prevail with God. 29. "Tell me?thy name." Reveal thyself to me more fully. "He blessed him there." The angel did not gratify Jaccb's curiosity when he asked his name, but he did bless him. 1. Consider the place. It was a place (1) of great trial (vs. 6, 7); (2) of numble confession (v. 10); (3) of pleading (vs. 11, 12); (4) of communion (v. 30); (5) of conscious weakness. V. 31. 2. Consider the blessing. He was (1) saved from a great peril (v. 11); (2) he was able to feel that a great brcach was healed (33: 4); (3) he had won a new name and rank (v. 28), and was made a prince on the spot; (4) he was now under a fresh anointing. and was a superior man ever after. 30. "Peniel." Or Penuel (v. 31), meaning "the face of God." "My life is preserved." These word9 have a deep spiritual meaning. The only way in which the life can be preserved is to meet the angel ?Christ; He is the life. 31. "The sun rose." See Mai. 4: 2. The rising *un was a type of the spiritual sun rise upon ni8 soui. rnucu, en-, hucw er Jacob was healed at this time, or was ever after a cripple, is mere conjecture. 32. "Eat not of the sinew." What this sinew was neither Jew nor Christian cm tell. Ajtrii-nlturo In Alaska. The Cenaua Bureau, at Washington, has issued a report on the agricultural statistics for Alaska. It shows that Alaska's total farm wealth June 1, 1900, was $15,688, of which $2196 was invested in live stock, $600 in implements and machinery, and $12,800 represented the value of buildings and other improvements. Buildings have been erected on nine of the twelve farms in the Territory. The twelve farina have a total area of 159 acres, and vegetables are the principal product. The total value of domestic animals and poultry waa $2198. Next to vegetables grass cut for hay and ensilage in t.nfl mnafr imnnrhnf arrripiilt urn 1 nrr*. (iuct. From the standpoint of income upon capital invested poultry raising in 1899 was relatively the most profitable branch of Alaskan agriculture. Russian Trad? With England. Russia is largely and handsomely represented at thei Glasgow Exposition, and since the opening of that snow and the visit to England of many Russian business men increased interest in the trade between the two countries is manifested. It is reported that direct trade between the Siberian dairymen and the English importers will be established. This business hats hitherto been done through Danish and German middlemen. ' . *.' V- - v ' * 7 . ... , . GOD'S MESSAGE TO MAN PRECNANT THOUCHTS FROM THE WORLD'S CREATEST PROPHETS. Hid With ChrUt"?Noble Livine?On* o) the Selected. Avenues to Noble L1t< Ins i" Found in Grent-HeArtednesa ? The Strong Should Help the Weak. We gazed into the yawning grave, With ffhudd'ring agony and dread; Into that sere and narrow cave Where we must leave our precious dead! Our heartstrings quivered with the moaa Of cords reluctantly unreeled, As, in their taut, yet writhing zone, The casket sought the tomb's grim shield With tense, expectant breath, we stood To hear the hollow-sounding clod Pall from the cowl, the yellow hood Of fresh-turned clay, and waiting sod. Then, "Earth to earth, and dust to dust," We heard, but not the mocking thud Which thrills the soul with anguished thrust, Which chills the stricken brain and blood; For. thoughtful hands had thickly strewn The cherished casket with the boughs Of arbor vitae's fragrant boon, And human pity's fadeless vows. Ah, then, revivified with trust In God and man, we waited there, \Vhile "Earth to earth and", dust to dust," No longer seemed Death's ruthless share. Beyond the stern, sepulchral groans, Beyond the knell of perished time, We heard the Comforter's glad tones, We heard the resurrection chime. A voice had whispered: "Come to Me!" And lo! the weary had fottnd rest!? O Grave, where is thy victory, When Christ's dear ones sleep on His breast? We left her there, below the wreath That made the nir with fragrance rife, Forever "hid with Christ," beneath The branches of the Tree of Life! -Mrs. Virginia Sheffcy-Haller, in N. Y Observer. Vnhlo T.lvlnp. All service worthy of the name springs from the desire created bv love, to go out of self and be one with others, that it may enrich and bless them. Men cannot be reall> blessed without tenderness. You may relieve their wants in the way of duty, but such relief will not refresh their hearts. A loving heart is the great minister. Here clothing itself in graceful speech, there manifesting itself in kindly action, here sympathizing with the sorrowful, there relieving the distressed; it exhales sweet odors like the alabaster box. It pours forth music like the harp. It warms and cheers like the winter's fire. It is without question that one of the seiectesc avenues to noble living and noble influences is found in great-heartedness. It is through greatness of heart that the strong help the weak, the educated the ignorant, and the rich the poor. It is the ministry of the heart which is taking the rigor out of toil, the cruelty out of law, the hardness, out of theology, and the injustice out of life. ' It has been said: You may save anyone if vou will only love him enough," and there is deep truth in the statement. How many men who would otherwise have been lost, have been saved by a friend who would not give them up when they had gone astray, who would not abandon them when others had fallen away in despair, and who would not withdraw from them the protection of that generous friendship which still kept self-respect alive, and held the door open for a return to that whieh is noble and good? A Spiritual Tonic. The doctrine that there is no use of exercising self-denial unless some worthy end is .to be served by it. is subject to ths important Qualification that the habit of self-control is itself an end worthy of any cost. John Stuart Mill advises us every day to refrain from doing something that we want to do, to do something that involves sacrifice and hardship for the sake of strengthening the soirit. Is not that as wise a9 to take regular exercise tor tne sake of the body? Much ia said to-day about "the strenuous life." The intent of most of it is toward producing a selfassertive, pugnacious and rather brutal type of character. The true field for the exercise of the strenuous life ia not in out relation to other people, but in our relation to ourselves. We are our own worst enemies, and the counsel of Mill is exceedinply wise. It does hot differ much from that of Paul. (1 Cor. 9 : 25-27). It may be said that in everv life opportunities enough for the exercise of self-denia} arise every day. where it is a duty. That may or may not be so. just as a man mai or may not get physical exercise enougl when about his ordinary task3. Even ther it is a good plan to bring new musclei into play. A little of the heroic that wt make for ourselves, not because we hav? to, but because we want to cultivate thai mood is an admriable spiritual toa> ? Boston Watchman. Looking Upward. No one is really profited by drudtrenr o) which he th'nkB as drudgery and nothing more. Ouv life is not a treadmill, but a journey. When the hard and thankless day is thought of as one stage in a dustv road that leads toward home, when selfdenial takes the form of service, when postponement of gifts mean9 opportunity of growth, even drudperv puts on the dignity and glory of a divine calling. It is, therefore, by the uplifted gaze, tho lofty vision, that we are to attain. All that we can realize of our best ideals we shaH attain in Christ. Our life ia filled with mniTiinff htr Tfia nrrc onPA nnd TTifl triiafc. Faith, obedience and service are the way marks of our journev. Faith looks up to Him for guidance. Obedience keens us on the road. Service to others, in the experience of Christians, is the usual medium of God's bestowal of enlightening grace. "He that doeth the will fthall know," is Christ's law of all attainment.?Boston Congregationalism The Natural Christ. There corned a time when the natural Christ does not satisfy the soul, and then the ecclesiastical Christ is brought out to please those who are seeking deeper knowledge. Christ recognizes a life midway between nature and reason; between the simplicity of the blade and the finality of the full ear of corn in the ear.?Rev J. A. Milburn. Congregatiooalist, Chicago, Religious KuggaU. The divine can never be inhuman.Ram's Horn. Known duties are fixed fingerboard* along life's way.?Weilspring. Great effort from great motives ia the best definition of a happy life.?Channing Life goes from teat to test; it ia like any other business?the more you know, the more it puta upoa you.?Mrs. Humphry Ward. Thorns may be woven into a chaplet, i /.i-ATi/n it fcpftv anH a pat ttllU autli li viwnii, *" - ~7 ? the brow, is the emolem of fc royalty likf Christ's.?Charles Beard. General lUilas to Uie Aimy. Lieutenant-General Miles has issued a general order, intended to improve the londitions of the army. It admonishes jfficers and men regarding their duties, md points out the essentials of a good loldier, specifically mentioning patriotism, discipline, physical development, self-retncefc, self-reliance and resourcefulness, ilso adding that professional knowledge ' m necessary at all thne3. The General jays that on account of large acccssior-j )f officers and soldiers who have had on'.v imited experience in the military service ;hc instructions contained in uie ordrr ' ire issued for their guidance, as well as ' ior that of others. , INLTDML ] %M?$C e c ?? 66^ The Management of Cattle. While the use of the best cows is a very important matter, yet the management of the farm and the cattle have something to do with the production of milk. There are cows that will give more milk on some farms than on others, due to better varieties of grass, more grain food and more comfortable quarters. An indifferent farmer may have good cows from which no profit is derived because of poor management. During long periods of drought the pasture may not provide but a fraction of the grass compared with its capacity early In the season, and it, therefore, becomes more difficult for the animals to supply them selves. This deficiency the farm?? should observe and supply. Farm Gates. Take two pine or poplar boards, six inches wide, an inch and a half thick and as long as you want your gate. Have pickets one by fouxjnches and, as . long as you want your, gate high,. iH?1^..- 'h A HEAT PABM OATS. Then a brace one by four inches, long enough to reach from the lower corner of gate on hinge end to top corner, where the latch is to be placed. Lay the two rails down on barn floor or treaties, if you have them, the proper distance apart, and nail on your pickets, putting four nails in each end. Saw brace to fit in between rails without notching, and nail pickets to this. Bolt on hinges, having holes in same, so the bolts will pass through both picket and rail. At the other end bolt a paling on each side of the rail. Have a common latch made out of au old Magon tire or ^n old piece of bar iron and when this is properly secured your gate is complete.?Orange Judd Farmer. The Summer Dlot of Chickens. There is no perfect summer or winter food for chickens, but with a little ingenuity-in mixing their diet we can supply them with what may be called perfect food. A good deal depends upon the nature of the chlokens and fowls in regard to the food, and also upon the season of the year. While a fair supply of corn may do for winter feeding, it could hardly be recommended for summer feeding. It is altogether too fattening and heating. On the otfier hand a little rice is good for the fowls in summer, and totally unsuitable for winter;. There is practically no beating elements in rice, aud this is what we need for summer feeding, food that will nourish without heating. Now when we feed summer or winter for eggs we must consider food from a different standpoint We need to supply the fowls with egg-producing material, and for the time we must consider the relative importance of heating and non-heating foods much less than formerly. Usually, however foods that make flesh and fat do not contribute to the egg-producing abilities of the hens. The foods adapted to the latter are usually iu a class by themselves. In addition to them we need consider only such other foods necessary to repair the daily waste and loss of heat and fat. In cold weather the loss of the latter is much greater than in summer, and consequently the proportion of these foods must be far larger. Both fowls and chickens indicate what they most need if turned loose. They will pick of grains, seeds, worms, slugs and all sorts of natural foods. The more of this natural food they can secure the better will it be for them. Chickens that can forage for a living in summer will always be healthy and robust. But we must not forget that very often they fail to secure enough to keep them In good growing condition. After they have | foraged for the day they need additional food. But in the summer this food should not be corn, which so many think necessary. A little, and a very little at that, will suffice. The evening meal would be much better for the poultry if\composed of a great variety of seeds, grains, rice, scraps from the table, ground fresh bones, rrit, oats, barley and so on. . Make such an evening moal as varied in its composition as possible, adding as few fat-producing foods as the case will warrant Feed the poultry freely with this mixture every night, giving them all they will cat up clcan. In the morning turn i!iem loose to forage again, feeding tln-m artificial food only when night couics again. Of course, where there are many colonies kept, the foraging grounds will be more limited, and the birds will have to receive more artificial l'oods.?Annie C. Webster, in American Cultivator. An Excellent Scratching Shed. In winter as well as in summer It Is imperative that fowls should be kept busy. They delight always to " e their feet, aDu for this reason no netter method of affording them requisite exercise is to be met witu when the ground is mantled with snow than supplying the poultry House in some way witu a goou, commodious scratcliing-shed. Truth to say, the sw.itchJng-shcd has come to slay, aud If only rightly constructed it forms ji most pleasing Adjunct to auy poultry house. and ?:; I peciall.v to U?e Snuiatcs. The ldsa of j what is required can be seeu iu the < ' accompanying illustration, althoag* this may be varied to accommodate whatever style of house one. happenl to bave. The point of view fs to have the shed so situated that when the sun is shlniug it may derive all the benefit possible from its rays. It should therefore occupy the south side of the house, as indicated in the picture?the more so for the reason that it is then out of reach, as near as can be, of the cold northwest winds. Now, to build this form of scratching-sbed erect in the first place a simple, ordinary shed, with a good roof; then, to exclude animals of prey and the like which may be prowling around even in the daytime, cover the three open sides from the exterior with good wire netting, extending it from the eround or base boards clear to the top. This accomplished, construct on the Inside cotton-cloth screen doors to match the netting, and havo them hinged at the top so that they can be turned up to the ceiling when the weather is suitable. When the weather Is very stormy, very cold* or exceedingly blustering, the doors may be dropped and the fowl# left to enjoyfcbeir "gymnasium" .with scarcely' any--.inconvenience at all,, the cloth1 admitting light sufficient for them to execute the most "foul* antics imaginable, . On warm, sunny, days, however, the "curtains" may bn raised, as likewise they may In Bummer, and the poultry have a frolicking place well ventilated and pleasant 1a every respect This is of decided advantage where fowls have to be confined more or less all the year, as la generally the case in and about villages. One thing more. To realize good results from such a shed a quantity of straw, hay or the like should occupy It (this to be replaced witn rresn every once in a wb}le)r and each morning some grain, such as rye, oats, wheat, barley, buckwheat or even grass1 seed, be sprinkled among it. Thus will the fowls.be encouraged to work, so that the laziest among them will obtain a proper amount of exercise and lay in return more eggseggs of a much better quallt^, too.? New York Tribune. / Shrinkage on the Farm. The loss of corn and f-odder by shrinkage varies according to climate and the conditions of the atmosphere. Experiments have been made in different sections, and the results show that there is n wide difference in the shrinkage of corn, wheat and other grains, and that sometimes the loss by shrinkage is sttcfr-as to render the crop unprofitable. The Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station has given the results of several years' work h* solving the problem, and also published facts from other sources. Referring to the relative weights of ears, leaves and stalks, It was found that on August 24 about 24.3 per cent, of the total weight of the corn plant above ground was in the ear. This per cent, gradually increased until near harvest time (September 14) above 35.7 of the total weight of the plant was \ in the ear. At harvest 46.3 per cent, of the dry matter of the entire plant was' in the ear. This experiment was repeated the next year, when It was found that about 47 per cent, of the total dry matter of the plant was in the ear. At harvest (September 14) the ear contained 45.57 per cent, of dry matter, the stalks 21.53 per cent, and the leaves 27.27 per cent, the ears, therefore, not being relatively as dry as tbe leaves and stalks. It may be claimed, by way of convenience, therefore, that the amount of dry matter in the ears is about equal to that of the whole plant. Ensilage corn, cut at different dates, showed the following percentages of moisture: August 10 the moisture was 82.69; August 25, 79.13; September 6, 72.51, and September 15. 65.14. One lot of 16,155 bushels of corn, of 70 pounds per bushel, was carefully weighed when cribbed. It was to be delivered in July. It weighed at the elevator a fraction over 14,896 bushels, showing a loss from shrinkage of over 1258 bushels, or about 7% per cent. In one experiment 7000 pounds oi corn shrank 400 pounds between October 19 and January 19. At the end of the year the kernels of corn contained 32.14 per cent, of water and the cobs 25.82 per cent. It has been demonstrated that there is a slieht loss of weight in wheat between complete ripeness and the stage known as dead ripe. There i* not only a loss by shelling when the grain becomes over-ripe, but a given area, kept in the ordinary manner, will weigh less if taken from an over-, ripe held than if taken from a field cut at the proper time. The amount and quality of the tlour, as well as the germinating vigor of the grain, arealso less if the grain is allowed to become overripe. Wheat will shrink if the climate is dry, but when the wheat is taken from un intensely dry ^Jlmnte to a comparatively damp one the gain in weight may amount to as much as twenty-five per cent. In eighteen days in an absolutely dry atmosphere the loss in nir-dried wheat was 6.2 per cent.; oats. 9.3 per cent., and barley, 7.8 per cent. According to this there must naturally be a gain if ex posed again to moist air, the gain in oats io eighteen days being 19.8 per cent.; barley. 20.4 per cent., and wheat (in 14 days), 18.8 per cent In a very dry climate the grain from such may greatly increase in weight If shipped to some point where the air is moist, the purchaser making the gain by the absorption of moisture by the grain. Kvnpvimcnts fllsn ahnw that- xvhoalr lost and gained in weight several times in a season by reason of being exposed to dry and moist conditions. Tlie difference in loss or gain of weight depends upon the condition of the wheat when cured, and hard wheal loses less than the soft varieties. Thr same rule applies to corn, oats and other grains. Shrinkage usually occurs when tfraln is kept dry, but loss from shrinkage docs not occur in all places with uniformity, as a gain in weight may result during damp periods.?I'liii adelphiu Record. More than eleven per cent. (11.G) or the inhabitants of Switzerland 300) are foreigners. In France the proportion of foreigners is three per cent., and Germany only one Der cent* >