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" ANGUS THE LOVER. BT KTQKA CABDEBT. I follow the silver spears flung from the hands of dawn; Through silence, through singing of stars, I journey on and on; mi ix j r? _r iL J.nc scanerea nres 01 me auu, uiunu mut ere the day be done, Scorch roe hurrying after the swift white feet of my fawn. I am Angus the Lover, I who haste in the track of tlje wind, The tameless tempest before, the dusk of quiet behind; From the heart of a blue gulf hurled, I rise on the waves of the world, Seeking the love that allures, woful until I find. * The blossom of beauty is she, glad, bright as a shaft of flame, A burning arrow of life winging me joy and shame; The hollow deeps of the sky are dumb to my searching cry, Rending the peace of the gods witn me m melody of her name. My quest is by lonely ways?in the cairns of the mighty dead, On the high lorn peaks of snow?panting to hear her tread, At the edge of the rainbow well whose whispering waters tell Of a face bent over the rim, rose-pale, and as roses red. Thus she ever escapes me?a wisp of cloud in the air, 'A streak of delicate moonshine, a glory > from otherwhere; lYet out in the vibrant space I shall kiss the rose in her face, I shall bind her fast to my side with a strand of her fiving hair. ?Harper's Magazine. [ I fler gallant Cavalier. | "* ? By George Buchanan: 7S/I\4V1W\ ? ? * THINK him the very embodiI meat of chivalry and gallantry," I said Ethel Hunt, enthusiastiA cally. "Humph!" said Aunt Sara, "I've heard girls talk so before. And it generally ended in one thing." * "For shame, Aunt Sarah!" cried Ethel, coloring up to her eyelashes. "I only mean, of course, that he is a very agreeable companion." Now this Aunt Sara of our little Ethel was no spectacled spinster of !an uncertain age, nor portly, pillowshaped widow, with the photograph of her dear departed husband worn, lock?. et-shaped, upon her bosom?but a pretty young woman of four or five-and,twenty, with blight blue eyes and hair all streaked with golden gleams, who :was engaged in the congenial occupamoirinr? im her wedfllne clothes. M^U VI Uiuaiug up ?v. .. 0 : "The disagreeable fellow," thought !Aunt Sara. "He has somehow beard that Ethel has money, and he is deter# mined to win it. If she could only see him in his true light; but I know what ia perverse thing a woman's heart is. ijnst as sure as I attempted to tell her ;what he really Is, she'll make up her mind that he is the finest and least pppeciated personage on the face of 4 |he eartb. And I did so want her to ^ keep her heart whole until Everard Grafton comes to be Charles' groomsr man! Everard Grafton Is worthy of a princess!" And Miss Sara Martell sat and sewed away in absorbed silence, without speaking a word for the unprecedented period of fifteen minutes. . "Thov snv hp is Derfectlv intolerable at home," she said to herself. "Clara iWaters was there once and heard him rating his sisters fearfully because the beefsteak for his late breakfast was a little overdone. If I could only manage Jt that Ethel could see him in his true - light" She sat and thought a while longer? iand suddenly the color bloomed into her cheek, the dimples into her chin. She started up. "Ethel," .-he said, "I'm sure you must be tired of sitting over that everlasting stitching. I've got to go over to Susy Morand's to borrow a pattern; it will % be just a pleasant walk for us." "To Miss Morand's?" Ethei was vexed with herself, but she could not help the telltale blood that surged into fier cheeks. "Isn't it rather early? Only y ociock:" "Early? Not a bit! Susy and I are so intimate, we don't mind curl papers and calico wrappers. Get your bat and come along quick!" But in spite of ber exhortations to speed Sara Martell smiled to herself to perceive that Ethel Hunt lingered long enough in ber own room to put a finishing touch to ber costume. "She thinks we shall see Julian Morand," sbe thought to herself. "Well, perhaps we shall. I am putting my^ self entirely into the bands of luck and chance." But when they reachcd the Morand mansion, instead of ringing formally ^ at the front door, Miss Martell wont oronnd tn tho hack norch. a pretty lit tie entrance, all shaded with honeysuckles aud trumpet vines. "I always go in here," said she, nonchalantly. in reply to Ethel's remonstrating glance. "Sue Moraud and I are just like sisters." Sue Morand, a blooming girl of eighteen, was in the kitchen, making pies. "The pattern? Of course, you shall have It!" she cried. "Just wait a minute until I get it." "I'll go with you." said Sara. "Ethel, ' you'll not mind waiting for us here?" "Not in the least," said Ethel. And she sat down by the window, where Ivies, trained in bottles of water, were creeping like green jewels across the crystal panes of glass. "Sue! Sue!" She started as the voice of her preux chevalier of the evening before came roaring down the back Stairs. "Confound you all down there .why aren't my boots blacked? Sue Mother! Nell! What's become of mj breakfast? You must think a man has nothing to do but to lie here and wail all day for you lazy folks to stii around!" There was no reply as he paused apparently expecting some one. "Moth er" was down iu the garden under a big green sunbonnet, gathering scar let-cheeked tomatoes for dinner; "Nell' "was in the front yard picking red yeined autumn leaves out of the golc and russet, drifts that lay like treas .bres of precious stones upon the grass Sue was shut up among the myste ties of "patterns" innumerable, witl iMiss Sara Martell. Erhel Hunt sa Coloring and half frightened, the sol* 'auditress of Air. Morand's objurga jtlons. ^ "I know there's some one dowi . ^ there!" he shouted. "I can hear you I breathe and your dress rustle. Jusl like your ugliness not to answer a fellow! Do you hear, Sue? Black mj s , boots, quick! I'm waiting for them!" And "bang! bang!" came the useful articles of wear In question down the a winding stairway that led into the kitchen. Poor little Ethel! She half rose up, then sat down again, piteously unde cided what to do?and even while she ^ hesitated, with color varying like the al red and white of the American flag in K a high wind, the door at the foot of the stairs flew open and In stalked Mr. p; Julian Morand, sallow and disheveled, p with unkempt hair and beard, fright- ni fully curved mouth and a most unbe- ai coming costume of a soiled Turkish y j ~ forJor? nothpr <mrmf?nts T urt??itiK ^ ? and stockinged feet, thrust into dirty tl red morocco slippers. "I say you!" he snarled out; "why ^ don't you " ai And then, perceiving to whom h A was actually addressing himself, he w started back, turning flery red. "Miss Hunt!" U] And with a downward glance at his toilet he fairly turned and fled, the skirts of his Turkish dressing gown *! floating like red and orange meteors tl behind him. And, mortified and tecrifled though she was, Ethel Hunt could ^ not resist the temptation to break into as a peal of hearty laughter. ej This, thee, was her ideal among men, tv her gallant cavalier, her "Sir Launcelot" of fancied perfection, snarling at < his mother and sister like an ill-condi- ti tioned bear, flinging old boots down lo the stairs at them, tumbling out of bed sj; at 9 o'clock in the morning, while his ^ mother spfit kindlings and picked to- at matoes out in the vegetable garden! n< Like some Chinese idol, so fell Mr. r? Julian Morand off his high pedestal in ? the estimation of Miss Ethel Hunt. ai She told it all to Sara Martell when Y they were safe at home. "Aunt Sara," said she, "I am thor- h, oughly disenchanted." in Miss Martell shrugged her shoulders fa nnrt monrniiv thanked her lucky stars. "I could have told you as much be- a: fore," said she. "These Adonises are it like cheap calico?they will neither st wash nor wear! Wait until Everard Grafton comes." bi "And who is Everard Grafton?" B "The nicest young fellow in the world?after my betrothed husband." When Mr. Grafton came he so far b< justified Aunt Sara's encomiums that lo Ethel really did like him. And Aunt Sara was willing to leave the rest to-' ai fate.?New York News. w tl British Schoolboy Slanders. The historical and other "facts* eh given here are taken from schoolboys' th examination papers: Of whom was it said, "He never rj smiled again?" William Rufus did this st after he was shot by the arrow. UT My favorite character in English ^ history is Henry VIII., because he had eight wives ana uiiiea xnem uu. nr Edward III. would have been King of France if his mother had been a 5 man. to Alexander the Great was born in ab- Fi sence of his parents. su What followed the murder of Eecket? " Henry II. received whacks with a <j? birch. m The principal products of Kent are ar Archbishops of Canterbury. The chief clause in Magna- Charta us was that no free man should be put to ni death or imprisoned without his own consent. t0 Where were the Kings of England h* crowned? On their heads. to What were the three most important ^ Feudal dues? Friendship, courtship, nc marriage. in What do you know of Dryden and Buckingham? Dryden and Bucking- i ^ ham were at first friends, but soon | n*( became contemporaries. ro What is Milton's chief work? Mil- ^ ton wrote a sensible poem called the "Canterbury Tails." ig Give the names of five Shakesperean th plays. Macbeth, Mikado, Quo Vadia, " San Toy, Sign of the Cross. p( An optimist is a man who looks after ox your eyes, and a pessimist is a man is who looks after your feet. A man who looks on the bright side w of things is called an optionist and the one who looks on the dull side is J1 called a pianist?St. James' Gazette. tli A French Prison Ship. til As interesting a steamship as ever visited this port left at the end of the week, loaded with coal, for Bordeaux. ir She was the French prison boat Cale- ^ donie, and she had come to Philadcl- re phia from Cayenne, where she had io landed 000 convicts. tli The cells of the Caledonie are in tiers iT on her main deck, quite comfortable apartments, twelve by fifteen feet in tl, size, and each containing a cot, a th washstand and a chair. Each also con- P< tains a coil of steam pipe , so arranged m that at the first sign of any refractori- pi ness steam may be sprayed into every, H nook and cranny, and the inmates in- ?'( stantly scalded into submission. ThereJ ir has never been among the Caledonie'sr in 1 prisoners any occasion for the use of this dreadful weapon, but once, some n( years ago, the ship was attacked on 0? her arrival at Cayenne by the convicts d< quartered there. Forthwith a hose was rij [ attached to the main boiler, a donkey tl . engine brought into use, and the at- b: tacking party was saluted with great . streams of water which was not boiling (for the captain was a merciful tl . man), but which was nevertheless un- V ; comfortably warm. A few drops apiece "J1 ; were enough, and with yells of pain J the band of criminals fled in all di- n ! directions.?Philadelphia Record. *t . Wore Elizabeth's Ca9t-Off Garments. jj t It is not often that a woman of to> tI . uay can array uerseii in any iuuric u that once formed part of the wardrobe ^ of Queen Elizabeth. The Countess of ^ ' Pembroke has, however, this privilege, s< t and at the recent drawing room she attended, she wore a white and silver tl , gown, the peaeh-eolorcd train of which ^ was trimmed with old Foint de Flan- j, j dre, which not only had been owned, c! but also worn, by the famous Tudor k queen. u IColor of Rac* Horses. i Winning race horses are generall> t bays, chestnuts or browns; and for J every hundred bays among them there - are fifty chestnuts and thirty browns. There is no rc-cord of an important a 1 race being won by a piebald. / )R. TALMAGES SERMON ; ] UNDAY'S DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED { DIVINE. 1 i abjcct: God Does the ImpoMlble? Some e Wonder# of Divine Power?Superior to ? Every lair of Nature Which He Hm ' Mode For Mankind. Washington, D. C.?In this discourse ( lr Talmntre makes nraetieal use of ail 0C- r jrrence in the Orient which has seldom * Jtracted particular attention; text, II < lings vi, 6, "The iron did swim." ? A theological seminary in the valley of ( alms near the River Jordan, had become t ) popular in the time of Elisha, the pro- g het, that more accommodations were j eeded for the students. The classrooms ad the dormitories must be eplarged or a entirely new building constructed, /hat will they do? Will tney send up to * erusalem and solicit contributions for r lis undertaking? Will they send out jents to raise tne money for a new theogical seminary? Having raised the ioney, -will they send for cedars of Leb ion and marble from the quarries where * hab got the stone for the pillars and j alls of his palace? No; the students j ropose to build it themselves. They ere rugged boys, who had been brought ^ ;> in the country and who had never ;en weakened by the luxuries of city life, * 11 they ask is that Elisha, their professor ^ id prophet, go along with them to the ^ oods and boss the job. They start for j le work, Elisha and his students. Plenty ^ : lumber in those regions along the Jor- g in. The sycamore is a stout, strong j ee and good for timber. Mr. Gladstone ^ ik?id me if I had seen in Palestine any ^ camore tree more beautiful than the one j. e stood under at Hawarden. I told him ? had not. ^ The sycamores rear tne joraan are t aw attacked by Elisha's students, for t ley must have lumber for the new theo- f gical seminary. I suppose some of the t udents made an awkward stroke, and ] iey were extemporized axemen. Stand a ora under! Crash goes one of the trees d id another and another. But something >w happens so wonderful that the occur- p ince will tax the credulity of the ages, so f onderful that many still think it never t lppened at all. One of the students, not d )le to own an axe, had borrowed one. a ou must remember that while the axe of den time was much like our modern axe, o differed in the fact that instead of the fi jive or handle being thrust into a socket f i the iron head the head of the axe was s stenci on the handle by a leathern t long, and so it might slip the helve. A t! udent of the seminary was swinging his e :e against one of those trees,"and whether was at the moment he made his first fc roke and the chips flew or was after he s id cut the tree from all sides so deep s lat it was ready to fall we are not told, h it the axe head and the handle parted, a eing near the riverside, the axe head o opped into river and sank to the muddy n ittom. Great was the student's dismay, b it had been his own axe, it would have u :eu bad cnoueh, but the axe did not be- w ng to him. He had no means to buy an- s ;her for the kind man who had loaned it i him, but God helps through some good .. id sympathetic soul, and in this case it j( as Elisha who was in the woods and on ^ ie river bank at the Jime. He did not a e the axe head fly off. and so he asked ^ le student where it dropped.* He was e iown the place where it went down into le river. Then Elisha broke off a branch r : a tree and threw it into the water, and n le axe head rose from the depths of the ^ ver and floated to the bank, so that the; M udent had just to stoop down and take j, ) the restored property. Now you see j le meaning of my text, "The iron did ^ rim." p Suppose a hundred years ago some one ^ id told people the time would come when ^ mdrcds of thousands of tons of iron ould float on the Atlantic and Pacific? c on ships from New York to Southamp- a n, from London to Calcutta, from San p rancisco to Canton. The man making tl ich a prophecy would have been sent to ^ i asylum or carefully watched as incom* t< stent to go alone. We have all in our ly seen iron swim. Now, if man can ake hundreds of tons of metal float, I n disposed to think that the Almightj' ?i iuld make an axe head float. . "What," says some one,, "would be tho . le of such a miracle?" Of vast, of infite, of eternal importance. Those stu:nts were preparing for the ministry, bey had joined the theological seminary get all its advantages. Tney needed to ive their faith strengthened; they needed be persuaded that God" can do every ling; they needed to learn that God kes notice of little things; that there ia ^ > emergency of life where lie is not will- * g to help. Standing on the banks of that Jordan. lose students of that day of the recalled ;e head had their faith re-enforced, and )thine that they found out in the class- ^ ioms of that learned institution had ever " >ne more in the way of fitting them for g ieir coming profession. I hear from different sources that there ' a great deal of infidelity in 6ome of the it leological seminaries of our day. They ^ link that the Garden of Eden is an alle- ! ?rv, and that Moses did not write the. Q entateuch, and that the book of Job is *] lly a drama, and that the book of Jonah 1 an unreliable fish story, and that water e as not turned into wine, although the ti irtender now by large dilution turns ? ine into water, and that most of the so- j illcd miracles of the Old and the New v 23to.ments were wrought by natural uses. When those infidels graduate om the theological seminary and take ? le pulpits of America as expounders of ic Holy Scriptures, what advocates they ill be of that gospeUfor the truth of i: hich the martyrs died. Hail the Polyearps and Hugh Latimerii id John Knoxes of the twentieth cen- v irv liplipvinrr the Bible is true in epots! _ rould to OoS that some great revival of ? ligion might sweep through all the theogical seminaries of this land, confirming ic faith of the coming expounders of an itire Bible! Furthermore, in that scene of the text h od sanctions borrowing and sets forth p le importance of returning. I do not c link there would have been any miracle t; :rformed if the young man had owned t lc axe that slipped the helve. The young t an cried out in tbe hearing of the pro- ^ let. "Alas, m?.ster, for it was borrowed!" e had a right to borrow. There are jmcs when we have not only a right to }, jrrow, but it is a duty to borrow. There \ e times when we ought to lend, for Christ c His sermon' on the mount declared, ?, From him that would borrow of thee turn v :>t thou away." v It is right that one borrow the means n : getting an education, as the young stu nt of my text borrowed the axe. It is ? ght to borrow means for the forwarding ^ commercial ends. Most of the vast for- 8 ines that new overshadow the land were v itched out of a borrowed dollar. \ Thee students in the valley of palms j, y the Jordan had a physical strength j, id hardihood that would help them in j leir mental and spiritual achievements, j. r'e who are toiling for the world's better- t ient need brawn as well as brain, strong r adies as well a3 illumined minds and con- ^ :cratod souls. Many of those who are v ow doing the best work in church and j, ;ate got muscle and power of endurance .. om the fact that in early life they were : ?n ~ J 4-rs. ova nlnitf nr flflil or* JlUf.'CilCU t \j uau UAC Vi vr* Mi%M w* ? ainmcr, while many who were brought p in the luxuries of life give out before 0 ie battle is won. They are keen and e iarp of mind, but have no physical en- s urance. They have the axe head, but no v andle. The body is the handle of the i. ml. n There Christ stood by His disciples on e le Mount of Olives after His coming out f the sepulcher. No ladders let down for s [is ascension, but His feet lift from the j, ill, and He goes up until the curtain of ^ loud drops, and He is invisible. Law of { ravitation again unharnessed. Enoch, \ Icthusaleh's father, escaping death, went t p bodily and will have no need of resur- a srtion. So will all the good who shall be ^ I ill alive at the end of the world. They t rill not need wings. Every one of the j millions of our planet who loved and ( erved the Lord, if then alive, will "be. t aught up," as the Bible says, body as { roll as soul, the law of gravitation par- s lyzed. i Notice also the divine power in the jackwoods. Wonderful things were don< it the cities of Jericho and Jerusalem and Babylon and Nineveh, and the gpeat citlei jf our time have Been the divine power, jut this miracle of my text was in the jackwoods, far away from the city, in the umber districts, where the students had ;one to cut timber for the new theological leminary. And if this sermon snail come, is it will come, like my other sermons for he last thirty years, without missing a veek, let me say to those far away from he house of God and in the mountain iistricts that my text shows the divine lower in the backwoods. The Lord by every stream as He cer:ainly was by the Jordan, on every mounttin as surely as Ho was on Mount Zion, >n every lake as on Tiberias, by, every xwk as by the one whose gushing waters laked the thirst of the marching Israeltes. Do not feel lonely because your nearest leighbor may be miles away, because the ridth of the continent rt v separate you rom the place where ur cradle was ocked and your fathei grave was dug. Weakened though you may be by liona oar or nanther'3 scream, God will help 'ou, whether at th? time the forest around ou raves in the midnight hurricane or you uffer from something quite insignificant, ike the loss of an axe head. Take your Jible out under the trees, if the weather rill permit, and after you have listened to he solo of a bird in the tree tops or the ang meter psalm of the thunder, read hose words of the Bible, which must have >een written out of doors: "The trees of he Lord are full of sap, the cedars of jebanon which He hath planted, where he birds- make their nests; as for the tork, the fir trees are her house. The high tills are a refuge for the wild goats and he rocks for the conies. Thou makest larkness. and it.is night, wherein all the easts of the forest do creep forth. The OUDg llUUtt ruar axwci iucu p&cj heir meat from God. The sun ariseth,. hey gather themselves together and lay hem down in their dens. Man goeth orth unto his work and to his labor until he evening. O Lord, how manifold are ["hy works! In wisdom hast Thou made 11. The earth is full of Thy riches." How o you like that sublime pastoral? My subject also reminds us of the imlortance of keeping our chief implement or work in good order. I think that young heological student on the banks of Jor!an was to blame for not examining the | xe before he lifted it that day against a J ree. He could in a moment have found ut whether the helve and the head were I irmly fastened. The simple fact was that he axe was not in good order or the trongest stroke that sent the edge into he hard sycamore would not have left be implement headless. So God has given very one of us an axe with which to new. Let us keep it in good order, having ieen sharpened by Bible study ana trengthened by prayer. The reason we ometimes fail in our work is because we iave a dull axe or we do not know how right to swing it. The head is not aright n the handle. At the time we want the I lost skill for work and perfect equilirium we lose our head. We expend in seless excitement the nervous energy that' re ought to have employed in direct. UiaigllVlUl Wtti VI ln/ift, Your axe may be a pen or a type or a ardstick or a scales or a tongue which in jgislative hall or business circles or Sabath class or pulpit is to speak for God nd righteousness, but the axe will not e worth much until it has been sharpned on the grindstone of affliction. Go right through the World and gj ight through all tne past ages, and show le one man or woman who has done anyhing for the world worth speaking of rhose axe was not ground on tho revolvig wheel of mighty trouble. It was not )avid, for he was dethroned and hounded y unfilial Absalom. , Surely it was not 'aul, for he was shipwrecked and whipped rith thirty-nine stripes from rods of elm'ooi on his way to beheadment. Surely it was not Abraham Lincoln, ailed by, every vile name that human nd satanic turpitude could invent and deicted by cartoonists with more meanness ban any other man ever suffered, on the ray to meet a bullet crashing through his ;mples. But I have come to the fcot of the Alps, rhich we must climb before we can see he wide reach of my subject. See in all his theme how the impossibilities may e turned into possibilities. That axe J ead was sunken in the muddiest river hat could be found. The alarmed student f Elisha may know where it went down nd may dive for it and perhaps fetch it p, but can the sunken axe head be iittea without a hand thrust deep into the mud t the bottom of the river? No; that is npo3sible. I admit, so far as human powr is concerned, it is impossible, but with rod all things are possible. After the ree branch was thrown upon the surface f Jordan "the iron did swim." Some one asks me, "Did you ever see on swim?" Yes, yes; many a time. I aw a soul hardened until nothing could lake it harder. All styles of sin had | lied that soul. It was petrified as to all ne feeling. It had been hardening for hirty years. It had gone into the deepst depths. It had been given up as lost, j 'he father had given it up. The mother, he last to do so, had given it up. But j ne day in answer to some prayer a branch f the disfoliaged tree of Calvary was hrown into the dark and sullen stream, nd the sunken soul responded to its powr and rose into the light, and, to the asanishn^ent of the church and the world, the iron did swim." I have seen hunred# of cases like that. When the dying anait on the cross beside Christ was conerted. When Jerry McAuley, a ruffian raauate of Sing Sing prison, was changed lto a great evangelist, so useful in reclalation of wandering men and women that be merchant princes of New York estab shed for him the Water street ana vTelorne missions and mourned at his burial, mid the lamentations of a city. When fewton, the blaspheming sailor, under the ower of the truth was brought to Christ nd became one of the mightiest preachers f the gospel that England ever saw. When John Bunyan, whose curses i bocked even the profane of the fish maret, was so changed in heart and life that e could write that wonderful dream, "The 'ilgrim's Progress," in such a way that unounted thousands have found through it he roa I from the "city of destruction" to he "celestial city." In all these cases I hink iron was made to swim. I worship he God who can do the impossible. You have a wayward boy. Only God nows how you have cried over him. You ave tried everything for his reformation. Vhere is he now?in this city, in this ountry, or has he crosscd the sea? "Oh," ou say, "I do not know where he is. He rent away in the sulks and did not say ,'here he was going." You have about lade up your mind that you will never ear from him aajain. Pretty hard pay he ives you for all your kindness and the ijrht? vou sat up with him when he was ick. Perhaps he struck you one day when ou were trying to persuade him to do boter. How different was the feeling of that lard list against your face from his little iand in infancy natting your cheeck! ^ather! Mother! ^hat is an impossible hat I would like to see God take hold of, he conversion of that boy, for he will lever be anything but a boy to you, hough you should live to see him fifty | ears of age. Did you say his heart is I Wntw VinrH? "Hard as stone? "Yes." ou say, "harder than that. Hard as ron." But here is a God who can lift he soul that has been deepest down. Here is a God who can raise a soul out if the blackest depths of sin and wretchdness. Here is a God who can make iron wim, the God of EUsha, the God of the oung student that stood in dismay on the lanks of the Jordan at the time of the lost X" head. Lay hold of the Lord in a prayr that will take no denial. Alas, there are impossibles before thouands of people?called to do work that it s impossible for them to do, called to bear mrdens that it is impossible for them to >ear, called to endure suffering that it is mpossible for them to endure. Kead all he gospel promises, rally all your faith, ind, while you will always be called to vor.:hip the God of hope, to-day, with all he concentered energies of my soul, I im>lore you to bow down and worship the ^ ~******* imnnsciKlpo intn jruu WUU I'au IU1U Klib >*iipvwww.vw ? J he possibles. It was no trivial purpose, )?t for grand and glorious uses I nave ii.okcn to you to-day of the borrowed, the ost and the restored axe head. [Coovriffht, 19C2. L. Klocsch.] THE SABBATH SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS FOR FEBRUARY 9. Subject: The Sin of [Lying, Acta !v?, 3>. 11 ? Golden Text, Epb. It., 25 ? Memory Verges, 3-5 ? Commentary An nn?i. T v" mo J m Aicovvu. 32. "Multitude." The whole 5000 mentioned in verse 4, and probably many others, who had been converted by the ministry of the other apostles since that time. "Of one heart." Though of different ages, dispositions and conditions before they believed, and perfect strangers -to one another, yet when they met in Christ they were intimately acquainted. "Neither said any of them." There was not a dissenting member. No such thing as discord existed among them. "All things common." There existed such confidence in each other. 33. "With great power." With no difficulties among themselves to absorb any oi their time, the apostles were encouraged by a spiritual, praying church, to preach with great vigor, spirit and courage. "Witness. The apostles were witnesses to what they had seen and heard. This is a most effective way of preaching. "Of the resurrection." All knew of the death and bur ial of Jesus. But the enemies of Jesus? the Jews, would not believe in the resur rection of Jesus. 34. "That lacked." This was one rea son for their favor among men, for al) could see the self-sacrificing spirit thai actuated them. "Sold them." It seemf clear that all the owners' of real estat? who belonged to the church sold property "Things that were sold." The language here expressly avoids saying that thest men sold all they had. They sold som? things, and the sum realized from what was sold was offered to the common store 35. "At the apostles' feet." To be disposed of as they should direct. They would he better able to determine where there was need. Having a relief fund the apostles could draw upon it without making every case public. 38. "Joses." Or Joseph. He is the well known Barnabas, who is afterward fre- ' quently mentioned as an associate of the apostle Paul. That he was a Levite is a remarkable circumstance; we are soon afterward told that even many priests believed. Chap. 6: 7. The surname of Barnabas, which the apostles gave him, alluded, without doubt, to an extraordinary gift of the Spirit which was manifested in his addresses and exhortations. "Of Cyprus." An island in the Mediterranean Sea, not very far distant from the Jewish coaBt. The Jews were very numerous in that land. 37. "Having land, sold it." "He comforted by his gifts as well as his words." He certainly proved his sincerity. 1. "But." The little word "but" is the hinge on which great issues turn. "Ananias." The meaning of the word is "Favored of the Lord," or "Jehovah is gracious." "Sapphira." "Beautiful." Their characters were in sharp contrast with their names. Here is a contrast between the honest liberality of Barnabas and the - i 1 P- T? hypocrisy ot Ananias ana nis wue. irrofeasors of the gospel, but certainly not true believers, for all that truly believed were of one heart and of one soul. 2. "Kept back part of the price." While they pretended to make an offering of all. This was hypocrisy, and was called a lie. "His wife." This sin was premeditated by both parties. They had not set their affections on the land, but the money exercised such an influence on them that they could not resolve to resign the whole, and hence they retained a part. They were unwilling to acknowledge this circumstance publicly. 3. "Filled thine heart." Satan, 'the father of lies, a liar from the beginning. Peter traces the sin back to its source? the heart into which Satan had been admitted; his question recognizes Ananias's power to resist these evil influences. Satan knocked; Ananias opened his heart. "To lie to the Holy Ghost." The apostles disclaim any power in themselves. It is Christ who works the miracles; the God of Abraham who gives the power of healing, and the Holy Spirit who is grieved by sins like that of Ananias. 4. "Thine own." He might have kept it .without incurring the displeasure of the ap'ostles or the Lord. "In thine own power." These questions show that the bestowment of goods was perfectly volun tarv ana not a taw, ana tam me uriuic a free and deliberate act. Ananias was not censured because he had not surrendered his entire property, but for falsehood in professing to have done so when he had not. "Unto God." The offense was chiefly against God. David takes this same view of his sin in Psa. 51: 6. But this is an important text to prove the personality of the Holy Ghost. Peter uses the terms God and the Holy Ghost (v. 3) interchangeably, which shows that the Holy Ghost is not merely an emanation from God, but He is God Himself. 5. "Gave up the ghost." The immediate fall and death of Ananias, when Peter had addressed him. must be viewed as a direct act of God. "Greaf fear came." This effect on the Christian community is thought to be the chief design of so startling a judgment. 6. "Young men." The earliest church was not without young men and young women. Acts 12: 13. "Carried him out." Just beyond the walls of the city. That the body was not taken to his home is indicated by his wife's ignorance of what had occurred. "Buried." In a hot climate, like that of Palestine, burial had to take place at once, and the graves (caves with niches) were always onen. 7. "After three hours." Probably at the I next hour of prayer. Undei the shock of I the death of Ananias they had not dispersed. 8. "Tell me." The question -was Papphira's place for repentance; the Holy Spirit strove with her in Peter's words.' but she resisted his strivings. "So much." Perhaps Peter pointed to the money still lying where Ananias had placed it. V. 2. "Yea." It had been in her power to save her husband by a word of warning protest; it was-now in her power to clear her own conscience by confession. 9. "Agreed." Sapphira's answer proved to Peter that their sin had been premeditated, and not one of haste or ignorance. She was equal in the sin with he- husband. Peter's question gave the first knowledgo to Sappnira that their guilt was discovered. but her answer was (riven. "T<i temnt." To test, or try the Spirit of tho Lord by attempting to deceive Him, bul "God is not mocked"' or deluded. 10. "Fell?yielded." It was not through Peter's words, nor his prayers, nor through shame, nor through remorse that this guilty pair died, but an immediate judgment of God. 11. "Great fear."- This judgment an* swered the end for which it was inflicted; a deeply religious fear occupied ever^ mind, and hypocrisy and deception weH banished from this holy assembly. Buried Wealth. Professor Otto N. Witt has published some interesting figures on the production and value of coal. During the year 1900 the principal coal producing countries of the world showed the following output: Tons. United States 245,422,000 Great Britain 215,181,000 Germany 109,225,000 I France 32,587,000 Belgium 23,352,000 Tne world's total production of coal, the professor continues, amounted to some 800,000,000 tons. Suppose the coal still existing will last 200 years to come, the quantity a 3 yet available must be put down at about 100,000,000,000 tons. Taking the average German price for coal, at pit's mouth, viz., eight marks, or ?2 per ton, it will be seen that the total value of coal still buried in the soil of our earth amounts j to no less than ?320,000,000,000. A New Surgical Device. A demonstration of a new apparatus foi sewing up a wound after an operation was given at a meeting of the Vienna Society of Physicians. The verdict was that it was swift, easy to handle, reliable. The aseptic state of the wounds after its use is better mantained than heretofore. The essential feature of the apparatus is that the wound is not actually sewn up, but is held to gether by means of minute clamps. ; - V 1 . . '* ? ' >s f GOD'S MESSAGE TO MAN 1 PRECNANT THOUGHTS FROM THE S WORLD'S CREATEST PROPHETS, Poem: How Easily Each la Glrtn? I The Bellelon That We Need la One Which Will Slake the Soul a Place ol Repose. It was onlv a sunny smile, And little it cost in the giving; * But it scattered the night ' Like the morning light, . And made the day worth living. " ? Through life's dull warp a woof it wove 1 In shining colors of light and love, And the angels smiled as they watched * above; 1 Yet it cost little in the giving. 8 It was only a kindly nod, And a word that was lightly spoken; ^ Yet not in vain, r For it stilled the pain Of a heart that was nearly broken. j It strengthened a faith beset by fears, ^ And groping blindly through mists 0i tears j. For light to brighten the coming years, v Although it was lightly spoken. _ e 1 It was only a helping hand, t And it seemed of little availing; a But its clasp was warm, c And it saved from harm c ? 1 1.1 ,?i i ,_l t. f. n:__ a uiuiuci vvuuse mieiigLU was lauuig a Its touch was tender as angels' wings, t But it rolled the stone from the nidden i springs, i And pointed the way to higher things, c Though it seemed of little availing. t v 'A smile, a word, or a touch, d And each so easily given; ? Yet one may win ? A soul from sin, T Or smooth the way to heaven. 9 A smile may lighten the failing heart, u A word may soften pain's keenest smart, A touch may lead ua from sin apart? ' How easily each is given! ... P The Innermost Room. The innermost room may be a torture fi chamber or a shrine of peace. According t as it is, one or the other, so is life happy t or unhappy. For the blessedness of life i does not so much depend- on what is pass- t ing in the outer chambers as of what is u passing in the secret place of the soul. It t 13 because we forget this that we blunder p so much, strive so hard, are so bitterly dis? c appointed with our so-called successes. In c the innermost room remorse may be pres- t ent, inSnite repining, infinite sorrow. The f very thought of entering it may be agony, I but enter you must. An unseen force drags you into the peace of pain. Or it may be t a shrine of rest, a veritable chamber of c peace. To visit it, to linger in it, may be t the chief joy and solace or existence. One t *na*r rtnmA (t-nm TrrifK rnHinnfc fane and strong heart, able to cope with his difficulties and perform his allotted task in another spirit. Is this the last word? No; { the riddle of life ia never understood until g we know that the torture chamber may be- f come, not all at once, but by sure and slow c degrees, a shrine of peace. Most of us i know how this comes to pass in sorrow, ( how a sober joy at last replaces the bitter t anguish. The religion that we need is a c religion that will lay all the ghosts that f will cast the instruments of torture from ? the innermost room, that will divide the c great glooms and make it a place of re? ( pose. And this is why we must always c say to the sufferer in his most cruel hour | of endurance: "Hope on; hope ever. It ij will not be always as it is now. The place t to which you are now dragged as by furies t may come one day to be your sure and i chosen home.- You will one day want nothing better than the peace of the^ in-I nermost room.?W. Robertson Nicoll. ~ , g c The True Glory. ? "The glory of the church is not its 8 gilded spires, its mumbling liturgies, its c crowds, its silken ease, the glory of the ( church," says the Central Christian Advo- c \ ?C iTaneaa Pifw "ia ifa opftrrpfl ? catc \lUClil./ KJ1 ixuuouo viwj, >w *>w ^ heart and its heart weeping over those its t bared arm is trying to protect and save. ? Ruskin has a message for the churches a which we wish were framed and hung j over the inner doorway of every church under heaven. It is that the world expects c the soldier to be ready to suffer and even j to die at his post; it expects the doctor t to be ready to die at his post; and it has e an equal right to expect the church of the 0 Lord Jesus Christ to be ready to suffer and ] die for the welfare of the world. When the cynic looks out upon the discrepancies between the sweet and roseate profession of peace which so many make and their ( falling away from that rugged and stanch j support of principle which marked the path ^ from Gethsemane to Calvary with drops L of blood, while the wolves keep right on c tearing the sheep, the cynic is apt to take j. up the plaint of Swinburne and cry out to j the Christ if, after all, His bitterest crown e of thorn9 is not the conduct of His pro* ^ fessed disciples? It is no credit to the _ church that she arouses so little hatred ? on the part of evil-doers, of demagogues f and party masters; so little opposition a from the gambling hells and the saloons. t The tender Christ could yet say of the a evil-doer, 'Ye are of your father, the + devil!' The politicians of His day plotted t against Him and gnashed their teeth. There is too little of tbat now."'- p ?a S?lf-Ca1ttvatlon. ? It happens to many a man and woman e that in the absorbing demands of business j or professional life, of home duties or the n claims of society, there is a gradual failure c of moral purpose or religious conviction, a and, while the life grows in one direction, p it as surely degenerates in another. We s can cultivate any part of our natures we t will, just as the gardener or norticultur- v ist, by selecting certain qualities, gradually j develops a new kind of potato or corn, a new variety of strawberry or apple. We can make ourselves new kinds of men and women by giving attention to business or pleasure, books or music, athletics or re- '< ligion. Spiritual things are not of inter- J' est to us where we do not cultivate them, just as business becomes dull if we do not b give attention to it and try to make it in- si teresting. As no man can be strong unless he takes mu<?h exercise, so no> man can be js devout who does not wrestle with God 0 in prayer, early and late. Every kind of cultivation leads to growth in manhood, and we are the kind Ci of men we make ourselves by our toil and Ci our play, our hopes and our fears, our fidelity of mind and our loyalty of heart. 0 When the mind is open and alert, the t< heart gentle and loving, the conscience firm and unfailing, the will strong and it steadfast, we are sure to grow into larger Sj manhood and womanhood, and there is nothing else for the sake of which life is g worth living. Truly, it is a good and ac- a| ceptable saying that "the omy object in r( life is to grow. ?Christian Register. ii v...... t.iu nr n.1,1 f< - AI1 *1<*41"W *V1" " Oi Nature reveals God as well as the Bible. ? Each season of the year has its peculiar b revelation. If winter tells us of the stern- & er aspects of God's character, the spring speaks to us of the gentler side.?Rev. H. G H. Proctor, Congrcgationalist, Atlanta. a( S( How to Attain Nobility K It is only by nuture and discipline, by effort, frequent failures and reneweel trials that nobility of character is at- vi tained, and in this work there is need of pi all the helps of all the ages.?Rev. Dr. fc Jenkin Lloyd Jones. All Souls' Church, qs Chicaso. . 01 tl it A New Rifle. n, A new rifle, the invention of Mr. John fr Hylard, of Melbourne, Australia, has recently been tested at the Thames range, in England. The magazine takes five car- tj tridges, which are simply dropped in, and j1( rin nnt rpmiire careful insertion, as in the Lee-Metford. The striker is almost en- n( tirely concealed within the bolt; it receives its energy from a hammer operated by a flat spring, both hammer and spring j being within the lock. Unlocking the bolt cocks the gun. The new rifle was tried against the Lee-Melford, the regulation 01 English army rifle. It was found possible 01 to work it about a third faster than the Jv latter weapon. c CHE GREAT DESTROYER ... ..... T* r'*! . OME STARTL5NC FACTS ABOUT THE VICE OF INTEMPERANCE ; ' * " * fis'ti i >oia Bj Fire and Lou by the Drink CatM ? Honey Spent For LJqaor in Twt Yean Equal* Fire Loitei <fT Twenty Are Tears. In a recent number of Leslie'* Weeklf * < v y'x here appears a contribution in which thi asses by fire in the United States are is* elligeh'tly discussed from the standpoint ? tne statistician. It appears that during he past twenty-six .years fire losses havt eacbed a total of $2;890,714,021, and thai . ' ' .3 he uninsured losses aggregate about $1/ .-v%j 00,000,000. The losses of the present yeai lightly exceed $150,000,000. Commenting upon this the New Yorir ournal of Commerce says: "It is clear that the enormous fire wast* 3 a serious tax on the resources of the Jnited States, and it is .strange that pub1 ic opinion is so dull regarding this waste. fa other nation.could stand such a drain nd no other nation would. These figures present a valuable compos son by means of which it is possible to a? ireciate with some degree of exactness tne normous'losses caused by the drink traffic* ?he people of the United States past ovei he bars of the saloons and hotels in onlf ' . little more than two years time a sum if money equal to the aggregate fire losrfea i the country for more than a quarter o{ N j , century.' Every dollar, every cent, of hat enormous sum i? just aa really lost U f the man'"who parts with it should burn t up. Indeed, when all the facta of tha r',-. aae are considered he is vastly worse off han if he had lost by fire property to the alue of the amount which he spends fat \ [rink, for he would be infinitely the gain r in the transaction if when he has put lis money in the liquor sellers' hands tn&t rorthy should refuse to carry out his pari f the contract and should withhold tha iquor that has been paid for. A minute's consideration of the facta V>^Sj rill show that this is the proper way of joking at the matter. In tne case of the roperty destroyed by fire the loss lies not a the fact that certain material object* lave b.een destroyed. It would be perectly possible that such destruction should ake place without any real loss to an/* >ody. The loss lies in the fact that a atzen, or certain citizens, have been obliged o part with their possessions without val? lable return forNtnem. The parallel be* vg ween loss by fire and loss by drink, this /; irinciple being kepjt in mind, becomes lear. The man who has spent the value >f a house for drink has just as really lost lis money as if his house had been burned. or not a cent of'his expenditure brought lack to him the slightest valuable return. y* inese iacts present an astounmne mai? rel. Well may the words of the Journal if Commerce be quoted: "It is Strang* hat pablic oninion is so dun regarding ' >> his waste."?The New Voice. Alcoholism 1b Germany." A Society for the Suppression of Alcoidism met recently in Breslau to consider the drirtfc question in Germany, and ound that it had distinct cause for en* ! & ouragement in its tremendous undertake ng. Americans are so used to hearing German customs of drinking upheld aa he proper ones to be introduced in 'thia :ountry that it is something of a shock or them to learn that .the per capita conmmption of alcohol ui Germany -is ten marts every year, or five glasses of gin a - lay for every German?man, woman at ihild. The empire, it apoears, spend* >750,000,000 a year on drink, as against - ... S3,000,000,000 for food. In the light of ;hese statistics, the desirability of "Ger nan beer gardens" in our American cities s open to much question. As a matter of fact, although there may >e much less drunkenness in a beer-conuming country the dulling effect-of tha [rink upon the intellect -end the physique ire too patent for discussion'. A Munich \ smployer of many skilled, workmen, in peaking last summer of the difficulties if competing with foreign and even North Jerman concerns,' laid stress upon the heapness of Munich beer as one of his neatest handicaps. "If we were on equal eras in every other respect," he said, the fact that my men a braina and bodies re sodden with beer, day and night, would >ut me behind in the race." The society in auestion denounced it* iurn Government for introducing alcohol nto its colonies. One-third of the Ger nan imports into Tongoland and one-sevnth of those into German East Africa, it ippeara, consists of alcohol.?New York ' ?ost. Alcohol Does Not \Heat. Since alcohol contains no nitrogen it annot, of course, take, any part in the wilding up of wasted or worn-out tissue. Chat alcohol is almost completely burned ip when taken in quantity of a half ounce ir a little more at a time, and that ita lurning is attended by the production oi teat is also proved by exact methods of xperimentation. In spite, however, oi he fact that it is burned and heat is thus iroduced, the temperature of the body it aised for only a few moments and then alls below the normal. These phenomena re due to one of two causes, or both oi hem, namely, alcohol produces a temporary dilatation of the surface vessels and hus increases heat radiation sufficiently o more than compensate for the increasea iroduction of heat, if more heat is really iroduced; or. the narcotic effects of the < lcohol diminish the heat produced by lesening chemical change. It is quite cerain, nowever, that the first cause given ia ntirely responsible for the fall of temperaare. Recent experiments have oeen xade upon this same point, and the conlusions drawn therefrom differ from those Dove, wmcn are universally accepted qy hysicians to be true, but these concluions were based upon a misinterpretaion of results. We may say, therefore, rithont fear of successful contradiction, hat alcohol is not a source of bodily heat. The Cruiade In Brief. There has been a Rowing agitation in ivor of temperance in France in recent ears. Wherever the liquor trade is sanctioned y law its follow-*.. & will be found to be ticklers for the law. In the Canadian Parliament a resolution i to be introduced asking for the passage f a prohibitory liquor law. From the smallest patch on earth you in see the stars; from the grog shop ysu in see the workhouse and the prison. A great pledge signing campaign fot Ontario, Canada, is being organized by the imperance forces of that country. In 1900 the cost of elementary education 1 England was ?3,973,S17. The amount pent in strong drink was ?160,891,718. In 1S98 there were 177,000 drink shops in lelgium, one for every thirty-five inhabitnts. These figures do not include hotels, ;staurants or small grocers. Recently a schooner left Boston harbor >r the west coast of Africa with a cargo E rum and gin valued at over ?HU,000. It ill take a good many missionary contriutions to counterbalance the curse of that u-go. The Grand Lodge of Free Masons of eorgia, recently in convention at Macon, iopced a report recommending that perms who engage in the manufacture or lie of liquors after joining a lodge shall s expelled. A writer in the New York Sun says: "I jnture to say that a man with sand and awer to break policemen for failure to en>ree the law would close the saloons so aick that reformers, ministers and every le else would be surprised." In the Loudon County Council Asylunu lerc has been a high percentage of msany from alcohol, more than double the mibcr 01 women than men being admitted om that cause. Dr. Wynn Westcott, the Coroner, says is very rare that a bona-fide tetotaller ikss his own life. During the year 1899 s held ufty-eight inquests upon suicides, lirty-sGvcn maies and twenty-one females, at one of whom was a bona-tide abstainer. At the opening of the Supreme Cosrt of ewfoundland at Harbor Urace both the us lie c and the Grand Jury eongratuted (he people on the utter absence of ime ih tliat large judicial district, which -editable state they attributed to the ise tcniperancc legislation so well en* irccd. j.-.l . -. . , ? m.