Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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I Lj AJtATT JL "f yy\!L I By Acna Katharine Green, ? WV COPYRIGHT , "8SjO. by POI CHAPTER XLIV. Continued. 1 "Fnt you had scruples, and tborigTi I was too happy to Ik impatient. I fell myself robbed of seme of ibt? satisfao- ' tion which 1 had promised myself, j MoiitoIJi's arrest troubled me. 100, i.un | 1 lint ansiety was not destined to be cf J long duration. Eefore the day had j waned, 1 was Cist shocked, Then deii- j riously gladdened by tbe news that 1 . need fear tbis dangerous man no more: ! that he was dead, and that cue of the ; iacst relentless claimants upon my j wealth was taken cut of my path forever. "Not that 1 begrudged the money be demanded. 1 could have spared a million and not felt it. But I tad some ' initiation into business matters during the transferring of this fortune into my ' possession, and I foresaw that it was " not going tc be so easy a matter to procure two or three hundred thousand ! dollars out of this estate without exciting the attention of those who had J It in charge. This was the reason, likewise, why I accepted your decision with ! so much grace. A bus land would have been inconvenient to me in those first days; an agent was bad enough. I had j to deceive him. and 1 had to deceive Hilary. In order to meet the wants of TV>rtnfrim<if? who frowned her claims ' doubly upon me, v/beu she found that Monte!ll t\-;?s dead. 1 was obliged io ask for large sums of money for -which 1 could give no account, thus acquiring with my agent the name of being very extravagant, and with my friends the i reputation of being strangely parsimonious. I wont with Hilary to the several watering places, but 1 spent no money in jewels, and but little in the necesaries of life; for 1 looked forward to the day when you would come back to me. dearest, and I wished to be clear of all obligations, and free forever from the hateful presence of the Portuguese; for she never was long away from me after 1 returned to New York. In the capacity of my hairdresser she visited me every day. and though but few words passed between us, it was well understood that a certain amount f must be forthcoming every week, if I j desired to preserve pleasant relations ' ' between us. J "Hilary suspected nothing. She used 1 to wonder why I persisted in dressing < so plainly, and hinted, now and then, 3 that a richer costume, or a more gener- 1 ous mode of living, would be more in * keeping with my wealth and position; ( but It did not take much to turn her 1 thoughts to nobler subjects, and I was never unduly embarrassed by her ques- J tions, or annoyed by her suggestion??. ? "I was happy?ah; how happy!?for * I had not yet come to the full realiza- * tion cf what I had .lone, and saw noth- 1 lug but complete delight in the future. ( I never doubted that^vou would return. 1 or that 1 should pay off the Porta- 1 guese. and ihus win love and freedom * at once. I enjoyed my wealth, my con- 1 sequence and my power, and experi- ? tnced, perhaps, more delight in the con- 5 temptation of the future than I would S liave done if my present hnd ueen free E from care, and I had been enabled to * gratify at once my r.aturauy luxurious -tastes. And so the summer passed. * "Dearest, I have more than once nsked myself while 1 have been pour- r ing cut these confessions, "whether if c j'ou had l;een !rss exacting and had not I required the giving up of my fortune, ? \ve should have been happily married, l It adds to my grief tc think we might, i It. makes death doubly hard to dream i of what might have been, if, instead of t asking the sacrifice from me of all for ( which 1 had worked so long in shame c and sorrow, you had simply folded me I to your breast and made me by that f embrace the good woman I longed to 1 be. But, then comes the thought that s deception never prospers, and that it f was in this way the Cod of which you i ouce spoke to me showed His disap- s proval of my sin and the impossibility i of my hoping to reap happiness, when t I had sowed for myself misery. And i tliis tnouglit coimoris me. ior it mse* from niy fate that factor of chance, which it is so maddening to contemplate. I die bccause I have sinned, not . because your fancy led you to play with my love, and exact conditions, when all that my soul craved was perfect confidence on your part and a blind affection. "The interference of Byrd in my affairs I do not understand. You may. If he has any real reason to suspect me, it must spring from the treachery of some one of those wretched associates of mine. Montelli and the Portuguese are dead, but Annetta still lives, as well as that miserable woman of my name whom I have never seen. If they have betrayed me, they have done It with complaints and recriminations, find these I do not deserve. Believe it, and spare me any unneceeary reproach. ] What I acknowledge is bad enough. Byrd was nothing to me. From the day I bade hixu good-bye in Great Barrington till 1 taw him again in Miss Aspinwall's parlors. I did not bestow upo? him :i thought. But on that day he showed that he had not forgotten me. "Do you recall that day or can you realize even now all that it was to me? You had asked me to give up my fortune, to yield what had been won through ways so tortuous and at cost of efforts so shameful; and I hesitated, can you wonder, and was swayed this way and that, according as my reason or my heart spoke. But reason finally had its way, audi v/cnv dressed in velvet, only to repent my decision so bitterly that, before I went within reach < of your glance, I stepped iuto Hilary's 1 dressing-room and put on oue of her 1 cloth dresses. Love might mean self' < denial and fearful complications with i my associates, to whom I had net yet j paid the half that was due, but I felt ready to do and bear all. or rather, 1 i felt in that moment more ready to meet < the doubtful results of abnegation, ( fhan I did the withdrawal of the hopes i ER P LIONS. Jl AcUmi of "Tlie g 5CRT eoKfucn-s SONS. $ wiikh bad made ray tiimmer so giorion?. But. after I was dressed and before 3 could rueet your appreciative glancc. some cue brushed me jn the I'rowd and a note vas put iu my hands. .U:. (leiiics-i. that note! It was sent by ll:e Portuguese, then sick unto death, it stra's\ but it was not written by her, :?m i?y Montellj, who had been dead tum* months. As I read it I knew 1 liaT my intentions had been foreseen uy her. Th;u. although she was ill. she had wished to show me that she still kfpt. watch on my movements and a colu upon my fate. It ran thus: and its contents are as great a mystery to me is they must bo to you: " 'I am discovered and must fiy. Tou nr-e safe il' you will but forget your weakness for the artist. Cherish ihat ind yon are lost. You cannot have lovefind money both. 80 choose, but. in choosing, remember that, the Portuguese i:i;d 1 will have our money if we liave to ask your lover for it. We have uot run so many risks for nothing.' "This, at the moment I was about to commit myself to you irretrievably. What if the writer was dead, the sender was not. or so I thought in that moment of shock and teivor. Pushed Ijy the crowd, trotured by my fears. I iiesitated one instant, and then went igr.in to Hilary's closet and procured lie a cloak. Enveloping mys-.'lf in this [ went below. Did you recognize it a? jet-peaking the hesitation which it eally betrayed? Did your love take llarin and cause you to turn a more ivilling ear to the insinuations of the letective? I shall never know, for I lave never dared to question you. "But the developments were not at m end. While I hunted for a glimpse )f your faee. Mr. Byrd came?why Mr. Byrd I*have never been able to understand?and told me in the strange way hat he told me of Montelli's death, hat, by another happy Providence, the jender of this note had perished also: caving my path clear of enemies and nyself free to follow the dictates of ny heart 1,v ? -to-f11 /*%tt*ct"PTatt ir. JL UU Blitz YV UilUl ivnv/?*v%4. ... i rush of renewed hope I threw aside ny cloak, and called your heart, to null a song. IIow I looked for response, ind how it failed to come. Mr. Byrd vas at your ear and you listened to loubts which held you back, and when ou did break away from him and seek ne. it was to find that I hearkened to he voice of another wooer, who asked ;f ine nothing, and promised me all kings. "Can you not foresee the rest? How he love which had succumbed to your difference rose triumphant again a? his evidence of your continued affecion. 1 had jeopardized my happiness, jut I determined to regain it at any ost. Nothing should or could stand n the way of what had now become ny one passionate desire. I wrote to dr. Degraw. I took the one means I ..new whereby I not only would obtain i full release from my engagement, but nsure likewise his acceptance of the jift which lie never would have given ue had he recognized my real unwortlincss. 1 oenfesed to him my love for rou, nnd 1 confesed, also, my share in he plot. "It was a fatal act?how fatal I imnt-diately perceived when my impetu:siiy led me to your studio, and we had hat interview so unhappily interrupt:d by Hilary. If the suspicions of the )olice had been aroused in regard to no. how mad had been the impulse .vhicli had led me to put upon paper vords that could justify their suspi ions and make possible the detection if my duplicity. Though it seemed too ate to profit by this discovery of my oily, I made one frantic effort to do so. rode back home and endeavored to ;top the delivery of my letter, but ailed in this, and Mr. Degraw not only cad the story of my deception, but by ome treachery or some mischance vliicb ho could not himself explain, his letter was stolen from him almost mmediately after his reading it, so hat my secret was no longer at his ncrcy only, but at the mercy of the Yorld, and, what was worse, of you. "Do you understand new the frenzy vhicli drove me into asking you to narry me that night, or how 1 could jardly subdue my fears when you jemnstprl limn to nntifv vonr mother? Detection lay before -me, and I bad K'itber tbe strcugtu to meet it nor tbe enrage io forestall it by telling yon ivliat would shatter your love at a jlow. For though llr. Degraw urged ne to this course, measuring your naure, perhaps, by his own, which is af"ectionate rather than passionate, and enacious rather than proud, J, "who ^new you better than he, felt that leath must precede any confession of ny past deception to you. "What! Tell you that the sweet in aocence of which you have so ofteu spoken was the mask which hid a snhominor honrt? m-rr hpnntv nf ts clinrin and my memory of its grace? Jake {lie most beautiful moment in our ives the mere climax to a 1'nrce ami each ycur soul to hate that which had ,'iven it life and purpose? Impossible. [ could die, but I could not do this, and [hough there was one chance remaining of this letter escaping your notice, [ prepared for death, and re-hired these rooms, that you might take your last look at me where you did your first, md thus see in the final act cf my life in expiation which would soften your bate, and lead, perhaps, In time, to your regarding me with pity and tenierness. "But that one chance came near succeeding. and I breathed again, only to be dashed once more into the fathom ess depths of despair. Yon Lad received tbe letter, but you had not read t, and though you gave it back to mo rou wished to see its contents. "It was the linal blow. Though it vas possible to deny you Avhat you reluested, it would be. as I knew, at the ;ost of your future confidence. I could lot lose this and be your wife, so I gave.,up the straggle from that moment ! and bade farewell to you.forever in tbe ! silence "with which I met your parting embrace. "This was two hours ago. but it a!- i ready seems an age, for the shadows 01 [ death are upon me. acd I miss the 1 smile which should help me across the ; Inrk rher into whirb 1 am about to : plunge. Has that smile left in? for- J over? or may I hope- that .your pity, if | not your love, will follow :ne into the i shadows. I do not plead my ronth; I j do not plead ray ill bringir.g-up or ray j ninny disappointments and temptations. 1 I plead my love, which, if small at first ! lias grown to be the ruling passion of j ray life. It led me to give up a great fortune, it led me to betray my secret I faults, and now it has brought me j here. Will you drop a tear for it. if j not for your dead JENNY?' ****** 3 Jenny Rogers is dead, and yet. for ! the Degraws life holds much in pros- 1 peet. In a certain New York borne j there is a noble woman, who is now ( the comforter of the artist's grief, and who will live to be the angel of his | home, while in a quaint, but nnfash- j ionable square, below Fourteenth street there dwells and smiles a little being ' whose name recalls bitter memories, { but whose sunny nature and mif'et- ! tered spirit make it more than probable ! that the Delancy millions will again j follow the bcck of love and be be- i slowed cot upon Virginia Rogers, but j upon Jeannette, the name by which ' both the Degraws persist in addressing ! the charming young schoolteacher. THE END. Small Salaries of Cotjutry Minister*. The Watchman, an influential organ i of the Baptist Church, has lately fur- ; uished a symposium m which a nu:u- j ber of Baptist pastors gave reasons i why they desired to change their pas- j torates. In one particular they all i agreed, namely, that it is very diffi- I cult to feed and clothe and properly j educate a family ou existing salaries? j the average salary of three-fourths of i the Baptist pastors in three New England States is reported to be only $500. Perhaps the showing would be quite similar in otiier denominations. In our own Church the average is slightly j more. Small salaries unsettle more raiDis- | ters than any one other thing. Expenses increase with the increase of their families and the growth or their caildren, and it is but natural that they chould desire a chance of pastorates for the improvement of their finances. | Fifty years ago, though salaries were ! as small as now, ministers were much ; better supported. Not only was the ' purchasing power of a dollar greater, j and the demands on the purse fewer, j but congregations found pleasure in ; sharing their good things' and their | prosperity with the ppstor and his | family. So many provisions found their j way to the dominie's larder, and so I abundant a supply of fuel to the wood- j shed, and so much hay and oats to the , barn, that it was not altogether untrue j what was said of a certai. church by a 1 retiring pastor: "The salary may not j seem large, but it means so much : money and a living.'' Anniversaries, i holidays and other occasions, besides ; ? . . , i weddings and funerals, were marKea j b gifts. All this lias changed. The I minister is expected to provide every- j thing out of a salary, which is not only | fixed, but small, and very often ir- i regularly paid.?Christian Intelligencer. ] i A Kindly Knll-Fightcr. The King of Poitugal, among his j other accomplishments, is, or was. an accomplished ball-fighter. Cnce. when j Duke of Braganza, lie entered the ring ! to face a bull "with points unbated," , that is to say, with its horns not pad- f ded, as is generally the case in Portu- j gal, as distinguished from Spain. One | of the ladies of the court had dared ! the Duke to face a bull with its horns bared, and so he entered the arena in the Spanish manner?incognito, though every one knew who the bold banderillo was. Unfortunately the Dui;e enppeu ar.n fell, hut starting up before the bull could charge again, he ran for the barricade and cleared it at a bound just a'moment or two before the infuriated animal splintered the woodwork with itrj horns. The"Athlctic Awakening." Prior to 1SS0 not a single record for j events on standard athletic championship programmes was held by an American. They were all credited to Englishmen, Scotchmen and Irishmen. To-day, twentj--two years later, Americans hold nearly all records. This is one result of the "athletic awakening" ?the increased interest in outdoor sports in the United States; but it is by no means the most valuable. Better health, sounder,stronger bodies, calmer minds, less tendency to dyspepsia and nervousness?these are worth more llJilil rcuuiua, UJt\> bU-Ui iu iU!9 u?ot fcw go together.?Youth's Companion. Value of Time Im Koren. Recently a high dignitary in Seoul called upon a Japanese wlio was staying tbere in connection with the Seoul- j Fusau Railway. The talk turned on j how long it would take to travel from | the Korean capital to Fusan when the railway was completed, ^bout twenty hours, said the Jap. The Korean assumed a very perplexed air. "The distance requires at present," he remarked, with a knowing look, "about six days. How should I spend the remaining five days and four hours if the journey can be done ir twenty hours by train?" When Guests Are Expected. In preparing a room for a guest, if 1-. r? ? /1a not norrltn I Ullly IUi" il lOV UUJ O, uu uui ? - place n variety of books at bis disposal, says the Washington Siar. If there is no bookshelf in the room, books and magazines should be placed oil a low table uear the window. Many a visitor has gone through tortured, sleepless nights in a strange house, with not a line of reading matter to be got at. Elephant Stealing in Sinzn. Elephants are not the class of goods in which one would expect peity lar- j ccny to be brisk. In Siaui. however, L'ltjiUUJJ I l?? ] cuitiinivwij lent. One British forest company alone liad fifty elephants stolen from it in a year. The average price of a working elephant in Si.im >s $650.? Londou Express. 1 A SERMON FOE SUNDAY' AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE BY THE REV. DR, HOWARD D'JFflELD. 6nbject: " Footmen and Horses "?Every Man Hears at Times In His Son] a Jle&onnding Cry Which Beckons Him to His Highest Destiny. New York Citt. ? Th\ Howard Pufrmctnr nf i hp Olrl First Presbvtftfian Churcii, Fifth avenue and Twelfth street, preached Sunday on "Footmen and Horses." He took hie text from, Jeremiah i xii:5. Dr. Duffield said: It is healtbful for us to test our hopes to-day as experience shall test them for us to-morrow. Squarely, individually and immediately let us face the challenge of Jeremy, the prophet: "If thou runnest with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses?" Let us first study the pursuit of happiness. The pursuit of happiness is intense and universal and rightful. The pursuit of happiness has enlisted the unwearied energy of the most of men throughout all time. Pleasure surely cannot be a very hard problem to solve. Certainly it can be no difficult thing to win happiness. Brave and bonny is this pleasure house of an earth in which we live. Dazzling bright is this Vanity Fair of a world in which the lot of mortals is cast. Its booths are most alluring. Its wares are most seductive: skillful are its traders, and eager faced its throngs of buyers. Behold the shimmering flash of its gems and the rich rustle of its soft-silks! Hearken to the sweet notes of its music and the golden chink of its coin! Lend your ear to the-rhythmic beat of its dance and the gladsome rapture_ of its revel. Mark the gleam of its flashing eyes! Heed the spell of its silvery laugh' HT'Ua Uaf fViia urnrlH "ia nnt, a 4/CX ; J.UC iuc? VIi?w TTW..W ?w ? minister of happiness is hermit logic; is the crabbed fruit of cloistered seclusion ; is the harsh inference of Puritanic prejudice. The eiren voices of the world are ever summoning men to a wealth of pleasurespleasures of the palate, pleasures of the passions, pleasures of the intellect. The blaring trumpets of the world are ever heralding the triumph of its votaries as crowned with laurels and clasping the brimming cup of its satisfaction, one and another ascends the throne of its dominion. Very well, point me out the happy ones. Those smile-wreathed lips repress a rising sigh. Those laughter-lighted eyes but mask a wearied heart. The glitter is tinsel. The trappings are fustian. The ornament is stucco. The mirth is hollow hearted. Do you not know that those men who have tilled all of fortune's coffers are the most brain wearied ar.d heart burdened of the children of the.<earth, in their effort to fill ?ne more? Have you never learned that the man who has (jlimb'ed the throne is smitten with heart sickness because there is some Naboth's vineyard unpossessed? Has it never been told you that a man may wear the jeweled tokens of a king's favor and yet writne unuer tne pang 01 uisappointment because some beptgar Mordecai stands in the palacc gate? If not, let me put in evidence the testimony of competent witnesses. Listen to that pampered pet of fortune, bedecked with the insignia of English nobility, and standing upon the pinnacle of earth-given happiness. In the swiftest swing of pleasure's whirlpool, in the very heyday of life, upon his thirtyeixth birthday. Lord Byron wrote: "My days are in the yellow leaf, The flowers and fruits of love are gone, The worm, the canker and the grief Are mine alone." Recall the words of Chesterfield, who reduced the pursuit of happiness to a fine art, and had taken every degree in the freemasonry of human pleasure: "I have been behind the scenes, 1 have seen all the coarse pulleys ?and the dirty ropes which xtiove the gaudy machinery, and I have 6melled the tallow candles which illuminate the hollow decorations to the astonishment of an ignorant audience." Listen to the peevish wail of Heine, that richly gifted poet, critic and master '.'.linker who wrote in his diary: "What lists it to me that at banquets my health is drunk out of golden goblets and in the best of wine, if I, myself, separated from all the joy of the world, can only moisten my lips with the physician's potion'? What lists it to me that enthusiastic youths and damsels crown my marble bust with laurels, when on my real head a blister is beiug clappedmir ?!/ ] cirlr nnropV What lists it to me that the roseB of Shiraz glow and smell never so sweetly? Alas, Shiraz is 600 miles from Rue 1'Amsterdam, where I get nothing to smell in the melancholy solitude of my sick room but the aroma of warm poultices." Behold the trophies of the world ore wetted with a rain of tears! The reverberating plaudits which greet the world's succcsses only serve to waken the walling echo, "Vanity of vanity, it all is Tanity." The works of earth are frail. Its jewels lose their fire. The luster of its gold will tarnish. Its garlands will wither and their bloom and fragrance will vanish away. What shall that man do who cannot taste delkht in the midst of his pleasures, when the lights of the revel begin to grow dim, and sorrow as with a harpy's hand, sweeps bare the banquet board, and amid the gathering shacfows the fingers of destiny begin to write doom sentcnccs upon the wall ? What is that man to do who cannot pack a single hour with unalloyed pleasure, when he crosses the threshold of a long, long eternity? Do not blink the question. Meet its thrust fairly. "If you cannot run with footmen how will you contend with horses?" Apply another test. There is a deeper longing in many minds than the thirst for pleasure. It is the craving for truth. There is genuine grandeur in the achievempntd of the intellect. The coronet of cul ture is brighter far than a king's diadem. The robes of mental royalty are more imperial than the mantle of Caesar. It would seem as though the mind mon* archs of the present age had realized that dream of the Hebrew boy in the olden time, when sun and moon 'and stars bowed down to do obe9ianee. Jt would seem as though the princely thinkers of the present day wore the signet ring of Solomon, in obedience to which all elemental powers yield' ready response. They say to the genii of the electric fluid, "go," and they render a ready sen-ice. They beckon to the coal and to the iron, to the silver and to the gold, and from the secret caverns of the earth they hasten to do their bidding. They say to the veriest vapors, "do this, and they do it. But, after all, what is the sum total of human knowledge? "Behold we know not anything?" We have mapped a few square miles of space, and immensities lie around. We have numbered a few odd centuries of time, and eternities lie beyond. We have garnered a stray stalk or two from the mighty harvest "fields of fact, and illimitable sheaves are nodding in the breeze unsickled. Within the horizon of observed fact we only know how things appear to i? ?i. 4i.;?- ixr? UC, IJUl/ W 11(11/ Llllll^D tl LIT, JWIUW UVU where the light dwelleth, but only how certain light rays affect us. We cannot tell what atmosphere is, we have only discovered some of the offices which atmosfihere renders us. Our vaunted knowledge argely consists of shrewd guesses concerning surface appearances. The last result of culture is the coronation of nescience. Its proudest achievement is fixing the limits of thought. The most sinewv brain cannot scale those adamantine barriers that convert reason's highway into a "no thoroughfare." There are nuts of fr.ct which the stoutest blows of the hammerhead of human knowledge fail to crack. There are (iordian knots of thought which turn the edge of the most finely tempered blade of human research. Nineteenth century intellect, the human mindj in that age when mind touches the meridian is not able to tell the stovy of the little lichen that clings to the stone in the wall, root and all and ail m all. lion-, then, shall human wisdom answer for me those awful questionings concerning origin and duty and destiny which I, reasoning and feeling, sinning and suffering, mortal and immortal, must know? What lore of man will unveil to me the face of the great God, my maker, and roll back the cloud that enwraps His throne? What mechanic skill will suffice for unraveling the dread sccrct of this dark woof of evil which is woven into human experience? What scholar, though he have drunken at every Castalian fount, can tread with me the brink of the grave, and peering down into that abvss of dreadful oight give me any assurance that confined <V V.v" dust "will rise resplendent in nome-resurrection morning? What pupil of the most cultured Gamaliel ca.i sit by my bedside in the hour when heart and flesh are failing and 6et one single star of hope aglow in the dark midnight that gathers around me? J .Tii6t one star beam to tell me that beyond the cloud and darkness are the many mansions of an eternal home, that yonder waits a father's welcome to love, and light and joy ineffable? Most majestic are the achievements of intellect. Greek tragedy tells uk how King Edipus at the close of life heard a cry?a strange, weird, imperious summons, far off, yet near, in some distant world, yet close at hand: a voice that drew like gravitation. - I 1I..4 ,?1 So does every man,,in virtue ox wmi, lujn.* nature -which allies him with heaven's throne, hear at times just such a cry resounding from some distant sphere, even from that spirit realm which is his true fatherland, yet near, within his very soul, that beckons him to his highest destiny. "Oh, soul of man, awake, awake, shake off the chains of spiritual slumber and sloth. Escape the earth-bound life. Heaven-born and heaven-aspiring, live for God!" The Hindoo palace echoed with that cry, and Buddha swept out to brood in the wilderness depths over its mysterious meaning. Those accents floated over the land of Pallas Athene, and in academy and portico there gathered groups of thinkers that sought to follow its leading as the wise men followed the Orient star. Every dweller in Christian lands hears that cry more plainly. It is borne to him in the quiet peacefulness of the Sabbath that whispers to his toil-worn spirit of that rest l.af Tomaineth when the toil of this work aday world is done. It.comes to him from the open church door that, tells him of a home shelter for his storm-beaten soul. It speaks to him from the Scripture, where it syllables the splendors of the Christ, and declares that such is the glorious image which God has planned to reproduce in h!m now sullied and sickened with sin. But where, in all the ages, is the man that girding himself at this signal call has won in the race for holiness? Are we not sometimes glad that thoughts are not audible? that motives are not visible? that we are not breastplated with transparent glass, through which the workings of the inner life might lie open to the curious eye? Are we not glad that it is sometimes a function of language to conceal, as well as to convey thought? If our struggles after holiness be as'honest hearted as that of the old pagan seekers after God, we will unhesitatingly echo their sad avowal, voiced by one of. that high-souled but discouraged companv, "I approve the better courses, but I follow the worst." And if our own hearts, ein-darkened and sinwarped, condemn us, how can we meet the scrutiny of Him who is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things? "If thou contendest with the footmen, and they weary thee, how canst thou contend with horses?" There is but one mMhoH hv which this Droblem of the He brew prophet can be wrought out to an encouraging solution. Let its terms be inverted. Read the formula backward. If the horsemen could be conquered first, who would waste a thought upon footmen? If we could meet the mightiest foes and override them there would ne little difficulty in outmatching lesser needs. If we could run with horses and outrun them, we should shake the dust of a sandaled scorn in the face of the footmen. Such a solution is hinted at in scripture. Turn the Bible page. Put the apostle against the prophet. Reply to the challenge of Jeremiah with the triumph shout of Paul. Over against the impotencv of man array the sufficiency of God ana cry, "We are conquerors, yea, more than conquerors through Him that loved us." A divine hand extends to us the crown which, unassisted, we are helpless to win. That helper of men needs no other name than a personal pronoun. The whole of His wondrous story, the initial sentence of which was written before the morning stars sang together, the sequel of Avhich shall remain to be written when "The sun is old, and the stars are cold, and the leaves ot tne judgment book unfold." can he condensed into three words: "He loved us." Loved us? Do vou ask how did He display that love? "There is a green hill far away without a city wall," and there upon the death instrument of a slave. His back furrowed with the scourge, His brow bleeding with the thorn crown, His side rent with the spear thrust, 6piked upon the cross, wounded in body, broken of heart, troubled in spirit, in agony, in ignominy, in strange majesty, died the Christ. What is the meaning of that spectacle which has so strangely fastened upon itself the gaze of the nations? Was it a theatrical display of the divine estimate o' sin? Was it an heroic winning of the splendid crown of martyrdom by an adherence to truth that death could not shake? If it be no more than this, then that cross is of little value to a sinful world, and Jesus is of little worth to me. The ignorant ne^d a teacher. The wandering need a guide. The lost soul needs a Saviour. Error can be reasoned away, evil habit can be reformed away. The stain of sin can only be whitened by sacrificial blood. I can make money in the market place. I can obtain pleasure in the playhouse- I can win culture in the school room. .But the remission of my Sins I can secure only upon Calvary. Christ is the solitary Sa When the sin want is appeased all want is met. When this is righted all is right. With the regal robes of righteousness go the sceptre of power and the diadem of peace. Bring the matter to a test of a personal experience and see if it is not so, and imagine that every one in this assembly was a Giristian; that each one of us began the week's work as a saved soul. You go forth to-morrow morning, your heart aglow with a brighter splendor than the glory-bath with'which sunrise floods the earth. "The light of the knowledge of the glory of God as it shines in the face of Christ." Y<>u go down-town, not knowing what the hours may be bringing to meet you. Every footstep carries you into a realm untrodden. Every clock-tick swings you into a mysterious future. But you know some things now. You know that Jesus died for you; that God loves you; that, as far as the setting of the sun is from the rising, so far has your sin been carried away from you. Toil begins. Jeeusworked. Trial approaches. Jesus suffered. Your truest words are twisted, your noblest acts are misinterpreted, for your manliest endeavors mean motives are suggested. Jesus drank the sattie bitter cup. He who told Capernaum fisher folk to launch out and cast net calls you to take up the pen or the plane or the yardstick or the needle or the loom. He who said to Peter "Feed My lambs" has said to < 0:1 ,?i,? /ivT/iir.ciflo and do nurs yOU I ? OIL L)y vtuutv ery work." Ue who said to Matthew "1'ake up the cross and follow Me" has said to you: "Come after Me into the lonely pavilion of pain, keep midnight vigil with Me in the shadowed paths ox Getnsemane." Evening-tide draws on. Home shelter beckons to rest. Fireside reunions, with their heart deep satisfactions, whisper to you of another home that waits beyond the toil of earth. Empty chairs and vanished faces stir your heart with the glorious certainty that the Saviour is placing a chair for you where the homo circle is forming, never to be broken. So a life of work resolves itself into a liljp of worship. So the days, with ever quickening step, shall hasten by. So the night time shall | draw on apace. And the lengthening o'. the shadows and the waning of the light shall bring to your Christ-enriched nature the message which life's setting sun flashed into the- heart of an old nursemaid, who, becoming blind and deaf, said: * - ?~ ivu* There "you re worrying ?uvu. ...V, is r:o need of that. I am happy as a little child. I sometimes think J am just a little child whom the Lord is hushing to my long sleep, for when I was a nurse girl my mistress always told me: 'Speak very soft and low and darken the room so the little ones may go to sleep,' and now th2 noises are hushfd and still to me and the bonny earth seems dim and dark, and I know it is my Father lulling me away to iny long sleep." When General Grant reviewed tbe British troops in India he was asked wiat feature of the spectacle made tbe most impression upon him. His reply is significant. He did not refer to the superb discipline of the men or to the glitter of their military equipment. He simply said: "Those fellows march with the swing of victory." Amid the sin and iguorance and 1' - ? ? rtlA?n> flio I me sorrow unit iuiuu^ um-ivi/ *..v way of life, that soul marches with the swing of victory which is Christ saved, Chris;, schooled, Christ satisfied. - . -:j5V7y/yvr THE GREAT DESTROYER I I SOME STARTLINC FACTS ABOUT j THE VICE OF INTEMPERANCE. | Chicago Children W??? a DrlTik W?rMinorM Enlisted by the Thousandg | to lirive the Saloqn From tbe Residence District. The children of Chicago have been enlisted by thousands in a tight to drive the saloon out of the residence districts. The boys have turned from sledding, skating .and other sports of the season and the . girLB from dolls and parties to a crusade of reform, and a formidable army of young people, ranging in age from ten to j twenty years, is engaged m what is declared to be the most practical temperance movement ever undertaken in a ! great city. These useful crusaders, instead of trav* ' eling far in dangerous lands to rescue lo{ calitiee from unbelievers, as did their pro: totypes in the middle ages, will join in i efforts to reclaim their own homes and the homes of hundreds of thousands of others j from the influence of liquor selling. They i plan to secure 100,000 names to a petition j to the City Council to submit to the vofr I ers ol residence wards me question ox ! local option. ' , The Young People's Christian Temper1 ance Union has been engaged in reform j endeavors for years in this city, the na: tional headquarters of the society, but it I has never before inaugurated so ambitious a work. Thirty of the 200 square miles I ?f Chicago's area are now prohibition ter* ' ritory and twenty more are under local : option, all by reason of the annexation j acts, so that the crusaders have nearly ; 150 square miles to redeem from the grip J of the saloon. Miss Eva Marshall She-' the Presij dent, and Mrs. Mattie Go' ^ Squires, the ! Corresponding Secretary ot the national j organization, aided by the local division officers, have mapped out a plan of campaign | that is comprehensive in its sweep, and 1 that has already begun to show large re-? ! suits. They have interested all the Christian young people's societies in the city, | and in addition many children who belong j to no organization, and have fired them i with zeal for the temperance cause. | An instance of the enthusiasm inspired I among the younger workers is furnished i j by the following letter, received from a Norwood Park boy: "Dear Miss Shontz?I am eleven years ! old, so I cannot sign the ward option pe] tition. I want to do something to help j I kill the saloon, so I have decided to make | a house to house canvass of the town for i +n fiio iiotifinn \fv nlavmates. I iiuuico WV Uiiv ??r - Clarence Cook, will help me. *" Norwood Park has only 150 voters, so we cannot promise many names, hut will get all we can. We got thirteen this afternoon. Why not organize hoys in other parts of the city to make a house to house canvass for names?" The letter is signed by Russel E. Kletzing. Clarence Cook also writes, and 6ays he "hopes he can teach the people how bad the saloon is," and promises to come to the Women's Temple some day and see Miss Shontz and her assistants. These communications are similar to scores of others the last few weeks. Preliminary work has been going on for several months. The names and addresses of society presidents were secured, and the plan laid before them. Then they were invited to the monthly business meeting of the temperance organization in the lecture room of the First Methodist Church, I at Clark and Washington streets, the ! first Thursday evening of each month. One feature of the campaign is the | pledge by 100 young people to secure 1000 j names each. These persons have been put j in charge of certain districts, with comj mittees and sub-committees to assist them, each leader being individually responsible ! for the completion of his or her list. It is estimated that 5000 workers are alj ready in the field, and that if they contin- i i ue for four months as they have begun, I f the 100,000 names will have been secured. : These workers represent 200 churches of I the various Protestant denominations, and j some of the Catholic churches. The Good * 1 r ?Vt/N+Vt -rwAnev nnd I Templars nave iunnencu uvm ! canvassers to the cause. I "More prohibition territory for Chica- J j go," has been adapted as a slogan of re; iorm. After the required number, or one- j ! fourtu of the voters of the city, have signed ! the petition, it will be taken to the Coun- j I cil, where the reformers will assemble in [ | force to see that it is acted upon.' Then 1 the fight will be carried into the wards, one after another, and waged until it is j definitely settled which ones prefer tem! perance to saloons. I The crusaders have obtained a formal ; | opinion from Attorney Charles R. Holden j o,n the feasibility of their plan. He indorses it as the most practicable one ever j ! proposed by the tempcrance people of Chi- ! j cago. Making Men Sober. i "The corporations" do so many bad ! | things that there is some human satisfac- j j tion in learning tliat they occasionally do a good thing. Kev. Edward A. Horton, a distinguished and level-headed Unitarian "logman of Boston, in mailing a talk i ?, ? J about public temperance the other day, | j said, among other things: "I believe in good examples. The great | ! lesson of temperance is being taught, not J j by tracts or sermons, but by the railroads ! I and great industrial corporations insist- i J ing on temperance in their servants." | j Why not? To make a man temperate , i there is nothing like?well, making him ! j temperate. The occasional drunkard, the i man who is commonly sober, but not inI frequently drunk, is passing away. The j person who goes on sprees has no chance ! in business life. He cannot get employI ment. So far as these big houses are concerned, j i the ordinary man's choice lies between j , real sobriety and utter abandonment to ; intemperance and consequent industrial i outlawry. The effect is to discredit drinkI ing altogether. The Americans are being I I made a sober race?which they were not j J always?by this insistence upon sobriety | i in employes. ! This is a sort of "tyranny" that the big j corporations can continue to engage in | with the general thanks.?New York I 31obe. * I Telling Statistics. -* --i-- n I At the twentieth anniversary 01 iuc <jci- i man Society against the Abuse of Alco? ' | holic Drinks there were present some tell- j i ing statistics of the ravages of strong drink j | in Germany, where the use of alcohol is ? j safd to be responsible for fifty-four per J j cent, of the divorces, fifty per cent, of the j railroad accidents, seventy per cent, of j 1 the accidents on the sea, eighty-seven per ! ! cent, of the offenders sent to houses of j 1 correction, 55.2 per cent, of the disturb- j ances of domestic peace, and so on through j a long list. Clear Braius on Guard. j M. de Tera, general superintendent of ! j the railroads of Germany, has issued orders j j that all eirployes who are not total ab- I j stainers v/iil be discharged at the earliest ! I possible moment. Moderate drinkers even 1 J cannot hold their places. Men with cleav j brains and steady hands are the omy ones : who need apply lor positions. A Brief Argument. The Danish Government, in filling posi* i i tions on the State railways, will hencej forth prefer men who ran prove by docuI mentary evidence that tncy have been toj tal abstainers for at least one year past. Why Women Outstrip Men. j In a sermon on "Women" the Rev. Dr. ' N. D. Hillis has sounded a warning note 1 to young men in business life. "Jf you j don't want women to oust rip you in "the I industrial race," he said, "and compel you to come to them when you wani nuy i cents, you had better stop drinking anil gambling at race tracks and in poolrooms." A Temperance Point. At the recent meeting of the Grand Lodge of Masons of Tennessee an action was taken which requires charges to be preferred against "all affiliate and non-affiliate Master Masons engaged in the manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors ai I a beverage after January 1, 1904." ' '11 ryi \sLwuusui God'a Answer. NeaTer to thee, 0 Father, ever nearer. Thy loving purpose in my life fulfilled^. Lifted above earth's strife, my visio^ clearer, # . ' >4^ All earth-born passions stilled. Is this mv prayer? Why, then, am I ffflf ! getful " J } When lowly bowed beneath thy chastetif ing hand? Why filled with doubts and fear>, ao oftetf fretfn], < So loth to understand? Is not the answer in my earnest plea<Jiag| Hidden within the discipline severe? i The very lesson that my heart waa needing^ ! Taught by the bitter tear? , The weary toil, the pain, the sore bereave* ment, .* '.j^j Are ladder rounds 8wung down for everJJ eoul; The horizon widens with eacb achievement, i" ; ^ % And fairer seems the goal. "RVr* "\o+ tno roof nccurofl nnnr rrfitiiml Is heard and' Seeded at the Fatfafcr'ft I throne. \ The answer comes, with faith the one co<? dition; V: The way is all His own. j ?Misn Hattie Hunter Pierson, in N. T? Observer. Y Soul Growth. ' It hag been saiu that "the manuf&ctmtf of souls of a good quality is the first bunW : ness of a great republic. Now, souls of il i good quality are not manufactured, bu$ 1 grown, says Newell Dwight Hillis. If wet should distinguish between souls of ba?I quality and souls of good quality, we would-, say that these latter are wise, just, happy^ eeJf-sufficing and Christian. The .nan is wise?toward all troth in i books, in nature and in life. The man is ; iust?hie feet run along those highways of > ! law that God has set up for the eoulV progress. He is happy?that is, he is in harmony with his own record, his con? i science and his God. He is self-sacrificing [ ?that is- he is equal to all the emerges cies of life, and with a surplus of strength he thrusts his broad shou^ers under oh* i other's burden and carries that in addU tion to his own. But all these signal qua]; ities are growths; thev are not suddea]f thni8t upon men. Indeed, Christ's eve*j p.arable regarding the Christian life is oniff that interprets it as a growth. The kingdom of character is a seed. Bill the wild grass gTows into the rich barley. | The wild thorn Decomes the red rose, ibn l is doubled. The wild orange, bitter and I acid, becomes the orange that is seed&a I - ? 0 11 P A 1L- U 1 _ MJ [ ana run or sugar. aiiu toe tuuguuiu vm ! heaven is planted in the soul as a see<| and slowly grows and expands to its full j ci;:c and fruitage. , ^ 1#' 1 Another figure that was used to into? I pret the growth of character is architect : tural. Character is a noble building; its: : based on the body, indeed, as a marbler | palace has foundations that rest in thej ! mud and go down to the rock. How beam 1 tiful is the figure! What a hall n rest) pon! What , a gallery, full of pictures of ! the past, is memory! What decorated ] walls are to be found in the chambers of i imagery! How do housewives fill theii! garrets, just under the roof, with all man^ i ner of cast-off furniture ana old garmentelj ; But the upper story of the soul is like I a glass observatory. Often faith stands ! in its tower of observation and hope for$> j casts far-off and future things. No marble mansion was ever erected! - . ' T?i_A|D i in a night save in tairy scones, juhuo by little the materials for a great building are brought together. Slowly grows the soul. Each thought is a nail, each habffl is a pillar, each noble memory of friends beloved is the face of an angel found int the frescoes on the wall. Slowly the sonl'rf house is furnished and adorned and <ofV ; the Stranger Divine is a guest welcomed! and knocking at the door. To this rictf figure Christ adds a third, when He.lik* ens the Christian life to an education. IK was as if He had said: "The church is My; school, you are My pupils. Life is ? great lecture room, joy, sorrow, love* work, victory, defeat, temptation, bookay death?these are the life teachers. ' ^ To make the soul great?this is the pop* pose and aim of the Christian life, for i dividual worth is the very genius of Chris* Cl&Dlty# UI1C &uui in iuuic iuuuviri^H tial for inspiration and encouragement? M than a million lesser ones, just as one. Hj Shakespeare can do more for the works than a million penny-a-liners. God saves by a few. He raises up one Mary Warej^B as the fur off founder of the Red CroM.^f movement, and then innumerable wonrenf^H go up to her level. He raises up one Paui'M or one Luther and nations climb to heights -where these exalted spirits dwefHilBB In the Paris World's Fair the treasure* of the world were brought tigether. Wbat^B pictures! What architecture! WbavBB -^m .j. t _?j i vaJin arches and columns: wnat Dnagra; nii??M marvelous tools and looms and snipe! Bo^Hj a great character builded by thirty yeartfflflg of life is an achievement incomparably richer. <iH| What treasure in a hero, in whom aQBj heroism, all disinterested love, all wisdom*^? all patience and self-sacrifice are unitedi/^p If it takes a long time to grow a tree, tolH ripen a scholar, to construct a cathedral, how much more to grow a man into theH| full stature of one who resembles Jesnfl^H Christ! You have inaugurated a great^H enterprise in your youth, and the building^H of your character is worthy of all thoughgjH and ambition and tireless toiling. , HB 8eeds That Will Grow. SB ~ ? - >? ii? 1? Sweet cope mat cneeis mc company. And proves the nurse of age?^H ?Pindar. To bold fast upon God with one. hand^H and open wide tne other to your -neigb^^B bor?tnat is religion.?George MacDon^^H Man is not made subservient to an ex^B ternal law forced upon him from without,^H but is made responsive to a creative lighflf and power within.?Biblical World. j^H There are many parables which I don't^H nnderstnnd, but in Christ's teaching whatflj| I do understand I find to be wholly abovc^H me and not below.?James Hinton. The man who lets the world, or his own^H Eortion of it, choose his plan of life foz^H im, has no need of eny other laculty^H than the apelike one of imitation.?J. S^H Life is a burden imposed upon you by^K God. What you make of it, that it will b^^| to you. Take it up bravely, bear it on^H joyfully, lay it down triumphantly.?Gai^H Hamilton. .HK Tbc Shot Gate. Wc are under the delusion that a cur^H tailed space is a curtailed energy. It i^H not; a service is more arduous in propor^^Q tion as it is humble. My own opinion ii^H that there is nothing which demands s<^H much religious strength as the sense of shut gate.?tieorge Mathesou. HWj "When Keady, It Cumcs. gflEj As you grow ready for it, somewhere o^^H other you will .'ind that what is needfuHB - AW llflftf lor VOU 111 UUUK, Ul ?l ?re?u, VI t.voi, all in your thoughts?the eternal though*? speaking in your thought.?Georec Alac^RI Donald. 1KB Land Free in Tezii. HD The Southern Pacific Railroad is conei^^H ering a plan to throw open to fiettlcmen^^B all its unoccupied lands in Texas an^|H Louisiana. It is stated that the only term^E| are that the settlers will never sell thHE lands, but keep them always in their fau^^R ilies. A campaign to induce colonizati^HH from the East and from foreign couotrie^H| is to be aggressively pushed. Women's Red Skirts Tabooed. hH "Let 110 women -wearing red skirts oon^HK near the tracks of the Pennsylvania Ra^HH Toad/' is an order issued from Phila^^HH phia, Pa. Red skirts have stopped flH^B trains across the mountains, as tne wom^HH picking coal into their flanwcg frighteo the engineers, ^ 1