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* I J a' Tg/g. / a of Me..:;::.. / YO N|S1 SecretService \ ______ ^ CHAPTER XIX. 12 Continued. In the meantime Charlie had read the telegram; and his face had re?* VvAnonfh fllfi rtniVt XIImat! UUIU1C ucucatu buw VJ U4W11 gaze of two pairs of uudeceivable eyes. Lena was at his side, and therefore could not see his face. She was smiling bravely at some cheerful remark of Winyard's. Strange to say, Charles Mistley did not raise his calm eyes to his brother's face after having read the message; he looked past the pink paper, sideways, down at Lena's hand, which rested on the table close to him. The small,, white wrist was trembling as if from extreme cold; and as the sailor saw this a momentary contraction passed before his eyes. The colonel laid down his knife and fork. One brown hand lay on the table-cloth in striking contrast to its whiteness, with fingers slightly apart, as if in readiness to grasp something. His solemn eyes, beneath their heavy brows, were fixed upon his secretary's face with an old man's deep and silent expectation. Only when the door had closed behind the servant who bore the unhesitating answer did Winyard speak cf the telegram. "You might let the colonel see it, Charlie," he said, coolly. "Business?" inquired Mrs. Mistley, with well-suppressed anxiety, as the folded telegram was passed from hand to hand. "Yes," answered the younger son, with his ever-ready smile; "my valuable services are once more required by a grateful country." "What!" exclaimed Mrs. Wright,] with sudden indignation, which might have been partly assumed; "after a fortnight's holiday? I should refuse if I were you!" The good little lady was desperately anxious to keep the conversation going, for she had seen her husband change color, and look up gravely at Winyard. She also knew that Lena had sefen this, too. "He that has put his hand to the plow should not look back, as Shakespeare or some one has observed," said Winyard, readily. "I think," said Lena, with a clear, brave laugh, "that it is in the Bible." This was precisely what Winyard wanted, and he laughed promptly by ,way of encouraging others. "May I have half a cup, mother? only half?" he said, presently, handing his cup, but without raising his ~ ?t-n kU liuiuLiic iauic. "I suppose," said Colonel Wright, handing back the telegram, "that.ypu said yes?" "I did," replied the young fellow, cheerfully. "And," observed his mother, pleas. antly, "are you going to tell us where you are going, what you are going to do, and when you are going to do it?" "Certainly," he replied, looking at his chief, whereat the old soldier smiled, the meaning of which was that the elder man's simple diplomacy consisted chiefly of a discreet silence; while, in contention, Winyard advocated a seemingly, rash straightforwardness. "Certainly. I am dispatched to Central Asia on a mission of some sort; but having no details yet, I am specially warned against disclosing them." No one spoke, and no one made a pretense of continuing the morning meal for some minutes. Outside, the rattle of a horse's hoofs on the hard road broke the silence of the quiet valley. Mrs. Mistley looked toward the window, and listened to the dying sound. Central Asia again! That dim, unknown land was destined to haunt her life. She knew only too well its dangers and manifold horrors. The sound of the horse's hoofs upon the road seemed to resolve itself into a weary repetition of the .words "Central Asia," "Central Asia," "Central Asia!" until it gradually died away in the low hum of the Broomwater. All at that table were more or less connected with the East ?all felt the presence of that lowering cloud which grows and subsides again from time to time, like the otouds of heaven; and all knew that one day it will swell and gather darkness until the storm bursts at last. The meaning of that brave word "Yes" was patent to them all. But Mrs. Mistley was a brave wo-?' man; also she was born?as could be seen from her soft, inscrutable eyes ?on the sunny side of the barren Cheviots, where folks do not hold j much by an undue display of feeling. I So she smiled upon her son, and 40ACU. (vucu; "I must be in town," he replied, studiously looking out of the window, "on Friday afternoon." Lena it was who broke the silence that followed this announcement. "Then," she said, very quietly, "we must have the theatricals a day earlier." This remark, uttered in a most matter-of-fact voice, had the effect desired by its utterer. It relieved the tension, and gave Winyard something to chatter about. Charlie also, in his slow way, took advantage of it to create a diversion with the toastrack, which terminated in a resumption of breakfast. It was rather strange that, with two clever women of the world at the table, these young people should thus have to take matters into their own hands. "I have a better idea than that," Winyard hastened to say. "We cannot well have the theatricals a day earlier, now that every one has been invited. Mother, tell me, is there not a train from Newcastle at five in the morning?/' &/' Wk?*:*r AM A By g UNG ? pley I / Merriman. & 1L7 v I s "Yes," replied Mrs. Mistley, promptly. She was one of those rare women who can at a juncture give a decided opinion as to the time of day. "Well, then, if the colonel will be so good as to lend me his horse, we wonoora if Kon 111if1111 v Wo hflVO vau uuauag^ ic m^uuuiuuj. n v **??? v not an animal in the stable that I can thoroughly trust. Mine is too young." "Do you mean to say," observed Lena, "that you would ride into Newcastle after the theatricals and the dance, at some unearthly hour in the morning?twenty something miles?" "Certainly. It would-be rather a joke.'.' "Winyard's idea of a jolce," said the colonel, with some deliberation, while he kept his eyes fixed upon his plate, "has always been peculiar." Breakfast over, Charlie accompanied the ladies out on to the terrace, while the colonel followed Winyard to the little study. When the door was closed, the old soldier looked suddenly round at his companion with a characteristic brusqueness of manner. "Why have you undertaken this wild expedition to Bokhara?" he asked. "Because," replied Winyard, with a certain playful pride, "I am about the only man who has a chance of getting there unknown." "And do you believe that any good will come of it?" "No." It was in such incidents as this that the young fellow occasionally betrayed his military training, and the old soldier loved to see it. Blind obedience to orders, yielded by intelligent, thinking men, has been the making ui rjugiduu. "How will you go about it?" "Through Russia, I think. I want to have another look at Moscow, and would perhaps have a chance of picklag up some maps there." "But," said the colonel, "you will never get into the country now. They know you too well." For half an hour the two men talked over the matter calmly and in detail, seeking to be honorable and straightforward, as behooves Englishmen even when in intercourse with men who know not the meaning of such words, and determined to carry out the mission intrusted to one of them at all risks, and in face of every difficulty, as behooves brave men and patriots. Both men fully knew the dangers likely to be incurred, though neither spoke of them. Both had stepped over the threshold of that mysterious land of the Far East, and for them the half-forgotten names of its cities had no halo of Arabian Night-like glory. They took small account of these, except to denude them of the untold splendor and lavish wealth bestowed upon them by travelers' fables, and to reduce them ruthlessly to squalid townships. The hopeless, <iUl /\nn ttt n nl an nn rnnrl n n iiav;Aicod naoicD UL ucaci t oauu auu rounded stones were of much greater import to the solitary traveler. To him thees spoke of months spent in weary traveling by burning sun and chilly night; they spoke of a maddening monotony ? hunger, parching thirst, a grewsome solitude and an unrecorded death. CHAPTER XX. A Lover's Fears. Presently Winyard left the colonel. The old traveler was poring over a map, the greater part of which was occupied by notes of interrogation, implying doubts on the part of the geographer. Of course, it was by the merest chance that Winyard should pass out by the window instead of the door, and that he should cross the smooth lawn and go straight to the far corner of the old wall. It was that particular corner whence the sea was at all times visible far away to the east. Adonis followed at his master's heels. Occasionally he raised his rough muzzle and sniffed at the air. There had been rain in the night, and from the valley there ascended a subtle odor of refreshed verdure. All around was fresh and cool and wholesome. Winyard Mistley crushed up the telegram within his jacket pocket, so that the crinkle of the paper mingled with the whisper of the leaves above him. Then he looked around over the green hills and softly whistled a popular air in the most matter-of-fact manner. Doubtless it was owing to the merest coincidence that he found Lena at the corner of the wall when he approached. She was locking the other way; indeed, she was leaning sideways over the wall in cather some sprays of woodbine which had climbed up within reach. The air was scented with a thousand autumnal odors, but the breath of the woodbine penetrated, somehow, through all, just as love is popularly supposed to penetrate through stone walls and the dead thickness of accumulated years. Then these two foolish young people deliberately did the worst thing possible under the circumstances. They did nothing and said nothing. He stood beside her and looked away il, A ?a1U? ? 1 AnIUJ uuwu iuc \autzy me bpui uaucu Mistley's Gap, where the line of the meeting hills cuts the sky. She sat there, and waited for him to break the silence, expecting some laughing suggestion. But for the first time within the last few days Winyard moo corlnn'! in hpr nrP5onfP It is strange.how cruel men can be. Winyard looked down at Adonis as he I stood on the wall with Lena's white arm around him, and, as if speaking 4 to Iks dog, said; - -v.- ,s: "You have never congratulated I .me." He did not raise his eyes from the i coircemplatlon of the faithful A<Tonis during the little pause before Lena spoke. "I congratulate you," she said, in uinerenuy. Winyard smiled suddenly. The reply and manner of delivering it were so exactly as he would have done it himself, that it seemed as if she were mimicking him. "I am sorry I have to go at such a short notice," he Baid, conventionally; but he laid his hand on Adonis' rough back close to her wrist, wbich somehow changed the burden of his remark. "Yes, it is a pity," she replied, cheerfully, as if he were leaving to keep some pleasant engagement. "However," he said, stooping to examine the name inscribed on the dog's collar, which could not have been very new to him; "however, we will get the theatricals in." I "Ye-s, we will get the theatricals in." He was not looking at the dog now, but at her. Lena rose from their humble seat upon the clean, gray stone and moved toward the house. "I know," she said, "that Charlie is patiently working away at the scenery. Let us be virtuous and help; him," And so she led the way Into the house, Adonis and his master meekly following. "Since the midnight interview with Marie Bakovitch and her lover, Winyard had heard nothing from or of those unsatisfactory foreigners. He had duly advised Colonel Wright of their entire proceedings, and they had sought irf; vain some likely explanation of Ivan Meyer's peculiar conduct, for diplomatists grow sadly skeptical regarding the disinterested-' ness of human motives. Also it is difficult for the practical western mind to comprehend the strange Quixotism of the Slav nature. Winyard was somewhat uneasy about the whole affair. His own personal risk in the matter did not appear to him very great, but he was fully aware that he ran great risk of misapprehension, or, worse still, misrepresentation, if the circumstances of his connection with Marie Bakovitch should transpire. A story such as that could so easily be twisted and turned into something quite different. He would have felt still more apprehensive had he known that his beautiful enemy had actually been a guest in Mr. Wright's house under the name of the Baroness de Nantille, and that she was, therefore, personally known to his mother, Mrs. Wright, Lena, and his brother Charlie. But Winyard was spared these additional complications. Ivan Meyer had faithfully fulfilled his promise of leaving Walso with Marie as soon as possible, which, however, was not before the Wednesday morning, as the girl's condition was not such as would allow of a long journey. Had Meyer known that the slight amelioration in the state of her physical and mental health was only a temporary lull, he would have felt even greater relief than he did at turning his back upon the peaceful little town. The girl bore the long journey well, but it was written that a higher hand than Ivan Meyer's was now to guide her troubled steps. A blessed oblivion came over her tota ?: ? onH titVii 1 n tlio mind Lt?riil? icaov/u, cm VA nu.iv wandered, the body throve and prospered. It was only on the Thursday morning, in the midst of preparations for the theatricals and ball, that Winyard learned of their departure from Walso. A groom had been sent into the little town to make some purchases, and when, on his return, he delivered his parcels to his young master, he mentioned that the "fur- 1 rineenng folks" had left. It was a great relief. For although Winyard was not the man to bow down before an ontoward wind?meeting, rather, every breeze of heaven as it came with watchful eyes and steady lips? his was a courage of that type which can afford to disguise no- cianger 0/ detracting from'it. 1. ' (To be continued.) Sveaborg a Strong Fort. Sveaborg is a strongly fortified town of Russian Finland, situated on seven islands in the Gulf of Finland, immediately southeastof Helsingfors. The islands, which are connected by pontoons, form the site of a fortress which defends the harbor of Helsingfors and consists of numerous military works and batteries and a military arsenal. Sveaborg also has an excellent harbor. The fortress was constructed in 1749, was betrayed to the Russians May 3, 1808, and was bombarded by an Anglo-French fleet August 9, 10, 1855, during the Crimean war. The Island of Skatudden lies close to the city of Helsingfors, with which it is connected by a short bridge. It is half a mile long and about a quarter of a mile wide and is given over oiHrolv t/\ the Thn Gov ernment railway from St. Petersburg encircles the city and terminates upon Skatudden Island. The Skatudden fortress is about three miles from Sveaborg. Helsingfors is an important seaport town, capital of Finland, and connected by rail with St. Petersburg. ?New York Herald. Our Doctors. There are 215,000 physicians of all sorts in the United States and Canada. Last year 2045 doctors died, and, singularly enough, 202 were taken off by heart disease. Forty-six committed suicide. Eighty succumbed to senile debility and twentyseven to appendicitis. Tho youngest doctor to die in 1905" was twentythree years of age, the oldest 104. The average length of practice of the * MUvim.AIAM to fhlrK'-nnA American pujoiumu u years and one month.?New York Press. No Machinery Used. "But," protested Mrs. Newliwed, "I don't see why you ask twenty-five cents a half peck for your beans. The other man only wanted fifteen cents." 'Yes'm," replied the huckster, i "but these here beanc o' mine is all ihaco picked."?Philadelphia Press, Household "' > Matters To Color Steps. Mix either whiting or red ochre to a smooth paste with cold water or skim milk, and mix this with sufficient thick-boiled starcb, spread thia evenly over the steps, and leave it to dry on, without, of course, allowing it to be trodden on during that time. This, if carefully done, will bear washing once or twice. To Pop Corn. To pop corn successfully so that the kernels will be soft throughout, put enough in the wire popper to barely cover the bottom. Turn the cold water from the faucet over the corn and let it be saturated before placing over the fire. Shake the water from the popper, and put it in the oven to dry. Then pop over a bright fire. This is perfect popcorn and is not indigestible. Roast Duck. Pick and clean and singe a duck. Rub well with salt. Make a dressing of bread crumbs, apple sauce and Sultana raisins. Be careful to use enough bread crumbs to thicken the 9nnifi-sanr.e thoroughly. Then rais ins in quantity according to taste. Fill the duck, after mixing the dressing thoroughly. Roast in the oven to a good brown color. Baste often. Make a sauce of chopped livers, pour over the duck and serve hot. Dried Beef. The most common way of serving dried or smoked beef is to shave it into thin slices or chips, raw, but a more savory' relish may be made of it with a little more trouble. Put the slices of uncooked beef into a frying pan with just enough boiling water to rover them; set them over the fire for ten minutes, drain off all the water, and with a knife and fork cut the meat into small bits. Return to the pan, which should be hot, with a tablespoonful of butter and a little pepper. Have ready some well beaten eggs, allowing four to a half pound of beef; stir them into the pan with the minced meat, and toss and stir the mixture for about ten minutes. Send to table in covered dish. Milanese Macaronf. Boil three ounces of macaroni and keep it hot in its own pan after draining. Take three-quarters of a pint of fowl giblets or mutton broth, flavoring with an onion, sweet herbs, etc. With this make a plain cheese sauce; melt half an ounce of butter in a saucepan, stir into it a dessertspoonful of flour, mix them into a paste and by degrees pour in about half of the broth; as this is warming add to it two ounces of grated cheese, with the remainder of the broth, a teaspoonful of powdered mustard, salt and spiced pepper as desired. Continue to stir the sauce until it reaches a creamy thickness, when it may be removed from the fire and a coffee cupful of milk, in which the raw yolk, of an egg has been beaten, stirred in immediately. Now delicately mix this sauce through the hot macaroni and serve. To Renovate Ribbons. To renovate ribbons, proceed as follows: With good, pure siap, pre-' pare a basinful of warm suds (a hand bowl will do), and place in it all the ribbons of one color. When they have soaked for fifteen minutes, remove and spread them, piece by piece, on a smooth surface. Then, with a soft brush (an old tooth brush will do), rub until all the streaks and spots disappear. A little cook ing soda will help to remove obstinate stains. Rinse out the soap suds In clear warm water. If you desire the ribbons to be as stiff as when hew put a few drops of vinegar in the rinsing water. Have the ironing board ready, ppread the ribbons between two pieces of smooth white cloth with a plain weave and press with a moderately hot iron until thoroughly dry. This method will be found excellent with satin, taffeta, peau de soie, grosgrain, liberty satin, mirror velvet and other ribbons?excepting plain silk velvet; these should be merely dampened?not soaked?and run quickly back and forth over the face of a hot iron (silk side next to the iron) until dry. With a clothes brush, brush up thp fflpp nf thp rihhnn rrpntlv hnf-. thoroughly, and the old velvet ribbon will be restored to its original condition.?The Delineator. 111211 & - oZNP ' HOW TO WW -PREPAm*Tffm Asparagus Omelet ? Asparagus omelet is well known, asparagus with scrambled eggs rather less so. Beat six eggs well, add for each' egg a tablespoonful of milk and beat again. Add cold asparagus cut up in very small pieces, and scramble until thick and creamy. Luncheon Rolls?Make a good biscuit dough and roll it rather thinner than for biscuit. Cut into pieces ahnnt thrpp inohps srmjlrp Wpt thr* edges with cold water and in the centre of each square put a heaping tablespoonful of cooked meat, well, seasoned and chopped fine. Fold the opposite corners together, pinching the edges so that they will not come apart in baking and bake for about fifteen minutes in a hot oven. Turkey or Chicken Omelet?Separate the whites and yolks of six eggs and to the yolks add six table spoonfuls of cold water. Beat well and season with pepper and salt. Then beat the whites to a stiff froth, fold in the yolks and beat for five minutes. Beat in one cupful of tur-i key or chicken meat minced as finely as possible and mixed with two tablespoons of flour. Into a mod-j erately hot pan put two tablespoons! of butter, turn in the mixture and! cook until a light brown. s t > THE SUNDAY SCHOOL. INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS FOR JANUARY 27 BY THE REV. I. AV. HENDERSON. Subject: The Story of Cain and Abel. Gen. 4:3-15 ? Golden Text, 1 .Tolm 3:lo ? Memory verses, 8-10. The story of Cain and Abel is the story of a great variety of human sins. Centrally it may be said to he the story of human faithfullness on the one hand, and on the other of human .iealousy. This jealousy is the direct result of a deep rooted desire upon the part of Cain to have everything his own way. And to desire one's own way is to be self willed. From this point of view we may be Justified perhaps to push the application of the story back one step farther and say that we have here a picture of the opposing elements of faithfulness and wilfulness in human life. Cain and Abel make offerings to God. Abel evidently performs his sacrifice as God has commanded and evidently Cain does not. God honors the sacrifice of Abel, which is according to His command, and He has no respect to the offering of Cain. He . respects the faithfulness of the one man and, may we not say it, rebukes the wilfulness of the other. Being rejected, hot sin surges, resentfully, in the heart of Cain. He puts his hand out in evil against his own kin. Witness now the train of wickedness that results from the first irregular act. Cain, with .the calculation of a man who has decided to commit a grievous offense, waits until he is far from human sight and hearing and then he commits murder. To cover it up he lies about it. And he not only lies to God, but he adds insult to injury by unworthy remarks, to wit, "Am I my brother's keeper?" This is a fair sample of. the consequences of an inquitous self will. And to give the rein to self will is to invite the same consequences in our own lives. Cain's life is an illustration of the need for several prohibitory commands such as we have in Exodus 20, i. e., "Thou shalt have no other Gods before Me," "Thou shalt not kill," "Thou shalt not bear false witness," not only against thy neighbor but concerning thine own acts. When Cain elevated sin and self will above God in his life he laid the foundation for the first command. And in like fashion he laid the ground for the others. The other great lesson from these verses Is to be found in the patience of God with the man who becomes overborne with the sense of his own unworth. Guilt and punishment weigh heavy on the heart and mind of Cain. He cries out in anguish unto God. The Lord hears his petition. He lightens the penalty and provides a way of escape for Cain by placing a brand on him to warn the peoples that Cain is under the direct protection of the Almighty wherever he may wander. Cain cannot escape the consequences of his sin, in a large degree, however. The mark that notifies humanity of the magnanimity of God at the same time recalls to their attention the sin of Cain. As with Cain so with us. We may be forgiven, we may feel God's pardon, but we never can lose- the memory of our unworthiness. Vs. 3. "Process,"' many years pass between the events of vs. 1 and vs. 3. How many years is not recorded. Evidently it was a long enough time for quite a number of people to gain maturity, for we read in vs. 14 the words "every one," implying that there were many others. "Offering." This assumes an altar and sacrificial offerings.. No account of their institution is previously given, however. Vs. 5. "Respect," for what reason we cannot learn. There may have been some laxity in Cain's offering. He may have not complied with a a ceremonial law as completely as did Abel. But we must hazard the reason. Vs. 7. Commenators seem to be unable to explain adequately this verse. It is likely incomplete. Parts of it perhaps are lost. At any rate, it is not intelligible. Vs. 8. "Told," better "said unto." "Field," the free countryside. Perhaps a distant place far removed from near acquaintances. Vs. 9. "Where," God gives him a chance to make a breast of his crime. "I know not." Cain doesn't try to excuse himself, to dcdge, to beat about the bush. He simply brazens it out and lies directly and shamelessly. "Keeper." Abel kept sheep. We may not unreasonably read a bit of unscrupulous irony in these remarks Vs. 14. "Hid." "In the primitive tradition Jehovah is specially, the ruler of the cultivated district of Canaan, and to leave Canaan for the surrounding wilderness was to lose the divine protection in its ordinary manifestation." Vs. 15. "Vengeance." The murderer and six of his kindred as a rule were put to death together. See 2 Sara. 21:8. "Sign," for protection. This was to indicate that he was under divine protection and not to declare his sin to the world. However, it is likely that the brand did both. Note that death is Dot absolutely prescribed as a penalty for murder. The right of revenge was a family one as much as any. But its exercise was not compulsory. This sec tion will admit of mucn tnougm. False Humility. I am tired of people who say they want to live on crumbs. Crumbs are good enough for cats and dogs. The Christian wants nothing but the whole loaf.?Moody. Better Telegraph Service For India. The telegraphic system of India is to be overhauled and improved. A committee is now holding its preliminary sittings at Simla, and is to make a tour of inspection throughout the country. There are over 200,000 miles of telegraphs in India and about 2000 telegraph offices, but complaints have been made of the in* X1? ?TVi/ * rtanntv emciency 01 iue jseintc. i/vpuvj Controller of the Central Telegraph 0?rice, London, has been sent out to India to give assistance In reorganizing the service. # Casualties on the Railroads. The total number of persons killed in train accidcnts during the three months ended June 30, 1906, was 3 94, and of injured 3031, according to reports received by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Accidents of other kinds, including those sustained by employes while at work and by passengers in getting on and off cars, etc., bring the total number of casualties up to 1C.937, consisting of 933 killed and 16,004 injured. ; .:r-v : 'V';-' : ' - ^ THE GREAT DESTROYER SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT THE VICE OP INTEMPERANCE. "t Alcohol as a Medicine?Whether It Has Any Value in Disease Seriously Questioned by Medical Men?It Is Purely a Poison. It is not more than a generation ago that man took his daily allow the pleasure in the beverage alone, but for the welfare of his inner man. Every enterprising employer dispensed a modicum of grog to his men, not for their health, but to increase their efficiency. But to-day a man who desires a highball would hardly have the temerity to test any one's credulity by offering as an excuse that he indulged for his health or to promote his efficiency. Certain notable literary productions have been created under the stimulating influence of John Barleycorn, but these were the works of genius, which must be left out of general consideration. For the enforcement of the idea that alcoholic beverages do not promote health, but rather tend to Injure it, we are to some extent indebted to temperance societies, but not so much to them as to life insurance companies, which place a monetary premium on abstinence, and second, the teaching of medical men and physiologists. But while there is no longer any question that alcohol is purely a poison when used as a beverage by. healthy persons, many physicians considered* it a drug of wide useful ness in disease until a decade ago. Perhaps no statement of facts could be more forceful in showing the change in medical opinion than ? comparison of the sums of money expended by the London Hospital for alcohol and milk. Forty years ago, according to Sir Victor Horsley, M.D., the expenditure for alcohol in that hospital was about $40,000 a year, and the expenditure for milk in the same period was about $15,000. At the present time the annual expenditure for alcohol is $15,000, and the milk account exceeds $40,000. These figures represent very nearly the cnange in meaicai opinion regarumg the relative value of milk and alcohol. It was only a few years ago that physicians advised moderate quantities of whisky for those suffering from tuberculosis, but more careful study has produced a change of sentiment that was voiced by one of the speakers of the American International Congress on Tuberculosis, whose latest session was held in this city during the current week, when he said he considered alcohol, a poison particularly virulent to sufferers from this disease. Physiologists are finding by numerous experiments that while alcohol has a certain food value, thjs is more than counterbalanced by its effect as a poison. The researches on this subject go more and more to show that there is not an organ in the human body that escapes this subtle poison, nor a function that is not impaired by its use. The octogenarian who boasts that he has had his daily toddy has reached his fullness of days, not because of his habits, but in spite of them. Whether alcohol as a drug has any value in disease is seriously questioned by many competent medical men. Its. increasing use in ho3DitaIs and as a drug in the handy o) ohysicians generally will doubtless nave a certain influence on the m;nas of people and upon their habits.?a. B. C., in the New York Tribune. How Mr. Bok Became an Absfainer. Edward Bok, Editor of the Ladies'' Home Journal, took a characteristic way of arguing himseir into totai aDstlnence. He says: "As I looked around and came to know more of people and things, I found the always unanswe?able argument in favor of a young man's abstinence; that is, that the most suci cessful men in America to-day are those who never lift a wine-glass to i their lips. Becoming interested in this fact, I had the curiosity to ini quire personally into it; I found that of twenty-eight of the leading business men in the country,whose names I selected at random, twenty-two never touch a drop of wine. I made up my mind that there was some reason for this. If liquor brought safe pleasures, why did these men abstain from it? If, as some say, it is a stimulant to a busy man, why do not these men, directing the largest business interests in this country, resort to it? And when I saw that these were men whose opinions in great business matters were accepted by the leading concerns of the world, I concluded that their judgment in the use of liquor would satisfy me. If their judgment in business matters would command the respect and attention of the leaders of trade on both sides of the sea, their decision as to the use of liquor, was not apt ko be wrong." Liquor Harmful in Navy. ' xvear Admiral Win. T. Sampson i said: "I think there is Dut one opinion among the officers of the navy about grog, and it is that alcoholic liquors have no place in the navy of the United States, except as medicine. Intoxicating liquors o? all sorts should be abolished!" Non-Alcoholic Receipts. At a recent meeting of the executive committee of the National'British Woman's Temperance Association it was voted to send a special letter to all local unions urging the members not to use alcohol in cooking, and enclosing a small book of nonalcoholic receipts. Rum at the Bottom. "It might interest the public to know," remarked Clerk John P. Manning, of the Suffolk superior criminal court of Boston, iu submitting his recent annual report for publication, "that nearly ninety per cent, of the cases that passed through our court last year were for drunkenness. This supports the argument I have always clung to, namely, that rum is at the bottom of all kinds of crime and vice." A Million Drunkards. It is a moderate estimate of our drunkards that puts the number at a million. Not a man of them set out to fail. Every one of them meant to be well and do well and be temperate. They are disciples of the drink-doctor, the drink-preacher, the drinlt presiaent. ouuic m too weak to resist temptation, ^ome are too debauched to want to resist it. Fully forty per cent, of the men and women in the insane ward of the Allegheny City Home went mad from th? usfl of alr.obnlir drinks. _JHB J ~A SABBATH HYMN. H BY W. O. J. " ' rrr^t 1 j. j _ p .welcome, oesi uay 01 seven, ^ , That frees from every care i ' * Thy morn exalts my thought* to Heaven; At eve they linger there. .Welcome, sweet Sabbath belJ, That calls me to the place .Where God in very dew doth dwell, Mid heirs of heavenly grace. . ^ Welcome, dear word of lifeBlest inspiration raven, _ , To guide me through a world of strife,. And point my way to Heaven. Jesus, my Lord, be Thou With me a constant guest: And now aa at Thy feet I bow, Find welcome to my breast. ? . ?Christian Work and Evangelist, i ' ? .V, Holding Our Peace. "The Lord shall fight for you; but ye shall hold your peace."?Exodus,, xlv., 14. M/\o+ A# 11 o n rt fiv lUUOt KJL UO UU yk UUiJJtiliC, wv make a noise in life, to strain every, effort to achieve success?we fret and fame, we are quick to express our feelings, we are readily aroused to A; action, and regard calmness as a kind of cowardice in the heat of conflict. O We prefer to fight for ourselves. < fc Now there are times not unfrequent when we must 'be stirred toactivity and achievement?this world is not for the ascetic or the spiritless.^; Yet few realize the equal necessity for periods of calm reflection, trustful waiting, quick preparation, as we* * : rest on our oars, content to let thing* right themselves and confident that the darkness, the weariness, the sorrow, the pain will not last forever. Some power then outside of ourtelves - ' will fight for us?we can hold our peace. Most of us worry needlessly at the- . chain of circumstances. If we sincerely believe that the universe is controlled by a deity, the common Father of all races, nations and * creeas, nowever amereniiy ne v called and approached, It la clear that we must allow Him to manage affairs as He pleases?whether He send seed time or hafrest, summer or winter, calm or storm?and we ought to feel that changes in the ' world of outside nature as well as sorrow, pain, injustice in our every-fc^; day life are designed for a'good end.' If the laws of the physical world are wisely adjusted, from the star to the tree, we must recognize a similar wisdom in the laws of the moral universe. We must blame our own lmperfectness and ignorance If things at times are hard to liter" W nnder stand ana we stand in despair at in? realities of life, .the sharp, bitte^ struggle that comes to most*61 us. Let us learn, then, thabequty, the v value of holding our peace at every crisis in life. God perhaps is nearest to the human heart when It turns to Him in trial and leaves, all to Himi? Abram S. Isaacs, Ph. D., paterson, N. J., in New York Sund iy Herald. : - 'i 'I The Supremacy of the Message. . The story is told of. Da Vinci that, when he had finished the painting of the Last Supper, he asked a friend to come and see it. AS the painter withdrew the cloth, the friend'ex-' * claimed, "How wonderful-is the cup in the hand of Christ!" Da Vinci impulsively drew his brush across the ' , cup, passionately saying, "Nothing shall hide the f^cp of Christ!" We >5 J? l.v -tl _i. I. iV(a snouia aeax wna iue iteruiuu m uw, spirit. The sermon Is the best which does the best work. We get is the way of admiring the the sermon for itself. We form certain laws, we have certain examples, and we try to make the sermon conform to them. And we are tempted to judge preaching by this ideal. "But laws, Ideals, ~ ~ are only for use," asserts Dr. A. S. Hoyt. "They must always be kept servants. And the man and (the message and the souls of his hearers, these must be kept supreme. Some form unknown to the schools may reach men where the most approved model may fail." .. $ Take Heed.'* I was sitting in the train waiting for it to start from the main depot, when in walked two gentlemen, who made themselves very comfortable, setting down their packages and settling back for a rest. A train which was on tne xrac* next to us slowly moved out, and these two gentlemen commented care* lessly upon it. - All of a sudden one of the men noticed the time for the train which they were to take had passed and that they had watched it go. It was the last train that afternoon to the place they were going. Jesus hath said, "I am the way, the truth and the life," hut many men do not heed it. They carelessly continue in their own way. ? Ram's . Horn. Jgftpj .{ ''J Prevailing Prayer. To each of us is given the power to touch the hand of omnipotence and minister at the golden altar of prevailing prayer. One censer only we must bring?the golden bowl of faitn ?and as we fill it with burning coals of the Holy Spirit's fire, and the in? ( cense of the great High Priest, lo, there will be silence once again in Heaven, as God hushes the universe to listen; and then the living fire will be poured out upon tne earth in the mighty forces of providence and grace, by which the Kingdom of ouj Lord is to be ushered in. When Christ Comes In. y; The Spirit-filled life is empty of self. When Christ comes in, self goes out. The two are incompatible. When Jesus begins to reign He dethrones selfishness and pride. If ther$ is to De a new life, there must be an utter surrender of the old will, with all its ways. The presence ot God In a person's heart is proved by a character of unselfishness and service. It is impossible for Christ to dwell in a selfish heart, for to do so would be to share an idol's throne. Preventing Potato Rot. The Germans have found a way to prevent potato rot. The fungusfcausing it is destroyed by washing the potatoes with a broom dipped into a solution of one pound of chloride of , lime dissolved in twenty-five gallons of water. Oppose Municipal Pawn Shop. J. C. McNally, Consul at Liege, writes that there is a growing sentiment in that Belgian city against the municipal pawn shop. This institu tion is gradually losing its importance, due to the growing prosperity.