The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, March 06, 1907, Image 7

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f ' A POOR MAN'S PRAYER. Protprt -me. Lord, from those. Thv saints. The sanctimonious few; O. save me from their clutches When my mortgages come due O. lead me not into their hands, These brethren, long and pale. [Who call this earth "A Yale of Tears,"' (And promptly seize the "Vale.") O, put me not into their power, Ihese too uncommon good, "Who teach us what we shouldn't do And preach us what we should. These saints who squeeze a shilling twice, And wear cheap aureoles; Who take our children's bread and then Attempt to save our souls. Give me instead a human man. With some few human stains That show he has the common blood Of manhood in his veins, And heart that overflows sometimes To overthrow constraints; But id my need, protect me. Lord, From these, Thv hungry saints. ?Erflanuel Elzas, in The Argonaut. _ - ll6. _ tABLC. /o??\K9 9fi??oe?a?e*e?oo9* ? Dy Albert W. Tolman. ? "Look sharp!" "It'was 5 o'clock in the morning. Captain Ben Treat stood in dripping oilskins by the windlass of the Gloucester schooner Emeline, riding out the wild February gale that had roared down all night over Georges. As he heard this warning shout Srorn Sam Lombard, who was holding by the throat-halyards on the fore-gaff ten feet above deck, he hugged his ~>left arm tightly round the bitts, and strengthened his grasp on the ax that lay over his right shoulder. A huge green roller reared its crest in front of the bowsprit. The schooner rose abruptly, and surged back from the assault of the sea. The nineInch Manila cable twanged like a big violin-string, and in the lantern-ngnt from the fore-rigging dwindled a third under the tremendous strain. The windlass shrieked as the leather shield ground into the whelps. Over the bow burst a foaming -deluge. Captain Ben, buried deep, hung on for dear life, while the torrent swept sternward and # out through the shattered bulwarks. Then he pulled himself together and relaxed histoid. It was perhaps his hundredth experience of the sort in the last seven hours. "Light on the starboard bow!" Although he was only ten feet #way, Lombard's hoarse voice sounded faintly in the roaring gale. The captain glanced to the right with eyes aching and sleet-dimmed. A gray unsubstantial wraith, the smothered star between her fore peak-halyards dimly revealing rope and spar, flitted by at a ten-knot gait, and was1 lost in the gloom astern. Thirty .such specters, some running before the wind ' with the peak of a three-reefed fore^?n<1 Vir?*?A caii. d^uuuiu5 uuuci uaic puica, had passed to port and starboard since 3 o'clock, their cables parted by ress of storm or cut in fear of collision, strewing the sea bottom ^ith thousands of dollars in good hemp and anchors. At sunset one hundred and twenty sail had lain moored on the Banks in a five-mile circle. The Emeline was near the southern circumference, 60 that, when the northeast gale burst at 9 o'clock, the greater part of the fleet lay to windward of her. She was directly in the path of drifting or running vessels. As the violence of wind and sea steadily increased, the captain set a double watch, and stationed himself by he windlass with a sharp ax, ready to cut his cable at short notice. There he had stood for hours, ihis face stung by level sleet, hearing the blast whistling through the . shrouds and the halyards slapping the masts, while the schooner plunged heavily from crest to trough and labored up from trough to crest. The breaking seas drenched him with brine; rffeain and again the cablesnub almost threw him off his feet. * At 4 in the morning-it was blowing a hurricane; the vessels to windward that had held on all night began to part and cut their cables and drift down on the Emeline. "A schooner, broadside on, a little to port!" Captain Ben strained his eyes - through the smother, and grasped his ax more tightly. Heaved on an immense billow and blowing down upon him, he saw another Banker. The stranger was coming at a sixknot rate, absolutely helpless. The crew lined her rail. To cut would mean that he must lose several hundred dollars in cable and anchor, be blown miles to leeward off the fishing-grounds, and run to Gloucester to refit. If he did not cut and a collision resulted, thirty lives and more than twenty ^thousand dollars would be sacrificed. In such a disaster both vessels generally go down with every m5Jr? nr* hnnrH The captain hesitated, weighing the chances. Nearer drifted the schooner. Now she was only thirty feet from the end of his bowsprit. A great waves lifted her so that he could almost look under her keel. "Cut, cap'n, cut!" shouted Lombard, in alarm. But still the captain waited. His experienced eye saw that the drifting hull would not touch his vessel. But the long main-boom, * extending twenty feet beyond the other's stern, was almost sure to rake his rigging. It was a question which would yield first?spruce or hemp. * The craft were now close together. He swung the ax above his head. One blow, and the humming cable would ' spring asunder. "Cut! Cut!" yelled Lombard again. But Captain Ben had decided to match his foreshrouds aeainst the dancing spar. Down past the Emeline's bowsprit Bwept the newcomer, her boom-tip gyrating wildly. The captain held Ihis breath, almost regretting his de' dsion. Four feet from the end the boon: struck against the shrouds. Th? , stout ropes buckled, but held. Witt a sharp erackins the stick broke shorl off in the slings about twenty feel from its tip, dropped down and swung against the stranger's quarter, sus pended by the topping-lift and swash ing sail. A moment later she wa: swallowed by the darkness. Captain Ben had little time to con gratulate himself on his escape. As be and Lombard peered after the : VW ; . ' 'vanishing schooner, a big roMer, sweeping down unperceived, broke over the bow. The captain turned just ia time to see it hanging over his head. Diopping the ax, he clutchei at the bitts with both hands; cut the briny deluge struck him in the breast, and rolled him over and over down the passage between the "gurry-kids" and the starboard rail. He brought up against the break, in the "slaughter-house," as it is termed by fishermen. After some scramDiing, nt: wauugcu lu main part of the fore-sheet, which hung coiled over the bitts of the fiferail round the mainmast. The water streamed off through the splintered bulwarks. The captain caught his breath and rubbed his eyes clear. A hoarse yell came from the lookout: "Schooner dead ahead!" Out of the blackness beyond the bowsprit lurched another Georgesman. The instant Treat set eyes on her he knew that the crisis had come. She was drifting broadside on, with no possibility of passing to port or starboard. Tho cable must be cut at once. Every second was precious. | Letting go the fore-sheet, he started to run forward. Again a monster sea was upon him before he realized ! it. He made one vain grab at the ' rail. The next second his legs were knocked from under him, and he was swept down a second time into the slaughter-house. i In a moment he had regained his feet. His head was whirling from a violent thump upon the deck; but he was fully alive to the situation. He must recover his ax and cut the cable immediately. As the sea rolled off, he staggered forward along the slippery planks. i The Emeline pitched into the trough. It was an easy matter tor him to dart down the sloping deck to the windlass. To his horror the ax had vanished from the spot where he had dropped it. He shot a quick glance about; it was nowhere to be seen. The sea had washed it down the deck, and possibly overboard! The schooner rose to meet the com- s ing billow. As it struck the bow, the j taut cable dwindled and sang out. B Beyond its curling crest rose the bare t poles of the stranger. The next wave r would hurl her on top of the Emeline. d From the fore-gaff Lombard had f helplessly watched his commander p searching for the ax. He was too experienced a Georgesman not to ; realize the catastrophe that impend- i ed. Painfully he scanned the wet e planks, which sparkled in the dim lan- ? tern-light. Half-way down to the E bres.k his eye detected the glitter of J steel. It was the ax, lying close to a j stanchion, and all but swept over- c board by the last sea. t The lookout's cry rose above the c tempest. ? "There, cap, there!" he screamed. P Captain Ben's eyes followed the f pointing band. In less than five sec- . onds his fingers were locked round t the helve. He turned, and darted j fntforr? tliQ trJnHlocc k The Emeline was tugging at her cable in the trough, headed straight for the drifting schooner, ,which seemed to the captain's horrified gaze to be hanging right over him. ; The sea hurled the stranger forward. The bowsprit of the Emeline rose. Its tip was not ten feet from the other hull. A moment more, and the crash would come; and both would go down together. Just then the captain swung the ax aloft. Down hurtled the keen blade through the hempen strands, | where they ground on the whelps of the windlass! j The cable parted. Its short end i whipped the deck; the other whisked through the hawse-pipe quicker than , eye could follow. The vessel, freed : at last from the bond at which she j had tugged all night, shot back a full ; hundred feet as the heavy sea struck her bow, flinging Captain Ben on his face, while the stranger settled harmlessly into the place she had left! After her first wild lean the Emeline swung broadside to the gale, and as she was more lightly loaded than i the other, gradually drifted out of J sight oI her. The crew, who all night ' in forecastle and cabin had been { ready for a sudden call, soon hoisted a two-reefed foresail. In a few min| utes they got steerage way, scudded I thirty miles off the Banks, and hove j to. The next day, when the storm j abated, they ran for Gloucester to refit.?Youth's Companion. The Useful Cow. I Milk, the first, and often the last . food of man, while the most ancient, ! is yet the most modern of foods. It i ; is as old as the Bible, but some of its products are almost as new as ra- ( dium. It is certain that the cow was not the original milk producer, which honor belongs to the goat or the sheep, and it is probable that the j 8000 or 9000 pounds per annum thoroughbred of to-day would not recognize its ancestor, the little wild animal of the jungle, whose period of lactation was short and yield correspondingly light. Among some superstitious people the cow is held in the highest veneration, and it is considered sacreligious to treat her unkindly. If some American farmers had a little of this superstition they would get more milk. Hatred of Cats. Napoleon Bonaparte showed a morbid horror of cats. The night before the Battle of Waterloo a black cat passed near him, and at the sight the great warrior was completely unnerved. He saw an omen of defeat. ; Henry III. of France swooned when ever ne saw a cai, auu out: 01 me r <rr- i dinands of Germany would tremble In his boots if a harmless tabby got in the line of hi? ision. j Among the Romans the cat was a symbol of liberty. The Egyptians held the animal in veneration under the name of Aelrus, a deity with a human body and a cat's head. Whoj ever killed a cat, even by accident, ^ was put to death. Diana assumed the form of a cat and excited the fury of r the giants.?London Mirror. > The body of George Penn, a Lon3 don dog fancier, was followed to the grave by four fine bull terriers. They . wore black coats, on which were the 3 words, in white letters: "Following ) Qur master to his last resting place*" mmPi A-. uugLLjluu ^R/yoNjpULJULJMl7 Subject?The Brooklyn, N. Y.?Preaching at i 'he Irving Square Presbyterian i Church on the theme "The Ten < Words," the Rev. Ira Wemmell Hen- < lerson, pastor, took as his text Exo- i ius 20:1-17. He said: < Whatever may be our personal and i irivate convictions as to the manner \ >f God's revelation of Himself to VIoses; however much we may differ j is to the exact form in which the < aw-giver of Israel received the mes- i ;age of Divinity; however much we . nay be at variance as to the exact- l less of the Bible story in its por- i raiture of the scene when Moses met i rehovah on Sinai; no matter what ] nay be our belief concerning the late and the authorship of the book < )f the Exodus, the simple fact is ( hat the ten commandments are the ] sxpression of fundamental truths < hat God has revealed to man. Be- j lind all human law and jurispru- ] lence lies the code of Moses. These i en stern, terse negative commands i hat Moses got from God are at the ] )asis of all legal theory and practice. ( The decalog is the codification of y he divine will for the guidance and ( :ontrol of human action. The ten j vords are the rules of the Almighty ( 'or the regulation .of man's rela- ( ions with humanity and his Maker. ( Take them, merely, if you will, as t he human recognition of man's ob- < igations toward God and society and ( itill the commandments are of God. \ Vhether we reach the conclusion by ] he tiresome philosophy of the Mid- < He Ages, or by the simple reason- { ng of the earliest minds of Israel, { >r by the scientific discriminative ( >rocesses of modern thought, the 1 act is that all truth is from God. j 'Thus saith the Lord" is the source , if life's verities. It is God who in- , pires us, God who gives ua knowl- ( idge and understanding and wis- ( lom; God it is who sends us onward ( md upward. He it was who put t nto the hearts of Moses and eft Is- T ael the love of His laws and the ? lesire to do His will. And to-day < le strives with us as really as He t ver endeavored with the generations } hat are dead. t The question is not whether or no j Jod gave Moses tablets of stone; the , ssue is not whether or .no Moses \ yrote the story of the scene on the t nount, as it is preserved to us; the ? loint to be decided is whether or no ] loses spoke God-given truth. It all ( tinges not on the manner of the e lelivery of the commandments but ipon the nature and divineness of ^ he matter revealed. Do Moses' } vords bear the marks of a heaven- j torn gift, are they fraught with the t tower and the wisdom of Jehovah limself? Are they stamped with * i celestial brand and do they ex- ? iress everlasting verities? Are J; hey just to men and are they ( worthy of the King? Do they meet , he needs of men? Are they in- { pirational? These are the tests of , he usefulness and the worthiness of j he commandments. These are 'the } [ualities that must inhere in them j re they can command the respect t if humanity and evidence God's orig- t nation. ? By these standards the ten com- j nandments are divinely inspired. A j ;lance at them discovers to us the E eal of the Eternal. Experience of t heir value in the midst of the ac- t ivities of this world's life proves T heir worth to mankind. Analysis , tf their content and their aim leads is to declare them worthy of Je- ( lovah. With all that inquiry asks . ind criticism demands the ten words j ire at one. j Consider the commandments sepa- ] ately and you will grant I speak the , ruth. The call of God for undivided " oyalty to Himself is but the voice ( if reason. No man can serve two j nasters. And it is a certainty that east of all can he serve two masters vhose interests are diametrically op- , josed. We cannot serve righteous- j less and sin at the same time. God 1 leserves the full devotion of every . luman heart. To worship an idol , s to lose the consciousness of the , iniritualitv of Divinity; to mistake ' neans for the end, material mani- ^ testations for the unseen dynast. To , play fast and loose with God's name ] s an insult to the Father. The self- ( respect of God requires human self- . pontrol. Profanity is indecent and ; legrading to mind and soul. The : need and the preciousness of a Sab- ( bath's rest is too apparent to warrant comment. Common courtesy . accords respect to our earthly parents, especially when they are worthy af respect. Strict obedience to the command "thou shalt not kill" would spoil the business of the executioners; stop war at once. The fruits of adultery are all too distressingly visible. The jails are full of thieves and would be overcrowded were the Mosaic code rigidly applied and enforced. Lying is mean, unmanly, despicable, disrerxntohlfl H nvi H c Vi QotiofQAtinn nHth UV/ I lllUUi WUWIOliUVUVU M 1LU a fair share of this world's goods is better than covetousness. The decalog meets humanity at vital points and helps mankind ahead. Although included in the law of love laid down by Christ it is by no means abrogated. The ten commandments bind us as well as Moses. The words of Christ emphasize their demands. The laws of Moses are not defeasible or defunct. They will always be obligating. No statement of our Lord and no bit of New Testament wisdom legislates them out of existence or countermands them. * They still bind ub. The eleventh command merely supports, supplements and reinforces the other ten. Love God and you won't serve Mammon and the no-gods of the aliens. Much less will you take His name in vain. Love God and you will treat His children well. Love the brethren and you will labor to make their lives joyous. The words of Christ serve most to imbed the laws of Moses deeper In the minds of Christians who are honest. Now It is very generally supposed that the laws of the ten tablets are of merely negative force. Explicitly, I presume, that is so. On the face of things the element of prohibition enters, largest, into the commands. But every explicit prohibition and negation impliedly asserts a corresponding and correlated affirmation and positive admonition. "Thou shalt not," says the law, explicitly. An n H" nnon Vi a rn vm a 1 n ttf 4 iuuu suau aa?s inc same law implicitly. The law against murder implies the right of life. The discountenancing of falsehood puts a premium on truth. To smash our idols is the first step toward wholespirlted service of the alone t#ue God. The command to stop work , ? % >//<.a/TGr\ I' f 7W\J c-j |<f| ' : I DY Tr\t RE^-jJ| RA W- HENDERS;o/|; "HE: FAMOUS DIVINEi*. Ten Words. and shut up shop Implies that a day's rest is necessary and that God receive specific recognition from 'His ihildren once a week at least. These ' and the rest of the commands indicate to the man with the open mind that the ten words are something more than a series of "don'ts." Talk about avoiding prohibitions is not well balanced. It is impossible for the thinking man to escape them. The positive commands of Jesus suggests innumerable prohibitions. The mere "thou shalt" intimates that there is something we must not do. Men tell us that prohibitions cause men to desire to do wrong, that commands not to do jvil impel men to sin just because JL LI UlllCLLllLJ O OI1CC1 (/CI TCI OCUCOO. But sin comes from the wilfulness 3f the sinner and not because of my law, negative or positive. Jesus iromulgated the most extensive as veil as the most statesmanlike positive law that the world has ever tnown; but we know that even many )f His followers fail to obey it, as veil as the multitude of those who lefiantly deny Him. Despite Christ's Dositive example and His positive leclarations and demands men still :ontinue to run after sin. The shrine )f Mammon is jammed With votaries. The streets resound with :urses. The harlots and the men >f unclean life still strike unholy bargains. Homes are shattered and lives are blighted by the lying tongue, rhe cells in "murderers' row" are iver full. The nations maintain irmed camps. Legislators spend heir time trying to devise ways and neans to de-Christianize our Sab)ath. I had almost said, legislators vaste their time; for their plans vill never be crowned with success ixcept America as Ephraim "Is a :ake not turned." Everywhere an< ivery moment mefi are sinning, and hat in the face of the positive comnand of Christ that they should deilre and strive for the best. But no me is foolish enough to say that he affirmative demand of Jesus that lumanity do and be good impels nankind to disobedience. Likewise t ought to be patent that men sin tgainst negative laws not because of he laws but in spite of them. The en commandments are no more reiponsible for sin than is the eleventh. Vnd the man who says that law exited him to sin invents a lame and i thin excuse to say the \^ost for it. A due and proper regard for t.'.ie en commandments not only wMl ead men to cease from doing the nterdicted sins but also will inspire hem to do good. The implicit "thou ihalt" is just as mandatory as the fxplicit "thou shalt not." "Thou ihalt not covet," for you will have >nough to do and will secure suffi' :ient of this world's stores if you vill attend strictly tc- your own af'airs. "Thou sliaK not bear false vitness," for your own reputation or veracity is lost with the lie. And 10 matter how well you may lie or low smooth and slick you may be ;he odds are against you, for the ;ruth must win and it will win. 'Thou shalt not commit adultery," because the perpetuity of the race 3 dependent on its purity. "Thou ihalt not kill" because God has given .he other man the inalienable right :o life. "Honor thy father and thy nother" and let them precipitate my troubles if any there are to be, lot you. "Remember the Cabbath lay" and make it a true rest-day. 'Thou shalt not take the name of , :he Lord thy God in vain," and yet - ' ? m I l nave neciru nicmy a mau. iaivc mux o iberties with the name of God than iOu would allow any man to take ivith yours. Thou shalt not bow lown to images or serve other gods, for the Lord is a spirit and a unity; in idol is a delusion and a snare. Let us put aside all quibbling and splitting of hairs and admit the right of the ten words to rule as the laws of our, lives. Let us acknowledge their divine inspiration and their worthiness. Let us not seek to escape either their commands or their implicates. If we cannot live under the laws of God with peace and quietude of mind then let us :hange not the laws but our mode of living. The fault is not with God's regulations but with our society and Its forms. God giveth and possesseth wisdom. Humanity has a monopoly of the wiseacres. The statement that the ten commandments are of no use to-day and that we have outgrown tnem is a bit of fiction. No man is old enough to outgrow essential truth, nor is any people wise enough and strong enough to get along without the ten commandments. So long as men have minds they must recognize the force ot "thou shalt not" as the decalog presents it. The new commandment may sum up all the wisdom of the old ones, but the truth that swayed our fathers' fathers must still command allegiance and respect. Character Creates Atmosphere. It is a marvelous thing to see how a pure and innocent heart purifies all that it approaches. The most ferocious natures are soothed and tamed by Innocence, and so with human beings; there ia a delicacy so pure thai vicious men in its presence become almost pure; all of purity which is in them is brought out; like attaches itself to like. Thn mire heart becomes a centre of attraction, round which similar atoms gather, and from which dissimilar ones are repelled. A corrupt heart elicits In an hour all that i( bad in us; a spiritual one brings oul and draws to itself all that is best and purest. Such was Christ. He stood in tht world, the Light of the world; tc which all sparks of light graduall5 gathered. He stood in the presence of impurity and men became pure.? F. W. Robertson. Where to Put Your Trnst. My trust is not that I am holy, but that, being unholy, Christ died fo^ me. My rest is here, not in wnat \ am or shall be, or feel or know, but In what Christ is and must be?ic what Christ did and is still doing a* He stands before yonder throne ol glory.?C. H. Spurgeon. The Royal Road. It Is not he who reads most, but he who meditates most on divine truth, that will prove the choicest, wisest, strongest Christian.?Bishoj Hall. > ? . THE GREAT DESTROYED SOMI5 STARTLING FACTS AHOUJ THE VICE OF INTEMPERANCE. What a Man is Worth?Estimating the Damaje Done to the Indus trialism of tlie Country by th< Liquor Traffic. The money value of a man indus irially has often been the subject ol 'liscussion. It comes up when a mai is killed by a railroad. We believe iiie damages awarded average abon $5000. It is often an element, ii damage cases against the liquoi traffic. Particularly is it a matter of in terest in estimating the damage don< by the liquor traffic to the industrial ism of the country. Liquor kills many an able-bodied laborer. Hov much does it damage the values o the country thereby? Many a law yer, physician or merchant is dam aged by strong drink destroying hi! efficiency, perhaps terminating hi! omerwise usemi nit;. now muuu an the assets of the community, consid ered in dollars and cents, hurt there by? We have some approximation to ai answer in certain papers and discus sions recently presented at a sessioi of the American Medical Associatioi in Boston. The utterances of this as sociation help in reducing the wortl of human life to dollars and cents A press dispatch from Boston says: The opthalmology section of th( American Medical Association dis cussed to-day a man's worth in dol lars and cents, and whether or no flesh and blood can be reduced t< figures with the dollar sign befori them- Dr. Erastus Holt, of Portland Me., showed by a table that a man'i value could actually be determined by taking into consideration his oc cupation and age. Dr. Holt reaffirme< the famous Dr. Osier theory, and, b: a table, indicated that the economii value of a. laboring man began to de crease after his twenty-fifth year and that the economic value of a pro fessional man began to decrease afte; bis fortieth year. By Dr. Holt's table rates a boy o ten years is shown to be wortl $2601.62; at fifteen years he ii worth $4623.66; at twenty-five he ii worth, if he is a laborer, $5448.30 and from that time on his value de creases until at seventy years he ii worth only $17.13, and at eight: years he is a drawback on the com mnnitv to the extent of $S72.S4. "A professional man at twenty-fiv< years has an economic value of $25, 808.94, and his highest value is a forty years, when he is worth $29, 344.68." By taking these figures as at leas approximately correct, and then raul tiplying them by the number o known deaths from alcoholism in an; community, readers of an inquirinj mind can figure how. much any com munity has been damaged in its money making power by strong drink The worth of a man in dollars ant cents can be estimated by many i village, as having been lost to i through a man killed ty whisky, tha would far outweigh all the revenue; of the saloons.?American Issue. Kentucky's Drouth Spreads. The drouth in Kentucky continue! to spread, and there are now ninety four totally "dry" counties, out o the total of 119. Two months ag( there were eighty-two dry counties but since then many precinct ant county elections have been held hen to vote whether liquor should be solt or not. In these twelve counties hav< gone dry, and the only victory gainet by the "wets" was to carry the towi of Cloverport, in Breckinridge Qoun ty. The remarkable spread of temper ance in the Bourbon Commonwealtl has been more strikingly evidence* in the past ten clays tnan ever Be fore. In that time eight countie went dry?Ballard, Logan, Pulaski Lewis, Greenup, Pendleton, Whitle: and Todd. The "drys" met with on disappointment. Middlesborongh, th county seat of Bell, is the only we spot in the Eleventh Congressiona District. This district includes th mountain counties of Eastern Ken tucky, where "moonshine" trickles i: a continuous stream. There isn't i county in Kentucky that is totall; wet. To Stamp Out Tippling. According to the Hamilton Herald the police commissioners of that cit; have determined to stamp out tipplinj amongst the police officers. There I a rule that says that any officer, ij or out of uniform, who is caugh drinking or playing cards in a hote or licensed shop is unfit for the forc? and liable to dismissal. The commis sioners told Chief Smith to enforc that rule, and they promised to stan< by him. It seems that there has beei some trouble on account of officer drinking, and the commissioners' ac tion is the result. America's Greatest Menace. Dr. Madison Peters, pastor of th Baptist Church of the Epiphanj says: "The drink habit among wome: is the greatest evil that menace America." Dr. Peters' church is i: the heart of the fashionable Madiso avenue residence district and its pas tor has unsurpassed facilities for ob serving the doings of the peopl about him. In an interview for th Lincoln Magazine this down-tow pastor described how Sunday has be come largely a day for mere socia conviviality in that neighborhood and remarked jocularly, "I am a apostle to the genteels and I don' like it." Lesson Learned by Japan. The relation of pauperism to ic temperance seems very plain to th people of Japan. In Great Brltai there are 1,000,000 paupers, whil Japan has only 25,000. When som one expressed surprise at the grea disparity and wondered why in Japa thopp so small an element of pau perism in proportion to populatioi the reply of a Japanese statesma was: "That is because while the Jaj anese drink tea the British peopl drink alcohol." Prohibition Doesn't Kill. The North Carolina Baptist says "There is now on deposit in the bank of Fayetteville $937,000?nearly million dollars. Five years ago ther was only $275,000. There has bee a gain ef nearly 400 per cent, in fiv years. This shows the prosperit side of the old town. Say, how abou prohibition killing a town?" Colonel John Temple Grave proudly boasts that not one of th 106 persons employed on the A1 tanta Georgian premises is an inteir perate person. ^ v.' - 7 , 3 c JI^Heisk^ ] inhered j^rrhe | ? S'JT.EXGZH OUT OF WEAKNESS liol wucn, wan seit aissausncu,, O i<ord, 1 lowly lie, E So much 1 need Th.v grace to guide, I And Thy reproving eye? [ A* when the sound of human praise Grows pleasant to my ear, , And in its sight my broken ways l" Fair and complete appear. By failure and defeat made wise, ? W'c come to know at length What strength within our weakness lies; 3 What weakness in our strength. ' What inward peace is born of strife, 1 What power, of being spent; What wings unto our upward life .Is noble discontent. 3 O Lord, we need Thy shaming look ? That burns all low desire; * The discipline of Thy rebuke Shall be refining tire! * ?Frederick L. Hosmer. 1 "Walking With God. j And Enoch walked with God; and j he was not; for God took him.?Genesis, v., 24. l The Bible is the book of God. Id this book one may breathe the atmosphere of God and walk with God. Ie ? the holy volume man and God are 1 brought face to face. In this wonderful book we have a t record of the first great sorrow that } fell upon the hearts of parents; of 3 the first foul murder and its dire consequences. Sin. brought forth death. s In the fifth chapter of Genesis tne 1 dull monotony of names is broken by a marvellous statement. The advent j of Enoch was like a gleam of light in f a dark night. All about him wps 2 black and foul with sin, but "Enoch walked with God." So far as we can determine the age I in which this good man lived was an r age of intelligence. Then was the beginning of things?music, art* arf chitecture, city building, culture, but ! men's minds were away from God. 3 Incidental references are made to 3 Enoch in the epistles to the Hebrews and of Jude, and from these we learn that it.was not easy then to walk 3 with God any more than it Is to-day j in New York. It means a struggle in this age to be honest, sincere, upright and faith? ful in business, at home and in public I matters. The downward path is easy, t The upward way means climbing. But what does it mean to walk with God? That we are God's t friends, that' He is our friend. We . walk with friends, not enemies, f We walk with God when we go Id y the same direction, travel His path; way, submit our plans to Him and I hold our lives open to His inspection. s When we are on intimate terms with , ' the Infinite One we walk with God. i Are tnere any sausiauiurj evmca^ i by which it is possible to determine t whether or not we are walking with t God? Yes. What? To use a musi? cal phrase, we walk with God wheD our souls are in tune with the Infinite. The skilful musician quickly detects when the musical instruments are out of tune. There is discord, 5 heartrending discord, to his trained ear. When we are not in tune with f God there is sure to be lack of har5 mony ? discord ? in our souls and lives. When the human will is in j harmony with the divine will peace 3 results. j When any person is. ready to give 8 up what is displeasing to God it is j good evidence that he is in the right a way and is walking with God. And the end of it all? God took Enoch home because all through life they were friends. This pleasure ~ awaits us if we love God and are j loyal to Him all our lives?hojne at last! Did not the Great Master say, g "I go to prepare mansions for you?" If we walk with God through our ' lives at the close God will take ns, as v he took Enoch, to be with Him forever. This means a blessed immor? tality of companionship, work and . worship. ? David G. Wylie, Scotch Presbyterian Church, in the New York 0 Sunday Herald. U Service. v The disciples had to come down from the mount and do Christ's work, and so have we. Believe me, oae word of warning spoken to help a little child out of sin?one crust 01 bread given to a beggar because he is y your brother, for -whom Christ died; ? one angry word checked on your lips | for the sake of Him who was meek a and lowly of heart; and the smallest t endeavor to lessen the amount of ,j evil which is in yourselves and those j around you?is worth all the specula'' tions and raptures, and visions, and ' dreams, and feeling in the world; for d these are the good fruits of fa..h Q whereby alone the tree shall b? a known, whether it be good or evil.? Ram's Horn. The Strength of the Word. A man was compelled one night tc cross a wide, frozen river. Notwith e standing the assurances of those who r were thoroughly familiar with thf q region and repeatedly crossed on ttu s solid ice, the traveler feared to under take the trip, but finally began tc a crawl his way over, wnen near iut (. middle of. the frozen stream he was startled by a sound in the distance e and caught sight of a negro driving e a heavy team of horses pulling ? D great load of pig-iron; yet there was not the least sign of a crack in tht [l ice. What a foolish thing to fear and i( crawl like that! Will the Word oi n' God hold? Some fear to trust it t Why, man, it can't fail. ? Ram's Horn. Keeping Silence Before God. Do you know what Luther said' i- Suffer and be still, and tell no mar e thy sorrow. Trust iu God; His helj n will not fail thee. This is whai e Scripture calls keeping silence befort e God. To talk much of one's sorrow* X makes one weak, but to tell one's jj sorrows to Him ''who heareth in secret" makes one strong and calm.? Tholuck. " ? Many a man's religion would grow e all right if be would let its roots alone. Giant Granite Block. . , The largest and heaviest single a block of granite ever sent into Canada from the United States has just been shipped from a Barre (Vt.) _ quarry to Cote des Neiges, P. Q., a Q suburb of Montreal. The huge stone is three and a quarter feet square ^ and thirty-two feet long and weighs t&irty-iwo ions. it was tuuaisucu to J. Brunet, the sculptor. Big Lobster Output. Just 8,579,S12 lobsters caught in H Maine last year, according to Commissioner NicSerson. V- ' .. i-J ' : wLsi . : . v* : cf THE SUNDAY SCHOOL. f INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM i?jk.vis run i?LiKtn .> JO a THE REV.I. W.HENDERSON. Subject: Abraham Pleading For Sodom, Gen. 18:16-33?Golde* Text, Lnke 18:1 ? MemoryVerses, 23-26. Abram is now Abraham. And he Is still a familiar friend of God. God , yet appears to him and converses with him, giving him comfort, inspiration, advice. God is his coun- ; selor, and his joy Is in Him. This lesson presents for our consideration four matters of importance, i. e., God's confidence in Abraham; the consequences of communal sin; the loving sympathy of Abraham with the sinners of a sinning community; the mercy and justice of God. God had confidence in Abraham. He had delegated to him a work that was to have its influence upon all time. And having summoned him, God doesn't forget that Abraham is in His confidence. Abram had been selected by Him, and he had fulfilled with fidelity the obligations that God had laid upon him. Abram had been faithful to his Divine commission. Therefore God had confidence in him; therefore God recognized Abraham's right to know the Divine will and to receive information of the Divine intentions. The proof of this lies in the question of Jehovah, "Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do?" Here God recognizes that Abraham was called of Himself, that he was trustworthy, that he had a claim upon the* Divine favor. The lesson shows us also the consequences of communal sin. It de- . scribes to us the end of social iniquity. It is, in a way, a parallel to the stories concerning the consequences of sin that we have had already. Sodom was so wicked that, to paraphrase verses 20 and 21, we may say that the very walls cried out to Heaven. It was sunk in sin-, dead with depravity to all sense of decency, its shame smelled to Heaven, its iniquity was grievous. And God stood it as long as His integrity would permit and then He visited a righteous judgment upon it. He re- \ moved its inhabitants from any part in this world's affairs, He totally an- * W nihilated ?ts earthly power for cor ruption, He wipea tne piace on me map. But in Lot wds a remnant of manhood left, and only a remnant at - X'j that. God saved the remnant. Abraham's "peradventure" prayer ' . Is remarkable for many things. It ' Indicates to us that prayer has a proper place in the life of the man who lives near to God, that Abraham * had no proper conception of the full- * ness of the character of God, that implicitly he attributed to Jehovah a hardness that was unreal, that he felt ?that he was on such terms of intimacy with Divinity that he could secure favor for others beside himself. These things are perfectly clear as ^ we read the text and they need no enlarging. The most remarkable thing about the prayer is this, that Abraham . jfs had a love for sinners who were not related to him by blood, as woll as affection for his own kin. It is evident, of course,, that with righteous Lot as the price he hoped to strike a sharp bargain with Jehovah.. But ^)ack of that there lies an appreciation of the love that good men should ' have for sinners outside of their personal acquaintanceship. , ) ^ The justice and mercy of God are here revealed. Abraham eould not ask more than God was ready to erant. For the sake of ten decent citizens He stood ready to let mercy take the place of exact justice *.and give the city another chance to reieem itself. That struck even 'Abraham as a fair proposition. It was all that he dared to ask. Evidently the ten couldn't be found. God's mercy was valueless. The city is lost. But with an exact justice that humanity " J has not yet learned to administer, Lot and his family are spared. His wife disobeyed commands and she was turned to salt. Lot and his daughters just escaped to the hills and that was all. And a study of the precious trio will make one wonder how even they escaped. The immediate lessons are these: We may all enjoy God's favor and enter into a knowledge of His mind, as it is continuously revealed, if we will obey Him. Except this land is to follow after Sodom and the empires that are dead, we must comport ourselves in righteousness. Some of the sin of America smells to Heaven # ? - rt as badly as soaom s ever an?. uur social iniquities, glossed with the refinements of an unprecedented civilization and protected by the seal of legality, are simply ungodly. We who are striving to do God's will in the midst of such conditions should pray God's patience with those who defy Him. And however hard it may be for us to understand, sometimes, the mysterious way of God with His world we must always remember that He is juster than humanity and more merciful than are we. $ These notes may assist: ->j Vs. IS. "Blessed." Cf. Gen. 12:3. Vs. 20. "Cry." The cities are spoken of as crying out to Heaven because of the wickedness within their walls. "Sin." Cf. Gen. 19. Vs. 21. "Go?see." Notice the anthropomorphic language. Vs. 23. "Consume." "The older Israelite philosophy held that a man's fortunes were always exactly proportioned to his conduct, so that if a man suffered it was a clear proof that he had sinned." This is what worries Abraham. For Lot was measurably, in his time, a good man. otiannf nt fJnrt ic tho crefitest of * 1 11^ Ui Vi V4 ?v VI v?? o * ? ? * - all mercies. British Versus American Flonr. Consul F. W. Mahin writes from Nottingham on the decreased use of American flour in Great Britain. He interviewed one of the wholesale bakers, who formerly bought from $30,000 to $40,000 yearly of American flour, who now does not buy $500 worth. This Nottingham baker says that he believes the superiority of the British flour is due to the different treatment of the grain in the mills. He believes that British mills as now. i equipped can and do take American wheat s.nd make better flour from it than American mills do. He admits that the American flour will make more loaves of bread per sack, but , adds that he would gain less from this advantage than he would lose in trade by using American flour. Oklahoma's 6000 Miles of Railroads. When the new State of Oklahoma Is admitted into the United States 4 next May it is estimated that it will have 6000 miles of railroad in operation. It has 3000 miles now, and 3000 miles more are expected to bo completed by June 1, 1907. It is believed that no other State ever came into the Union with such extensive transportation facilities. \ /I ; ? I V * ' - ' ... it ' v., J