Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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i 1| Hi5 Or | A PSYCHO j By SA CHAPTER I. The fusty old gods of antiquity, still so useful by way of illustration, ire said to have envied happy mortals with hatred and malice if ever their felicity remained unbroken and was extreme. Jealousy was one of the many bad attributes of those malign impostors, and the way they tnade misery for men, whoso only offense was the possession of the power to enjoy, would have been thought mean in these days, and was certainly (OW. But now that their reign was over, one would like to know how it is that their bad old tricks continue. Did they knowingly and willingly perpetuate that idea of theirs that it was possible for men to be too happy, and the thing must be prevented? And did they, with their usual diabolical Ingenuity, find means to endow the fallacy with everlasting motive power to keep it going through all eternity UK + O Will! uiltr ?riicuL ; One might almost think so. For certain it is that no life goes on smoothly to the end, and when things are at the best, as well as at the worst, there is sure to be a change. Mrs. Leslie Somers was a case in point. Her parents were rich and in a good position. She had several brothers and sisters, to whom she was devotedly attached. All her intimate friends were refined and cultivated people, and her girlhood had beeD one unbroken chain of happy events, such as form part of the everyday life of a young Englisk gentlewoman with ample means at her command, and health and strength to enjoy them; the crowning event in her case being her marriage at eighteen with a man ten years older than herself, but in every respect apparently a suitable husband for her. At the time of which I am now speaKing sne nau Deeu maineu iuui years. She had a lovely little boy, just able to toddle and talk, and she was staying with her husband at a quiet seaside place, where he had taken a house for the summer for the benefit of his own health, which had latterly not been so good as at his age he had every right to expect it to be. What the nature of his disease was, however, nobody seemed to know exactly. The symptoms were neither peculiar nor decided, being such, in fact, as might have denoted the beginning of half a dozen different disorders. At times he was feverish and headachy; at times he was chilly and felt weak; and sometimes he had an abnormally large appetite, which nothing seemed to satisfy, while at others he weirt for days together without touching food unless it was forced upon him. But the most trying part of his disorder to his wife were the long periods of depression from which nothing would rouse him, and the succeeding fits of irritability, when it was not only impossible to please him, but to move without making him angry. He was a clever man, a barrister with a large practice, and his own doctor though-: the nervous irritability, which made his life a burden to himself and his friends, was due to overwork and consequent loss of nerve power, and had therefore ordered him absolute rest and recommended him to go away from his worries for a tims to some quiet place to recruit. It was a charming spot to which they had come, a little place remote from the world, and inhabited by unsophisticated and friendly people, who made their admiration and kind ly interest in the young couple and their beautiful baby boy sufficiently apparent in an unobtrusive way to add the attraction of good fellowship to the advantages of lovely scenery which surrounded them and did so much to make their existence delightful. It was the sort of life, in harmony with nature and charity with all men, which makes it a pleasure just to be alive. They had enchanting summer weather the whole time. Sky and sea and shore throbbing with the light and warmth of the sun, with the song of the birds, with the scent of flowers, with the lap of waves, with the rustle and murmur of leaves, made the days delicious. And then there were the nights! when, after the sunset flush?a feast of color, all crimson and burnished trembling to daffodil, softening to green, deepening to purple, silvering to gray and clearing again?the moon would rise triumphant and alone In a clear, cool, indigo sky, and the nightingales would sing from the woods, would gurgle and trill and call, till the air seemed faint with the pleasure of their song. If the mornings were delicious, I say, what must the evenings have been? Ecstatic, I think, and so these two young people found them. After the boy had been put to bed and husband and wife had dined among the flowers in their garden overlooking the sea they would stroll along the cliffs arm in arm, or down on the hard sand by the water's edge, without any such restrains of commonplace civilization as hats and gloves, and at these times the two were wont to be happy with that full and perfect happiness which can render an account to itself at the moment of its own bliss, and this, we know, is the only happiness that has any real existence, all other forms being mere tricks of the imagination. For who can call that real of which we know nothing until it is over and past and beyond recall? Like the joys of youth of which wo hear so mucn, ana icei so mut: mini urw hiipear to us in retrospect, and become a melancholy pleasure at host, hut oftener still a subject of regret, because we did not heed thesn while they were with us. Well, it was not long before the bright salt air, rich with iodine and \ couch for him to rest upon, warmed into life and rapture by his rays, and uttering, in the joy of his caress, a low, varied, blissful, inarticulate sob of deep, estatic pleasure. When they found themselves out on the scented heather, away from all human habitation, the young man HER .SE.LF | LOGICAL NOVEL. RAH GRAND. | j ozone, and fresh from its race ove leagues of ocean, the simple an wholesome food and all the happ circumstances of the time began ai parently to restore the invalid. His appetite was more constan his spirits rose, his temper was les variable, and the power to enjoy, c which he had been deprived to great extent, began to return to hii ?by fits and starts, it is true, bu still it came, and bis wife was happ about him again in a calm and stead fast way which was natural to her. One morning after their earl breakfast they strolled out of the! garden on to the beach with thei boy. Leslie Somers had a book, hi wife a piece of work, and they sat o the shingle, giving ae much attentio to each other and to the sturdy chili as they did to book or work. The boy would paddle at first, am his mother took off his shoes an< socks, but finding the water warr and pleasant the young rascal was no content to have no more of It thai would cover his feet, and so, when hi parents' attention was otherwise en gaged, he quietly divested himself o his scanty summer clothing, an. when they looked again, hehold hie standing, a very Cupid with goldei curls, crowing with delight and say ing, "Mind! mind!" to the llttl waves that splashed up against hi mottled legs, while he motioned then back with outspread, dimpled hands His father took a rope that wa trailing from a fishing boat drawn u] on the beach close by and playfull; threw it round him, making believ that he was a ship, and must mak< fast to the capstan, his mother?th boy entering Into the joke and mak ing the beach resound with peals o laughter, spontaneous, rippling an< delicious as the lap and murmur o the little waves that burst about hi: feet. This game ended, and the chil< dressed again, the three wanderei off into the village to buy fruit, an< having obtained what they wanted they continued their walk, passinj mrougii a narrow goigc uci?ccu lu< hills at the back of the village on th< heath. These hills curved around thi houses like a protecting arm, shelter ing them in a warm embrace fron the world beyond and keeping then safe from all storms but such as wer< caused by the restless, variable tem per of the wind on the bosom of it: slave, the sea, From the village street it woul< have been impossible to suspect th< existence of a great wide heath on th< other side of the hills, ot even t< catch a gliimpse of any road by whicl this sheltered nook could keep uj communication with the other world and when, having passed througl that narrow gorge, you found your self on the heath, it was so unlik< every other feature of the place, ex cept, perhaps, the sea, which was no visible from any part of it, and t< which, in the long swell and sweej of it, and its billowy undulations, i bore some resemblance, that yoi might easily have imagined yoursel conveyed by a powerful spell from ai Eden of flowers and sunshine to th< cold of a wind-swept desert, dreary disconsolate, abandoned?the begin ning of that world without end anc where all life ceases, and the con sciousness of what must follow doe: not yet begin. But this would only be your firs impression as you stood a little abov< the heath, looking down on wha ttiPTi copm tr> \-nu a wide, nn lovely, level, monotonous expanse Like people who are really wortl knowing, the heath improved on ac quaintance; and the more intimat< you were with it, and the nearer yoi came to it, the better you liked it. First you perceived with awe thi vast, unusual height of the vault o heaven above it; and next you wer< conscious of the indefinable charm o level distance, apparently unbounded and then there came to you that sens< of freedom, born of pure air and opei space, which gives wings to the spiri and exhilarates unspeakably. Am once you were down upon the heath vou found it no loneer a dreary monotonous expanse. Even the same ness of color vanished then; th< heather mixture of purple and white brown, yellow and green, so Insig nificant in the distance, but so beau tiful when you found yourself sur rounded by its component parts?th purple heather, the creamy meadow sweet, the tall foxglove and th feathery green of ferns and bracke: through which you might then b wading breast high. All these were specks in a cod glomerate whole, when seen fror above, with no more character vis! ble than is shown by a crowd of one' fellow-creatures in parti-colore clothes. But once among them, an you found that, like those same fel low-creatures, each had a separat existence, large, and more or les lonely, of its own, a local habitatio and a name. And when you would find, too, tha seemingly dry, barren level was i reality nothing of the kind but rucsced surface, varied with height and hollows, and full of life an cheery voices, the babble of numbei less streams, the merry chirp an twitter of restless birds, the hum c busy bees and the voice of myriads c insects?the dominant chord, mad of numberless notes, of the who) melody?sinking as they settled i showers upon tho leaves, swelling a they rose again to pursue their gan bols in the air, and sinking once mor as they again subsided, fatigued b their aerial dances, for another mc ment's rest. And on a day like this, too, everj thing: was throbbing with an answei ing throb to the heat of the summe sun, glowing responsive to his ardec kiss; the whole broad bosom of th heath outspread, as It were, a thym set his boy on his shoulder, that he might see far over this strange new land, and on they walked, choosing haphazard to follow a narrow path that wound among the bracken, not paying much heed to whither they were going, but happy as the birds >r and brooks are, and as free from d care as the empty sky above them, y as unconscious for the moment of )- anything beyond as the heath on which they stood. t, Leslie Somers held his boy on his ss shoulder with one strong hand, while >f with the other he carelessly swung a the rope he had taken from the fishn ing boat on the beach, and had forit gotten to replace. His wife walked y behind him, singing softly to herself [- pnrf lanerhinelv DuttinK ripe strawber ries from a bag she carried on her y arm into the child's mouth when that r crimson orifice was every now and r then presented to her for fresh sup3 plies. a They had scarcely exchanged a n word since they left the beach, there d being no need to interrupt their gladness with unnecessary exertions of 3 the voice. But now, descending one 3 of the purple billows that rolled from Q end to end of the heath, they came 't upon a sign of civilization which asb tonished them in such a place. This 3 was nothing less than a double line of - rails, quite invisble till you were t close upon them, and which you 3 would scarcely have expected to find Q there even if you had noticed the tele11 graph wires that accompanied them, - as usual, on the hither side. e The line seemed to be hiding itself s as much as it could beneath the luxi uriant herbage that fringed it thickly > on either hand, as if it knew it had s 110 DlZSineSS inert; clllU was asuauicu P to be seen. It cut across the heath V from side to side, dividing it, and e seeming to spring from the heart of e the distant hills on the right, to be abe sorbed again into the hot haze of the - low-lying horizon on the left, as if it f flashed into a brief and purposeless 1 existence which extended only as far f in either direction as the eye could s reach. Arrived at this spot, Leslie Somers i put the boy down, and that sturdy 3 youth, .einvigorated by rest and reI freshment, no sooner touched the , ground than he snatched off his hat I and began to deal death and destruce tion to every winged creature within e his reach. His mother stood leaning against a telegraph post, watching s him, smiling, tranquil and happy. . Presently her husband came up be! hind her with that piece of rope and 1 playfully wound it round and round a her and the telegraph post, till she . stood pinioned like a victim tied to 3 tho stake. "See, Boykins!" she cried, laugh1 ing, "mother's a prisoner! " 2 But the child was too busy either 3 to hear or heed, and she stood there j a while longer contemplating his ! pretty gambols, mother-like, with 5 every faculty absorbed in the delight; ful occupation. ! But all at once?she could not tell _ why or wherefore?a little breeze j had arisen, and the day was changing, . perhaps, though the birds still sang, t the bees buzzed, and the sun shone; ) but all at once she felt a shiver, not ) of cold, but of loneliness and helpt lessness, come over her, and she ! called to her husband: "Leslie! Lesf lie!" and then was frightened by the i fear in her own voice, and called a again: "Leslie! Leslie!" She waited a moment for an an. swer after that, looking about her 1 | the while; but she looked in vain. . ! Her husband had disappeared! 3 To be Continued. I The Short-Lived Dog. * Surely it is by an unfortunate dist pensation of nature that the dog, - beyond all question the chief friend . of man among the other animals, i should have a normal length of life - which is no more, on a fair computa3 tion, than one-seventh of his own. i There is no other figure which expresses the relative ages of man and g his dog so well. The puppy of one f year is about at the same canine age 3 as the child of seven. At two years f he is probably a little more advanced ; than a fourteen-year-old boy, but the a canine age of three is very nearly i equivalent to the human twenty-one. t And so it continues through all the j years of canine and of human prime f respectively, the ratio fairly well preserved. It has to bo admitted . that the old age of the dog, thus e computed, outlasts the old age of the man. One hears stories which seem . to be fairly authentic of dogs living . up to eighteen, and if we do hear . stories or nunuia ueiogs living siujie larly up to 12G, at least we do not . believe them. But such an age for e a dog is quite the extreme limit. The Q dog of ten years approaches the e equivalent of the three score and ten which had been named as the fair end of the human creature's tether, n and on the whole the multiplication [. of canine years by seven all through s the stages of life gives the correA sponding age of man better than any d other figure given it.?Westminster [. Gazette. e 1 s A Remarkable Clock. n A shoemaker named Wagner, living in Strasburg, has sent to the cxhibition of inventions at Berlin a n clock of the "grandfather" shape, a nearly six feet high, made entirely of straw?wheels, pointers, case and every detail. Wagner has taken fif " +Vii'ci e? + n rra Iteu yt}UlS IU tvuau Ukl iu? an UUSV, ^ piece of mechanism. It keeps perfect ,f time, but under the most favorable circumstances cannot last longer than e two years.?Chicago News, e , ls Large sardine canneries have been ^ started at Nagasaki, Japan, with a view to exporting the fish to Europe. The flavor, however, is not good, and _ the prices are too high, as yet to compete with the Mediterranean product. :r He Talkcth Not. it The more a man accomplishes the e less time he has to talk about it.? y Chicago Daily News. i u. , ,2j Road Building in the South. In discussing editorially the convict leasing system in Georgia In The Sun of August 3 you express your belief that the best employment for prisoners is road making. It may Interest your readers to know that the authorities of Fulton County, in which Atlanta is situated, take the same view. For several years Fulton County has kept its prisoners at road j making, and it now has 250 miles of well built macadamized roads, which I centre at Atlanta like the spokes of a wheel in the hub. General Clifford Anderson, a leading business man of Atlanta, who is officially connected with the great road building work of Fulton County, recently told me that > this work had in every way proved j the best for the prisoners as well as j for the county. Most of these prisonI ers are negroes accustomed to outdoor life. Imprisonment within ! brick walls tends to ruin their health, [ while the outdoor life of road buildj ing under official control and main) tenance is beneficial to them. The I county owns its rock quarries, its j stone crushing plants and its road j making machinery. It therefore does j not have to buy anything from out side. About 400 prisoners are kept at work and the cost of good roads is about $3500 a mile, which in' eludes much heavy grading. It is proposed to continue this work by cross roads connecting the ! lines radiating from Atlanta until i Fulton County shall have 500 miles I of thoroughly good roads. Many of the leading people of the South, men . who have given years of study to the i subject, believe that every Southern State should put its convicts to work in building a great system of public highways. A number of counties in j other States have been doing the same work which Fulton County Is pressing with such vigor. Throughout the South there is a great awakening to the need of good roads, and ; millions are being expanded in this I i work, but so great is the area of that I . section that road building is a more ' serious problem than in more densely settled sections. i One reason advanced by some advocates of using convicts in road j building is that this avoids any possible injury to labor by prison made J goods. Moreover, the scarcity of la- I bor in the South in times of ordinary prosperity would make it very difficult to find men for road building + V? Kir ViirrVior Witnout arciwiiig lucui uj ui04?v? . wages from the farms and industrial i Interests where they are so badly ! needed. I So great is the interest throughout I , the South in road building, street im?, ! provements and municipal undertakings that the work now under way and that which is being planned will represent an outlay of probably $100,000,000. In this work Mary j land leads with a recent bond Issue of $5,000,000 for the building of 800 j to 1000 miles of main lines of roada > through the State, while the city of j Baltimore is spending and preparing to spend $25,000,000 or more on j docks, sewers, street paving, etc. The J whole South has caught the spirit of . municipal improvements such as sew. \ erage systems, waier wui as, , paving and schools and other public buildings, while State and county au- j thorities are vigorously working for 1 ' better roads. This is simply the nat- : ural result of increasing wealth, and ! It is the best indication of how rapidi ly the South's wealth is growing.? J I Richard H. Edmonds, Editor Manu? ; | facturers" Record, in the New Yora . Sun. I Must Keep Up Roads. According to a recent ruling of the j Postoffice Department farmers desir- j ing to continue to receive mail by rural delivery must see to it that the , condition of their roads is maintained ; ?+ o Mtrh (standard to enable carriers j db U m . to deliver mail with ease and facility. 1 This ruling should succeed in awak* j ening the farmers in many sections , to the necessity of keeping up their roads. Not only will it be a benefit ! to them in the more speedy delivery j of their mail, but the hauling of crops | is cheaper on a good road than on a poor one. The withdrawal of the rural mall delivery would work a , hardship now that it has become such a necessity in the daily life of a com-, munity, so it is likely the farmers who have this privilege will see to it that roads are kept up to the stand- j ard set by the Postoffice Department, j ?Farmers' Home Journal. j I $400,000,000 For Roads. ' RsnJris Mich.. H. H. I ii.L \jiauu J Gross, of Chicago, president of the j , Farmers' Good Roads League, speak- j ing at the meeting of the National j ; Convict Labor Good Roads' Associa- j J tion, advocated an issue of $400,- . j 000,000 of bonds for road building. | j He suggested that the amount be , I apportioned among the States according to population. About 200 dele- j gates were in attendance. On tho Occnn Bottom. Sitting inside a submarine on an 1 ocean bottom you would be no more j I conscious of the enormous water pres: sure without than if you were going j ! to sleep In your own bed. You might ' ! remain twenty-four hours under . water without coming up, using only I j the natural air supplied in the boat ' without feeling the least uncomforta- ( ble. If you wished, you might remain i fnnr or five days, tapping the ' air tank as you needed a fresh supply ' of air. In the meantime you would j bunk over the torpedoes and torture j yourself by letting your imagination j loose to your heart's content, or you might read by electrio light or play cards or dominoes or checkers, the cook serving you with coffee and j canned things that can be heated on i an electric furnace without causing j too much smoke and making the air , disagreeable to breathe.?St. Nlch* olas. The municipal markets of Manchester are very profitable. i i i 5 i^^H0U5EH0LD(i^^l| J Hickory Xut Macaroons. Beat one egg until light, add one cupful of sugar, beat well together, then add two tablespoonfuls of flour and one cup nut meats, chopped fine. Grease tins, dust with flour; drop the macaroons by teaspoonfuls on them and bake about twenty minutes in a moderate oven.?New York Telegram. New Peach Pudding. A peach and chocolate pudding is an English novelty that will appeal to those fond of the latter, and withal it is inexpensive, as canned or tinneti peaches are used. Take one pint tin of peaches, add an ounce of butter and stew until soft; sweeten if liked and then beat them to a pulp. Boil four ounces of chocolate in a pint of milk until It is smooth. Beat four eggs and add to the chocolate, and after well mixing place the peaches in a deep pie dish, pour the chocolate over them, and bake from ten to twelve minutes in a moderate oven.?New York Times. Stuffed Tomatoes. Wipe and remove slices from stem end of six medium-sized tomatoes, take out seeds and pulp, sprinkle inside of tomatoes with salt, invert and let stand. Cook one-half tablespoon ful of minced onion with two tablespoonfuls of butter five minutes; add one-half cupful of finely chopped cooked chicken or veal; one-half cupful of stale, soft bread crumbs, tomato pulp, salt and pepper to taste; cook five minutes, then add one egg slightly beaten, cook one minute and refill tomatoes with mixture. Place in buttered pan, sprinkle with buttered crumbs and baks twenty minutes in hot oven.?Epitomist. Broiled Bammas. Another hostess has a way of broiling bananas. The bananas are slit lengthwise twice and a half inch of peel is stripped off, leaving the fruit in the large part; the body of the fruit should then be opened a bit and a pinch of salt, another of pepper, and a bit of lemon juice can be put on the exposed fruit, and the whole left *or half an hour, so that the seasoning may soak in. The butter should be spead over the opened part. The bananas should then be laid in a not too hot broiler, with skins down, and broiled very gently until lightly J rmm-nA 4n U row lieu. 1 Iiey iuuuiu uc act tcu iu the skins, which If properly handled will retain the juices formed while cooking, and a truly delicious morsel will be the result. Stuffed Onion;? Arc Delicious. Onions are chiefly employed as flavoring. Take two large onions and remove the outside skin carefully and neatly; cut the root and the stalk end even. Take all the-centre out ol the onions except three or four of the outer coats, taking care not to make a hole at the bottom; if a hole is accidentally made, it must be filled up with the bit that came out. Put four tablespoonfuls of chopped cooked meat into a bowl, and half a cupful of grated bread, one teaspoonful of flour, two tablespoonfuls of milk, salt and pepper to taste. Fill the onions with this stuffing and put on the lids. Place them in a small saucepan, pour In a cupful of stock or water, and stew the onions gently for one hour. Serve on a hot dish, with the gravy poured round them.?The Delineator, HINTS FOR,, THE.I mOUSEKEEPERj A spoonful of vinegar put into t'os r.-ater in which meats or fowl arc boiled makes them tender. It is said that to butter a cracker and sprinkle it with cayenne pepper will induce sleep after eating. A hole in the spout of an agate teakettle can be mended by cutting a small piece of cork and forcing it into the opening. Cucumber and radishes served on lettuce hearts and covered with French dressing makes an appetizing and seasonable salad. Do not neglect to frequently pour household ammonia, or some other disinfectant, down all waste pipes, especially in summer uuic. To make a rubber plant throw out branches tie a small sponge around the main stem where a leaf joins and keep it moist all the time. When cutting a tomato pass the knife frequently over the freshly cut surface of a large onion. The resulting flavor is indescribably delicatc. To prevent cheese from getting mouldy, wrap it in a cloth that lias been dipped in vinegar and wrung as dry as possible. Keep in a cool place. A small glass of jelly beaten, a little at a time, into the cake or pudding frosting, will add greatly to its appearance and taste. A little coloring adds to its attractiveness. Persons whose hands easily become chapped should thoroughly rinse the hands with fresh water after they have been washed with soap, being careful to wipe them perfectly dry. For okra soup such as one finds in - -i-!.. ~r the Soutil, 1)011 SJOWiy u sum ui Iicci In five quarts of water with about fifty okras and a few tomatoes for 6even hours. Then season with salt and red pepper. Ivory keys may be cleaned ?vd whitened by mixing prepared white chalk with a tinge of sweet oil and eal-volatile into a paste and rub it on with chamois skin and allow it to remain until dry. A Wilton or Axminstcr carpet should never be swept with a straw or splint broom. The corners and edges should be carefully brushed with a stiff hair brush, and the rest pone over with a good carpet sweeper. Velvet and Oriental rugs should not be shaken by hand or beaten on the line. Sweep in the direction of the nap, lay face downward on the grass, beat with rattan beaters, then turn and sweep on the right side. %Tit 71 Surcbaii-c?cf?ool' S hvtknn.irichn.i\j KK???sur* I.uaMENTS FOR SEPTEJIBER 20. Review of the Eleven Preceding Lcs- 1 sons For the Third Quarter? Golden Text, 2 Samuel 5:12? Read Psalm 18. Golden Text: "And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake." 2 Sam. 5:12. Each of the lessons of this quarter teaches us something about the principles upon which God deals with men and something also about how men treat God. In Lesson I. we see the constant disposition of the human heart to reject God and to refuse to have Him rule over us. We see also when men choose some one else before God, He * lets them have their own mad choice ' in order that they may learn their folly by bitter experience. In Lesson II. we see again the dis- [ position of the human heart to reject God, even after He had saved us out J of all our calamities and distresses. In Lesson III. we see God's longsuffering toward tbose who reject ! Him and His lovs in bringing His un- ' grateful people to a consciousness o? their sin and His unwillingness to forsake His people. In Lesson IV. we see that the one thing that God demands from His servants is obedience, and how if one rejcct3 the Word of the Lord, the Lord will also reject him. In Lesson V. we see that when one j servant fails God He choose.? another | to fill his place and anoints him with j the Holy Spirit that he may be quali- ! fied for the work to which he has been called. In Lesson VI. we see how the Lord gives victory to those who trust in Him and He saves, not with the sword and spear, but by the power of His own name. In Lesson VII. we see that the Lord is with the one that trusts and obeys and gives him favor with men and j makes him the terror of His enemies. I In Lesson VIII. we learn how God delivers His servants even in times of { greatest peril. In Lesson IX. we see that God de- ; livers our enemies into our hands, but j that vengeance belong unto Him. | In Lesson X. we see the awful fate of the one whom God had rejected j and bow God clears the way for the , one who leave.3 his exaltation entirely in God's hands. In Lesson XI. we see that God will guide the one who commits his way unto Him and leans not upon his own understanding, and that God deals with us as we deal with our fellowmen. Go;l is Leading. No room for a discouraged or depressed feeling is left you. If your sphere is outwardly humble, if it even appears to be quite insignificant, God understands it better than you do, and it is a part of His wisdom to bring out great sentiments in humble conditions, great principles in 'works that are outwardly trivial, great characters under great adversities and ; heavy loads of encumbrance. Let it fill you with cheering ahd exalted feeling, however deep in ob- j scurity your lot may be, that God is leading you on, girding you for a work, preparing .ou for a good that is worthy of His divine magnificence. If God is really preparing us all to become that which is the very highest and best thing possible, there ought never to be a discouraged or uncheer ful being in tie world.?Horace Bushnell. The Prayer That Prevails. It has been said that every true prayer has a foreground and a background. The foreground of prayer is j an intense, immediate desire for something which seems necessary to I the soul; the background is the j earnest desire that the will of God, I whatever it may be, shall be done. Leave out the foreground, and there ! I is danger of fatalism. Leave out ' i the background, and only an expres-! i sion of self-will is left. The perfect i j prayer?the prayer that prevails? 1 j must have background and fore- I | ground, desire and submission.?The ' | Rev. J. R. Miller. I TTi#? Winds Thai Strengthen. The air from the sea of affliction is j extremely beneficial to invalid Chris- ' tians, says Spurgeon. Continued pros- j perity, like a warm atmosphere, has a tendency to unbind the sinews and soften the bones; but the cold winds of trouble make us sturdy, hardy and well-braced in every part. Unbroken I success often leads to an undervaluing of mercies and forgetfulness of the Giver; but the withdrawal of the sunshine leads us to look for the sun. The Future. If there be no hereafter and no future vindication of the upright, then virtue and purity are but names, and the only possible conclusion is, | "let us eat and drink, for to-morrow | wa die."?The Rev. W. P. George, Denver. Get Busy. You cannot cancel the custom of preying on your fellows by occasional praying to your Father above. The Good Life. A good life is impossible until one knows that there is ever something more desirable than living. Died at 107 Years. Mrs. Anna Miskus died in Chicago at the home of her grandson, Julius Anixter. at the age of 107. Mrs. Miskus had full possession of her faculties until t/ie moment of her death. She was prominent as a settlement worker. She is survived by forty grandchildren. When only a child in her native home in Maryneple, Poland, she took a vow never to worry, and to this vow she attributed her longevity. .\ !I1C .11)111011 .-lores ror rmic. According to the terms of an act of the last Congress, removing restrictions on the alienation of land owned by members of the Five Civilized tribes of Indians in Oklahoma, which went into effect recently, about 0,000,000 acres which have been tied uj) have become available to purchasers. Bees Delay Mail. A swarm of bees took possession of a letter box in East street, Northampton. Mass., and for several hours defied the efforts of the postofiice and police departments to make a collection. .. . _ Religious Reading * FOR THE QUIET HOUR, > # j LIFE. Life?what is it.' Ah, who knows? Just a visit, I suppose; Jov ana Sorrow for a day, Then to-morrow We're away. Youth, and morning. Manhood, moon; Age?the warningNight comes soon; Shines a star to Light us; then 'Tis not far to Home again. ?Christian Work and Evangeliafc. Going to the Father. I go to the Father?John, 16:14. Five times, including once parenthotically, did Jesus declare in His last discourse to His disciples in the upper chamber before His betrayal that He was going to His Father. The circumstances of the delivery of these words of farewell were peculiar. The disciples, inadequate as was their anticipation of what was toward, were yet filled with forebodings of disaster. Being human and not realizing all that was involved, there must have been in their minds a leaven of hope. These things that they vaguely dreaded could not occur. Something would / happen; some power would intervene; they should yet see the Messiah triumphant on a throne rather than a cross. Yet their hearts were doubtless heavy with premonitions * of despair as they listened. There was no vagueness about. Tooho' croon nf tVio aJfllfltinn. Thf>rft was nothing to relieve His expectations. He knew that He would have to drain the cup to the dregs. It was even then at His lips. Yet Hedid not allow this knowledge to overwhelm Him. He agonized In the garden and on the cross, but He never absolutely and entirely gave way. r like to Relieve that one of thethoughts which sustained Him in that hour was that, no matter how terrible the way, how long the Via Dolorosa, how awful the gateway of* the cross at the end, He was going to the Father. It seems to add the* divinest and sweetest touch to Hir humanity when we think that thiswas in 'His mind when He repeated again and again that simple statement. His work was almost over,. ' although its most terrible hours were to come, although its greatest de< mand was to be met; yet there wai light at the end, for He was goingto the Father. He could not refrain-- -as a man from telling the dlsclplefthat over and over. How the mind of Joseph, lord of" Lower and Upper Egypt, the vice< regent of the world, went back id* that old man, his father, in Palestine! How the mind of that young spend* thrift whose name is a synonym tot~ prodigality and filial disrespect* turned from his place with the swine to his father standing on the hill"* and looking down the long road' waiting for his boy's return! How the mindj)f man turns to his earthlj father! We Hear a great aeai aoum mothers; fathers have a place in our- I affections, have they not? I Jesus went to His Father; the pro- I digal went also to his father. S<r * we may go to our Father which aii fl in Heaven. There is this difference^ I between our going and Christ's going, I He went alone save that the Father I was with Him. When we go now the I Father is with us in His love and"' E Jesus is with us in His brotherhood. I We cannot go alone. And there I no experience which we can gc*' 5 through in our progress toward the- I Father which is not exceeded in bit- I terness by that through which our- . fl Saviour passed. Because of Him I anybody and everybody can go tc* I the Father, except the wilful, persis? B tent, determined sinner. You can g<J- I to the Father with the guilt of mur? I der on your soul.Nhnt you cannot go- I to the Father with the spirit of anger in your heart. You can go to him red-handed if you go to Him repen* I tant. and though you go to Him red- J handed, if you go to Him repentant, * through Christ you can go to Him re? I generated and redeemed. You will' ja have to pay the penalty for your ac- 3 tions here, but if you are spiritually I changed the payment here is all that I will be exacted. So that every hu- I man being who so desires can look S forward in his hour of trial as well' X as in his day of triumph to a wel- I come from the Father. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shalJ be as white as snow; though they be __ I red like crimson, they shall be as K wool."?C.vrus Townsend braay, id ? tlie New York Sunday Herald. D Like Judas Iscariot. I A certain good priest was once riding in a street car in New York, Jh and in passing a very handsome an<f V ornate church, a fellow-passenger turned to him and said: B "If these Christians would stop- H building fine churches and give the money to the poor, it would be mitch fl more to their credit." H "I've heard a similar remark be- H fore," was the quiet rejoinder. "Indeed! and by whom, may 1 H "Judas Iscariot!" was the crush- H Ing answer.?Expositor. fl Civic Virtue. H The happiness of the republic de- H pends on the virtue o ua uwwo. _ Political health is as important a? physical health. Religion is the tM guiding star of nations as well as of H individuals. It alone can safeguard 9j liberty.?The Rev. T. J. Conaty, Wor- H cester, Mass. H Prayer is the Window of Heaven. ? Prayer, continually lived in, makes H the presence of a holy and loving H God the air which life breathes, and [IB by which it lives, so that, as it min> gsB gles consciously with the work of the H day, it becomes also a part of every H dream. To us, thsn, it will be no H strange thing to enter heaven, for H we have been living in the things H of heaven.?Stopford A. Brooke. H Evidence of Loyalty. Your loyalty to God is seen in your 9 love for men.?Home Herald. H Melons Tpset Verdict. Hg Because twelve hungry jurymen at Collins, Miss., abruptly left the court room in the heat of the duy and invaded a watermelon patch, where art -? hour was spent in eating the luscious fruit, A C. Brett, convicted of the Ha murder of D. G. McGann, a onelegged newspaper editor, and sentenced to a life term in the penitenfiarv. was granted a new trial. At torneys for Brett contended that watermelons are conducive to slumber. flf and therefore Brett did not have a (air trial. ffiE