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V - , ? *, A" 1A VAGABOf ? By ANNIE CHAPTER IX. 12 Continued. "As far as I am concerned, there "will be none whatsoever," answers Roger coldly. "You and Colonel Drewe, of course, know best what reason you have for embarrassment." He is annoyed, lowered for her sake, rather than his own. But Rose, who is no adept at reading the character of others, sets him simply as "jealous" (a mistake into which vanity not infrequently conducts intelligence of her caliber), and twitters on and on about poor Stanley's infatuation and deepset eyes, and her own innocence and the embarrassment oi riches that awaits her in the way oi admirers until the very excess of her folly brings her lover back to good temper. Dear simple-hearted little Rosie! Who can be angry with her long? Her vanities ar?? so childlike: her flirtations like her whole character, so transparent. i- "You may be sure he rushed tc England as soon as ever he got the news or uncie Kooeri s aeam. i am not a tool, Roger, and I don't think myself quite hideous, but I know very well that men like to marrv money, and that in my small way 1 am an heiress! Can't you fancy him looking round the house speculating? 'And then to come upon your portrait. I wonder, now, whether it was quite proper of me to have it hung up yet? Nothing would pain me more than for Colonel Drewe to think me indeli'? cate " "We are certain, I suppose, that it is Colonel Drewe, Rosie? There is no one else among your numerous victims whom tho cap would fit?" Oh, yes, on this point Rosie is confident. If it had not been for the mustache it might have been the Rev. Rowland Lascelles, whom she met last year at Malvern, the most elegant, the most spiritual minded of men. But no, with a conscious little sigh over her Malvern reminiscences, the mustache settles it. Colonel Drewe it must be and no other. "'And what makes it the more remarkable, Roger," adds Rose, with her most sapient and logical air, ,"I declare it looks like the finger of fate?I dreamed of poor Major O'Shea only last night! It seemed come one in America "had told him of my engagement?in dreams, alas, y in dreams only, our dead are restored to us!?and he had brought ' * me over the most lovely turquoise and pearl set as a wedding present (Major O'Shea always used to say how pearls became me),%and was exceedingly pleased at the marriage, and Baid he wished you joy from his heart. Was it not remarkable? "Most remarkable and most unpleasant," answers Roger, getting an ' noyed in earnest. "For God's sake, Rose, dream no more dreams! Rivals of flesh and blood, powerful colonels and elegant persons, I can stand, not I , the others?" But happily, at this very delicate juncture, the door opens, and the entrance of Belinda and Miss Burke puts an end to the love scene. CHAPTER X. "Lagrimas!" Miss Lvdia Burke is by no means an unfavorable sample outwardly ol the Woman of the Future. She has a tolerable sandy complexion, tolerable sandy hair, teeth almost overwhite and even, and a pair of very wideawake and small gray eyes. Her walk is wiry; her figure like a bit oi ' watch-spring; her age?the hitherward side of forty. What in this bright, energetic-looking lady should have introduced the sad elements oi hatred and disbelief into Belinda's young life? What has caused the inalienable discrepancies betweer them? Mainly, I imagine, this unchangeable law; that reality and shams will 110 more mix togetLer than oil and water. Nothing can be grander than the meeting between Belinda's stepmamma and her preceptress. Miss Burke has held religiously to the letter ol the bargain sealed between them ir London, has kept the girl conveniently out of Rosie's way during the pasl three years. Rosie has held to hers; each quarterly payment for materna watchfulness and superior intellectua! culture has ueen paid in advance without a question. They begin tc talk platitudes. Rose thinks BelindJ grown, though a little sunburnt; Miss Burke trusts dear Mrs. O'She; has overcome the fatigues of travel ing? A very weary journey fron: London to St. Jean de Luz. "Yes, indeed, specially when one i< traveling alone with one's maid,' cries Rose, sensitive even as to th< smaller proprieties, and virtuously conscious that she only "met" Rogei Temple in Paris. Bordeaux and else where. "One does feel so miserably helpless without a gentleman!" "Well, for my part, I see no us< thpn xulintAVPr " eaves XT^cc Hnrlrc "When you are alone you have noth irig but ycur luggage to look after When you are burdened with a man,' this with a deprecatory glance in th< direction of Roger, "you have to loo! after him and your things, too." "My things!" exclaims Eelinua. ii her mocking voice. "Well. Mis: Burke, in the present state of affairs my 'things' would not require mucl looking after, with a man or withou one. Do you know, ma'am," serious ly, "the washer-woman says there ii really nothing more of mine for hei to tring back. The last reraaicins tatters I had have vanished?carriec away by the birds, I suppose, to builc LUtll UCOIO. She perches herself on her accus tomed favorite place, the corner o the table, and looks round cheerful!: on the company as she volunteer! ibis information. Ii m m mm i sii iimiuiisu % o ?11 - EDWARDS. A cold glitter comes into Burke's eyes. "You are almost of an age, I must say, Miss O'Shea, to begin to care for order. No achievement in ; life can ever be made without order. When I was seventeen I had no greater delight than in the neat arrangement of my wardrobe." "But I have no wardrobe to keep neat, ma'am. Wardrobe? Why, this is my only frock, and as to stock?" "Belinda, my dear Belinda, you forget! Another time!" -interrupts Rose, coloring. "What have you been doing with yourself to-day, my love? And last night?did Mr. Jones see you safe home? I had a note from him this morning saying he had gone off to the mountains, and that I must ask you for particulars. Now, what does it all mean?" She frisks over, like a little lamb ' kin, to her stepdaughter's side, and ' putting her arms round her waist? Belinda holding herself uncompromis1 ingly stiff under the caress?begins f to gush and titter, school-girl fashion, 1 in her ear. Miss Burke and Roger : are thus left to make conversation for each other. ' "A very interesting country this, sir," observe^ the lady, looking sourly J at Roger's handsome face?oh, Miss Burke, you who fifteen years ago could look at no man without a melting ! smile! But such are the results of earnestness. "Interesting, I mean, 1 to those who visit with a purpose." "Yes, I am told you get very fair snipe-shooting here in winter," an swers Roger, who does not under( stand the argot of Miss Burke's sect. 1 "I speak of the inhabitants; sunk now in superstition, but the rem' nants of a noble race. You are per! haps not aware that the Basque has ! outlived five distinct people?the 1 Carthaginians, Celts, Romans, Goths and Saracens?" "Murray," says Belinda, in a stage 1 whisper. " 'Introductory remarks on ' the Pyrenees,' page two hundred and forty-nine." ' Roger strokes his mustache and 1 tries to look edified. "The Basque must certainly be very old," he begins, foolishly. "But the work that I am engaged on at present, the work that indeed fills every moment of my time, is the search of illustration. You have, perhaps, heard through Miss O'Shea that I am writing a book? No, I might : have guessed as nuch. Miss O'Shea's 1 interests do not lie in the direction of ; my own. A book entitled 'The Woman of the Future.' I am a laborer, ' sir, though a humble one, in the greatest reformation of our day, the 1 work of restoring woman to the pedestal from whence the blinded prejudices of centuries have dethroned her." "Ah, yes," says Roger, in no very 1 enthusiastic tone, and glancing as ' he speaks at the patches where darns ' ought to be in Belinda's stockings. "For my part," he adds, gallantly, 1 "I cannot see" that any reformation 1 is needed. It seems to me that wom' an are exceedingly charming as they are." "As the Turk, as the debased Asiatic thinks of his slaves!" cries Miss Burke, hotly. "Do you, an Englishi man, actually advance the proposition ! that to be charming is a fit motive for : an immortal being's existence?" "The most charming women ap pear to me to be so without any mor tive at all," says Roger, mentally measuring the distance between his ! adversary and the door. "But I am really the worst fellow living at an argument." "Oh, that is a very easy way of escape. It is perfectly evident to what cynical school you belong?the surface light in which you regard our i sex! Can you solemnly affirm, sir, I ask it with the earnestness the sub ject requires, that ycu do not look I upon us as toys?" [ Thus put, as it were, upon oath, Roger Temple considers Miss Burke's > personal attractions more closely . than he has yet done, the thin, cold ? features, the glistening eyes, the f watch-spring figure. He feels that 1 he does not, that in his wildest mo ments he never could look upon her : in the obnoxious light she deprecates, and with a perfectly clear conscience 1 answers, "No." I "Then may I ask what do you look > upon us as?" says Burke, pitilessly. > Roger not only measures the disl tance between himself and the door; ; he riees to his feet. He has been i held a brave soldier in action, a hardy - sportsman in the field; but he is hori' ribly afraid of Miss Lvdia Burke. "I ?I really beg pardon?but I have ; usually looked upon women as worn' en," he answers, humbly. ? Miss Burke turns her head away f- in contempt. r "It teally is most wonderful," - sighs Rose, who has caught the last f word or two of the discussion, "most extraordinary how gentlemen do dis? like intellect in us! I am sure, for . myself, I envy superior women, and . I have always wished and wished to be blue; haven't you Belinda?" "Oh, I like my natural hue well i enough, Rosie," answers the girl, : pertly. "Still, if 1 were forced to change, I believe I would as soon be X v/iuv. ?.* ' UVUC1 W1UJO. OU|ICJiUi 3 women do not usually wear rouge or , pearl powder, do they?" She looks i more thoroughly hard, more dclibt erately, selfishly wicked than ever as - she implants this savage stab. Alas, s where are ail the budding graces, r where is the soft, shy, dawning wornr anliness of the "Lagrimas"' cf last 1 night? 1 "But must your choice, of necessity, lie between the two, my dear Be lind?.?" Robert asks, in that quiet r tone of his. which at once softens r and exasperates her. "Are blue and ; rouge the only two colors in the world?" "Certainly they are not, Captain Temple. There is sun-tan, for instance, Van Dyck brown; the fine natural color of gamins, beggars, gypsies, and all the great unwashed of nature. My color." '"Unwashed! You quite pain me with these expressions, Belinda," says Rose. "But you must try not to despair about your complexion, dear. Spencer shall make you some of her milt nf roses. She cot the receipt from Lady Harriet, and they say the effect is extraordinary; that sua-tan, and even freckles, can he cured by it. For my part," encouragingly, "I have no great faith in cosmetics. You are fair or you are swarthy by constitution." Her last fatal fancy about Colonel Drewe has melted poor Rosie into amiability. So amiable, so elated is her frame of mind, that she has been rash enough to whisper her little budget of hopes and fears and projects into the girl's unsympathetic ear. "An old?ah, if she must confess truly, a dear friend coming after her to St. Jean de Luz. Could anything be imagined more difficult than tiie part she would have to play? And Roger so jealous already?that is his weak point, you know, poor fellow, jealousy! And will Belinda find out where Spencer can buy one of those becoming Spanish combs and a mantilla?" For Rosie's imagination always flives to the millinery department?the stage properties of any coming event?as the imagination of a more highly endowed woman might fly to what she would say, or feel, or dissemble. It is long before the visit draws to an end; and Captain Temple, doubly guarded by Rosie and Miss Burke, does not exchange another syllable with Belinda. At last, in the middle of one of Miss Burke's finest peroration?: nn wnman'c destiny, the erlrl brusquely takes her departure from the room; and accompanying her to the top of the hotel stairs, Roger gets a word or two with her alone. "You are not going to play paume to-day?" For she has a racket ball and schistera, as usual, in her hand. "Under this broiling sun! Belinda, I will not allow it." "Will you not indeed, Captain Temple? Why not, pray?" "I do not choose you to spoil your complexion, for one thing." "My, unwashed complexion that is to be improved by Lady 'Harriet's milk of roses! Isn't it fine to hear Rosie and Miss Burke talk! What advantages I have had, sir, ki being guided by those two extremes of feminine intelligence." "Promise me you will not play paume, Belinda, to-day, or any other day." She hesitates and looks down; a quiver on her lips, a tell-tale blush shining beneath the clear olive of her cheeks. "Lagrimas!" he whispers softly. "Will you promise?" And then she raises her eyes. They promise?unconsciously they promise a world too much to Roger Temple. To be Continued. The Secret of Meredith. The secret of George Meredith's mystery may perhaps lie in the fact that never before has a writer of such eminence partaken at one time in so ; /ull a measure of the critical and the creative faculty. Shakespeare knew how to write a play, Aristotle knew how one ought to be written; we shall rarely find in the study of any period an author pre-eminent both as critic and creator. That word which is able to make flesh of abstract material comes seldom from the mouth of the scientist, however fine and true be his knowledge, potent his voice or sturdy his faith. What a monstrosity indeed was that Frankemitein, man created by the hand of man to scare the public of a century ago! Nor could ever a workman, however curious his art, make of any dry bones a Zagloba. This it is then which marks George Meredith as unique among artists: that being first a critic of man, he is in a secondary degree, and yet in a degree extraordinary, a creator of man.?Atlantic Monthly. Plan to Protect the Osprcy. The British Government has issued a proclamation prohibiting the capture or destruction of Goura pigeons and ospreys for the next five years in Papua. No permit or license will in future be issued except to duly accredited agents of some rccognizcd zoological or other scientific society. m u i _ ...iA :n i.m at. ? A JUS ruie wijj iuaiei Jtiny curiaii iuu future supply from Papua for commercial purposes of that pretty article of headgear, the csprey feather, so highly valued by women in all countries. Trees That Explode. All lightning-blasted trees explode as overcharged boilers do. The flame of the lightning does not burn them up, nor does the electric flash split them like an axe. They simply explode, overcharged, as may be a boiler with steam. The lightning is conducted into the damp interstices of the trunk and into the hollows under the bark. Its tremendous heat at once turns all the moisture in those cramped spaces into steam. This steam in its immediate explosion blows the tree asunder.? Philadelphia Bulletin. The Ileal Thing. "What's doing in the way of amusements?" asks the newcomer of the old inhabitant of Hades. "Baseball game every afternoon," answers the old inhabitant. "Baseball? You don't mean it! That's great! I was a fan from 'way back on earth. On the square, do you have baseball every day?" "Sure thing."' "By ginger! This place suits me. Baseball! Say this can't be Hades, ; then." "Yes, it is. The home team always ; leses."?Life. Who's the Joke On? A milliner put up this sign: "We lit girls for the best colleges in the East." Fuzzle?Who's the joue on? ? The Bellman. After having bc^ri In u.'f* since 1750, the Tciiameut ured at tbe Essex sessions court at SUc'msford, England, has now been roplaccd by a nsw one, the sift o! E. North Buxton. ? Ill ?? '\ ' ' / ' -- ' < ': . fe ^S^"' ' * v4Js%': ^*!?0 ** 'j "'piv l' - .'^w : ' ^< ^swiife$ > :^ . ::l ' ft - " J:'! MM ''i j < '-'. ijr 1 l?MHiww <v 1 mmhw f k HAP SHOWING THE LOCATIONS 01 PH0P0SED I -New York State has set aside quired the famous Washington Hea land, including many historic anc proximately $13,250,000. There a parks. The annual average for tb in the order of their legal author] more in extent, are as follows: HMMBBBplMMDMHiBaaMinui i ! i i I ! >w i! ^ I i /JLAXZ ONTAJUO ; ' WW* J Sfp fM jr rokra J/ovy < MM |f *? ' ^ foe TA<T3.. I 1 ^ WA7JC1 ^^ GUI i i. MOB****""""""""""""""1""" litres; Niagara Kails, 412 acres; S< 1,411,636 acres; Saratoga Battle I Brown Farm, North Elba, 243 aci I Isslands, 181 acres; Grant Cottage j Held, thirty-four acres; Lake Geori Palisades Interstate Park, 700 a< l?land, Lake Ontario, one acre; Ca ton, Oneida Lake, one acre; Joh] Watkinii Glen, 100 acres;; Letchwc acres; Fire Island Park, 125 acres J Season of Humility. It is necessary that one shoi sometimes forget that he is a su] rior, and to remember that he is brother.?Bishop Wilson. j The gates of Jerusalem are si closed at night. Three I.adders in One. Not every family has a long anc short ladder about the house, and often happens that, where one of th< will not suit the other will. A Cai f ~ f fj&Tirs*ziip ! l ^SMSMs- 1 ^vAiMli i ^4w\ ^c^rel 1 J : > * ? fflDJCJTSS JtOCATTOJr CIP F" JZXOJOSSJZ STJtTIS JZAJZX: ; H jMtirc^ris sjxd z>ojrjrF2> % ) !, #yjrrj?s. J: -* ^jpjvw^ ' 9; HRS. HARRIMAN'5 GIFT LARGER I THAW ALL THE PARKS IN N. Y. CITY ire f Ackm. U Area of tract'doaated <,.10,000 ^ Area of Central Hark. ' 841 . ?? Area of Bronx Park Bll.. 1 L' Area of Proapect Park...^.i? 'fil9 W Toiol area of parka la Greater ' ' ?/ - New York '7,871. Total acreage of Manhattaa..l4,on8 F THE TWEMTY STATE PARKS AND THE HIGHLANDS PARK for park purposes since 1S49, when it acc.quarters at Newburg, 1,521,833 acres of 1 scenic s^es. They cost the State aprj records of visitors for only eight of the se is more than 1,250,000. The parks, la.ation and their area, where an acre or 1 Washington' Headquarters. NTpwl>?r?r. six ^^5)^5 / ^ ro#X rirmr laeggaa *JP&fl 1 % <?. ^ lie Lifrforr \ \ f&SSSLwa X^CTSV1? I *4 nif"MVMjt I V wicrCiTt ;nate House, Kingston; Adirondack Park, 1 lonument, Schuylerville, two acres; John es; St. Lawrence Reservation, Thousand , Mount MacGregor; Stony Point Battlege Battlefield, Caldwell, thirty-five acres; :res; Clinton House, Poughkeepsie; Spy .tskill Park, 107,339 acres; Fort Brewermon House, Johnstown, eighteen acres; )ith Park, Genesee River, Por.tage, 1000 - K# TJOU \ .fumyst; juauui nan, luun^iu. Worried. ild "Why is old Titewad so afraid of 10- death?" "His-son is so extravagant a that the old man is afraid he will bury him in a thousand-dollar coffin." j -i!1 New York City has 133 department I stores that employ 11,000 persons. ; dian has invented a ladder that an, swers both purposes and when folded (for it does fold) takes up less room ;s(J than even the old style small ladder. ja_ This invention consists of a ladder made in three sections, one on the other and hinged together on one side and in the back. On the other side are pins to keep it in place when it is J extended to its full length. Either in j its extended or its short form this ladder is a safe one, but it ha9 no back support and must be leaned against the wall. After the top section has been bent down on one side it folds back, and when the second section is down the three fold together like a three-part screen. When the ladder is not in use it can he stowed away behind a door or in any corner, ac it does not take up as much room as a chair.?Boston Post. . Peculiar Discovery of Mine. I One of the most valuable arsenic mines in the United States, on a Vir! ginia mountain, was discovered when : a farmer's cows were killed by water M | liowing from its poisonous deposits. THE PULPIT, [p tl p \ BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY e THE REV. EDWARD NILES. ? v C lUCIliCi OJSlClilUUl. UIIIUg> . t] Brooklyn, N. Y.?Sunday morning * the Rev. Edward Niles, pastor of the P South Bushwick Reformed Church, n preached on "Systematic Giving." The text was from Mark 12:41: u "Jesus sat down over against the t( treasury and behold how the multi- P tude cast money Into the treasury." 8 Mr. Niles said: The stage settiug of this scene is " a court of the temple area. Around c three sides of its 200 feet square sur- 0 face ran a raised balcony for the P women. A'gainst the wall on the 3 fourth side stood thirteen trumpetlike chests, narrow at the mouth, wide at the bottom. A placard told * the purpose for the money deposited a In each. One and two received the * tribute money of every Israelite which ^ paid the running expenses of the tempie, including salaries. 0 In three and four were deposited t the equivalent in coin for the sin of- c fering of animals. The next three * provided for the sacrificial wood, incense and furnishing. The labels of ? the other six showed that they re- J ceived thank offerings of various 1 kinds. Nearby was a miniature * "chamber of the silent" for gifts to c educate the children of the poor. ? Thus seven of these fourteen treas- y ury boxes were for dues obligatory a upon the members of God's visible t kingdom. The seven for offerings of c gratitude, supported disabled priests t and their widows, taught those who could not afford tuition fees, supplied the needy, went for proselyting or mission work. The time was Tuesday of Holy Week. The characters were a multitude. Every one of them patronized the tithe boxes, many those for charity. The two important characters were: First?A widow. She had come to pay her dues. All she had were two what were vulgarly called "lepta" or "peelings," the smallest possible of coppers. To drop one into the tithe box meant one-half instead of the prescribed tenth, but to give less was impossible. To support her church was a matter of course, however, and without hesitation she put in. Only a lepton left for her living! Then she looked at the boxes for beneficence. She thought not of her wants, but of her blessings. With joy that at least a lepton was hers to give, she made her offering for the needy. The chief character was Jesus. He had watched the rivera of gold and silver flowing into the treasury, and it must have been a bright spot In that sad week to note how many gave the free-will offerings. The disciples, glad at the amounts given, knowing the need of widows, orphans, slum workers, said: "The people are very generous to-day. Rabbi." Jesus was interested in the amounts the givers took away, supremely intent upon the mind rather than the money. He had no word to say until the widow made her supreme sacrifice. He felt no pity for her; but pleasure in her as He made the . startling statement, "She has cast in more than all they that are casting Into the treasury." We would naturally have expected the Great Teacher to have sat over against the pulpit, watching how some eloquent rabbi expounded and applied the law and how the congregation listened: or in some quiet place of the choir loft beholding how the cantor led and the great choir of Levites rendered the worship of praise and the chorus took it up. Undoubtedly, He noted these things, but the only inspired record of His Interest in the temple worship tells of His sitting against the treasury. The concrete result of preaching and praise appealed to Him more than their matter in preparation or their method In delivery. As He was then, so He is to-day. The essential in our worship is how we cast Into God's treasury. That part of the service should be the service's centre. The Communion table is its only fit receptacle. To advertise "No Collection" is to eviscerate worship and turn it into a combination lecture and concert. Money is the tangible evidence of work accomplished. Our work belongs to God, and the more it is consecrated, the more of ourselves we dedicate to Him. In systematic support of the church this congregation has made rapid progress. The average given by each member, man, woman and child, is larger now than ever before. I said "given." The word is misleading. We don't "give" our taxes to pay for sr.hnnls. teachers, books and janitors. I When we go to a musicale, we don't 1 give our dollar for a seat, nor do we give something to the doctor or the roofer, when we pay their bills. Taxes for religious instruction in the Sunday school, for church property, repairs and improvements, for music, for a man to spend all his time in the care of souls and thus be as proficient as the man we pay to give all his time to the care of bodies, are obligatory in England, Germany and Russia. They are voluntary here, but no less really the equivalent of value received, the New Testament continuation of the temple dues. l am ueooiaen 10 jiujic ui juu n, as the preacher of the Gospel, I live by the Gospel. You are beholden to ^ me to see that the time I ought to use 5 for m.' work is not diverted to wor- j rying over my modest bills. The one mite was the widow's due. 1 Her credit that far was the simple one s of any person who does his duty. s Her glory is that because the times c were hard she did not omit giving ^ for some one else. Because she 1 put her beneficence on the same v basis with her obligations, she is immortalized. To speak of the widow's mite is a misnomer. One important lesson of the story is that of the du- c plex system taught by the widow's 1 two mites. ? The spirit of that double offering is !; inspiring the laymen of our Ameri- * can churches. During the winter sev- 1 enty-five men's missionary conventions in the United States consider 1 this question. Already, crowds of ? business men have come together at J1 twontv nlaces. in numbers never 1 equalled before outside of political " conventions. The largest halls were J. too small to hold the enthusiasts de- ' termined to finance the Kingdom of God as they do their own business. Determinedly they have attacked the J hoary custom of weekly offerings for * self and yearly offerings for urselflsh- ? ness, and advocated the substitute of * which this widow woman was a pioneer. Jt is "on the first day of the week to iay 'ji store as God has prospered f us." Each one is to prayerfully de- c cide hew much cf this fund is his a tithe fcr the temple tax, how much 1< his weekly gift for others. I e The weekly envelope has two coma artments, one for the tax, one ton ae gift. The tax goes for church exenses. The object of the gift foif ach Sunday Is plainly printed. EverjJ ther week it is for missions, city* ational or foreign. The alternate* reek it goes for some other beneflence. The only objections I have heard tot bis plan are: First?"Its additional expense.'* a reality 1000 sets of fifty-two duley envelones in each, cost but $161 lore than the other kind. Second?"Its complexity." One? se of it will make clear its meaning o the eight-year-old child. The du-? lex system has no duplicity. It is / implex in all but the name. Third?"Its arbitrary allotments.'* 'he church officers have carefullyi onsidered all the charities in which! ur congregation or any considerable art of it are interested, and adusted their proportionate needs. It 3 a simple matter for anyone who rishes to give one a larger percentage han thus allotted and a smaller to nother cause to write over the one he name of the other. The treasirer will invariably note the change. )nly be sure to substitute rather thaa unit! The most common criticism ia hat "it robs Peter to pay Paul." The ontributor will simply divide into wo what formerly he gave to one. / Fourth?I have heard from manjj hurcheB who have tested the theories tere expounded. Not one of them' >ut reports substantial increace in he amount given for the local hurch. One of the largest congregations of our own denomination, srhich for ten }ears found itself with i deficiency each May 1, last year, at! he close of Its first use of the twoiffering envelope, had a balance in he treasury, despite unusual ex>enses. This is but a sample testV* nony, the unexceptional rule. It ac:ords with the law of the kingdom,, 'there is that which withholdethi nore than it meet and it tendeth to >overty." 'jj Thef fifth objection Is "possible In- v ibility to carry out the promise.r" Don't dress your charity in widow's veeds unless you are poor as that yidow of the two "peelings." If so* five less. Don't stop giving, unless ill income stops. With God, the; ralue is not in the quantity, but the: luality. Against these five objections, I vould array five of the many bene- v Its: 1. Consecration. At the treasury] Christ beheld "how" (not how much)| he multitude cast. He wants you t? five, not because He needs it, but bemuse you need It. Weekly giving is m antidote vs. covetousness, a weekly) eminder of whose we are and whoml *re serve. The nickel piece for whichl / he poorest of us has a dozen use? neans more to Christ than the supgrluity of the rich, although written inf our figures. With the method now] tdopted, the minister is relieved from: hat hateful announcement: "Tfie of* ering this morning is for our own! ihurch support," and from a prayen vhich Is largely over his own salary. JVith the new giving is the new recog?< litlon that our field Is the world. ! 2. Committal. It is committal to l principle. Having once gone hrough the agony of giving up for; i year to "the other man" acertafal )art of our income, while the convalescence may be slow, the acute pain s over. From that time we are cusodians of the Lord's money, our dutjl jeing simply to hand it out. With/ >ther causes, apparently of equal ' vorth, we have npthing to do, unless 4 )ur income is suddenly Increased, | otherwise we are "Immune." Some 1 >ther person must take care of them. I [f we have given all we can in the 1 'deacon's fund" compartment, when i hard luck story comes to our door, vithout a twinge of remorse we can send the applicant to a deacon's care* 3. Comprehension. Every one giv-* ng meanfe every one interestedJ 3reat causes being more frequently ind regularly beforeyou,you will want! :o know more about your frequent inrestment. a once a year advertisenent is good. A once a week adver* isement that your responsibilities md privileges are unbounded makes neaningful your prayer. "Thy king-* lom come on earth." 4. Consecutiveness. Annual col-ections are variable as the weather md the state of the general health. They can be and are annually dodged )y otherwise regular worshipers. The double envelope is a faithful reninder to those ill, out of town, or >therwise absent one Sunday that ;heir gifts will be expected by tho 3reat Head of the Church just the same. The sinews for the war against sin should not depend upon the ilouds, nor the emotional result from ;ither a poor presentation of a good :ause or a fine presentation of a poor :ause. 5. Convenience. Most people are jaid monthly or weekly. The woman >vho could not give $25 in a lump ; >um could easily give fifty cents fifty- H wo times a year. One dollar comes fl larder than ten cents a week. In a rear, it is only one-fifth as much to he cause. If the home church deunon annual collections for ts support it would be dead. Only the inherent energy of mte;Ions keeps missions alivo during .hese weary annual offering years.. ,Vhile the board knows that a church! vill give, because its "foreign mlsiion Sunday" comeo at the end. of the 'ear, while foreign mission expenses :o 'on all through the year, good noney goes for interest on borroweAapital to supply this deficiency. j Christ confronts every Christian * vith "send or go! Your money or our life!" Your money is your ife's expression. Our rendering per lead for running expenses is six times hat of our gift to Gnd. I have no arcastic comparisons to make. I but ay your own thought, "These things iught not so to be." I aunounce the .doption of a plan for changing them, remind you that machinery is no alue without power. The Power of the Word. I knew a man once whoso wife beanie intensely interested is a revival neeting as a seeker of salvation. He vas a skeptic and a scoffer, and when ; le found her constantly reading the ^ Bible searching for some promise hat would comfort her, he said: "Bosh ! I will give you enough of hat, I will read the Bible to yoti very day, till you are sick of it;" and' ie began. Day by day when he cam? lome he read the Bible?chapter. .fter chapter, having his wife sit and isten. At last one day, when lie had inished the third chapter of John, he &id: "My wife, won'.t you pray for me?i . am n poor lost sinner;" and they, melt and prayed, and God came in aercy, and both wore converted.? teformed Church Record. * } What Holiness Is. TJr\li'nofo io on i n fi n 1" t r> mmnaacinn or others. Greatness is to take the ommon things of life arid walk truly mong them. Happiness is a great 3ve and mucii serving.?Olive Schreler.