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WIEN 'THET'M AN JN '. LOVYEF COerA/arZ /909jsr .Tzar Boooe-rt&tff/A 8YN0PSIS. I James Wilson or Jimmy as he ls called by his friends. Jimmy was rotund and looked shorter than he really was. His ambition In life was to be taken seriously, but people steadily refused to do so, his art is considered a huge Joke, except to himself, If he asked people to dinner ev eryone expected a frolic. Jimmy marries Bella Knowles: they live together a year a.nd aro divorced. Jimmy's friends ar range to celebrate the first anniversary of his divorce. The party ls In full swing when Jimmy receives a telegram from his Aunt Selina, who will arrive in four hours ito visit him and his wife. He neglects to tell her of his divorce. Jimmy takes Kit into his confidence, he tries to devise .ome way so that his aunt will not learn that he has no longer a wife. He sug gests that Kit play the hostess for one night, be Mrs. wilson pro tem. Aunt Se lina arrives and the deception works out as planned. Jim's Jap servant is taken flL Bella. Jimmy's divorced wUo. enters the house and asks Kit who is being ta ken away in the ambulance? Bella insists it ls Jim. Kit tells her Jim is well and ls tn the house. Harbison steps out on the porch and discovers a man tacking a card on the door. He demands an ex planation. The man points to the placard and Harbison sees the word "Smallpox" printed on lt He tells him the guests cannot leave the house until the quaran tine is lifted. The guests suddenly real lxe their predicament, the women shed tears, the men consider lt i good Joke. The all Important question arises as to who ls to prepare the meals and perform the other household duties. Harbison fin ally solves the matter. After the lifting of the quarantine aeveral letters are found In the mail box undelivered, one is ad dressed to Henry Llewellyn. Iqulquo, Chile, which was written ty Harbison. He describes minutely of th'lr incarcera tion, also of his infatuation :'or Mrs. Wil son. Aunt Selina is taken ill with la frlppe. Betty acts as nurse. Harbison nds Kit sulking on the roof. She tells him that Jim has been treaving her out rageously. Harbison fully believing that ?he is Mrs. Wilson, tells her that she doesn't mean the thinsrs she is saying about her husband. Kit s:arts down stairs, when suddenly she 1J grasped In the arms of a man who kisses her sev eral times, fhe believes tl at Harbison did lt and is humiliated. Aunt Selina tells Jimmy that her cameo breastpin and other articles of Jewelry hav? been stolen. She accr.ses Betty of the theft. The fol lowing morning Jimmy wai. In a rage. The papers printed a story about the In carceration of the party, ami that one of the guests had attempted to escape by means of laying a board ac.-oss the roof to the adjoining house, but waa frus trated by a detective who fired a revolver at him. CHAPTER XII. (Continued.) "I wish you would all go out." I said wearily. "If every man in the house says he didn't try to get over to the next roof last night, well ano good. But you might look and see If the board ls still lyin6 where lt fell." There was an instantaneous rush for the window, and a second's pause. Then Jimmy's voice, incredulous, awed: "Well. I'll be-blessed! There's the board !" I stayed In my room all that day My head really ached and then, too, 1 did not care to meet Mr. Harbison, If would have to come; I realized that a meeting was inevitable, but I want ed time to think how I would meet him. It would be impossible to cut bim, without rousing the curiosity of the others to fever pitch; and it was equally impossible to ignore the dis graceful episode on the stairs. As it happened, however, ? need not have worried. I went down to dinner, lan guidly, when every one was seated, and found Max at my right, and Mr. Harbison moved over beside Bella. Every one was talking at once, for Flannigan, ambling around the table as airily as he walked his beat, had presented Bella with her bracelet on a salad plate, garnished with romaine. He had found lt in the furnace room, he said, where she must have dropped it And he looked at me stealthily, to approve his mendacity! Every one was famished, and as they ate they discussed the board in the area-way, and pretended to deride 1t as a clever bit of press work, to re live a dying sensation. No one was deceived: Anne's pearls and the at tempt at escape, coming just after, pointed only to one thing. I looked .wound the table, dazed. Flannigan, almost the only unknown quantity, might have tried to escape the night before, but he would not have been in dress clothes. Besides, he must bo eliminated as far as the pearls were concerned, having beer. locked in the furnace room the night they ware stolen. There was no one among the girls to suspect. The Mercer girls had stunning pearls, and could secure all they wanted legitimately; and Bella disliked them. Oh, there was no question about it, I decided: Dallas and Anne had taken a wolf to their bosom-or Is it a viper?-and the Harbison man was the creature. Al though I must say that, looking over tLe table, at Jimmy's breadth and not very imposing personality, at Max'3 Jean length, sallow skin and bold dark eyes, at Dallas, blond, growing bald and florid, and then at the Harbi :S'.c boy, tall, muscular, clear-eyed and s mourned, one would have taken Max Lat first choice as the villain, with Dal tnoxt. Jim third, and the Harbison boy not in the running. It was just after dinner that the surprise was sprung on m 3. Mr. Har fc son came around to me gravely, z'id asked me if I felt able to go up on tl te roof. On the roof, after last n'ght! I had to gather myself togeth er; luckily, the others were pushing back their chairs, showing Flannigan the liqueur glasses to take up, and lighting cigars. 1 do not care to go," I said icily. The others are coming," he per .lsted, "and I-I could give you an .rm up the stairs." I ' "I believe you are good at that," I .?aid, looking at him steadily. "Max. will you help me to the roof?" Mr. Harbison really turned rather white. Then he bowed ceremoniously .And left me. Max got me a wrap, and every one except Mr. Harbison and Bella, who was taking a mass of indigestibles to Aunt Selina, went to the roof. "Where is Tom?" Anne asked, as we reached the foot of the stairs. "Gone ahead to fix things," was the answer. But he was not there. At [the top of the last flight I stopped, dumb with amazement; the roof had {been transformed, enchanted. It was lb fairy-land of lights and foliage and < jlors. I had to stop and rub my -,/es. From the bleakness of a tin MAN, ?CULAR ?TAJRCAae ?'TE:N,.?TC. roof in February to the brightness and greenery of a July roof garden! "You were the immediate Inspira tion, " Dallas said. "Harbison thought your headache might come from lack of exercise and fresh air, and he has worked us like nailers all day. I've a blister on my ght palm, and Har bison got shocked while he was wiring the place, and nearly fell over the parapet. We bought out two full sized florists by telephone." Max raised a glass of benedictine and posed for a moment, melodra matically. "To the Wilson roof garden!" he said. "To Kit, who inspired; to the creators, who perspired; and to Taka hiro-may he not have expired." Every one was very gay; I think the knowledge that tomorrow Aunt Selina might be with them urged them to make the most of this last night of freedom. I tried to be jolly, and suc ceeded In being feverish. Mr. Harbi son did not come up to enjoy what he had wrought. Jim brought up his guitar and sang love songs in a beau tiful tenor, looking at Bella all the time. And Bella sat in a steamer chair, with a rug over her and a spangled veil on her head, looking at the boats on the river-about as soft and as chastened as an acetylene head light. And after Max had told the most improbable tale, which Leila advised bim to sprinkle salt on, and Dallas had done a clog dance, Bella said it was time for her complexion sleep and went downstairs, and broke up the party. "If she only gave half as mucb care "Lord I the coo to her immortal soul." Anne said when I ?he had gone, "as she does to her skin, she would let that nice Harbi son boy alone. She must have been brutal to him tonight, for he went to bed at nine o'clock. At least, I sup pose he went to bed, for he shut him self in the studio, and when I knocked he advised me not to come in." I had pleaded my headache as an excuse for avoiding Aunt Selina all day. and she had not sent for me. Bella was really quite extraordinary. She was never in the habit of putting herself out for any one, and she al ways declared that the very odor of a sick-room drove her to Scotch and soda. But here she was, rubbing Aunt I Selina's back with chloroform Uni- i ment-and you know how that smells j -getting her up in a chair, dressed | in one of Bella's wadded silk robes, with pillows under her feet, and then doing her hair in elaborate puffs braiding her gray switch and bringing : lt, coronet-fashion, around the top of her head. She even put rice powder on Aunt Selina's nose and dabbed vio let water behind her ears, and said she couldn't understand why she (Aunt Selina) had never married, but, of course, she probably would some day! The result was. naturally, that the old lady wouldn't let Bella out of her sight, except to go to the kitchen for something to eat for her. That very day Bella got the doctor to order ale for Aunt Selina (oh, yes; the doctor could come In; Dal said "lt was all a comlng in, and nothing going out' ) and she had three pints of Bass, and learned to eat anchovies and caviare -all in one day. Bella's conduct to Jim was disgrace ful. She snubbed him, ignored him, tramped on him, and Jim was growing positively flabby. He spent most of his time writing letters to the board of health and playing solitaire. He was a pathetic figure. Some time during the early part of the night I wakened, and, after turn ing and twisting uneasily, I realized that I was cold. The couch in Bella's dressing room was comfortable enough, but narrow and low. I re member distinctly (that was what was so maddening: Everybody thought I dreamed it)-I remember s-ettlng an eiderdown comfort that was folded at my feet, and pulling it up around me. In the luxury of Its warmth I snug? gled down and went to sleep almost instantly. It seemed to me I had slept for hours, but it was probably an hour or less, when something roused me. The room was perfectly dark, and there was not a sound save the faint ticking of the clock, but I was wide awake. And then came the Incident that in its ghastly, horrible absurdity made the rest of the people shout with laughter the next day. It was not funny then. For suddenly the eider down comfort began to slip. I heard no footstep, not th? slightest sound approaching me, but the comfort moved; from my chin, inch by Inch, lt slipped to my shoulders; awfully, in evitably, hair-raisingly it moved. I could feel my blood gather around my heart, leaving me cold and nerveless. As it passed my hands I gave an in voluntary clutch for it, to feel lt slip away from my fingers. Then the full horror of the situation took hold of me; as the comfort slid past my feet I sat up and screamed at the top of my voice. Of course, people came running in in all sorts of things. I was still sit ting up, declaring I had seen a ghost and that the house was haunted. Dal las was struggling for the second arm hole of his dressing gown, and Bella had already turned on the lights. They said I had had a nightmare, and not to sleep on my back, and perhaps I was taking grippe. And Just then we heard Jimmy run down the stairs, aud fall over some thing, almost breaking his wrist. It was the eiderdown comfort, half-way up the studio staircase! CHAPTER XIII. He Does Not Deny lt. Aunt Selina got up the next morn ing and Jim told her all the strange* things that had been happening. She fixed on Flannigan, of course, al though she still suspected Betty of her watch and other valuables. The incident of the comfort she called nervous indigestion and bad hours. i She spent the entire day going through the storeroom and linen k next door-" closets, and running her fingers over things for dust. Whenever she found any she looked at me, drew a long breath, and said. "Poor James!" It was maddening. And when she went through his clothes and found somo buttons off (Jim didn't keep a man, and Takahiro bad stopped at his boots) she looked at me quite awfully. "His mother was a perfect house keeper," she said. "James was brought up in clothes with the buttons on, put on clean shelves." "Didn't they put them on him?" I asked, almost hysterically. It had been a bad morning, after a worse night. Every one had found fault with the breakfast, and they straggled down one at a time until I was fran tic. Then Flannigan had talked at me about the pearls, and, Mr. Harbi son had said, "Good morning," very stiffly, and nearly rattled the Inside of the furnace out Early in the morning, too, I over heard a scrap of conversation be tween the policeman and our gentle man adventurer from South America. Something had gone wrong with the telephone and Mr. Harbison was fuss ?cg over it with a screw driver and a pair of scissors--all the tools he could find. Flannigan was lifting rugs to shako them on the roof-Bella's or der. "Wash the table linen!" he waa grumbling. Til do what I can that's necessary. Grub has to be cooked, and dishes has to be washed-I'll ad mit that. If your? particular, make up your bed every day; I don't object But don't tell me we have to use 33 table napkins a day. What did folks do before napkins was Invented? Tell me thaU"-triumphantly. "What's the answer?" Mr. HarblBon inquired absently, evidently with the screw-driver in his mouth. "Used their pocket handkerchiefs! Wash clothes I will not." "Well, don't worry Mrs. Wilson about it," the other voice said. Flan nigan straightened himself with a grunt. "Mrs. Wilson!" he said. "A lot she would worry". She's been a disappoint ment to me, Mr. Harbison, me think ing that now she'd come back to him, after leavln' him the way she did. they'd be like two turtle doves. Lord' the cook next door-" (TO BE CONTJI'iUEIX)_ ?_ HJF303LE WARS and rumors of war die hard. Even at this late time in the world's history, when civilization might be supp?t to have repressed the primitive Pvt for blood and plun der, the alarm?t has only to lift his voice in congress to banish tranquility from our bosoms. Millions are riven to promote the cause of-univers .1 peace. Yet the na tions of Europe comp?te with each other for the privilege bf bearing the heaviest burden in the way of modern armaments. England trembles at the thought of Germany; Germany, with her rapidly expanding commerce, leaps to the Dreadnought type of naval construction and increases her expenditures to overcome England's two-power lead. Austria lays down four first-class battle ships. Russia ls said to be con;emplating the expendi ture of $300,000,000 on her navy. The United States is warned thaj^ln no long time Germany will oust Ber from the second place upon the seas. Not the least important business of peace would seem to be the preparation for war. One is reminded of the ancient Chi nese sage who was sent to Europe by his emperor to investigate the merits of the Christian religion. It was a troublous time. The great nations were locked in a death struggle; bat tle fields ran with blood; violent schisms sprang up and were sup pressed with slaughter; the continent was no better than a huge shambles. After the sage had looked his fill he returned to his emperor. "China ls too peaceful a nation," he said, "to be adapted to the Christian faith." Peace Dove lo Elusive. It ls possible to believe that this shrewd Oriental had not made a pro found study of Christian ethics; but at least he had seen that during some centuries of acceptance it had not availed to put an end to the horrors of war. Perhaps the essence of the thing is better understood today, and yet he would be an optimistic prophet who should declare that the era of unbroken peace had dawned. The country was -recently warned that its standing array is inadequate to repel foreign invasion. This was met by the declaration that the sea ls still the nation's impregnable bulwark, and that while the navy floats no hos tile nation could land a force. What, then, is the condition of the Ameri can navy and what are its facilities in the way of naval base and coal sup ply in the event of war? Notwithstanding the greatly increas ed cost of naval construction, which was Introduced with the Dreadnought type, the government has during some years followed the practice of laying down two battle ships annually. The appropriations for the five years end ing June 30. 1911. reach $593,727,861, as against $131,971,877 for the preced ing five-year period. This program has placed the American navy in the second place with a total of 152 ships, carrying 136 guns and having a dis placement of 717,702 tons. Germany comes next, with 209 vessels, carrying 100 guns and having a tonnage of 666, 085. Many Fighting Monsters. At the present time England and America have four Dreadnoughts each of about equal tonnage. Germany has three and Japan one. But Germany, which formerly built small battle ships, has turned to Dreadnoughts In an attempt to overcome England's great lead, and when the present pro gram of the nations has been carried out she will stand second. Britain will then have seventeen of these monster engines of destruction, Germany thir teen, the United States ten, Japan six and Russia and Italy four each. But In the meantime the Panama Canal will have been opened, and the efficiency of the American navy al most doubled. Up to now the larger portion of thc fleet has been kept In Atlantic waters, but with the canal open it would be possible to effect a chango of position in case of need without serious delay. A writer signing himself "Navarch" emphasizes, in an article on "The Dis position of Our Fighting Fleet," in the Columbian Magazine, the importance of the new naval stations in the Pa vmcsz?zr elfie. He speaks particularly of Pearl Harbor at Hawaii, where a naval base is now being established, and of the dry dock Dewey at Olongapo. slx*y miles from Manila. "The protection of our Atlantic coast," he says, "Hes in a fleet based on Guantanamo, and the protection of the Pacific coast lies in a fleet based on Pearl Harbor. Both Guantanamo and Pearl Harbor are ideally situated in their respective spheres. The form er is centrally located with reference to tho Panama Canal and our Atlantic coast, and a fleet based there would command all the avenues toward the canal. Hawaii stands in the Pacific as our outpost, and no power could successfully approach our Pacific coast without taking lt and meeting victoriously the strong fleet which we would maintain there." Facts About Magnetic Storms. Magnetic s orms are disturbances of the earth's magnetism manifested by auroral ulsplays, excitement of the magnetic needle and interruption of telegraphic communication. They are often associated with great outbursts on the sun. It has generally been as sumed that they occur simultaneously over all the earth, but Dr. L. A. Bauer now questions the correctness of this assumption. Studying a magnetic storm which occurred in May, 1902, simultaneously with the outbreak of Mont Pelee, In Martinique, he reaches the conclusion that the disturbance originated about fourteen degrees west of Martinique, and traveled east ward about seven thousand miles a minute, encircling the entire globe. Examination of the records of other storms leads him to think that such disturbances usually travel eastward, but sometimes westward, at the rate of thousands of miles a minute, so that, in general, they encircle the earth in about four minutes. North Carolina Bear Hunts. Jones county farmers are making a regular campaign against the bears, which are giving hog raisers no end of trouble. A year ago some of the farmers bought a couple of bear dogs, from which they have raised a pack. Almost dally hunts have been con ducted, and the nine hounds have never failed to get a bear. Recently there was a hunt on Mill creek, in which Lwoscore men partici pated, and these were delighted to see the skilful way in which the dogs handled the bear, the latter, true to his fighting style, sitting upon his haunches and fighting. Henry Oliver finished the bear with a bullet. The leading bear hunters are V. A. and W. H. Bender, who are the owners of the pack. In that section there are many small swamps, with a thick growth of bay and other trees, in which bears and deer take refuge. It is a capital hunting ground for northern sports men In the winter.-Raleigh corre spondence Forest and Stream. The Laird's Pictures. Some years ago a Scotch laird found on succeeding to bis estates that the house contained two portraits of a dis tinguished member of the family who had flourished during the reign of George UL, one by Reynolds and the other by Raeburn. He knew no more of pictures than a Newfoundland dog, and he decided that two portraits of the same Individual need not be kept. The Reynolds was retained, while the Raeburn was presented to a public gallery. The worthy man was struck with constrnatlon some time afterward when he found that his gift had been valued at $25,000 and probably the picture would now fetch double that amount New York's Debt ls Heavy. New Yorkers are the biggest bor rowers in the world; at least they are so collectively, for the city owes seven times as much as any other city In the country and more than one half as much as the largest 27 other cities In the land. If there is to be international rival ry, let lt be a keen competition to raise the standard of the Intelligence, happiness and comfort of the people. -Herbert Samuel. IS as easy now ?or the heart to be true. As for the grass to be green or the skies to be blue 'Tis the natural way of living. -Lowell. CHEESE DELICACIES. Cheese ls so wholesome and may be used In so many combinations of food that any new and unusual ways of serving It are always welcome. A piece an inch square, if grated, will season a dish, and the merest scrap should always be saved. When there are a few pieces that have be come dry, grate them, add a little cream, salt and pepper, a dash of ta basco and a few drops of Worcester shire sauce, put into the little jars in which the cream cheeses come and keep in the ice chest It will keep several weeks. Such cheese makes fine filling for sandwiches, and it ls nice to have some on hand for emer gencies. A few tablespoonfuls of grated cheese sprinkled over an omelet just before folding adds to the delicacy of an omelet. Cheese and Olive Salad.-Mash a cream cheese, moisten with cream, and season with salt and cayenne. Add six olives chopped fine, a half of a red pepper cut In strips and a little shredded lettuce. Press into the orig inal shape of the cheese, and let stand two hours. Cut in slices, serve on lettuce leaves with . mayonnaise dressing. Cheese with rice makes a nutritive dish. Cook the rice until the grains are tender, put a layer into a buttered baking dish, season with salt and pour over a few tablespoonfuls of thick white sauce. Sprinkle generously with grated cheese. Repeat and fin ish the top with buttered crumbs. Bake until brown. Cheese Canapes.-Toast circular pieces of bread, sprinkle with a thick layer of grated cheese, then season with salt and cayenne and place on a baking sheet and put in a hot oven to melt the cheese. Serve at once. Cheese Dreams.-Cut slices of bread very thin, remove the crusts. Cut with a biscuit cutter into rounds, cov er with thin slices of cheese, sprinkle with salt and cayenne, lay on another round of bread and saute in hot but ter. When both sides are a golden brown serve at once. I F YOU but smile another smiles. And there will be miles and miles of smiles If you but smile. FOR EVERYDAY MEALS. Save the left-over eggs from break fast and cook them until hard, four or five eggs cut in slices Into a cupful of cream sauce, seasoned with salt, pepper and onion juice, covered with crumbs and baked until hot, makes a nice hot supper or luncheon dish. The eggs may be added to escalloped potatoes, adding to the food value of that dish. Curried Eggs.-Melt two table spoonfuls of butter In a saucepan, cook a slice of onion in it until brown, then remove lt. Add two tablespoon fuls of flour, a teaspoonful of curry powder and a fourth of a teaspoonful of salt. Cook five minutes, then add one and a fourth cupfuls of milk; when thick add five hard-cooked eggs cut lengthwise. Serve at once with plain boiled rice. A little lemon juice Improves this dish for some tastes. Prunes are one of our most whole some fruits and may be served as a dessert when combined with eggs and baked. Prune Whip.-Pick over and wash a third of a pound of prunes, soak sev eral hours in cold water to cover, then cook in the same water until soft. Re move the stones, rub through a sieve and add a half cup of sugar, add to gether until thick. Beat the whites of five eggs until stiff, add the prune mixture gradually and a tablespoon ful Of lemon juice. Pile lightly In a buttered baking dish and bako in a slow oven for twenty minutes. Serve with a boiled custard or whipped cream. Calf's Liver en Casserole.-Cut the liver in slives and lard with strips of salt pork or bacon. Put the liver into the casserole, add six or eight small onions, four or five small carrots well scraped and cut in quarters, a few fresh mushrooms if at hand or dried ones previously soaked, three sprigs of parsley and two cups of strained to matoes. A pint of broth or bolling water with beef extract. Cook about two hours, add a tablespoonful each of butter and flour well mixed to the broth and the juice of half a lemon. Remove the parsley and sprinkle with fresh parsley chopped. Serve from the casserole. Healthful Mineral Waters. Mineral waters taken for constipa tion are most effective when taken upon rising. The health seekers in va rious watering places go to the min eral springs in the early morning in vast crowds. Saline waters may be taken at home in the same way with Just as satisfactory results. Poor Old Dad. "Come over and smoke awhile." "Can't. I've got to chop wood." "Why not let your kid chop th? wood?" "Oh, he's busy with the Boy Scouts." Tripped Again. "Have you ever read 'Pippa Pass es'?" "No. 1 don't care for poker sto ries." Some men are like peanuts, the bet ter for a good roasting. Manasseh's Wickedness and Penitence Sunday School Lesson for July 16, IS ll Specially Arranged for This Paper LESSON TEXT-II Chronicles 33:1-? MEMORY VERSES-12, 13. GOLDEN TEXT-"Cease to do ?rH* learn to do well."-Isa. 1:18-17. TIME-Manasseh reigned S6 years, front B C. 694-640. He began In the 289th year of the kingdom of Judah. PLACE-Judah and Jerusalem its capi-f tal. Manasseh was carried captive to Babylon for a time. 1 The Kingdom of Israel had been da? atroyed a quarter of a century befar? Manasseh began to reign. The teacher of boys or girls may to? gin by asking what a lighthouse ls flor* or a foghorn, or bell buoy In the har bor. Is it to tell the sailors where tat go? No, lt ls to tell them where not to go. Why are stories of bad men, told in the Bible, such as the one ta this lesson-? They are a warning They are pictures of a character that repels us, that urges us not to enter any path that leads to that end. During the long reign of Manasseh. Jerusalem was at peace while the? neighboring lands were harried by As syrian armies, so that Jerusalem had a large share of the trade of Palestine. The king and his subjects benefited In many ways from the immense in crease of traffic caused by the Inclu sion of Egypt and western Asia under one empire. The political rank ot Jerusalem secured to her the chief markets of the internal commerce ot Judah, as well as the gifts which lt was customary for foreign traders to leave with the lords of the territorie* they visited; and thus in spite of the. disadvantages of its site, the city? must have become a considerable em porium. Manasseh was the son and heir of Hezekiah, a great, and, on the whole? good king. His mother's name waa Hepzibah, the delight of her husband. He was only twelve years old when he began to reign In form. But in Judah; a king was not supposed to be of age until he was eighteen. For six years) Manasseh must have been to a great extent under the Influence of bis re* gents and counselors. He was the six teenth king of Judah. He reigned fifty and five years. The longest reign in the history of Judah and Israel. And he did that which was evil in th? eight of the Lord. Manasseh waa) king of the Lord's people, and hi? business was to carry out God's plan, of a peculiar people who should teach; the nations righteousness, and th? true way of living. He was a mere boy, unable at first to assert hlmsolf as a ruler. He doubt? less was waited on, petted, flattered; courted, treated as a superior being, whose will should never be checked, nor fancy thwarted; with no regular business, no hard tasks. What Manas* seh did wes popular and fashionable;! following the ways of the greatest, most cultured, most influential nation in the world, then the master of Judah. The people were doing business with the Assyrians. Trade demanded con? formity. Society was dominated bj} Assyrian influences. Moreover, manx doubtless used the same argument Rabshakeh used to Hezekiah that thq prosperity under heathen gods, and their conquering power proved that these gods were mightier than Jeho vah the God of the little Province of! Judah. (And yet the Assyrians were really near to destruction since their capital Nineveh was swept out of ex? istence in 606 B. C.) Mannasseh degraded true religion that was meant for the comfort and elevation of man, by leading his peen pie away from the one true God, the only source of help, into all manner of useless, irrational, degrading enchant ments by which the people sought for guidance and help. Thus these prac tices were treason and disloyalty. The Lord spake to Manasseh, hy means of the prophets, of whom Na hum may have been one; by mean? of his conscience, hy the ex ample of his father, by means of his conscience, by the written word, by providence. It ls not known Just when Manasseh was made to pay the pen alty of his sins, but lt must have been after many years of idolatry. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria and Manasseh was made captive. The records of Assur banipal record a review of the 22 kings of whom Manasseh was one ap parently at Nineveh. Which took Manasseh among the thorns, "in chains," margin, "with hooks." "As syrian kings sometimes thrust a hook Into the nostrils of their captives, and so led them about. He had been sailing down the Niagara rapids carelessly, and now he feels the 'tossing of the waves, the current swiftly flowing by the rocks, he sees spray over the cataract, and hears its roar. Why? In order that he may stop ere it Is too late. The bitter fruits of his wrong doing wrought the desired effect The prod igal came to himself. He besought the Lord, Jehovah, not the heathen gods he had been worshiping, who failed him in his trouble. Dr. John Todd once represented th? Judgment day as our coming into a great hall whose walls were hung with pictures on which were painted all the sins that we have ever committed. On one picture are painted all the had words that we have ever spoken; on another all the Jealousies we hav* ever felt; on another all the coveting* of our hearts, all the wrong bargains we have ever made, all the unkindness to our parents and friends of which we have ever been guilty, all our prayerless mornings and evenings, all our neglect of God's word, all our In gratitude towards our heavenly Fa? ther and our hard feelings towards him, all our abuse of the Sabbath and the means of grace, all our neglect of the Saviour and our grieving away the Holy Spirit. What pictures would our sins-open sins, secret sins, heart sins, and life-long sins-make! What a terrible hall that would be! God showed Manasseh clearly that he forgave him. by the fact that he brought him again to Jerusalem. We do not know how he influenced thc king to restore him. Such pardon from a king of Assyria was rare, hui not unparalleled. Pharaoh Necho L was taken in chains to Nineveh, and afterwards set free. .