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Jp/ 4" ^ ' I rHE LEXINGTON DISPATCH, , ^ _ - ? - ,. u ADVERTISING RATES: $ a ^ ^ y /?x M f?v Advertisements will be inserted at tbe r ? ; >j w iVVtititriYit llttftEtrHl =32 = By Godfrey JfMm IMarmon^ A B B I I IB I I I I I I B*- "^^B I ^^BB yl I 1^ / I I Liberal contracts made with those wishLEXINGTON, C. H., S. C. ' f i v a vi *aj 1"h < www^'/vfl^ ,L . v V U ' Notices in local column 10c. per line ci ' each insertion. 3*p| , . Marriage notices inserted free. 1ERXS OF SUBSCRIPTION. : ? * ' ' ' Obituaries over ten lines charged for at $160 ?? ?? 7? * regular advertising rates. :7eseee:': vol. xx. Lexington, s. c., wednesda!, December 25, m no. 5. ? , -? ^?^1?????i^^____ HOLIDAY CLOTHING AT % L. EFSTIH'S, Undor Columbia Hotel. Will offer for the holiday seasons the following line of (111. UR | AND p Furnishing Goods, At such low prices which will defy competitor) at home or abroad. 75 Fine Suits in Cutaways, Sacks and Prince Alberts. 125 Medium grade Suits to suit all classes of merchants, mechanics and tradesmen at less than cost of production. ( 150 Assorted Children and School Suits below cost. 50 Assorted Children and Boys' Overcoats at a bargain. 75 Very Fine Overcoats to sell cheaper than the cheapest. 250 Assorted all "Wool Overcoats to sell from $2 ea' h and upwards. 2,500 Pairs Assorted Pants for dre&s and common wear at very low figures. 200 Choice Single Coats at half price. 250 Assorted Vests at low prices. SILK HATS, Fl B HATS, WOOL HATS of every style of the latest fashion at tremen dous low prices. Unde 'wear and Neckwear to sell regardless of cost. VALISES, TRUNKS AND UMBRELLAS most $e sold way below their worth. I invite the public to inspect my stock, as they will find it to their inierest to make their purchases tor the holiday season at. LTepstin,! ?' UNDER COLUMBIA HOTEL. t r 151 MA/N STREET, Sept. 7-tf -LOAN AND EXCHANGE? STATE, CITY A YD C01.YTY DEPOSITORY. COLUMBIA, S. C. .Paid up Capital $120,000 Surplus Fund 25,000 Undivided Profits 22,500 Transacts a general banking business. Careful attention given to Collections. savi\c departhe.it. Deposits ot SI and upwards received. Interest allowed at the rate of 4 per cent, per annnin, payable quarterly on the first days of January, April Jnly and October. A. a HASKELL, President. JULIUS H. WALKER, Cashier. June 10?lv "MILLER BROS.' Are AMERICAN, and the BEST. LEADING BUSINESS PENS. Hi* 87 Falcon * and nos. 75, 117, 1, acme. LEADING STUB PENS. Carbon Stub And Nos. 119, 102, Grant Pen. LEADING LEDGER PENS. Karkham And Nos. 101, 505, 030. LEADING SCHOOL PENS. *??* : And Nos. 333, 444, 16. The Miller Bros. Cutlery Co.. Meriden, Conn. manufacturers or Steel Pens, Ink Erasers and Pocket Cutlery. JbJT THE BAZAAR. October 9 th?ly. ' COMMERCIAL BANK. COLUMBIA, S. C. ! 'Capital Authorized ?.$100,000 'Capital Subscribed $83,900 , Transacts a Banking and Exchange busi- 1 ness. Keceives Deposits. Interest allowed on Time Deposits. Books of snbscription still open. Safety Deposit Boxes to rent at $6 per annum. C. J. Iredell, James Iredell, Presidont. Cashier. Jno. S. Leaphabt, Vice-President. Nov. 28?ly j BROOKI AND Mil DEMI PROF. G. a. LUCAS, Principal. OPENS ITS SECOND SCHOOL SES- ; sion September 2, 1889. This Institation offers unusual advantages to those seeking an education at home or preparation for college. j A thorough curriculum of English, also , Latin, Greek, French, Book-keeping, Ac., will be taught. ' Miss Mamie Ford, an accomplished young lady of Columbia, will give instructions in Music and Stenography. Board in good families at very reasonable 1 rates. TUITION ' . r j From One to Three Dollars per month, ( according to grade of pupil. . For farther particulars address G. A. LUCAS. Principal, or M. H. Witt, 2 Chairman Board of Trustees, 1 ^ New Brooklacd, S. C. c August 2l-39tf; - 1 THE MIRACLE AT CAN A. 1, DR. TALMAGE ON THE TRANSFORMA- \ | TION OF WATER INTO WINE. j ] ??? An Eloquent Sermon Preached on Blbli- | cal Ground?Christ Lores the Housekeeper?He Comes in the Hour of Ex- ; j tremlty?He Wants Us to Be Happy. Near Casta, Dec. 22.?The Rev. T. j J De Witt Talraage, D. D., preached j here today on "A Marriage Feast," j < taking for his text John ii, 10: "Thou ! i hast kept the gopd wine until now." : c He said: ! t Standing not far off from the demol- ; \ ishad town of what was once called | 1 Cana of Galilee, T bethink myself of ' our Lord's first manhood miracle, which lias been the astonishment of the ages. My visit last week to that place makes vivid in my mind that beautiful occurrence in Christ's minis try. My text brings us to a wedding ; in tbat village. It is a wedding in j common life, two plain people having ; J pledged each other, hand and heart, ' j and their friends having come in for congratulation. The joy is not the 1 less because there is no pretension. ' In each other they find all the ( future they want The daisy in the | cup on the table may mean as much as a score of artistic garlands fresh from the hothouse. When a daughter goes off from home with nothing but a plain fathers blessing and a plain * mother's love, she is missed as much as though she were a princess. It ! seems hard, after the parents have sheltered her for eighteen years, that * in a few short months her affections j should have been carried off by an- , other; but mother remembers how it was in her own case when she was * young, and so she braces up until the , wedding has passed, and the banqueters are gone, and she has a good cry all alone. Well, we are today at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus and his mo- * ther have been invited. It is evident that * there are more people there than were expected. Either some people have come who were not invited, or more . invitations have been sent out than it was supposed would be accepted. Of \ course there is not enough supply of \ wine. You know that there is noth ing more embarrassing to a house- \ keeper than a scant supply. Jesus sees the embarrassment, and he comes up immediately to relieve it. He sees | standing six water pots. lie orders the servants to fill them with water, * then waves his hand over the water, [ and immediately it is wine?real wine. * Taste of it, and see for yourselves; . no logwood in it, no strychnine in it, but first rate wine. I will not now be 1 diverted to the question so often ' discussed in my own country, whether it is right to drink wine. I am de- ( scribing the scene as it was. When ( God makes, wine he makes the very i best wine: and one hundred and thirty gallons of it standing around in these r l water pots? wine so good that the ruler ^ of the feast tastes it and says: "WJUy, j this_J? bctmr anything we . have had! Thou hast kept the good j ^ wine until now." Beautiful miracle 1 I A prize was offered to the person who I should write the best essay about the j j miracle in Caua. Long manuscripts i s were presented in the competition, but j ' a poet won the prize by just this one ! j line descriptive of the miracle: j ^ The unconscious water saw its God. and blushed. ; ^ We learn from this miracle, in the first place, that Christ has sympathy < with housekeepers. You might have j thought that Jesus would have said: , "I cannot be bothered with this house- , hold deficiency of wine". It is not for me, Lord of heaven, of earth, to become caterer to this feast. I have ( vaster things than this to attend to." ' Not so said Jesus. The wine gave out, j 1 and Jesus, by miraculous power, came i * to the rescue. Does there ever come a ! * scant supply in your household? Have j you to make a very close calculation ? ; * Is it hard work for you to carry on j ^ things decently and respectably? If j ] so, don't sit down and cry. Don't go : out and fret; but go to him who stood ( in the house in Cana of Galilee. Pray , in the parlor! Pray in the kitchen! . Let there be no room in all your house ^ uncons*xrrated by the voice of piayer. If you have a microscope, put under * it one drop of water, and see the in- * sects floating about; and when you \ see that God makes them, and cares for them, and feeds them, come to the | c conclusion that he will take care of A you and feed you, oh, ye of little faith! 41 TRUST IN GOD. * A boy asked if he might sweep the _ snow from the steps of a house. The 'J lady of the household said: "Yes; you ^ seem very poor." He says: "I am very poor." She says: "Don't you sometimes get discouraged, and feel . that God is going to let you starve?" j J The lad looked up in the woman's face | and said: "Do you think God will let ' me starve when I trust him, and then j t do the best I can ?" Enough theology j f for older people! Trust m God and j h do the best you can. Amidst all the v worriments of housekeeping, go to j b him; he will help you control your i 1; temper, and supervise your domestics, | i and entertain your guests, and man- j t age your home economies. There are c hundreds of women weak, and nerv- {ous, and exhausted with the cares of c housekeeping. I commend you to the * Lord Jesus Christ as the best adviser 1 and the most efficient aid? the Lord t Jesus who performed his first miracle to relieve a housekeeper. i r I learn also from this miracle that p Christ does things in abundance. I [< think a small supply of wine would n have made up for the deficiency. I p think certainly they must have had v enough for half of the guests. One gal- f Ion of wine will do; certainly five gal- il Ions will beenough; certainly ten. But u Jesu$ goes on, and lie gives them , e thirty gallons, and forty gallons, and ' i; fifty gallons, and seventy gallons, and j 1; one hundred gallons, and one hundred ; a and thirty gallons of the very best I t WHIG. v. It is iust like hiin, doing everything t on the largest and most generous scale. 1 Does Christ, our creator, go forth to v make leaves? He makes them by the c whole forest full; notched like the t r| fern, or silvered like the aspen, or i broad like the palm; thickets in the tropics, Oregon forests. Does he go . forth to make flowers? He makes plen- 1 tv of them; they flame from the hedge, c they hang from the top of the grape- c pine in blossoms, they roll in the blue ! wave of the violets, they toss their ; white surf into the spiraea?enough for " ivery child's hand a flower, enough to make for every brow a chaplet, y jnough with beauty to cover up the jhastliness of all the graves. Does , le go forth to create water? He pours c t out, not by the cupful, but by a f iver full, a lake full, an ocean full, * pouring it out until all the earth has inough to drink, and enough with vMcLtowash^ _ *$' *** ' - y Does Jesus, our Lord, provide reiemption? It is not a littTe salvation for this one, a little for that, and a little for the other; but enough for all? ' Whosoever will, let him come." Each man an ocean full for himself. Promises for the young, promises for ihe old, promises for the lowly, promises for the blind, for the halt, for the outcast, for the abandoned. Pardon for all, comfort for all, mercy for all, leaven for all; not merely a cupful of Jospel supply, but one hundred and thirty gallons" Ay, the tears of godly repentance are all gathered up into jkxTs bottle, and some day, standing before the throne, we will lift our cup >f delight and ask that it be filled with ,he wine of heaven; and Jesus, from-hat bottle of tears, will begin to pour n the cup, and we will cry: "Stop, Fesus, we do not want to drink our >wn tears!" and Jesus will say: 'Know ye not that the tears of earth ire the wine of heaven?" Sorrow may 3iidure, but joy cometh in the morning. HK HELPS US TO BE MERRY. I remark further, Jesus does not j *1.icivo <->f wifl) I115 nwn I Miauw Vf tliV JVJ O \/i VVWV4U ....r w griefs. He might have sat down in :hat wedding and said: "I have so much trouble, so much poverty, so much persecution, and the cross is joining; I shall not rejoice, and the rloom of my face and of my sorrows shall be cast over all this group." So said not Jesus. He said to himself: ''Here are two persons starting out in married life. Let it be a joyful occasion. I will hide my own griefs. I will kindle their joy." There are many not so wise as that. I know a louse hold" where there are many little children, where for two years the musical instrument has been kept shut because there has been trouble in the tiousc. Alas for the folly! Parents saying: "We will have no Christmas ;ree this coining holiday because there nas been trouble in the house. Hush ;hat laughing- up stairs! How can here be any joy when there has been so much trouble?" And so they make jverything consistently doleful, aud send their sons and daughters to ruin with the gloom they throw around them. Oh, my dear friends, do you not enow those children will have trouble mou^h of . their own after a while? Be glad they cannot appreciate all yours. Keep back the cup of bitterness from your daughter's lips. When s our head is down in the grass of the :omb, poverty may come to her, betrayal to her, bereavement to her. Keep back the sorrows as long as you Jan. Do you not know that son may, iftera while, have his heart broken? Stand between him and all harm. iTou may not fight his battles long; aght thein while you may. Throw not the eliill of your own despondency aver his soul; rather be like Jesus, who came to the wedding hiding his )wn grief and kindling the joys of >thers. So I have seen the sun.'on a lark day. struggling amidst clouds, jtaok, ^ragged ^rteutoiis. but leavik^'inack^he^biackne^; *^<1 the tan laughed to the lake, and the lake aughed to the sun, and from horizon o horizon, under the saffron sky, the water was all turned into wine. I learn from this miracle that Christ is not impatient with the luxuries of life. It was not necessary that they ihould have that wine. Hundreds of people have been married without any : wine. We do not read that any of he other provisions fell short. When Jhrist made the wine it was not a necessity, but a positive luxury. I do aot believe that he wants us to eat iard bread and sleep on hard mat;resses, unless we like them the best. [ think, if circumstances wi}f allow, we have a right to the luxuries of Iress, the luxuries of diet and the luxaries of residence. There is 110 more "eligion in an old coat than in a new me. We can serve God drawn by golden plated harness as certainly as when we go a-foot. Jesus Christ will Iwell with us under a fine ceiling as well as under a thatched roof; and when you can get wine made out of water, drink as much of it as you can. What is the difference between a Chinese mud hovel and an American lome? What is the difference be;ween the rough bear skins of the Russian boor and the outfit of an American gentleman? No difference, ixcept that which the Gospel of Christ, lirectly or iudirectly, has caused. When Christ shall have vanquished ill the world, I suppose every house vill be a mansion, and every garment t robe, and every horse an arch-neck;d courser, and every carriage a glitering vehicle, and every man a king, md every woman a queen, and the vhole earth a paradise; the glories of he natural world harmonizing with he glories of the material worm, until . he very bells of the horses shall ingle the praises of the Lord. CHRIST LOVES OUR LAUGHTER. I learn, further, from this miracle, hat Christ has no impatience with estal joy, otherwise1 he would not lave accepted the invitation to that redding. He certainly would, not lave done that which increased the lilarity. There may have been many n that room who were happy, but here was not one of them that did so nuch for the joy of the wedding >artv as Christ himself. He was the hief of the banqueters. When the vine gave out, he supplied it; and so, take it, he will not deny us the joys hat are positively festal. * I think the children of God have uore right to laugh than any other eople, and to clap their hands as ludly. There is not a single joy deied them that is given to any other eople. Christianity does uot clip the rings of the soul. Religion does not rost the flowers. What is Christiantv? I take it to be simply a proclamation from the throne of God of - -L- - - r n J mancipation jural! Uiccusia\cu, ani? f a man accepts the terms of that proc- I amatiou, and becomes free, has he not ] right to be merry? Suppose a fa- , her has an elegant mansion and large j [rounds. To whom will he give the i irst privilege of these grounds? Will tesay: "My children, you must not 1 valk through these paths, or sit ! lown under these trees, or pluck < his fruit. These are for outsiders. Chey may walk in them." No ather would say anything like hat. He would say: "Ihe first priv- I ioges in all the grounds, and all i >f my house, shall be for my own ^ :hildren." And yet men try to make . is believe that God's children are on he limits, and the chief refreshments ! md enjoyments of life are for outsid- J ;rs, and not for his own children. It is itark atheism. There is no innocent leverage too rich for God's child to lrink; there is no robe too costly for ; lira to wear; there is no hilarity too 1 ,rreat for hirn*to indulge in, and 110 ] louse too splendid for him to live in. \ ie has a right to the joys of earth; he , hall have a right to the joys of heav- * n. Though tribulation, "and trial, Jld hardship may come untoJum* let / / . / 'A him rejoice. '"ilejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and again 1 say, rejoice." I remark again that Christ comes to us in the hour of our extremity. He knew the wine was giving out before there was any embarrassment or mortification. Why did he not perform the miracle sooner? Why wait until it was all gone, and no help could come from any source, and then come in and* perform the miracle? This is Christ's way; and when he did come in, at the hour of extremity, he made first rate wine, so that they cried out: ''Thou hast kept thogood wine until now." Jesus in the hour of extremity! lie seems to prefer that hour. In a Christian home in Poland great poverty had come, and on the week day the man was obliged to move out of the house with his whole family. That night he knelt with his family and prayed to God. While they were kneeling in prayer there was a tap on the windoVr pane. They opened the window, and there was a tViat fix* f-imilu had fad and la VVI1 1/iJUb VUV ?? .... trained, and it had in its bill a ring all set with precious stones, which was found out to be a ring belonging to the royal family. It was taken up to the king's residence, and for the honesty of the man in bringing it back he had a house given to him, and a garden and a farm. Who was it that sent the raven tapping on the window? The same God that sent the raven to feed Elijah by the brook Cherith. Christ in the hour of extremity 1 You mourned over your sins. You could not find the way out. You sat down and said: "God will not be merciful. He has cast me offbut in that, the darkest hour of your history, light broke from the throne, and Jesus said: "0 wanderer, come home. I have seen all thy sorrows. In this, the hour of thy extremity, I offer thee pardon and everlasting life!" Trouble came. You were almost torn to pieces by that trouble. You braced yourself up against it. You said: "I will be a stoic, and will not care ;" but before you had got through making the resolution, it broke down under you. You felt that all your resources were gone, and then Jesus came. "In the fourth watch of the night," the Bible says, "Jesus came walking on the sea." Why did he not come in the first watch? or in the second watch? or in the third watch? I do not know. He came in the fourth, and gave deliverance to his disciples. Jesus in the last extremity I WILL YOU LET CHRIST COME? 1 # Ml 1 l wonuer 11 11 win uesom uur very last extremity. We shall fall suadenly sick, and doctors will come, but in vain. We will try the anodynes and the stimulants and the bathings, but all in vain. Something'will say: "You must go.'' No one to hold us back, but the hands of eternity stretched out to pull us on. What then? Jesus will come to us, and as we say, "Lord Jesus, I am afraid of that water; I cannot wade through to tlnf Artier side," he will sa^ 'Take houT of my arm and?we' will take hold of his arm, and then he will put _ his foot in the eurf of taking us on down deeper, deeper, deeper, and our soul will cry: "All thy waves and billows have gone over me." They cover $ie feet, come to the knee, . pass the girdle and come to the head, and our soul cries out: "Lord Jesus Christ, I cannot hold thine arm anv longer." Then Jesus will turn around, throw both his arms about us, and set us on the beach, far beyond the toss ing of the billows. Jesus in the last extremity. That wedding scene is gone now. The wedding ring has been lost, the tankards have been broken, the house is dowu; but Jesus invites us to a grander wedding. You know the Bible says that the church is the Lamb's wife, and the Lord will after awhile come to fetch her home. There will be gleaming of torches in the sky, and the trumpets of God will ravish the air with their music; and Jesus will stretch out l|is hand, and the church, robed in white, will put aside her veil, and look up into the face of her Lord the king, and the bridegroom will say to the bride: "Thou hast been faithful through all these years! The mansion is ready! Come liome I Thou art fair, my love!" and then he shall put upon her brow the crown of dominion, and the table will be spread, and it will reach across the skies, and the mighty ones of heaven will come in, garlanded with beauty and striking their cymbals; and the bridegroom and bride will stand at the head of the table, and the banqueters, looking up, will wonder and admire, and say: "That is Jesus the bridegroom? But the scar on his brow is covered with the coronet, and the stab in his side is covered with a robe!" and "That is the bride! The weariness of her earthly woe lost in the flush of this wedding triumph!" There will be wine enough at that wedding; not coming up from the poisoned vats of earth, but the vineyards of God will press their ripest clusters, and the cups and the tankards will blush to the brim with the heavenly vintage, and then all the banqueters will drink standing. Esther having come up from the bacchanalian revelry of AJhasuerus, where a thousand lords feasted, will be there. And the queen of Sheba, from the banquet of Solomon, will be there. And the mother of Jesus, from the wedding- in Cana, will be there. And they all will agree thai the earthly feasting was poor compared with that. Then, lifting their chalices in that holy light, they shall cry to the Lord of the feast: "Thou hast kept the good wine until now." Pimples!on the Face Denote an impure state of the blood and are looked upon by many with suspicion. Acker's Blood Elixir will remove all impurities and leave the complexion smooth and clear. There is nothing that will so thoroughly build up the constitution, purify and strengthen the whole system. Sold and guaranteed by Dr. M. Q. Hendrix. Horse meat is said to be selling at seven cents per pound in Berlin, and such is the increasing scarcity of beef the juice of horse flesh constantly increases, and the supply of it has so diminished that butchers can bardly supply their customers. . . There are more than forty thousand Chinese in San Francisco. They form neaii^one-seventh of the city's population afil it is computed that they send twelve million dollars a rear from fheir earnings to China. Subscribe for this paper. > r ( I ? 1 Jr iODDS AND ENDS. The Dhosphate lands of Florida are to be cfeveloped<by a New York com- < pany. They ait said to be very rich. ] The camel is used successfully as a 1 pack animal ifc Australia, and is con- ' sidered superkfr to the mule for that ( region. < John Lafountain, who died near j Huntington, Ind., the other day was , a grandson of the last chief of the Miami Indians. i j Stains, on a'ceiliug should be care- ( fully scraped sufficiently to take otf the oltU whitewash, and washed with j cleat"! water before rewhitewashing. j Then whitewash with good white- , wash. 1 Jefferson Davis departed this life olmncf niiAsti*pfieldian urbanitv. 1 his last words being: "Pray, excuse me." Lord Chesterfield's last words were: "Give Payrolles a chair." An English guest, upon being asked his opinion of American crosscountry riders, said ie thought them "the horsiest set on foot and the footiest on horse" he had ever seen. A resident of Murfreesboro, Tenn., presented a ticket.issued in 1855 on*the j Nashville and Chattanooga railroad ( the other day, and rode in a palace on the same piece of pasteboard that j would have secured him passage in j one of the clumsy coaches of thirtyfour years ago. Abyssinia proper is a great plateau < rising abruptly from the Red sea to a j height of from 8,000 to 10,000 feet, ( with mountains towering some 4,000 < to 6,000 feet higher. Its two great ( rivers, the Abai and the Atbara, are ( both feeders of the Nile, the former ( having long been regarded as the j main stream of the great river. ' The \ population numbers about 3,000,000. \ Capt. E. S. Drake, a prominent far- t mer of Marlboro county, South Caro- s Una, has gathered the phenomenal 1 yield of 254 bushels and forty pounds i of corn from one acre. This beats the i world's record. The highest yield J heretofore that is on record at the na- i tional department of agriculture is 212 < bushels and a fraction, raised by Dr. J. < W. Parker, near Columbus, in 1853. t Capt. Drake is competing for a $1,000 ] prize. . ( At last benevolent genius has dis- * L/vmt Mf^olro lifn >\!nowqnt fnr 1 UU V U1 UU 11 VJTi tv umnv ? v. the wealthy Londoners. The court 1 bureau, limited, is going to leave cards for them, send out invitations, engage servants, select houses, take rooms for them at hotels when they go-abroad, | and even regain tables at restaurants, i After many days the popular idea of i a "lady" sfe a person who sits in silks j and satins upon a sofa reading novels j all day will be realized. Who knows < that the court bureau may not work a i revolution in the destinies of woman? i France has now a "sleeping girl." '< She belongs in the department of the ( Olse, and her slumber is not that of J one in a peaceful trance, but is agitated 1 like h-udgy thA yffin- . J euc? of the nightmare or the "XTues. 5 A dispatch says: "For the past nine 1 days sh? has been plunged into this ( somnolency, during which she some- ? times beats himself on the head and * breast and utters unintelligible excla- f mations. Bouillon is now and then ( poured down her throat when she 1 opens her mouth, and by this means she is kept alive. The girl, .who is 20 j years old, and a farm servant, has had J brief fits of drowsiness before, but 1 none of them lasted so long as the ( present one." Compariug Rainfalls. Rainy days are so much more ( frequent in England than in the i United States that it is difficult for us . to bear in mind that more rain falls . on the Atlantic coast of the United . States than in Great Britain. The average annual rainfall of Philadelphia is six inches more than that of London, and Glasgow has a smaller actual rainfall than London. This is as true of New York as it is of Philadelphia, and most of our American s cities have a larger annual precipita- i tion than English cities. t The difference is that while the Eng- j lish rainfall is distributed over a vast s number oL rainy and cloudy days, our <. rainy days are rarer, but when it rains ? it comes down bv the bucketful. An t English rainy day is easy to stand ( with a light umbrella, because at no \ time will it rain very hard; here the t same amount of rain will fall in a i single drenching storm. The result is I that it is comparatively easy to keep i about, to row, to ride or to walk 011 an t English rainy day; here it is almost j impossible to keep up any exercise \ whatever in the rains. When, as is the case this year, our rainfall is a full fourth heavier than usual, Philadelphia has 50 per cent. ? more rainfall than London, although \ the seventy or eighty brilliant clear days in the past year are fully up to the English average.?Philadelphia* Press. Make Believe. The New England Primer impressed s the alphabet upon the memory of an ^ earlier generation by certain rhymed a couplets. The lines which served as a { hook on which to hang the letter C? r The Gat doth play, And after slay? , have their statements of fact fully c substantiated by a communication tc Nature: Animals have a keen sense of "making believe," which is the essence of play. A child's first game is bo-peep ?a make believe. When a pair of friendly dogs have a jolly tussle, they 11 make believe to engage in deadly t. combat 0 A striking instance of this occurred I to me some years back. I gave a dead s mouse to a kitten. It was the first ^ time she had seen one, and she sniffed at it inquisitively before deciding on ^ tossing it about. * A pair of slippers lay on the floor. She dropped it into one of them, and immediately proceeded to look for it s most zealouslv in the other slipper, a till I took up the first, which contained 1 her booty; then she showed that it was no real lack of memory that had t1 sent her on the bootless search.? 11 Youth's Companion. t h Caution to Mothers. J Every mother is cautioned against giving her_c]iild laudanum or pare- n goric; it creates an unnatural craving a for stimulants'which kills the mind ^ of the child. Acker's Baby Soother ^ is specially prepared to benefit the ( children and cure their pains. It is harmless and contains no Opium or Morphine. Sold by Dr. M. Q. Hen- i drix. New York expends $100,000 a month in street-cleaning. c: \ German School Life. In the course of a lecture ou "A V'isit to German Schools," recently ielivered in Bradford by Mr. T. G. Rooper, British inspector of schools, president of the local branch of the teachers' guild, he gave a description )f a higher board school for girls ^Burgerschule) as drawn bv a German jchoolmaster. Next he described a typical school inspection, first in the kvords of a German school inspector md then in the words of one of the [lead teachers, and finally in the words >f the scholastic newspapers. In one place a teacher got only ?45 for teaching 170 children. In Anhalt :own teachers begin with ?50, and rise in twenty-five years to ?105; in the country they get ?6 to ?10 less. As a natural result the applications for admission to training colleges are falling olf. The work required of the teachers, too, was excessive. In Silesia, Fell hammer, four teacners nave 10 teach 680 children iu nine classes. In Salzbrunu, Head Teacher Bohin has 220 children to teach by himself. In Dittersbach, four teacners have 700 children in seven classes, and of these two classes only get six hours a week. The number of children legally allowed in one class is 120, but it is often exceeded. This is the dark side of the picture. Looking at the other side, in the very best schools (as in Berlin) the teachers are well paid, and thfere is i large number of applications for posts; the classes are smaller, and in >ome cases the teachers are "specialists,1' and take, say, all the arithmetic >r all the drawing in the school. But generally not only were the teachers >verworked, but the routine for the children was overcrowded. The discontent of the Prussian teachers havng culminated in a joint movement, ;hey were a few weeks ago forbidden o make a "mass petition." One dis;rict inspector has gone so far as to issue an order that "expressions in eachers' unions' statutes which set up is the task of the union the furtherng of the interests of the elementary schools and of teachers in them are lot permissible." The social position if the German teacher has evidently leclined. In 1870 Bismarck claimed ;liem as his staDC-hest allies, and the public extolled them highly. Now a change has set in. The comic press md reactionaries in and out of parlianeut combine to flout the unnappy pedagogue.?St. James' Gazette. A Meaeenffer of the Infinite. There is one thought which I place rar above opinions and hypothesis; it s that morality is the serious and true -hing par excellence, and that it sufices by itself to give life a meaning ind an end. Impenetrable veils conceal from us the secret of this strange world, of which the reality at once iwes and overwhelms us; philosophy rnd science will forever pursue, without attaining it, the formula of this Proteus, which no reason can measure, which uo laggfrage can express. But there isone incfubitahfe-basis'which no , skepticism can-'snaae, una i?? nhiii nan will find to the end of time the me lixed point of his uncertainties; joodness is goodness, evil is evil. Science and criticism in my eyes are secondary things beside the necessity rf preserving trie traditions of goodaess. I am more convinced than ever that he moral life corresponds to an object, [f the end of life were happiness nerely, there would be no reason for listinguishingthedestiuy of man from hat of inferior beings. But morality s not synonymous with the art of being happy. As soon as sacrifice becomes a duty and a need, I see no limit ;o the horizon which opens before me. Like the perfumes from the islands of -he Ervthrean sea, which floated over he waters and lured the mariner on, his divine instinct is to me an augury >f an unknown land, and a messenger >f the Infinite.?Ernest Renan. Eating; Before Sleeping;. Dr. W. Washburn, in a note on the ?ubject of "Eating Before Sleeping," 11 The Medical Record, says: "Now i i.. ?ii.. ? ....^ e? -xi-l .Here is reaiiy uu cacusc aw iuc utu >rejudice, and we are only able to ;leep weli without first eating" (especially if hungry) by long training igainst nature. .For is it not a fact hat the stomach requires more blood luring the period of digestion, and vhat more natural, theu, than that he blood be drawn from the brain, as t is the most vascular organ of the xxly, and during sleep less blood is equired in the brain? Hence di<*esion should aid sleep, and sleep aid digestion.1'?New York Commercial Adre rtiser. Daly Appreciated. "Is this the postoffice?" he queried, is he stepped inside the storm doors vitli a letter in his hand. "It is," replied the man addressed. "Could I mail a letter here?" ' Yes, sir." "And it'll go right out, will it?" "No doubt of it." "Thanks! I like this town. Things ire business here. It is evident that :ou people like to see a man get ilong, and you won't lose anything >y it. I'll speak a good word for your >ostofilce wherever I go,"and if I can lelp it any I shall be only too glad to In so."?Detroit Free Press. . A Duty to Yourself. It is surprising that people will ise a common ordinary pill when hey can secure a valuable English ne for thcsame money. Dr. Acker's English Pills are a jtosilioe cure for ick-headache and all liver troubles, .liey are small, sweet, easily taken nd do not gripe. Sold by Dr. M. Q. lendrix. % A small boy in Luzerne, N. Y., is aid to be able to "play 'Parsifal' on blade of grass held between his humbs." Such musical prodigies re numerous. A four year old l>oy a a country town can play airs on a in pan, by simply striking it with a lammer, which cannot be distinguished from selections from a Waglerian ojiera. There are two wings by which a lan soars above the world?sincerity nd purity. The former regards the itention, the latter the affection, hat aspires and aims at a likeness to rod, that makes us really like Him. Money makes the man, but man as to make the money first. A man is not necessarily a heavy i alibre because he has a large mouth. J i There's only one man in a thousand they say, Who correctly whistles a tune. But ev'ry man thinks he's that one, alas! And puckers his month like a loon. THE SCIENCE OF FIRES. A Boston Man Make* a New Suggestion, To Use Electricity Witti Safety. Gen. Francis A. Walker, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was interviewed by a Herald man on the practical lessons of the fire. He said: "Of course, I have not made a study of this fire, and am not prepared with an opinion as to its origin. It is said to have been started bv electric wires, and I have no doubt this is the case. At any rate, it has opened the way for many objections to the use of electricity. This great agent undoubtedly is dangerous. It has been introduced so extensively in a short time and has been put to so many uses that the public has become tern fied from the numerous accidents that have occurred. The experience of the pasttwentv-five years has proved that the world cannot decline a great agent of power because of the liabilities that attach to it in proportion to its benefits. The general use of electricity is meeting with opposition, but its final universal adoption is certain. There will be accidents and there will be fires, but the immense power needed to run street cars and to li^ht cities cannot be obtained without this cost. There are as yet comparatively few men who have had the scientific training and practical experience to use it with the best results?the maximum of power and the minimum of danger. It is chiefly handled by two classes of men. There are cranks who are full of enthusiasm and theory, and almost without practical knowledge or application, and there are workmen who have had something to do with electrical machinery, nave picked up some ideas, and blunder ahead after a fashion. This will change in time, and electrical matters will be in charge of men from our scientific schools, who acquire the experience readily, and are soon fully equipped for the business. "There is one thing that I have thought might be useful in this connection. It is that a thoroughly competent scientific man be appointed to make a practical study of fires. He should have no duties other than this, and should have every possible facility for worlf. He should go to every fire in the city, study its progress ana the accompanying air currents and meteorological phenomena. He could keep a chart of the fire for reference and comparison. I think such a man could, with advantage, inform himself upon the gases, if any, generated by building materials and the contents of mercantile houses when subjected to great heat. He could profitably increase our knowledge as to what constitues a fireproof building. "The value of open squares and parks in case of a big fire cannot be .overestimated. They form vantage iiomts ijvm wiiicii. uie nremen can work; thfejralrow 'the acpaitmcat %o concentrate its fight at a narrower point, and afford much practical its well as moral assistance. The narrow streets and the 'shammy' way in which many buildings are constructed are a constant meuance to Boston. The only way which will result in good is for one man to put up a substantial structure and then for his neighbors to do the sacpe, and so ou until the class of buildings is improved."?Boston Herald. A Mathematical Prodigy* Sam Summers, the negro prodigy, was in town yesterday, and, as usual, entertained a largo crowd, who were testing him with all kinds of mathematical problems. Summers is a negro, 34 years old, without the slightest education. He cannot read or write, and does not know one figure from another. He is a common, every day farm hand, and to look at him and watch his actions he seems to be about half-witted, but his quick and invariably correct answer to any example in arithmetic, no matter how difficult, is simply wonderful. With the hundreds of tests that he has submitted to, not a single time has he failed to give the correct answer in every instance. Some examples given him yesterday were: How much gold can be bought for $792 in greenbacks if gold is worth $1.65? Multiply 597,312 by 13$. If a Sain of wheat produces 7 grains, and ese be sown the second year, each yielding.the same increase, how many bushels will be produced at this rate in twelve years if 1,000 grains make a pint? If the velocity of sound is 1,142 * i -i I x? _e xL _ reel per second, me puisauon 01 me heart 70 per minute, after seeing a flash of lightning' there are 20 pulsations counted before you hear it thunder, what distanoe is the cloud from the earth, and what is the time after seeing the flash of lightning until you hear the thunder? A commission merchant received 70 bags of wheat. each containing 3 bushels, 3 gftgksana 3 quarts; how many bushejfi&id he receive? And so on. With Robinson's, Ray's and other higher arithmetics before them, those who have tested him as yet have been unable to find any example that with a few moments' thought on his part he is not able to correctly answer.? Louisville Commercial. A True Aboriginal. A remarkably interesting paper on the last living ab<~f iginal of Tasmania was read by Mr. J Sines Barnard at the meeting* of the Tasmania Royal society about two months ago. It has hitherto been generally believed that the aboriginal Tasmaniansare extinct. Mr. Barnard, however, as we learn from Nature, contends that there is still one survivor?Fanny Cochrane Smith, of Port Cygnet, the mother of six sons and five daughters, all of whom are living. She is now about 55 years of age. Fanny's claims to the honor of being a pure representative of the ancieut race have been disputed, but Mr. Barnard makes out a good case iu her favor. He himself remembers her as she was forty years ago, when there were still about thirty or forty natives at Oyster Cave; "and certainly at that time," he says, "I never heard a doubt expressed of her not being a true aboriginal, * People Everywhere Confirm our statement when we sry that Acker's English Remedy is in every way superior to any and all other preparations for the Throat and Lungs. In Whooping Cough and Croup it is magic and relieves at once. We offer you a sample bottle free. Remember, this medicine is sold on a positive guarantee by Dr. II. Q. Heudrix, 9?20 Christmas Shadows. Happy Thoughts Pertinet of the Joyous Xmastide. BY SAMUEL M. SMITH. If minor chords there be Blent with the pleasant strain. They do buttead To make it end In fuller harmony. Oh! the happy, happy, happy Christ mastide; with lightness and its brightness, with its music and its gladness and its joy! Where is the season that can compare with it in universality, in the abandon of its gayety? In the homes of the rich and by the humblest hearth of the poor, its influence is felt; what heart so crabbed, what pocket so niggard or so straitened, as not to relax in or under the genial contagion that fills the very air? But by some unbidden impulse, my inind turns from.the comprehensive cheer and wanders abitrarily away to an alien theme, and fancy imagines a lustreless, dull jet contre set within a circlet of diamonds; the dark symbol of mourning surrounded by the flashing points of light; how the darkness enhanced by such a border. And thus I think of hearts in which the depth of sadness intestified by the surrounding and abounding joy. There's a minor in the enrol. And a shadow in the Ihrht, And asnrayof cypress twining With the holly wreath to-nignt. Ah! yes, full many a mother this night looks through mists?with a smile floating on the bosom of a tear ?watching the fun and frolic of her children; she misses so sorely the patter of little feet, merry laughter weakens in memory the echo of the voice that is stilled forever on the earth. Leaves have their time to fall. And flow- rs to whither at the North wind's breath. And tears to set?but all. Thou hast all seasons for thine own, oh! Death. * " And hence in manv homes this glad festival is a sad anniversary, all the sadder for the joy that seems almost like the sacrilege of treachery to the memory of her loved one. May such not remember that Christmas with its star-herald and its angels1 song was, after all, but an incident, a means to an end? The joyous birth was still the birth of the "man of sorrow,1' but the prelude to the death that opened the gates of heaven, into which gate those little feet have gone into the .beautiful home of the blest. It was He who took little children to his arms and said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid thein not furof BUCtl IS'thClBWgckim of iiraveu.'! , , Did He not say the same to you, when the little one you mourn laid aside its toys and went home to God? "If wn could but hear them singing. As they are singing now. If we could but see the ra-tianoe Of the crown on each dear brow. There would be no sigh to smother. .. No bidden tear to flow." Nervous Derangement and Constipation. After years of suffering from neraous derangement and constipation, and after being treated by several leading physicians, from whom I ob tained no relief, I was induced to trv S. S. S. , , ' Soon after commencing its use, I found my appetite much improved, and that the use of cathaiiics. which I had taken almost daily for ,welvc months, was no longer necessity. Since childhood I have been subject to sick aud nervous headaches, but since December 1,1888, at which 1 TT Jl ? _ !_ CI O O time I commenced taxing o. o. o. I have had only one attack, and that was when I neglected taking the Specific. I do not now have to take purgative medicines. J. A. reid, Boiling, Ala. tormenting skin disease. For twenty years I was tormented with a tormenting itching skin disease, and loss of sleep. I was treated by the best local physicians, but received no relief from them. I finally concluded to take Swift's Specific (S. S. S.), a half dozen bottles of which effected, what I consider, a permanent cure, as I have felt no symptoms of the disease for over a year. W. T. Cowles, Terrill, Texas. Treatise on Blood and Skin Dis eases mailed free. SWIFTS SPE CIFIC CO., Drawer 3, Atlanta, Ga.. The following statistical report of / the State Baptist Convention shows f the Baptists to be the most. numer^J ous denomination aadtfofl bost-firganized for effective w uix, in the State: Last year there were 300 ordained ministers and 704 churches. The total membership for the State amounted to 74,280. There were 616 Sunday schools, with 4,103 teachers and 35,209 scholars. The church raised S9.606.35 for State missions colportage, $8,300.13 for foreign missions, $3,542.42 for home missions, $20,263.98 for education, and $133,200.26 for miscellaneous purposes, or a total of $175,063.14. The property is valued at $746,985. This is a wonderful showing, and is but a fair index to the real strength and power of the church in South Carolina. A Mare Matter of Form. Mr. Hardeash?"Well, sir, what induced you to imagine that I would give my consent to my daughter's marrying you?" Do Gali?"Pardon me, my dear sir, I wasn't so foolish as to imagine anything of the kind. I merely asked for it as a matter of form. If you refuse we shall marry without it, that's all." No man is so high that the law is not above him. * V-. >