The Manning times. (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, July 05, 1899, Image 4
THE NUMERAL SEVEN
Dr. Talmage Discourses on Bible
Mathematics.
A FAVORITE NUMBER WITH
The Divine Mind. Take Care of
the Present, Says the Great
Divine; God Will Take
Care of the Future.
Many of the ijportant doctrines of
the Bible are by Dr. Talmage 1,resented
in this sermon in a very unusual way.
Genesis ii, 3, "God blessed the seventh
day."
The mathematics of the Bible are no
iceable; the geometry and the arithme
tic, t e square in Ezekiel, the circle
spoken of in Isaiah, the curve alluded
to in Job, the rule of fractions men
tioned in Daniel, the rule of loss and
gain in Mark, wheie Christ asks the
people to cipher out by that rule what
it would "profit a man if he gain the
whole world and lose his soul." Bit
there is one mathematical figure that is
crowned above all others in the Bible.
It is the numeral seven. which the A ra
bians got from India and all followinz
ages have taken from the Arabians. It
stands between the figure six and the
figure eight. In the bible all the other
numeralq bow to it. Over ;00 times it
is mentior;d in the Scriptures. either
alone or compounded with other words.
In Genesis the week is rounded into
seven days, and I use my text because
there this numeral is for the first time
introduced in a journey which halts not
until in the close of the book of Revela
tion its monument is built into the wall
of heaven in chrysolite, which in the
strata of precious stones is the seventh.
In the Bible we find that Jacob had
to serve seven years to get Rachel, but
she was well worth it, and, foretelling
the years of prosperity and famine in
Pharaoh's time, the seven fat oxen were
eaten up of the seven lean oxen, and
wisdom is said to be built on seven pil
lars, and the ark was left with the Phil
istines seven years, and Naaman, for
the cure of his leprosy, plunged in the
Jordan seven times; to the house that
Ezekiel saw in vision there we seven
steps; the walls of Jericho, before they
fell down, were compassed seven days;
Zecheariah describes a stone with seven
eyes; to cleanse a leprous house the
door must be sprinkled with pige-ns'
blood seven times; in Canaan were over
thrown seven nations: on one occasicn
Christ cast out seven devils; on a moun
tain he fed a multitude of people with
seven loaves, the fragments left filling
seven baskets, and the closing passages
of the Bible are magnificent and over
whelming .wth the imagery made up of
seven churafes, seven stars, seven can
diesticks, seven seals, seven angels
and seven heads and seven crowns and
seven horns and seven spirits and seven
phials and seven plagues and seven
thunders.
Yea, the numeral seven seems a fav
orite with the divine mind outside as
well as inside the Bible, for are there
not seven prismatic colors? And when
God with the iainbow wrote the com
forting thought that the world would
never have another deluge he wrote it
on the scroll of the sky in ink of seven
colors. He grouped into the Pleiades
seven stars. Rome, the capital of the
world, sat on seven hills. When God
would make the most intelligent thing
on earth, the human countenance, he
fashioned it with seven features -the
two ears, the two eyes, the two nostrils
and the mnouth. Yea, our body lasts
only seven years, and we gradually shed
it for another body after another seven
years, and so on, for we are as to our
bodies septennial animals. So the
numeral seven ranges through nature
and through revelation. It is the num
ber of perfection, and so I use it while
I speak of the seven candlesticks, the
seven stars, the seven seals and the
seven thunders.
The seven golden candlesticks were
and are the churches. Mark you, the
churches never were and never can be
candles. They are only candlesticks.
They are not the light, but they are to
hold the light. A room in the night
might have in it 500 candlesticks and
yet you could not see your hand before
your face. The only use of a candle
stick, and the only use of a church is to
hold up the light, You see it is a dark
world the night of sin, the night of
troubie, the night of superstition,.n
night of persecution, the night of p
erty, the night of sickness, the night
of death; aye, about 50 nights have in
terlocked their shadows. The whole
race goes stumbling~ over prostrated
hopes and fallen fortunes and empty
flour barrels and desolated cradles and
deathbeds. How much we have use for
all the seven candlesticks, with lights
olazing from the top of each one of
them! Light of pardon for all sin!
Light of comfort for all trouble! Light
of encouragement for all despondency!
Light of eternal riches for all poverty!
Light of rescue for all persecution!
Light of reunion for all the bereft'
Light of heaven for all the dying! And
thrat light is Christ, who is the light
that shall yet irradiate the hemis
pheres.
But mark you, when I say churches
are not candles, but candlesticks. I cast
no slur on candlesticks. I believe in
beautiful candlesticks. The candle
sticks that God ordered for the ancient
tabernacle were something exquisite.
They were a dream of beauty carved out
of loveliness. They were made of ham
mered gold, stood in a foot of gold and
had six branches of gold blooming all
along in six lilies of gold each, and lips
of gold, from which the candles lifted
their holy fire. Andi the best houses
in any city ought to be the churches
the best built, the best ventilated, the
best swept the best windowed, and the
best ehandeliered. Log cabins may do
in neighborhoods where most of the
ple live in log cabins, but let there
~pala tial churches for regions where
many of the people live in palaces.
Do not have a better place for yourself
than for your Lord and King. Do not
;ve in a parlor and put your Christ in
a iitchen.
These seven candlesticks of which I
speak were not made of pewter or iren.
They were golden candlesticks, and gold
is not only a valuable, but a bright me
cal. Have everything about your
church bright-your ujhtrs with smil
ing fhces, your mufsie jubilain,. your
bandshaking cordial, your entire ser
vice attr'active. Many people feel that
in church they must look dull, in order
to boereverential, and many whose faces
in other kinds of assemblage show all
the different phases of emotion have in
church no more expression than the
back wheel of a hearse. Brighten up
and be responsive. If you feel like
weeping, weep. If you feel like smil
ing, smile. If you feel indgnant at
somo wrong assailed from tha pulpit.
frown. Do not leave your naturalness
and r s liency home because it is Sun
da mrn. If a offcer of a church
i , ave the muslc
black and the minister in black preach
a bc sr o,, and from invocation to
benedictin h a1ve the iipression black,
few will come. and thoSe who do collie
will wi!h that they- had not come at
all.
Golden candlesticks! Scour up the
six lilies on each branch and know that
the more lovely and bright they are the
more tit they are to hold the light. liut
Constantine, but transformed to basy
uses by Mohammed the second. Pile
out Of 'olored marble. a cupola with 24
windows soaring to a height of 18') feet.
the ceiling one great bewilderment of
mosaic, galleries supported by eight
coluins of porphyry and (;7 columns of
green jasper, nine bronze do rs with
alto relievo work, fascinating to the eye
of any artist, vases and vestments in
crusted with all manner of precious
stones. Four walls on fire with inde
scribable splendor.
Though labor was cheap. the build
ing cost :l_.5l)0,00. Ecclesiastical
structure, almost supernatural in pomp
and majesty. But Mohammedanism
tore down from the walls of that build
in: all the saintly and Christly images.
and high up in the dome the figure of
the cross was rubbed out that the cres
cent of the barbarous Turk might be
substituted. A great church, but no
Christ: A gorigeous candlestick, but no
candle: Ten thousand such chureb.:s
would not give the world as much light
:s one homemade tallow candle by
which last night some grandmother in
the eighties pu: on her spectacles and
read the Psalns of David in large type.
Up with the churches by all means!
Hundreds of them, thousands of them.
and the more the better. But let each
one be a blaze of heavenly light, making
the world brighter and brighter, till the
last shadow has disappeared and the
last of the suffering children of God
shall have reached the land where they
have no need of candlestick or "of cau
dle. neither light of the sun, for the
Lord God giveth them light, and they
shall reign forever and ever." Seven
candlesticks the complete number of
lights! Let your light shine before
men, that they, seeing your good works
may glorify your Father which is in
heaven.
Turn now in your Bible to the seven
stars. We are distinctly told that they
are the ministers of religion. Some are
large stars, some of them small stars,
some of them sweep a wide circuit and
some of them a small circuit, but so fa:
as they are genuine they get their light
from the great central sun around whom
they make revolution. Let each one
keep in his sphere. The solar system
would be soon wrecked if the stars, in
stead of keeping their own orbits should
go to hunting down other stars. Minis
ters of religion should never clash. But
in all the centuries of the Christian
church some of these stars have been
hunting an Edward Irving or a Horace
Bushnell or an Albert Barnes, and the
stars that were in pursuit of the other
stars lost their own orbit, and some of
them could never again find it. Alas
for the heresy hunters! The best way
to destroy error is to preach the truth.
The best way to scatter darkness is to
strike alight. There is in immensity
room enough for all the stars and in the
church room enough for all the minis
ters. The ministers who give up righte
ousness and the truth will get punish
ment enough anyhow, for they are "the
wandering stars for whom is reserved
the blackness of darkness forever."
I should like, as a minister, when I
am dying to be able truthfully to say
what a captain of the English army,
fallen at the head of his column and
dying on the Egy ptian battlefield, said
to General Wolseley, who came to con
dole with him: "I led them straight.
Didn't I lead them straight, general?"
God has put us ministers as captains in
this battlefield of truth against error.
Great at last will be our chagrin if we
fah leading the people the wrong way,
but great will be our gladnesr. if when
the battle is over we can hand our sword
back to our great commander, saying:
"Lord Jesus! We led the people
straight. Didn't we lead them straight?
Those ministers who go off at a tangent
and preach some other gospel are not
stars, but comets, and they flash across
the heavens a little while and make
people stare and throw down a few
meteoric stones, and then go out of
sight if not out of existence. Brethren
in the ministry, let us remember that
God calls us stars, and our business is
to shine and to keep our own sphere,
and then when we get done trying to
light up the darkness of this world we
will wheel into higher spheres, and in
us shall be fulfilled the promise. "They
that turn many to righteousness
shall shine as the stars forever and
ever.
The ministers are not all Pecksniffs
and canting hypocrites, as some would
have you think! Forgive me if, hav
ing at other times glorilied the medical
profession and the legal profession and
the literary profession, I glorify my
own. I have seen them in their homes
and heard thesn in their pulpits, and a
grandei array of men never breathed,
and the Bible figure is not strained
when it ('lls them stars. And whole
constellations of glorious miAisters
have already taken their places on high,
where they shine even brighter than
they shone on earth. Ldward N. Kirk
of the Congregational church, Stephen
1. Tying of the Episcopal church, Mat
thew Simpson of the Methodist church,
John D)owling of the Baptist chunch.
Samuel K. Talmage of the P'resbyte
ian church, Thomas DeWitt of the
Reformed church, John Uhambers of
the Independent church, and there 1
stop, for it so happens that I have men
tic ed the seven stars of the seven
churches.
I pass on to another mighty Bible
seven, and they are the seven seals.
St. John in vision saw a scroll with sev
en seals, and he heard an angel cry:
"Who is worthy to loose the seals there
of?" Take eight or ten sheets of fool
scap paper, paste them together and
roll them into a scroll and have the
scroll at seven different places sealed
with sealing wax. You unroll the
scroll till you come to one of these
seals and then you can go no farther
until you break that seal. Then un
roll again until you come to ¬her
seal, and you can go no farther until
you break that seal. Then you go on
until all the seven seals are broken and
the contents of the entire scroll are re
vealed. Now, that scroll with seven
seals held by the angel was the proph
ecy of what was to come on the earth.
It meant that the knowledge of the fu
ture was with God, and no man and no
anel was worthy to open it, but the
Rble says Christ opened it and broke
all the seven seals. lie broke the first
seal and unrolled the scroll, and there
was a picture of a white horse, and that
meant prosperity and triumph for the
~oan empire, and so it really came to
to pass that for 90 years virtuous em
perors succeeded each other-N erva
Trajan and Antoninus. Christ in the
vision broke the second seal and unroll
ed arain, and there was a picture of a
Ired horse, and that meant bloodshed,
and so it really came to pass, and the
tons and wars: Then Christ broke thc
third scal and unrolled it, and there
was a picture of a black horse, which in
all literature means famine, oppression
and taxation, and so it really came to
pass. Christ went on until he broke
all the seven seals and opened all the
scroll. Well, the future of all of us is
a sealed scroll, and I am glad that no
oae but Christ can open it. Do not let
us join that class of Chritians in our day
who are trying to break the seven seals
of the future. They are trying to peep
into things they have no business with.
Do not go to some necromancer or
spiritualist or soothsayer or fortune tel
ler to find out what is going to happen
to yourself or your family or your
friends. Wait till Christ breaks the
seal to find out whether in your own
personal life or the life of the nation or
the life of the world it is going to be the
white horse of prosperity or the red
horse of war or the black horse of fam
inc. You will soon enough see him
paw and hear him neigh. Take care of
the present, and the future will take
care of itself. If a man live 70 years,
his biography is in a scroll having at
least seven seals. And let him not
during the first ten years of his life try
to look intothe twenties, nor the twen
tics into the thirties. nor the thirties in
to the forties, nor the forties into the
fifties, nor the fifties into the sixties,
nor the sixties into th- seventies. From
the way the years have got the habit of
racing along I guess you will not have
to wait a great while before all the seals
of the future are broken. I would not
give 2 cents to know how long I am go
ing to live or in what day of what year
the world is going to be demolished.
I would rather give $1,000 not to know.
Suppose some one could break the next
seal in the scroll of your personal his
tory and should tell you that on the
next 4th of July, 1901, you were to die,
the summer after next, how much
would you be good for between this and
that? It would from now until then
be a prolonged funeral. You would be
counting the months and the days, and
your family and friends would oe count
ing them, and next 4th of July you
would rub your hands together and
whine: "One year from today I am to
go, Dear me! I wish no one had
told me so long before. I wish that ne
cromancer had not broken the seal of
the future." And meeting some under
taker, you would say: "I hope you will
keep yourself free for an engagement
the 4th of July, 1901. That day you
will be needed at my house. To sn'v
time you might as well take my mt(
ure now, 5 feet 11 inches." I am g;
that Christ dropped a thick veil overt Ie
hour of our demise and of the hour of
the world's destruction when he said:
"Of that day and hour knoxveth no
man; no, not the angels, but my Father
only." Keep your hands off the seven
seals.
There is another mighty seven of the
Bible-namely, the seven thunders.
What those thunders meant we are not
told, and there has been much guessing
about them. But they are to come, we
are told, before the end of all things,
and the world cannot get along without
them. Thunder is the speech of light
ning. There are evils in our world
which must be thundered down and
which will require at least seven volleys
to prostrate them. We are all doing
nice, delicate, soft handed work in
churches and reformatory institutions,
against the evils of the world, andl
much of it amounts to a teaspoon dip
ping out the Atlantic ocean, or a clam
shell digging away at a mountain, or a
tack hammer smiting the Gibraltar.
What is needed is thunderbolts, and
at least seven of them. There is the
long line of fraudulent commercial
establishments, every stone in the
foundation and every brick in the wall,
and every nail in the rafter made out
of dishonesty, skeletons of poorly paid
sewing girls' arms in every beam of that
establishment, human nerves worked
into every figure of that embroidery,
blood in the deep dye of that refulgent
upholstery, billions of dolhrs of accu
mulated fraud intrenched in massive
storehouses and stock companies mani
pulated by unscrupulous men, until the
monopoly is defiant of all earth and
heaven. Flow shall the evil be over
come? By treatises on the maxim,
"Honesty is the best policy?" Or by
soft repetition of the golden rule that
we must "Do unto others as we would
have the'n do to us?" No, it will not
be done that way. What is needed and
will come is the seven thunders.
There is drunkenness backed up by a
eaital mightier than in aoy other busi
ness. Intoxicating liquors enough in
this country to float a navy. Good
grain to the amount of 67,950,000 bush
els annually destroyed to make the
deadly liquid. Breweries, distilleries,
gin shops, rum palaces, liquor associa
tions, our nation spending annually
$740,000,000 for rum, resulting in bank
ruptcy, disease, pauperism, filth, assas
sination, death, illimitable woe. What
will stop them? High license? No.
Prohibition laws? No. Churches?
No. Moral suasion? No. Thunder
bolts will do it; nothing else will. Seven
thunders!
Yonder are intrenched infidelity and
atheism, with their magazines of litera
ture scoffing at our Christianity, their
Hoe printing presses busy day and
night. There are their blaspheming
apostles, their drunken Tonfaines and
libertime Voltaires of the presenia'~
well as the past, re-enforced by all the
powers of darkness, from highest de
mon to lowest imp. What will extirpate
those monsters of infidelity and athe
ism? John Brown's shorter catechism
about "Who made you" or Westnmins
ter catechism about "What is the chief
end of man?" No. Thunderbolts!
The seven thunders! For the impure
ties of the world, empalaced as well as
cellared, epauleted as well as ragged,
enthroned as well as ditched; for cor
rupt legislation which at times makes
our state and national capitals a hemis
pheric stench; for superstitions that
keep whole nations in squalor century
after century, their juggernauts crush
ing, their knives lacerating, their waters
drowning their funeral pyres burning,
the seven theunders!
Oh, men ano women, disheartened at
the bad way things often go, hear you
not a rumbling down the sky of heavy
artillery, coming in on our side, the
seven thunders of the Almighty? Do
not let us try to wield them ourselves.
They are too heavy and too fiery for us
to handle, but God can and God will,
and when all mercy has failed and all
milder means are exhausted, then
judgement will begin. Thunderbola!
Depend upon it, that what is not done
under the flash of the seven candle
sticks will be done by the trampling of
the seven thunders. But I leave this
imperial and multipotent numeral seven,
where the Bible leaves it, imbedded in
the finest wall that was ever built or
will be constructed, the wall of heaven.
It is the seven strata of precious stones
that make up that wall. After naming
six of the precious stones in that wall
the Bible cries out, "The seventh
chrysoite is an exquisite green, and in
that seventh layer of the heavenly wall
shall be preserved forever the domin
ant color of the earth we once inhabited.
I have sometime~s been saddened at
to scieuce and revelation, is to be blot
ted out of existence, for it is such a
beautiful world. B-ut here in this
layer of the heavenly wall, where the
numeral seven is to be imbedded. this
stratum of green is to be photographed
and embalned and perpetuated, the
color of the grass that covers the earth,
the color of the foliage that fills the for
est, the color of the deep sea. One
glance at that green chrysolite, 1,000.
000 years after this planet has been ex
tinguished. will bring to mind just how
it looked in summer and spring, and we
will say to those who were born blind
on earth and never saw at all in this
world after this they have obtained full
eyesight in heiven, 'If you would know
how the earth appeared ;n June and
August, look at the seventh layer of
the heavenly wall, the green of the
chrysolite."
And while we stand there and talk,
spirit with spirit, that old color of the
earth, which had more sway than all
the other colors put together, will
bring back to us our earthly experi
ences, and, noticing that this green
chrysolite is the seventh layer of crys
tallized magnificence. we may bethink
ourselves of the domination of that
numeral seven over all other numerals
and thank God that in the dark earth
we left behind us we so long enjoyed
the light of the seven golden candle
sticks and were all of us permitted to
shine among the seven stars of more or
less magnitude, and that all the seven
seals of the mysterious future have
been broken wide open for us by a lov
ing Christ, and that the seven thunders,
having done their work, have ceased
reverberation, and that the numeral
seven, which did such tremendous work
in the history of nations on earth, has
been given such a high place in that
Niagara of colors, the wall of heaven,
"the fisrt foundation of which is Jas
per; the second, sapphire; the third, a
chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the
fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the
seventh, chrysolite."
The Money Question.
The thing of fundamental importance
in money is stability of exchange value
or purchasing power. Any system of
finance that fails to give us a unit of
value, which, during long periods of
time, measures off approximately the
same quantity of staple commodities as
its equivalent, is essentially a dishonest
and unsound system. We hear much
about "money that is sound, safe, hon
'. the best, at a parity with gold, that
ill stand the fire and hammer test,
worth 100 cents on the dollar," etc.,
and also much about "depreciated, de
based dishonest fifty-cent dollars," but
those who prate loud and long on this
matter utterly fail to grasp the true and
complete conception of money, viz.,
that it is not merely a medium of ex
change, but also it is a standard of
value for deferred payments. In the
words of England's great statesman,
Mr. Balfour, "money has to serve not
merely as a medium of exchange, bu
also as a fair and permanent record of
obligations extending over long periods
of time. This is the great and funda
metal requirement." And he further
says here the gold standard totally and
lamentably fails." If money was sim
ply a medium by which products were
exchanged, and there was no such thing
as credit in the business world, it
might fluctuate in purchasing power
without working any great havoc, but
it so happens that the great hulk ofj
business is done on credit, that pro
gress, industrial development and civil
ization are impossible without it. By
means of it the seas have been covered
with commerce, the continent cob
webbed with transportation lines, and
the wilderness turned into mighty cities,
fruitful farms and happy homes.
They who have built up the world,
been the pioneers of civilization, clear
ed up the prairies and founded our
workshops, churches and schools have
done it with borrowed funds. They are
the ones who, above all others, should
be appreciated, upheld and encouraged.
It ought to be evident to the dullest
mind that any system of money that
compels these borrowers to return a bet
ter dollar, one that requires more la
bor to get, than the one borrowed, if an
unjust and dishonest one, and strikes
a fatal blow at the very foundation of
the social and business world. Judged
by the supreme, rational and righteous
tests of stability of purchasing power.
the gold dollar has grown to be a 200
cent dollar measured by the honest 100
cent dollar of twenty-six years ago. It
was such a dollar then because it had
kept comparatively stable for many
years in exchange value over commodi
ties, owing to the fact that silver had
equal rights at the world's mints, and
shared with it equally the world's de
mand for redemption money. Every
man who has entered into any time
contract to pay dollars since the
world's mints were shut to the unlim
ited coinage of silver has been forced
to pay dollars worth from 1 to 100 per
cent more, according to the age of the
debt, than the ones lhe borrowed, and
that he ought to pay. This is a fact,
because the dollar has grown 100 per
cent. since in command over stable
comnmodities. To the extent that dol
lars h~te thus grown, the unfortunate
debtors and dil others subject to fixed
chargres have been robbed. Since 1873
the governments of the world have
been in league with bond and mortgage
1 s and the receivers of fixed in
comes a .plunder the world's toilers
without red'ee. Through the efforts
of the schemig villains. wvho have
tried to coil the'contraating folds of
the gold standard ar&tad the neeks. of
labor, the output of thevints has been
lessened till it requires double the la
bor and products of labor to earn the
dollars due on the mortgaged-homes of
millions of poor men that it would
have required had the world's Output
of dollars been allowed to keep apace
with it soutput of products.
Corn Stalk Trust.
And now it is said that a corn stalk
trust will be organized. The cornstalk
is used in the manufacture of cellulose'
Only a few thousand tons of stalks aro
now used, but it is said the trust will
build other factories in the great corrn
belt, and it is the expectation that the
stalks will sell f~r $5 or SGa ton.
Negro Robber Lynched.
Henry Stewart. the negro whc robbed
and seriously shot Gail Hamilton, a
iero, and robbed M. Choate, a section
foreman, Sunday morning, at Fulton,
Ky., was taken out at midnight Tues
day and lynched by a supposed negro
and white mob. The excitement is
high among the negroes.
He Was Lusky.
The northern newspapers are making
a big fuss over the fact that a young
woman ran away and married a man
who was to be an usher at her wedding
to another man. The man who was
left is certainly lucky. The other
ellows case has not yet been settled.
Five Drowned.
Five men were drowned Thursday in
the Mississippi a mile above Clerks
ville, Mo., by the overturning of a skiff.
They were government laborers engaged
impnmv mat work.
"THE WIDOW'S CHAIN."
A Gift to the Epworth Orphanage and
Its Effects.
The following is from the last is
sue of the Southern Christian Advo
cate:
We are pleased to publish the cor
respondence and appeal below. Such
self-sacrifice as this woman shows
should be known and recognized. South
Carolina Methodists can contribute the
thousand dollars called for by Brother
Waddell, and the sum should be placed
where in all time to come men may
learn of the "Widow's Chain."
We give Brother Waddell's letter en
tire:
Dear Dr. Wilson: On the 8th of June
I received an express package in which
there was a valuable gold chain. It
was from an unknown donor to the
Epworth orphanage. The following
letter was enclosed in thosame package
with the chain:
Dear Brother: As I listened to your
talk how I wished for money; but I
had none to give. I enclose a chain
placed around my neck when a bride by
my dear husband, long since gone to
rest. You can imagine the remem
brances that cluster around it. I will
say no more. The chain is worth $20,
sold as old gold valued by a jeweler. At
least you can get something for it. It
is all I have to give. May the Lord
bless you in your work and open up the
way to greater things is the humble
prayer of A Widow.
Of course the chain must go back to
the unknown giver, when she is found,
but the men and women of this State,
of good impulses and noble sentiments,
should put up at least $1,000 as re
demption money for the chain. As the
widow who contributed her two mites
and the woman who broke the box of
ointment over the head of the Master
are perpetuated in history because of
the noble inspiration that comes to us
through their deeds, so should this no
ble act of self-denial inspire us to sac
rifices for the Master's sake. This wo
man gives, possibly, one of her dear
est possessions to bless and to help
others.
See what Brother McLeod says about
it:
Dear Brother Waddell: Find my
check for $50 on the "Widow's Chain"
as my part. I hope to raise as much
more in a day or two and send it.
Your brother,
J. W. McLeod.
Maaning, S. C.
See what Brother Strauss has to say:
Dear Sir and Brother: Enclosed find
my check for $20 sent by Trinity Sun
day school, Yorkville, S. C., for the
gold chain sent to you by the unknown
widow. When you find her please re
turn the chain to her with the compli
ments of Trinity Sunday School, York
ville. Yours fraternally.
H. C. Strauss.
If this noble, self-sacrificing deed is
worth anything to you, send us the
amount and let the chain be redeemed,
not by its intrinsic value in dollars and
cents, but according to the greatness of
the sacrifice. Such a deed as this is
worth something.
Yours truly,
G. H. Waddell,
Columbia, S. C., June 19 1899.
Mob Law in New England.
While the overly good people of New
England have been holding up their
hands in holy horror because of an oc
cassional lynching in the South that
most brutal of all w'ob law punish
ment, tarring and featiering, seems to
have become a favorite pastime among
our Yankee brethren. A few days ago
a New Hampshire sheriff was the vic
tim in a performance similar to that
in which the Maine preacher had
starred a week or two before, with the
exception that the sheriff was not rid
den on a rail, as it is said the preacher
was. The sheriff-Frank Yatter, of
Haverhill-it seems had arrested a
a citizen named Clark for drunkenness.
Clark pleadedi guilty and was fined.
Two days later the sheriff was sum
moned to quell an alleged drunken dis
turbance, when he was enticed into a
basement and tarred and feathered by a
mob. After his escape from the mob
he started in to have his tormentors
borught to justice, but the citizens
"made it so warm for him' that he
fled the state in-to Vermont. A Han
over, N. H., dispatch to the New York
Press telling of the affair excuses it on
the ground that Yatter's "neighbors
found him none too pleasant a man to
get along with, and certain insults
which he is alleged to have offered to a
woman in Haverhill only served to make
matters worse." That justifies the
whole proceeding. The overly pious,
good peoplo of Haverhill did not like
the Sheriff, and therefore they tarred
and feathered him. There is no mob
law in this when it is done in New
England, but it is decidedly so when
done in the South. Oh, ye hypocrites!
Chicago Ahead.
The Greenville News says "it was
supposed that Chicago had discounted
New York and Atlanta, when one of
her citizens stole his neighbor's well.
Chicago added to her laurels a few years
ago by gobbling a railway freight train
with contents. Another incident has
come to light showing the superiority
of Chicago experts over the two rival
cities. About a year ago fifty hospital
ambulances billed for Tampa, Florida,
were loaded on seventeen freight cars
at Chicago. and from that day to this
nothing has been heard from cars or
ambulances. Something like a ton of
red cape, enough to reach from Chicago
to Tampa has been used to ascertain
the location of the missing train and
ambulances, but the department can
get no clue either as to start or finish
of the transportation. The railway
company is clamoring for the missing
cars. claimed to have been in the hands
of the government and the goverument
is demanding return of the ambulances
or twenty thousand dollars, invoice of
same. All that can be learned is that
train and ambulances melted away in
Chicago and indication9 are that they
will remain melted."
Massacre by Filipinos
Captain Johnson Spicer, of the Brit
sh ship George T. Hay, recently from
Manila, has received a letter from his
other, Capt. George Spicer, of the
British ship Glooscap, saying that all
the'. adult male Spanish residents of
Balbac, the extreme southwest island
of the\Philipines, had been massacred
by the natives. The letter was given
to J. '1g. Whitney & Co., shipping
agents of Si New street, and they sent
it to the n aritime exchange, where it
was posted\on the bulletin board.
CmcAohas gone to bragging again
about her \population. The Atlanta
Journal thi-;ks that if the Windy City
continues to. brag New York will have
to fnd samifaing else to annex.
A QUEER OLD WORLD.
If virtlu uhi allure like sin
How easil': might goodness win.
If right went laughing by like wrong
The devil would lose half his throng.
If day sought pleasure like the night
Dawn need not blush to face the light.
But virtue seems socold and proud
That merry sin attracts the crowd.
And night has such a solemn air
Men follow wrong, the debonair.
And care so cats the daytime up
At night they seize mard folly's cup.
Aad drink forgetfulness 'till dawn,
And so the queer old world goes on.
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
A STRANGE STORY.
BY G. W. S. ANGELL.
It was one of our Friday night sym
posiuus at the Cosmos Club. and as
our particular clique was made up of
Merton, from the Geological Survey;
Herring. of the Fish Commission, to
gether with Long, from the Agricultur
al Bureau; De Forrest, of tile Army
Medical Museum. and myself, then
serving as Washii'gton correspondent
for a New York paper. it is needless
to say that the talk had run the entire
gamut of art, literature and science,
and had for the moment settled on
the belief in dual personalities.
"I tell you. gentl-men," said 'Merton.
with the authoritative air by which
he always attempted to settle ques
tions under discussion. "that while I
am willing to admit that there may
be some things almost impossible to
prove or disprove scientlilcally, yet
this talk about dual personality, sub
conscious mind and all such stuff is.
vulgarly speaking, simply rot." And
he lay back in his chair with a self
satisfied air. as though there was
nothing more to be said on the sub
ject.
Long took up the argument, and the
debate grew rather warm as the pros
and cons were laid down in that ex
cathedra way which we yougg men
are apt to affect. Dr. De Forrest had
thus far taken no part in the discus
sion, but had smiled once or twice at
our assertions in a way that assured
us, who knew him so well, that he
had a good story to tell if we could
only draw him out.
"Come, Doctor." said Long. as he
ordered a fresh round of brandies and
soda for the crowd, "you ought -to
know something about this question,
for you told us last week thjt you
had studied under Charcot when you
were in Paris."
De Forrest selected a fresh perfecto
from the box at his side, lighted it in
his usual careful way and blew a few
rings of smoke, which he watched
float lazily toward the ceiling, before
he spoke.
"Well, boys." he began, "as Merton
has just said, there are some things
which we cannot as yet decide by
purely physical methods. We cannot
weight the soul in our most delicate
balance, though the scale sinks if we
add but the fraction of ahair, nor can we
by our most subtle reagents analyze
that vital spark we call life in our lab
oratories. I do not care to-iAght to
speak of the many curious phenomena
which I witnessed during my studies
in Paris, for they might furnish you
with a clew to the story which is to
follow; but I'll tell you a little Incident
in real life which occured when I was
very young in my New York practice,
and then leave the question for you to
decide.
"When I established myself in N.ew
xork, back in the sixties, fresh from
my studies at Vienna, I joined the
Bohemia Club. That was not its
name, but as none or you are old
enough to remember the club it will
do as well as any other, and 1 shall
take the liberty of changing the names
of the actors in my story as well, for
obvious reasons.
"We were a rather jolly crowd at the
Bohemia, for we worked hard at our
different lines all day and then met
at the club in the evenings for relaxa
tion and to compare notes. You see
we were young then, and not authori
ties in our several branches, as you
all are here." and he smiled in his
quizzical way as he looked round our
little circle.
"T here were two Southerners in the
club." he continued, "both M. D's, and
although greatly alike in their features
and niarvelously so in their dress,
they were totally different in char
ater, and I suppose It would be hard
to dind in any club two men further
apart in their moral and mental
qualites. Whiting had been a practis
ing physician for a year or more arnd
had already a large clientele. He was
a splendid fellow, large of frame but
straight as an arrow, with great brown
eyes that looked you squarely in the
face when he spoke, and, with all his
physical strength, kind and gentle as
a woman. He was loved by every one
at the club, where we knew him as the
soul of honor and generous to a fault.
"D~avis, on the other hand, though
he was of the same olive hued type
and enough like Whiting in features
to be his twin brother, had a sneering
expression on his face, and when he
looked at you with his eyes half closed
and that cynical smile on his lips he
made me think of the copperhead of
his own Louisiana sw-amps. He was
a heavy drinker, and spent money
enough at the club. but he was never
known to do a kind act, and we were
sure he never spent a dollar on any
one else unless lie sawv that he wvould
gain some advantage ini return.
"Both of the men had ample niwans
of their ow-n, but Davis had never
practiced. so far as we knew, and
where he got his title of doctor from
or w-here he lived no one seemed to
know-. Some said that lhe was an ex
pert chemist and dabbled in alchenmy
is wvell. but lie made no close ftiends,
and seldom spoke of his own life.
"It happened inat Davis and Whit
ing had never met at the club, as eamch
came but seldom, but we often chall'ed
one about the other. and from their
facial resomblence dubbed them the
two Dromios. Jekyll and Ihyde would
have been more aplpropriaite, but this
was long before Stevenson's book w-as
written.
"Wh iting always resented a niy chance
alusion to his double. although goodl
natured at the rest of our chaff, and
seemed to dloubt Vhe actual existence
of Davis. wvhom he had heard of hut
never met, and thought wve w-ere
simply trying to pumt up a game on
him. Naturally the imo're he scoffed at
the reality of D avis the more we nag
gd him, until tinamlly ini sheer despera
tioa he proposedh to give a (luiet little
dinner for four of us, at which Robin-I
son, an artist and fellow club)-mnember,
myself, Davis and Whiting were to
be the quart(et.
"Davis promised to be there. if pos
sible, and said lie was already Ge
uainted with Whiting-of c'ourise liy
reputat'on only. he added with that
cvicail smile we all hated. On the
night of the (dinnier Robinson and I
were on hand early, for we were anx
ios to see the meeting betwveen Datvis
and Whiting. andl had made several
bets witu the other fellows as to
whetecr l 'avis would show tip.
"'Whiting~ app ea red punc'tually as
usul. bulit thou~tghI we wai ted until amid
night D avis failed te materialize. (if
course this set tieu' the mnaitter in Whit
lg's mind forth time be Iinzg, and lhe
made us set up several hot ti-s of wine
to drink to the health of his mythical
counterpart, as he enlied hiim.
"The next night, however, lie came
to the club, and drawin.; Robinson
and me aside, said:-"'lillys, this mat
ter has gone too farn. 1 like a joke,
but I think it is rather rough for you
r...6 vut- igio':itee of hi inenig ie
ahoiNjed us a let r;r from Davis regret
ting his inability w Le Present the
night before. and saying that le was
-too ill at the mioient to make his re
grets in person.
-But, my dear fellow." said Isobin
son. *if you really think us guilty of
this letter will you kindly explain how
it happens to be written on your own
papery
"Whiting grabbed up the note and
seemed frightened for the nionent,
for at the head of the letter was his
crest and the envelope bore the impres
sion of his private se:il. which he ai
ways wore on his watch chain. Ile
looked at it searchinaly. and then left
the club without a word.
"After this occurrence we ceased
bantering him about Davis and passed
the word around to the other fellows
to drop it, for we saw that the matter
worried him greatly and feared the ef
fect of our chaff on his high strung.
nervous tempermient. Davis came to
the club less frequently during the
winter, but at every mention of Whit
ing's name he siled and said lie was
sorry they did not hapen to meet.
"One day, early in the spring. Whit
ing sent a note asking me to come up
to his den after dinner, as lie had some
thing of importance to tell. and begged
me not to fail him. I had often been
to his otlice on Madison avAnue. but
had never visited hiin at his rooms on
-tli street. It was a quiet neighbor
hood. west of Ninth avenue, and the
house was one of a row of old fashion
ed frame buildings still in good repair.
but backed up :wainst their rear were
several ramshackel old tenements,
nearly deserted by tenants.
.I lial not seen Whiting for some
months and was shocked by the change
in his appearance. There were dark
circies under his eyes and a strange
hunted expression jn his face. He
grasped my hand eagerly and drew
a chair for ie in front of the grate
tire, for the evenings were still cool.
" 'Do(.' he exclaimed suddenly. after
we had lit our cigars and talked glit
tering generalities for a few minutes.
-that fellow Davis is killing me by
inches."
- -Why. old man,' I said, 'so you
have colie to believe in him at last.'
I started to laugh . but checked my
self wien I saw the expresion of his
face.
- 'What is it. may dear boy' I asked.
soothingly. -It certainly can't be so
serious. What has he been up to
now,!
-- 'Tis dammned queer business,' said
Whiting excitedly. -and I can't imagine
his motive: but these are the facts.
For several weeks this fellow has
dogged my footsteps. and after I have
made a professional call and left the
usual prescription he has sent a note
to the patient imitating my handwrit
ing and changing the medicines for
others. which. had they been taken as
directed. would have in some cases
proved fatial. Fortunately the drug
gists have telephoned me that there
was sone mistake and I have been
able to 'orrect it. But of course this
eonstant changing of prescriptions
has affected ny practice terribly, and
people are beginning to think that my
mind is unbalanced.'
'But, my dear fellow,' said I, trying
to quiet him. 'why not give up your
practice for a few weeks and take a
decided rest, and meanwhile we will
deal with this fellow Davis vs he
deserves.'
" 'But that is,. not all,' continued
Whiting, despairingly. 'It is true I
don't need the income from my
practice, and work more from the love
of it than for the fees, but he has gone
still further and dared to call on Miss
Wiley, my fiancee, and tell her many
of the foolish escapades of my college
days. the secret of which I thought
was buried in my own breast. I have
tried to explain them away, but of
course cannot deny the tales, and I
fear It is all over for me in that quart.
er. I can't see how she could listen
to the cad or where she could have met
him.'
"Davis' actions seemed to be more
inexplicable than ever, and I longed to
get hold of the brute and force an ex*
planation from him; but, hiding my
anger. I tried to quiet Whiting, and
finally prevailed upon him to take a
heavy dose of choral, which I pre
pared, and to try to get a night's rest,
promising to see Miss Wiley shortly
and attempt to patch up matters.
"I left him asleep on his lounge, and,
as it was still early, walked over to
M1adison avenue, determined to call
on Mi1ss Wiley. whom I knew slightly,
and tell her of Whiting's condition.
"There was a light in the drawing
room, and. ringing the bell, I gave my
card to the servant, and he ushered
me in unannounced- Miss Wiley sat
at the piano, her hands on the keys,
while standing at her side and looking
down ardently into her upturned face
was-Davis.
"For a moment I could not speak
and seemed glued to +he floor, but
Davis quickly advanced and, after a
few polite inquiries about my health
and his dear friend Whiting. pleaded
an engagement and left.
"His presence in the house and his
unmistakabb ~--.like Mtude made
it very painful for me to speak, Dut
remembering the condition of poor
Whiting and how heartbroken heseem
ed, I ventured to speak about Davis
and asked where she had met him.
" 'Oh, I have only known him a few
weeks,' she said. 'He called with a
letter of intrgduction from Dr. Whit
lg and said they were fellow students
in the South. IIe has been most kind
and attentive to me, and is teaching
mec some of his own songs.' And she
rattled on about his divine voice, while
I sat speechiless at the new complica
tion of atfairs.
"At last I blurted out. 'Would you
kindly let mec see the letter of intro
eutiony addinig that Dr. Whiting hatd
proiseiid me letters to somec of his
friends in Europe and I wished to see
his miethiods.
"I felt that this was a most feeble
exuse, but could think of nothing else,
and of coeurse M1iss Wiley w~as too po
lite to express her surprise at the
strange request. Going to a dainty
writing desk in the corner she caine
bac k and handcd me the letter.
"TIher'e was no doubt of the chiro
grahiy heing exactly similar to Whit
ing's. I saw the same old fashioned
cpitals and crisp,sharp endings of
each word,. andl as for the signature,
his banuk woutld have sworn to it. Be
shies. there was his crest and seal,
which I new knew~ so w~ell. I don't
know~ whlat I saiid in thanking her,
for mys heal was in a whirl. hui. I
had enough senlse' to say good night
anal qutic'kly withdraw.
"Iowv Davis culd have obtatined the
~apet' and seal. or how lie l'arned of
all those college scrapes of Whiting's.
could not imaagine. But I saw that
his relations with 31iss Wiley had gone
so far that it would do not good for mie
to interfere. tad that I sheouhd only
be snubbed lby her for my imper'tiln
ene in mneddling in other people's
busiess.
"Whiting was out whleni I calid
at his rooms next mio.rninhg :a his
evant mt told mei that he had~ goine to
he cntry for a ret and leILft no
adress.
"It wast peiha ps a mnonth afterwaird
that lie ttu'neda upi at the cltib one night,
hookinig no re ghiast ly t han ever. He
would net say wvhere he had been and
positively <..elinteu to discuss the Davis
matter.
"1 know lie talked wildly about hyp
n'ti2 control atnd kindred stubjects, un
til we thought his mind aft'ected, and
tried to calni him, but he grew more
and more excited, until tinally I saw
him tturn pale and clutch the back of
a chair, and noticed a little stream of
froty blood cozing fromn between his
clenched teeth as he staggered out of
the room.
"I jumped up from the sofa and fol
1lowAen anouich- ea I cnurd hnt whe
It ramen c uUM ovelr ne was gela.
and I met Drivis just coming In. *He
walked leisurely into the cafe and
leaned against tie mantelpiece. To
my excited iniuiries about Whiting he
simply smiled and said he had not
noticed him going out, but I saw him
scratching a small red spot from his
cuff with his linger nail and felt sure
they must have met.
" 'Gentlemen,' said Davis, in his
drawling voice, 'I beg you will con
gratulate me on my approaching mar
riage, and pardon my not mentloning
u.e lady's name in the club. Steward,
please take the orders.'
"Most of us refused to drink with
him, for we despised the man, and I
lett him chatting with a few of his
particular cronies and went up to
Whiting's room. I heard afterward
that Davis left very shortly after I
did.
,-Whiting had not come home and I
spent the night hunting through hotels,
police stations, hospitals and even the
Morgue. for I felt sure that he had
ruptured a blood vessel in his lungs.
which must quickly prove fatal. But
I could find no trace of him, and final
ly. utterly worn out. went to my rooms
to toss aaout until midday with a
horrible nightmare, in which Whiting
and Davis were struggling In one an
other's grasp. each striving to kill the
other.
"At lunch- I picked up a morning
paper and scanned the society news
listlessly until my eyes lit upon the
rumored engagement of Dr. J. H.
Davis, formerly of New Orleans, and
Miss Isabene Wiley, the well known
belle. i-c.
"I sat musing over the strange
vicissitudes of fate and wondering
what had become of poor Wniting.
Suddenly a newsboy rushed into the
restaurant calling extras, and the first
heading I saw was:
'Sudden death of Dr. Davis.' I
eagerly read the usual detailed account
of how he had been found that morn
ing dead in his bed, evidently, the
paper stated, from a' ruptured blood
vessel, as the bed clothing and carpets
were saturated with blood, but no
wound was found on his body.
"Strangely enough, he lived in one
of the old tenements back of Whiting's
home, and measurements which I
made subsequently showed that his
rooms and Whiting's must have been
on similar floors and directly back to
back. Remembering the stolen note
paper I trieu to find some entrance be
tween the two houses, but the '-.alls
were solid, and even the wall paperu
showed naught but a few little cracks
due to their many years' service.
'This. gentlemen," said Dr. De
Forrest, drawing his glass and taking
up his hat and cane from the sofa,"
is a story of actual life, and -i
of you have an explanation to offer
I should be happy to hear it."
We could say noting for a moment,
and then the irrepressible Merton
found his tongue. "But how about Dr.
Whiting" he asked.
"As for him, gentlemen," said Dr._
De Forrest, solemnly, as he stood by
the open door, "I know nothing further
except that he was never found. But
I have my theory. Good night!" And
he closed the door.
Public Drinking Troughs.
Public drinking troughs for horses
are condemned by a well-known veter
Inary surgeon on the ground that they
propagate certain diseases peculiar to
horses.
The shovel Fish.
The shovel fish is so called because ,
it uses its nose to turn over the mud
at the bottom of the sea in quest of the
worms and small shellfish on which
it feeds.
Skate 150 ies a Day.
Laplanders think nothing of covering
150 miles a day on their skates.
THE CEIf 5 W~.HE
What the Department of Agicutur~
Says Abbu 2~~
The following is the weekly bulletin
of the South Carolina section c.f the
climate and crop service of the United
States weather bureau issued last week
by Director Bauer:
The temperature daring the week
ending June 26th, averaged nearly noh
mal, with cool nights early in he
week, but not cold enough to check tlil
growth of crops.
The rainfall was confined to su s
areas in the southeastern portinni ot
the State, where light to heavy show
ers occurred on the 21st, accompanied 7
in places by damaging hail and high
winds. A light shower occurred in
other portions of the State on the same
date. It is very dry over the north
central and northwestern counties,
wherA crops of all kinds, except pos
sibly early cotton, are suffering for
rain.
The weather wvas favorable for culti
vating field crops, and but few reports
of grassy ie'lda were received. Bud
worms continue to devastate corn and
bacco. catterp'illars to destroy rice,
d li.:e have appeared on young e->ton
a sinzle county.
Cotton e.>ntinues to do well, with a
rapid growth except in the "up-coun
try," where the soil lacks imoisture,
but the crop~ as a whole is very ; romis
ing. Blooms arc reported from nearly
every setion of the State. Sea Island
cotton is in ete&lient cor.dition as d
blooming f'reely.
Corn i-,1.roved generally, but is not
proisiug except over limited areas.
Worms threaten its ruin on bottom
lads in Pickens county, and have in
jured it severely ceeere. Laying
by is general.
To~bacco varwe iratly thruughout
the distriet. Iteports of damage by
worms are bumerous, and usany report
very poor stands. Cutting and curing
has begun, but this work will not be
general until the first week in July.
Rice planting is fnished. Young rice
is being injured by catterpillars. F:esh
water flooding is needed in some sec
tions and is not available.
Wheat arid oats threshing is nearly
finihed; 3ields <.f wheat fall below the
average, and of oats are generally poor.
Melon~s arc por r in places, and gen
erally late. Grapes rottening some.
Aples generally plentiful, but are
dropping badly. Slow progress is be
ing made in setting sweet potato slips.
Irish potatoes are-a failure. Patures
improving slowly- Peas being sown on
stubble and in with corn where the soil
will ad miit.
The Venerable Senate.
The senate of the United States that
will meet at the opening of the ~fi
sixth congress will be a body of mature
men. The average age of' its 86 mem
bers is 56 years and 6 months, or a lit
tle more. The aggregate years of these
86men are 4.864. The oldest senator
is Edmund Winston Pettus, of Alaba
ma, who is 7S. and the youngest sena
tor is Marion Butler, of North Carolina
who is 36. The 86 senators may be
classified b)y ages as follows:2
70 and 75...........-.-.----'
70 and 75........--------------'
6 and 65...........----.-17
5 and 60. ..O-- --- - - -1
5 and 55........----.-.-......18
40 and5.......-------.....1
40 and 45J.......-------....5