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TRICKE RY E. T MUE Rev. Dr. Talmage Contrasts It With Fair Dealing. CONDEMNS BUSINESS Processes by Which Values Are Misrepresented. Many of Our Merchants Are Models of Integrity. Integrity and trickery in business life form the subject of Dr. Talmage's sermon today, and the contrast he establishes between the two is a strik ing one. The text is Proverbs xx, 14, "It is naught, it is naught, said the buyer, when he is gone his way, then he boasteth." Palaces are not such prisons as the world imagines. If you think that the only time kings and queens come forth from the royal gates is in procession and gorgeously attended, you are mis taken. Incognito, by day or by night. and clothed in citizen's apparel or tne dress of a working woman. they come out and see the world as it is. In no other way could King Solomon, the author of my text, have known every thing that was going on. From my text I am sure he must in oisguise some day have walked into a store of ready made clothing in Jerusalem and stood near the counter and heard a convera tion between a buyer and a seller. The merchant put a price on a coat, and the customer began to dicker and said: "Absurd! That coat is not worth what you ask for it. Why, just look at the coarseness of the fabric! See that spot on the collar! Besides that. it coes not fit. Twenty dollars for that? Why, it is not worth more than $10. They have a better article than that and for lower price down at Clothem, Fitem & Bros. Besides that, I don't want it at any price. Good morning." "Hold," says the merchant, "do not go off in that way. I want to sell you that coat. I have some payments to make and I want the money. Come, now, how much will you give for that coat?" "Well," says the customer, "I will split the difference. You asked $20 and I said $10. Now, I will give you $15." 'Well," said the merchant. "it is a great sacrifice, but take it at that price." Then the customer with a roll under his arm starzted to go out and enter his own place of business, and Solomon in disguise followed him. He heard the customer as he unrolled the coat say: "Boys, I have made a great bargain. How much do you guess I gave for that coat?" "Well," says one, wishing to compliment his enterprise, "you gave $30 for it." Another says, "I should think you got it cheap if you gave $25." "No," says the buyer in triumph; "I got it for $15. I beat him down and pointed out the imperfectiont until I really made him believe it was not worth hardly anything. It takes me to make a bargain. Ha! Ha!" 0 man, you got the goods for 'less than they were worth by positive falsehood, and no wonder, when Solomon went back to his palace and had put off his disguise, that he sat down at his writing desk and made for all ages a crayon sketch of you, "It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer, but when he is gone his way, hen he boasteth." There are no higher styles of men in all the world than those now at the head of mercantile enterprises in the great cities of this continent. Their casual promise is as good as a bond with piles of collterals. Their good reputa tion for integrity is as well established as that of Petrarch residing in the fami ly of Colonna. It is related that when there was great disturbance in the fami ly the cardinal called all his people to gether and put them under oath to tell the truth, except Petrarch. When he came up to swear, the cardinal put away his book and said, "As for you, Pet rarch, your word is sufficient." Never since the world stood have there been so many merchants whose transactions can stand the test of the Ten Command ments. Such bargain makers are all the more to be honored because they have withsood year after year tempta tions which have flung so many fiat and fung them so hard they can never, never recover themselves. 'While all positions in life have rowerful beset ments to evil, there are specific forms of allurement which are peculiar to each occupation and profession, and it will be useful to speak of the pecui.r temptations of business men. First, as in the scene of the text, business men are often tempted to sac . rifice plain truth, the seller by exagger ating the value of goods and the buyer be depreciating them. We cannot but admire an expert salesman. See how he first induces the customer into a mood favorable to the proper considiera tion of the value of the goods. lie shows himself to be an honest and frank salesman. How carefully the lights are arranged till they fall just right upon the fabric! Beinning with goods of medium quality, he gradually advances toward those of more thor ough make and or more attractive pat tern. How he watches the moods and whims of his customer! With what perfect calmness he takes the order and bows the purchaser from his presence, who goes away having made up his mind that he has bought the goods at a price w'hich will allow him a living margin when he again sells -them! The goods . were worth what the salesman said they were and were sold at a price which will not make it necessary for the house to fail every ten years in order to fix up things.) But with what burning indignation we think of the iniquitous stratagems by which goods are sometimes disposed of! A glance at the morning papers shows the arrival at one of our hotels of a young merchant from one of the in land cities. He is a comparative stran ger in the great city, and of course he must be shown around, and it will be the duty of some of our enterpris ing houses to escort him. He is a large purchaser and has plenty of time and money, and it will pay to be very attentive. The evening is spent at a place of doubtful amuse ment. Then they go back to the ho tel. Having just come to tows, they must, of course, drink. A friend from the same mercantile establishment drops in, and usage and generosity suggest that they must drink. Business prospects are talked over, and the stranger is warned against cer tain dilapidated mercantile establish ments that are about to fail. i.nd for such kindness and magnanimity of cau tion against the dishonesty of ether business houses, of course it is expeet ed they will-and so they do-take -a drink. Other merchants lodging in ad joining rooms find it hard to sleep for the clatter of decanters, and the coarse carousal of these "hail fellows well met" waxes louder. Bat they sit not flusthedhs They -aa:er fo~h winP eteksfishdind eye! bl1,oodl it. The outer eatcs of hell open to let in the victin.. Tht- wings of lost 0o' flit among thc lights, and the steps of thC carousers :,ound with the rumbling thunders o the lost. Farewell to all tbe sanctities of home! Could mother, sister, father, sluibering in the inland home, ir sonic vision of that night catch a glimpse of the ruin wrought they would rend out their hair by the roots and bite the tongue till the blood spurted. shrickic; out, "God 3ave him" What, suppose you, will come upon such business establishments? and there are hundreds of then, in the cities. They may boast of fabulous sales, ana they may have an uuprece dented run of buyers, and the name of the house may be a terror to all rivals, and from this thrifty root t:.ere may spting up branch houses in other cities. and all the partners of the firm may more into their mansions and drive their full blooded span, and the fam ilies may sweep the stre.:t with the most elegani t apparel that human heart ever wove or earthly nagnificen':e ever achieved. But a curse is gathering surelv for these mea, ard if it does not seize hold f the pilla:s and in one wild ruin bring down the temple of comm'rcial glory ; will break up their peace, and they will tremble with sickness and bloat with dissipations, and, pushed to the precipice of this life, they will try to hold back and cry for help, but no help will come, and they will clutch their goid to take it along with them, but it will be snatched from their grasp and a voice will sound through their soul, "No a farthing, thou beggared spirit:" An3 thf judgment will come, and they will stand aghast before it, and all the business iniquitics of a life time will gather around them. saying, "Do you remember this?" and "Do you remember that?" And clerks that they compelled to dishonesty and run ners and draymen and bookkeepers who saw behind the scenes will bear testi mony to theIr refarious deeds, and some virtuous soul that once stood aghast at the splendor and power of these businiss men will say, "Alas, this is all that is left of that great firm that occupied a block with their mer chandise and overshadowed the city with their influence and made righte ousness and truth and purity fall under the galling tire of avarice and crime." While we admire and approve of all acuteness and tact in the sale of goods, 'we must condemn any process by which a fabric or product is represented as possessing a valee which it really does not have. Nothing but sheer false hood can represent as perfection boots that rip, silks that speedily lose their luster, calicoes that immediately wash out. stores that crack under the first hot fire, books insecurely bound, car pets that unravel, old furniture reju verated with putty ard glue and sold as havirg been recently manufactured, gold watches made of brass, barrels of fruit, the biggest apples on the top, wine adulterated with strychnine, hos iery poorly woven, clothes of domestic manufacturo shining with foreign la bels, imported goods represeuted as rare and hard to get, because foreign cx change is so high, rolled out on the counter with matchless display. Im ported indeed, but from the factory in the next street. A pattern already un fashionable nnd unsalable palmed off as a new print upon some country mer chant who has come to town to make his first purchase of dry goods and go ing home with a large stock of goods warranted to keep. Again business men are often tempt ed to make the habits and customs of other traders their law of rectitude. There are commercial usages w':ich will not stand the test of the last day. Yet men in business are apt to do as their neighbors do. If the ma jority of the traders in any locality are lax in principle, the commercial code in that community will be spurious and dis honest. It is a hard thing to stand close lby the law of right when your next door neihbor, by his looseness of dealing, is etabled to sell goods at a cheaper rate and decoy your zustomers. Of course you who promptly meet all your business engagements, paying when you promise to pay, will find it hard to compete with that merchant who is hopelessly in debt to the impor ter for the goods and to the landlord whose store he occupies and to the clerks who serve him. There are a hundred practices prevalent in the world of traffic which ought never to be come the rule for honest men. Their wrong does not make your right. Sin never becomes virture by being multi plied and admitted at brokers' board or merenants' exchange. Because others smuggle a few things in passenger trunks, because others take usury when men are in tight places, because others deal in fancy stoeks, because others palm off worthless indorsements, because otheis do nothing but blow bubbles, do not, therefore, be overcome of temptation. H~ollow pretentions and fictitious credit and commercial gambling may awhile prosper, but the day of reckoning cometh, and in addi tion to the hdrror and condemnation of outraged communities the curse of God will come, blow after blow. God's law forever and forever is the only standard of right and wrong and not commercial ethics. Young business, men avoid the first business dishonor, and you will avoid all the rest. The captain of a vessel was walking near the mouth of a river when the tide was low, and there was a long, stout anchor chain, into one of the great links or which his foot slipp ed, and it began te sweill, and he could not withdraw it. The tide bega4n to rise. The chain could not be loosened nor filed off in time, and a surgeon was called to amputate the limb, but before the work could be done the tide rolled over the victim, and his life was gone. I have to tell you, young man, that just one wrong into which you slip may be a link of a long chain of circumstan ces from which you cannot be extricat ed by any ingenuity of your own or any help from others, and the tides will roll over you as they have over many. When Pompey, the warrior, wanted to take possession of a city and they would not open the gates, he persuaded them to admit a ssek soidier. But the sick soldier after awhile got well a'.d strong, and he threw open the gates and let the devastating army come in. One .wrong admitted into the soul may gain in strength until after awhile it flings open all the gates to the attack of sin, and the ruin is complete. Again, business men arc sometimes tempted to throw off personal responsi Ibility, shifting it to the institution to which they belong. Directors in banks and railroad and insurance companies somectimes shirk personal responsibility underneath the action of the corporation and hew often, when some banking house or financial institution explodes throurh fraud, respectable men in the board of directors say, "~Why, I thought all was going on in an honest way, and I am utterly confounded with this do' meanor!" The banks and the fire and lfe and marine insancen comnanies anc a he railroad comprames lvii no, stat;1 up for judgnent in the 1,st day. but faosc who in them acted righteous ly will receive, each for himsClf, a re ward, and those who acted the part of neglect or trickery will, each for him sels, receive a condemnatiol. tTnliwful dividends are not clean be fore God because there are those associ ated with you who grab just as big a pile as you do. le who countenances the dishonesty of the firm or of the cor boration or association takes upon him self all the moral liabilities. If the financial institution steals, he steals. If they go into wild speculations, he himself is a gambler. If they need lessly embarrass a creditor, he himself is guilty of cruelty. If they swindle the uninitiated he himself is a defraud er. No financial institution ever had a monev vault strong enough, or credit stanch enough, or dividends large enough. or policy acute enough to hide the individual sins of its members. The old adage that corporations have no souls is misleading. Every corporation has as many souls as it has mem bers. Again, many business men have been tempted to postpone their enjoyments and duties to a future season of entire leisure. What a sedative the Christian religion would be to all our business men if instead of postponing its uses to old age or death they would take it into the store or factory or worldly engage ments now! It is folly to go amid the uncertainties of business life with no God to help. A merchant in a New England village was standing by a horse, and the horse lifted its foot to stamp it in a pool of water, and the merchant. to escape the splash, stepped into the door of an insurance agent, and the agent said, "I suppose you have come to renew your fire insur ance." "Oh!" said the merchant. "I had forgotten that." The insurance was renewed, and the next day the house that had been insured was burn ed. Was it all accidental that the nier chant, tQ escape a splash from a horse's foot, stepped into the insurance office? No, it was providential. And what a mighty solace for a business man to feel that things are providential! What peace and equilibrium in such a consideration, and what a grand thing if all business men could realize it! Many, although now comparatively straitened in worldly circumstances, have a goodly establishment in the fu ture planned out. They have in im nation built, about 20 years ahead. house in the country not difficult 'V access from the great town, for t!. will often have business or old accou ts to settle or investments to look afte r. The house is large eneugh to accomma date all their friends. The halls ,re wide and hung with pictures of hunting scenes and a branch of antlers and are comfortable with chairs that can be rolled out on the veranda when the weather is inviting or set out under some of the oaks that stand sentinel about the house, rustling in the cool breeze and songful with the robins. There is just land enough tokeep them interested, and its crops of almost fab ulous richness springing up under ap plication of the best theories to be found in the agricultural journals. The farm is well stocked with cattle and horses and sheep that know the voice and have a kindly bleat when one goes forth to look at them. In this blissful abode their children will be in structed in art and science and religion. This shall be the old homestead to which the boys at college will direct their letters, and the hill on which the house stands will be called Oakwood or Iy Hill or Pleasant Retreat or Eagle Eyrie, May the future have for every businesss man here all that and more besides! But are you postponing your happiness to that time? Are you ad jouning your joys? Suppose that you achieve all you expect-and that the vision I mention is not up to the reality, because the fountains will be brighter, the house grander and the scenery more picturesque-the mistake is none the less fatal. What charm will there be in rural quiet for a man who has for 30 or 40 years been conforming his entire nature to the excitements of business? Will flocks and herds with their bleat and moan be able to silence the insatiable spirit of acquisitiveness which has for years had full swing in the soul? Will the 1um of the breeze soothe the man who now can find his only enjoyment in the stock market? Will leaf and cloud and fountain charm the eye that has for three-fourths of a lifetime found its chief beauty in hogshead and bills of sile? Will pare'3ts be compe tent to rear their childrea for high and holy purpose, if their infancy and boy hood and girlhood were neglected, when they are almost ready to enter upon the world and have all their hab its fixed and their principles stereoty ped? No, no: now is the time to be happy. Noiv is the time to serve your Creator. Now is the time to be a Christian. Are you too busy? I have known men as busy as you are who, had a place in the store loft where ihey went to pray. Someone asked a Chris tian sailor where he found any plae tio pray in. Hie said, "I can always find a quiet place at masthead."~ And in the busiest day of the season if your heart is right you can find a place to pray. Busy thoroughfares are good places to pray in as you go to meet your various eugagements. Go home a little earlier and get introduced to your children. Be not a galley slave by day and night, lashed fast to the oar of business. Let every day have its hour for worship and intellectual culture and recreation. Show yourself great er than your business. Act not as though after death you would enter upon an eternity of railroad stocks and coffees and ribbons. Roast not your manhood before the perpetual fires of anxiety. With every yard of cloth you sell, throw not in your soul to boot. Use firkin and counting room desk and hardware crate as the step to glorious usefulness and highest Christian char acter. Decide once and forever who shall be master in your store, you or your business. Again, business men are often tempt ed to let their calling interfer with the interests o' the soul. God sends men into the business world to get educated iust as hoys are sent to school and college. Puarchase and sale, loss and gain, disappointment, prosperity, the~ dishonesty of others, panie and bank snspension are but different lessons in the school. The more business the more means or grace. Many hi.ve gone through wildest panic unhurt. "Are you not afraid you will break?"' said some one to a merchant in time of great commercial excitement. He re plied, "Aye, I shall break when the fiftieth psalm breaks, in the fifteenth verse, 'Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee.'" The store and the counting house 1ave developed some of the most stal wart characters. Perhaps originally they had but little spright~liness and fore, but two or three hard business thumps woke them up from their leth argy, and there came a thorough de veoment in their hearts of all that wa3 good anud holy and energlic and tremendous. and the have become the front men in Chrirt's army as well ag lighthouse. in the great world of traf fie. But business has been perpetual depletion to many a man. It first pulled out of him all benevolence, next all amiability, next all religious aspirations, next all conscience, and, though he entered his vocation with large heart and noble character, he goes out of it a skeleten, enough to scare a ghost. Men appreciate the impo;tcnce of having a good business stand, a store on the right side of the street or in the right block, yet every place of bu siness is a good stand for spiritual cul ture. God's angels hover over the world of traffic to sustain and build up those who are trying to do their duty. Tomorrow, if in your place of worldly engagement you will listcn for it, you may hear a sound louder than the rat tle of drays and the shuffle of feet and the chink of dollars stealing into your soul, saying, "Seek ye first the king doi of God aud his righteousnes, and all other things shall be added unto you." Yet some of those sharpest at a bar gain are cheated out of their in mmortal blessedness by stratagems more palpa ble then any "drop game" of the street. They make investments in thing- everlastingly below par. They put their valuables in a safe not fire proof. They give fill credit to in fluences that will not be able to pay one cent on the dollar. They plunge into a labyrinth from which no bank rupt law or "two-thirds coactment" will ever extricate tlcm. They take into their partnership the rorld, the flesh and the devil, aud the enemy of all righteousness will boast through eternal ages that the man who in all his business life could not be outwitt ed at last tumbied into spiriual defal ca tion and was sxindled out of hea ven. Perhaps some of you saw the fire in New York in 1835. Aged men tell us th;.t it begeared all description. Some stood on the house tops of Brook lyn and looked at the red ruin that swept down the streets and threatened to obliterate the metropolis. But the commercial world will yet be startled by a greater conflagration; even the last one. B'Is of exchange, policies of insurance, mortgages and bonds and government securities will be consura ed in one lick of the flame. The Y-urse and the United States mint will en to ashes. Gold will run molten tuto the dust of the street. Ex changes and granite blocks of merchan - dise will fall with a crash that will make the earth tremble. The flashing up of the great light will show the righteous the way to their thrones. Their best treasures in heaven, they will go up and take possession of them. The toils of business life, which rack ed their brains and rasped their nerves for so many years, will have forever ceased. "There the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest." WAR CORRESPONDENTS. Complaint of Their Treatment by Otis Sent to London. An Associated Press dispatch from London Tuesday says: A private let ter received here today from a war cor respondent at Manila and dated June 17, say: "There seems to be no end of the war in sight. The censorship is constantly becoming more troublesome, Gen Otis recently establised a rule that any matter relating to the navy must be taken to the commander of the fleet for his approval and after ward submitted to the military censor, thus adding to our difficulties. For some reason which the censor would not explain, Gen. Otis refused to al low us to send the death of the Monad nock's captain (Nichols) for two days after its occurrence. The general also refused to allow us to send news of the disappearance of Capt. Riockefel ler (April 28) on the ground that it would worry his family, or the killing of Capt. Tilley, of the signal corps, until the next day. The correspond ents are all very tired of this arrange ment, wvhich simply means that they must go out and run large chances of getting shot several times a week with no chance of making reputations, be :ause their stories must always reflect Otis' view. "It is impossible to write the truth about the situation. The resources and fighting qualities of the natives are giite misunderstood by the Ameri can papers .and we cannot write the facts without being accused of trea son; nor can we tell of the practically unanimous opposition to and didike of the war among the American troops The volunteers, or at least a portion of them, were at one time on the verge of mutiny, and unless Gen. Otis had begun sending them homewards there would have been sensational develop ments. "We have been absolutely refused all hospital fig'ires." GEERAL WEYLER. He Threatens, in the Senate, to Lead a Revolution in Spain. The discussion of th2 army bill in the senate at Madrid Wednesda~y led to an exciting scene. Gen. Weyler, arguing against any reduction of the strength of the army, warned the gov erment that the present situation made a revolution highly probable. ince it had never been so easy for the army and the people to make common cause. lHe himself, he said, had never thought of heading a rising, but it must be confessed that revolutions some times cieared the political atmosphere and accomplished the work of regenera tion. Senor Dato, minister of the in teior, replying, severely censured Gen. Weyler, declaring that a general who, with 300,000 men had failed to sup press the Cuban rebellion, had no right to make such threats and that any at tempt at revolution no matter by whom, would be proceeded against v i~h the utmost rigor of the law. Tlho secn aors warmly applauded Scuor Dato's sperh. T[Ye army bili was adopted. Lower Freight. The railroad commission has promul gated the new local tariff on cotton, which is of great importance not only to railroads, but cotton shippers and growers as well. The rates are a reduc tion of from 25 to 30 per cent. on rates formerly existing in this State, and are said to lower than those of any State in the South. The commission and the railroad officials have had this matter under consideration for a year. Shot to Death. Henry Novels, a negro, of Hatties burg, Miss., who attempted to assault Miss Rosa Davis, Saturday evening was captured Tuesday and was identified by Miss Davis. lie was immediately tied to a tree and shot to death by the an THE OHIO TROUBLE. Board of Arbitration Can Do No thing in Cleveland Strike. MAYORS OF TOWNS CLASH. Cleveland's Mayor Threatens to Subdue Brooklyn by Thirst. Cars Run on Twelve Lines. The storm centre of the street rail way strike has, according to the authori ties, settled in Brooklyn, a suburb connected with Cleveland by a long high bridge. At noon Wednesday 150 employes of the Borne Steel Range company blocked a car on the bridge and dragged the mot3rinan and condue tor from their posts, inflicting with their fists and other weapons inj aries more painful than serious. Soldiers on guard at the barn about half a mile away hurried to the scene, but the riot ers had taken refuge in the factory, which stands under the approach to the bridge. The factory was surrounded and the premises searched, but there was no clew by which the guilty ones could be picked out. Gen. Axline, in command of the troops, in order to personally view the sit'iation took a ride on an Orange street car. le was in civilian dress and the car was stoned at various intervals all along the route. A rock came near hit ting him. The general took other trips through the troubled districts but de clined to give his views of the situa tion. The vigilance of the guards while daylight aided them prevented trouble of a serious nature. Preparations for mass meetings at various point were made during the day. A meeting will be held in Brooklyn to protest against the action of Mayor Farley of Cleve land, who has assumed, under the authority of an almost forgotten btatute, supreme police power in Cuyahoga coun ty. This relieves Mayor Phelps of the suburb, together with his constabulary force of their power and they don't like it. The two mayors are not on the terms that existed between the storied governors of the two Carolinas. The soldiers and the Cleveland chief execu tive's special police in Brooklyn are not allowed to use the public hydrants to get water, it is said, and upon vari ous occasions bayonets were of a neces sity used to convince shopkeepers that it was wisest to sell soldiers what they wanted. Mayor Farley mailed Mayor Phelps a letter in which he declared that if the Cleveland cohorts had any more trouble about getting water, Cleveland, which pumps the water to the suburb, would attempt to abragate the water truce and let the whole ham let go thirsty. Mayor Farley also is sued a statement to the strikers, in which he said that a man who was more loyal to his labor union than to himself and his country was a coward and a bad citizen. Pasident Mahon of the National un ion of street car emi,loyes, in an inter view declared that as the street car company, according to his information, was losing thousands of dollars every day, the strike would have to be settled soon upon advances made by the com pany, On the face of this President Everitt again told the board of arbitra tion that the company had nothing to arbitrate. The board is unable to take action looking to a settlement in view of the attitude of the opposing forces. The task of distributing the soldiers was Wednesday completed by Gen. Aline. Mayor Parley declared that he would suppress violence if he had to call out the entire National Guard of Ohio. A boy was shot Wednesday evening by a non-union conductor, but whether or not accidentally is not known. DISARMING T HE CONSTABLES. Governor McSweeney Issues an Order on the Zubiect. The Supreme Court having recently declared that officers, such as dispen sary constables, cannot carry concealed weapons, the following order was sent to the captain~s of the force Tuesday morning, with Governor McSweeney's approval: "IDear Sir: Governor McSweeney di rects me to have you instruct the con stables under your command not to car ry concealed weapons. The Supreme Court has rece:tly decided that a wea pon cannot lawfully be carried conceal ed. If weapons are carried they must be exposed. Respectfully, "WV. WV. Harris, Clerk." Mr. Harris, in speaking of the carry ing of weapons by constables, says that the State does not furnish them with pistols, nor are they instructed to use them. Whatever pistols are carried by constables are their own property. It has teen generally believed that consta bles are armed by the State, but Mr. Harris says that this is incorrect. Gov ernor Tillman had them supplied with pistols, but during Governor Evan's administration they were all called in, and since that time when constables carried pistols they had to buy them themselves. It is a fact, nevertheless, that the constabulary geinerally went about armed, but if they do so hereaf ter they must carry their weapons as policemen usually do. Advertised a Wedding. A novel advertising scheme was em ployed by one of the New York subur ban railroad companies Tuesday, which drew many thousand persons to Lake side Park, on the shores of Onondaga Lage. It consisted of a bona fide wed ding ceremony, performed by a city pastor in the presence of a crowd of gaping rustics and city dwellers in search of novelty. For a percentage of the receipts a young farmer who re joices in the euphonious name of Berta Marion Smith, and Miss Lillian Easter brook, the daughter of a milkman, con sented to make their nuptial rites the subject of public gaze. Twenty-five dollars was offered the Rey. Henry 0. Manchester, pastor of Danforth Metho dist church, to perform the ceremony, and he consented, not understanding that the wedding was to be public. When he learned that his fee was to come from the treasury of the railroad company and that the wedding was be ing advertised for all it was worth as an attraction to the park, he declined to have anything to do with it. The services of the Rev. A. Oberlander, an lEvangelical Lutheran minister, were then hastily secured and the nuptial knot was tied by him. It is estimated that the railroad company made the scheme profitable to the extent of $5,000. The percentage due the bride and groom will set them up comfortable 0AUM5G 'TOACCO A Timely Article for Planters of the Golden Weed. The Tobacco Planters Guide says many tobacco planters make a mistake by not properly grading their crops. Some entertain the idea that they can pack away a lower grade with a higher and make the whole lot sell for the value of the latter, when the result is generally the reverse. Dishonest pack ing has nevr paid any farmer and never will. The planter should remem ber that the buyer generally knows more about the quality of tobacco than any one else, and is more likely to detect any flaws or defects in packing. You can put this down as a safe rule; that, whenever you pack a lower grade with a higher, you are certain to get paid for the lower grade, and all extra leaves put in the lot is just so much waste. Honest packing always pays. Maj. Ragland has written so minute ly and so fully on this subject that we cannot do bet tcr than give the reader his dircctions. They are comprehen sive and need not be supplemented with any explanatory notes. "If, after the tobacco is cured, the weather remains dry and-it fails to get soft readily so that it can be moved, it may be brought in order in the following way: Place green bushes with the leaves on th floor ar.d sprinkle water over them copiously. If the tobacco is dry and the atanosphere contains but little mois ture, and if the weather is cool, alittle fire kindlei in the flues will assist in making the tobacco soft. Straw, wet or made so, will answer the same pur pose. If the weather is damp there ill be no necessity to use either straw, bush or water. But when it is necessary to use means to order tobacco, i is best to apply them in the afternoon, that the tobacco may be removed the next morning. If the weather continues warm and damp or rainy, tobacco that remains hanging will be apt to change color unless dried out by flues or char coal. Wnen this becomes necessary, build small fires at first, and raise the heat gradually. "Tobacco should never be stripped from the stalks except in pliable order, and the leaves on every plant should be carefully assorted and every grade tied up sepaately. Usually there will be three gaades of leaf, assorted with reference to color and size, and-two of lugs. Of leaf, tie six to eight leaves in a bundle, and of lugs eight to ten. As fast as you strip, either hang the hands on sticks, twenty-five to each stick, and hang up, or bulk down in two layers, the heads of the hands or bundles fac ing outward. The latter mode is best if you intend to sell in winter order, loose on the warehouse floors. If bulked down, watch frequently to see that it does not heat. If the bulk becomes warm it must be broken up, aired and re-bulked, or hung up if too soft. It is safer always to hang up as soon as strip ped, unless you desire to sell soon, and strike down in safe keeping order in spring or summer. It is considered in safe order when the leaf is pliable and he stem will crack half way down the t'e. "If you sell loose, deliver in large, uniform piles; such will cost less and your tobacco bring more in price. But to sell in a distant market, pack in tieres-half hogsheads make the best and cheapest-to weighs about 400 pounds, net, taking care not to press the tobacco so as to bruise it, .or pack it too closely together. The best leaf is wanted for wrapper, and it must open easily when shaken in the hand. Pack one grade only in each tierce, uniform in color and length; but if it becomes necessary to put more than one grade in a tierce, place strips of paper or straw between to mark or separate them. Pack honestly, for honesty is al ways the best policy. The man who nests his tobacco will certainly go on the Black List, and buyers have good memories. If your tobacco is fine, sound and nicely handled, you will have the satisfaction of getting, at the least a remunerative price for it, al though poor and nondescript stock may be selling for less then the cost of production. The world outside of this country makes, as a rule, low grades plenty, and at a cost to raise much less than we can compass. We must plant less surface, fertlize heavier, and cul tivate and manage better, if we would get the best prices." T HE CROPS AND WEATHEE. What the Department of Ag'riculture Says About Them. Thec following is the weekly bulletin of the condition of the weather and crops in the State issued Tuesday by Section Director Bauer of the United States Weathcr and Crop service: 'Ihe week ending J..uly 24th averaged about 3 degrees per day hotter than usual, with a weekly mean tempera ture of 94 degrees, but the maximum temperature did not reach the extreme figure of the previous week. The nights were uniformly hot. There were light, scattered sho ,eers on the 1ith, and the two following dates, but at few points only was the rainfall heavy enough to break the drought. Charleston had 1.00 inch: Kingtree 1.05; and Summerville 3.1:3 inches: elsewhere the amounts were genelly under half an inch; while over the greater jportion of the State practically no rain fell. The drought has reached a serious stage. Crops of all kinds have deteriorated, and some, such as old corn. etc., are in places ruined. The 1;rospects are reported to be "'gloomy"' and "appalling" in places. No amount of rainfall, correspondents say, would restore the failir.g crops to profitable yields. Water for stock is scarce, and in places :attle are report ed dying. Light showers have fallen in portions of the State since most of the reports were received. Cotton failed rapidly, and draught stopped its growth, it is turning yellow as though maturing, and is shedding leaves and fruit. The plants are bloom ing to the top. Tfhese are the prevail ing conditions, but in spots cotton con tinues to do well. Sea-island cotton. while generally in excellent condition is blighting to a considerable extent. Old corn is injured beyond recovery in many counties, and generally it is but a poor crop. Corn on bottom lands is very good. Fodder pulling has be gun in the eastern counties. Tobacco was severely injured in places by the drought and extreme heat; the leaves are sunburned, and the quality of the crop is reduced. Where timely rains fell; the crop is very fine. Curing is general. Early rice is heading. The crop stands in need of rain. generally, and of water for flooding, where not laid by. Upland rice has su~cred from the heat and drought. Hon. J. J. Darlington, a native of Due West, S. C., was tendered a Dis iet Judgeship by President McKinley Makes the food more d ROYAL GAKING P ~ COLLEGE GRADUATES. Uome Statistics Concerning the Life They Take Up. One hundred 3@ears ago more grad uates adopted the ministry of the Gos pel as a career than any other calling. The proportion was a little more than one-third of the total number of grad uates. The law followed next in or der, but taking a considerably smaller number of men. Gradually the law gained on the church, until it took first place, about 33 1-3 per cent. of the graduates becoming lawyers. The standing of these two profes sions remained about the same until within the last ten or fifteen years, when the law slightly increased its lead. From ten years ago up to the present time, however, commerce has been forging to the front, and at the present time it appears that more grad uates engage in commercial pursuits than in either the law or the ministry. One-third of the men who now come from college go into business, a con siderably smaller number go into law, and a very much smaller number be come preachers. The conditions have been reversed in 100 years. Then the law and the church were regarded as being pretty nearly the only learned professions. Now the formerly de spised "trade" is taking more highly educated men than either the' law or the church. The marvelous growth and expansion of commercial enterprises during the hundred years is responsible for the changed conditions. It requires men of brains and education to plan, organ ize and erect the monster enterprises which are to be seen on every hand at the present time. Commerce has not only become "respectable," but it of fers inducements to young men such as are not duplicated by the learned professions. As a matter of fact, should not commerce, since its higher branches now require the services of so many highly educated men, be in cluded among the learned professions? The commercial development is des tined to undergo still greater expan sion and the probabilities are that the demand for college men in its service will go on growing for many years to come. He Kept the Seat. A man who had not been to church for a very long time finally harkened to the persuasions of his wife, and de cided to go. He got the family all to gether and they started early. Arriv ing at the church there were very few people in it, and no pew-openers at hand, so the man led his family well up the aisle and took possession of a nice pew. Just as the service was about to-be gin a pompous-looking old man came in, walked up to the door of the pew and stood there, exhibiting evident surprise that It was occupied. The oc cupants moved over and offered him room to sit down, but he declined to be seated. Finally the old man produced a card and wrote upon It with a pen cil: "I pay for this pew." He'gave the card to the strange occu pant, who, had he been like most peo ple would have at once got up and left. But the Intruder adjusted his glasses and with a smile read the card. Then he calmly wrote beneath it: "How much do you pay a year?" To this inquiry the pompous old gen tleman, still standing, wrote abruptly: "Ten pounds." The stranger smiled as though he were pleased, looked around to com pare the pew with' others, admired its nice cushions and furnishings and wrote back: "I don't blame you. It Is well worth it." The pompous old gentleman at that stage collapsed Into his seat. Character in Smoking. If a man smokes a cigar only enough to keep it lighted, and relishes takin't it from his mouth to cast a look at the curl of smoke in the air, set him down as an easy-going man. Beware of the man who ne *er releases the grip on his cigar and is indifferent whether It burns or not; he is cool, calculating and exacting. The man that smokes a bit, rests a bit and fumbles the cigar more or less is easily affected by circumstances. If the cigar goes out frequently, the smoker has a whole-souled disposition, is a "hail fellow, well met," with a lively brain, a glib tongue and gener ally a fine fund of anecdotes. A nervous man who fumbles his ci gar a great deal Is a sort of popinjay among men. Holding the cigar con stantly between the teeth, chewing it occasionally and not caring If it is lighted at all are the characteristics of men who have the tenacity of bull dogs. The fop stands his cigar on end, and an experienced smoker points it straight ahead, or almost at right an gles with his course. Smoking Under FIre. A Saco, Me., smoker named Frank Durgin while filling his pipe lately in advertently put In a revolver cartridge which he kept 111 a pocket with his tobacco, and started from home with his dinner pall unconscious of the extra danger which lurked in the pipe bowl. It didn't result so disastrously as might have been feared, however. When about half way to his place of' work there was an explosion, the pipe dis appeared and the bullet whizzed past the man's ear, nipping off an edge as it passed. Bill Posting by Machine. Successful experiments have been made In Paris with a new bill posting machine, which does away with the use of either a ladder or paste. It can be used to post bills at a height of fifty feet from the ground and is being put ato piggctical operation. A somiiewnat patnetic letter comes from an old colored citizen. It is as follows: "De rain has done beat down my cot ton, an' most er my co'n is done ruint. My son wuz a sojer in de war wid de Spaniels. He lost two legs in it. Do you reckon de guy-ment will give him $2 a leg fer 'em.?" Level Sea Bottom. The bottom of the Pacific between Hawaii and California is said to be so level that a railroad could be laid for 500 miles without grading anywhere. This fact was discovered by the United States surveying vessel engaged in making soundings with a view of lay LFowmlR elicious and wholesome oeO 0.K YWvoW. SAILORS AND SHARKS. Two Facts Not Generally Known by The" Unacquainted With the Sea. "Two facts that may seem somewhat peculiar to shore folks," said an ex sailor of the navy, "are, first, that only about one-half of the man-o'-war's men in our service or in any other ser vice, in fact, know how to swim, and, second, that sharks are the most cow ardly of all living creatures. It is odd that so large a proportion of the naval sailors don't know how to swim, but it is probably due to the fact that a great number of our man-o'-war's men nowadays come from the interior of the country, where-there is no water 'r them to learn how to swim. In the old navy-and I put all of my ser vice in in the old navy, so called-the man who couldn't swim was, as soon as the fact was discovered by his ship mates, incontinently chucked over the side when swimming call went, and he just had to swim. Of course, the men wouldn't let a fellow who didn't know how to swim drown before their eyes, but they 'would see to it that he made a hard stab at the art of swim ming before they picked him up. If he didn't succeed in swimming the first time, overboard he wo'uld go the very next time all hands took a plunge over the side at swimming call, and thus all of the men serving on the old line of packets became swimmers before they left the service. It is forbidden to throw a non-swimmer into the water now, but I think it would be a good thing if the practice were still con tinued. The officers of the ships to day insist upon the apprentice lads learning to swim, but they let the non swimmers among the newly recruited landsmen go along without learning. There have been numerous drowning incidents in our navy within recent years, owing to the Inability of men who were otherwise excellent sailors in the easy art of swimming. "As to the cowardliness of sharks, that fact is well known among men who have been much to sea in southern waters infested by man-eaters. The fiercest man-eater that ever bullied a poor little pilot fish into acting as a food scout for him will get out of the seaway in mighty big hurry if a swim mer, noticing the shark's approach, sets up a noisy splashing. A shark Is in deadly fear of any sort of living thing that splashes in the water. Down among the South Sea Islands the na tives never go in sea bathing alone, but always in parties of half a dozen or so, in order that they may make the greatest hubbub in the water, and thus scare the sharks away. Once in a while a too venturesome swimmer among these natives foolishly de- ~ taches himself from his swimming party and momentarily forgets to keep up his splashing. Then there is a sud den swish, and the man-eater comes up beneath him like a fiash and gobbles him. Speckled Cigar Wrappers. Some of the tobacco Imported from. Sumatra for making the wrappers of cigars has a curiously speckled appear- '' ance. In the minds of certain buyers this marking Is evidence that the cigar has a Sumatra wrapper. Such is not always the case, for the artful man. acturer has learned how to spot American tobacco artifically, and he occasionally does so in so clever a man ner that the uninitiated customer never suspects the trick. Sumatra is a Dutch possession, and tie spotting of the tobacco raised in th..t island has 11een made the subject of investigation by Professor Beyer inck, of the Amsterdam Academy of Sciences. This learned man presented to the Academy a few weeks ago a pa per in which he set forth the results of his inquiry. He described a "living, fluid contagion," which he declares i the cause of the disease. This disor der, also known as the mosaic disease of tobacco leaves, may be Inoculated into healthy plants by injecting into the stem, near a bud, sap pressed from infected plants. The active viru passes completely through the pores of very dense porcelain, and :an even - penetrate into agar by diffusion; there fore it cannot be a "contagium fixum" in the usual sense, but it must be fiuid. Out of the tobacco plant it cannot be made to multiply; but in the dividing tissues of the leaf-rudiments and the meristems of the buds it multiplies freely and over a great extent. A very small drop of the porcelain filtrate can render all the leaves of the infect ed plant entirely covered with spots, and the sap of these leaves would be - sufficient for the contagion of an un limited number of healthy plants. Art and Mechanism. A new portiere is designed to obviate the necessity of pashing aside the drapery when you enter a room from the outside. The rail may be rectan gular or semi-circular, and the rings are connected with a spring hidden in a tube, which, in turn, is fixed on one side of the door. The act of openinig the door actuates the mechanism, and the ctirtain is drawn aside; on releas ing your hold on the door the spring causes it to shut, and at the same time restores the curtain to its regular posi Pure Water Xe Blue. A well-known scientist says that the true color of pure water Is blue, and that this is a characteristic of the wa ter itself and is not due to reflection from the surface nor- from suspended particles. Lake Geneva is an example of the blue of pure water. No Truth in It. There is no truth whatever In the be lief that any one falling into the sea necessarily rises aind sinks three times before drowning. itan't Think She Was So Old. "Ah, yes," said Mrs. Hambus, "war is dreadful. How well I remember the gloomy days we had whenever our brave soldiers lost a battle during the rebellion. Why, it was as if every fam ily had been personally afficted." "I'm surprised to hear you say that," exclaimed Willie Wimbledon. "I didn't suppose you were old enough to remember anything about the civil Up to that time Willie's attention to Geraldine Hlambus had not been looked upon with favor by her mother, but th -e yngman as won ont.-Chinnen