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JOSHUA'S BATTLES.I Talmage Draws from thr'm Les sons in Ch'ristian w o'am'. ENCOURAGING WORDS For Those Ergaged In the Fat ties of Life. G:d's So! diers Never Turn Back ward. In this discourse Dr. Talmage fol lows Joshua on his triumphal march and speaks encouraging wo'rds to ali who are engaged in the hatle &'t.t life; text, Joshuai, 5, 'The ry shall nt any man be able to staid bIr ne> all the days of thy life., Moses was dead. A beauiu trani tion says the Lord kissed him and in that act drew forth the soul of tre dy ing lawgiver. He had been bu:iea, only one person a the funeral, the same one who kissed him. Bat God never takes a man away from ar.y place of usefulness until he has some one ready to replace him. The Lord does not go looking around a-id a great va riety of candidates to find some one especially fitted for the vacated poi tion. He makes a man for that place Moses has passed off the stage, and Joshua, the hero, puts his foot on the platform of history so solidly that all the ages echo with the tread. He way a magnificent fighter, but he ahvays 6gght on the right side, and he never fought unless God told him to fight. Ho got his military equipment from God, who gave him the promise at the start, "There shall not any man b- ahie to stand before thee all the days o: ti life." God fulfilled this proise, a though Joshua's first battle way With the spring freshet. tie next r -n a store wall, the next leading on a reie.nt vi whipped cowards and the ncx. bstting against darkness, wbeelin the sun and the moon into his battaion, and the last against the king of ar:ors, death five great victories. As a rule when the gcercral of an army starts out in a war he v.culd like to have a small battle in ord:r tbat he may get his own courate up ard raly his troops and get them cr il.e d fcr :rea: er conflicts, but the first uaderaking of Joshua was greatertban the Lkv:ing of Fort Pulaski, or the assault of G ,b raltar, or the overthrow of the Basti.le. It was the crossing of the Jordan at the time of the spring freshet. The snows of Mount Lebanon had just been melting, and they poured down into the valley, and the whole valley was a raging torrent. So the Canaanites stand on one bank, and they look across and see Joshua and the Israelites, and they laugh and say: "Aha, they ian not disturbus until the freshets fali: it is impossible for them to reach us." Bat after awhile they look across the water, and they see a movement in the army of Joshua. They say: "What is the matter now? Why, there must be a panic among those troops, and they are going to fly, or perhaps they are going to try to march across the river Jordan Joshua is alunatic." Bit Joshua, the chieftain, looks at his army and cries, "Forward, march!" and tthey s-art for the bank of the Jordan. One mile ahead go two priests carrying a glitter ing box four feet long two feet iwide It -is the arn of the covenant. And they come down, and no sooner do they just touch the rim of the water with their feet than, by an Almighty fiat, Jordan parts. The army of Joshua marches right on without getting their feet wet, over the bottom of the river, a path of chalk and broken shells and pebbles, until they get to the other bank. Then they lay hold of the olean ders and tamarisks and willows and pull themselves up a hank 30 or 4') feet high, and having gained the other bank they clap their shields and their cymbals and sing the praises of the Ga'd of Joshua. Bat no sooner have they reached the bank than .the waters be gin to dash and rear, and with a terrific rush they break loose from their strange anchorage. As the hand of the Lord God is taken away from the thus uplited wat ers-waters perhaps uplifted half a mile -they rush down, and some of' the unbelieving Israelites say: "Alas, alas, what a misfortune! Why could not those waters have staid parted? Because hap we may want to go back. O) rd, we are engaged in a risky busi ness. Those Canaanites may eat us up. How if we want to go back? Would it not have been a more complete mira eleif the Lord had parted the wate's to let us come through an-1 kc tt them parted to let us go bank if we ar dec feated?" My friends. God makes no provision for a Christian retreat. He clears the path all the way to Canma. To go back is to die. The same gat~e keepers that swun& back the amethys tine and crystalline gate of the Jordan to let Israel pass through now -swing shut the amethystine and crystalline gate of the Jordan to keep the Israelites from going back. Victory ahead, but water 30 feet deep behind, surging to death and darkness and woe. B it you say, "Why did not these Canaanites, when they had such a splendid chance, standing on the top of the bank 30 or 40 feet high, completely demolis ose poor Israelites down in t- I will tell you why. c a promise, and bx "There sl' stand 1 .ommand, -c e of trees, and at the -..ve is acety. It is acity -,ors, a city with walls seeming reach to the heavens, to buttress the yery sky. It is the great metropolis that commands the mountain pass. It is Jericho. That city was afterward captured by Pompey and once by Herod the Great and once again by the Mo hammedans, but this campaign the L )rd plans. There shall be no s words, no battering ram. There shall be only one weapon of war and that a ram's horn. The horn of the slain ram was sonme times taken, and holes were puncture-1 in it, and then the musician would p-ut the instrument to his lips, and he would run his fingers over this rude miusical instrument and make a great deal of sweet harmony for the people. That was the only kind of weapon. Sevee priests were to take these rude, rustic musical instruments, and they were to garudthe city every day for six d.ays-once a day for six days-and. then on the seventh day they were to go around blowing these rude musical instruments seven times and thecn at the close of the seventh blowing of the ram's horns on the seventh day the peroration of the whole scene was to be a shout, at which those great walls should tumble from capstone to hase. Tae seven priests with the re mu sical instruments pu all aro'end the city walls on the first day and s'core a ter b o frc-n the wail, not so h a- n ;:ned tock, not so much A !";.. of morar inst from its pha. r a heunbelievicg Israelites. "did I rot tdil you ro? Why, those - Sers are nols. The idea or going u the c:ty with those muisical in .:rumer's and expccing in that wly to des-roy it. 1ochua has been spoiled. He t inks because I e has cv rthrwn and conquered thesprinz freshet he can over ttrow the sto.ne wa! Why", it is n't thilosophi;. l > r;m no-t -w'e there i n) relation between th bIO of thL sc mutsiaI iustrt: n" a"d he k nockin doven ofuth. .M ,t . . . . . Wi And I :u~r:is ;r' wre ;-y we *.r.WlO-.Oh)d'o D . ticif.r ? wtt . w ,i r the right h} t i ef'-: r of the left hand a-e ir it l o:h rnd .howing that it v.s r~:Jossibl~e t hat such' a cuse co-uld pr, iu.-e sah an c;.et. And I supposo h -i:t in the e. camp-i unt there way pl. '-y .f ea-ieature, and if Joshua had ,cct nor.inated for any hig military positio, he wou d not have received many votes. JjsLua's stock was down. Te second day the priests blowing the musical instruments go around the city and again a failure. The third day and a failure, fourth day and a failure fifth day and a failure, sixth day and a fail ure. The seventh day comes, the lim soterie da, Josbua is up early in the morning a ,d ex tmines the troops, walks a about. look. at the city wall. The oriests s art to make the c rcuit of thi : etty. Tey go all around onoc, all aound twie, three timn,; four times, five times, six tiua3 seven times and a failure. TX.. re is only one more thing to do, anrd that is to utter a great shout. 1 see tt:e Isracltish army straightening zheselves ut, fiuiig their luogs f r a vo:iieratica such as never was heard be fore and never heard a' ter. Joshua feels that thl hour has c )me, and he cries out to his hlest. "Si )ut, f ir the Lord hah geve y u the cty ' A:: together L te trop p -shout: "1) vn, J. rieho!. ) wn, Jerich:' An the long line of s-lid mutot..r ieci:s to qu:er ari- to move aad to r -k~ aS-i irom under She ftl-s! Crash go the walls and temp ins, the towers, the palaces, the air ackened with the du-t. The huzza of the vietooais Israeites and the groan of the conquered Cacaaites com ming'e, and Joshu;, standing there in the deIs of the wa4 hca-s a voice sa.inz, 'Thee hal.t sany wan be able to sand bef re thee all the days of Only one hu' spared. Who lives ther' Sme grat ig? N>. Some woman cisti.:g":ihed ifr great kindly deets. Na. Sie had betn conspicuous for her crimes. It is the house of Rahab. Why was her house spared? Because she had been a great sinner? No, but beaeuse she repented, demonstratiag to all the ages that there is mercy for the chief of sinners. The red cord of divine injunction reaching from her window to the ground, so that when the people saw the red c-ri they knew it was the divine indication that they should not disturb the pre.uises, making us thick of the divine cord of a Saviour's delive rance, the red cord or a Saviour's kind ness, the red cord of a Saviour's mercy, theredcord of our rescue. Mercy torthe chief of sinners. Pat your trust in that God, and no damage shall befall you When our world shall be more terribly surrautded than was Jerich', even by the trumpets of the ja<.gment day and the hills and the mountsins, the metal bones and ribs of nature shall break, they who hive had Rahab's faith shali have R ahab's delivernece. When Wr apped1 in fire the reaims ofener glow And iiesven's last thun ier shabkes the earth below, Thou, und ismyt d, shalt o'er the ruins smtile And sight tmy torch at natures funeral pile B-ut Joshua's troops may not halt here 1The command is, "Forward, maroh!' There is the city of Ai It must be take-n. How shall it be taken? A scouting party comes back and says: "Joshua, we can do tnat without you. It is going t) be a very easy job. You must stay h-:re while we go an-i captu-e it." They march with a small regmit in front of that city. The men of Ai look at them and give one yell, and the Is raelites run like reindeer. Thbe northern troops at B-ull Run did not make such rapid time as these Israelites with the Canasanites after them. They never cut such a sorry figure as when they were on the retreat. You who go out in the battles of God with only half a force instead of your taking the men of Ai the men of Ai will take you Look at the church of God on the retreat. The Bornesian cannibals ate up Munson, the missionary. "Fall back!" said a great many Christian people. "Fall back, 0 church of God! Borneo will never be taken. Do you net see the Bornesian cannibals have eaten up Manson, the missionary?" Tyndall delivers his 1ec ture at the University of Giasgow, and a great many gocod people say: Fall back. 0 church cof G:d' Do you not see that Christian philosophy is gaine to be ovor come by w >rdly philosophy? Fail back!" Geology plunges its crowbar into the mountains, and there are a great many people who say: "Scientfic investiga tion is going to overthrow the Mosaic account of the creation. Fall back!" 'But fri-ends of God rnever have had any right to fall back. Joshua falls on his face in changrin. It is the only time you ever see the back of his head He falls on his face and begins to whine, and he says, "OU Lord Go-3, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the ha'd of the Amorites, to destroy us? W-.uld to God we hra been content an dwvelt on the other side of Jordan. For the Cananites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it and shall environ us round and cut off our name from the earth." I am very glad Joshua said that. Before it seemed as if he were a supernatural being and therefore could not be an example to us, but I find he is a man, he is only a man. Just as sometimes you find a man under severe opposition or in a bad state of physical health, or worn out with over work, lying down ad sighing about be ing defeated. I amc encouraged when I hear this cry of Joshua as he lies in the dut. God comes and rouses him. H ow does he rouse him? By comphtmentary apostrophe? No . He says, "-Gt thee up. Wnere you liest thou upon thy feace?" Joshua rises, and, I warrant you ith a mortified look. But his old cour ge comes back. The fact - was not his battle. If he had been in it he would have gone on to victory. He gathers his trooris around him and say s:"N , !ct us go up and capture the city of Ai. Let us go up right away." They march On. He puts the maj rity of the troops behind a ledge of rocks in the night, and then he sends co-uparitively smnall reg iments up in front of the city. The men of Ai come ouat with a shout. The sall regiments of Israelities in strat agen fal back and fall back, and when el the men of Ai have left the city and arc in pursuit of the scattered, or seemia~lj scattered, regiments, J ch a stan is on a rock-I s-je his lock iying in the wind as he p~ints hisspear toward thej doomed city, and that is the signsl. The men ru'h out from sr it is put to the torch, and then these Isra-lites in the city mae'i down. and the fi;ing Isra,-lites ret'i, and b -tween tucse two war (I . aitish prowess the men W Ai ar' c" =proved. and the brieli:es teis t he vi t ry: and I wLile I see mhe cur.iZ sa'k' f that desttoyed (I-y on the ~y. aiod whl' i I h"ar the burz of the lraelite4 and the g-oin (f the (namrite, Joshua hea-s s aehing l'uder than it all, ringing and echoing through his soul, '"'here s :all not any man be able to s'ani before thee all the dais of thy life.' Bat this is no plaee for the host of Joshua to stop "Fanard, msreh! cries Jeshua to the troops. There i; the city of Gibeon It his put i'elf under the protection Joshua They send word: "There are fire kings.after us. They are going to destroy us I Seni troops quick. Srnd us help right anvy, ' .o-hua h1,s a three days march, more tha2 double gaiek. On the morning of the third day he is be fore the enemy. There are two long lints of battle. The battle opens with great slaughter, but the Canaanites soon discover something. They say: " 'batpis Joshua. That is the man who conquered the spring freshet and knocked down the stone walls of Jer icho and destroyed the. cty of Ai. There is no use fi;hting " They sound a retre:, and as they begin to retreat !oshua and his host spring upon them like a panth-:r, pursutag them over the rooks, while the e-tadpults of th sky pour a volley of hailstones into the val ley, and all the artillery of the heav ens, with bullets of iron. piund the Ca2aanites against the ledgas of Bath horon. "Oh," says Joshua, "this is surely a victory!' "But do you not see the sun is going don? Ta->se Am ories ar.e going to g t away after all, an- than they will come up som other time and bother us, and perihaps de stroy us. Sic, the sua is going down. Oh, for a longer 'ia; than has ever been seen in this climate!" What is the matter with Joshua? Hi; he fallen is an apoplet c ti ? N. 1I3 is in p:ay er. Look out when a good man make; the L.ord nis all;y. .Jothua raires his face, radian: with prayer, and locks at the decending sun over Gibeon and at the faint cre-eent of the moon, for you know the guaen of the night somtimes will iinrer around the palaces of the d ty. Pointing one hand at the de eending sun sad the other hand at the faint creset of the m.)on. in the name of that God who shaped the worlds and moves the woilis he criz8: "Sun s:and thou still upoaGihbeo, and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajslon!" They halted. Whether it was by refraction of the sun's rays or by the stopping of the whole planetary system I do not know and do not care. I leave it to the Christian Scientists and the infliel scientists to settle that question, while [ tell you I have seen the e tme thing. "What?' say you. "Not the sun staoding still?" Yes The same mir ace is performed nowadays. The wick ed do not live out half their day, and their sua sets at n)on. But let a man stsrt out in battle for God and the truth arid against sin, and the day of his usefulness is prolonged and pro longed and prolonged. But it is time for Joshua to go home. He is 110 years Ald. Wasaintgton went down the Potomac and at Mount Ver non closed his days. Weilington died peaefully at Apsley House. Now, where shall Joshna rest? Why he is to have his greatest battle now. Alter 110 years he has to meet a king who has more su'-j ets than all the present population of the earth, his throne a pryamid of sku'ls, his par:erre the graveyards and the cemeteries of the world, his chariot the world's hearse the king of terrors. But if this is Joshua's greatest battle, it is going to be Jo.shua's greasest victory. H e gath ers his friends around him and gives his valedictory and it is full of rem iniscence. Young men tell what they are going to do. 0 d men tell what they have done. And as you have heard a grandfather or great- grandfa er seated by the evening fire tell of Monmouth or Yorktown and then lift up the crutch or staff as though it were a musket to fight and show how the old battles were won, so Joshua gath ers his friends around his dying couch, and he tells them the story of what he has been threugh and as he lives there, his white Ieis snowing down on his wrinkled forehead, 1 ask if God has kept his promise all the way through. As he lies there he tells the story one, two or three times-you have heard old people tell a story two or three times over-and ne answers: "I go the way of all the earth, and not one word of the promise has failed, not one word thereof has failed, not one word thereof has failed. All has come to pass; not one word thereof has fail ed." And then he turns to his family, as a dying parent will, and says: "Choose now whom you will serve, the God of Israel or the god of the Amortes. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.' A dying parent ecannot be reekless and thought less of his children. Consent to part With them forever at the door of the tomb we cannot. By the cradle in which their infancy was rockedi, by the bosom on which they first lay, by the blood of the covenant, by the God of Joshua it shall not be. We will not part, we cannot part. Jehovah Jireh. we take thee at thy promise. "1 will be a God to thee and thy seed after thee." Dead, the old chieftain must be laid out. Handle him very gently. That sacred body, is over 110 years of age. Lay him out, stretch out those feet that walked dry shod the parted Jor dan. Close those lips which helped blow the blast at which the walls of Jer icho fell. Fold the arm that lifted up the spear toward the doomed city of Ai. Fld it right over the heart that ex ulted when the five kings fell. But where shall we get the burnished gran ite for the headstone and the fontstone? I bethink myself now. 1 imagine that for the head it shall be the sun that stood still upon Gibeon, and for the foot the moon that stood still in the valley of A!alon. A Fishy Story. A dispatch from Jacksonville, Fla., says the most daring and unique high way robbery in the history of the south was committed in the center of the city on a principal thoroughfare late one night. John S. Smith, a young busi ness man, was on his way home, when at the corner of Monroe and Laura streets a well-dressed white woman stepped in front of him and help him up. He did not know, however, he had been robbed until he had left her. 'Then he found that in the cleverest professional manner she had ertracted three $100) bilis and five $20) tiils, a total of $410, from his pocket book. Means a Scareitv. A dispatch from Manchester, Eng latd, rays that cotton mvn there think that Nei-l's estimate of the cotton rop means a s~arcity, and that before September the spinners mostly will be KRUGER iN FRANCE. The Od B ar H r R. caived Wi+.OGrey D rm .ssati :n, A PATHETIC PICTURE Was P:'sented by the Getd Old Man as He Declares His Pe p'e Will Dia Fighting. Presidcnt Kruger, of the Datih Re publics of South Africa, arrived in Marseilles. France, Thursday. and was received by the entire population with great demonstration. The delirium of enthusiasm which marked every step o' his progress from the time he landed from the ship until the hotel was reached was a revelation even to the people of Marseilles themselves. It fully equalled if it did not surpass the frantic demon strations of patriotism with which France opened her arms to Maj. Mar chand at Toulon on his return from Fashoda. Yet the grandeur of this demonstra tion, perhaps, ranks secard in import ance to the emphatic manifestos of "no compromise," which Mr. Kruger deliv ered in a low voice but one vibrating with emotion, accompanied by energet ic gestures of the right hand, stirring the hearts of all within hearing The last sentences of his declaration were uttered with a vigor and decision which bore out his reputation as the incarna tiun of iron will and stubborn resis tance. His mere delivery of a 4ee laration of such far reaching impirt ane'etifir s to the indepedence of his character. a+ it cane a< a surprise even to his most intimate political advisers who up to the last, were in ignorance of his determination. An unfortunate occurrence at the hotel on the main bsulevard alone marred the character of the demon tration, which up to that moment had been unanimously and exclusively a tribute of sympathy and admiration. "Vive Kruger," 'Vive les Boer'," and "Vive la liberte," were the cries that formed a hurricane of cheering and swept over the city. Unfortunately the highly reprehensible foolishness of half a dozen persons in throwing small coins into the crowd as Mr. Kruger passed, acted like magic in corjiring up an anti Britisti ou.burst, which it needed all the promptitude and energy of the police t0 prevent becoming a se rious disturbance. The hotel remained for the rest of the day in a state of siege while at one time a procession several thousand strong marched in the direction of the British consulate, shou'i g. "Dosn with the Engiish," and ra:sing other threatening cries. The result was that a strong body of police was compelled to disperse the dmnstratioo, although it was not found necessary to make more than a few temporary arrests. Throughout the evening, however, large bands of students and other youths marched up and down in front of Mr. Kruger's ho tc.l and of the hotel which was the scene of the unfortunate incident, cheering in chorus for - Mr. Kruger and the Transvaal and denouncing Eng land. Tnese demonstrators were more noisy than dangerous, and the police wisely left them to relieve their feel ings by shouting, instead of interfering with them, which might have created disorder Mr. Kruger was borne on an irresist ible wave of enthusiasm from the land ing stage to his hotel. The broad stree ts and boulevards through which the rute lay presented a perfect sea of human beings, all gathered there prompted by the unanimous desire to welcome the aged Boer statesman. From the moment the white 12 oaredl barge left the side of the G-elderland with Mr. Kruger, who appeared to be in good health, sitting in her stern sur rounded by the Boer representatives, including Dr. Leyds and Messrs. Fischer and Wessels, a storm of cheer ing broke and never ceased until Mr. Kruger entered his hotel. Byven then a vast conc-.urse of people remained in front of the building until Mr. Kruger appeared on the balcony, acknowledg ing the acclamnations of his thousands of admirers, who continued cheering until they were hoarse with shouting. Rleplying to the addresses of welcome of the presidents of the Paris and Mar seilles committees, Mr. Kruger spoke in Dutch and in a low voice, accom panying his words with energetic movements of his hat, which he held in his right hand. He said: 'it thank the president of the Mar seilles committee and the president of the central committee of the indepen dence of the Boers for their welconme. I thank all this population assembled in great concourse to greet me, for al though I am weak from mourning for the misfortunes of my country, and al though I have not come to seek fes tivities, still, 1, nevertheless, accept with all my heart these acclamations, for I know they are dictated to you by the emotions which are inspired in you by our trials and by your sympathy for our cause, which is that of liberty, which awakened you. I am truly proud and happy at having chosen as my point of landing a port in France. to set foot on free soil and to be received by you as a free man. But my first duty is to thank your government for all the tokens of interest that again only recendly it was pleased to give me. I believe England, had she been better informed, would never have consented to this war, and since the expedition of Jameson, who wished to seize the two republics without the necessity of firing a rifle shot, I have never ceased to de mand a tribunal of arbitration which, up to now, has always been refused. 'The war waged on us in the two re publics reached the last limits of bar barism. During my life I have had to fight many times the savages of the tribes of Africa, but the bar barians we have had to fight now are worse than the others. They even urge the Kafiirs against us. They burn the farms we worked so hard to construct, and they drive out our women and children, whose husbands and brothers they have killed or taken prisoners, leaving them unprotected and roofless, and often without bread to eat. But, whatever they may do, we will never surrender. We will fight to the end. Our great, imperishable confidence reposes in the eternal in our God. We know our cause is just and if the justice of men is wanting to us He, the eternal, Who is master of all people, and to Whom belongs the future, will never abandon "I assure you that if the Transvaal and the Orange Free State must lose their independence it will be because all the Beer people have been destroyed with their women and children." The declaration that the Bers would not uender dispelled at ance any im pression that Mr. Kruger intends to ac cept a compromise from the British government. His announetnent was grroted with a roar of che'rs and crics: "Vive Kruger, vive Ics IBrri, vive Ia Iirrrte." The Fun wag ebinirg down on Mr Kroger arid he held his hat to shade his eyCe from the glar -. whieh, appar 'ntly, wai pair fal to }.i- ryes. As he !-tord in thi- a-ti:nie, hi, hl'4d sightly niw;.C. rith bi, hair tr i,h-d bask. he waQ Fn cu''rably pit}.e ic figur . which at once won the syn parhy and reverence of (very per;.n present. The speechmaking over, a procession was forued mnd Mr. Kruger was es coited to his hotel amid the acclama tions of th c:owds. which Mr. Kruger repeatedly acknowledged. Soon after arrivimg at the hotel, in response to a thunderous ovati~n, he apptared on the balcony and repeatedly bowed, but as sone ten minutes elapsed without a sign of abatement in the en thusiasm he spoke a few words, which were interpreted in French by Dr. Leyds and were followed by a renewal of the frenzy. Fnally, to testify his gratitude, he took in his hand a c)rnor of the French tri-color that was flying from the balcony between the Trans vaal and Free State flags and pressed them to his heart again and again. The enthusiastic people cheered him until he withdrew to his rooms, which he found half filled with bouquets and garlands presented by his admirers. The prefect and mayor then called to pay their r soects, the latter making an eloquent speech in sympathy with the Boers. Mr. Kruger replied brit fly, declaring how deeply be had been touched by the unexpected warmth of his reception in Marseilles and by the sympathy of the French people. After luncheon and a little repose Mr. K-uger descended to the hall of the hotel, where he received the delegs tions. Thit proved too fatiguing and he asked that the addresses be pie sented to him in writing and then with drew again to his apartments, where he passed the evening quietly, receiving no one. Dr. Leyds represented him at the banque-: given in his honor, where all the Boer officials and members of the pro- B .er committees were present, and read t-.c following message from him "I am fatigued and am in mourning. Moreover, I never attend baniuets. O.herwise I should have liked to have spent a few minutes with you and to thank you. I shall never forget the warm welcome I have had in your beautiful city. Your reception of me has surpassed all t could have expeeted even from the city which gave France her admirable national hymn, that 'Maaseillaise' which is the song of all peoples whose independenc3 is threat ened and who are struggling against invaders I would that your acclamation could have been heard by all those Boers in South Africa who arS encamped in our mountains. They would thank you from the betuom -f their hearts. I thank you in thcir tehalf. 'Could I have been with S on I should have also expressed my thanks to all France and would have raised my glass in honor of her worthy president, M. L iubet." Dr. L: d then said: "I the name of President Krager I have the hoinor to drink to' the health of the preaident of the French repub lic." __________ A Narrow Escape. T. N Coffer, of Charleston, liiinois, a prominent young attorney and Dem ocratic politician, has just escaped de struction in what seems a miraculius manner. He gave cut Friday the de tails of an attempt on his life by means of a "present" from some unknown p: rson, a box containing dynamite. It came to his office by express last week and he opened the package while the express messenger was still there. Tre label was typewritten and said: "Sample puzzle box To open pull string with quick jerk, the result will be surprising." Mr. Coffer gave the string, which protuded from a hole, a j erk, but it broke. The box was then pried open, disclosing three big sticks. of dynamite wrapped in combustibules and holes bored in them with fuses at tached. A hundred match heads glued to a stick were intended to ignite when the string should draw a piece of sand paper across their heads. About half of them were ignited with the first pull of the string, but in some miraculous manner smothered and only a sulphur smell came out when the box was open ed. There was enough dynamite in the package to wreck the whole side of the public square in which Coffer's of fice was located. The package camne from Aurora, but the express agent there has no clue te the consignee Coffer does not know of an enemy in the world. Detectivas have been set to work by Mr. Coffer and the American Express Company. Burglars at Work A dispatch to The State says burg lars forced open the front door of the store of Mr. J. B. Gillam Jr , at Lee's, three miles east of Blackville, Wednes day night, and robbed the safe of $30 belonging to Mr. Gillam, about $20 in cash and about $41 in postage stamps belonging to the postoffiae, which is located in Mr. Gtllam's store. The safe was blown to pieces by dynamire, the (xplosion of which wrecked Mr. Gillam's office and contents. The thieves carried off eveeything of value from the safe They were not inter rupted, and are evidently experienced men in the busine-s. No one knew about the robbery until Mr Gillam went down to open his store Thursday morning. THE IRL R1. Hrs 1901 A LNAC Whartever may be said af the scientiflc auses upon which the Rev. Irl R. Hicks bases his yearly forecasts of storm and weather, it is a remarkable fact that specific warnings of every great storm , flood, cold wave and routh, have been plainly printed in his now famous A' manan for many years The latest startling proof of this fact was the destruction of Galveston, Tex as, on 'the very day named by Prof. icks in his 1900 Almanac, as one of isaster by storm along the gulf coasts. lhe 1901 Almanac, by far the finest, ost complete and beautiful yet pub ished, is now ready. This remarkable book of near two hundred pages, splen idly illustrated with charts and half one engravings, goes as a premium to very subscriber who pays one dollar a year for Prof. Hicks' journal, Woan and WORSs The Almanac alone is sent prepaid for only 25c, Order from WORD and Weairs Publishing Com pany, 22u1 Locust Street, St. Louis, o. _ _ _ _ _ A Figuring Idiot. The Atlanta Journal says some chees ful statistician has figured out that in he United States somebody is murdered very 20 minutes during the night, and hat one cut of every 200 Americans meets death at the hands of an assassin. What an acquisition this fellow would e to the funny story department of ~arper's Wreell! WEYLEWAS A SATIRIST. He Makes a Good Point on his Former Critics. The Ai:g ist.a Chronicle says: G n. Weiler has not had to wait vary l."ng for what he deems his v ndioati.on. He has issuM a characteristic Fttement. and it I as large elements of truth to Fubsiantlate iC pliden taken 1l ref ra to the fact that his militarj con duet in Cuba brought him into x :cra tion, espe:ially amog whit are called Anglo Sax 'n peoples. He professes to have acted as a soldier, wh, has been ordered to surpress rebellion, and took up the only course likely to sue ceed in dealing with a mongrel foe. He now rather. derisively points out that the British government has com manded Lord Kitchener to adopt his relicy in the Boer country. "He might have taunted the Wash ington administration for not holding u: Kitchener to public shame, as it did him, but he may reserve that for a second letter. This administration is no longer in the business of condemn ing Weilerism when practiced by the British or of s3mpathizing with re publics in any part of the world when threatened with destruction by Enro pean imperialism. We, as a nation, are about to introduce Weylerism in the Philippine islands, and are held back, cins quently, from a ieproach of Great Britian in the Tianov,.al. This looks like a monstrous dep iriure from the policy of the fathers of the re public, but what are you going to do about it? "At present, however, General Wey ler is "the man who laughs," and when he comes to the Philippine question, in another letter, he may make "An glo Saxonism" look more hypocritical than otherwise. It is not otten that a cruel man gets such swift, so called "vindication," but Weyler, even if he is not to be excused for his atrocity, may be pardoned for having some ex ultation when he sees Uncle Sam and John Bull following his Cuban plan in South Africa and Luzon. We think it a rather lamentable and pathetic thing, but Weyler has some right, in the premises, "to grin horribly a gbastly smile.' Hetter's Cotton Statement. Secretary Hester's weekly New Or leans cotton exchange statement issued today shows a decrease in the movement into sight compared with the seven days endings this date last year, in round figures. 41,000. For the 84 days of the season that have elapsed the aggregate is ahead of the 84 days of last year 215,000. The amount brougt into sight during the past week has been 371.805, against 412,384 for the sevevn days ending November 23 last year. The movement since September 1st shows receipts at all United States ports 3,073,825, against 2,768.934 last year; overland across. the.31.ississippi, Ohio and Potomac rivers to nertaern mills and Canada, 389.287, agains; 514 836 last year; interior teceks in ex cess of those held at the close of the commercial year, 525,189, against 477, 388 last year; southern mill takings, 383,426, against 395,574 last year. Forign exports for the week have been 186,715, against 132 295iatt year. The totai takings of American mils. noth and south and Can ada, thus far for season have been 986,661, against 1,245 186 last year. These include 596, 044 by northern spinners, agaiuaLt840, 279. Stocks at the seaboard and the 29 leading southern interior centeres have increaned during the week 86,638 bales, against an increase during the corres porading pericd last season of 102,578, and are now 397,666 smaller than at this date in 1899. Talking Through His Hat. Capt. R ibert J Lowry, one of the leading bankers of Atlanta, in atalk with a New York Tribune reporter a few d sys ago, declared, in effkot, that the majority of the people of Georgia are Republicans at heart, and would have much preferred voting for MeLinley but for the fear of Negro domination. The Atlanta Journal explains, that "he has mistaken the views of a small circle of uncompromising gold men like himself-bankers and heads of big business enterprises-who place the money issue above all other questions, for a universal sentiment in favor of R epublicanism. This element h as brushed aside every other oonsideration ignored all the other great quest~icns at issue, in tbeir eagerness to hsve the, man re-elected whom they regarded as representing the safest polio, for the man of wealth." The people of the South, it adds, "are not blind to what McKinleyism and Hannaismn mean an d they are .just as unalterably opposed to the policies which they represent as they were opposed to the Republican party in the days of reconstruction. And there is nothing sectional in this feeling. It is opposition based on principle." Was Sorry He Spoke. William Smalls, alias "Dahoo, Fred Ladson, alias "Squash,'' William White and Caesar Willianm% members of a gang of white thieves who have been giving trouble to the police for years, furnished the chief interest in proceedings in the Court of General Seesions Wednesday. In May last these four, together with William Frasier, alias "Blackmoor," and Tom Johnson, broke open one of the ware houses of the Southern Railway and got off with eighteen sacks of sugar. "Blackmoor" was wanted on other charges and was sent up at the Summer term of the Court upon sentences aggregating ten years. Johnson is still at large." "Dahoo," "Squash," White and Williams were convicted Wednesday and five years given each, with an ad ditional six months for White and sev en for Williams. "Dahoo" made a play to the galleries as he was taken out, saying he didn't care if it was ten years. He was a surprised negro when Judge Buchanan ordered him brought back and made his sentence ten years -News and Courier. An Old Man. A dispatch to the Atlanta. Journal from Washington, Ga., says 'the oldest man in the world lives a few miles from that town. He is old Caesar Booker, a negro, and he is 126 years old. He was born a slave in Virginia and his memory of events occurring over 100 years ago is very bright. He is a most interesiing talker and children listen by the hour to his stories. He was owned as a slave by Richardson Book er, who has been dead for fifty years. He has a daughter living at Thomson who is 98 years old. Old Caesar has; seven children living and a small army of grandchildren. They are scattered among the plantations along the Sa vannah river. Old Caesar is hale andt hearty and appears to be enjoying -2 renewal of his youth. He is one of the most interesting personages in Wilkes county. THE PROFESSOR. He Was Frank to Tell the Young Man What He Thought. H. A. Cuppy, Ph. D., who is now a sucessful editor in New York, studied at Franklin University, where he was graduated; at Oxford, England, where he got his degree, and at Heidelberg. Professor Jowett, whose "Life and Letters" are important literary contri butions, was one of the most interest ing personalities to Doctor Cuppy when a student at Oxford. In his col lection of anecdotes about the profes sor he tells of a walking tour which one of the matriculates took with the pedagogue. "It was a great thing to get an in vitation to walk with the professor," he said the other day, "and the young man who was the fortunate guest was so embarassed that he was unable to carry on a sensible conversation. Af ter they had been on the road for about thirty minutes the pupil finally spunked up courage and remarked: "A nice day, professor.' "'Do you really think so?' was the far-away answer of Jowett. Another half hour passed, and the boy stammered out: "'Nice road, professor.' "The teacher responded: 'Do you really think so?' "The matriculate began to boil in his bones and to get even more fright ened, but he managed to again blurt out, 'Clouds seem to be filling up with rain, professor,' to which the answer was: "'Do you really think so?' "The two returned to the college ground and the professor said: "Well, young man, we have been walking for several hours, and everything you said has been as stupid as it possibly could be.' "His companion replied: 'Do you re ally think so?' "The professor looked at the young man a moment. Then he smiled and grasped his hands warmly. From that time on conversation never flag ged during their walks." - Saturday Evening Post. A Summer Evening. It was a warm night and the mu sical tinkle of silver against marble from thp ice-cream place across the way could be caught by a trained ear in the unbroken silence of the front stoop where they sat. "I'm afraid," she remarked with a speculative air, "that the manage ment of that new ice-crca.n parlor have made a mistake." "How's that?" he inquired, only languidly interested. "Why, although the ice-cream is de licious and very cheap, they serve it with spoons instead of forks, as their exclusive patronage Is accus tomed to. The dishes, too," she went on dreamily, *are rather large for fashion, though" But her neat, boiler-iron, double rivetted hint had struck in, and soon in the quivering glow of the electric light they were sauntering over. The Vicious in Boston. "Yes," replied the Boston parent, "a boy soon acquires vicious habits if he Is suffered to mingle with street boys. Once I thought otherwise, and permitted our Emerson to choose his playmates, as chance should throw them in his way. It wasn't a week, sir, until that boy, in spite of his her editary tendencies and the careful home training he had received, was asking me hypothetical questidas that simply reeked with casulstry!"-Puck. Would Fill the Slli. Mr. Bigheart-Wiggins, old boy, we've raised $50 to get the boss a Christmas present, and we want some thing that will make a great show for the money-something that will look big, you know. Can't you suggest something? Wiggins-Sure. Buy. $50 worth of rice and then boil it.-'-Baltimore Am .ricaa. A Handy Panacea. "I wish you would do something for my husband," said the anxious wife; "he seems to be worrying about money." "Don't be alarmed, madame," re turned the doctor, reassuringly; 'Tl relieve him of that."-Philadelphia Record. Just So. "What is an island?" asked the teacher, addressing her Interrogation to the class in geography'. "An Island, Ma'am," replied Johnny Broadhead, a studious lad who had Porto Rico in mind, "Is a body of land entirely surrounded by politics." Puck. City Airs. Rubberneck Bill-This here camp is puttin'on city airs. They was a Greas er killed of escapin' gas last night. Bughouse Jake-What you givin' us? "Fact Ef he hadn't of ta .ed too much he might be livin' now."--Indi anapolis Press. The Boor Weapon. "The prisoner," wrote the British officer, reporting from the field, "claim ed to be a non-combatant; but when he was searched no fewer than six Bibles of the most effective modern type were found upon his person." Detroit Journal. Dead Easy. Hoax--My wife always takes me along -when she wants a hat I can pick out the very latest styles. Joax-How do you manage it? "By lookingat the pies tags."-Phil adephia Recead. A Heinous Crime Rochester, N. Y., has never had a deeper mystery to solve than that dis closed by the finding of the dead body of Miss Theresa- Keating behind a bill board, a short distance from Davis street Thursday morning. The autopsy which was held at the morgue by sev eral pysicians showed that the girl had been criminally assaulted and choked to death. There is up t~o the present moment absolutely no clue to her slayer, although the whole detective force of the city is working on the case. Neither is it known whether the crime was committed by one or more men. Turn Themi Down. Nine young colored canididates for holy orders were turned down by Bis hop Tanner, of the African Methodist church, in Memphis, the other day, be cause they did not k oow the date of the food. Eight of them failed to make any reply whatever to the question. The ninth said he thought the Galves THE DRYEST STATE RAIN FALL VARIES FROM THREE TO TWENTY-FIVE INCH ES A YEAR. The People Do Not Concern Them selves Much About the Rain, But They Have a Fine System of Irri gation. Arizona has some timber in the mountains and grass in the valleys,, but these grow in spite of the fact that Arizona is in the dryest part of the. United States. Even within the bound-, aries of this one territory, however, thei rainfall varies from over twenty-five. inches a year at Camp Goodwin in the; mountains to three inches a year at Yuma on the desert. Twenty-five inch-j es of rainfall a year means, perhaps, a! possible crop. Three inches a year means no water at all. The people of Arizona do not, therefore, concern themselves much with rain. Tiey talk, about it once in a while, and on occa-, sions an inch or two comes down in a solid chunk and is called a cloud burst, but such a rainfal has little re lation to the possibilities of the soil from a productive point of view. The settler in Arizona first seeks run ning water, and then, with confidence, settles himself upon the land and straightway proceeds to get rich, for running water upon Arizona soil is like unto a gold mine-it produces wealth. This has been the system ever since the memory of man, for there are Ari zona ditches which are nearly 400 years old, and the present generation is not quite sure what manner of people dug them. It is within the memory of man, how ever. when Arizona was almost a trackles desert, overrun with fierce and warlike Indians, and it is within the memory of even the children of Arx. zona that all this has changed; deserts have been made to bloom and all war like Indians have either been sent to the happy hunting grounds or are used for exhibition purposes in wild west shows and Eastern expositions. All this has been done by ignoring. the usual way of watering the earth and by utilizing the melting snowbanks as their waters raced toward the sea. Fifteen hundred miles of artificial wa-' ter courses, or ditches, have these am bitious and industrious Arizona people dug, and 500,000 acres of this wonder ful valley lands grow rich with green things of the earth in response to the, water from these ditches. It is not all fun to settle on these arid lands, and it is no easy task to have dug these. ditches, but the results have paid ten fold to those who dared the task. Great mining camps are always near by. Miners always have money to spend They want the best the earth can give them, and the irrigated lands of Ar' zona have been paid for with the money dug from the bowels of the vol canic hills. The running streams of Arizona are now doing all they can and still more water is wanted. To get this the peo ple of the valleys not so favored with. preparing to store the little that falls from the clouds at some seasons of the year. In the mouths of rugged can ons they will place great rock dams. The melting snow and the winter rains will here mingle and lie quiet until the drought strikes the valley below and the parched vegetation calls for their use. Then the stored water will be loosed, to add more greenery, hence. more wealth, to the dryest place In America. An East Side Doll. "I wish," said a young lawyer, who has an office in New York and a home in Brooklyn, "that I had kept account of the queer Incidents I have noticed in the course of my walks through the east side on my way to the ferry. One of these incidents-it happened one rainy day last week-made a particu larly strong impression on me. I was hurrying along Cherry street, holding my umbrella between me ann" a fine~ driving rain, when I noticed a little~ girl ahead of me. She was a very little girl, not more than 5 or 6 years old,~ poorly dressed and quite unprotected; from the rain, so far as an umbrellat went "I hurried along, vaguely thinking about how wet and cold and miserable the child must be, and reiterating -In my mind a determination, to which I often come, not to go home by the fer ry, but to take the bridge for'ihe ex pess purpose of escaping the sight of the children down there. When I came quite up to the child she turned sudenly and faced me. She looked up with the most engaging smile and said quite simply but pleasantly: "'My dolly's a'seep.' "I looked down and discovered she was nursing in her little arms a whis key bottle, quart stzed and una~orned, save for a white label discolored by the rain. What did I do? Oh, I ac quiesced in the dolly theory and ex pressed a few of the adult Idiocies usu al under under those circumstances. Then I took a good look at the shining eyes in the child's rain-wet face and went on. But In spite of any care In impressing on my mind the fact that her eyes were happy, I haven't been abl togetrid of the recollection of: that dolly."-NewYokSn Dog Leaves Home to Live With Foxes. Casade Township, Lycoming coun ty, has a dog that was stolen by foxes, and which now lives in the woods with the sly animals that stole it. N. y. Maloney, a farmer of the township, had had several chickens stolen by the; foxes. Mr. Maloney was not the only! person who missed some of his chick ens. There were others. Some of the neignbors waited with shotguns for the thieves, and four or five foxes were killed. Instead of doing that Mr. Maloney put a six-month-old pup in a kennel near the chicken coop. He thought the dog would frighten the foxes away; but he was mistaken. The first night that the pup was put on guard the foxes made a raid, and, besides one or, two chickens, stole the dog. It was thought that the foxes had killed the dog; but several nights ago the dog was seen going along the edge of the mountains with two foxes. The dog. has assumed the slyness of a for and can run nearly as fast as the foxes. "We have walked eleven miles this morning without stopping," said one Filipno soldier, discontented-ly. "That's so," answered the other. "We might as well join a golf club and be done with it."--Washington Star. For Wegroes Only. At Sioux City, Ia., a state lodge of the African Monarchs of America has been instituted. The organinition is the first fraternal insuranCe Eoeiety organized for colored people exclusively. Since the foundation of the African Monarchs another association has been organized in Illinois, but the Monarchs were the pioneers. The lodge-at-large ust installed in Sioux City wilt have jurisdiction over the state lodge will at nce begin their efforts to establish subordiate lodges throughout the etate. An Old Woman?'s Story. The poverty stricken condition of Adelia Burton, who claimns to have been a confidential servant in the family of Jefferson Davis during the civil war, was brought to the attention of the police in Chicago Friday and her wants attended to. Adelia Burton, who wa ddscoverd in a lonely hovel on the South Sides declares that when the president oi the Confederate States fled to escape etpture she was entrusted w ith private cifects of the fugitives. Shem was on in aVery 7 year ae.