Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

TALMAGE SERMON •t By Rev. FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. D.D.. Pastor of Jpfferson Park Presby terian Cnurch, Chicago Chicago. July 20.—There are a scent ■ of the pines and an atmosphere of the country in this sermon by Hev. Frank De Witt Tnlinase from the text Mark 1 vl, U1, ‘Tome ye yourselves apart into ; a desert place and rest awhile.” A desert placel What does that mean? Is Christ bidding his disciples follow him over a great sea of sand? Does he want his companions to lose themselves among the endless dunes ■ and live where neither beast nor bird nor tish nor insect can live? Does he desire them to be terror stricken at the meanings of the simooms or to be smothered In one of those .awful desert windstorms and he there as completely lost as the merciless octau can swallow down a shipwrecked crew and leave no trace where the watery jaws have opened and shut? No. Christ is not here alluding to a Mesopotamian or a Persian or 21 Sahara desert of sand. Christ is practically saying to his dis ciples, who are physically and mentally worn out from too much work: “Come, let us go out into the country where we can be alone. Let us go among the bills where we shall be separated from these throngs of people who jiro con- tinually following us to be physically healed and spiritually fed. Let us go off alone, where we shall bear only the rustling of the leaves and the singing of the birds and the rippling of the brooks. Let us hie away into nature’s haunts, where we can see the deer playing in the valleys and where we can stumble through the wild vines growing at our feet. Lot us go away to the place whore the shepherd leads his fiooks among the fresh green pasture lands.” Every human body needs the re- cuperation of physical rest. When Dan iel Webster made his last visit to John Adams, the aired ex-president said: “I am as well as any man of nearly nine ty years could expect to lie. 1 find I am nfilleted with 2111 incurable disesise called old age. My spirit is occupying a very shaky tenement, 2ind. as far as I can make out. sir, the Landlord does not intend to make any more repairs.” That statement of John Adams was figuratively right and yet literally wrong. The human body, which was once created out of dust, is being re created up to the very brink of the grave. We cat and drink and rest In order to give nourishment and strength to the bones, the muscles and the flesh. And rest is just as essential for the physic::! recreation as are food and water and light. XVliy a Re«t In Needed, The purpose of this sermon is to dhow that every hardworking Chris tian. at le:ist once a year, should go out into the country and take 21 vaca tion, a prayerful rest, the same as Jesus’ disciples, who left their work to take a rest. It is every Christian's duty at least once a year to leave the home, the store, the factory and have a complete change ef scene and food. When Phoebe Cary came to die, look ing up at ber physician, she said: “Doctor, you can do nothing for me. The reason 1 am dying is because for years 1 would never take a rest. Even when I went off into the country 1 always took my hooks and pen and worked." Tkous2inds and tens of thou sands of the best bruins and hearts of the pulpit, thu bar, the medical office and of all the Christian departments of life have simply killed themselves In their young manhood and woman hood because they would not obey Christ’s command and take a rest. Satan is a great strategist He rare ly attacks his enemies in the places where bethinks they are invulnerable. He is always trying new schemes and plans. When Satan finds a true Chris tian who Is consecrated to Cod's serv ice, he immediately calls together his demoniac lieutenants and says: “That man must he stopped In his career of good works. Those Ups of his must be closed. That hand must be made help less. That pure heart must be struck by some poisonous arrow. That foot of bis must be led along the stony path of sin.” Nt*. vision of earth can arouse Satiin Into such a frenzied pas sion as the sight of a good man con secrating hi* years to good works. 80 Satan, when he sees a good man con secrating his life to good deeds, im mediately dispatches his angels of temptation. First, 8atan offers to that ■good man all the allurements of popu lar applause and worldly pleasures. The spirit of temptation does not come like a wrinkled old hag, with h^r bony bands ebanged Into the shape of an eagle's claw, which can be used to kill as well as tear away the quivering flesh. But the spirit of temptation conies In the form of the evil spirit like that which the artist once painted. He drew the spirit of temptation us n beautiful angel. Her lips were wreath ed in smiles. Her h2iir had hidden in It the brilliant colors of the setting •un. Her lap was full of flowers. Her couch was the rim of a cloud, while under the shadow of her flowing robes crouched the demoniac form of death. 80 Satan tries to destroy the good man by adulation, by applause. By bis very successes Katan tries to turn his humble heart of love Into a vain heart of sin. Then If Satan finds that worldly ap plause and the wine cup and the rnld night carousal do not stop the career of the good man who lias consecrated bis life to good deeds he tries another mode. He says: “1 will unkennel and unleash all the bloodhounds of perse cution 2iu<3 mlsieprt S Httilloii and slan der and turn them upon the good man’s track. I will h t this pack of demoniac bloodhounds bury their white teeth in bis limbs: 1 will let these blood hounds leap upon him :tr.d try to tear out his heart. Ah. 1 have made many a go»d man on account of slander turn and curse t’.od! Perhaps I can destroy this man iu this way.” How Satan Kills br Overwork. But after Satan has tried to destroy this good man by both popular ap plause and by the hounds of persecu tion and slander and has f:illed Satan has one way left. Satan says to him self: “I cannot make that man give up his <*od. but I can kill him with over work. I can pile the Christian oppor tunities of usefulness upon that bril- liai.t, consecrated, young gospel min ister: I will keep him working during the day and during the night; I will keep him working during the winter and during the summer; I will give him a bigger church than he can at tend to: 1 will have the editors write him to send articles for their papers; I will have the summer camp meetings steal away his vacation; I will start a revival in his church; I will sap every bit of physical strength he has; L will kill him by overwork, as I killed Kirke White, by offering him a Cambridge prize; 1 will kill him 22s I killed Wil liam Paley. at thirty-nine years of age the most brilliant Christian intellect of his day; 1 will kill him. its I have j burned out the brain of many a gen- , ins. by overwork before that brain lived long enough to light an intelloc- I tual torch which would have cast its ! rays all round the world.” When Satan sees a wife and mother : consecrating her life to the Master's 1 service, he says: “I must stop her also. I must kill her by overwork if 1 can- ■ not do it in any other way.” So 8atau I tells that wife and mother that she j must do all the sewing. She must do ! all the work in the kitchen. She must look after her husband’s interests iu every way. He may be able to smoke his cigars and have a horse and go to the club, but she must be a good wife and keep every expense down. She must never leave home and take c va cation herself, although her husband can go off a-tishing every spring. Tbe result is that Sat.an drives that woman on and on and on by overwork until l>e drives her into the grave. Then Satan laughs a mighty laugh of triumph. He now lias full swing in that motherless and wifeless houst hold. The sons and daughters of that mother are easily led off into sin. Why? At the critical time of their lives the mother’s hand is not there to guide them. The husband and the father having lost his wife’s ballast, becomes financially and spirit ually wrecked. All those catastrophes come upon that dead woman’s home because she would not let up in her work. She would not take a rest, a complete rest, away from home, which every hardworking Christian woman needs at least once a year. <Uve llie Drain a Rest. I beg of you. hardworking Christian men ::uu women, to take a summer va cation because 21 rested brain can do twice 22s much work in the same time as a tired one. Some two or three years after I entered the ministry my father wrote me a letter something like this: “Dear Frank, 1 hear you intend to stay in the city this summer and take no vacation. You say that you cannot afford the time. Great mistake. If you attempt to work all summer, you will have to i«ay a big price for disotieying nature’s laws. Next winter the sermons which you write will be harder to produce and poorer because you have a tired brain. Get out of the city by all means. You owe this rest to your family, your church and your God, A sick or tired minister is of but Utile use in bis study, iu the prayer meeting or in his pulpit. I always find that when my brain is rested it does its quickest and best work.” That is the kind of a letter which every sen sible father will write to his son when he finds that the boy does not know the well known axiom that a rested brain and a rested body can do twice as much work as a tired physical organi zation. Every physician will tell you that It is an ecouomy in time for tired men and women to go off and take a vaca tion and rest Yet it is a surprising fact how many truly good Christian people feel they cannot leave their home and church work even for a few weeks in a year. If they were rested, they could do much more work for Christ and do it much more easily. Indeed, the older 1 grow the more 1 believe that most good people need to take this advice. Most good people look tired. Go where you will, in the store or in the home, and tbe one great complaint that you hear every spring and summer is: “I am so tired, awful ly tired. I am ns tired when 1 get up In the morning as when 1 lie down to sleep at night.” Why, most people in the springtime look as tired as that [K>or woman who came to me one day and said: "Mr. Talinagc, don’t talk to me about heaven. I do not want to go to heaven for a long time y^t. I am so tired that when 1 come to die I want God to let me sleep in my grave fur a thousand years. Then, a^ter 1 have become thoroughly rested, 1 want to open my eyes and see heaven.” My overworked Christian friend. If you want to do yqjir best work for Christ next winter you must treat your l>ody Just as you would treat a tired, run down, exhausted horse which has been worked all winter. You would take off Ills shoes and turn him out to grass, You must tn*2it your body us a farmer treats u field which bus been over worked in production. Me lets It He fallow for awhile. You should treat your body n« nature tre2ils the vegeta Mon. It sends tin* colds of winter so that 21II the forces of the trees cun lie dormant. As 21 Christian worker for next winter, when you will have so much to do what you need now to en/rble you to do your next winter's 1 duty is not medicine, but rest—com- 1 1 lete physical juui ment2il rest; tbe j same kind of rest which Christ gave j to his disciples when he led them off 1 into a desert place. Go Into the Denert. I beg of you. hardworking Christian | men and women, to rest awhile he- j cause a summer vacation ought not to 1 cost you financially very much. Christ d'.d not tell his disciples to spend weeks and months in order to get up 2111 ex pensive wardrobe so they could go to a fashionable hotel. He did not want them to go to :i great watering place where they could drink and carouse and turn night into day and day into night. He did not desire that they should go to a place w here they would have to he dressed up all the time. To some people the Idea of taking a summer vacation is not to find rest, but dissipation. From tbe time they arrive at the fashionable summer resort they defy every physical law of health. And if after a few weeks of carousal they return to the city with the fatal germs of disease or invalidism planted in their vitals they have no one to blame but themselves. They will be just as much to blame for their on coming sicknesses as my dissipated classmate was blamed by the profess or. lie :i$ked for a sick leave. The professor looked at him a moment and said: “No. sir, 1 will not excuse you. You are young mid strong. You have been disobeying tbe laws of nature, j and you must suffer tbe consequences. You luivc no business to be sick." So i these summer dissiputors will find, j much to their sorrow, that no man or woman ever found physical rest in a fashionable hotel by dancing until 1 or 2 iu the morning. No man ever found health at the summer gaming table or in tbe hotel barrooms. The fashionable watering places are very expensive places in which to live. But when Jesus bade bis disciples to go into a desert place and rest aVbile be commanded them to go into the quietude of tbe country. One can live very cheaply in the rural districts. It docs not cost very much to go into the suburbs of the city and live for a little while next to nature's heart, to dwell iu some quiet farmhouse far away from the great, busy world. It does not cost very much to associate for a little while with the cows and the sheep, to carry the lambs and feed the chickens, to toss the hay and to hunt the eggs. It does not cost very much to study God's thoughts in the leaves, to study God's thoughts in the flowers, to hear God’s voice in the music of the winds. No somnambulance can so rest the tired brain as the quietude of the woods. That is where God wants us to rest. In the desert place means near to the great, throbbing heart of Mother Nature. To prove that it will not cost very much 10 go out for a few days Into the quietude of the country and rest awhile I would like to ask you a per tinent question. You have nut had a vacation—that is, the kind of vacation Christ wants you to take—for a long while. How much did you spend in doctor's hills last year? “Well," you answer, ‘‘last winter was a hard win ter for me. I seemed to be taking cold all tbe ttipe. My throat was very weak, and each draft would affect It. One week I was in bed threatened with pneumonia: another time I had bronchitis. I was away from the store about ten days. My doctor’s bills were very high. 1 have not paid them all up yet.” I would like to ask you anothiT pertinent question. What did your druggist bills amount to last win ter? “Oh.” you answer, “I was buying medicines all the time—medicines for my digestion, medicines for my cough, medicines for headaches, tablets for this and that and the other thing.” The Economy of a Vacation. Now, my friends, you are ready, I think, to listen to rational advice. You know that one of tbe great medical tenets states that it Is far better to prevent disease rather than cure the disease after It has come. Old Dr. Samuel D. Gross, the greatest surgical authority of his day. used to say to his students. “Gentlemen, any stupid butcher with a meat ax can chop off a leg. but it often takes a very great sur geon to save one.” Any man can take medicine after he Is sick, but it takes a wise unit! to look f2ir enough ahead to keep bis body in such physical trim that he will not get sick. And, my friends, would It not b« far better for you 2is Christian workers to look ahead and spend the money which you might give to the doctors and the druggists in taking a summer vacation? Would it not he far more economical for you to spend some money in toning up your physical system by taking a rest? Then you can resist the ordinary diseases; then jou will not have to be placed upon an Invalid's bed until God says that your work is done; then you will save money by resting ns well as the precious time which you can ill ftfford to lose from your next winter’s work. But the greatest of all advantages in going off Into a desert place to rest awhile Is that we can there come nearer to Christ than we have ever been before. In this :ige of work but few men have time to stop and think. Daily tasks become so absorbing that tbe second duty crowds Itself upon you as soon as the first duty is done. The rushing electric cars whirl the hus bands and fathers and biotbers to the store. From morning until night the customers have to be seen. Then come the evening tasks. And. though "n man works from sun to sun, u wom an’s work Is never done." But when tbe Christian goes off Into the country to rest he can go off to pray In the same spirit with which Christ went. When lie g**ts away from the store, the factory, the home, hi* rested mind will begin to dear. As be saunters out to lie down under the shadows of the trees with his Bible he will begin lo realise how tbe good ness of God bus followed him all the days of l»'s fife. ITe will begin to see in tbe quietude of tbe wqoJa that even in ins troubles the hand of God has been leading him. that all th.:i| r N work together f '• good for those who love the Lord, 'then ::s be sits there in tbe woods upon the hiiiside with the brook gurgling by hi* sine he will think that be is silting at Christ’s feet, just tbe same as the disciples of old used to do in the open air. Then he will bear a chirp. When he looks up, be will see a little bird swinging upon the tree branches over his head. lie will turn and read from Matthew: "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and one of tael,) shall not fall on the ground without your Father. Fear yendt, there fore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.” As the Christian wife walks through the fields and picks the daisies and clover tops and the golden- rod and the bright yellow buttercups she will remember the words Jesus spoke when be sj'.id that as he cared | for the lilies of the fie lds so he would ! care for her. There is no place on earth ! where a m:uj can get so close to God 1 as with an open Bible in the quietude j of the woods. Never was I more impressed with j this thought than some years ago when j I visited a humble little country church nestling among the Berkshire hills, j People have often asked me what was the most Impressive religious service I ; ever attended. 1 have worshiped in tiie Metropolitan tabernacle of London and witnessed tbe marvelous power diaries II. Spurgeon had over his great l audience. I have been at the Let of ! Joseph Parker, the mightiest one man j religious force today in all England. 1 1 ; have heard Henry Ward Beecher and often Mr. Moody. I have heard nearly all of the great living preachers this side of the Atlantic and many from be yond the seas, but the most impressive religious service I ever attended was in that little white meeting house way up among the Berkshire hills. There were only about thirty-five people present. The little organ was not worth more than $10. The young girl who sat and played the hymns know but little about music, but for three long hours before I entered tbiit building 1 bad been com miming with God In the quietude of the hills/ Alone with my Heavenly Fa ther I saw the setting sun. Alone with my Heavenly Father. 1 Imd been living in memory over my past sinful life. Alone with my Heavenly Father. 1 was telling the Saviour about my troubles. And when 1 saw the little light of the meeting house I was beckoned in. Then tbe first pray01 melted my heart until the whole room for me was filled with the Holy Spirit. Take Chriat Alonic. Oh. my brother and sister, 1 want you to go out into the country not only to get a physical rest. but. like the jlisciples of old, I want you to take Christ along. In the quietude of the woods, with your opeu Bible. I want you to keep open a receptive ear so that your Heavenly Father may talk to you. and by prayer 1 want you to talk to your Heavenly Father. If you will only do this, you will not only iu the country draw nearer to your Heavenly Father, but you will find that Christ during all the long oncoming winter months will stay very close to you. I want you to get thoroughly acquainted with Christ. I want you to realize that he Is the dearest, the temlerest. the kindest, the most forgiving and the most loving companion a pardoned sin ner could ever have. But there Is one other advantage of a summer vacation about which 1 would speak a few words. That ad vantage is the desire which comes to all true Christian hearts to get back into the harness to do the work which God has given them to do after the summer vacation is ended. In the spring the tired schoolteacher Is apt to complain. She says to herself: “Why did I ever become a public school teacher? Many of the mothers only send their children to me because they are too lazy to take care of the children themselves." But after the Christian schoolteacher Inis had a rest In the country with God she begins to realize ber opportunities, and she says: “Oh. how good God is to me! Think of the opportunity of usefulness 1 have! Perhaps by the grace of God 1 shall not only influence those children, but also the sinful homes from which they come.” After the minister has been off alone with Christ to rest awhile he longs to be back in bis pul pit to preach ^'ain about tbe Christ whom bo lias i-. learned to love. Tbe mother, the tired mother, after she has had her rest comes back with a happier heart, u sweeter smile and a gentler prayer. May God pity .today the men and the women who are so physically exhausted that they think their religious opportunities for doing good are u perpetual burden. By the power of recreating rest may all Chris tian workers during the coming sum mer months nave their spiritu:tl eyes opened. May they rapturously see that the luippiest duty on earth is the op portunity to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. One morning the daughter of an Eng lish king was found dead, with her head pillowed near an open Bible and with her finger pointing to the word “rest.” The word “rest” was found In Matthew xl, 28, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and 1 will give you rest.” Whether sin- found the rest she longed for this side of the grave we cannot know, but with Christ in our hearts. If we accept his sweet Invitation, we can find his rest here. May this summer vacation give to all Christian workers rest of heart and soul! May .you not only have physical rest, but also spiritual rest! May It be tbe sweet rest with which Christ will fit you for the best work of our earthly life during the coming winter months! Then In the fall may It be God's will to bring the pastor and people of Mils church together again for his blessed service! fCopyrlKht, 1903, I~>utk Klopsch, N. T.] LIBRARY HOSPITALS A QUIET CORNER WHERE MAIMED AND AGED BOOKS ARE DOCTORED. Loanl there heavy at the Delicate Operntlfms Are Often Neces sary For Injured Volumes and Much Incennlty Is Required at Times—How Book Surjceoiis Work. In every up to date public library t icre is a quiet corner used as a book hospital, where worn, aged and maim ed volumes are sent for treatment and often surgical operations. The women and children of the library—that is. the novels and juveniles—are found in the hospital the most frequently, and often they are beyond cure. But the skillful j library worker has all sorts of devices ! for making broken down books appear i fresh and new again, and often a re markable cure is effected. If a book were cast aside the minute its back was broken or were not given ; proper treatment when a leaf became , loose, the library would soon til’d itself doubling expenses for duplicates of old volumes and .with little money for new j works. Careful treatment, on the oth er band, will add years to the life of a book and will materially lessen the ex penses of a public library. This hospital is fitted up in a very simple manner. There are shelves upon which the invalid books are placed un til treatment can be given them. Then there are other shelves where they are j placed to convalesce and sometimes to regain consciousness after a serious \ surgical operation. There are operating j tables and neat littie boxes in which 1 there tire rolls of black percale and yards of white percale, sheets of par- ! allin paper, long strips of thin but tine j qmtlity paper, narrow rolls of gummed 1 paper, bundles of grass cloth, balls of string, sandpaper, coarse thread and , white mull. Iu snug little compartments is the ; medicine, consisting of glue and paste. ) The surgical instruments in a little ; case consist of a pair of forceps, a | small wooden paddle, a thin wooden ’ and papers of needles. Then is an instrument of torture—a 1 press which is generally applied j d isc of an operation. Tin re are all sorts of complaints j among the books, and the most preva- 1 lent is the broken back. This comes j from the book assuming an unhealth ful position, such as leaning up lazily against other books, resting on its front edges or lying flat on its side. A vigor ous use of paste and glue ofteu cures this complaint, but In some cases a del icate operation is resorted to. Then the cover is stripped entirely off the back, and the title is carefully cut out. Next the paper back of the book is peeled off. A piece of grass cloth is then applied and firmly glued into its place. The old cover, with the exception of the title, is pasted on again, and then the book is tied up with strings and left on the shelf 10 recover a little. When strong enough, a black percale back is carefully fitted over the old back, and tbe old title is pasted on the outside. Small fingers injure the complexion of the books greatly, and sandpaper is used a great deal on Juvenile fiction invalids. The edges of the hook are rut died with this rough paper, taking off the dirt and the yellow appearance. Hough edges of leaves are frequent also In this branch of literature. These leaves are carefully trimmed off. and a thin strip of nice quality paper is pasted 011 to make u clean, regular edge. “Butting" Is a method of operating that is not used by all book surgeons. This consists in placing with tbe wood en puddle a thin line of glue on tbe edges of a torn leaf and then pressing them tightly together. It has been demonstrated thoroughly that this but ting holds the torn leaf just as firmly as and is much more satisfactory than the old method of pasting gummed transparent paper over the torn places. The loose leaves are a frequent source of annoyance to the book doc tors. The remedy for these bother some leaves is a binge of percale or paper, which holds the unruly page In place after the heavy press has been brought to bear on the book. In such cases the thin board is always used to slip into the volume, so that it will keep Its shape properly. The operation which requires the most skill Is the sewing of tbe signa ture or division of a book back into piace. The needle and coarse thread are pushed in and out of the boles in the signature and the binding, and when it becomes awkward to use the fingers the slender forceps are used to draw the needle in and out It is part of the work of every public library employee to take a band in the hospital dep:irtment, and ingenuity supplies means to remedy every com plaint that is conjured up by even the most erratic book. The book doctor trusts wholly to her own wit and skill ful fingers to effect a cure, and there are few cases that are hopeless.- New York Mail a ml Express. CONVICT HOADMAKERS. *' How the Prisoner* Build HlKhw^yir In tbe South. The southern states are in a better position than the northern to progress fast in roadmaking, for nearly nil of them have adopted in some form the system of employing convict labor for highway construction. North Carolina >vag the leader in this work and now puts all county and all state convict* sentenced for a less term than tea years at work in roadbuilding. South Carolina employs all convicts on a sen tence of less than five years. In Ten nessee. Alabama and Georgia, county and many state convicts arc tints work ed. A movement is being made to ex tend the system in these three states and to adopt it in Virginia. The arguments in favor of this cm ployment of convicts are that it does away with the great expense of large penitentiaries, is healthier and better for convicts and more humane, too, takes them away from competition with free labor to the greatest possible degree, enables the county or state io build greatly needed highways at low cost and thus makes their labor of ben efit to the public, which has been put to expense by their crimes. The cost of convict labor on the public roads in the south varies from 22 to BO cents a day, says the Boston Heraid. This in clude.'; their food and clothing and care. In the stales where it is used a sys tem fit convict camps, with movable prison houses, is provided. There are al ways an overseer and sufficient armed guards to look after the gang. Now and then a eon vie; »‘se;ipes. As a rule they are contented. The men arc of course in the south mostly colored. One in a dozen is white. They are given considerable freedom in their movements and iit times are made undcrforcr.'.en over their fellows or put to work at special labor where they murt be trusted. In most locali ties they are dressed in prison uniform r.nd given a ball and chain, these latter often being removed when they estab lish :i reputation. In some localities they nre left free from ball and chain ard r.ot made to wear prison garb uu- iess state convicts. A visit to some oou 'ict camps at night reveals the characteristic spirit of the S'julhern negro. At Augusta, Ga.. they were found with musical in- s^ruments of vat ions kinds, giving a concert for their own entertainment. The gtmrds say many of these men are habitual members of the chain gang. One man was pointed out who wa* said to feel at home nowhere else. Soon after he it liberated he comes back on a new sentence, happy as cau be. with a fiddle under his arm. 1 GOVERNMENT EXPERIMENTS Cont of Road Coirntraetloa to Bo Gren11v Kedurrrf. As .a result of la 1'oratory experiments conducted by officer.* of the United States government the department of agriculture expects soon to be In a po sition to vastl.i improve the methods and greatly reduce the cost of road construction throughout the country. The work that Is now being done by tbe department is for the purpose of developing the physical and chemical properties of the materials employed in roadmaking. The engineering features have al ready been well established, and tbe depth at which the base rocks should be placed lias boon determlmd as weii as tbe exact angle of tbe road In order to insure drainage and protection. Tbe department experts will now endeavor to pick out tbe rocks that are best adapted for surface covering. From tbe investigations thus far pur sued with certain rocks used for mac adam roads, says Good Hoads Maga zine, It has been found that by Judi cious selection of materials roads cait be put down to last from five to tea times ns long as those built under the old systems without any addL tlonal expense In construction. A pro gramme of work has been outlined to cover the next two years, and in that, time the department expects to fur nish information to prospective road- builders In every part of the country. Tbe laboratory that lias been estab- lished in connection with this work is very complete. Cat otr. “Poor child!’* exclaimed Mrs. Good- art. who had been touched by the ap peal to the extent of a quarter. “And how did this accident happen to your father?” “Why,” replied the bright little girl, “be begged so much money one day that be got drunk and was sent to Jail.” “But yon told me bis arms were cut off.” “Ob. no. ma’am! I said 'alma.* **-- Philadelphia Press. Italy** ItiKhwny System. In Italy the principal highways are maintained by the state, and every bit of main road is examined daily by road laborers who hiive been appointed with some regard to efficiency. Th« government road laborers (cautounien) are selected for good character and honesty. The limit of age is thirty-five years, and they must be of robust con stitution. Their hours of work are from sunrise to sunset. In which time each cantonnier must go over the en- tix‘e track of road apportioned to him. He is not permitted to absent or shel ter himself more than he can possibly avoid, whatsoever the weather may be. His chief duties are the leveling and repair of the highway and the re moval of snow, mud, dust, etc. He must also gratuitously assist wayfar ers in distress and vehicles in trouble on account of accidents or of bad weather, and no recompense may be asked for his labor. By Their Create, Perhaps. She- So you have crossed the ocean sixty-four times. You must be getting used to it He—Yea. considerably. I have lately got so that I recognize over half the waves we meet.—Town and Country. Worth More Than I.ar«er Crop*. A system of good turnpikes or even of the modern, well drained and well kept dirt road, consftucted according to scientific engineering principles, would be worth more than an extra barrel of corn or a fraction of a bale of cotton to the acre, says the Springfield (Mo.) Republican. With cosy and cheap transportation, every pound of market able value would be gathered and sold and not left to rot in the fields, as ia too often the case now. Besides tbia, country life would tie made more at tractive, and the value of real estate «ould advance.