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I TALMAGE SERMON •t By Pav. FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. D.D., P-vstor of J’lfersoa Park Presby- tcrian Cnurch, Chicago Chicago, Dee. 14.—A plea for n more generous and kindly treatment of em ployees and friends is made by Rev. F. Do Witt Talmage in this sermon on the tc::t Proverbs xx, 14, “It is naught It is naught, saith the buyer, but when he is gone his way then ho boasteth.” Do you see that Jerusalem gentleman wending his way in ami out among the crowded booths and storesV Do you see him stop and pretend to be examin ing come article us though he were making up ids mind whether or not to buy? lie is, in truth, stopping to horr a eonversaticn which is taking place between an old Hebrew merchant and a young man who has just arrived, per haps from the far east, with camels laden with a large assortment of ex pensive shawls. “Well,” says the young mm to the old merchant, “how much will you give? I have put every cent into this enterprise. I must sell those shawls right away. My creditors are beginning to crowd me hard. My men want their pay right away. Those si: wls are the best I could get in the east. They cost me $20,000 cash. I have come a long distance with them, |ud you certainly' ought to give me enough to meet my expenses.” The old m :n shrugs his shoulders. He says: “Ky young friend, I do not care what those shawls have cost you. They are utterly valueless to me. I do not want them at any price. The moths have got into some of them. For my pur poses they are ruined. Besides that, those shawls are all out of style. They would be a perfect drug upon the mar ket. i wish you would leave the shop. I have a lot of business to attend to, and 1 have no time to waste.” The young inexperienced seller bites bis lip until the blood almost comes. Then he thinks of ids wife and little babies. He feels be is staring ruin in the face. lie knows he must make a sale right away, else he will become a bankrupt. He again says, “Can’t you give me anything for those shawls?” The old merchant at lirst says nothing. Then lie answers: “Well, young man, you seem to lie in hard luck. I will give you $10,000 if you want me to take the damaged goods off your hands.” The tears begin to start from the young man's eyes. He is too brave to show them. He goes to the corner of the street and stands there for awhile to think. While he is there the old merchant’s eyes sharply follow him. Then the young man comes back at last and says: "1 guess I will take your offer. That means I must lose all the money I ever made in my life. That means I will not only throw away six months’ hard work, but that now I am utterly ruined. Here is a receipt for the money. Give me the money and let me go to my tent and tell my wife we are both ruined.” Hardly has the young man left when King Solomon, for he is the listener, sees the old He brew merchant begin to rub together his hands in glee. A broad, sardonic smile overspreads ins merciless face. He calls to bis partner and says: “Isaac, come here and see these goods. Dhl you ever see such beauties? Why, those shawls are worth at least $40,000 clean profit I never struck a better bargain. That young man simply gave them away to me. Just look at them, Isaac. I bought them for $10,000, at least $15,000 less than they cost. I must go and tell Rebecca bow much we have made this morning. Forty thousand dollars clear profit! Aha, who would ever have thought that young man could be such a fool?” Is this not a rational Interpretation of my text, “It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer, but when lie is gone ids way then lie boasteth?” The Meniiinic of Solomon, While this conversation takes place between the deceitful old merchant and his partner, methinks 1 can see a trou bled look come over the face of the dis guised king who is standing near by. Methinks I can hear him soliloquize: “How contemptible and despicable is this wholesale system of swindling de preciations! How deceitful and damn ing it was for that old merchant to de spoil that young merchant. 1 must em body among my proverbs for the bene fit of all my people a warning against this almost universal and sinful habit.” That night, while the great king is sit ting alone in his palace study, he takes up his pen and adds another sparkling gem to his casket of scintillating Jew els of wisdom. 1 would Interpret the lesson of this text not only in the mer chant’s parlance, but also in reference to the wicked depreciations of every walk in life, no matter where the sinful practice may be found. Discouraging depreciations are found Id the home as well as in the street, by the domestic fireside as well as in the Jerusalem stores, in the nursery as (well as In the public market place. In & China it is never considered gentle- * manly or polite for a man to speak well •f bis relatives. In America It is also the custom of some parents, brothers and sisters never to speak eulogiatlcal- ly to any of their dear ones, no matter bow much they may be proud of them and their successes. They say they are afraid to praise them. They fear lest they should give them a conceited Idea of themselrea and spoil them. There fore their ^gify is to peck; at All the faults of t com men Now, my friends, as far as I can un derstand our social life, the greatest need of the world today is not for a few more gigantic factories to run night and day for the manufacturing of scalping knives and swords and dag gers and iron tipped clubs or for great kilns, where brickbats can be hardened out of dirty clay to throw at our broth ers. The great need of the world is not for a few microscopes and X ray lenses for magnifying and exposing our brother’s faults and reminding him of his own imperfections. But the great est need of the world is for at least 500,000,000 homes to be turned Into Christlike pharmaceutic establish ments. In those homes every father and mother, brother and sister, ought to be busy all the time trying to com pound old fashioned, invigorating alio pathic doses of gospel encouragement. They should be quick to recognize and praise one another's good points as well as their faults. They should en courage each other with words of in spiring good cheer as well as caution them with words of trenchant warning against the quicksands and the hidden snares of life. The (alvinff of Praise. If a man’s friends do not give him the encouragements he needs for life’s struggle, surely his enemies never will. God knows, an average man gets enough knocks from his enemies— enough blows upon his head and heart —to make it absolutely necessary for at least some one to say something pleasant. You do not want your loved ones to start out in life wAh a de pressed idea of their own abinties and capacity for future work, as my fa ther had when he started, which youth ful depression he was never able to en tirely overcome. My grandfather and grandmother were old fashioned folks, who brought up their children in the old fashioned way, never telling them anything cheering about themselves. The nearest to a parental compliment my father ever received was when his mother read his graduating speech in the little village paper of Somerville. After she had finished reading it she turned to my grandfather and said, “David, that speech of De Witt’s must have sounded quite well when he spoke it.” Then came the depressing influences of his college and seminary life. With but one exception all bis professors tried to instill into my father’s brain the idea that lie could never preach. He was so discouraged that he deter mined to go to a foreign field and be a missionary. He thought that perhaps the “heathen Chinee” or the Fiji island ers might lie persuaded to listen to his preaching if he were only able to get into a region where no white man had ever been before. The most surprised being in the seminary—and nearly all the students were dumfounded—was young De Witt Talmage when he re ceived a call to the church and parson age at Belleville, N. .1. The solemn ad vice which the New Brunswick profess or gave, “You will have to change your style, Mr. Talmage; you will have to change your style,” found its echo in the advice of old Dr. Thomas De Witt of the Collegiate church of New York city. After my father had been a short time in the ministry tins great and good man. Dr. De Witt, after whom my father was named, sent this mes sage to him: “Tell my namesake never to allow ids sermons to be published. He may he aide to preach, but he cer tainly does not know how to write.” The effect of all this depressing and depreciating advice was such that my father was never able to fully shake off the discouragements of his youth. My mother had to urge him on and on or without doubt in those first years of struggle he would have given up the fight and gone into the law. So, my friends. 1 urge you never to discourage a young man. You may be mistaken in anticipating his failure. Rather cheer him with commendation whenever it is possible. Who can tell whether at the end of ids career ids Divine Master may not pronounce upon his service the “well done” with which he rewards his faithful stewards? EntMiuraicttnient Wanted. Some years ago by an explosion of firedamp four miners were entombed In a coal mine near Scranton, l‘a. Their friends worked a whole night and a day trying to liberate the imprisoned men. At last the rescuers wore about to give up in despair. Just then the youngest member of the firm rapidly drove up in a buggy. As be leaped out lie cried: “Boys, you have done well! It is only a little work more! Come on, boys, and in a short time we will get those poor fellows free!” He threw off his coat and grabbed a pick and began to strike the rock. At the sound of his reassuring voice and example the other men went to work with renewed ener gy. The entombed men were soon safe in the arms of their wives and children. Today the vast majority of our rela tives do not need words of depreciation. Like those miners, digging for their entombed companions, they want words of encouragement, words*of good cheer, words of inspiration, words of assurance, that if they only trust God and do right certain success will come to every one of them. Their success may not necessarily come right away, but true success will surely come In time. Discouraging depreciation is often found in the dealings of employers with their employees. Many men and women who are at the head of large es tablishments do not like to commend their employees. They say if you praise a clerk even a little that clerk will get too good an opinion of himself and will ask for an increase of salary. Or, if you praise an employee, some rival firm will hear of the commenda tion and come and steal your man away. Thus some men never speak I kindly to those who are in their em ploy; They chronically and systematic- •11^ growl and find fault with every- that when an employee is afraid of los ing his position he will work harder ami more faithfully than if the head of the firm commended him for every thing he did well. Now, such a course as that is not honest or just. The Bible distinctly says that every laborer is worthy of bis hire. If a man is paid what he ought to be paid for doing bis work, there is no need to fear that be will not do as good work with a few words of com mendation as with the depressing ef fects of unjust and systematic depre ciation. I tell you candidly and ear nestly that chronic fault finding has the same effect In a factory or a store as the cold, dark, drizzling days of No vember have upon the floral world, while words of kindness and apprecia tion have the same inspiration upon the flagging energies of the employees as the inspiring strains of the regi mental bands had upon the despairing spirits of the French soldiers when they were scaling the Alps for their great Italian victories. During the last days of that awful ascent, when the French cannon had to be dragged up- by the ropes held in the soldiers’ bleed ing hands, Napoleon Bonaparte com manded his musicians to keep on play ing the most inspiring patriotic airs. So the employers’ words of commenda tion sound in the ears of the worker like the notes of sweetest and most inspiring music, which will make the employees sometimes even double their energies to merit the appreciation which their employers have expressed. The Spirit of Depreciation. But though words of commendation may have sucli beneficent results in the employers’ dealings with employees, yet it is the settled policy of many a business man not only to say nothing pleasant to his employees, but also to make his clerks live upon as small a salary as possible until he is by force of circumstances compelled to pay them more. lam sorry to say, too, that this spirit of depreciation, this reluc tance to recognize and reward merit, is sometimes seen in the relation of a church to its minister, although, thank God, most congregations are not selfish and are giving their pastors all the en couragement and financial support that they can. A selfish congregation will start in with a system of fault finding. It will grind the minister down and down. It will make the pulpit a dump ing ground for all its carping and con temptible criticism. It will for years keep its minister upon a starvation sal ary. Then after awhile, when that minister gets a call from a sister church in a neighboring city, with an increase of $2,000 or $3,000 salary, that congregation will act as though a bomb had suddenly dropped among them. They will gather around the minister to plead with him with beseeching tears. The boards of the church will immedi ately meet and vote to raise the minis ter's salary $2,P00. Resolutions will be passed begging the minister not to leave them. If that minister is so valu able to the congregation now, why was he not appreciated before? If the con gregation could raise the salary $2,000 now, why not before? If the congrega tion could pass commendatory resolu tions now. why not before? Oh. no; that is not the policy upon which many a selfish church and many a business establishment is run. The policy which is almost everywhere in vogue is that against which Solomon is giving the warning of my text. It is to say as' few pleasant things as possible, to pay as little as we can to those who are in our employ and then to spend the rest of our time in boasting how much we have been able to get for little or for practically nothing. Depressing depreciation is annually driving thousands and hundreds of thousands of poor men, women and children into a life of crime and into a quickstep march to a premature grave. The public is guilty of complici ty in the evil. It not only encourages the employer in his inadequate remu neration of ids employees, but it incites it. Everywhere the universal cry is, “Give us something cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap!” and the heads of the large factories and stores are dally try ing to meet this demand, and to meet it the salaries of employees must be cut down. By the laws of social economics some people must be, figuratively, shoved to the wall. It Is ^ot the head of the great dry goods emporium who, as a rule, has to suffer. Oh, no. He will get his percentage of profit no matter what comes. But it is the mechanic at the bench, it is the poor female clerk who receives a Salary less than she can live on. It is the poor sewing girl who has to work all night and far into the hours of the night. It is not. as a rule, the capitalist who has to be crushed and squeezed by the grdat crowds which swarm around the “bargain <S>unters” on a Monday morning. It Is the small wage earner whose heart and life are being trampled under the feet of men and women who are scouring the stores to find goods which they can purchase at little above, or even less than, cost. It Is the poor girl and the young man who on account of the aw ful struggle for a livelihood, which *ls dally becoming harder, are throwing themselves into the outstretched arms of temptation, and who are becoming more and more reconciled to lift their thin, pale lips for the polluted, poison ous, cancerous kiss of sin. Cna*ea Many a Funeral. The grinding and Salanic effects of sinful depreciation in the business world are the cause of many a tragedy. Look at that funeral! Who was that poor creature whose body is being taken to potter’s field? Yes, tumble her Into a pine box and shovel her under the ground! Who cares? She Is nothing but a poor working girl—yes, nothing but a poor working girl—yet her life was Just ns divr to her as yours Is to you. She had ru invalid mother and a little baby brother. At night, when she would come home from the store, she would sometimes bring a few faded m ■——» ■ *mm flowers and put them In an old broken pitcher and say: “Come, mother; let’s play we were out in the country. How I wish we could see the old farm, where papa used to take us before he died! Tired? Oh, yes; a little. The store is so hot, and the customers, especially about Christmas, find so much fault with us, as though we were not human. But, then, I think of you and the baby, and the scoldings of the‘floorwalker do not cut so deep. There, mother, kiss me good night. You know I must be up early In the morning to be down to the store on time.” Day after day she got weaker and weaker. The hours were long. The boxes were heavy to lift. Ah, she was earning bread. She was earning it with her life’s blood. After awhile two little red spots appeared in her thin, pale cheeks. Her eyes had an unnat ural brilliancy. Half the night she would toss and toss, unable to sleep. The hacking cough never seemed to re lieve the awful pain In the aching chest. One day “No. 37” fainted. When she was being carried to the cloakroom, an old lady customer stopped and look ed and wiped her eyes and said; “Poor little thing! I wonder if my* little grandchild will ever have to work like that.” Two of her companions took her home. After that she could not do much. Still, a happy smile would al ways welcome the girls who would stop at night after they left the store and bring her an orange or an apple, bought out of their scanty earnings. That is all. She's dead now. Tumble her Into her pine box. Shovel her under the ground. She Is nothing but a poor working girl. What Is the matter? Oh, nothing, except that this continual de preciation of the price of goods has in evitably driven some people to the wall, and she is one of the lirst to go. What is the matter? Oh, nothing, except the fact that thousands of men and wom en, some of whom are members of the church, are driving prices down and down until at last a groan of agony is coming from the throats of hundreds of thousands of working girls whose mor al and physical life is being crushed out of them. If an article is worth $10, pay it or go without. It is far bet ter to pay young men or women a liv ing salary to support them before they do wrong than to establish rescue homes to save them after they have gone astray. The fiocriNy of Depreciation. Depreciation, when it Is unjust, is hy pocrisy, and it is in a large measure responsible for the depressed condi tions of spiritual life in the church as well as in the home and the store. Some people seem to think that the re ligion of the Lord Jesus Christ has nothing to do with the weekday. They act as if they had a right to leave their piety at home on u Monday morning, as they would put on or off their Sun day clothes. But I want to tell you that Christ’s teachings are utterly at variance with such hypocritical non sense. If u man is not a Christian dur ing the weekday, lie is not a Christian on Sunday. If a woman is not a Chris tian in her dealings with her grocery- man and butcher, her baker and serv ant girl and on her shopping expedi tions, she is not a Christian when she goes to church. A falsehood is just as big and black when uttered over a store counter as when it is told in church. It is as heinous an offense as was that lie told under the shadow of the uplifted hand which the apostle Peter raised when lie was preachiug to Ananias and Sapphira near the Jeru salem temple. And so, my brother, if you want to consecrate your churches to God, you must also consecrate your stores and factories, your advertising columns, your commercial buyers, your clerks’ salaries and your draymen’s wages. When some one asked George Whitefield whether a certain man was a Christian or no, the great evangelist answered: “Ho.w can I tell? I never lived with him.” So God will never de clare we are his children unless we re solve, like John Wesley, that during the Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Satur day ns well as the Sunday we will try “to do all tlie good we can to as many people ns we can as long as we can.” Beginning our sermon with a text selected from the book of Proverbs, we would end with a spirit inspired, pleading peroration from the book of Ecclesiastes. The two indirectly teach practically the same great lesson of our duty toward our fellow men—“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole mat ter.” “Fear God and keep his command ments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.” Are we one and all ready to obey this inspired Injunction? Are we ready to consecrate to the Master’s service our dealings with human beings, as well as our direct dealings with Christ? Are we ready to consecrate our whole lives to Christ—not tomorrow or next week or next month, but now—Just now? Brother, sister, do you know any better moment to promise to live for Jesus than this moment, which la now ready to fly away? [Copyright, 1902, by Louis Klopsch.] Children and Divorce. Thomas Wentworth Higginson says: “For many years it has been my stron gest conviction In respect to divorce that our statute books should have a double system of laws in respect to childless marriages, as compared with those where the interests of children were included. In childless marriages It is the Interests of man and wife alone which have to be consulted, but the moment children appear the ques tion becomes Incomparably more diffi cult. For childless marriages It seems to me that divorce should be far eas ier, but In the other case the Interests of the nex generation become the primary object, and the law should place much greater obstacles In the way of separation.” 0 MED TO TAKE NO FURTHER ACTION British Commander to Cease Aggressiveness. THE VENEZUELAN SITUATION. . It Is Said Orders Have Been Sent Re questing No Further Action, Pend ing Decision Being Arrived at on Proposal For Arbitration. London, Dec. 15.—The Associated Press has reason to believe that or- d'erii will, or have been sent, to the British commander in Venezuelan waters to take no further aggressive action at present, pending a decision being arrived at on the proposal for arbitration. This came in the form of a propo sal through the United States govern ment to submit the claims of British aiwi German subjects to arbitration announced later in the day in the house oi lords, is now "under consid eration by the British government.” Lord I-auiUowne announced: “We are greatly indebted to the good of fices of the United States minister at Caracas.” Caracas, Venezuela, Dec. 15.—Inac tion reigns in government circles here. The officials do not know what to do and are depending entirely upon the United' States to assist them. A movement is on loot here, headed by prominent doctors and lawyers to request President Castro to resign and to ask Vice President Ramon Ayala to assume the presidency and form a cabinet without party tendencies. It is also proposed to summon congress to appoint a temporary president and arrange the questions in dispute in a manner satisfactory to all concerned. General Hernandez El Mooho, who has Jim been released from prison at Maracaibo, is expected at Caracas to morrow. His partisans are active and further trouble is apprehended. The Venezuelan government announces that Great Britain has opened the nav igation of the Orinoco river. The warships patrol the mouth of the riv er and 1 the river itself. This measure applies only to foreign ships. Vessels flying the Venezuelan flag are ex cluded. The patriotic parade here yesterday passed off without any extraordinary incidents. President Castro, during the day, visited the tomb of Bolivar. The government reported that the German cruiser Panther was going to Maracaibo to destroy the forths there. Minister Bowen, at the request’ of the Dutch minister, Dr. Von Leydan, who is sick at Curacao, has taken charge of the Dutch interest here. The leading merchants of l.aGuayra ar rived here last night, announcing that owing to the fear it would be shelled today they left. At 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon four loud explosions alarmed the city of Puerto Oabello. On investigation it was found that British marines had blown up the subterranean prison cells of the castle Libertador with dyna mite. They also burned the wooden buildings surrounding the castle and carried away everything that could be transported. After the bombardment of the forts at Puerto Oabello and the landing o«f marines on the island where the castle is situated, the forces of the powers acted just as though they were at home, causing great in dignation among the Venezuelans. When everything was destroyed the marines re-embarked. The Venezuelan government war ship Miranda e*caped the vigilance of the German cruisers Falke and Panther, which were searching for her and arrived at Maracaibo yesterday. PORT OF PUERTO CABELLO. United States Consul Ellsworth Talks of Venezuelan City. Chicago, Dec. 15.—A special to The Record-Herald from Elkhart, Ind., says: Luther L. Ellsworth, United States consul at Puerto Cabello, when told of the bombardment of that port, said: “Puerto Cabello, pronounced as though spelled ea-vay-yo, occupies a level plain 2 miles wide at the foot of the mountain with a water front of about 3 miles, the water line following an irregular course that gives front age on the west, north and east. The city is defended by two forts, Liber tador, which is on a small island in front of the custom house, and So lano, on top of a mountaia 2 miles from the water line and commanding the entire town. “If the allied fleet simply desired to reduce Libertador the guns could be brought to bear without necessarily in juring the town. The fort had, when I left, alnnit 50 guns, only about 10 of which were modern, and the garri son could not have been as large as 500. Solano has two Krupp guns and can garrison about 150 men. “The American consulate, which stand* on a corner of the water front. Is but 120 feet from Libertadlor, ami if the vessels stood where they could avoid hitting the town their shot pass ed near the consulate, which is a leas •d' building. "The capture of Puerto Cabello soon Id be a serious blow to Castro, as M» ouetoans receipts are second only to those of l.aGuayra. Besides, the Valencia road connect* direct with a line to Caracas.” bOOD ROAD BENEFITS SOME ARGUMENTS BY SENATOR EARLE OF MICHIGAN. Why lietter Uluhwaya Are Wanted and Why They Are Deneflcial—What the Produeern Save by Haallnic Over Good Kuada. Why are better roads wanted and why are better roads beneficial to the owners of farms, of mines, of manu facturing establishments or other pro ducers of material to be transported? That as much as possible the cost of transportation may be eliminated, said Senator Earle of Michigan in a speech before a good roads convention. The cost of transportation does not en hance the value of any kind of product. There is a market everywhere for ev ery kind of product, where the price is set, and what the producer gets for his product is the price set at this natural market less the cost of transportation from the producing point to the market setting point. So the farm owners, the mine owners and the owners of factories in Michi gan are or ought to be Interested In anything that will have a tendency to eliminate any portion of the cost of production, and the cost of transporta tion of a product to its natural market is a part of the cost of production as much as are the wages paid to the la borer. If the producers were as eco nomical with King Mud as they are with King Labor, we would have bet ter roads, and much of the cost of transportation would be eliminated, and a portion of this saving might well be banded to King Labor. It Is a fact that the carriers are transporting wheat from Nebraska to Liverpool for less money per bushel than it costs a farm er to haul it over a common dirt road ten miles to market. If it costs $2 to draw one ton to mar ket over a bad road and only $2 to draw two tons over that same road when that road has been made better, then the better road is the machine to obtain and use that a portiou of the cost of transportation may be elimi nated, provided that the machine (the lietter road) and its repairs do not cost more than can be eliminated by its use for the cost of transportation. If $2 per ton is a fair average of what is saved by the use of a good road over the use of a bad road, It is only neces sary to find out how many tons are hauled over any road a year to know whether that road can lie improved to a profit or not. To explain, if a given HAULING HAY IN NOEMANDY, FRANCE. [This load weighs upward of four tons.] road cost $10,000 to build, there must be a travel of at least 1,000 loads a year over that road at a saving of $2 a load. Of course, it does not cost $2 to haul one ton one mile, but the average dis tance that farm produce is hauled is seven miles, and a farmer will not go to town twice in one day seven miles away, over a bad foad, and going to town will about use up the day, so that It has cost to haul one ton to market whatever one man and one team for one day are worth, or about $2.50. If the road was a first class macadam road, three tons or more at a load would be hauled and two trips would bo made, thus delivering at the station or market five tons more a day than could be with a bad road, saving $12.30, a portion of which the producer can well afford to pay for a machine that helps to eliminate it. Potatoes yield about six tons to the acre, sugar beets about twelve. The grower can multiply the number of acres by the number of tons and then multiply the number of tons by $2, and he will have the amount he can afford to pay in taxes or subscription to build a macadam road if seven miles from market—that is, if lie is seven miles from market and has fifty acres of sugar beets he can afford to pay for a macadam road $1,200, which Is $2 times (>00 tons. But he won’t have to pay anywhere near this sum, so he need not go into hysterics at the as sertion. You cannot save the cost of excessive transportation over u bad road more than It costs over a good road until you have the good road to save It for you; then you can save, and what you save, or some portion of it, you can pay toward the retiring of short term lKinds that you bought the road with, the same as you did to retire the notes that you gave for the binder, and there is no more reason to be afraid of a bond than there is to be afraid of a note. Neither cun be afforded for lux uries, but either can be afforded for machines which will save more than they cost, and It is only the timid and foolish that will continue to out their grain with a cradle or haul their grain through mud to the market If there is enough to cut or to h iuf io prv io get the machine to cut or livil it with. V! 1 -f . * / Jr V 'iSfl