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fHoldehhu ""'^C?pjrl*ht 1891. by 1 CHAPTER XVIII. Continued. Utterly depressed in spirit, and with an aching heart, I limped back to the Gnsey House, wondering whether the dear girl whom I loved was already , the wife of the flippant English cleric I had despised. That might be; nay. I thought it not improbable. Or if not yet, doubtless it was to be. My mind was so busy that I did not notice the long distance that I had walked. Five hours' walking, with but little rest, and no refreshment, immediately following the inactivity inseparable from a sea voyage is not to be undertaken with Impunity, and when I reached the Gilsey House I was so footsore and faint that the lift attendant inquired If I was ill. I answered that I had over-fatigued myself; and entering my room, I threw myself, as I was, on to the bed. After I had lain there about an hour ' a. waiter came to my door and informed me there was a gentleman be- J low who desired to see me. "A gentleman," I. echoed, starting j IV tuy left. r?uj, UUUUUJI nuvng rnc in New York. What is his name?" "Mr. Samuel Truman." "Show him upstairs at once," I said; but the command was unnecessary, for the next instaut my uncle entered the j room. | "So I have fouud you at last," said oncle Sam, seizing my hand and shaking it vigorously. "I protest, you are the only man 1 would spend half a day in searching for. I called here less than an hour after you went out, and supposing you had gone to look at the city, I have been driving about New York ever since in the hope of meeting you. May 1 ask why it is you have come here? Has anything serious happened at Holdenhurst?I mean, beyond what I already know of??but stay; you look ill. I trust your father is not dead." "My father was well eight days ago." I replied; "and I believe he is so still. As for myself, I have not been very well since you left England, and having decided on a trip round the world. I have made New York my first halting place. I am pleased to see you. and hope my aunt and Miss Marsh are as well as you appear to be." * "Quite so thanks; quite so. But why Is It you have not come to my house? From your valiant defense of me in that little affair, I concluded there was no differences between us. Was 1 wrong?" "No. uncle, you were not wrong; but I was diffident of facing you and my aunt and"?I added after some hesitation?"Miss Marsh, after that wretched business; still, I should have called on you to-morrow if I could have screwed j up my courage sufficiently for it." "Well, you are a hypersensitive, good hearted young cuss, and I am tremendously pleased to see you. Put on your hat and come along; my carriage is waiting. I will order your luggage to be sent on at once." "No, no," 1 cried, catching hold of his arm to prevent him touching the electric push; "I am not well enough to come now. Allow me to stay here to-night aud I will come to your house in the morning." "As you please, toy boy. But what is it ails you? Upset by the voyage, .1 suppose." "Yes; that aud a long walk to-day \ have quite played me out. How did i you kuow I was here?" *'I saw your name in the passenger list of the Uinbria within an hour after her arrival, and frou inquiries among the hackmen near where the vessel lies, 1 learned that a person of your description had been driven to the Gilsey House. 1 then came here, aud was told you had gone out. Since then I have been driving about, looking for ?aii o Korro And iltio It; tlin ?i /uu ai uu^aiu. auu ^ iuc noon 1 particularly promised to take Connie out!" "I am sorry you didn't do so," I said. _ "And Coanie yet more so," added my uncle. "Could she not go out alone?" I inquired. "Hardly. You see it was like this. Price (persevering fellow, Price!) had obtained a half consent from Con thai she would go with him this afternoon for a drive; and she, relying on me to extricate her from the engagement, has got left, thanks to you." "And so the Rev. Evan Price," I said, aftecting only a languid interest in words which caused my cheek to flush ar?1 filled me with joy and hope: "and so the Rev. Evan Price is still iu New York. When is he going to take up his new duties iu London?" "Never, \ think," replied my uncle. "At present he is farming tiiat job with a deputy, while he is editing The investors' Guide, a financial daily paper which I have established here chiefly for his benefit. It's run on a . plan of my .own, and I feed it with tips; but it's a poor rag. Price is a ilever. pushing fellow enough; but he can't conceal his hand?and that, you kuow. is everything in finance. However. iio don't complain, for tne Guide produces him more dollars than his church paid mui pence." &?' irstaiHalllj ffooel. sr- by ALTER BLOOMFIELD !?bert Boxxeb'S SOXX. 1 "I "wasn't aware that Mr. Price had any literary ability." "Well, he hasn't much, I believe; but if he had, he couldn't employ it to any appreciable extent on a financial paper. The investors' Guide certainly affords a wide field for flights of the imagination; but then, you know, such flights must be confined within the narrowest possible limits, and expressed with consummate art, if they are to be effective. Journalism of every kind Is rather flat just now, in consequence of a dearth of events of the first class?wars, earthquakes, pestilence, panics and the like. Perhaps you have noticed for yourself what a fine crop of big gooseberries was raised during the summer, and how sportive the sea serpent has been." "No; I can't say that I have. 1 was never a very diligent reader of newspapers; but I remember an article which appeared recently in one of our English reviews attacking the whole class of literature to which journals such as vours belong. The mo tives which the writers attributed to stock brokers and the press representatives were very bad. Surely, the law doesn't permit such people to rob the public?" "Certainly not; that is a privilege which the law reserves for Itself." "Does Mr. Price find his new duties congenial?" I inquired. "You will pardon the question, but really they j must differ so extremely from his life j at Holdenhurst Minor that I am curiI ous to know." I "lie appears well satisfied," replied uncle Sam; "and his former calling causes his editorials to be received by people outside the financial rings with a trustfulness not always warranted by results." "I dare say he is justified by the change in his sphere of action." "No doubt The is a moral acrobat, and j can stand upon his honor." I had forgotten that in New York there is only a brief twilight and was surprised by sudden darkness. My uncle rose to leave, and I accompanied him as far as the street. It had been arranged between us that I was to call at bis office in 'the Mills Building at 10 o'clock the next day, when 1 Was to accompany him to bis house in Thirty-forth street. Greatly elated by what I had heard, which assured me the girl of my heart was not yet won by my rival, I re-enetered the hotel, consumed an unreasonably large quantity of buckwheat cakes and coffee, and then retired for the night. CHAPTER XIX. MRS. SAMUEL TRUMAN* "AT HOME." "Of course you did not expect to find so many people here," remarked uncle Sam, as he introduced me to Mr. and Mrs. Stuyvesant Wollaston, of Bostou. "No. indeed I did not. uncle." "I had forgotten that to-day was Mrs. Truman's first 'At Home' since her return from Saratoga. This is Mr. Increase Mather: and these are his partners, Mr. Union Voorbees and Mr. Austin Gilmer." I bowed, and the next instant there entered Miss Eily Kennedy, Miss Bertha Kallmann, and Mr. Dennis O'Connor, to all of whom I was in-1 troduced by my uncle. "This is Mr. Ellis Thomas: and these ladies, Miss Paulina Jackson and Miss I Inez Juarrez"?the last a superb beau-; ty of the Spanish type, with jet black J hair and dark flashing eyes. Already my uncle's guests numbered ' some seventy persons, and I was wondering how many more would come when Miss Hattie Christison and Mr. Rosenberg were announced. "Ah!" exclaimed uncle Sam. as soon as be caugnt signt 01 me iaiier; mia is my very special and most dear friend, Aaron Rosenberg. Ernest, my nephew, permit me to recommend that you make this gentleman's qualities your daily study; but sharpen your wits before yQU trade with him. Should you prevail against him, there will remain but one merchant worthy of your prowess; and him you shall know by his horns, tail and trident." "You flatter me much, Mr. Truman," said the gentleman referred to. bowing very low; "and yourself yet more, for I notice that in all our transactions you invariably come off best." Further discussion of this matter was prevented by the entry of another party of ladies and gentlemen; and I ray uncle's drawing room, one of the most commodious and richly furnished salons I have seen, soon contained as many persons as It would comfortably accommodate. "Dear Ernest." said aunt Getrude, laying her hand gently upon my shoulder, "I am so sorry that I have all of these people here to-day; but I had no thought of seeing you until it was too late to postpone my 'At Home.' Where have you been ail day? Your uncle told me that you were to meet him down town at 10 o'clock." "Yes; I met him at his office by appointment, and he showed me over the Mills Building and the Stock Exj change, and introduced me to sonic of his Wall street friends. After that i we lunched at Delmonico's." | Here my aunt had to leave me to \ attend to another guest who manifested a disposition to speak with her. I crossed the room to where the Rev. Mr. Price stood talking with Miss Marsh?with whom I had not had more than two or three minutes' conversation. and that of a formal sort, immediately on ray arrival?but he adroitly placed his tall, broad figure so as to exclude her from my view, at the same time showing her with much apparent interest some jewel he held in his hand, so that ray purpose was for the present defeated. "Come here. Ernest," my uncle called out; and I at once went to where he was sitting with Mr. Rosenberg and Mr. Dennis O'Connor, the three apparently being engaged in some close argument. "What do you think we were talking about?' "Can't say," I replied: "some matter of business, no doubt." "Now there you are wrong. It is only on rare occasions we speak of business out of the street?I mean Wall street. No; we were discussing Shakespeare?whether any one of his plays is so much better than the rest as to entitle It to be considered his masterpiece; and if so. what particular play deserves such distinction." "You must remember." said Mr. Rosenberg, "that I know Shakespeare only in Schlegel's translation." "And that I have not read a line of Shakespeare for about twenty-one years," added uncle Sam. " 'Hamlet' is his finest play," I ventured to observe. "Good; that is what I said," quoth Mr. Rosenberg triumphantly. "Well, I don't think so." said nude Sam energetically, "and am inclined to accept Hamlet's definition of himself, that he was a dull, muddy-mettled rascal who didn't know his own mind, or who had very little mind to know. The whole play is nothing more than an ingenious sermon against the lazy habit of taking an afternoon nap, with interesting examples of the evils which arose out of a particular instance." "You have seen 'Hamlet' performed?" I inquired, astonished at my uncle's extraordinary opinion. "Oh, yes, several times; by Irving in London, Barnay in Berlin and Booth in New York. And some years ago I saw it performed by a company of strolling players in a mining town In Colorado. The performance was given in a barn, and in the interval betweeu the first and second acts Hamlet and Ophelia danced to a jig-like melody played on a tiq whistle by the King, while Polouius and the Queen sold whisky to the audience." "How horrible," I exclaimed, with undisguised disgust. "It would positively make me ill to see the finest production of human genius presented in such a fashion." "Do you regard "Hamlet' as the finest production of human genius?" asked uncle Sam. TTnarmhtorllr- An/1 fnr flip spormd best production of human genius I should turn to another play by the same hand." "Well, I'm glad to find you've the courage of your opinions; sometimes I've felt disposed to kick you for your invariable agreement with my remarks. Now I think "Tlmon of Athens' Shakespeare's greatest play." " 'Timon of Athens!' why, it is not much read, and seldom or never performed. Surely you are jesting, uncle. Why do you prefer it?" "Because it teaches a lesson which many men spend the greater part of their lives in learning, and not a few fail to learn at all." "What lesson is that, Mr. Truman?" inquired Mr. Dennis O'Connor. "That no matter how great have been the services of a man to his country, no matter how exceptional and varied bis ability, if he be without money the world is either actively against him or, what is worse, ignores him utterly. In "Timon of Athens' Shakespeare shows that notwithstanding the multiplicity of creeds professed by men j the world over, money is the idol worshiped by the vast majority of rnau| kind; and that, too, with a devotion unknown in the tabernacles of the hypocrites. Let him who doubts my assertion study the faces of the people in an audience and the traders in a bourse, and, having compared them, note which set betrays most earnestness of purpose." "You observe other things besides prices current, Mr. Truman," remarked Mr. Rosenberg. "Too exclusive devotion to art is not conducive to success in it. I consider all that passes before me," rejoined uncle Sam. "If that is so, your protege, fcriee, will never become an American," said Mr. Austin Gilmer, who had been attentively listening to this conference. "Have you noticed, Trueraan, how^s pcrately liard that fellows laboiS to j imitate the accent and expressions of New Yorkers?" "Oh, yes, I have observed him," replied uncle Sam. "His efforts to Americanize himself fail as ridiculously as the efforts of some Americans to Anglicize themselves. The transformation, if it comes at all. must come unsought, and is always of alow growth." "I should know Mr. Price for an Englishman, if I met him in the moon," remarked Mr. Mather. "As for his efforts to Americanize himself, they are worth so little to him that they have altogether escaped my notice." "You are as heavy and dull as your Puritan ancestor," said Mr. Gilmer to Mr. Mather. To be continued. Tall Hat* and Insanity. A London authority says tall hats cause insanity and blindness. Still there are men who wear silk tiles and black mustaches who can see as far into an ordinary game of chance as any of us.?Minneapolis Times. A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY Terrible Shooting Scrape in Whtch Man's Head is Shot Off. Dillon, Special.?The old school house, one mile south of Latta and occupied by a Croatan family by the name of Jacobs, was the scene of a fearful tragedy Friday night about 9 o'clock. Bob Wallace, foreman of the Dillon Herald office, lies dead with the whole back of his head blown away, his young wife a widow and his four little children fatherless. Friday afternoon Wallace, in company with a Mr. Biggs and a young man by the name of Jackson, all riding in one vehicle, left Dillon. One of the party claims they went to Latta, and on their return, as the buggy got opposite the house mentioned above, Wallace asked that they hold up a moment, j He went into the house, and a few seconds afterwards there was the re port or a gun. vvnen ine uouse was entered Wallace was found lying dead upon the floor, his pistol near his body. There were two or three females in the house, Wallace's sister being one of them. They did not hesitate to say that Jacobs did the shooting, but rumors are conflicting as to what provoked the tragedy. The inquest is being held this morning, after which Wallace's body will be brought here for interment. This makes tho third young married man shot to death within the past twelve months, all citizens of Dillon. State College Expanding. There is a growing sentiment at the South Carolina college to restrict the age of admission of students to 16. The minimum age is now 15, but it is thought with the better advantages offered in recent years by the schools of the State there is no good reason to encourage a young man to leave home before he is 16. It is argued that this raising of the age requirement is espe(ially a proper move on the part of the Si.uth Carolina college, whether or not ! it should be followed by other colleges 1 in this Stcke, since the South Caro- ! lina college should seek more and more | to raise its standards and develop into i a university of recognized leadership ! and headship in the State. The most ' practical way to raise the standard is j to raise the age of admission and, i with mature students, accomplish more | work each year. As some progress towards the university idea, it may be noted that the South Carolina college has already developed two professional schools of acknowledged standing, the law school and the normal school. The enrollment in the former during the last session was 24. in the latter 38, besides ten teachers who took the short spring course. This shorter course for teachers ; begins each year about the first of | April and is designed specially to meet j the needs of teachers of short term schools who will avail themselves of six weeks or two months of college work. Taken From Train and Lynched. Scranton, Special?Three months ago Ccrio Williams, a negro of Lake City, killed Thurston McGee of the same place in the court at Kingstree. About eight men. armed and disguised, boarded and searched the local passenger train passing Scranton at 7:07 o'clock and found the prisoner. They suspected he was being taken to Florence. The men held a consultation and about eight men were stationed at the cattle pen at the north end of the depot. One of the mob flagged the limited train. No. 32. Then about eight men, armed and disguised, boarded the sleeping car. The conductor shouted from the door that there was nobody in there and the mob searched the whole train and took the negro from the sheriff in the day coach. They then put the negro in a buggy and with fiendish shouts made for the woods. Not a single shot was fired. The party who boarded the train were all disgusted. The agent at Scranton letc the depot a few minutes before the limited arrival and returned after the train was brought to a standstill. He left, he says, to avoid being compelled to flag the train. The nob was in town 45 minutes before the arrival of the first train. A New Isothermal Map. Commissioner Watson, with the assistance of Section Director Bauer of the weather bureau, has prepared the first thermal map of the State ever published. The map shows the mean temperature of the entire State, which J is divided into three sections. The map when compared with California, the great fruit growing State, shows the superiority of this State in the fruit growing section. Several years ago California had a map of this kind printed and used among the northern capitalists with the result that thousands of dollars were brought into the State and invested not only by the fruit growers but by truck farmers and others interested in planting. In California there is only one section of the State in the same class with this State, and that Is a small area around Los Angeles. The figures are as follows: Annual mean for entire State, 63; lowest, Greenville, 59; highest, Beaufort, 67; annual mean for spring, 03; annual mean for summer, 79; annual mean for autumn. 65; annual mean for winter, 46. Several thousand of these maps will be printed and used in the north. Suicide at Spartanburg. Spartanburg, S. C., Special.?W. H. Lowe, night watchman at the Whitney Mills, committed suicide Friday afternoon by shooting himself through the heart with a 38 calibre pistol. Coroner Foster conducted an Inquest and the verdict of the jury was that the deceased came to his death by a gunshot wound inflicted by his own hand. At the inquest no facts were adduced as to the cause of the rash act. A SERMON FOR SUNDAY AN ELOQUENT DISCCURSE BY THE REV. W. T. BEST. aF?ded leaves," the Subject of a Helpful Talk?The Endless Variety of Leave*? All Must Stand the Storms of Life Alike and Coine to the Same End. Chasm Falls. N. Y.?The following sermon, entitled "Faded Leaves," was preached here by the Rev. William T. Best. He took as his test "We all do fade is a leaf."?Isa. 64:6. Nature has once more been disrobed of her green foliage, "and the Stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed time and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow" have gone to a warmer region. While looking from my itudy window, I noticed the leaves falling and the children playing among the dead leaves that lay upon the ground. I then began to think of the past year. I remembered distinctly its birth when we knelt together in the Watch-meeting and reconsecrated ourselves to the Master. The thoughts of its youth revived those pleasant memories that can be appreciated only by one living in the Adirondacks. But, oh, how changed everything appears co-day! The same river glides by the door and the same mountains are or. either side of the house, yet a cloud of w&sess hovers o'er me as I watch the leaves fall from the trees. "Ah! these ire harbingers of approaching storms; the indication that another summer's warmth J ? L * _l a. ^ _ l_ _ J _ J I aim neaucy is aoout 10 dc succeeueu uy the chill desolation of winter." It is so difficult for us to understand religious truths that God was obliged to draw them out in diagram upon the natural world. Therefore a minister may go to almost any branch of nature and find i sermon. "Go to the Ant," says the wise man Solomon. Consider the "Lillies of the field," says Christ. Bush and brook, beast and bird, day and night, the changing seasons; all abound with spiritual lessons, and the faded leaves, blown wildly about by +he wilder winds of autumn, whirl up in our faces, and! before our doors, seeming to say, "What about us?" God has commissioned us to carry a message to man, and mingling with the dirge of autumn, comes the sadder dirge of the Prophet Isaiah, "We all do fade as a leaf." I. The Andless Variety of Leaves. Though there are so many different kinds of leaves in the world it is doubtful if there are two leaves of any class exactly alike. Then all species of leaves are not found on one tree. The king of white oaks may witness 600 years of Canadian history; the Californian pine may have existed centuries before "Leif the Lucky" discovered Vinland; the Parliament Oak has seen 1500 years of European progress; the cedars of Lebanon date their birth from the time of the flood and the Boabab of Senegal claim to be over 5000 years old; yet the leaves they have scattered ire but as a drop to the ocean compared to the number that have fallen to the earth. "God hath made of one blood all nations of men," and though there are so many different races of mankind it is doubtful if there could be found two men of any race exactly alike. They differ as do the leaves. Especially is this true from a religious standpoint for all men do not hold the same religious belief. The main thing, however, is for all to belong to Christ. Let the fig leaf utter its voice of warning, the maple suggest its sweetness and the olive bring its message of peace; yet there are time, in every life when naught can be found but the weeping willow. Perishing, perishing! Hark, how they call us; Bring us your Saviour, oh, tell us c! Him! We are so weary, so heavily laden, And with long weeping our eyes have grown dim. "Go ye into all the world. : nd preach the gospel to every creature." Il.Some Leaves Are Higher Up in This World Than Others, But All Must Stand the Storms of Life Alike and Come to the Same End. Some people are determined to &o up in this world, even if they go down in the next. Men lose their health trying to get wealth, and then lose their wealth trying get health. God has a place for even- man in this world, whether it be in the ministry, at the work bench, or following the plow. Let each man find his right place and there be at his best for God. It is useless for a leaf at the lower part of the tree to 1 e trying to get to the top, but in each leaf in its proper place goes to make a perfect tree. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office; so we. being many; are one body in Christ." Let us learn, therefore, in ^'whatsoever state we are therewith to be content." "running with natience the race set before us," and we shall as surely hear the "well done" as the man with the greatest number of talents. The millionaire can wear but one suit of clothes, sleep in one bed and eat but one meal at a time. In many respects his riches only increase his troubles, and it is a mistake to suppose that he is not subject to many of the disappointments common to men. t On the other hand, let us not try to throw a romance about the poor man's lot. Poverty is hard, cruel, unrelenting. But as surely ar. the different kinds- of weather are a necessity to the leaves, so surely are the storms of life necessary to our highest good; for "If all were easy, if all were bright, Where would the cross be? Where would the night? But in the hardness, God gives to yoti. Chances of proving that you are true." Death places the leaves all on the same level. Said a widowed lady, whose husband fills a drunkard's grave, as she stood bv the grave of the wealthy saloon keeper who had taken his money: "Ah! vou are on a level with my husband now.' Yes, death places us all on a level. Where are now tne vast armies of the Assyrians, Grecians, Persians, Romans? As with the warrior so with the peaceful, as with the I ii ii bu nun me jwwi. ^uiiiiuiia Jiavc millions more are on their journey. "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power. And all that beauty, all that wealth ere gave, Await alike the inevitable hour. The paths of glory lead but to the grave." III. The Decay of the Leaf is Sometimes Hastened by External Circumstances. It may be affected by insects, excessive moisture, excessive cold, etc., etc. Then often the leaf is plucked from the tree while in full bloom. "The wicked shall not live out half their days." God gives every man so long to live, if he takes care of his body (wnich is the temple of the Holy Ghost) he will probably live out his appointed days. Yet how often we see people called from time into eternity just at the moment when their brightest hopes are about to be realized. Moses has led Israel through the wilderness. He has borne up under their murmurings and backslidings, and at times he has had to stand alone when it seemed sis though his shoulders could not carry the care and responsibility placed upon them. Yet he has looked forward to this glad moment as the time when his character shall be vindicated and he shall lead the people, triumphantly lead the people into the Promised Land. But now the command comes from heaven, "Moses, ascend iiebo to die!'' Ah! this r , is tragedy surpassing anything Shakespearean, yet it occurs almost every day. A vessel i. wrecked at sea. a train has jumped the track, a hotel has taken fire and men and women just on the eve of realizing their highest ambitions are snatched from this into another world. IV. The Leaves Fade in Concert Though They Fall One by One. "One cannot count the number of plumes which those frosts are plucking from the hills." The aisles of the woods will be cjvered with a beautiful carpet of many colors. The imagination can scarcely comprehend the number of leaves that are falling. The grave is the great city. It has the laregst population, the longest streets, the greatest number of hand*, billions of eyes, though they see not. Kingi and queens are there, orators, statesmen, yea, men of every rank and condition. yet it is the great city of silence. Neither work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom are there. The multitude or the dying and the dead are as the autumnal leaves drifting under our feet to-day. "One W one, one by ; we shall soon, yes soon be there." V. Let Us Proceed to Inquire, How Do the Leaves Fade? 1. They fade naturally. It is what constantly* occurs. After the summer is gone and the fruits are fully ripe, they change their color, lose their interesting hue und drop in rapid succession to the ground. "Man that is born oi a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery, h cometh up. and is cut down like a flower; he fleeth as it yvere a shadow, and never continueth in one stay. In the mids. of life yve are in death," and science teaches that we are more apt to Hie than to live, all our tendencies are toward death and it is one continual struggle to keep soul :.nd body together. Where are now the builders of Babel? Abraham and his seed? David and Solomon? Darnel, the prophets, the apostles and the great men of the past? Only remembered by what they have done. They being dead are still speaking. The serpent comes to the sinner, coils about his body, presses his heart tightly, and then comes the awful sting. The same serpent comes to the Christian. But oh, how changed! The Christian, as he looks him in the eyes/ can cry out: "Oh, death, where is thy sting? "I have been dying for many years, now I shall begin to live " 2. They Fade Gradually. The different periods of life are compared to the revolving seasons of the year. Childhood and youth when life ie all expectation and hope, are like a beautiful May morning when the sun shines brightly, and the dew is upon the flowers, and everything is beautiful and lovely. Nature is bursting her bars and is giving promise of the unfolded splendors of a summer's glory yet to come. But oh, how quickly time passes by! Tin boys and girls of yesterday are the men and women of to-day. Then, for none of us is there such a thing as an ever-enduring manhood. "We pursue our course, from childhood, with its vigor and beauty, to age with its feebleness and decay, with the unfailing continuance of the rounding seasons. Our march is an uninterrupted one from the cradle to the grave." But, oh, how we shrink at the thought of going down the western horizon of our pnysxcial strength! The leaves, tfhich a few days ago felt the first touch of the frost have day by day been changing in tint. The work was not completed in a day. * No, it has been going on gradually and after awhile, leaf after leaf, they will fall to the ground. So with you and me. From day to day we hardly notice the change, but the frosts have touched us. VI. There is a Greater Beauty and Glory Attached to the Leaf in Its Fading and Dying Condition Than at Any Time in Its Life. Along the lake shores and river banks, and up the slopes of the mountains, "there is an indescribable mingling of gold, and orange, and crimson, and saffron, now sobering into drab and maroon, now flaming into solferino and scarlet." In the morning the forests look as if they were transfigured, "and in the evening hour .... as ix the sunset had burst and dropped upon the leaves." Some of thf mountains appear to be all on fire, as ii they were submerged in the glory of the Lord. Said Rev. C. C. Townsend, as he stood by the parsonage gate and looked upon the scene: Isn't that beautiful? I must bring my wife up i.era to see that foliage." * How jften while driving along the road we notice a tr<-e where the leaves have fadei at the first touch of the frost, all turning a russet brown. "No one stops to study them. They are gathered in no vase. They are hung on no wall." No one cares anything at all about them. Such is Che death of the wicked. They do not live out half their days, but pass away into blackness, and darkness, and despair without a ray of light > cheer the gloott. But, thank God, such is not the death of the Christian, for, "the path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day." What a beautiful sight it is behold a father and mother in Israel who have spent their lives in the service of Christ come down to cross the river. Oh, what halo of glory there is about them! What words of peace and joy and comfort proceed from their lips, and how strangely near the Holy Spirit is as the Angels gently loose the silver cord. "Fade, fade, each earthly joy, Jesus is Mine." And the fading body flutters and falls downward as the leaf, while "the spirit returns to God who gave it." Oh, that in this sense, too, we may all fade with the beauty and glory of the leaf. VII. The Leaves Fall Only to Rise Again. It is one of the laws of nature that nothing is really lost. Things change their condition, but exist in another form. In the juice and sap and life of the tree the leaves will come up again. Next May the South wind will blow the resurrection "trumpet and they will rise." So with our loved ones who sleep in Jesus. They shall not all sleep, but they shall be changed. "For if we believe that Jesua died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with tr:? "LV-*- T Ar/1 TTimoolf ahnll rlpflppnd I 11111. 1'Ul U1C JUV1U llluigvik ouwu from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet tne Lord in the air. and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! VIII. In the Heavenly Jerusalem the Leaves Shall Never Fade. "Soon will the shadows of earth's life be past, Sorrow and partings be over at last; Soon shall we meet in the 'Mansions of Day,' Meet where our loved ones can ne'er fade away." When Ezekiel foretold the blessings of the Messiah's kingdom he spoke of them under the figure of trees growing on a bank whose leaves should not wither, but be for medicine. When John saw in apocalyptic vision the heavens opened, andthe new Jerusalem descending down frdB God out of heaven. He saw in the midst of the street and on either side of the river, the tree of life, and the leaves of the tree were for tJ e healing of the nations. "There the sun never sets and the leaves never fade, There the righteous forever shall shine like the star-. In that leautiful city of gold." s Alcoholism is extremely rare in the Italian army. In 1901, the latest for which figures are available, only twenty-live cases were admitted to the hospitals, A