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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1894-9-6, Page 6TRE. WIDOWS ONLY SON DIVINE COMPASSION 01P TELE LOWISIT BUT PO WEREUL NAZARENE. A 'Unique Scene 41,t the Oates of the OM (fity of Naha — How the Lord. Jesus Showed His rower Over Deatle—Pgoofs of ohrist Being God. BROOkavell August 26,—Rev, Dr. Tal- mage, who is now in ,Australia, on his round -the -world tour,4 as seleoted as the subjeet for to -clays sermon through the press: "An Only San;" the text chosen being Luke vii, 12-15 • 'Now when He came nigh to the gate of the city, be- hold, there was a dead mail carried eat, the only son of his mother, and. she was a widow; and much people of the city was with her, And when the Lord saw her'He had compassion OD. her, and. said unto her, Weep not. And He came and touched. the bier; and. they that bare him stood still. And He said, Young man, I say unto thee arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother." The text calls us to stand at the gate of the city of Nain. The streets are a - rash with business and gayety, a,n.c1 the ear is deafened with the hammers of me- chanism and the wheels of traffio. Work with its thousand arms and thousand. eyes andthousand feet fills all the street, when suddenly the crowd parts and a funeral passes. Between the wheels of work and pleasure there mamas a long procession of mourning people. Who is it? .A. trifler says, "Oh, it' 4 nothing but a funeral. It may have come up from the hospital of the city, or the almshouse, or some low place of the town," but not so says the serious observer. There are so many evid,ences of dire bereavement that we know at the first glance some one has been takenaway greatly beloved, ana to our enquiry, "Who is this that is car- ried out with so many offices of kindness and affection?" the reply comes, "The only- son of his mother, and she is a widow." Stand back and let the proces- sion pass out! Hush all the voices of mirth and pleasure! Let every head be uncovered! Weep with this passing pro- cession, and let it be told through all the market -places and bazars of Nam, that in Galilee to -clay the septdchre hath gather- ed to itself "the only son of his mother, and she is a widow,' There are tam or three things that, in my mind, give especial pathos to this scene. The first is, he was a young man that was being carried out. To the aged death becomes beautiful. The old man halts and pants along the road., where once he bounded like the roe. Prom the midst of immediate ailments and soreows he cries out. "How long, 0 Lord, how long ?" Footsore and hardly bestead on the hot journey, he wants to get home. He sits in the church and sings, with a tremulous voice, some tune he sang forty years ago, and longs to join the better assemblage of the one hundred and forty an.d four thousand, and the thousands of thousands who have passed the flood. How sweetly he sleeps the last sleep! Push back the white locks from the wrinkled temples; they will never ache again. Fold the hands over the still heart; they will never toil again. Close gently the eyes; they will never weep again. But this man I Eon speaking of was a young man. He was just putting on the armor of life, and he was exulting to think how his sturdy blows would ring out above the clangor of the battle. I suppose he had a young man's hopes, a young man's ambitions and a young man's courage. He said: "If I live many years I will feed the hungry and olothe the naked. Ixi this city of Nain., where there are so many bad young men, I will be sober, and honest, and pure, and magnanimous, and my mother shall never be ashamed of me." But all these prospects are blasted in one hour. There he passes lifeless in the procession. 'Be- hold all that is left on earth of the high - hearted young man of the city of Nam. There is another thing that adds very much to this scene, and that is, he was an only son, However large the family flock may be, we never could think of sparing one of the lanabs. Though they may all have their faults, they all have their excellencies that commend them to the parental heart; and if it were per- emptorily demandecl of you to -day that you should yield up one of your children out of a very large family, you would be confOunded, and you could not make a selection. But this was an only son, around whom gathered all the parental expectations. How much care in his education ! How much caution in watch- ing his habits! He would carry down the name to other times. He would have entire control of the family property: long after the parents had gone to their last reward.. He would stand in society a thinker, a worker, a philanthropist, a Christian. No, no ! It is all ended. Behold him there. Breath is gone! Life is extinct! The only son of his mother. There was one other thing that added to the pathos of this scene'and that was his mother was a widow. The main hope of that home had been broken, and now he was come up to be the staff. The chief light of the household had been ex- tinguished, and this was the only light left. I suppose she often said, looking at him, "There were only two of us." ()h, it is a grand thing to see a young man step out in life and say to his mother. "Don't be downenearted. I will, as far as possible, take father's place, and as long as I liveis shall never want any- thing." It s not always that way. Sometimes the young people get tired of the old people. They say they are queer; that they have so many ailments, and they sometimes wish them mit of the -way. A young man and his wife sat at the table, then little on on the floor playing beneath the table. The old father was very old, and his hands shook so, they said, "'You shall no more sit with us at the table." And so they gave hien a place in. the corner, where day by day he ate out of an earthen bowl—everything put into that bowl. One day his hand trembled so much he dropped it and it broke.; and the son, seated at the elegant table an mid -floor, said to his wife, "Now we'll get father a wooden bowl, and that he can't break." So a wooden bowl was obtained, and every day old grandfather ate out of that, sitting in the comer. One day, while the elegant young man and his wife were seated at the table, with chased sliver and all the luxuries, and their little son sat upon the floor, they saw the lad whittling, and they said, "My son, what are you elonsg there with that knife?" "Oh,." ectirl he, "I—I'm making a trough for my father and mother to eat out of when they get old!" Bat this young mon of the text was not of that character, He dM not belong to that sehool, I can tell it from the way they mourned over him, He was to be the companion of Ms mother. Aortas to be hie inother's proteetor. Re would re- turn now some of the kindnesshe had received in the days of childhood and boyhood. Ay, he would with his strong kiend uphold that form already enfeebled with age. Will he do it? No. In one houn ell that paminise of help and com- panionship is gone. There is a world. of anguish an that one short phrase, "The only son of his mother, wed she is a eviclow." Now, my friends, it was upon this scene that Christ broke. He came in without anyintroduction. He stopped the pro- cessiou, He had only two utterances to make; the one to the mourning mother, the other to the dead. Ile cried out to the inourning one, "Weep not;" and then, touching the bier on which the son lay, he cried out, "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise! And hethatwas dead sat un." I learn two or three things froin this subject, and, first, that Christ was a man, You see how that sorrow pla,yed upon all the chords of His heart. I think we for- get this too often. Christ was a man more certainly than you are, for He was a perfect man. No sailor ever slept in a ship's hammock more soundly than Christ slept in that boat on Genuesaret. In every nerve, and muscle, and bone, and fiber of His body; in every motion and affection of His heart; in every ac- tion and decision of His inind, He was a man. He looked off upon the sea just as you look off upon the waters, He went into Martha's house just as you go into a cottage. He breathed. hard while He was tired, just as you do when you are ex- hausted. He felt after sleeping out a night in the storm just like you do when you have been exposed to a tempest. It was just as humiliating for Him to beg bread as it would be for you to become a pauper. He felt just as much insulted by being sold for thirty pieces of silver asyou svould if you were sold. for the price of a dog. From the crown of the head to the sole of the foot He was a man. When the thorns were twisted for His brow' they hurt Him just as mach as they hurtyour brow, if they were twieted for it. He took not on Him the nature of angels; He took on Him the seed of Abraham. "Ecce home ! "—Behold the man! But I must also draw from this subject that He was a God. Suppose that a man should attempt to break up a funeral ob- sequy; he would be seized by the law, he would be imprisoned, if he were not act- ually slain by the mob before the officers could secure him. If Christ had been a mere mortal, would He have a right to come in upon such a procession? Would he have succeeded in his interruption? He was more than a man for when He cried. out, "I say unto thee, Arise !" he that was dead sat up. 'What excitement there must have been thereabouts! The body had lain prostrate. It had been mourned over with agonizing tears, and yet now it begins to move m the shroud, and to be flushed with life; and at the command of Christ he rises up and looks into the faces of the astonished spectators. Oh, this was the work of a God! I hear it in. His voice; I see it in the flash of His eye; I behold it in the snapping of death's shackles; I see it in the face of the rising slaniberer ; I hear it in the out- cry of all those who were spectators of the scene. If. when I see my Lord. Jesus Christ mourHaing with the bereaved, I put my hands on llis shoulders, say, "My brother," now that I hear Him proclaim supernatural deliverances, I look up into His face and say with Thomas, "My Lord. and ray God!" .A. great many peo- ple do not believe that, and they compro- mise the matter or they think they com- promise it. They say He was a very geed roan. but He was not a God. Thetis im- possible • He was either a God or a wretch, and I will prove it. If a man professes to be that whic&x he is not, what is he? He is a liar, an imposter, a hypocrite. That is your unanimous verdict. Now, Christ professed to be a God. He said over and over again He was a God, took the attri- butes of a God and assumed the works and offices of a God. Dare you. say He was not? He was a God, or He was a wretch. Choose ye. Do you think I cannot prove by this Bible that He was a God? If you do not believe this Bible, of course there is no need of nay talking to you. There is no common data from which to start. Sup- pose you do belie-ve it? Thep. I can de- monstrate that He was divine. I can prove He was Creator, John 1 : 8,"Ali things were made by Him; and without Rim was not anything made that was made." He was eternal, Rev. 82 :18, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and. the end, the first and the last." I can prove that He was omnipotent, Heb. 1:10, "The heavens are the work of Thine hands." I can prove he was omniscient, John 2 : 25, "He knew what was in man." Oh, yes, He is a God. He cleft the sea. He upheaved the crystalline walls along which the Israelites marched. He plant- ed the mountains. He raises up govern- ments and casts down thrones, and marches across nations and across the universe, eternal, omnipotent, unhin- dered and unabashed. That hand. that was nailed to the Cross holds the stars in a leash of love. That head that drop- ped on the bosom in fainting and death shall make the world quake at its nod. That voice that groaned in the last pang shall swear before the trembling world that turas shall be no longer. Oh., do not insult the common. sense of the race by telling that this Person was only a man, in whose presence the paralytic arm vras thrust out well, and the devils crouched and the lepers dropped their scales, and the tempests folded their wings, and the boy's satcxheY of a few loaves made a banquet for five thousand, and the sad procession of my text broke up in congratulation and hosanna Now, I have to tell you, 0 bruised soul, and there are many everywhere (have you ever looked over any groat audience and noticed hoev many shadows of sorrow there are?) I come to all such and say, "Christ meets you, and He has compassion on you, and He says, 'Weep not,' " Perhaps with some it is finaneial trouble. "Oh," you say, "it is such a silly thing for a man to cry over lost money." Is it'? Suppose you had a large fortune, and all luxuries brought to your table, and your wardrobe was full, and your home was beautified by musie and sculpture an. paintieg, and thronged by the elegant and educated, and then some rough misfortune should strike you in the faeo and trample your treasures. a,nd taunt your children for their faded chess, and send you into com- mercial circles an underling where once you waved. a sceptre of gold:do you think you would cry then.? "think you woald. Rat °heist comes and meets all such to- day. He sees all the staitits in which you have been thrust. He observes the sneer of that man who once was proud to walk in your shadow, and glad to get your he/P. He sees the protested note, the tin can celled judgment, the foreolosed mortgaged), the heartebrealfing exasperation, and He says, "Weep not. I own. the cattle on.thew- end hills. I will never let you etarye, From my hand the fowls of heaven peek all their food. And will Let yon starve? Never—ao, my child, never !" Or perhaps this tramp at the gate of Nain has an echo in your own bereft spirit? You went out to the grave, and, you felt you never 'maid come back again. You left your heart there. The white snow of death eavered all the 'garden. You listen for the speaking of voices that will never be head again, amid, the sounding of feet that will never move in your dwellnig' again, and there is heavy, leaden pressure on your heart. 'God has dashed out the light of yore: eyes, and the heavy spirit that that woman marled out of the gate of Nein is heavier, than yours. And you open the door but he comes not in. And yoa enter the nursery, but he is not there. And you sit at the table, but there is a vacant °hair next to you. And the sun does not shine as brightly as it used to, and the voices of affection do not strike you with so quick a thrM, and your cheek has not so healthy a hue, and your eye has not so deep a fire. Do I know? Do we not all know? There is an uplifted WOG on your heart. You have beenout carrying your loved one beyond the gate of the city of Nein, Bat look yonder. Some- one stands watching, He seems waiting for you. As you come up He atretchos out His hand to help. His voice is full of tenderness, yet thrills with eternal stlengthe Who is it? The very one who accosted the mourner at the gate of Naha, and He says, "Weep Perhaps it is a worse grief than that. It may- be a living home trouble that you cannot speak about to your best friend. It may be someelomestic unhappiness. It may be an evil suspicion. It may be the disgrace following in the footsteps of a son that is wayward, or a companion who is cruel, or a father that will not do right; and for years there may have been a vulture striking strikinme its beak into the vitals of your soul, and you sit there to -day feeling it is worse than death. It is. It is worse than death. And yet there is relief. Though the night may be the blaekest, though the voices of hell may tell you to curse God and. die, look up and hear the voice that accosted the woman of the text as it says, "Weep not." • Earth has no sorrow That Heaven cannot care. I learn again from all this that Christ is tho master of the grave. Just outside the gate of the eity Death and Christ measured lances; and when the young man rose Death dropped. Now we are sure of our resurrection. Oh, what a scene it was when that young man came back! The mother never expected to hear him speak again. Sho never thought that he would kiss her again. How the tears started, and how her heart throbbed as she said, "Oh, my son, my son my son!" And. that scene is going to be re- peated. It is going to be repeated ten thousand times. These broken family circles have got to come together. These extinguished household lights have got to be rekindled. There evill be a stir in the family lot in the cemetery, and there will be a rush into life at the command, "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise!" As the child shakes off the dust of the tomb, and comes forth fresh and fair and beautiful., and you throw your arms around it and press it to your heart, aneel to angel will repeat the story of Nam, "He delivered bim to his mother." Did you notice that passage in the text as I read it? "He delivered him to his mother." 0, ye troubled souls! 0, ye who have lived. to see every prospect blasted, peeled, scattered, consumed, wait a little! The seed -time of tears will be- come the wheat harvest. In a clime cut of no wintry blast, under a sky palled by no hurtling tempest, and amidst redeem- ed ones that weep not, thatpart not, that die not, friend will come to friend, and kindred will join kindred, and the long procession that marches the avenues of gold will lift up their palms as again and again it is announced that the same One who came to the relief of many a ma- ternal heart, and repeated the wonders of resurrection. and "delivered him to his mother." Oh, that will be the harvest of the world! That will be the coronation of princes. That will be the Sabbath of eternity. They Were Useful.. The tramp emenima up at the kitchen door and, found the lady of the house washing dishes. She was in the first six months of matrimony and housekeeping, and was learning how to save money for her husband and get the house paid for quick. 'Good morning, lady," remarked the tramp, as if he had visited the locality at some previous period, though he didn.'t think of it till he saw her. "Good. morning," she responded, al- most with a twitter, she was feeling so pleasant. "I suppose you want some- thing to eat this morning." "1 wouldn't object, lady." "You remember when you were here two weeks ago I gave you a hatful of bis- cuits that I made myself, don't you?" He had really forgotten., but all of a sudden he remembered, and. remembered Very distinctly. "Oh, yes, lady," he said. with a gasp, "I remember, and I come back this morn- ing for some more just like them." "Oh, I'm so glad," she chattered, as she dropped the dishes and wiped her hands on her apron; "I've got a whole lot more that you can have. Wait till I bring them." "Yes," he continued, bet with an evi- dent intention of not waiting, "yes, I'd like to have some more of the same heft. They were the finest things to throw at dogs I ever come across. I guess I must have killed a dozen dogs with that lot you give me, Just the right size and shape t� throw well. Go ahead, 1'11 wait till you come back." Bat he did not wait. flew It Happens. , "See here," said the captious critic to the city functionary, "I would like to know on what grounds you based your refusal to let that play be performed.' "Well, said the city fanetioriary "the agent for the Society for the Prevention of Everything Preventable said that it was contrary to good morals," . "And you don't knew yourself whether such was the case or "OS course I don't. How could you ex- pect a man in my business to know any- thing about morals?" • Offileerning Lectists. He—"Do you knoev anything about these seventeen-year loeusts ?" She (of doubtful age)—"Oh, no; when they were . here befoit 1 was such. a NIte mite of a baby, don't you know;" TIIE FARM AND GARDEN. AMATEURS IN 1311.1 GARDEN, otea of Interest to the'BloWer, Fralt Red Vegetable OrrOWn and Take on. Trees and Shrubs, • Pam NOTES. Give your own sons as good a chance at least as you give the hired, man. One of the most profitable of the small special (neaps is onions. They have al- ways been so. There are two taxes that every farmer should pay cheerfully. The first is the school tax, and the second is the road tea. Good. scsb.00Is make good, citizens—good. roads help tp depopulate Hades, and, well they save our horses, our wagons and our temper, • Many farmers hereabouts say that the crimson clover does not come up te their expectations. Probably me of the rea- sons for their disappointment is that the clover was cut while in bloom, another crop being expected later in the season, and the secoad crop was nob raised. Those disappointed farmers overlooked one important fact when sowing crimson clover, and that it is an &nutted and not a biennial plant. Sow crimson clover in the fall—not in the spring. Turnips make their growth after the cool night comes, and should be allowed to remain in the ground until after hard. frosts have appeared. On many farms this root is never grown, but there are few farms on which it might not he grovra with fair profit. Turnips may be sown any time now be- fore the 10th of August, and und.er favor- able conditions make a good. crop. They should be sown on very well prepared ground, and if sown just after a rain they will come up and make' a rapid. erowth. The flea beetle is very destraet- ive some years, and the only remedy seems to be to sow them pretty thick, thinning them out later when the insects have disappeared. On small patches in gardens, soot is sometimes efficaoious in driving them off. It is 'useless to attempt to raise small fraits and poultry on the same piece of ground., because the two are incompatible and the amateur may just as well know it first as last. From the time plants are set out until the fruit is ripe they will constantly work injury to it. Chicks weighing less than, a pound may be per- mitted to ran at large among raspberries, blackberries and grapes after the fruit is gathered up to blossoming time again, and they will be of considerable benefit by destroying insects injurious to these fruits, but from the time the fruit begins to form until they are gathered they i must be kept out if a crop s desired. And there is no season or time -when chickens of any age or size will do a strawberry plantation any good whatever. W. F. Massey, of the North Carolina station, says: "Peach trees usually break clown because of neglect in pruning and shaping the young tree. The peach -bears its fruit upon last year's shoots. If the growth is neglected the fruit -bearing wood gradually gets further and further out on the ends of the limbs, and. -the weight of the crop has a tremendous leverage, and splits the limb off. "When we plant a youngpeach tree of one year's growth from the bud (the only age at which they should be planted) we cut the stem back to about eighteen or twenty inches from the ground. When growth begins in the spring we rub off all the shoots except three or four at the top, which form the limbs for the Intim head. These are again shortened back in the fall one-third, and when the shoots are too thick in the interior of the head and interfere -with each other, they are trimmed out. Every fall the young growth of the season is shortened back one-third, and care is taken to maintain an even distribution of young -wood all through the head of the tree. The crop is thus distributed over the tree and no damage is done. If the tree is planted and allowed to take the natural shape it assumed in the nursery, the limbs will anore readily split off than when formed by heading back. In Bulletin. No. 21 of the Iowa station the question of shrinkage in wool is dis- cussed. Twenty-four high-grade Shrop- shire fleeces were divided into several lots and stored away by three different methods recommended for keeping wool. One lot was packed away in a dry, clean box and a closely -fitting cover nailed over it. The second lot was sacked an suspended from the ceiling. The third lot was •storeccl away on a shelf and. close- ly covered to keep away the dust. These lots were all clipped shortly after the middle of April, and the fourth lot, clip- ped the middle of June, was sacked the same as the second lot. All of these dif- ferent lots were stoma in the same place, where the air could circulate freely through them, and. in the middle of June a year laterthey were unpacked and weighed separately. The first three spring clippings were about the same in weight, having changed. very little on account of the various methods of pack- ing; bat the June dipping wool showed a loss of about 6 per cent. The conclu- sion from the experiment is that the spring -clipped wool is free from dirt and properly packed away will not shrink to any apprectable extent the first year, but thatyune-clipped wool will lose at least per cent. of its original weight if so kept, HORTICULTURA L NOTES. Raspberry canes should he kepf, pinch- ed off when three feeehigh. They will then branch out and "the laterals will bear the next year, Dewberry vines should. be lifted up and the ground under them mulched with straw. Blackberry bushes should be kept thinned. All ber- ries should be veal). on well feetilized soi I . In trimming or cliaming hedges of hem- lock, spruce or arbor vitEe into formal shape, they should be cut with the sides sloping up the apex, so as to be wider at the bottom than the top. Thus the lower bra,n.ehes will get more light and air than they would if the sides of the hedge were perpendicular ancl they will aot be so likely to lose their leaves and die. Currant bushes often seem to have a much weaker growth than should be natural to thene. When such weakened branches are cat across they will °nail be found hollow from the work of the cur- rant stem borer, Before the winter comes the Immo crawls out and goes into the earth to unclergo its transformation. If the affected lovanches be eat away and burned early in theimutumn the larva are destroyed, The punctuto on. the store evhese the egg' was deposited can etsily 'be detected. It saves labor to destroy the ant eolony when thiS can be done, For thie peupose invert an. airtight vessel over the ant hill with bi-sulphide of carbon under it. This is a deadly poison to all animal life, and as it is heavier than the tur it will settle into the hill and destroy all it comes in contact evith. Care 111:11St be taken not to expose the eerbonbi-sulphicle to fire in any way, either by lighting a match or bringing a lighted lamp or candle near it. The bisulphide of ear - bon is very inflammable and explodes with, great violence when brought near fire. etio-etraietsit FEED. ' The best investigation indicates that g.00cl pasture is the cheapest summer feed both for fattening animals and dairy stock, but there are conditions nuclei' which. &MESS aloue may become very dear feed. bo much is said in favor of grass that we are liable to regard it all right, and rely on it even in times of failure like the present. There are few pastures that are good enough to maintain a profitable flow of milk in such a dry and parched condition as we fincl many at this writing'. It is a grave mistake to regard the barren pasture as the source of the cheapest feed on the farm. When from any cause this condition is reached it will pay to feed grain, silage or green feed of some kind. to the dairy herd. rr PAYS TO SPRAY. Last year at Geneva they tried the ef- fects of spraying an old pear orchard with dilute Bordeaux IlliXtILVG, One pound of copper sulphate in about eleven gallons of water. Spraying began on May 2nd, when some of the fruit buds were burst- ing. Another was given on May 10th, taking in some trees not sprayed the first time. Another on May 19th, when the first blossoms were opening. Another on May 31st, when the last blossoms were falling. At this time one ounce of Paris °Teen was added to eleven gallons of water, as it was on June 12th and June 28th. Thus some of the trees had six sprayings and the balance had five. Other trees near them wore left unspray- ed. The fruit was picked, assorted, packed and sold by an experienced hand- ler of fruit. The results show ass aver- age receipt per tree from Seckels sprayed six times of $5.48 per tree; trees standing by their side unsprayed, 68 cents per tree; Seekels sprayed five times, $5.70 per tree, and those unsprayed, 93 cents; White Doyenne sprayed five times, $6.55 per tree; the unsprayed, 45 cents per tree. Cost of material for spraying and labor, cents per tree each treatment, or 47i cents for five treatments. As a heavy wind blew off may of the pears about three weeks before they were picked, the showing was not as favorable for the spraying as it might have been. The trees were about thirty-five years old, and the largest from;twenty-five to thirty feet high, and had received but little pruning for several years, which increas- ed the cost of spraying. NEEPING APPLES. By taking pains enough, almost any kind of fruit can be kept much longer than is generally supposed. Apples maybe had. fresh and crisp tb.e year around. The secret is in keeping them dry and cool. In the first place, they must be carefully picked and handled so as to keep them perfectly free from bruises. Only perfect fruit will pay for such care. Put them into a cellar where the temperature can be maintained at or very near the freez- ing point. If the cellar is well aired and dry and free from mold. and all kinds of fungoid growths and made dark, and the apples are placed on shelves or in shallow boxes, so that they do not press much up- on each other, if they are not actually free from contact, or if they are wrapped in soft paper, very little change in them will be obsersmble. Of course they should be carefully inspected now and then, and any apple that shows signs of decay should be promptly removed, not only from the rest, but from the cellar, so that it may not generate any of the bacteria associ- ated with decay. If the cellar is not per- fectly dry, a method practiced and recom- mended by many may be resorted to. Sprinkle in the bottom of boxes or barrels about two inches of dry sand—be sure that the sand. is free from moisture—care- fully place in this a layer of apples; then sprinkle inmore sand and place another layer of apples—so on until the barrel is filled tu within a couple of inches or so of the top; and then cover this evith. sand. If the cellar is kept cool, as before indica- ted, those who have tried this method de- clare that the apples -will come out in July almost as crisp and fresh as when first packed. If one has the cellar, this method is easy to try. VALUE AMMONIA. All farmers know that the principal value of barnyard manure is in the am- monia, or nitrogen., it contains. The strong odor around a pile of fermenting manure is due for the most part to the escaping of nitrogenous or ammoniacal gas, and farmers generally use absorbents of some kind to prevent the escape of the manure. None of the agricultural crops will yield satisfactorily unless it has had a free supply of nitrogen during growth. How to get this supply of nitrogen for the crepe is the principal problem in farming. It is very seldom that a fernier has all the barnyard manure he can use to advantage, a,nd thousands of tons of "ammoniated phosphates" are sold. and used every year, generally with profit to the user. Nitrate of soda and sulphate Of ammonia are used in large quantities, although they are high-priced. The sole object in using them is to get the nitrogen they contain for the benefit of the crops on which they are used. For scnne years chemists have beeie ex - gaged in trying to find some cheap practical method of extracting the nitro- gen from the air, of which it forms three- fourths of the whole. There is an un- limited supply of nitrogen everywhere in the air, and if the farmer could only get is little, as needed, Ms crops would be greatly benefited. The Drug, Paint and Oil Reporter says that a method has just boon perfeeted by whieh the nitrogen of the Eur can be mostly extraeted in So simple a manner that sulphate of am- monia can be produced and sold for one fourth the present cost. With the pres- ent machinery and methods the expencli- tare of a ton of . coal produces over half El, ton of sulphate of ammonia, and the rest of th.e air decomposed being for the most part carbarettecl hydogen gas can be sold for illuminating purposes: for imarly the cost of the process. The cheapening of one source of nitrogen will be a groat boon to all good farmers. "After yon," as the policeman said to the sneak thief. • "Come around next week," as Thum - day said to the day imitate, 'Drop in some time," as the SlOt 111i1;., chine said to the nickle. IN AND OUT OF SCHOOL. LITTLE BIT OF HUMOR. A Little Ban brow and. Then Js Relished by the Best of Nen. A Cure for the Dyspepsia and the Blues. An Orphan Born. am a lone, afathered chick, Of arthwial Mitcham .; a. pilgrim in a desert wil(1, By happier mothered chicks reviled, From ad relationships exiled, To do my owa lone hatching, Pair Scienee smiled upon my Meth One row and gusty morning, And now the sounds of 'barnyard mirth To lonely me heve Mae worth: I am alone la all the earth -- An orphan without Doming. Seek I my 'nether ? I would lind A heartless personator; A. thing brass laded, man designed, And pulseless cotton batting lined— A patent Incubator. It wearies me to think, you see— Death would be better, rather— Should children e'er be born to me, By fate's most pitiless decree My little ones, alas, would be With never a grandfather. And when to earth I hid adieu, To seek a greater, / will not do as others do, Who go to join the ancestral crew, Per Just be gathered to My Ineueator. They Are Mostly so. ' Blinks—Slimly is a great soda light. Spinks—In what way ? Blinks—He isn't heavy. Her Opinion. She called him a harp; Which made him inquire What he meant; and she said, " A ldnd of a lyre." The Twoferlo Imperfect°. Buelf.—"I was in great luck to -day." Chuck—"How so?" Back—"Guzzle offered Inc one of his. cigars and I had a good one already." A Level -Headed Girl. "They tell me that you are receiving, the attention of Mary Prinils discarded beau." " It is true." "'Why, she discarded him because he hugged her so much." "There hasn't been anything of the kind since he began paying attention. to me." "No hugging?" "I mean. discarding." A Step Too Far. Citizenness—I see by the paper that there are hand organ factories in New England. Citizen—There are, eh! These miser- able money grabbing Yankees who are ftumishing arms to the Indians and hand organs to the Italians ought to be locked What He Had. Lost. Obd Bullion—Ah, my boy, I often long for the ecrood old times. Friend—That's very strange. You are rich now, bat in those old clays you were an over-workea, barefooted plowboy on a farm. What had you then that you havn't now? Old Bullion (sac)ly)—An appetite. Both are Waiting. " A schoolmaster once said to his boys that he would give a crown to any one of them who would propound a, ridclle he could not answer. "Well," said one of them, "why am I like the Prince of 'Wales?" The master puzzled his brains for some minutes- for an answer, bat could not guess the correct elle. At last he exclaim- ed: "I am sure I don't know." "Why," replied the boy, "because I'm waiting for the crown." Where He Saw It. Hayseed—Marier, I've made up my mind ter send. our boy to the city writing school to learn how to write. Mrs. Hayseed—He writes a good hand. 'Yes, Marier but he's too slow fOr these times. The city's the place to learn things, S:Eerier, no matter what. They write like greased lightnin' there. Why, Marier, while I was in the city I saw a man writea two-page love -letter in seven- teen Seconds, by the watch. He was a regular city feller, too—I could. tell by his clothes. Why, Myrier, when the girl -that letter was writ to got it, it took her 'Most five minutes to read it. I timed her, too." "Love-letter—girl reading it! Why, where and how on 'arth did you see a let- ter -written, and thens--" "Oh, it's all so, Maiden I saw it in a theater." He Wanted Law. " Squia,h," said. the colored janitor of the buildings as he timidly entered the lawyer's office, "I's got a case foh yer. I wants ter ask ye 'bout er plat ob law." "State it." "Yoh knows what a mule is at 'is hes'?" he said. interwogatiyely. "I know something of the animal's habits." "An' you know dat some mules is wus ser 'n others ? " "Yes, of course." " Well, Ted Simpson done sol' me one Ma de IN/asses' kin' what is, fro misrepre- sentationi ob de mos' zasperated 'scrip - tion." "That's too bad. Now I suppose you want to sue him to recover your money, " Da,h's cle Vint ob law I wants ter know 'bout. I waists yor to look in de books an' soe of we kiln% hab him per- sentod ter de gran' jury for assault an' battery, as or accessenary befo' de feels." The Joke Was on the Doctor. A well-knosvn comedian inflicted a new gag on. his audience one night recently. While in the middle of one of his im- portant scenes, a man beckoned him from the wings. Tho comedian left the stage for a moment. When he returned, his face had fallen several inches. He looked positively sad. Advancing to the foot- lights, he asked seriously: "Is there a doctor in the house?" In all parts of the theater the audience) anklets to hoar full particulars of the accident, leaned forward eagerly. Ile scanned the amclienee with an anxious gaze, until, after a moment's hesitation, a broad -shouldered, be -spectacled young man stood up, blushed vividly and re- marked : "/—I am a, physician," Instantly the eomediaa's face relaxcxl. "Glad to .seo you, sir," ha exclaimed. "Eat, please be, seeted, for I'm jrcst go- ing to sing a song."