HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1894-10-25, Page 2AN ORPHAN CHRISTIAN,
A IIEAUTIPUL JEWESS.
'Rev: Ar. Talma e's Superb Word Mo-
tive from the text;a And he brought
up Hadassah." — What Anyone a1uy
Become Under Ohristian, Tatel:age.
Rev. Dr. Talmage, who is still absent
on his round -the -world tour; has selected
as the subject of this week's sermon,
through the press, "Hadassah," the text
chosen being Esther 2 : 7 : " And he
brought up Hadassah,"
A beautiful child a as born in the capi-
tal of Persia. She was an orphan and a
captive, her parents having been stolen
from their Israelitishhome and earriedto
Shushan, and had died, leaving their
daughter poor and in a strange land.
But an Israelite who had been carried
into the same captivity was attracted by
the ease of the orphan. He educated her
in his holy religion, and under the roof
of that good man this adopted child be-
gan to develop a sweetness and excel-
lency of character if ever equalled, cer-
tainly never surpassed. Beautiful Ha-
dassah ! Could that adopted father ever
spare her from his household? Her art-
lessness; her girlish sports; her inno-
cence; her orphanage had wound them-
selves thoroughly around his heart, just
as around each parent's heart among us
there are tendrils climbing., and fastening
and blossoming and growing stronger.
expect he was like others who have loved
ones at home—wondering sometimes if
sickness will Dome, and death, and be-
reavement. Alas ! Worse than anything
that the father expects happens to his
adopted child. Ahasuerus, a princely
scoundrel, demanded that Hadassah, the
fairest one in all the kingdom., become
his wife. Worse than death was mar-
riage to such a monster of iniquity ! How
great the change when this young wo-
man left the home where God was wor-
shipped and religion honored, to enter a
palace devoted to pride, idolatry and sen-
suality ! "As a lamb to the slaughter !"
Ahasuerus knew not that his wife was
a Jewess. At the instigation of the in-
famous
nfamous prime minister the king decreed
that all the Jews in the land be slain.
Hadassah pleads the cause of her people,
breaking through all the rules of the
court, and presenting herself in the very
face of death, crying, "If I perish, I
perish." Oh, it was a sad time among
that enslaved people ! They had all heard
the decree concerning their death. Sor-
row, gaunt and ghastly, sat in. thousands
of households, and mothers wildly pressed
their infants to their breasts as the days
of massacre hastened on, praying that
the same sword -stroke which slew the
mother might also slay the child, rose-
bud and bud perishing in the same blast.
But Hadassah is busy at court. The
hard heart of the king is touched by her
story. and although he could not reverse
his decree for the slaying of the Jews, he
sent forth an order that they should arm
themselves for defense. On horseback,
on mules, on dromedaries, messengers
sped through the land bearing; the king's
dispatches, and a shout of joy went up
from that enslaved people at the faint
hope of success. I doubt not many a
rusty blade was taken down and sharp-
ened. Unbearded youths grew stout as
giants at the thought of defending mo-
thers and sisters. Desperation strung up
cowards into heroes, and fragile women,
grasping their weapons, swung them
about the cradles, impatient for the time
to strike the blow in behalf of household
and country.
The day of execution dawned. Gov-
ernment officials., armed and drilled,
co wed before the battle shout of the op-
pressed. people. The cry of defeat rang
back to the palaces, but above the moun-
tains of dead, above 75,000 crushed and
mangled corpses sounded the triumph of
the delivered Jews, and their enthusiasm
was as when the Highlanders came to
the relief of Lucknow, and the English
army, which stood. in the very jaws of
death, at the sudden hope of assistance
and rescue, lifted the shout above belch-
ing cannon and the death -groan of
hosts, crying, "We are saved! We are
saved!"
My subjeet affords me opportunity of
illustrating what Christian character
may be under the greatest disadvantages.
There is no Christian now exactly what
he wants to be. Your standard is much
higher than anything you have attained
unto. If there be any man so puffed up
as to be thoroughly satisfied with the
amount of excellence he has already at-
tained, I have nothing to say to such a
one. But to those who are dissatisfied
with past attainments, who are •toiling
under disadvantages which are keeping
them from being what they ought to be,
I have a message from God. You eaeh
ofyou labor under difficulties. There is
something in. your temperament; in
your worldly circumstances ; in your
calling that acts powerfully against you.
Admitting all this, I introduce to you
Hadassah of the text, a noble Christian,
notwithstanding the most gigantic diffi-
culties. She whom you might have ek-
pected to be one of the worst of women,
is one of the best.
In the first place, our subject rs an ill-
ustration of what Christian character
may be under orphanage. This Bible
line tells a long story about Hadassah.
"She had neither father nor mother," .A.
nobleman had become her guardian, but
there is no one who can take the place of
a parent. Who is able at night to hear
a child's prayer; or at twilight to chide
youthful wanderings( or to soothe youth-
ful sorrows? An individual will go
through life bearing the marks of or-
phanage. It will require more strength,
more persistance, more grace, to make
such an one the right kind of a Chris-
tian. He who at forty years loses a
parent must reel under the blow. Even
down to old age men are accustomed to
rely upon the counsel, or be powerfully
influenced by the advice of parents, if
they are still alive. But how much
greater the bereavement when it comes
in early life, before the character is self-
reliant,
elfreliant, and when naturally the heart is
unsophisticated and easily tempted.
And yet behold what a nobility of dis-
position Hadassah exhibited ! Though
father and mother were gone, grace had
triumphed over all disadvantages. Her
willingness to self-sacrifice ; her control
over the king; her humility; her faith-
ful worship of God, show her to have
been of the best of the world's Chris-
tians.
There are those who did not enjoy rea
markable early privileges. Perhaps, like
the beautiful captive of the text, you
were an oramhan. You had huge sorrows
in your little heart. You sometimes
wept in, the night when you knew not
what was the matter. You felt sad some-
times even on the playground. Your
father or mother did not stand in the
door to welcome you when you came
home from a long journey. You still feel
the effect of early disadvantages, and you
have sometimes offered thein as a reason
.for your not being as thoroughly relig-
ious as you would like to be, But those
excuses are not sufficient, God's grape
will triumph if you seek it. He knows
what obstacles you have fought against,.
and the more trial the more help. After
all, there are no orphans in the world,
for the great God is the Father of us all.
Again( our subject is an illustration of
what religion may be under the pressure
of poverty.. The captivity and crushed
condition of this orphan girl, and of the.
kind man who adopted her, suggest a
condition of poverty. Yet from the very
first acquaintance we had with Hadassah
we find her the same happy and content-
ed Christian. It was only by compulsion
she was afterwards taken into a sphere of
honor and affluence. In the: humble
home of Mordecai, her adopted father,
she was a light that illumined every priva-
tion. In some period in almost every
man's life there comes a season of
strained circumstances, when the sever-
est calculation and most scraping econo-
my are necessary in order to subsist-
ence and respectability. At the com-
mencement of business, at the entrance
of a profession, when friends are few and
the world is afraid of you because there
is a possibility of failure, many of the
noblest hearts have struggled against
poverty, and aro now struggling. To
such I bear a messenger of good cheer.
You say it is a hard thing for you to be
a Christian. This constant anxiety, this
unrosting calculation, wear out the
buoyancy of your spirit, and although
you have' told. perhaps no one about it,
eaunot I tell that this is the very- trouble
which keeps you from being what you
ought to be ? You have no time to think
about laying up treasures in heaven
when it is a matter of great doubt
whether you will be enabled to pay
your next quarter's rent. You cannot
think of striving after a robe of right-
eousness until you can get meansenough
to buy an overcoat to keep out the cold.
You want the Bread of Life, but you
think you must get along without that
until you can buy another barrel of flour
for your wife and children. Sometimes
you sit down discouraged and almost
wish you were dead. Christians in satin
slippers, with their feet on damask otto-
man, may scout at such a class of tempta-
tions, but those who themselves have
been in the struggle and grip of hard
misfortune can appreciate the power of
these evils to dissuade the soul away
from religious duties. We admit the
strength of the tempation, but then we
point to Hadassah, her poverty equalled
by her piety. Courage, down there in
the battle ! Hurl away your disappoint-
ment! Men of half your heart have,
through Christ; been more than conquer-
ors. In the name of God, come out of
that ! The religion of Christ is just what
you want out there among the empty
flour barrels and beside the cold hearths.
You have never told anyone of what a
hard time you have had, but God knows
it as well as you know it. Your easy
times will come after awhile. Do not let
your spirits break down in mid-life.
What if your coat is thin? Run fast
enough to keep warm.- What if you have
no luxuries on your table? High expec-
tations will make your blood tingle bet-
ter than the best Maderia. If you can-
not afford to smoke, you can afford to
whistle. But merely animal spirits are
not sufficient ; the power of the Gospel—.
that is what you want to wrench despair
out of the soul and put you forward into
the front of the hosts incased in impene-
trable armour. It does not require ex-
travagant wardrobe, and palatial resi-
dence, and dashing equipage to make a
man rich. The heart right the estate is
right. A new heart is worth the world's
wealth in one roll of bank bills ; worth
all sceptres of earthly power bound in one
sheaf; worth all crowns expressed in one
coronet. Many a man without a farth-
ing in his pocket has been rich enough
to buy the world out and have stock left
for larger investment. It is not often
that men of good habits come to positive
beggary, but among those who live in
comfortable houses all about you, among
honest mechanics and professional men
who never say a word. about it, there are
exhibitions of heroism and endurance
such as you may never have imagined.
Those men who ask no aid ; who demand
no sympathy ; who with strong arm and
skilful brain push their own way
through, are Hannibals scaling the Alps ;
are Hercules slaying the lion; are. Moses
in God's name driving back the seas.
Hadassah with her needle has done
braver things than. Caesar with a sword.
Again, our subject illustrates what re-
ligion may be when in a strange land, or
far from home. Hadassah was a stranger
in Shushan. Perhaps brought up in the
quiet of rural scenes, she was now sur-
rounded by the dazzle of a city. Heads
as strong as hers had been turned by the
transit from country to city. More than
that, she was in a strange land. Yet in
that loneliness she kept the Christianin-
tegrity, and was as consistent among the
allurements of Shushan as among the
kindred of her father's house.
Perhaps I address some who are now
far away from the home of their fathers,
You come ocross the seas. The sepulchres
of your dead are far away. Whatever
may be the comfort and adornment of
your present home, you cannotforget the
place of your birth, though it may have
been lowly and unhonored. You often
dream of your youthful days, and in
silent twilight run off to the distant land
and seem to see your forsaken home, just
as it was when your people were all alive.
Though you may have hundreds of
friends around you, you often feel that
you are strangers in a strange land. God
saw the bitter partings when your
families were scattered. He watched
you in the ship's cabin floundering the
stormy seas. He knew the bewilderment
of your disembarkation on a strange
shore, and your wanderings up and down
this land have been under an eye that
never sleeps, and felt by a heart that
always pities. Stranger far from home,
you have a companion in the beautiful
Hadassah, as good in Shushan as in her
native Jerusalerir. Indeed, very many
of you are distant from the place of your
nativity, Some of you may be pilgrims
from the warm south, or from hardier
climes than ours, from latitudes of deep-
er snows and. sharper frosts, You have
come down in these regions for purposes
of thrift and gain. You. have brought
your tents and pitched themhere, and
you seldom now go baek again( except to
visit the old building with wide streets
and plenty of trees en some holiday. This
is not the climate in which many of you
were born. These mothers are not the
neighbors who came to the oldhomestead
to greet you into life. These churches
are not those under the shadow of which
your grandfather was buried. These are
not the ministers of Christ who out of
the baptismal font sprinkled your baby
brow, Far away the kirk ! Far away
the homestead ! Far away the town !
Have you formed habits which would not
have seemed right in the placesand
times of which we speak? Have you
built an altar in your present abode ? Is
the religion of olden time, once planted.
in your heart, come up in glorious har-
vest? Is your present home an eulogy
upon that from which you were trans-
planted? Then are ye worthy compan-
ions of Hadassah, the stranger as holy in
Shushan as in Jerusalem,
Again, our subject illustrates what re-
ligion may be under the temptation of
personal attractiveness. The inspired
record says of the heroine of my text,
;;She was fair and beautiful." Her very
name signified, "A myrtle." Yet the ad-
miration, and praise, and flattery of the
world did not blight her humility. The
simplicity of her manners and behavior
equalled her extraordinary attractions.
It is the same divine goodness which
puts the tinge on the rose's cheek, and
the whiteness into the lily, and the gleam
on the wave, and that puts color in the
cheek and sparkle in the eye, and majesty
in the forehead, and symmetry into the
form, and gracefulness into the gait.
Bat many through the very charm of
their personal appearance have been de-
stroyed. What simperings, and affecta-
tions, and impertinences have often been
the result of that which God sent as a
blessing. Japonicas, anemones and helio-
tropes never swagger at the beauty which
God planted in their very leaf, sepal,
axil and stamen. There are many flow-
ers that bow down so modestly you can-
not see the color in their cheek until you
lift up their head, putting your hand
under their round. chin. Indeed, any
kind of personal attractions, whether
they be those of the body, the mind, or
the heart, may become tempta-
tions to pride, and arbitrariness, and
foolish assumption. ' For the mythologi-
cal story of a man who seeing himself
mirrored, in a stream became so enamored
of his appearance that he died of the ef-
fects, illustrates the fatalities under
which thousands of both sexes have fallen•
by the view or their own superority. Ex-
traordinary capacities causes extrordi-
nary temptations. Men who have good
moral health clown in the valley, on the
top of the mountain are seized of con-
sumption. Monimia, the wife of Mithri-
dates,was strangled with her own diadem.
While the most of us will have the same
kind of temptation which Hadassah must
have felt from her attractiveness of per-
sonal appearance, there may be some to
whom it will be an advantage to hold up
the character of the beautiful captive
who sacrificed not her humility and
earnestness of disposition to the world's
admiration and flattery. The chief
secret of the beauty of the violet, is that
away down in the grass from one week's
end to another it never mistrusts that it
is a violet.
Again, our subject exhibits what re-
ligion may be under bad domestic in-
fluences. Hadassah was snatched from
the godly home into which she had been
adopted, and introduced into the abomin-
able associations of wicked Ahasuerus
was the centre. What a whirl of blas-
phemy, and drunkenness, and licentious-
ness ! No altar, no prayer, no Sabbath,
no God ! If this captive girl can be a
Christian there, then it is possible to be a
Christian anywhere. There are many of
the best people of the world who are
obliged to contend with the most adverse
domestic influences, children who have
grown up into the love of God under the
frown of parents, and under the discour-
agement of bad example. Some sister
of the family having professed the faith
of Jesus is the subject of unbounded satire
inflicted by brothers and sisters. Yea,
Hadassah was not the onlyChristian who
had a queer husband. It is no easy mat-
ter to maintain correct Christian princi-
ples when there is a companion disposed
to scoff at them, and to ascribe every
imperfection of ckaracter to hypocrisy.
What a hard thing for one member of
the family to rightly keep the Sabbath
when others are disposed to inake it a
day of revelry ; or to inculcate propriety
of speech in the minds of children when
there are others to ofset the instructions
by loose and profane utterances ; or to
be regularly in attendance upon church
when there is more houshold work de-
manded on the Lord's Day than for any
secular day. Do I speak to any laboring
under the blighting circumstances ? My
subject is full of encouragement. Vast
responsibilities rest upon you. Be faith-
ful, as though you stand asruch alone
as did Lot in Sodom, or Jeremiah in
Jerusalem, or Jonah in Ninevan, or Ha-
dassah in the court of Ahasuerus. There
are trees which grow the best when their.
roots clutch among the jagged rocks, and
you verily have but poor soil in which
to develop, but Grace is a thorough hus-
bandman. and can raise a crop anywhere.
Glassware is moulded over the fire, and
in the same way you are to be flitted in
a vessel of mercy. The best timber must
have on it saw, and gouge, and beetle.
The foundation -stone of yours and every
house came out only under crowbar and
blast. Files, and wrenches, and ham-
mers belong to the Church. The Chris-
tian viciory will be bright just in pro-
portion as the battle is hot. Never despair
in being a thorough Christian in any
household which is not worse than the
court of Ahasuerus.
Finally, our subject illustrates what
religion may be in high worldly position.
The last we see in the Bible of Hadassah
is that she has become the Queen of Per-
sia. Prepare now to see the departure of
her humility, and self-sacrifice, and re-
ligious principle. As she goes up you
may expect Grace to gown. It is easier
to be humble in the obscure house of her
adopted father than on a thorne of do-
minion. But you misjudge this noble
woman. What she was before, she is
now—the myrtle. Applauded for her
beauty and her crown, she forgets not
the cause of her suffering, and with all
simplicity of heart, still remains a wor-
shipper of the God of heaven.
Noble :examples followed only by a very
few. T address some who, through the
goodness of God, have risen to positions
of influence in the community where you.
live. In law, in merchandise, in medi-
cine, in mechanics and in other useful
occupations and professions you bold an
influence for good, or for evil, Let us
see whether, like Hadassah, you can
stand elevation. Have you as much
simplicity of character as once you evi-
denced? Do you feel as much depend-
ence upon God ; as much your own weak-
ness ; as much your accountability for
talents entrusted ? Or are you proud, and
over -demanding, and ungrateful, and un-
sympathetic, and worldly, and sensual,
and devilish? Then you have boon
spoiled by your sautes, and you shall not
sit on this throne with the heroine of my
text. In the day when Hadassah shall
comp to the grander coronation, in the
presence of Christ and the bannered hosts
of the redeemed, you will bo poor indeed.
Oh, there are thousands of men who can
easily endure tobe knocked down of mis-
fortune, who are utterly destroyed if
lifted up of success. Satan takes them
to the top of the pinnacle of the temple
and shoves them off. Their head begins
to whirl and they lose thou balance and
down they go.
While last autumn all through the
forests there were luxuriant trees with
moderate outbranch, and moderate
height, pretending but little, there were
foliage shafts that shot far up, looking
down with contempt on the whole forest,
clapping their hands in the breeze and
shouting, "Aha ! Do you not wish you
were as high up as we are ?" But last
week a blast, let loose from the north,
came rushing along and grappling the
boasting oaks hurled them to the ground,
and, as they went down, an old tree that
had been singing psalms with the thunder
one hundred summers, cried out, "Pride
goeth before destruction, and a haughty
spirit before 'a fall." And humble
hiokory, and pine and chestnut that had
never said their prayers before, bowed
their heads as much as to say, "Amen !"
My friends, "God r'esisteth the proud,
but giveth grace to the humble." Take
from my subject encouragement. At-
tempt the service of God, whatever your
disadvantages, and whatever our lot, let
us seek that grace which outshone all
the splendors of the palaces of Shushan.
THE LION'S FEAST.
A Locomotive Held Up and Robbed by
a Beast of the Forest.
Last winter when the snowstorms .were
so fearful throughout the mountains in
Utah and the earth was covered with
snow to the depth of five to ten feet and
remained hidden so long the wild ani-
mals were forced to desperation. The
wolves were starved and weak, and what
is known as the mountain lion almost
perished from starvation. Its great
strength failed it and a man with a knife
could soon take the life of an animal
that a short time before could hold a
powerful ox or horse and make a meal of
his flesh.
The hungry animals after a while dis-
covered that food was to be had along the
railroad track where passengers threw
bones and scraps of vituals from passing
trains. Often two starving coyotes would
engage in deadly combat over a chicken
bone that had a short time before been
ridden of its last vestige of nourishment
by some economical person who did not
care to pay 75 cents for a meal. This
was the condition of things.
Engineer Gast had charge of engine
No. 151, which was known as"the help-
er," from the fact that it helped trains
up the mountain and when at the sum-
mit cut off and dropped back clown to
the bottom ready to help another. One
night when business on the road was
slack Gast noticed something wrong with
the gearing under the tender and re-
marked to the fireman that they would
get off and repair it. When half way
down the mountain side he brought, the
engine to a standstill and the two men
went to work at what proved to be a
twenty minutes' job packing a hot box
on the tender. The tallow pot was left
at the boiler's head. After completing
the repairs the men were mounting the
engine again, only to see a huge moun-
tain lion devouring the tallow and hold-
ing full possession of the engine cab. It
was a cold night and the snow drifting.
The men had already remained outside
until they were very cold, and the
chances of dispossessing Mr. Lion were
very meagre, as he snapped his teeth and
flashed his eyes and fast stored the tal-
low
ailow out of sight. The only consolation
the men had was that the tallow would
not last long at that rate, and even this
thought was not entirely satisfying, as
they had no way of determining that one
of them would not go the same way at
the conclusion of the tallow feast. Fin-
ally, after fifteen minutes' further delay
the tallow -pot was empty, and giving a
'growl, as much as to say, "I am very
thankful, gentlemen, and you ought to
be," the animal leaped from the cab and
disappeared in the hills.
It is not necessary to say that Gast al-
ways repaired his engine at the end of
his run after that.
The Way of It.
Snow is sometimes of a red color, be-
cause of the presence of a minute veget-
able cell, the Protocous nivalis, which se-
cretes a red coloring matter.
A match ignites because of the heat
generated by friction. Matches are tip-
ped with phosphorus and sulphur, both
highly inflamable substances.
A plumb line by the side of a very
large building inclines a little from the
perpendicular because the weight is at-
tracted by the mass of the edifice.
Flies can walk on the ceiling because
their feet are natural air pumps, and
form a vacuum so that the body is sup-
ported by atmospheric pressure.
Sea shells murmur because the vibra-
tions of the air, not otherwise observable,
are collected in the shell and by its shape
are brought to a focus.
A spoon in a glass filled with hot water
prevents the breaking of the glass because
the metal readily absorbs a large part of
the heat of the water.
Many springs are intermittent, pro-
bably because the channels leading from
the reservoirs to the surface are crooked
and constitute natural siphons.
Iron rusts more readily when wet than
when dry, because it has, or seems to
have, a greater affinity for oxygen when
the latter is combined with hydrogen.
.A. black down grows under the feathers
of many birds at the approach of winter
because down is the bust non-conductor
and black the warmest color.
What the Boy Wanted.
He was a sharp, foxy -looking boy, and
he hadn't talked to the boss more than
two minutes when he had quite won
over that important functionary,
"So," said the great man, "you wan't
a job, do you?"
"That's what I'm here for," responded
the boy promptly.
"Suppose you don't get it?"
"There are other places. All the
work in the world ain't been done, 1
guess."
"That's so, my lad. What can you
do?"
"Most anything."
"Well, we dont like the ' most any-
thing
n -
thing' kind of boys who are after work."
"That's all right," grinned the boy ;
"I can do most nothing a heap sight bet-
ter,"
"Oh, you can ?" laughed the bogs, and
the next morning the boy was taking his
first lesson in how to rise from store boy
to proprietor, as the story books put it.
UNCLE SAM'S BROAD ACRES
FURNISH US MANY ITEMS
Of More or Leos Importance, but All of
General Interest to Our Readers..
The bank at Elliston, Ind,, was robbed
of $5,.
Pho3be000Couzino is advocating Populism
P
in Colorado,
E. M. Byers, of Pittsburg, a wealthy
iron manufacturer, has been pronounced
insane.
Mrs. Betsy Carroll, 85 years of age,
living at Willimantic, Conn„ has 'been
having measles.
New York has a store where a song
will be set to music for 50 cents or a $
while you wait.
Methodists of Iowa have declared
against the mulct law and favor total
prohibitory legislation.
Chief Arthurs, of the Brotherhood of
Locomotive Engineers, is opposing the
Government ownership of railroads.
David Ritchie, the ex -Chicago detec-
tive, confessed at Cincinnati that he was
forced to steal to keep from starving.
Captain Howgate, thedefaulting ex -
chief of the signal service, now occupies
Guiteau's old cell in the Washington
jail.
Mr. Louis Gethmann, the Chicago as-
tronomer, rcaffrms his discovery of what
seems to be a sign of vegetation in the
moon.
A man in Franklin, Me., pays $14 a
month to his divorced wife, and for this
sum she acts as his housekeeper.
The teachers of Junction City, Kan.,
have been forbidden by the local educa-
tional board to attend more than one
dance per week.
The cloakmakers' strike at New York
is spreading. Reports received by the
strikers' committee are to the.effect that
the operators in all the big shops are
out.
Philadelphia has 2,000 miles of regular
laid out streets and 300 miles of street car
lines. It -produces every year$500,000,000,
of goods.
The daily reports from all parts of the
Adirondacks give the same statement,
that deer have not been so plentiful in
twenty years.
The amount paid for pensions an the
United States during the year ending
June 80 was $139,804 561.05, leaving a
balanance of $25,205,712.65 of the appro-
priation.
Ex -Senator Warren's ranch in Wyom-
ing covers au area of 75 by 100 miles and
is stocked. with 2,000 horses, 15,000 cattle
and 120,000 sheep.
At Fall River, Mass., it is stated the
operatives will accept the manufacturers'
proposition to go to work on Monday
morning uuder a temporary 5 per cent.
reduction in wages.
At Lancaster, Pa., are three sisters 283
years old—that is, Mrs. Margaret Ewing
is 92, Mrs. Elizabeth Zell 94 and Mrs.
Martha Morrison 97.
F Four state prisons, those of Connecti-
cut, Michigan, Montana and Washing-
ton, use deprivation of religious privil-
eges as a punishment.
At New Bedford= Mass., the long silent
mills are in operation, and at both north
and south ends of the city the cheerful
hum of the machinery announces that
the long strike is over.
Two Galveston, Tex., typesetting ma-
chine operators will compete against two
Denver operators. The pair showing the
greater speed wins $200.
The city'council of Richmond, Va., has
passed an ordinance to punish young
men who loiter about the female college
and flirt with the students.
Convicts tried to escape from the jail
in Cumberland County, N.C., but the
matron locked the door that they were
using and thwarted their plan.
Mrs. W. B. Vanderbilt sometimes
wears a "hawser of solitaires," which,
fastened on one shoulder, is bound round
and round the bodice of her gown.
Miss Elizabeth Fleming has been ap-
pointed crier of the United States circuit
and district courts atPortland. She was
previously the court stenographer.
William E. Moultrie, of Saratoga,
Santa Clara County, Cal., claims the dis-
tion of having been the first child born
of American parents in that State.
Mrs. J. E. Butler, widow of a Confeder-
ate general, committed suicide in New
York after reading a letter from a way-
ward son which deeply affected her.
Eugene V. Debs and the directors of
the A. R. U., will make an effort to re-
vive their organization, and to form a
universal organization of all railwayem-
ployes.
William B. Smith, of New Jersey, em-
ployed in the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing, is charged with stealing 50.000
two -cent postage stamps from the Gov-
ernment.
There are 68,000 postoffices in the Unit-
ed States ; about 67,000 of them do not
pay their running expenses. The profit
of the New York city postoflice is $4,000,-
000 a year.
Mrs, A. G. Wallihau, of Colorado,
went off camping not long ago, and took
with her a rifle and a camera. One of
her feats was to photograph a deer and.
then to shoot him.
Warden Charles Durston, of Sing Sing
prison, is dead. He was the man who
executed Kemmler at Auburn prison, the
first murderer to suffer death by electro-
cution in New York State.
Brooklyn is the only city in 'the United
States which can boast of a female deputy
collector of internal revenue. Miss Lucy
E. Ball has just been promoted to that
position in the city of churches.
A resolution was offered at the Chamber
of Commerce in New York recommend-
ing a reorganization of the police force
en a military basis. It was referred to
the committee on municipal govern-
ment.
The express car on a Southern Pacific
train was robbed of $50,000 by two men
Saturday near Sacramento, Cal. The
robbers mounted the engine and rode off
after securing the "swag," leaving the
engineer and firemen behind.
It appears that ex -Vice -President Mor-
ton of the United States, on his return
from England recently, brought with
him a young man to met as assistant
coachman. The authorities got after the
coachman, and, it is said, he will be
sent back to England.
In England householders have to pay a
tax on eaeh male servant in their em-
ploy.
IN AND OUT OF SCHOOL,
LITTLE BIT OF HUMOR.
A Little Fun Now and Then is Relished
by the Best of Men, A (hire for the
Dyspepsia and the Blues.
Very True..
The single eyeglass, says a philosopher,
is worn by the masher, The theory is
that he can see more with one eye than
he can comprehend.
Used To. Be.
Caller—"Your son is twenty-one and
your daughter is older, is she not?"
Mother—' Oh, no; I guess you've got it
confused with thefact that she used to be,".
At the Suminer Resort.
He (the only man there)—I'm glad I'm
not a summer girl.
She (one of many, profoundly)—So am
Good Advice.
Clara—"I'm afraid I should get tired
of married. life. I should like to be mar-
ried one year and single the next, year
and year about." Jack -"Why don't
you go on the stage then ?"
You Mean Thing.
Harry—"Do you believe in the old
superstition that May is an unlucky
month for marriages ?" Uncle Dick—
"Yes, decidedly—but why do you speak
of May any more than any other month?"
The Usual Way.
He stopped at a small and elegant place,
Down by the sounding sea ;
And later he said,
As he rubbed his head :
"You can hardly tell" by the size of the
house,
What the size of the bills will be."
A Bad Break.
"Charlie," said Katharine to her new-
ly -betrothed in an excess of trust and
generosity,�"do go and talk to that Miss
Heighleiffe. She's awfully fascinating
and brilliant."
"As if I cared for fascination and bril-
liancy now," answered Charlie, adoring-
ly. And he was unable to see why
Katharine grew so suddenly icy.
Her Idea Of It.
He—clow much did you give for that
hat ?
She—Twenty-five dollars.
He—Great Caesar; •I only pay five for
mine.
She -That may be, my dear; but I'm
sure I should not object if you gave
twenty-five.
A Letterlfor the Doctor.
Many curiously addressed letters come
to the mail carrier. One of the queerest
that was recently received to Buffalo is
from the pen of Carl Smith, editor of the
World -Herald, of Omaha.- It reads as
follows
This is for Doctor Ira Brown,
A man of bloody work,
He saws off heads and legs and arms,
In Buffalo, New York,
But if he has been hung or shot
By process of the law,
Which God forbid—return this quick
To Carl Smith, Omaha.
Broad Hint.
Sir Andrew Agnew, of Lucknow, a
well-known Scotch baronet, was long
pestered by an insolent sort of person,
who insisted on being constantly "un-
derfoot."' Finally, however, he dropped
off, and Sir Andrew was asked how he
got rid of him.
"Oh," said he, "I gave him a broad
hint." •
"A broadhint?" repeated the enquirer.
"I thought he was one of those who could
never be induced to take one."
"By ma saul," said Sir Andrew, " he
was obleeged to tak' it ! For as the chiel
wadne, gang oot at the door, I just threw
him oot of the window !"
A Great Invention.
Peddler—I am introducing a new and
improved brand of combination toilet,
kitchen, bath -room and shaving soap,
ma'am, warranted perfect for metals,
woodwork, paint, varnish, clothes, teeth,
skin, dishes—
Woman-No trouble getting soap in
this house. Got plenty. What we want
is something to eat that won't cost all my
husband makes.
Peddler—That's it, ma'am; just the
thing. Buy a cake of this soap, put a
liberal piece into every dish you cook,
and you'll find it will take very little to
satisfy the family.
ELEOTRIC MOTORS from one-half Horse
Power up to Eleven Horse Power, Write
or prices, stating power required, voltage of
current to be used, and whether supplied by
!tied car line or otherwise,
TORONTO TYPE FOUNDRY,
Toronto and Winnipeg
UTOMATIO NUMBERINE MAORhrE.
Steel Flguror,• , Perfect Printing and Aced.
rate Work. For pricesaddress TORONTO TYPE
rotiNbRY.Toronto and Winnipeg,