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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1896-3-19, Page 7TIIE SHEEP ASTRAY. TALMAGE APPLIES HIMSELF TO RING ONCE MORE THE OLD GOSPEL BELL. * A General Indiettneheep Oct Astral, by Straying Into Other Pastures or by /icing Scared by Dogs ---A Door 'Wide Enough to let All Out. Washington, AO., IVIarch 8, 1806.—The Gospel sends out its gladdest sound in this ,sermon. Immeuse throngs pack and over- lflow the church to MIAMI Dr. Talmage preaches twice each Sabbath. His text this morning was, lea., 53: 6 : "All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, and the ISSit Lord hath laid on Him the iuiquity of us all." Once more I ring the old Gospel bell. The first half of my text is an indictment : —All we like sheep have gone astray. Some one says: "Can't you drop that first word? that is too general; that sweeps too great, a circle." Some man, rises in the audience, and be looks qver on the op- posite side of the house, and says: "There ,11, is a blasphemer ; and I understand how he has gone astray. And there in: another part of the house is • a defaulter, and he has gone astray. Aud there is an irxipure person, and he has gone astray.",e, Sit down, my brother, and look at home.' My text takes us all in, lt stares behind the pulpit, sweeps the circuit of the room, and comes back to the poiut where it started, wheo it says, All we, like sheep, have gone astray. I can very easily uuderstand why artiu Luther threw up his hands after' he found the Bible, and cried out, "Oh, y sins, my sins I" and why the pablicen, ccording to the custom to this day in the East, when they have any great grief, began to beat himself and cry, as he smote upon his breast, "God be merei- Gifu" to. me, a sinner." I was, like many of you, brought up in the coma try, and I know some of the habits of the sheep,auti how they get astray; and What my text means when it says: "All we, like sheep, heye gone astral." Sheep get astray in two ways; either by trying to get into other paseure, or from being scared by the dogs. In the former way some tee us get astray. We thought the religion of Jesus Christ put us on short commons. We thought there was better pasturage somewhere else. We thought if we coull only lie down on the banks of a distaut stream, or under great oaks on the other side of some hill, we might be better fed. We wanted other pasturage than that which God, through Jesus Christ, gave our soul, aml wo wandered en, and we wandered on, and we were lost. We welted bread, and we found garbage. The farther we wandered, in- stead of finding rich pasturage, we found blasted heath and sharper rocks and more stiuging nettles. No pasture. How was it in the club -house when you lost you child? Did they come Armin(' and help you very =oh? Did your worldly asso- ciates egusole you very much? Did not the plain Christian man who came iuto your lionee, And sat up with your darling child, give yea more comfort than all worldly associates? Did all the convivial songs yuu ever heard comfort you In that day of bereavement so much as the tong they sang to you—perhaps the very song that was sting by your little child the last Sabbath afternoon of her life, There is a happy land Far, far away, Where saints immortal reign, Bright, bright as day. Did yonr business associates in that day of darkuess and trotible give you ,any es- pecial condolence? Busiuess exasperated you, business wore you out, business left you limp as a ragebusiness made you mad. You got dollars, bat you got no peace. God have mercy on the man who has ,notinug but busines to comfort him! The world afforded you so luxuriant pasturage. t& famous English actor stood on the stage limpersonating, and thunders of applause 'came down from the galleries, and mama' 'thought it was the proudest moineut of lall his life; but there was a man asleep 'just in trout of him, and. the fact that that iman was indifferent and somnolent spoil - 'ed all the occasion for him, and he cried: "Wake up, wake up I" So o� little an- noyance in life has been more pervading do your mind than, ail the brilliant con- gratulations and success. Poor pasturage .for your soul you find in this. world. The :world has cheated you, the world has be- lied yeett, the world has misinterpreted you, the world has persecuted you. It never eomforeed you. Oh I this world is a 'good rack from which a horse may pick diis food; it is a good trough from which e ;the swine may crunch their mess; but it gives but little food to a soul blood - bought and immortal. What is a soul It is a hope high as the throne of God. i'What is a man? You say, "It. is only a -term.," It is only a ,man gone overboard • In sin. It is only a man gone overboard In businessedife. What is a man? The -battle grounif of three worlds, with his hands taking bold of destinies of tight or darkuess. , A man I No line eau measure • him. No limit can hound hint.. The arch -angel before the throe canuot out- live him. The stars shall die, but he will . watch their extinguishment The world will burn, but he will gaze at the coefia- 'gration. Endless ages will march on ; he will watch the procession. A man 1 The masterpiece of God Almighty. Yet you say, "It is only a ruau." Can a nature like that be fed on busies of the wilder- ness? Substantial comfort will not grow 04 Nature's barren ; We pan boast till chrisb we know, a Is vauity mid toil, you get astray by looking for better pasturage; others .by being scared of the dogs. The hound gets over uito the pasture -field. The poor things y in every direction: In a few Moments they Are torn of the hedges, and ,they are plashed • of the ditch, and the lost sheep never gets home Unless the farmer goes , atter .it. There is nothing .so thoronghly, lost as a' lost sheep. It may have beee lit 1857, ' during the 'financial ,paoic,_ or during the'. financial stress in the fall of 1873 when. you got astray. You almost ' became an %theist.. You said; •"Where is God that honest Men go &Ave and theives pros- per ?" You were,donded of creditors, you were dogged of the laming you wereelog- ged of worldly, disaster, and .some of you went into misanthropy, mid , woe of you Wok to strong drink, and others of you fled out, of Christian essociatioa; and you eat esti*, Oh! man, that was the last time When: you ought to have. forsaken God. Stentlieg amid the foundering of your earthly faitures, how ,could you get along withont a GO to contort you, efid ' a God to detieer. yon, and a God to 'tete you, and 4 God to save youYou tell me , you have been through mating -1i business trouble Almost to kill you. I know it. I men ot, understand how the beat could live in that chopped eeee But 1 do no knots by what Procese Yon got astray; some in one wry and Some :in eliothen and if ypa could really see the position some or you oCcopyibefore God your stall wonld burst into an agony of teaes and you pelt the Leavens With the cry, "God have mercyl" Sineds batteries have been unlimbered above your soul, and at times you bado heard it thunder, "The Wages OtBin is death." "All have sinned and amine sheet of the glory of God," "By one iman sin entered into the world, nod death by sin; and so death passed wen all men, for that all have sinned," "The soul that sinneth, dt shall die," When ,Sebastopol was being bombarded, two Russian frigates burned all night in the harbor, throwing a glare upon the trembling fertrest; nnd some of you, from What you have told me doer - selves, thine of you are standing in the night ofyour soul's trouble, the cannon- ade, and the coafiagration, andithe multi- plication, and, the multitude of your sod, rows autroubles 1 think Must make the wings of God's hoyering angel • shiver to the tip. But the last part of My textopens a door wide enough to lot us all and to let all heaven in. Soiled it on the organ with all the stops out. Thrum it on th harps With all the seringe Mune. 'With all the melody possible let tre' heavens sound, it to the earth, and let the earth tell it to the heavens. "The Lord bath lain on him the iniquity of us all." 1. ana glad that the prophet did not step to explain Whom be meant by "Him." Him of the manger, Him of the bloody sweat, HIM of the re- surrection throne, Him of the crucifixion agony. "On Him the Lord bath laid the iniquity of us all." "Oh I" says some Inan, "that isn't generoun, that isu't fair ; let every man carry his own burden and pay his own debts." That pounds reasou able, If I have an obligation, and I have the uteens to meet it, and I come to you and ask you to settle the obligation, you right- • ly say, 'Pay pour own debts." If you and I, walking down the street—both halo, hearty and well—I ask you to carry me, yea' say rightly. "Walk ou your own feet 1" Bite suppose you and I were in a regiment, and I Was wounded in the bat- tle, and I fell unconscious at your feet with gunshot fractures and dislocations,, what would you clo ? You would call to your comrades saying, "Come and help, this man is beipless; bring the ambulance; let us take him to the hospital," and I , would ben deed lift in your arms, end you would lift me from the ground where I had fallen, and pat me in the ambulance, aud take me to the hospital, and have all kindness shown me. Would there be anything berneaning in my accepting that kindness ? Oh, no 1 You would be mean not to do it. That is what; Christ does, If we could pay our debts, thea it would be better to ,go up and pay them, say- ing: "Here Lord, here is my oblitet- tiou ; here are the means I mean to settle that obligation ; now give me a receipt, cross it all out" The debt is paid. But the fact is we have fallen in the battle, we have gone dowu under the hot fire of our transgressions, we have been wounded by the sgbers at sin, .we are helpless, we are undone. Christ comes. The load. clang heard in the sky on that Christmas night was only the ben, the resounding bell of tue ambulance. Clear the way for the Son of God„ He tomes down to bind up the Wounds, and to scatter the darkness, and to save the lost. Clear the way far the Son of God, Christ comes down to us, and we Are a dead lift. He does not lift us with one arm. He comes dowa upon His knee, and Shen with a dead lift He raises as to honor and glory and immortality. "The Lord bath laid on Hine the iniquity of us all" Why, then, will a man carry his sins? You cannot carry successfully the smallesb sin you ever committed. You might as well put the Appenniries on one shoulder and the .Alps on the other. How much less can you carry all the sins of your life- time? Christ comes and looks down in your face and says: "I have come through all the lacerations of these days, and through all the tempests of these nights; I have come to bear your burdens, and to • pardon your sins, and to pay your debts; put them on my shouldenput them on my heart." "On Him the Lord hath laid the iniquity of us all." Sin has almost pest- ered the life out of some of you. At times it has made you cross and oureastmable, and it has spoiled the brightness of your days and the peace of your nights. There are men who have been riddled of sin. The world givec the no solace. Gossae mery and volatile the world, while etete ' nity, as they look forward to it, is bleak as midnight. They writhe under the etinge of a conscience which proposes to give no rest here and no rest hereafter; and :yet they do not repent, they do not pray, they do not. weep. They do not realize that just the position they occupy is the position occupied by scores, hundreds and thous- ands of men who never found any hope If this meeting should be thrown open and tbe people who are here 'could give their testimony, v. -hat thrilling , expert ennee we should bear on all sides! 'There is a man who would say: "I had brilliant surroundings; I had the' best education that one of the best collegiate institntions of this country could give, aod-I observed all the Moralities, or life, etaI was self- righteous, and I thought I was all right before God as I am all right beforeman, but the Holy Spirit came to me one day and said, •'You are a sinner' ; the Hely Spirit persuaded me of the fact. While I had eseaped the sins agethist the law of the ' land, I had really ' 'committed the worst sin a man ever commits, the driv- ing beck tbe Son of God trout My heart's affections, and. I saw that my hands were red with the blood of the Son of God, and I began to prey; And peace game to my heart. and I know by experience:that what you say is true," "Oh him the Lord troth laid the iniquity of us all 1" Yomier, is a man who would say: "I was the worst drunkard in the city; 1 went from bad to worse ; I destroyed myself; I destroyed my home ;tay Children coseered when I eater - ed the house; when they pat up their lips ' to be kissed I struck theme when My wife protested against the malereetntent, kicked her into the street. I • knovv. all the .bruises and ell the terrors of indeolikerd'a woe. I went on:farther and farther from God, until one day I get e letter sayieg: ,.arady Dear Husband,—I have tried every Way, done everything, and prayed earn- • estly end fervently for your reformation, , but it eeeeris of no avail, Since our little Henry 'died, with the exception • of those few happy weeks when you remained sober, my, life has been one of Amgen,. Malty of the eights 1 have sat by the win- dow, with my face bathed in tears; watch- ing for your coming. I am broken -heart!. ed,, I era .sick: Mother and father here beep here frequently,and begged ine to Come hethe; but iny 'Ova for you, and my bone for beighterdays, have always made me refese then. That hope seema now beyond realization, and 1 have fee . turned to them. It is. hard, and I bet, tlea long before doing it. May, Grod bless and preserve you, and take from you that eccersed appetite, and hasten the day when -we ehall be. again living hap- pily together. , This , will he my (1.ai1y prayer. knowing that he has said, 'Cotne unto we, ell ye that labor aud are heinek *den,: and I Will give yea rest.' From :your loving wife • MARY.' .""And so I wandered on and Wandered MU siva that man, until one night passed a Methodist Meeting -house, and I said to tnyeelfe era, go. in and see what they are doing,' and I got to the door and they *ere singing, 'Ali may borne, whoever will -- This Mau receives poor sinners still,' And 1 dropped right there where I was, and I said. 'God have mercy l' and Ile had mercy on me. My hothe in restored, ma wife sings all day. long during her Work, my children come out a long Way to greet Me home, and. my honsehela is, a little heaven. I will tell you, what did all this for me. Itwas the truth Shat this day you proclaim : 'On Him the Lord bath laid, the iehiaity of us all.? Yonder is a yeo- man who would say,. 'I Wandered Off from my father's 'mese. I heard the stoma that, pelts en a lost soul; my feet were blister- ed oa the hot' nicks. I went on and 00, thinking that no one cared foe my soul, when oue night Jesus met Me and He said. 'Poor thing, go nom° ; your father is wait - Mg for you, your mother is waiting for you. Go home, poor thing.' And, sir, I was too Weak to pray, and I was too weak to repent, but I just cried out—I sobbed out ale' sins aryl my sorrows on the shoulders of Him of Whom it is,said, 'The Lord bath laid on Him tap iniquity of us an.' " There is a young man who Would say: intd a Christian bringineap ; 1 mule from the country to city life; I stareed well ;1 had A good positiou—a good come mercial position—but one night at the theater I met some young men who did Me up good. They dragged me all through the sowers of iniquieye and I lost my morals, and 1 losb my position, and I was shabligaud wretched. I Was going down the street thinking that no one cared for me, whoa a young than tapped me on the shoulder and said: 'George, come with me and twill do you geed.' I looked at lnm to see whether he wAs joking or not. I saw he was in earnest, and I said, 'What do you mean, sir?' 'Well,' he replied, 'I mean that if you will come to the meeting to -night, I will be very glad to hitroduce you. I will meet you at the (loon Will you. come?' Said 1, 'I will.' I went to the place where I was tarrying. I fixed my- self up as well as I could. I buttoaed ray coat over a regged vest, and I weut to the door of uhe church, and the young nian met me, and we went in, and as I went in I heard an old inan praying,and he looked so much like my father Isobbed right out, and they were all around, so kind and so sympathecic, that I just there gave my heart to God, and 1 know that what you say is true; I know it in my own experi- ence," "Ou Him the Lord hath laid the iniquity of us all." Oh, my brotheawitle out stopping to look whether your helot trembles or not, without stopping 50 look whether your hand is bloated with sin or not, put it in my hand, and let me give you one warm, brotherly Christian grip, and invite you right np to the heart, to the compassion, to the sympathy, to the pardon of Him on Whom the Lord bath laid the brignity of us all. Throw away your sins. Carry them no longer. I.pro• claim emancipation to all who are bound, pardon for all era, and eternaL life for all the dead. GOOD MANNERS If 1628. Important Hints for the Polito Conduct of the Up -to -Date Society Young Men of That Day. What Is probably one of the oldest books on deportment in existence was dis- . covered in Paris the other day. It wai published in that olty in 1628, for the College of the Jepults of La Floch(3, and. Is entitled "Good Manners in Cquverse Among Men." Thd text is in French, with a Latin translation. Deportment in public Is first touched upon. "In yawning do not groan," this ancient guide to petit( n Ise says, "and do not gape even when speaking, In blow- ing thy nosed:, it not as one would sound a trumpet, and afterwards regard not fixedly thy handkerchief. Avoid wipieg the nose as the children do with the fingers or upon the sleeve. When listening to some ono speakiog do not wriggle about, 'but' keep thyself in thy skin the while." It must have been hard to obey this latter injunction, judgeng from what $ said a Hale farther along: "Rill not flelle or tlutlike in the presence of others, but excuse thyself and remove whatever torments thee." .Three hundred years ago gentlemen (cid not wear such sad-colord costumes as they do to -day, and one cannot heil. feeling that a title pride and swagg I was excusable in a dandy of those day. when he donned for the first dine a particularly fetching costume ef high. colored silken doublet and hose. Mir this "guide" remarks severely: ".f thou art well bedizened, if thy hose be tightly drawn and thy habit be well ordered, parade not thyself, but early thyself with becoming modesty. Demean uot thyself arrogantly, neither go mine- ingly about. Let not thy bands hang limply to the.greund and tusk not up, Shy hose at every turn." . "D0. not embellish thyself with flowers mien thy ear," is another in- junction which sounds ouripusly, to -day, hut the advice, "When speaking raise dot thy voice as if thou evert crying en edict," is just as pertinent now as when the budding young ,gentlemen of Lie Macho had it drunnned into them, Table manners iu those days must eave been rather more primitive even than those of some' of the 50 -cent table d'hotos in this city, for. the book says: "I3eing seated finale table, scratch not thypelf, and if thou must o ough or spit or wipe thy nose, do it dexterously and without a great noise." • "Stuff not thy mouth with food when eating, and drink not too much of the wine if ;thou art net master of the house. -Show not oVonnuell pleasure, either, at the meats or wine." "In taking salt have a ore that thy_ koile be not greasy ;when it is necessary to elean that or the fork do it neatly with the napkin or a little bread,, but never with the entire loaf. Smell not of the moat, and if by chance thou dost, put them not back afterwards be; fore another." "It is a very indecent thing to wipe the sweat from thy face with thy. nap- kin, or with the same to blow thy nase or elean tho plate or platter." , is Idea of 1.0eU.' "I say, Jimmie, come down—goin.' to have an awft.il lot or'fun." i,r‘Vlat ?" "We've Sea the'goat with the big bath, sponge, and now we're ,gqin' to let 'lin drink7.1 ."-4niusinr, Journal. MULTUM l PARVO. , The oblest motive is the public' good.— YisOl'Iigp:itiitiiieostpae4e ausovereign rhistresS of effects. ... ruLle_se,etrat ?peeare yth. know, not bow to Yon gray lines, that fret the clouds, are messengers of day,—Shelcesoeare He surely is ip want of an cab er's patience who has none ot his °a-O.—Lay:1ton' If a Man is endued with a generous mind, this is the best kiud of liability. -- 'Nature, through all her works, in, great Cdehgurrecei,allil, orm rowe a blessing frovariett.— Patieoce—of whose eoft grace1 have ber eovereign zici, awl rest myself content -a, Shakespeare. . Tbere itre but three classes of men the retrograde,rsshe.r,a ttettesrt.ationary and the pro ge Pedantry crams our head with learned lumber, and takes out our brains to make room for it.—Colton. • , Thus grief still treads upon the heels of pleasure, marry'd in haste, we may repent at leisure.---Coegreve. As the mind must govern the halide, so in every souiety the matt of iatelligenee must direct the band of labor.—johnson. This melancholy flatters, but menaces you, what is it else but penury of soul, a lazy frost, a numbness of the mind 7— Dryden. The passions, like heavy bodies down steep hills, once in motion, move them. selves, and know no grotto(' but the bog tom.—Fuller. Man bath bis daily work of hod.. or mind appointed, which declares h is dign I ty and the regard of heaven lea all his ways. —Milton. The honest heart that's free 'free a' in- tended fraud or guile, however fortune kick the ba' bas aye some cause to smile. --Burns. There is always and everywhere some restraint upon a great mau. He is guard- ed with crowds and shackled with for - Among the pitfalls in our way, the best of us walk blindly , so, man, be wary, watch and pray, and judge your brother kindly.—Alice Cary. The heathen mythology not only was not true, bue was not even supported as true; It not wily deserved no faith, but it de- manded none.—Whately. They thatmarry ancient people merely in expectation to bury them, hang them- selves iu hope that oue Will come and cat tbe halter.—Fuller. Those that are good =unmet the court are as rttleuloas in the country, as the be- havior of the country is most mockable at the courte—Shakesee. re, Money and time arethe heaviest burdens of lite, -and the unhappiest of all mortals are those who have more of eithee than they kiwi% sow to u de—Johnson, Where a man has a passion l'or nueLtat- ing evithoat the capacity' of thiuking, a particular idea fixes itself fast, and soon creates a mental disease—Goethe. Different minds incline to different ola jects; one pursues the vast alone, the won- derful, the wild ; another sighs for har- mony and grace, and gentless beauty.— Akenside. 1.12he world is an old woman, that mis- takes auy gilt farthing for a gold coin ; whereby being often cheated, she will limegeforth trust nothing but the common coppen—Carlyle. The reit, fingered morn did there dis- close her beaaty, ruddy as a blushing bride, gilding the marigold, painting the rose, with Indian chrysolites her cheeks were dy41.—Baron. PRAYER. The Ram's Horn Makes Seine Helpful Suggestions. ' The devil fears a praying mother. No nom can pray right while he is liv- ing wrong. When you shut your closet door, lock it with a promise. Half-heartedness makes no prayers that God can answer. Prayer is not prayer until it .becomes coinutunion with. God. When we ask God to bless others din should also pray that He tvill do it in His "Tlahewapyr.aye'r of the grateful man will .please God, whether it pleases anybody else or not. 'Da a. great deal of praying before you undertake to tell what a great siuuer you used to be. • The devil will fight hard to keep the Man who has power with God from getting on his knees. • How inconsistent to ask God to give to us. if we are withholding that which be - lenge to somebody else. It was becanse Daniel kept his windows open toward Jerusalem that he had no fear of the lions' den. • marked difference between a hypo- crite andti child of God is that the hypo- crite has no closet for prayer. The Christian who will take every need . to God in prayer will soon have a faith • that can move mountains. When . you pray for strength to resist temptation, help answer your prayer by keeping out of bed company. . To pray the Lord's prayer , as Jesus taught it will make every man the guard- ian of his brother's rights. ' ' Our preyers are not always answered according to oar expectations but the prayer of faith ianever disappointed. , Before Jesus' taught His disciples how to pray He told them of the Father to whom their prayers should be addressed. • THINGS USEFUL TO KNOW. • Almond meat is very softening and whitening to, the skin. • Peroxide of hydrogen -.diluted with am- monia will bleach the hair. Naphtha is good for cleaning kid gloves, but keep it away from the fire. Ordinary sticking plaster makes a good remedy for cerus, as it keeps them soft and prevents the rubbing. . 'Wash white flannels in cold water with suds made of whl1,e soap, and they will not shrink much nor look yellow. • For chafing, try fuller's earth pulveriz- ed ; moisten the surface first when apply - Mg ih ,Oxide of zinc ointment is also ex- cellent elof the most effectual injections for constipation in young children is equal parts of glycerine and water. , is harm- less and healing. Never sweep dust and diet from one room to another, nor frum Upstairs to the lower pars of the house Ativays take ib. up in each rooni. A good den taxi ce is made:or two minces • • . • of pulverized borax, four ounces ,of.pre7 cipitated pilaik, ind tw,oounces: ot pul- • veriZal castile soap, ' A TRICK THAT FAILED. This ;Woman Did Not Learn What She Wanted to Though She Told a iterY • T7the p errltYLrlivea.te office of a proniitient jew- eler entered a middle-agecj woman, eichly caparisoned io flounce and furbelow and evidently forming part of the dough that makes up the upper crust. She held in one hand a. diamond eareiag, The jewel was large and brilliant. With entire cool- ness ,of demeanor she said: "I lost the mate to this. Will you be kind., enoagh to taeelil Tilulucso ast sttoo lo.yb tal itoh ehanother- exactlya pbia Time. The jeweler eyed her keenly and then cried: "Madam, where did you lose your earring ?" Tbe effect of this simple question open the woman was surprising. She was dently unprepered for the query, and there was certainly something in it that disturbed her. "It enakes no difference where I too it,", she answered in a decid- • edly sharp tone. "What will it cost Inc to obtaia another exactly like tbis ?" and she held up the sparkling. stone. • "Did you advertise for the one yon lost, madam ?" persieted the jeweler, blandly. "What has that got to do with the meg ter ?" she replied in an augry tone. "Vell, madam," was tbe smiling xeply, "if you advertise for the earring which you lost you might recover it, and ,then you would not be placed reader the neces- sity orescertaining what it woteld cost to replace it. Advertise first, madam, and if you do not recover the jewel, come iu again and I will answer your questions." Sayin 0. this the diamond dealer politely bowedDthe now fretting and fuming woman to the door. "Virby will women lie in such smelt af- fairs," saki the jeweler, wearily, "and why will nearly every purchaser of a die - mond look upon the merchant with whom he or she deals as a rascal ? That woman hasn't lost an earring. She has purchased a pair, perhaps on trial, and she will go to nearly every 'jeweler in town with that pretty lie and endeavor to get a price upon that, stone. It is one of the finest of dia- monds and evidently came from one of our leading dealers, whom she ineists on believing is engaged in a scheme to rob her. The chances' are that she will eventually get in the hands of some un- scrupulous merchant, whom she can find even in big stores. He will tell her that the stone is 'off -colored' and contains a flaw. He will show her a poor diamond of the same size as the other and fix upon it a price which he knows is less than the fine brilliant could be worth."—Buffalo Expressr- Clitildreu in Africa. A lady on 0 visit to one of the missionary stations in Eastern Africa. has some cur- ious and rather surprising things to say about the native children. These sons and daughters of the Dark Continent are not so much behind the rest of the world as one might have expected, unless their extreme generosity be taken as a synapeom of inferiority. Nothiug. strikes us more forcibly than the singular unselfishness of these poor savages, for both old and, young share everything they get with ono anoeber. Sometimes when I have given a third a blecuit, I have felt really sorry to see the way iu which the poor little •thing has. given a bit to all of its cothpanions, till many a time nothing more than a crumb remeins for itself. in the same manner, if an oldpair of shoes happens th be thrown away, and a child finds them, it immediately puts on one of them and gives the other to a Com- panion, and thua the two hobble about all day, "one shoe off and one'shoe on." The next day tbe shoes are sure to be handed to two others, who, in turn, pass them to two more; and so they go on, till every child in the school has had its chance. Bishop Mackenzie's party found games of whip -top, humming -top and many others as common' among the Africans as the boys at home, so that they could teach them tiothing new. At last, in despair, they thought they would surprise them by makiug a kite. All the children as- sembled to see it '; but it turned outlope sided and heavy, and would not go up. $o oue of the missionaries remarked to them, "You uever saw anything like this before, did you ?" Whereupon a little fellow replied, "Oh, yes; only the things we have nee dif- fere* from yours, for ours go up, and yeurs go down." Not "New" After All. She was in tears. "It's a terrible blow," she said. "I don't know that I shall ever recover from the shock." "What's the matter ?" he asked. "My bloomefs." she sobbed. He laughed with masculine heartless- ness. "Have you just found out that' they don't fit ?" he inquired. "They're not meant to fit," she replied between her sobs, "and that's not it at all. They're teot new." ,."Not new 1" be exelaimed. "Has some 'conscienceless bloomer -maker dared to impoee upon you by giving you—" "It's net the maker's fault," she inter- rupted. He began to be nuzzled. "You don't mean to , say that you ac- cepted them, knowing that they were only_ "No, no, no 1" she cried. • "Yalu don't understand. I wanted to be a new woman, and wear the new costume for women, and, they told me that bloomers were .up to date." "Well ?" • "Well, they're not. They're old; old as civilization ; no one knows how old they axe." s e "Not bloomers!" he exclaimed. "Yes, bloomers," she asserted. "Just look at these picture's of the Esquemaux women." Ho looked and saw that she was right —Chicago Evening Post. What it Wantbd. Young bousekee,per (anxiously)—"Is the mince pie good ? Now, tell me frankly. It's the first, I eves made." }Ter husband (promptly)—Yes, buleed; it's splendid, Helen. Excellent; not quite spice enough, perhaps. Her eather—Very good, my daughter; but a dash of brandy will improve it. It seems dry. rather. ' Her mother—You've done wonderfully well deer. ,The crust needs a little more shortening. Did you put any salt in it ? Her sieter—You needn't be ashamed, I'm sure, for a first attempt. But, good- ness, why didn't yoe let me chop the • raisins. • ' Her brother -0. X., Nell—first rate ; only, whitt's the matter with the bottom of it. It tastee like dough. , Young housekeeper (with sarcastrd— HOW A HOME -WAS LOST. THE BITTER EXPERIENCE OV 1111. [ELWOOD, SR., OF SINCOE, A.ttacited With Neuralgia of the Limbo He Became Helpless mad Suffered In' tense Agony—Spent Ills Home In Doe- torin te With Specialiste Without Avall—Dr. Como to the Rescue When tither Means Ilact railed. • Exom, the Simcoe Reformer. , The enemy virtues of Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People have so often been published in the oolumna of this paper, that they are well known to the residents of Norfolk County, nod it la as -widely concedea that they have brought toy into More than one household, and their merits are spoken of only in wards of praise. In this instate's the facts are brought direetly home to the residents of Simcoe, • a gentleman who la glad to testify to the benefit he has received from the use of these pills being a resident of this town, Mr. Wm. Blamed, dr., a resident of Sinicoe for about two yearn and for years a resident Of Fort Erie, is carpenter by trade'is loud in his praise of the benefits hit derived from the use of Pills. In an interview with Mr. Elwood that gentleman told the Reformer that about eight years ago he was `attacked with ulcerated catarrh of the head and, throat, and was obliged to quit work, and since that Hine has not been able to resume his calling. The disease, shortly after he was taken 111, developed into neuralgia of the lower limbs, from which he suffered Merl hie agony. During his long illness the services of specialists in both Toronto and Buffalo,as well as those, of local physicians both in his former home arid Sinicoe, were called into re- quisition, but all to no pulp -de. So bad did he becom e, and so great were the pains that shot through his limbs, that at • ...agedge- _ 444Aviv,WAriljvv- "WAS retande: TO VALI( anotteen." times Mr. Elwood had to be held down on his couch. His stomach and bowels were seriouslk affected and be was indeed in a deplorable condition. About a year ago be lost the use of his left foot and ankle and was unable to walk around his home . without great difficulty. At one time Mr. Elwood was possessed of a good. home, but so long was be ill that be spent all his property in the hope of regaining his health. Last fall Mr. Elwood com- menced taking Pink Pills and shortly after be began to feel an improvement in his condition, lie continued the use of pills until be had taden thirteen boxes when be regained the use of his foot and ankle and thought he was about cured and discontinued their ase So long had he been a sufferer however, that it was impossible for him to become convales- cent in so short a time. An attack of the grip again brought on the disease, but not by any means as terrible as formerly. Mr. Elwood again comment:lea taking the pills and is fast regaining his former health and feels certain that the Pink Pills will exterminate all traces of dis- ease from his ystem, He feels so gratified at what the pills have done for Min that he gladly gave the information to tbe Reformer for publication in the hope that his experience may be a benefit to some, other sufferer. Dr. Williams' Pink Pills strike at the root of the disease, driving it from the system and restoring the patient to health. and strength. In cases of paralysis, spinal troubles, locomotor ataxia, sciatica, rheu- matism, erysipelas, scrofulous troubles, etc., these are superior to all other treat- ment. They are also a specific for the troubles which make the lives of so many women is bortlen, and speedily restore the rich glow of health to sallow cheeks. Men. broken down by overwork, worry or ex- cess, will find in Pink Pills a certain. mire. Sold by all dealers or sent by mail,. post paid, at 50 cents a box, or six boxes.. for 82 50, by addressing the Dr, Williams' Medicine Company, Brockville, Ont., or Schenectady, N.Y. Beware of imitations and subsitutes alleged to be "just as good." The Musical Charles Close, of Millbury, Conn., has discovered a new use for the bicycle, He is a musician and has the abiliey not only to play but make almost any sort of musi- cal instrument. A short tithe ago he made an instrument that plays teu popular airs better than any band' organ heard here. Still the Danbury Yankee was not eatis- fled. Re forma that before be had wound or ground out half the tunes of his won- derful music box Imbed to stop to rest his aching arm. To overcOnle that unpleasant feature he eonstructeel a bicycle' with a driving wheel in the place of the usual rear wheel. The machine was made sta- tionary by placing it in a framework and elevating the fly -wheel from the floor. A fly -wheel on the organ, connecting with the bicycle by a broad belt, dtd the rest. A day or two ago Mr. Close and his wife celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of their marriage, and on that oceaeion Mr. Close entertained his &nests by mounting the seat of his Wee -rile ancl playing the whole repertoire of music in his unique machine. His guests got away alive. Ant.5-r'uIrtingL4sw a Failure, The effort in Virginia to provide by legislative enactment for the punishment of boys flirting with sehool girls seems to have been unsuccessful. About two years ago a law was passed making it a misde- meanor, punishable upon conviction by fine for any man to loiter about' is female school. The president of a prominent Riehmond female college was the first to attempt n prosecetion under the law. Leder a similar attempt was outdo in one of the border aisles to convict a young man of ogling the girls. His counsel, however, droniptly gave notice that he would sub- imrea all of the laity teachers mid -many of the girls and bring them into cotirt as witnesses. Rather than 'subject tlie ladies to tills humiliation,the principal abandon. ed t heprosecutiou. This lido pf defence conip ete e . aitder t.P1set,tli):\vi.,11'b';111Itlit'lYt will be repealed. -- you all much. I'an delighted .of convicting flirte to lcuoigatiet my, pie is such a 1 success,--13r.00kisa Lela. • Cyhicaeo inter -Ocean: