Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1896-7-16, Page 7WOMAN SACRIFICED. DR. TALMAGE ON HER WRONGS AND HER OPPORTUNITIES. • Vashti, the Veiled, the Silent and the Righteous—Tim Bold Woman and the Modest Woman --Waiting for the Divine Hand to Soothe. Washington, July 12e—In his sermon to -day, starting from a brilliant Bible scene, Dr. Talmage discourses upon Woman's oppoetunities and the wrongs she sometimes suffers. His text was Esther i, 11, 12: "To bring Vashti the gam before the king with the crown royal to show the people and the princes her beauty, for she was fair to look on. lig But the (peen Vashti refused to come Ailw' . at the king's commandment by his chamberlains, therefore was the kiug very wroth, and his anger burned in him." We stand amid the palaces of Shushan. The pinnacles are aflame withethe morn- ing light. The columns rise festooned and wreathed, the wealth ef empires flashing from the grooves, the ceilings adorned with images of bird and beast • and scenes of prowess and conquest. The walls are hung with thieldsand em- blazoned until it seems that the whole' 'round of splendors is exhausted. Each 1 arch is a mighty leap of architecturat achievement. Golden stars, shining down on plowing arabesque. Hangings of em- lbreidered work in Which mingle the blueness of the sky, the greenness of the !grass, and the whiteness of the sea foam. Tapestries hung on silver rings, wedding together, the pillars of marble. Pavilions reaching out in every direction.. These for repose, filled, with luxuriant conches, ,into which weary limbs sink until all fatigue is submerged. These for carousal, where kings drink down a kingdom at one swallow. Amazing spectacle! Light of silver dripping down over stairs of ivory on shields of gold. . Moore of stained marble, sunset red and night black, and inlaid With gleairmig pearl. Wby, it. Seems as if a heavenly vision of einethyst and jacinth and topaz antt eheysoprasus had deseemied and alighted upon Shushan. It scorns as if a billow of celestial glory had clashed clear (nor heaven's battlements upon this metrop- olis of Persia In conneetinn with this palace there Is a. garden where the mighty men of foreign lands are seated at a bangteit. Under the spread of oak atul linden awl acacia vhe tables are arranged. The breath of honeysuckle and frankincense fills the air. Founteine leap opiate the light. the spray struelt through wit it ratnbows falling in crystalline haptitin upon flowering shrub', then rolling amen through channels of marble and wideninee out hem and there into pools swirling, with the finny tribes of foreign molest- ums, borderd with scarlet ;mammies, hyperieume and many colored ran:unve- il-is. Meats of rarest bird and hermet emoting up amid wreathe cr: emulates. •NI The vases filled with apricots and al- monds. The baskets piled up with apri- cots and. dates and figs dad mumps and pomegranates. Melon's emetefully twitted. with leaves of ecame. The bright waters of Eulaeue filling the urns and, sweating outside the rim in flashing beads Mout the traceries. Wine from the royal vats of Ispahan and. Shiraz in bottles of tinged shell and lily 'shaped cups of sit - ;e'er and flagons and tankards of solid gold. The music rises higher, and the revelry breaks out into willder trans- port, and the wine has flushed the cheek )and touched the brain, and louder than •all other voices are the hiccough of time linebriates, the gabble of fouls and the • song of the drunkard. 1 In another part of the palace Queen ,Vashti is entertaining the princess of iPersia at a banquet. Drunken Ahasuerus says to his servants, "You go out and ifetch Vashti from that banquet with the women and bring her to this banquet with the men and let me display her , beauty." The setvants immediatley start to obey the king's command, but there was a rule in oriental society that no woman might appear in public without kaythg her face veiled. Yet here was a mandate, chat no one dare dispute, de- manding that Vashti come in unveiled before the multitude. However, there was in Vashti's soul a principle more regal than Ahasuerus, more birlliant than the gold of Shushan, of more wealth than the realm of Persia, which commanded her to disobey this order of the king, and so all the righteousness and holiness and modesty of her nature rises • up into one sublime refusal. 'She rusgs, "I will not go into the banquet unveiled." Of course Ahasuerus was in- furiate and Vashti, robbed of her posi- tion and her estate, is driven forth in poverty and ruin to suffer the scorn of a nation, and yet to receive the applause of after generations who shall rise up to admire this martyr to kingly inso- lence. Well, the last vestige of that feast Is gone, the last garland has faded, the last arch has fallen, the last tankard has been destroyed, and Shushan is a ruin, but as long is the world stands there will be multitudes of men and women aemiliar with the Bible who will come Into this piciture gallery of Goa and ad- mire the divine portrait of Vashti the queen Vashti the veiled, Vashti the sacrifice, Vashti the silent. In the first place, I want you to look • 1r upon Vashti the queen. A blue ribbon, ar. eyed with white, drawn around her • forehead, indicated her queenly position. It was no small honor to be queen in ' such a realm as that. Hark to the rustle of her robes! See the hlaze of her jewels! And yet, my friends, it is not necessary • to have palace and regal robe in order to be queenly. When I see a woman with • strong faith in God putting her font upon all itiemaness and selfishness and godless display, going right: forward to • serve Christ and the race by a grand and glorions service, I say, "That wom- an IS a queen," and the ranks of heaven • look over the battlements upon the car- onatiou, and whether she comp up from the shanty on the commons or the man - ' Sion of the fashionable square I greet her with the shout: "All bail Queen Vashtir What glory was there on . the brow of !Mary of Scotland, or Elizabeth of Eng- land, or Margaret of France, or Cather- •ine, of Russia :compared with the, 'worth of some of our Christian mothers, many • of them gone into glory; • or of that woman mentioned in the Seriptures who put all her menet, into the Loed's treas- • ury; or of Jetaitthah'e daughter, who made a demonstration of unselfish patri- otism; or of Abigail who rescued the herds and flocks of her husband; or Of Ruth, who toiled under a tropical , sma for peer old helpless Naomi; or of Flor- ence Nightingale, Who wont' at midnight to stanch the battle wouods of the Crimea; of Mrs. Adel:deem Judson, who kindled the lights of salvation amid the darkness of Burma; or of Mrs. Homans, who poured out her holy soul in words which will forever be associated with bunter's born, and captive's chain, and bridal hour, and lute's throb, and cur- few's knell at the dying day, and scores and hundreds Of women unknown on earth who hale given water to the thirsty and bread to the hungry and medicine to tho sick and smiles to the discouraged —their footsteps heard along dark lane and in govenrment hospital and in aim - house corridor and by prison gate? There may be no 'royal robe; there may be no palatial surroundings. She does not need them, for all charitable men. will -.unite with the crackling lips of fever stencil; hospital and plague blotehed lazaretto in greeting her as she passes: "Hail! Hail! Queen Vashti I" Aagin, 1 want you to consider Vashti the Veiled. Had she appeared before athasuerue and his court on that day with her facie uncovered she would have .shocked all the delicacies of oriental so- ciety, and the 'very men Who ill their iutoxicetion demanded that she come in their sober moments weuld have de- spicred her. As Semite flowers seem- to thrive best in the dark lane and in the shadow where •the aim does not seem to reach them, so God appoints to most womanly natures a, rotting and nnebt truelve stint. God once in a while does call an Isabella to a throne, or a Miriam to strike the tbribrel at. the front of a host, or a Merle Antoinette to quell n French Mob, or a Deborah to Stand at the front of an armed battalion, crying out: "Up! •17p! This is time day in which the Lord will deliver Sisera into thine hand." And when women are called to Paoli outdoor work and to such heroic positions, God prepares them for it, and they have Iron in their soul); and light - Meg in their eye, and whirlwinds um their breath, and the borrowed strength of the Lord omnipotent in their right arm. They with: through furnaces as though they were hedges of wild flowers and ceoss seas as though they were shimmer- ing sapphir, and all the harpies of hell down to their dnageon aim the stamp of her womanly indignation. But, these are t he exeept inns. enerally /ore is would rether make a garment. fee the peer boy, Between, wauld rather fill the trough for the camels, Hannah would rather make a coat for Samuel, time Hebrew maid would althee give e prescription for Naamaine leprosy, the woman of Sarepta would rather gather a few sticks to crook n meal for fainiehed Elijah, Ithelie would rather carry a letter for the inspired apeetle, Mother Lois would rather ate eate Timothy in the Scriptures. the hearth of the old homestead it May be because We have .• Gone to sleep that last long deep • From Which none ever wake to weep. NoW we are an army on the march of life. -Then 'we will be an army bivou. aoked in the tent of the grave. • Once more I want' you • to look at Vashti the silent You do not hear any outcry front this woman as she goes forth from the palace gate. • From the very dignity of her nature you know there will be no vociferation, Sometimes In life it is necessary to make a retort; sometimes in life it is necessary to resist, but there are crises when the most tri- umphant thing to do is to keep silence. The philosopher, confident in his newly discovered principle, waiting for the com- ing of more intelligent - generations, 'Willing that men should -laugh . at the lightning rod ..end cotton gin and steam - beat, waiting for long years through the scoffing of philosophical schools in grand andmagnificent silence. Galilee con- demned -by mathetnaticians and -scien- tists, caricatured -everywhere, yet waiting and watching with his . telescope to see the coining up of stellar- te-enforeemente, when the • stars in their courses would fight for the Copernielan system, then sitting down in complete bit:maltose and &armee to wait for the coming • on of the generations who .would build his monument and lam at hie grave 0 woman, does not thiestory of Vashti the queen, 'Veshti the veiled, Vashti the sacrifice, -Vasliti the silent, move your coal! My sermon converges into the one. armee:hien hope that nom of you mat be shut nut of the palaee gate of heaven Yen ate endure the hardships and. the pvivetions and the orneltiee and the anis-- fortune,: of this life if you tem only gain admission them Through the blood of the re:Matting covenant, you go through these gates or never go et all, God forbid that you should at last be banished lama the etailery cf angels arid bablehed from the emnpanienship of your glori- fied kindredand banished ferever. TInemeth the rieh grace, of Our Lard Jesus Christ may yon be enabled -to imi- tate the example cif Bethel and Hannah and Abigail and De' erah and Mitry and Esther and Vaeliti nine». When I see a tveman teeing about het daily cinty—with cheerful dignity presid- ing mitthe table, with kind and gentle hut firm ttiselpliiie presiding in the nursery, going out into the world with - nut tiny beiet of trample, followiug in the foarittepe ot him who went about arming say. Tide ite Vashti with a vett cm.'' rag when I see it woinan of unbluelting boldness, loud volved, with a trireme of in ti nite chiller, with arregent look, peeing, through the streets with the step of a walking beam, gayly arrayed in a very hurricerne Of millinery, I ery nut, "Vaelitt has lost her veil:!" • When I see it woinan of comely features. and of adreitneee of in- telleet, end endowed with all that the schooleau do for one, and of high so - dal position, yet moving in society, with supercillinuenese and hauteur,as though she would have people know their place, maul an undefined cenithination of giggle and strut and rhotioniontacle endowed with allepathic quantities of talk, but only homeopathie infinitesi- male of sense, the terror of dry goods clerks and railroad voniinctore, dicoverers of significant meanings in plain conver- sation, prodigies of badinage and innu- endo, I say: "Look! Look! Vashti has lost her veil." Again, I want you to consider Vashti the suerifice. Who is this I see coining out of that palace gate of Shushan? It Seems to me that I have seen her before. She comes homeless, homeless, friendless, trudging along with a broken heart. Who is she? It is Vashti the sacrifice. Oh, what a change it was from regal position to a wayfarer's crust! A little while ago, approved and sought for; now, none so poor as to acknowledge her acquaintance- ship. Vashti the sacrifice! Ain you and T have seen it many a time! Here is a home impalaced with beauty. All that refinement and looks and wealth can do for that home has been done, hut Ahasuerus, the husband and the father, is taking hold on paths of sin. He is gradually going down. After awhile he will flounder and struggle like a wild beast in the hunter's net—farther away from God, farther away from the right. Soon the bright apparel of the children will turn to rags; soon the household song will become the sobbing of a broken heart The old story over again. Brutal centaurs breaking up the mar- riage•feast of Laphtihae. The house full of outrage and cralety and abomina- tion, while trudging forth from the palace, gates are Vashti and her children. There are homes that are in danger of such a breaking up. Oh, Ahasuerus, that you should stand in a home by a dissipated life destroying the peace and comfort of that home! God forbid that your children should ever have to wring their hands and have people point their fingers at them as they pass down the street and say, "There goes a drnItard's child." God forbid that the little feet ,should over have to trudge the path. of poverty and wretchedness! God forbid that any evil spirit born of the wine cup or the brandy glass should come forth and uproot that garden and with a last- ing, blistering, all consuming curse shut forever the palace gate against Vashti and the children! During the war I went to Hagerstown to look at the army and I stood in the night on a hilltop and looked down upon them. I saw the campfires all through the valleys and all over the hills It was a weird spectacle, those campfires, and I stood and watched them, and the soldiers • who were gathered around them were no doubt talking Of their homes and of the Icing march they had taken and of the battles they were to fight but after awhile I saw these campfires begin to lower, and they continued to lower un- til they were all gone out and the army slept. It was imposing when I saw the campfires. It was imposing in the dark- ness when I thought of that great host asleep. •• , Well, God looks down from heaven, ..and he sees the firesides ot Christendom • and the loved ones gathered around these ,firesides. These are the campfires where we warna ourselvea at the close of the day and talk over time battles of life we hae-e fought and the battles that are to come. • Gad grant that tvhsn atlest.thesi fires begin to go - out and cm:thine: lower until finally they are extleen mad the ashes of consumed ETIOJETTE IN 1628. Men Are Told Not to Pull Their Sleeking% aerate, What IS probably one of the oldest books on deportment hi existence was discovered in Paris the other day, says the New 'York World. It Was publiedual in that city in lees for the Celleee of the .1,e:tilts of La Fleelie, and is entitled "Good Manners in Cenverse Among Men." Time text is in French, with a Latin translation, ileirtieent in public is first touched imm. "In yawning de meg groan," tide /mitten ;mitt) to politanese says,. "end de not ware (Wen When .:peniting. In ,h1i1WiTng the nOqe tio it ae eine ivemld equal a trumpet, mini afterward regard not fixedly thy henilkerehlef, Avoid wild= thy nose ne the children de With thy fingers 11],int thy .leave. When "'steelier to some speaking do not wiggle abut',ut kap thyself in thy skin the while." It must have been Mud to obey this latter injunetion, judging from what Is sold a little ftwther along: "Eall not lime or the like in the•prosenee of (where, but melee thyself anti remove whatever torments thee." Three hundred years ago gentlemen did not wear- such sad colored enstumes as they do to -day, and 'me cannot help feeling that a little pHde and swagger were exeusable in a dandy of those days when he donned for the first time a par- ticiarly Melting costume of high -colored silken doublet arid hose. Yet this "guide" remarks severely: "If thou art well bedizened, if thy hose he tightly drawn and thy habit be well ordered, parade not thyself, but (every. thyself with becoming modesty. Demean not thyself arrogantly, neither go mincingly about, Let not thy hands hang limply to the ground, and tuck not up thy hose at every turn." "Do not emboli:1h thyself with flowers upon thy ear," is another injunction which sounds curiously to -day, but the advice, "When speaking raise not thy voice as if thou evert crying an edict," is just as pertinent now as when the budding young gentlemen of La France had it drummed into them. Tabe manners in those days must have heen rather more primitive even than those of some of the 50 cent table d'hotes In this city, for the book says: "Being seated at the table, scratch not thyself, and if thou must. cough or spit or wipe thy nose do it dexterously and without any great noise." - "Stuff not thy mouth with food when eating, and drink not too much of the wine if thou art not master of the house. Show not overmuch pleasure, either, at the meats or wine, . "In taking salt have a care that thy knife be not greasy; when it isnecessary to clean that or the fork, do it neatly with the napkin or a little bread, but never with the entire loaf. Smell not of • the meats, and if by •chance thou dost, put them not back afterward before an- other. "It is a very indecent thing to wipe the sweat from thy face with thy nap- kin, or with the same to blow thy nose or glean the plate or platter." • A. Few Tears Hence. The girl seemed ill at ease, and every time he took a seat near her she moved away. "My dearest," he said, "you seem wor- ried. Let me chase those tears away." ' "Nary a chase to night," she returned quickly, "and if you know what is good for you you'll keep away from me. Papa is sitting in the next room read- ing." "But the door is closed," he protested, "and we can hear him if he makes the sligthest move." ' 'But you can't hear him turn on the X rays," she answered, "and you can't tell when he will take it into his head to do it, either." • A Clock Made of Bread. Ovum is the most curious material nut of Which a clock has ever been eon- strneted. There was, and may still be, in bitten, a clock made of bread. The maker was a native of Milan, who de- voted three years of his time to the task. He was very poor, and being without means to purchase the necessary metal for the making of a clock, he set apart regularly a portion of his bread each day, eating the crust and saving the soft part. To solidify this be made use of a certain salt, and when the various pieces were dry they became perfectly hard and insoluble In water. The clock was of good size, and kept fair time. It is not good form to introduce either Latin Or FrEmch phrases in general eon- versation "UNCLE TOM'S" CABIN A VISIT TO THE SCENE OF MRS. STOWE'S IMMORTAL NOVEL. The Village of Faint Lick, Ky., and its A,s7 sociations--The Home or Gen. Kennedy-- Reconections of Lewis George Clark,Who Was the George Barris. of the Story. The death of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Occurring within the past few days, revived interest in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and in the spot around, which cluster the scenes so graphically depicted In that famone story. It will be remem- bered that Mrs. Stowe opened her book with the expression, "In the quiet little town of meaning Paint Lick, In Garrard County, Ky. It was the writ- er's pleasure a few days since to visit this Imenlet,which gave to the world the character that Made interesting the pages of Mrs.Stowe's immortal' novel, second In circulation to the Bible only, "UncheTom's Cabin" first appeared as a serial in the National Era of Wash- ington City, In 1851—forty-five years ago. Mrs. Stowe saw fit then to can Paint Lick a "quiet, little town," and only slight chaeges have taken place since, though nearly a half century has rolled by. Hewever, it is Second only in Size, population and wealth to the county seat of Gevermminta-Lancaster. It was in the Paint Melt neighborhood that Ste- phen A. Burehard, whose • "Hum; Bo- manislit and Rebelion" speech in 1884 perhaps deteated Blaine for president; Rev. George' 0, Berries, the noted "mountain evangelist," and the Hon. R. M. Brad- ley, father of Goy. W. 0. Bradley, first saw the light of day. Garrard, the coun- ty of which It is a part, has furnished the State three Governors, three Chief justices of the Appellate, Court and six Coneressmtren. There, too, were born Nathan Ball anti Nathan Rice, two. leatned divines. and Commodore Cicero Price, whose daughter is DOW DclWatrer Ittieheee of Marlhoreugh, Paint Lick is the home of the best-known fox-hunters of the eolith, the Walker brothers, who entertain annually in chases for a week the redietleal,'e Jnek Chinn of rave track and Lealtintere fame. Paint leek is cemet by only eighteen miles teen the first Union recruiting station smear cif the Ohio river—Canm Dick Helen -Ina over the &Adidas of which calve pa Aided. such noted Federal Generale as Anderegn, the hero of Fort Sumter: Thorne's, Sherman, Nelson. Landram. Fry and Wolford—and west by even it shoeter (beta/lee of Berea Col- lege, the l!rst sehoels established in the South for the tet-rdneatin: cif tin' races It lies net far, rye from a White Hall, the hene• tieneral Caseins Mar - cellos Clay, Sr., the fiercest abolitionist. of them all, ex-MinIster to Russia; and It is within rm +hey bait days' ride of the birtimpirtee of a badman Lincoln and Jeffereen Davie, Thue did the authoress have geed gremal mum which to find the charaetere and build-41er stirs'. Lewie George 'lark, the prototype of tleorgi• I iarrie, the mi we prominent per- son in the meal, was ownea by Gen. Thoinae Kennedy, then the wealthiest HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. two sped up the Ohio River on a s'eam- boat for Cincinnati. She did not cross on the ice, Eliza was an octoroon, won by Gen. Kennedy on a horse race in In- dian Territory. Clark found wane in the Queen City and remained there until he went to Cambridge, Masa, 'and was given em- ployment by Mrs. A. H. Stafford, a daughter of Lyman Beecher, father • of Mrs. Stowe. Although Mrs, Stowe (then Miss Beecher) was teaching at Late) Seminary, in Cincinnati, while Clark was in the city, she never met or heard of him there, as is the popular belief. It was at Mrs. Stafford's home in Cam- bridge, that Mrs. Stowe first saw George Lewis Clark. She became interested in his relation of experiences, and from him got the characters that figure in "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Norman denies the allegation that Gen. Kennedy was cruel to his staves, and from another source in the Paint Lick community I learned that the WM:t- ole Tom" of the story was not the sensi- tive, persecuted darky of Mrs. Stowe's romance, but a lazy, trifling, no -count' nigger," of whom the woods in that locality used to be full, and that his ex- odus from the neighborhood was hailed with delight by even his own race. The "Little Eva" of the book never died, but Is now a grandmother, and. has for a son-in-law one of the leading Democrats of the State. man in the General Assembly of Ken- tucky. He first belonged to John Ban- ton, who was a party to the famous Banton counterfeiting scheme, and oper- ated one of the most extensive counter- feiting plans, a few miles southwest of Paint Lick, that was ever brought to in this country. It was Bantoia's detection that led to the sale of young (Nark to Gen. Kennedy, then the wealthiest man in the blue grass section, and a large dealer in race horses and uegroes. When Gen. Kennedy died he willed a hundred slaves to his son, Thomas Kennedy, Jr., and among them was Clark. A house boy, Norman Kennedy was given to 'Robert Argo, and he still lives to tell of Clark, Uncle Tom, and other char- acters of the famous production of the 50s. After visiting the old Kentucky home- stead, yet a comfortable residence, I hunted up old Norman, and found him working in the garden at the Argo place, which he has never loft, though freed more than a score and a half of years ago. Norman is a midget, a curi- osity worth going miles to see, for rea- sons other than his connection with "Uncle Tom's Cabin." He is 95 years old, only 8 feet and 9 inches tall, and weighs less than 60 pounds. When Gen. Kennedy' had a stable of runners Norman was brought to ride for him, but his little legs were so short be couldn't stay in the saddle and fell off in more than one race. He has had num- erous offers since to travel in circuses, but was always averse to the thought of being put on exhibition. The old darky corroborated all the data above mentioned and gave some additional facts that have never before been published. He remem- bered Clark well and had slept and worked with him. When young, Clark was a weaver'knitter and sewer, and cooked well. 13ecau:s'e of these accom- plishments he was not sent to the field clueing. Gen. Kennedy's life, amid Ner- man, being houseboy, got intimately ac- quainted with Mrs. Stowe's hero. Young Tona Kennedy did not long survive his father, and Clark was again about to be put up for sale with'the other negroes when he determined to gain liberty, whatever the cost, informing Nornian'that he would soon bleach from time mulatto that he was to a tolerably fair white than. He began to wear gloves and a big bat to work in, and in a few months, true to his declaration, he es- caped by stealing a mule and, went North. His wife, Margie (the "Eiza" of the novel,) was left behind, but soon ran off to Louisville. Old Uncle Norman says Margie secreted herself in tho Falls City until Clark'return from the Buck- eye State, when she joined him, and elle A CHAT WITH "GEORGE HARRIS." --- iteeolieetions or Lewis George Marko, Who Gave Mrs. Stowe the Data for Her story. There is one man in Lexington to whom the death of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe means much, and that is Lewis George Clarke, the octoroon now 85 years old, who gave Mrs. iStowe the data from which she drew the character of George Harris in her great work, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin," In fact many of the incidents of Clarke's life were woven into the story. In an interview the old octoroon said: ‘IIam sorry to hear that this good woman has been called into the great beyond. In the death of Mrs. Stowe the country loses one of the greateitt enamel - paters the world has ever known, and I believe that had it 'not been for her story, 'Uncle Toni's Cabin,' we would all be slavte'st(S)tto-day. "I firt Mrs. Stowe at the borne of her stepsister, Mrs. Stafford, in Cam- bridgeport, Mass., In 1844. She ques- tioned me a great deal about the system of American slavery, and asked me par- ticularly of my own experiences. She was making a visit to Mrs. Stafford from Cincinnati. where she Was teaching school. Her father, Dr. Lyman Beecher. was President of Lane Seminary. Mrs. Stowit and her father would go East each year to visit relatives dining vacation, At such times Lynumn Beecher would preneh in various churches throughout Massaehusetts and New England. In 1845 Mrs. Stowe again called at Mrs. Stafford's to see me, and as hefare she talked abent slavery' She seemed greatly interested in the instituticm, as it ex- isted in the South at that time, but she dian't know as lunch of it as did. Mrse Stafford. nail the latter was anxious to have me talk with her. Prior to my first meeting with her I had tatveled two years in Maine and lectured in nearly all the towns in the State after which I went to Mrs. Stafford's to live. When Mrs. Stowe first came there she was about 33 years old. She was rather homely and never put on any stele. While I Was talking with her she would loll around in het- chair mad appear to be rather careless and indifferent in ques- tioning me, lint I thought she did this so that she would net excite me. She was not as strong in the anti -slavery cause as was Mrs. Safford, and the lat- ter was anxious that I should give her all the information I could, as she told me that Mrs Stowe was a woman of great influence. Mrs. Stowe took the notes she made while questioning me and kept them until after the passage of the fugitive slave law in 1850. After that bill was passed the leading aboli- tionists held a meeting to devise means to counteract its influence, They decided to employ Mrs. Stowe to write articles weekly for the National Era, of which Dr. Bailey was editor. It was published in Washington. Stme then began the pub- lication in that paper, in 1851 • or 1852, of 'Uncle TOM.S Cabin' in serial form. She was paid $100 at first. The story took so well with the people that the publishers could scarcely print enough papers. Mrs. Stowe intimated that she was not satisfied with the remuneration she was receiving, and at an abolitionist meeting where Lewis Tappan, who .was at the head of the movement; President Grover of the New York Central College; Dr. Leavitt„ editor of the Emancipator; Rev, Austin Willie, of Hollowell, Me., editor of the Liberal Standard. and sev- eral other heading abolitionists met, they decided to pay Mrs. Stowe $300 more if she would finish the story. She agreed and the story was finished. I read the story as it appeared from week to week in the National Fira„ and I recognized the facts I bad told her six years before at Mrs. Safford's. "I was at Andover, N. H.'several years after the story appeared lecturing on temperance. I found that Mrs. Stowe was then mm resident of Andover and one day she sent me a pressing invitation to come to her house and take dinner with her. I went and dined with her and her family. She met me at the door and was very gracious. She shook hands with me, asked me how I was getting along and then introduced me to her children, who were Small. I sat at her right at table, and during the meal she talked a great deal about slavery and asked me if I had read 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' I told her I had and asked her why she did not send for me before she printed the story, as I could have straightened out some things she got wrong. She replied: 'You slaves are so reserved that I didn't think you would come if I sent for you. When I was taking the notes of your conversa- tion at my sister's I had no idea I would use them, as I expected to keep them for relics. But when Mr. 'Tappan and others asked me to write about slavery I found my note's of great value. . But you told me then more facts than the people are willing to believe, and I have written another book to tell where I got my in- formation.' I answered her that I would have quickly responded to her call, and she seemed mach pleased. I reina,inect at Mrs. Stowe's several hours, talking with her and the children. That is the last I ever saw of her, as I shortly afterwards came West" THE SUNDAY SCHOOL THIRD QUARTER --LESSON III., IN- TERNATIONAL SERIES, JULY IS. Golden Text--," 0 Lord of hosts, hl,essed iv the matt that trusteth in thee."--Esalm 84 : 12, To -day we study another Satinet epoch In the unfolding of God's kingdom in the kingdom of Israel. Religion and its institutions had been neglected during Saul's later days. Now, under David, is inaugurated a deep and all pervasive revival of religion. . In this les.son we may study the causes which lead. to a decline of the religious life; and the means by which it may be restored; the ways in which the religious life is cherished and strengthened and the blessings which follow. The Lesson -2 Samuel 6; 1-12, 1 Again David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. S And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Battle of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwell - eta between the cherubim. ' For seventy years the ark, the central part of religious worship, had lain in partial neglect, away from the Mosaics tabernacle at Shiloh, The ark was a chest of acacia wood, two and one-half cubits (8 feet 0 inches) in length, and one and one-half cubits (2 feet 3 inches) in height as well as Width, plated within and without with gold. Within the ark were deposited the two tables of stone engraved with the Ten Commandments (Dent. 10:2). It was thus the most sacred symbol of the true religion. 3 And they set the ark of God. upon a now cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab . that was in Gibettla and Uzzah and Alija, the sons of Abbas - dab, drove the new cart. Probably from a remembrance of • the way it was brought from the Philistbaes to Kirjathjearina. (1 Samuel 7:1). 4 And they brought it out of the house of Abinatiab which was -at Gibeala ac- companying the ark of God; and Ahio went before the ark. 6 And David and all the house of Israel played before the London all man- ner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on comae, and on cymbals. Observe that in this catalogue of in- struments there were some which only the skilled performers could play on, siuth as the harp aud lute, while others could be used by any willing hand; se that David's exhortation could be car- ried out: "Let all the people praise th .m.)('...11u1 when they Caine to Naohon's threshing floor, 1.7zzalt put forth his hand. to the ark M.' God, cud took • hold of it; for time oxen shook it. The' place IS unknown, but probably it was not far from Jeruealena. The ark was on the point of being thrown off the cart, and was liable to serious injury owing to the very rough roads. 7 And the anger of the Lord, was kindled against Czzah, and God smote h:irn Tigre for Ms error; and there he died. by the ark of God. The error consieted in touching the ark, which, as the symbol of God's pres- ence (1 Stun. 4:7), none could. look at (Num. 4e:0; 1 Sam. 6:19) much Ices lay • hold of, without peril of life. But sup- posing that it had been overturned, would not rzzah have been as liable to punishment for suffering that as for tak- ing forbidden means of preventing it? Surely not. He might have been punish- able for adopting a mode of conveyance which exposed the ark to suds an emit dent, but not for omitting what he was forbidden to do in order to prevent that accident. Anti there he died. The reasons for this severity were. That it grew out of a procedure which was in direct violation of an express statute (Nunn 4:15; 7-9) which required that the ark should be carried by Levites. Uzzah, who had long had charge of the ark should have been familiar with the law forbidding him to touch it. A neglect now would lead. to greater neglects, and thus the sacredness and teachings of the divine institutions of religion be lost. Amid David was displease, because' the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah; and he called the name of theplace Perez- Uzzah to this day. David was displeased, not with God, but with the breaking up of his plans for which he had taken so much pains; with the failure of his hopes, with the public rebuke of his conduct; most of all, with, himself, because he had ne- glectea to learn of God the right way to do a good thing. His conscience began to smite him. 9 And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me? He had rejoiced greatly in his zeal, but had not been reverent enough. It was well for him to be afraid for a time. 10 So David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him unto the city of David: but David carried it aside unto the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. He feared lest he might make some other mistake, and that it would. be best first to learn all about duty. Obed-edom was a Lent's, belonging to the family of Kohath, who was appointed. to have charge of the ark and the taber- nacle. It was not more than four miles from Jerusalem. 11 And the ark of the Lord continued In the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months: and the Lord blessed Obed-edona, and all his household, Long enough for the Israelites to learn their lesson. And the Lord blessed Obed- edora; this would show to all Israel that the ark itself brought blessing, not. death. The death came from disobedi- ence+, nor from the ark. Another lesson. was also taught. The ark had been in. the house of Abinadab 79 years, and we' do not read of any particular benediction falling upon that house. The reason must, have been in the difference between the two homes and the spirit with which they received the ark. God is in every- thing, and close by every person. God's word may be in the house and never be read, or it may be a guide, and light, and blessing beyond measure. 12 And. it was told King David, say- ing, The Lord bath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of 'God, So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom unto the city of David with gladness. The fact that God blessed the place where the ark was impressed David. With the truth that, while It was dangerous to disobey God, yot it was the .greatest blessing possible to have near him the ark of God and his manifest presence. A 13eginning. "Say, Pee bad en offer to go to work for a Chicago' wholesale house, What would you do if you were in my shoes?" After a careful inspection. • "I think 7 Mould black 'em." • Be. thankful that the gossip has oat one tongue.