HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1896-12-31, Page 9RELIGION OF WORKS.
DR. TALMAGE DESCRIBES IT. IN
HIS SUNDAY SERMON.
Practical Religion the Kind That is 'Worth,
Something.—The Rectifier of All Mech-
anism and All Toil — Faith 'Without
Works is Dead.
Washington, Deo. 24.—.This subject of
Dr. Talmage outs through the oonven-
tionelities and spares nothing of that
make believe religion which is all talk
and no practice. The text chosen was
James ii, 20, "Faith without works is
dead."
The Roman Catholic church has been
charged with putting too much stress
upon good works and not enough upon
faith. I charge Protostanism with putting
not enough stress upon good works as
connected with salvation. Good works
will never save a man, but if a man has
not good works he has no real faith and
no genuine religion. There aro those who
depend upon the fact they are all right
inside, while their conduct is wrong out-
side. Their reiigon for the most part is
made up of talk—vigorous talk, fluent
talk, boastful talk, perpetual talk, They
will entertain you' by the hour in telling
you how good they are. They come up
to such a higher life that they have no
patience with ordinary Christians in the
plain discharge of their duty. As near as
I can tell, this ocean craft is mostly sail
and very little tonnage, . Foretopmast
stagsail,foretop mast studding sail, main
topsail, mizzen topsail—everything from
flying jib to mizzen spanker, but making
no useful voyage. Now, the world has
got tired of thisand it wants a religion
into will work all the oiroumstauoes
of life. We do not want a now religion,
but the old religion applied in all possible
directions.
Yonder is a river with steep and rooky
banks, and it roars like a young Niagara
as it rolls on over its rough bed. It does
nothing but talk about itself all the way
from its source in the mountain to the
place where it empties into the sea. The
banks are so steep that the cattle cannot
come down to drink. It does not run
one fertilizing rill into the adjoining
geld. It has not one gristmill or factory
on either aide. It sulks In wet weather
with chilling fogs. No one cares when
that river is born among the rooks, and
no one cares when it dies into the sea
But yonder is another river, and it mosses
its bank with the warm . tides, and it
rooks with floral lullaby the water lilies
asleep on its bosom, It invites herds of
rattle and flocks of sheep and coveys of
birds to come there and drink. It has three
gristmills on one side and six cotton
factories on the other. It is the wealth
of 200 miles of luxuriant farm. The
birds of heaven chanted when it was
born in the mountains, and the ocean
shipping will press in from the sea to
hail it as it conies down from the Atlan-
tic coast. The one river is a man who
lives for himself. The other river is a
man who lives for others.
Do you know how the site of the
anolent city of Jerusalem was chosen?
There were two brothers who had adjoin.
ing farms. The one brother had a large
' family; the other had no family. The
brother with a large family said:
"There is my brother with no family.
Be must be lonely, and I will try to
cheer him up, and I will take some of
the sheaves from my field in the night
time and set them over on his farm and
say nothing about it." The other brother
raid, "My brother bus a large family,
and it is very difficult for him to support
them, and I well help him along, and I
will take some of the sheaves from my
farm in the nighttime and set them over
on his farm and say nothing about it."
So the work of transference went on
night after night and night after night,
but every morning things seemed to be
just as they were, for, though sheaves
bad been subtracted from each farm,
sheaves had also been added, and the
brothers were perplexed and could not
understand. But one night the brothers
happened to meet while making this
generous transference, and the spot
where they met was so sacred that It was
chosen as the site of the city . of Jeru-
salem. If that tradition should prove
unfounded, it soli nevertheless stand as a
beautiful allegory setting forth the idea
that wherever a kindly and generous and
loving ant is performed that is the spot
fit for some temple of commemoration.
I have often spoken to you about faith,
but this morning I speak to you about
works for "faith witnout works is dead."
I think you will: agree with me in the
statement that the great want of this
world is more practical religion. We
want practical religion to go into all
merchandise. It will supervise the label-
ing of goods. It will not allow a man
to say that a thing was made in one
factory when it was made in another.
It will not allow the merchant to say,
.'That watch was manufactured in
i' 'neva," when it was manufactured in
eneachusetts. It will not allow the
irohant to say that wine came from
eira when it came from California.
Practical religion will walk along by.the
store shelves and tear off all the tags that
make misrepresentation. It will not
allow the merchant to say. "That is pure
coffee," when dandelion root and chicory
and other ingredients go into it. It will
not allow him to say. "That is pure
sugar, when there are in it sand and
ground glass.
When practical religion gets its full
swing in the world, it will go down the
street, and it will come to that shoo store
and rip off the fictitious soles of many a
fine looking pair of shoes and show that
it is pasteboard sandwiched between the.
pound' leather. And, this practical religion
will go' right into a grocery store, and
it will pull out the plug of all the adul-
terated sirup, and it will dump into the
ash; barrel in front of the store the cassia
bark that is sold for cinnamon, and the
brickdust that is sold for cayenne pepper,
and it will shake out the prussian blue
from the tea leaves, and it will sift from
the flour plaster of Darla and bone dust
and soapstone, and it will by chemical
analysis separate the one quart of water
from the few honest drops of cow's milk,
and it will throw out the ,'live animal -
mules from the brown sugar. •
There has been so much adulteration
of articles of food that it is an amaze-
ment to me that there is a healthy man
or woman in America. kleaven !only
knows veldt they put into the spices, and
into the sugars, and into the butter, and
into the apothecary drug. But chemical
analysis and the microscope have ;made
Wonderful revelations. 'l'he board of
health in Massachusetts analyzed a great
amount of what was called pure coffee
and found ;in it not one particle of
coffee. Ih ,England there is a law that
forbids theputting of 'stem in bread.
the publicauthorities examined 51
pankages of bread and found them ail
guilty. The honest physician, writing a
prescription, does not know but that It
may bring death indeed of health to his
patient, because there may bo one of the
drugs weakened by a cheaper article,
and another drug may be infull force,
and so the prescription may have just
the opposite effect - intended. Oil of
wormwood, warrantedpure, from Boston
was found to have 41 per cena of rosin
and alcohol, and chloroform, Soarnmohy
is one of the most valuable medical
drugs. It is very rare, very preeion.e, It
is the sap or the gum of a tree or a bush
in Syria. The root of the tree is exposed,
an incision IS made into the root, and
then shells are placed at this incision:,to
catch the sap or gum as it exudes. It is
very precious, this scammony. But the
peasant mixes it with a cheaper material.
Then it is taken to Aleppo, and the mer-
chant there mixes it with a cheaper
material; then it comes on to the whole.
sale druggist in London or New ''fork
and he mixes it with a cheaper material;
then it comes to the retail druggist, and
he mixes it with a cheaper material, and
by the time the poor sick man gets it
into his bottle it is ashes and chalk and
sand, and some of what has been called
pure scammony after analysis has been
found to be no scammony at all.
Now, practical religion will yet rectify
all this. It will go to these hypocritical
professors of religion who got a "corner"
in corn and wheat in Chicago and New
York, sending prices up and up until
they were beyond the reach of the poor,
keeping these breadstnffs in their own
hands, or controlling them until the
prices, going up and up and up, they
w&re, after awhile, ready to sell, and they
sold out, making themselves million-
aires in one or two years, tryng to fix
the matter up with the Lord by building
a church or a university or a hospital,
deluding themselves with the idea that
the Lord w"'nid be so pleased with the
gift be would forget the swindle. Now,
as such a man may not have any liturgy
in which to say his prayers, I will com-
pose for hun one which he practically is
making: "Oh, Lord, we, by getting a
'corner' in breadstuffs, swindled the
people of the United States out of $10,-
000,000 and made eulfering all un and
down the land, and we would like to
compromise this matter with thee, Thou
knowest it was a scaly job, bet, then. it
was smart. Now, here we compromise it.
Take 1 per cent, of the profits and with
that 1 per cent. you can build an asylum
for those poor miserable ragamuffins of
the street, and I will take a yacht and
go to Europe. Forever anti ever. Amen."
Ah, my friend, if a man bath gotten
his estate wrongfully and he build a
line of hospitals and universities from here
to Alaska, he cannot atone for 1t. After
awhile this man who has been getting a
"corner" in him. Be goes into a great,
long Black Friday. There is a "break"
in the market. According to Wall
street, parlance, he wiped others out,
and now he is himself wiped out. No
collaterals on which to make a spirit-
ual loan. Eternal defalcation.
But this practical religion will not
only rectify all merchandise; it will also
rectify all mechanism and all toil. A
time will come when a man will work
as faithfully by the job as he does by the
day. You say when a thing Is slightly
done, "Oh, that was done by the job."
You can tell by the swiftness or slow-
ness with which a hackman drives
whether he is hired by the hour or by
the excursion. If bels hired by the hour,.
he drives very slowly, so as to make as
many hours as possible. If be is hired by
the excursion, he whips up the horses
so as to get around and get another
customer, All styles of work have to be
Inspected—ships inspected, horses In-
spected, machinery inspected, boss to
watch the journeyman, capitalist coin-
ing down unexpectedly to watch the
boss, conductor of a city car sounding
the punch bell to prove his honesty as a
passenger hands to him a clipped nickel.
All things must be watched and in-
spected—imperfections in the wood
covered with putty, garments warranted
to last until you put them on the third
tune, shoddy in all kinds of clothing,
thromos, pinchbeck, diamonds for $1.50,
bookbinding that holds on until you
read the third chapter, spavined horses,
by skillful dose of jockeys, for several
days made 'to look spry, wagon tires
p only put on, horses poorly shod,
plastering that cracks without any
provocation and falls off, plumbing that
needs to be plumbed, imperfect ear wheel
that halts the whole train with a hot
box. So little practical religion In the
mechanism of the world! I tell you, my
friends, the law of man will never rectify
these things; it will be the all pervading
influence of the practical religion of
Jesus Christ that will make the change
for the better.
Yes, this practical religion will also
go into .agriculture, which is proverbi-
ally honest, but needs to be rectified, and
it will keep the farmer from sending to
the city market veal that is too young
to kill, and when the farmer farms on
shares it will keep the man who does
the work from making his half three -
fourth and it will keep the farmer
from building his post and rail fence on
his neighbors premises, and it will make
him shelter his cattle in the winter
storm, and it will keep the old elder
from working on Sunday afternoon in the
new ground' where nobody sees him. And
this practical religion will hover over
the house, and over the barn, and over
the field, and over the orchard.
Yes, this practical religion of which I
speak will come into the learned profes-
sions. The lawyer' will feel his responsi-
bility in defending innocence and arraign
ing evil and expounding the,law, and it
will keep him from charging for briefs
' he never wrote, and for pleas he never
made, and for Percentages he never
earned, and from robbing widow and
orphans because they are defenseless.
Yes, this practical religion will come
into the physicians life, and he will reel
his responsibility as the conservator of
the public health,a profession honored by
the fact, that Christ himself was a
,physician. And it will make him hon-
est, and when he does not understand a
case he will say so, not trying to Dover
up lack of diagnosis with ponderous
technicalities or ,'send' the patient to a
reckless drug store because the apothecary
happens to pay a percentage on the pre-
soriptionig cent.' And this practical reli-
gion will come to the school teacher,
making her feel ' her responsibility in
preparing our youth for usefulness and
for happiness and for honor, and will
keep hen -front giving a sly bon to a dull
head, chastising him for what he cannot
help and • sending discouragement all
through the after years' of, a lifetime.
This practical religion will also come to
the newspaper men, and it will help
• them in the gathering of the news, and
it will help them in seting forth the beet
interests 'of society, and -'•it will keep
them from putting the sine of thetiworld
in larger type than its Virtue*, ;and its
mistakes than its achievements, 'and it
will keep them from misrepresenting
interviews with public men and from
starting suspicions that never can be
allayed and Will make them staunch
friends of the oppressed instead of the
oppressor.
Yes, this religion, this practical reli-
gion, will tome and put its handon.
what iscalled good society, elevated
society, successful society, so that people
will have their expenditures within their
income, and they wiil exchange the
hypocritical "not at home" fur the
honest explanation "too tired" or "too
busy to see you" and will keep innocent
reei'ption from becoming intoxicates
conviviality,
Yea, there is great opportunity for
missionary work in what are called the
successful classes of society. In some of
the cities it is no rare thing now to see
a fashionable woman intoxicated in the
street or the rail ear or the restaurant.
Thu number o1' fine ladies who drink too
much is increasing. Perhaps you may
find her at the reception in most exalted
company, hut she has made too many
visits to the wineroom, and now her
eye is glassy, and after awhile her cheek
is unnaturally flushed, and then she falls
into fits of excruciating laughter about
nothing, and then she offers sickening
flatteries, telling some homely man how
well he looks, and then she is helped
into the carriage, and by the time the
carriage gets to her home it takes the
husband and the coachman to get her
upstairs. The report is sue „wae taken
suddenly ill at a german. Ah, not She
took too much champagne and mixed
liquors and got drunk, That wns all.
Yea, this practical religion will have
to come in and lix up the marriage
relation in America, There are members
of churches who have too many wives
and too many husbands. Society needs
to be expurgated and washed and fumi-
gated and Christianized. We want this
practical religion not only to take hold
of what are called the lower classes, but
to take hold of what are called the
higher classes. The trouble is that people
have an Idea they can do all their reli-
gion on Sunday with hymnbook and
prayer book and liturgy, and some of
them sit in church rolling up their eyes
as though they were ready for transla-
tion when their Sabbath is bounded on
all sides by an inconsistent life, and
while you are expecting to come out
from under their arms the wings of an
angel there comes out from their ..forehead
the horns of a beast.
Merchants who took their religion
into everyday life: Arthur Tappan, de-
rided in his day because be established
that system by which we come to find
out the commercial standing of business
men, starting that entire system,
derided for it then, himself, as 1 knew
him well, in moral character Al. - Mon-
day mornings inviting to a room iu the
top of his storehouse the clerks of his
establisntont, asking them about their
worldly interests and their spiritual
interests, then giving nut a hymn, lead-
ing in prayer, giving them a few words
of good advice, asking them what church
they attended on the Sabbath, what the
text was, whether they had any especial
troubles of their own. Arthur Tappan.
I never heard his eulogy pronounced. I
pronounce it now. And othermerchants
just as good. William E. Dodge in the
iron business, Moses H. Grinnell in the
shipping husinese, Peter Cooper in the
glue business. Scores of men just as good.
as they are.
Farmers who take'their religion into
their ocoupation: Why, this minute their
horses and wagons stand around all the
meeting houses in America. They began
this day by a prayer to God and when
they get home at noon, after they have
put their horses up, will offer a prayer to
God at the table, seeking a blessing,
and next summer there will be in their
fields not one dishonest head of rye, not
one dishonest ear of corn, not one dis-
honest apple. Worshipping God to -day
away up among the Berkshire hills, or
away down amid the lagoons of Florida
or away out amid the mines of Colorado,
or along the banks of the Potomac and
the Raritan, where knew them,'' Wetter
because I went to school with them.
Mechanics who took their religion
into their occupations: James Brindley,
the famous millwright; Nathaniel Bow-
ditoh. the famous ship chandler; Elillu
Burritt, the famous blacksmith, and
hundreds and thousands of strong arms
which have made the hammer, and the
saw, and the adze, and the drill, and the
ax sound in the grand march of our
national industries.
Give your heart to God, and Hien fill
your life with good works. Consecrate to
him your store, your shop, your banking
house, your factory and your home,
They say no one will hear it. God will
hear it. That is enough.' - You hardly
know of any one else than Wellington
as connected with the victory at Water-
loo. but he did not do the hard fighting.
The hard fighting was done by the Som-
erset cavalry, and the Ryland regiments,
and 1'iemp's' infantry, and the Scotch
grays, and the Life guards. Who cares,
if only the -day was won? In the latter
part of the last century a girl in Eng-
land became a kitchen maid in a farm-
house. She had many styles of work
and much hard work. Time rolled on,
and she married the son of a weaver of
Halifax. They were industrious; they
saved money enough after awhile to
build them a home. On the morning of
the day when they were to enter that
home the young wife arose at 4 o'clock,
• entered the front dooryard knelt down,
consecrated the plane to God, and there
made thissolemn vow, "Oh,Lord,ifthou
will bless me in this place,the poor shall
have a'share of it," Children grew up
around them, and they , all became
affluent. One,a member of parliament, in
a public place declared that his success
came from that prayer of his inother in
the dooryard: All of them were affluent.
Four thousand hands in the factories.
They built dwelling houses for laborers
at cheap rates, and where they were
invalid and could not pay they, had, the
houses for nothing. One of these sons
came to ,this country,: admired our parks,
went hack, bought land, opened a great
public park and made it a present to the
city of, Halifax, England They endowed
an orphanage; they endowed two alms
houses. All England has heard of the
generostlty and the good work of the
Crossleys. Moral' Consecrate to God
your small means and your humble sur-
roundings, and you will• have larger
means and grander surroundings. "God-
liness is profitable unto all things, hav-
ing promise of the life that now - is and'•
of thattenhioh ie to come." "Have faith
'in God, by all means, put remember that
faith without' works is dead."
Just the Same.
HovedOee—et,rin you going to see. the foot,
B R
ball game to -morrow?
Comsoe---No., It looks like relit ,g
and,a
friend le golog:>to show me through a
alaughter-house instead
KootenayPs
New •
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flakes
Startling
Cures.
{right's
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;n
.X2
Sciatica,
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a..
lif There is Any
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The way that Kootenay takes hold of old chronic
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I, Wit. H. 'Wns, residing at 47 Hughson Street
North, in the City of Hamilton, do solemnly de-
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the hospitals both in Hamilton and Toronto. Was
discharged from the Hamilton hospital after eleven
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last I was told that they could do nothing for me.
When leaving there I was scarcely able to walk.
I tried a number of so-called cures; had my feat
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physician, but got gradually worse. On the 13th
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bottles of .Ryckrnan's Kootenay Cure, I threw away
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ray hands being in water for hours. I consider
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Rheumatic Cure aver known. fiat. H. Wnr.
Declared before Notary J. W. Nesbit.
July 17, 18;10.
If not obtainable of your dealer, will be forwarded,
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addressing S. S. RYCKMA'h MEDICINE Ct)„
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Torturing
Rheumatic
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r
Agony.
Wrenched
Limbs.
Hopeless
ors' pita{
Incurables..
4d
44
Cured
By
Kootenay.
• tai
cr
etteenatne
A STORY OF A RING.
"It was good of you to come on such a
stormy afternoon," said the girl, as she
°area out from the shadows of the room
and stood under the soft rose light of the
big lamp.
"I would have come anyhow, even
if you bad not sent for me," replied the
man. "It seems to me I am always com-
ing to see you," be added,
"That," said the girl, blushing very
slightly, "has at least a resemblance to
the truth.'"
"I have been here every afternoon for
three months," said the man.
"It was about that I wished too speak
to you,'" and again the girl blushed;
this time the color was vivid and went
as soon as it came.
"I wanted to show you this ring. Isn't
It pretty?" She held out her left hand.
On its third finger a ruby surrounded by
diamonds glistened.
"It is almost," said the young man,
bravely, "pretty enough for your hand."
He was very pale,and the lines about his
mouth were not good to see. His voice
was husky.
"I suppose you are to be congratula-
ted?" he continued.
"I suppose so. I think so. I am not
sure," replied the girl, but her smile was
a happy one.
"Yon ought to marry the best man in
the world," said the man.
"I am going to,'t replied the girl. This
time she did not smile or even blush.
"Well," said the man, drearily, "I
think I had better go now. You have
been very kind. I hope you will be
happy."
"Don't go yet," said the girl. "I have
more to tell you. Don't you want to
know the man?"
"No," said the youth, "I do not."
"I hope we shall always be friends,"
she ventured, after a pause.
"I hope I shall never see you again,"
be replied, earnestly.
"Why can't we be friends?" pleaded
the girl.
"You know that Ilove you," returned
the man. "I dont want to be a friend
to you. You know I love you?"
The girl was silent.
"You know I love you?" be persisted.
"Yes," said the girl, finally. "I knew
that you loved me."
"And that is why you sent for me to-
day?"
"Yes," she said, gravely, "that is why
I sent for you." Then she laughed sud-
denly. It was a gay, careless laugh.
"Do you remember„ Teddy, when I
first met you?" she asked irrelevantly.
"You were such a nine boy in those
days."
"Goodby," said the man,^ walking
toward the door.
' You must not go yet," said the girl.
"It would have been better -if I had
never come," replied the man.
"You said then that you would never.
ask a girl with money to marry you,"
went on the girl unmindful of his in-
terruption. "You also said a great many
other very foolish things."
"One is not always wise" said the
man.
"Sometimes one isblind as well asfool
1sh,"'retorted the girl.
"You mean-?" said the man.
"`Just that," replied the girl.
The man said nothing and there was
silence in the room for the space of a
minute. Then the girl said softly:
"Blindness can• be cured sometimes."
The man was still silent. He was
white to the hair. His lips Were ,com-
pressed. •
"I hoped yon would like this ring,"
continued the girl; her voice had begun
to tremble. She came nearer to him. "It
means so much to, me, you see," the
went on.
"Good by," said the man suddenly.
"You will not ask the name of the
man I love?', persisted the girl.
"I must go," said the man.
"I want toas kyou onemore favor
before you go."
"You can, always call on me for
any-
thing," replied the man,
The girl;ciente'closer to him.
"Iwa4 want you tostopat Blank's and
tell them you will take this ring which I
selected this ;morning," she said Omen
"You mean—?" cried the man joyously.
"That the blind must be taught to
see," laughed the girl, backing away
from him.
He followed closely and took her in his
arms. Then just when the silence was
becoming unbearable she looked up.
There was a conspicuous moisture about
her eyes and her lips still trembled.
"Bow are your eyes now, Teddy John-
stone ?" she said.
"toad to Knowledge.
"Every one who has the reading habit
-and everybody reads—has one of two
objects in view: to acquire information
or to experience a mental pleasure,"
writes "Drooh" in his "Literary Talks"
in the Ladies' Home Journal. "No mat-
ter how inferior the book read, when yon
sat down to read you intended to learn
something new, or 'to kill time,' which
is a colloquial way of saying that you
wanted to turn your mind into pleasant
channels. There is a certain type of mind
that only gets pleasure out- of reading
when at the same time.. it is getting know-
ledge. That kind is the exception, and
it reaches full satisfaction only by becom-
ing what we call a scholar. For the mind
seeking knowledge by reading the sign-
boards are runny in these days, and,
instead of the way being narrow and
arduous, there is no oilier highway in
life quite so carefully marked nut as the
road to knowledge. In many little towns
and cross-roads the State has marked the
entrance to it with a schoolhouse which
is free to everybody' Anti from there, up
through the high school and the normal
school to the college, the State lavishes
money, and rich men and churches give
millions to make the way plain and
easy. In no other line of effort can so
much be had for nothing as in the
acquisition of knowledge. Even for those
whose time is limited by the necessities
of bread -earning, there are Chautauqua
circles and University Extension socie-
ties. The world was never so kind to tier
inquiring mind as it is to -day."
Feminine.
"What caused you to change your mind
about Fred?"
"I heard him propose to my best friend
one night when he did not know I wa
near."
"And then you decided to reject him?"
"No, indeed. I decided to"iiccept the
offer I was holding for consideration."
Solemnity's Own,
"I like," said the long -faced preacher,
"to occasionally come down to earth."
"But even then you seem to be an
exception to Newton's theory,"
"How is that?"
"Earth fails to overcome your gravity.
—Washington Times.
THE COMING FLOOD.
Quenching Their Thirst Only to Meet a
Sudden Death.
"A mile further! Only a mile further to
water!" the guide had called out over and
over again that afternoon as we rode over
the plains on which the August sun beat
down till every breath seemed to burn the
lungs.
Of the 30 troopers, five were lashed to
their saddles and little better than dead.
Of the 30 horses, seven had clroppedin their
tracks since 10 o'clock and been left behind.
Of the seven dismounted troopers only two
were with the column. The othershad lin-
gored along until left far behind. No wa-
ter for man or beast for 30 hours, and we
,were pushing ahead for Lost river. There
was a selfish spirit in the looks and actions
of every man. When the last horse dropped
down, every man, hurried on for fear he
would be asked to add some burden. Now
and then, a man stood up in his stirrups to
look ahead. You could read his thoughts
in his crafty looks. If he discovered signs
of water, he was going to put spurs to his
jaded horse and be the first to taste the
precious fluid. Some looked back over our
trail to see if the dismounted men were
coming up, not because they were anxious
for their safety, but because we might find
only a little water, and it would have to be
doled out.
• The sergeant on my right had extracted
bullet from its sand was holding
ashell it
in his mouth and mumbling about lakes
and rivers and springs. The man on my
left was sucking at his dry and fevered
fingers and cursing himself because he did
not drink more before we left the fort.
Had one man in that detachment come
upon a spring flowing a barrel of water to
waste for every second of time, he would
have defended it with his life against the
thirst of his comrades. As the column
toiled along, lurching and stumbling like
an animal seeking a covert in which to die,
men cursed each other without the slight-
est provocation and refused their sympa-
thy for those still more distressed. Cor-
poral Johnson whispered to me that if his
horse gave out he would stay beside him
and drink his blood, but before I had an-
swered a word he struck at me and hoarse-
ly shouted:
' "Nol Not I tell you no! You shall not
have one single drop! If you try to steal
any, I will kill you!"
"The river! The river! It is right ahead,
and we are saved!"
A thin fringe of grass and bushes which
seemed dead for years extended east and
west across our course and ran back to the
mountains, 20 miles away, ''here was the
bed of Lost river, Men screamed out in-
stead
nstead of cheering as they urged their horses
forward toward the blessed water which
was to quench their thirst. We looked
down from the bank on a winding channel
of yellow dirt, so dry that the puffs of wind
raised little clouds of dirt here and there.
Not a drop of water had run down that
channel for weeks. Despair fell upon the
men—silent, hopeless despair—and its effect
was curious. No one cursed or muttered.
On the far bank were a few stunted cotton-
woods struggling for life anti furnishing
scarcely any shade. One by one we followed
the officer across and pulled the saddles
from our horses and turned them loose.
We had meat and bread, but no fires were
kindled. When a man's throat aches and
throbs, and his tongue tills his mouth, and
his lips are like paper, he cannot eat. The
officer issued no orders, the men had no
word for each other. Each one threw him-
self down with the feeling that the end had
come. There were oceans of water 40 miles
to the south, but neither horse nor man
could travel another mile.
It wasn't sleep, but that dim conscious-
ness one has just before chloroform be-
numbs his senses. We knew when one of the
dismounted troopers dragged himself into
camp and fell among us with a groan. We
knew when the sen went down. We felt
the cool night wind off the mountains, but
if any one moved it was only to turn over.
Night fell, and the canopy of heaven was
studded with stars. Nine o'clock, 10, 11,
midnight, found us still lying there. Then
came a curious sound—a sound like a gale
advancing upon a ship over a calm sea. It
grew louder and louder, and with it was -
mingled the neighing and galloping of ouuv
horses. Men who had fallen down to die
sprang to their feet to behold a wonderful
spectacle. From bank to bank Lost river
was !'till of rushing, foaming water, sent
down by a cloudburst in the mountains
miw
"Water!lesaay. Water!" shouted a dozen husky
voices in chorus, and next moment there
was a mad rush. Men and horses mingled
together. Men and horses rushed into the
flood, to be swept down and drowned to-
gether. A quarter of an hour after that
rush there were only 11 of us to answer to
our names, and only half a dozen horses
were nibbling at the parched grass around
us. Back on the trail were three or four
corpses in uniform.. The rest of the troop
were victims of the flood which rolled past
us.
All People Foliuwed 7Sim.
Quericus—Who was it that wrote the -
song, "They're After Me?"
Witticus—Adam, in all probability, es he
was the first man.—Club.
Haveyea tried Holloway's Corn Cure?
It has no equal for removing these troublee
some excresences, as many have testified
who have tried it,
They Were Fast Colors.
Je m .Wei hbackThem last 'shirts I
r y Weighback—Them
bought here is jest as ye said.
Salesman—Our goods are always just as
we'say.
"Ye said they was fast colors."
"Yes, sir."
"An theybe. Why,mother sheput rem:
t .»
isthe w an oil When ash, by S tl
out them colors had run so fast they Was
,,."
.
surf y near out o sight --Stara Sayinga,