Loading...
The Exeter Advocate, 1897-7-8, Page 7t of the the of ill, Vit. ver Ail- iv nn. s'e- nly Is a Kill irit,�-- 12>s ea on. or ion no ow We sad se8 ex• ied )ys of sat )oe be ter ng lg, ng ii - )ie n he ape ad n; di. by )t, fes he 11- 1E is of g - es ad 10 a- id of b - 3f 1 - if 3- SAFETY FOR CITIES. REV. DR. TALMAGE PREACHES ON MUNICIPAL WELFARE. He Discusses the Cities and Towne of This Country From a Moral and Religious Standpoint --Counsel to Those Who Hold Public Positions. Washington, July 4. -This sermon of Dr, Talmage discusses from a moral and religious standpoint the welfare of all the towns and cities of our country. His text is Ezekiel xsvii, 8, "0 thou that art situ- ate at the entry of the seat" This is a part of an impassioned apos- trophe to.the city of Tyre. It was a "' beautiful city—a majestic pity, At the east end of the Mediterranean it sat wit]i one hand beckoning the inland trade and with the other the commons of foreign nations. It swung a monstrous boom across its harbor to shut out foreign enemies and then swung back that boons to let in its friends. The air of the desert was fragrant with the spices brought by caravans' to her fairs, and ail seas were cleft into foam by the keels of her laden merchantmen. Her markets were rich with horses and mules and camels from Togarmali; with •upholstery and ebony and • ivory from Dedan; with emeralds and agate and coral from Syria; with wine from Helbon; with finest needle- work from Ashur . and Chilnaad. Talk about the splendid staterooms. of your Cunard and Inman and White Star lines of international steamers—why, .the benobes of the staterooms in those Tyrian' ships were all ivory, and instead of our er coarse canvas on the mast of the ship ping, they had the finest linen, quilted together and inwrought with embroider- ies almost miraculous for beauty. Its columns overshadowed all nations. Dis- tant empires felt its heartbeat. Majestic city, "situate at the entry of the sea." But where now is the gleam of her towers, the roar of her chariots, the masts of her shipping? Let the fisher- men who dry their nets on the place where she once stood, let the sea that rushes upon the barrenness where she once challenged the admiration of all nations let the barbarians who build their huts on the place where her palaces glittered, answer the question. Blotted out forever! She forgot God,and God for- got her. And while our modern cities admire her glory let them take warning at her awful doom. u e t t 3. officials are faithful to their oaths of office, if the laws' are promptly exeputed, if there is vigilance in regard to the out- branohings of crime, there is the highest protection for all bargain making. A merohant may stand in his More acid say: "Now, I'll have nothing to do with city politics. I will not sail my hands with the slush." Nevertheless the most insignificant trial in the police court will affect that merchant directly or indirect- ly. What style of clerk issues the writ? What style of constable makes the arrest? What style of attorney issues the plea? What style of judge charges the jury? What style of sheriff executes the sent- ence? These are questions that strike your counting rooms to the center. You may not throw it off. In the city of New York Christian merchants for a great while said, "We'll have nothing to do with the management of public affairs," and they allowed everything to go at loose ends until there rolled up in that city a debt of nearly $120,000.000. The municipal government became a hissing and a byword in the whole earth, and then the Christian merchants saw their folly, and they went and took possession of the ballot boxes. I wish all commer- cial leen to understand that they are not independent of the moral character of. the men who rule over them, but must bo thoroughly, mightily affected by them. So also of the educational interests of a city. Do you know that there are in this country abort 70,000 colnnion sohools, and that there are over 8,000,000 pupils, and that the majority of those sohools and the majority of, those pupils are in our pities? Now, this groat multi- tude of children will be affected by the intelligence or ignorance, the virtue or the vice of boards of education and boards of control. There are cities where educational affairs are settled in the low caucus in the abandoned parts of the cities by men full of ignorance and rum. It ought not to be so, but in many cities it is so. I hear the tramp of coming gen- erations. What that 'great multitude of youth shall be forthis world and the next will be affected very much by the character of your public schools. You had better multiply the moral and religi- ous influences about the common schools rather than subtract from them. Instead of driving the Bible out, you had tietter drive the Bible further in. May God de- fend our glorious common school system and send into rout and confusion all its sworn enemies. The First City. Cain was the founder of the first oity, and 1 suppose it took after hila in morals. It is a long while before a city can get over the character of those who founded it. Were they criminal exiles, the filth, and the prisons, and the de- bauchery are the shadows of such found- ers. Naw York will not for 200 or 800 years escape from the good influences of its founders, the pious settlers whoa:: prayers went up from the very streets where now banks discount, and brokers shave, and companies declare dividends, and smugglers swear custom house lies, and al•ove the roar of the drays and the crack of the auctioneers' Mallets is heard the ascription, "We wnrshin thee, 0 thou almighty dollar!" The church that once stood on Wall street still throws its bless - the ships that fold their white wings in the harbor. Originally men gathered in cities from necessity. It was to escape the incendiary's torch or the assassin's •dagger. Only the very poor lived in the country, those. who had nothing that could be stolen or vagabonds who want- ed to be near their place of business, but since civilization and religion have made it safe for hien to live almost anywhere man congregate in cities because of the opportunity for rapid gain. Cities are not necessarily evils, as has sometimes been argued. '!'hey have been the birthplace of civilization. In them popular liberty has lifted up its voice. Witness Genoa and Pisa and Venice. The entrance of the representatives of the cities in the legislatures of Europe was the deathblow to feudal kingdom. Cities are the pat- ronizers of art and literature—architec- ture pointing to its British museum in London its Royal library in Paris, its Vatican in Rome. Cities hold the world's scepter. Africa was Carthage, Greece was Athens, England is London, France is Paris, Italy is Rome and the cities in which God bas cast our lot will yet de- ' nide the destiny of the American people. At this season of the year I have thought it might be useful to talk a little while about the moral responsibility resting upon the office bearers in all our cities, a theme as appropriate to those who are governed as to the gov- ernors. The moral character of those who rule a oity has much to do with the character of the city itself. Men, women and children are all interested in national politics. When the great presidential election comes, every patriot wants to be found at the ballot box. We are all in- terested in the discussion of national finance, national debt, and we read the laws of congress, and we are wondering who will sit next in the presidential chair. Now, that may be all very well— is very well. But it is high time that we took some of the attention which we have been devoting to national affairs and brought it to the study of municipal government. This it seems to me now is the chief, point to be taken. Make the cities right and the nation will be right. I have noticed that according to their opportunities, there has really been more corruption in municipal governments in . this country than in the state and na- tional legislatures. Now, is there no hope? With the mightiest agent in our band, the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, shall not all our cities be reformed and purified and redeemed? I believe the day will come. I am in full syinpathy with those who are opposed to carrying pail• tics into religion, but our cities will never be reformed and purified until we carry religion into politics. I look over our cities and I see that all great inter- ests are to bo affected in the future, as they have been affected in the past, by the character of those who in the differ- ent departments rule over us, and I pro- pose to classify some of those interests. - Commercial Rthics. • In the first place, I remark commercial ethics are always affected by the moral or immoral character of those who have municipal supremacy. Officials that wink at fraud and that have neither censure nor arraignment for glittering dishonesties always weaken the pulse of commercial honor. Every shop, every store, every bazaar, every factory inthe oities feels the - moral character of the city hall. If in any city there be a dis- honest mayoralty, or an unprincipled COM mon council, or a : court susceptible; to bribes, : in. that city there will be un- limited license for all kinds of trickery and sin, while, on the other hand, if these mon. Every man likes to be prayed for. Do you know how Dr. Norman McLeod became the Queen's chaplain? It was by a warm hearted prayer in the Scotoh kirk,in behalf of the royal family, one Sabbath when the queen and her son were present incognito. The Police. Yes, go further, my friends, and pray for your police. Their perils and tempta- tions are'best known to themselves. They hold the order and peace of your cities in their grasp. But for their intervention you would not be safe for an hour. They inust face the storm, They must rush in where it seems to them almost instant death. They must put the hand of arrest on the armed maniac and corner the murderer. They must refuse large re- wards for withdrawing complaints. They must unravel, intricate plots and trace dark labyrinths of prime and develop suspicions into certainties. They moat be cool while others are frantic. They must be vigilant while others are som- nolent, impersonating the very villainy they want to seize. In the police forces of our great cities are to -day men of as thorough character as that of the old detective of New York, addressed to whom there camp letters from London asking for help ten years after he was dead—letters addressed to "Jacob Hayes, High Constable of New York." Your police need your appreciation, your °sym- pathy, your gratitude and. above all, your prayers. Yea, I want you to go fur- ther and pray every day for prison in- spectors and jailkeepers, work awful and beneficent. Rough men, cruel men, im- patient men, are not fit for those places, They have under their Dare nen who were once as good as you, but they got tripped up. Bad company or strong drink or strange conjunction of circumstances flung them headlong, Go down that pri- son corridor and ask them how they got in and about their families and what their early prospects in life were, and you will find that they are very much like yourself, except in this, that God kept you while he did not restrain them, Just one false step made the difference between them and you. They want more than prison bars, more than jail fare, more than handcuffs and hopplers, more than a vermin covered couch to reform them. Pray God day by day that the men who have these unfortunates in charge may be merciful, Christianly stragetio and the means of reformation and rescue. Some years ago a oity pastor in New York was called to the pity prison to at- tend a funeral. A young woman had committed a prime and was incarcerated, and her mother came to visit her, and died an the visit. The mother, having no home, was buried from her daughter's prison cell. After the service was over the imprisoned slaughter came up to the minister of Christ and said, "Wouldn't you like to see my poor mother?" And while they stood at the coffin the minis- ter of Christ said to that imprisoned soul, "Don't you feel to -day, in the presence of your mother's dead body, as if you ought to make a vow before God th-' you will do differently and live a bei,... life?" She stood for a few moments, and the the tears rolled down her cheeks, and she pulled from her right' hand the wornout glove that she had put on in honor of the obsequies, and, having bared her right hand, she put it upon the chill brow of her dead mother and said: "By the help of God, 1 swear I will do differently! God help me!" And she kept her vow. And years after, when she was told of the incident, she said: "When that minister of the gospel said, 'God bless you and help you to keep the vow that you have made,' I cried out, and I said: 'You bless mel Do you bless me? Why, that's the first kind word live heard in ton years.' .A nd it thrilled through my soul. and it was the means of my reformation, and ever since, by the grace of God, I've tried to live a Chris- tian life." Oh, yes, •there are many amid the crilninal classes that may be reformed. Pray for the men who have these unfortunates in charge, and who knows but that when you are leaving this world you may hear the voice of Christ dropping to your dying pillow, saying, "I was sick and in prison and you visited me." Yea, I take the sugges- tion of the Apostle Paul and ask you to pray for all who are in authority, that we may lead quiet and peaceful lives in godliness and honesty. City Officials. I have also to say that the character of officials in a city affects the domestic circle, In a city where grogshops have their own way and gambling hells are not interfered with, and for fear of losing political Influence officials close their eyes to festering abominations—in all those cities the home interests need to make imploration. The family circles of the city must inevitably be affected by the moral character or the immoral char- acter of those who rule over them. I will go further and say that the re- ligious interests of a city are thus affect- ed. The church to -day has to contend with evils that the civil law ought to smite, and, while I would not have the civil government in any wise relax its energy in the arrest and punishment of crime, I would have a thousandfold more energy put forth in the drying up of the fountains of iniquity. The church of Uod asks no pecuniary aid from political power, but does ask that in addition to ail the evils we must necessarily contend against we shall not have to fight also municipal negligence. Oh, that in all our cities Christian people would rise up, and that they would put their hand on the helm before piratical demagogues have swamped the ship! Instead of giv- ing so inuoh time to national politics, give some of your attention to municipal government. I demand that the Christian people who have been standing aloof from pub- lic affairs come back, and in the might of God try to save our cities If things are or have been bad, itis because good people have let them be bad. That Chris- tian man who merely goes to the polls and casts his vote does not do his duty. It is not the ballot box that decides the election; it is the political caucus, and if at the primary meetings of the two polit- ical parties unfit and bad men are nom- inated, then the ballot box bas nothing to do save to take its choice between two thieves. In our churches, by reformatory organization, in every way let us try to tone up the moral sentiment in these cities. The rulers are those whom the people choose, and depend upon it that in all the cities, as long as pure hearted men stand aloof from polities because they despise hot partisanship, just so long in many of our cities will rum make the nominations, and rum control the ballot box, and ruin inaugurate the officials. I take a step further in this subject and ask all those who believe in the omnipotence of prayer, day by day and every day, present your city officials be- fore God for a blessing. If you live in a city presided over by a mayor, pray for him. The chief magistrate of a city is in a position of great responsibility. Many of the kings and queens and emperors of other days had no such dominion. With the scratch of a pen he may advance a beneficent institution or balk a railway confiscation. By appointments he may bless or curse every hearthstone in the city. If in the Episcopal churches, by the authority of the litany, and in our non -episcopate churches we every Sabbath pray for the president of the United States, why not, then, be just as hearty in our supplications for the chief magis- trates of cities, for their guidance, for their health, for their present and their everlasting morality?, The Common Council. But go further, and pray for your com- mon council, if your city has a common council. They hold in their hands a power splendid for good or terrible for evil, They have many temptations. In many of the cities whale boards sof com- mon council men have gone dawn in the maelstrom of political corruption. They could not stand the power of the bribe. Corruption carne in and sat beside them, and sat behind them, and sat before them. They recklessly voted away the hard earned moneys of the people. They were bought out, body, mind and soul, so that at the end of their term of office they had not enough . of moral remains left to make a decent funeral. They wont into office with the huzza of the multi- tude. They came out the anathema of all decent people. There is not one man opt of a hundred that can endure the temptations of the common council men in our great cities. If a man in that position have tee courage of a Cromwell, and the independence of an Andrew Jackson, and the public spirited- ness of a John , Frederick Oberlin, and the piety of: an. Edward Payson, he will have no surplus to throw away Pray for entirely reconstructed, and upon your 1 Crow, hot with infamous practices and besweated with 'exhaustin g i du 1 n genres; God will place the flashing coronet of a Saviour's forgiveness. "Oh, no l" you say. "If you knew who I am and where I came from, you wouldn't say . that .,i me. I don't believe the gospel you a.o preaching speaks of my ease." Yes, it does, my brother. And then, when you tell me that, I think of what St. Teresa said when reduced to utter destitution, Having only two pieces of money left, she jingled the two pieces of money in her hand ani said, "St. Teresa and two pieces of money are nothing, but St. Teresa and two pieces of money and God are all things." And I tell you now that while a sin and a sinner are nothing, a sin and a sinner and an all forgiving and all compassionate God are everything. Who is that that I see coming? 1 know bis step. 1 know his rags. . Who is it? A prodigal. Come, people of God, let us go out and meet him. Get the best robe you can find in all the wardrobe. . Let the angel of God fill their chalices and drink to his eternal rescue. Come, people of God, let us go out to meet him. The prodigal is coming home. The dead is alive again,end the lost is found. Pleased with the news, the saints below In songs their tongues employ; Beyond the skies the tidings go, And heaven is filled with joy. Nor angels can their joy contain, But kindle with new fire; "The sinner lost is found," they sing, And strike the sounding lyre. That Robber Alcohol. Edward Everett Hale preaches a mighty temperance sermon in the close df an article on the poet, Robert Burns. He says:— "The English Government of that time leas been much ridiculed because, for the noblest poet of the time, it could find no gift but the office of en excise- man. But it should be remembered that, at that time, at least, no one supposed that governments were formed to provide for poets, or that provision for poets was one of their duties. We live in a state of high oivilizatiou, as we think; but even with us, if you have a man like Haw- thorne or Howells you have to make him a consul; if you have a lady who writes poetry you have to make her a post- mistress. It Is fair to the wretched min- istry of the time to say that Burns him- self asked for the office of exciseman, and it is more than probable that the selec- tion of the office was made by himself. "And he died in his thirty-seventh year, so young! And we should have had so many more treasures from that warm heart and ready pen, that sympathetic friend of everybody who desired a friend, if— '11— "If he had been able to resist the temptations of liquor. "Let it be remembered, then, that men of bis gift, ]nen who have this exquisite fiber of brain and sympathy of heart are the special prey of this speoial devil. And let it be remembered that 'taste not, touch not, handle not' seem to have been known, even by pure and temperate men in Scotland, in their effort to sup- press drunkenness. Such men, 1f they counseled poor Burns, only counseled 'moderation.' "As if there could be moderation in playing with fire! "It would seem that no man, woman or ohild, not the father who loved bim nor the mother who bore him, no one probably but his poor wife, ever begged him or even asked him to give up whis- key, wine and all intoxicating liquor. "What would the page of literature be to -day bad Robert Burns been tauscht in his childhood of the dangers to which poets are the nearest? What would it be had the ready sale of a 'social glass' been prohibited by law? What would it be bad he lived in a social order where gentle- men hate and despise drunkenness and those who tempt men to drunkennessi Where would it be had not all Scotland combined to defeat his prayer when he asked the good God that he might not be led into temptation?" God's Representatives. My word now is to all wbo may come to hold any public position of trust in any city: You are God's representatives. God, the King and Ruler and Judge, seta you in his place. Oh, be faithful in the discharge of till your duties, so that when all our cities are in ashes, and the world itself is a red scroll of flame, you may be in the mercy and grace of Christ re• warded for your faithfulness. It was that feeling which gave such eminent quali- fications for office to Neal Dow, mayox of Portland, and to Judge McLean 01 Ohio, and to Benjamin F. Butler, at- torney general of New York, and to George Briggs, governor of Massachu- setts, and to Theodore Frelinghuysen, senator of the United States, and to Wil- liam Wilberforce, member of the British parliament. You may make the rewards of eternity the emoluments of your office. What care you for adverse political cri- ticism if you have God on your side! The one, or the two, or the three years of `your publio trust will pass away. and all the years of your earthly service, and then the tribunal will be lifted be- fore which you and I must appear. May God make you so faithful now that the last scene shall be to you exhilaration and rapture! ,, I wish now to exhort all good people, whether they are the gov- ernors or the governed, to make one grand effort for the salvation, the purifi- cation, the rodernption of our American cities. Do you not know that there are multitu' es going down to ruin, temporal and eternal, dropping • quioker .than words drop from my lips? Grogsbops swallow them up. Gambling hells devour them. Houses of shame are damning them. Oh, let us toil and pray and preach and vote until all these wrongs are righted] What we do we must do quickly. With our rulers, and on the same platform, we must at last come be- fore the throng of God to answer for what we have done for the bettering of our great towns. Alas, if on that day it be found that your band has been idle and my pulpit has been silent! 0 ye who are pure and honest and Christian, go to work and help to make the cities pure and honest and Christian! Lest it may have been thought that 'I am addressing only what are called the. better, classes, my sinal word is to some dissolute soul to whom :.these words may •come. Though you may bo covered with all crimes, though jou may be smitten with all leprosies, though you .may have gone through the whole catalogue of in- iquity and may not have been in church for, 20 years, you may have your 'attire A GOSPEL SHIP It is to be Built III San Francisco for Land Service. The masts of a gospel ship have been raised in a vacantlot in San Francisco. tt+ promoters are Herbert and Horace M mall, known in several States as evan- ge:ists of sensationiil methods by tha col- lective nafne of "Rev. Morrill twins." The ship will find its resting plata on laud instead' of water. It will be, in share, a church in the form of a steam- ship, One of its recommendations is its c:leapness. For $2,000 it will be passible to construct a building the farm of a ship with a seating capacity of 500, a church of the same capacity would cost several thousand more. It is expected that the novelty of the "idea and tho sensational methods proposed will attract hundreds of people who would never find their way to the ordinary sanctuary. The pians are for a building 100 feet in length by 25 in width or properly in beans. Two masts will rise from the deck to the height of SU feet, which will be rigger with spars and shrouds. An iron smokestack rising from the deck will be connected with the stoves in the hold. When services are in progress .a supply of tar or pitch in the stoves may emit clouds of smoke from the stank. Forty windows in the sides of the hull will have the form of portholes, and the nautical appearance of the ship will be otherwise sustained. On the depks wood- en (eannon will frown' upon the peaceful residents of the neighborhood. Two an- chors will depend from the bow and a capstan will raise its head from the fore- castle. Entrance to the auditorium will be given through a gangway in thi bow, a violation of naval • architecture made necessary by the narrowness of the lot. The auditorium itself will extend the full length of the hull. In the bow a pulpit will be placed, on which a com- pass is to rest. In conducting the church the naval idea is to be adhered to. The twins have in contemplation the organization of the boys of the Sunday school into a corps of naval cadets, clad in blue uniform. A naval band will be formed to discourse nautical melodies preparatory to services, hymns will be set to the melodies of the sea, and the illusion of the ship other- wise carried out. No provisions, however, have been made for the issue of grog, the Drew be- ing expected to waive that particular item of the menu. The Gentle Reader. Has it ever occurred to you to reckon how far your eyes travel in reading? The distance will not startle you, perhaps, for a million letters in ordinary type would measure hardly more than a mile placed side by side, but the curious will be interesed to know that a great reader travels many hundreds of miles in a year in reading, and that in a life time the average reader wends his way through thousands of miles of print. The books issued from the public library of a large town every day represent a thousand miles of reading. The average novel, con- sisting of 800 pages, contains a mile of reading -that is to say, the eyes travel 1,760 yards in reading the book through. There are books, of course, which weary the eyes to a much greater extent. The student who reads Macaulay's "History of England," for instance, wanders through four and a half miles of type, which, however, means that his eyes travel nine miles, as under the present style of printing every line inust be cov- ered twice. An Historic Horse. Among the historic horses whose names share the deathless fames of their owners and riders, is Copenhagen. the gallant war steed of the Duke of Welling- ton. He survived his master, living in great ease and comfort twenty-one years after the battle of Waterloo, and dying at the venerable age of 83. On the grounds of the fine estate presented to the "Iron Duke," as a memorial of Waterloo, there are two monuments, one an imposing marble column erected in honor of the Duke; the other, a simple marble stone, shaded by an ancient oak, marks the spot where Copenhagen was buried with military honors, and bears What a Carpet -Layer Says. I remember distinctly the first taok I ever swallowed. I was then learning car- pet laying. I was helping to pub down a fine blanket in a big hotel. I had my mouth full of tacks, and one slipped down any throat. It was done almost be- fore I knew it. It scared me to death. 1. sprang to my feet, spit the tacks out of my mouth, and declared that I would die because I had swallowed a tack. The other workmen, all old hands, with stomachs fall of tacks, laughed at me, and told me I'd get used to it. Well, after swallowing that first taok, I was careful how I filled my mouth for a long time, but finally another and an- other taok went down, until I became accustomed to it, and now I don't care a penny for swallowing a tack. I have been _ laying carpets for years, and I fancy I have got outside of three pounds of iron since I began. Indications on Her Face. "Jimpson is cute. He's renovating his house now, and it isn't costing ]iia much of anything." "How does he work it?" "He's made`his wife believe that she's an artist. So he just buys the paint, and his wife puts it on herself." "She looks as though she did."— Cleveland Plain Dealer. KEPT HIS WORD. A Railroad Promoter's Promise to a Man Who Lived on a Hill. A. B. Smith, of the Burlington, was talking about railroads and railroad building, and he told of the most malignant bit of false pretenses which any railroad advance agent ever was guilty of. It was somewhere off in West Virginia, and the man whose - busi- ness it was to go aoross'the country and win the favor of the 'residents, so that they would vote bonds. struck an inter- mountain region, and • found that that particular county was practically domin- ated by an oirl farmer away up the ridge. The road wanted something like X100,000 from the county, and the skirmishing party appeared unto the man of the ridge with a request for his assistance. The old fellow, whose name was Searles, was willing, on one condition, to help. out. He wanted tha road to come near his own place. Cushman, the agent, looked over the situation. and after a time pro- mised. "The line," he said, "will run within 100 yards of your front gate. Is that near enough?" Searles said it was, and an agreement was signed. Then Searles began an ad- vocacy of the bond proposition, and the concession was voted with hardly a word of opposition, but with the "front gate" understanding. Two years later Mr. Smith happened to be hunting in that county, and he. stopped at Searles' house. Their conver- sation turned upon railroads, and the old man, pointing to a long rifle over the mantel, said:— "The aid:"The next railroad man that 'comes into these hills I'm going to shoot with that." Mr. Smith, who had not yet disclosed his identity or oocupation, asked for the reason. The mountaineer told of the bonds. "But," said Mr. Smith, "if there was an agreement the bonds are invalid." "No, they ain't," the other responded sadly. "He done it. He run it within the prescribed distance. She's within them 100 yards." "But I don't see any railroad near here." "Nope. Ye can't. But she's here. She runs through this hill by a tunnel, which starts a mile away. She's inside the named distance, but bean' as I ain't a ground hog or a rabbit I can't get direct access to her." Could Hear. Webster a Mile. Marshfield is noted for having its peo- ple live to a green old age, but Mrs. Sally Baker, wile is 98 years old, can claim the distinction of being its oldest inhabitant by quite a number of years. She resides in a pretty farmhouse on the Neck road, which has been her home for ) 61 years. The buildings are sprucely painted,the surroundings are trimly kept, and the barns indicate a thrifty farm business. Mrs. Baker was born in King- ston June 9, 1799, and was the daughter of Oliver and Sally (Maglathiin) Samp- son—good old colony stock on both sides of the house. In April, 1819, Sally Sampson was married to Captain Otis Baker of Dux - this inscription:— bury, Parson 'Zephaniah Willis, of King - "Here lies Copenhagen, the charger ston, performing the ceremony. Captain ridden by the Duke of Wellington the,Baker had been a privateersnian in the entire day of the battle of Waterloo.war of 1812, being then less than 21 Born, 1803; died, 1886. ! years old. His widow now draws a pen- " 'God's humbler instrument, though sion, and is the only pensioner of that meaner clay, war now living in this section. In 1836 Should share the glory of that glorious Captain Baker and his wife went from day.' " i Dusbury to Marshfield and established a home, where she has resided ever since. The Drop Business. The farm was a mile long and extended to Green Harbor river, on the opposite side of which lay the estates of Daniel Webster. Mrs. Baker used to see a great deal of her distinguished neighbor, for he was always hail fellow well met with the townspeople. Mr. Webster's voice in particular bas impressed itself on the lady's memory. "You could hear him a mile off," she said. The Wehsters attended the little Con- gregational church at South Marshfield. and being of Episcopalian proclivities were a source of wonder to the pilgrim descendants as they knelt and bowed their heads at public worship.—Boston Globe. Unanimous. The Fond Mother—Everybody says he is such a pretty baby 1 I'm sure the poet was right when he said that "heaven lies about us in our infancy." The Uncle • (unfeelingly) — But he should have added, "So does everybody else i'0 "Come in, Patrick, and take a drop of something," said one Irishman to an- other. "No, Mike; I'm afraid of drops ever since Tim Flaherty died." "Well, what about Tim?" "He was one of the liveliest fellows in these parts. But he began the drop business in Barney Shan- non's saloon. It was a drop of something out of a bottle at first. But in a little while Tim took a few drops too much, and then he dropped into the gutter. He lost his place, he lost everything but his thirst for strong drink. Poor Tim! But the worst is to come. He got crazy with drink one day and killed a man And the last time I saw him he was taking his last drop with a slipping noose around his neok. I have seen too many good fellows when whiskey had the drop on; them. They took just one drop from the bottle, then they dropped into the gutter, and they dropped into the grave. No runiseiler can get a drop in me any more, and if you don't drop him, Mike, he will drop you."—Tract. Ho',v to Prevent and Remedy Bowlegs in Children. Those who are in charge of children ! cannot be too strongly warned of the evil of allowing them to walk very young. The bones of a young child's leg are soft, half cartilaginous and very easily bent. Many people who urge chil- dren to walk prematurely are responsible for lasting injury. Long before soft bones ought to have any strain put upon them one sees these poor infants made to stand or walk, and by the time that they are 2 years old they have to be put in irons. When children are a year ofd, they , should be encouraged to creep, but not to walk till after 18 months. Much may be done to straighten these little bent limbs by rubbing them with the hands; and trying to bend them very slightly in a contrary direction. Where children of over 2 years old have decidedly bent legs, they should be taken to a hospital or a good surgeon for advice. With the sup- port of irons, bowlegs in little children are, to a great extent, curable. Smallest Picture in the World. Probably the smallest piece of paint- ing in the world is that executed by a Flemish artist. It is painted on the smooth side of a grain of common white corn, and pictures a mill, and a miller mounting a stair with a sack of grain on his baok. The mill is represented as standing on a terraoe, and, near it is a horse and cart, while a group of several peasants is shown in the road near by. The picture is beautifully distinct, every object being finished with microscopic fidelity, yet by careful measurement it is shown that the whole painting does not cover a surface of half an inoh square. German Duelling. The universities of Gottingen and Jena are in close competition for the doubtful honor of being the • center of German student dueling. In Gottingen not a day passes that a duel is not fought. Not long since 12 duels with more, or less serious results were fought there within 24 hours. The record at Jona is 21 with- in the same length of time. As long as the devil can keep the saloon going, he, will conclude that the thousand yearn ho is to be shut up is a long ray off. -Ram's Horn. The ToIler's Home. Home is the wage-earners' paradise. ,When on returning from his daily task almost worn out he finds his wife cheer- ful, a substantial, well -cooked supper on the table, plain though it be, his children clean and orderly and his house neat and in good trim, his heart is cheered and bis arms grow strong. In such a pres- ence he soon forgets his weariness, and after a night's refreshing sleep in a clean bed he feels as thoroughly equipped for another hard day's toil as David did when with five smooth stones in his shepherd's bag he went out to meet Goliath. God bless the homes of the toil- ers of America! They are the foundation of our free institutions, the laboring man's paradise, the hope of the country. And God bless the wives and mothers who turn their thoughts from the fash- ions and gayeties of society and give their heart's best energies to husbanding the earnings of their companions in toil and to the making of happier homes for them and their children, Humility. There are few graces more beautiful— and shall we say more rare?—than the grace of humility. Often in companies of men the one who has the best thought and keenest judgment is one not seen nor heard, while some other member of the group occupies its constant attention with vaporings that are more noisy than profound. The one is humble and must be driven into the public gale; the other is self-assertive and needs to be taught the virtue of silence. The - world is not often deceived, and the strong • man, though quiet and retiring, Wins the highest measure of success. How to Renovate Black Laue. Take one-quarter cup of a good blue black ink and one-quarter cup of water. Add to this a small lump of gum;rabio that has been dissolved in onearter cup of warm water: Mix this in a good sized bowl, and in., ib rinse the rusty lace. Then hang it out to dry.: Keep ratting and pulling the lace gently while drying in order to get all the loops of the picot edge out. When almost dry, fold and press it in a heavy book. In Ch lone°. First Little Girl—Our family is a more aristocratic family than yours. Second Little girl—No, it isn't! My mother can boast of her forefathers for the past two centuries. First Little Girl-Ohthat's nothing. My mother can boast , of four husbands in the last four years.