Loading...
The Exeter Advocate, 1897-7-22, Page 3TO THE STORE cLERK to endure the wilderoess march If it is going to end in the vineyards and orchards of the promised land. "But you say, "Will the womanly ENCOURAGEMENT TO THOSE EM- clerks in our stores have promotion." Yea 111110 is coming when women will be :is well paid for their toil in apeman - FACTORIES. tile clones as meo are now paid for their toil. lime is coming when a woman will be allowed to do anything she cau do well. It is only a little while ago when evomen koew nothing of telegraphy, and they were kept out of a great many com- mercial circles where they are now wel- come, and the time will go on until the woman who at one aounter in a store sells $5,000 worth of goods in a year will get as high a salary as the man who at the other counter of the same store sells $5,000 svorbh of goods. All honor to Lydia, 'the Christian saleissui:en. o,n1 m • The second counsel I have to give to clerks is that you seek out what are the lawful regulations of your establishineut and then submit to them. Every well ordered house bas its usages, In military life, on ship's deck, in commercial life, there niust be order and discipline. Those people who do not learn how to obey will never know how to command. I will tell you what young man will make ruin, finauoial and, moral. It is the young man who thrusts his thumb into his vest and says: "Nobody shall dictate to me. I am ma own master. I will not submit to the regulations of this house." Between an establishment in wbieli all the employes are unner thorough discipline and the establiehment in which the employes do about as they choose A the difference between success and failure, between rapid accumulation and utter baukruptey. Do not come to the stare ten minutes after the time. Be there vvithio two see- onds, and lot it be two seconds before in- stead, of two seconds after. Do not thiolc anything too insignificant to do well. Do not say, "It's only just once " From the most 111mm:t5ot transaction in comineree down to nee partioular style in •winch you tie a string around a bundle obey artlers. Do not get easily disgusted. While others in the store may lounge or fret or complain, you go with ready hands and cheerful face and contented spirit to your work. When the bugle sounds, the good soldier asks no ques- tions, but shoulders his knapsaok, fills his canteen and listens for the command of ".hlaroh 1" Do not get the idea that your interests and those of your employer are antagon- intim His success will be your honor. His embarrassineut will be your dismay. Expose DODO of tne fraelties of the firm. Tell no store secrets. Do not blab. Re- buff those persons who corae to find out from clerks wtat ought never to be known outside the • store. • Do not be among those young men who take on a myeterious air when something is said against the firui that employs them, as much as to say, "I could tell you some- thing if I would, but I won't." Do not be emong those who imagine they can build themselves up by pulling somebody else down. Be not ashamed to be a sub- altern, Again, I counsel clerka to search out weat are the unlawful and dishonest de- mands of an establishment and, resist them. In the 6,000 years that have passed there has never been an occasion when it was one's duty to sin against God. It is never right to do wrong. If the head men of the firm expect of you dishonesty, disappoint them. "Oh," you say, "I should lose my place then." Better lose your place than lose your soul. But you will not lose your place. Christian hero- ism is always honored. You go to the head man of your store and say: nSir, I want to serve you, I want to oblige you. It- is from no lack of industry on 3ny part, but this thing seems to me to be wrong, and it is a sin against my con- science, it is a sin against God, and I beg you, sir, to evouse me." He may flush up and, swear but he will cool down, and he will have snore admiration for you than for those who submit to his evil dictation, and labile they sink you will rise. Do not because of seeming temporary advantage give up your char- acter, young man. Under God, that is the oniy thing you have to build on. Give up that, you give up everything. That employer asks a young man to hurt himself for time and for eternity, who expects him 'ec. make a wrong entry, or change an invoice, or say goods cost so much when they cost less, or impose upon the verdancy of a customer, or mis- represent a style of fabric. How dare he deneand of you anything so insolent? Annoyances. Again, I counsel all clerks to conquer the trials of their particular position. One great trial for clerks is the incon- sideration of customers. There are people who are entirely polite everywhere else, but gruff and dictatorial and contempt- ible when they come into a store to buy anything. There are thousands of men and women win) .go from store to store to price things without any idea of pur- • chase. Tbey are not satisfied until every roll of goods A brought down and they have pointed out all the real or imaginary defects. They try on all kinds of kid gloves and stretch them out of shape, and they put on ale styles of cloak and walk to the mirror to see how they look, and then they sail out of the store, say- ing, "I will not take it to -day," which means, "I don't want it at all," leaving the clerk amid a wreck of ribbons and laces and cloths to smooth out $1,000 worth of goods, not a cent of Which did that man or woman buy or expect to buy. • Now, I call that a dishonesty on the part of the customer. If a boy runs into a store and takes a roll of cloth off the counter and sneaks into the street, you all join in the cry penmen, -"Stop thief!" When I see you go into a store not expecting to buy anything, but to price things stealing the time of the clerk and stealing the Mine of his em- ployer, I say, too, "Stop thief!" If I were asked which class of persons most need the grace of God amid their annoyarices, I would say, "Dry goods clerks." All the indignation of customers about the high prices conaes on the clerk. Foe instance, a great war comes. The manufactories aro closed. The people go off to battle. The price of goods runs um A customer comes into a store. Goods have gone up. "How much is that worth?" "A dollar." '`A dollar? Out- rageous! A dollar!" Why, who is to biome for the fact that it has got to be a dollar? Does the indignation go out to the manufacturers on the banks of the Merrimac) because they have closed up? No. Does the indignation go out toward the employer who is out at his country seat? No. It conies on the clerk. He got up the war. He levied the taxes. He puts up the rents. Of course the clerk? Then a great trial comes to clerks in the fact that they • see the parsimonious side of human nature. You talk about lie e behind the counter—there are just as many lies before the counter, Auguta PLOYED IN STORES AND Rev. Dr. Iralnlag.e Preaches to a Mighty ost of Toilers—He Gives' Good Advice or' the Life That ow is as Well for the Life te Come. Washington, July 18.—This sermon of Dr. 'IaInmee addressed to the great host of clerks in stores and offices and factor- ies will inspire such persons with health- ful ambition and allay inany of their annoyanees. Text, Aces xvi, 14, "And a certain roman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, tvltioh worshiped God, heard us, whose bear( the Lord opened." Proverbs xxii, 29; "Seest thou a man diligent in his busle, H ness? e shall stand before kiogs." • The first passage introduces to you Lydia, a Christian merchantess. Her business is to deal in purple cloths' or silks. She is not a giggling nonentity, but a practical evoman'not ashamed to work for her living. A11 the other women , of Philippi and Thyatira have been for- ' gotten, but God has made immortal in our text Lydia, tho Christian sales- woman. The other text shows you a nuns • with head and hand and heart aucl foot all busy toiling on up until lie gains a princely soccess. "Seest thou a man dila "gent in his business? He shall stand before kings." Great eneouragement in tbese two • paseages for men and. women who Will • be busy, but no solace for those who are • waiting for good loch to show tlaem at the loot of the rainbow a casket of burled gold. It is folly for anybody in this world to wait for something to turn up. It will turn down. The law of thrift is as in- , exorable as the law of the tides. Fortune, the magioiteu, may wave her wand in that direotion until castles and palaces coma but she will after aevhile invert the , same evand, and all the splendors will vanish into thin air. Teem are certain styles of behavior i which lead to usefulness, h000r and per- ! maseent success, anti there are certain styles of behavior which lead to dust, dishonor and moral default. I would like I to fire the anabitioo of young people. I have no sympathy with those who would :prepare young folks for life by whittling down their expectations. That man or , woman will be worth nothing to ohuroli or state who begins life cowed clown. The business of Christianity is not to quench but to direet human ambition. Therefore it A that I utter words of en- couragement to those who are occupied as clerks in the stores and shops and bank- ing houses of the country. They are not an exceptional obese. They belong to a great conmetny of tens of thous:Inas who are in thie country, amid oircumstances which will either make or break them for time and for eternity. Many of these people leave already achieved a Christian xnaoliness end a Christian evonianliuess which will be their passport to any posi- tion. I have seen their trials. I have watched their perplexities. 'There are evils abroad evhioh need to be hunted down and. dragged out into the imonnity light. Only a Schoolroom. In the first place, I o towel clerks to remember that for the most part their clerkship is only a school from winch they ore to be graduated. It takes about eight years to get into one of the learned • professions. It takes about eight years • to get to leo a merchant. SOME, of you vvill -clerks all your lives but the vast majority of you are only in a transient position. After awhile some December day the head name of the firm will call you into the book. office, and tleey will say to you: "Now, you have done well by us We are going to do well by you. We invite you to have an interest in our concern." You will bow to that edict very gracefully. Getting into a street oar to go home an old comrade will meet you and say, "What makes youlook so happy to -night?" "Oh," you will say, "noth- ing, nothing!" But in a few days your name will blossom on the sign. Either in the store or bank where you are now, or in some other store or bank, you will take a higher position than that which you now occupy. So I feel I am now addressing people who will yet have their hand on the helm of the world's com- merce and you will turn It this way or that. Now clerks, but to be bankers, im- porters, insurance company directors, shippers, contractors, superintendents of railroads — your voice mighty "on 'change" --standing foremost in the great financial and religious enterprises of the day. For, though we who are in the pro- fessions may on the platform plead for the philanthropies, after' all, the ener- chants must come forward with their millions to sustain the movement. Be therefore patient and diligent in this transient position. You are now where you can learn things you can never learn in any other place, 'Meat you consider your disadvantages are your grand opportunity. You see an affluent father some day come down a prominent street with his son wbo has just grad- uated from the university and establish- ing him in business, puttin'g $50,000 of capital in the store. Well, you are envi- ous. You say, "Oh, if I only had a chance like that young man—if I only had a father to put $50,000 in a business for me, then I would have some chance in the world." Be not envious. You have advantages over that young man which he has not over you. As Wen might I (some down to the docks when a vessel is about to sail for Valparaiso and say, "Let me pilot this ship out ter sese" Why, I would sink crew and cargo before • I got met of the harbor Simply because I know nothiog about pilotage. Wealthy sea captains put tbeir sons before the mast for the reason that they know it is the only place where they can learn to be sticcessful sailors. • It is only under drill that people get to tualeestand pilot- age and navigation, and I want you to understand that it takes no more skin to conduct a vessel ont of the harbor and across the sea than to steer a commereial establishment clear of the rooks. • You see every day the folly of people going into a business they know nothing about. A Mall makes a fortune in one business, thinks here is another menhaden more conifortable, goes into it and sillies all. Many of tbe comxnercial establishments of our cities are giving their clerks a mercantile education as thorough as Yale or Harvard 03' Princeton are giving scien- tific attaiinnent to the students matricu- •. listed. The reason there are so many men foundering in business frotn year to year Is because their early mercantile educa- tion was neglected. Ask the men in bigh commercial circles, and they will tell you • they thank God for this severe disonnine of their ear y 1 clerkshi You can afford tine speaks of a man who advertised that he would on a certain ocuasien tefl the people what was in their hearts. „A. crowd assembled, and he stepped to the front and said, "I will tell you what Is in your hearts—to buy cheap and sell dear." Oh, lay not aside your urbanity When you go bath .n store! Treat the clerks like gentlemen and ladies, proving yourself tmbe geheleman or a lady. Reinember, that ff the prices are high and your purse is lean that is no fault of the elerks, And if you have a son or a daughter amid those perplexities of commercial life told such a one comes home all worn out, be lenient and know that the rnartyr at the stake • no more certainly needs the grace of God tban oor young people amid the seven times heated exasperations of a clerk's life, •,nete Employers. Then there are all the trials which come to clerks from the treatment of in- considerate employers. There are pro- fessed Christian num who have no snore regarcl for their clerks than they have for the scales on which the sugars are eveighed. A clerk is no more than so smolt store furniture. No consideratien for their rights or interests. Not one word of encouragemeot from sunrise to sunset, nor from January to December, but when anything goes wrong—a streak of dust on the counter or a box with the cover off—thunder showers of scolding. Men imperious, capricious, cranky to- ward their clerks, their whole manner as much as to say, "All the interest I have in you is to see what I eau get out of you." Then there are all the trials of incompetent wages, not in such times as these, when if a ina.n gets hall a salary for his services lie ought to be thankful, but I mean in prosperous times. Scene of you remember when the war broke out and all merohandise went up and mer- chants were made millionaires in six months by the simple rise in value of goods. Did the clerks get advantage of that rise? Sometimes, not always, I saw estates gathered in those times over which the curse of God, has hung ever since. The cry of unpaid rnen and V7O• 'men in those stores reached the Lord of Sabaoth, and the indignation of God has been around those establishments ever since, flashing in the chandeliers, gluey- ing from the orimson upholstery, rumbl- ing io the long roll of the tenpin alley. Such men may build up palaces of mer- chandise heaven high, but after awhile a disaster will coon along and will put one hand on this pillar and another hand On that pillar and throw itself forward until down will oome the whole struc- ture, orushingethe :worshipers as grapes aro mashed in the wine press. Then there are boys ruined by lack of compensation. In how many prosperous stores it has beeo, for the last 20 years that boys were given just enough money to teach them how to steal. Sonne were seized mon by the police. The vast ma - o± instances were not known. Tbe head of the firm asked, "Where is George now?" "Oh, he isn't here any more." A lad might better starve to death on a blasted heath than take one flubbing from Isis employer. • Woe be to that em- ployer wbo unnecessarily -puts a tempta- tion in a boy's way. There have been. great establishments in these cities, bonding merino palaces, their owners dying worth millions and millions and millions, who seincle a vast amount of their estate out of the blood and muscle and nerve of half pam id clerks. Such en as—well, I will not mention any name, but I mean men who have gathered up vast estates at the expense of the people who were ground under their heel. "Oh," say such 3i:torch:oats, "if you don't like it here, then go and get a better place." As much as to say: "I've got you in my grip, and I mean to hold you, You can't get any other place." Good Employers. While there are other young men putting down (he u ap odf dsr k tOonttohfeitrbellorosu, nytoiluinst 000pt God and youesvill rite up etrong to tbras the mountains. The ancients used e) think that pearls were fallen raindrops, which, touching the surface of the sea, hardened into gems, then dropped to the bottom. I have to tell you to -day that storms of trial have sbowered imperish- able pearls into many a young mittes lap. 0 young man, while you have goods to eel], remember you baye a soul to SAVO) In a nospital a Christian captain, wounded it few days before, got deliri- ous, and in the • midnight hour • he sprang out on the door of tile hospital, thinking he was in tbe battle, crying: "Coate on, boys' l'orward! Charge!" Ali, he was only battling the speeters of his own broils, but it ie no imaginary conflict into which I call you, young man, to day. There are 10,000 spiritual foes that would capture you. In the name of God up and at them. After the • last store has been closed, after the last bank has gone down, after the shuffle of tlse quick feet on the =a- tom house steps has stopped, after the long line of merchantmen on the sea have taken sail of flame, after Washing- ton and New York and London and Vienna, have gone down into the grave where Thebes and Babylon and Tyre lie buried, after the great lire bells of the judgment day have toiled at the burning of it world—on that day all the affairs of banking houses and stores will come up for iespection. Oh, what an opening of account books! Side by side the clerks and the men who employed them. Every 11170100 made out, all the labels of goods, all certificates of stock, all lists of prices, all private marks of the firm, now ex- plained so everybody can understand • them. All the maps of °ides that were never built, but in whieh lots were sold. All• bargains, all gougings, all snap judgmente, all false =trice, all adultera- tion of liquors with copperas and stry- chnine, All mixing of teas and sugars and ooffees aud sirups with °beeper ma- terial. All embezzlemeuts of trust funds. All swindles itt coal and iron and oil and silver and stooks. On that day, yawn the cities of this world are smoking in the last conflagration, the trial will go on, and down in fill avalanche of destruction will go those who wronged man or wo- man, insulted God and defied the judg- ment. Oh, that will be a great day for you, boxiest Christian clerk! No getting up early, no retiring late, no walking around with weary limbs, but a mansion in which to live and a realm of light and love and joy over which to hold everlast- ing dominion. Hoist him up from glory to glory, and, from song • to song, and from throne to throne, for, while others go down into the sea with their gold like a millstone hanging to their neck, this one shall come up the heights of ame- thyst and alabaster, holding in his right hand the pearl of great price in a sparkl- ing, glittering, flaming casket. Oh,what a contrast between those men and Christian merchants who to -day are sympathetic with their clerks, when they jaay the salary, acting in this way: "This salary that I give you is not all my interest In you. You are an immortal man; you are an immortal woman. I am interested in your present and your everlasting welfare. I want you to un- derseand that if I am a little higher up in this store I am beside you in Chris- tian sympathy." Go back- 40 0;50 years to Arthur Tappen's store in New York, O man whose worst enemies never ques- tioned his honesty. Every morning he brought all the clerks, and the account- ants, and the weighers into a room for devotion. They sang, they prayed, they exhorted. On Monday morning the olerks were asked where they had attended church on the previous day and what' the sermons were about. It must have sound- ed strangely, that voice of praise along the streets where the devotees of Mena - MOD were counting their golden beads. You say Arthur Tappen failed. Yes, he wes unfortunaate, like a great many good men, but I understand he snet all his obligations before he left this world, and I know that he died in the peace of the gospel, and that he is before the throne of God to -day, forever blessed. If that be failing, I wish you might all fail. There are a great many young men and young women who want a word of encouragement,Christian encouragement. One smile of good cheer would be worth more to them to -morrow morning in their place of business than a present of $15,000 ten years bence. Oh, I remember the apprehension and the tremor of en- tering a profession. I remember very well the man who greeted me in the ecclesiastical court with the tip ends of the long fingers of the left hand, and I remember the other mao who took my hand in both of hA and said: "God bless you, my brother. You leave entered a glorious profeseion. • Be faithful to God and he will see you through." Whys feel this minute the thrill of that hand- shaking, though the man who gave me the Christian grip has been in heaven 20 years. There are old men here to -day who can look back to 10 years ago when some one said a kind word • to them. NOW, old men, pay back what you got then. It is a great art for old MOD to be able to encourage the young. There are many young people in our cities who have come from inland counties, from the granite hills of the north, • from the savannas of the south, from the prairies of the west. They are here to get their fortnne. They are in boarding houses where everybody seems to be thinking of himself. They want companionship and they want Christian encouragement. Give it to them. The Final Lesson. • My word is to all clerks—be mightier than your temptations. A Sandwich Islander used to thine, evhen he slew an enemy all the strength of that eneiny came into bis own right • arra. • And I have to tell you • that every misfortune yea .conquer is eo naucle added to your iwo moral power. With omnipotence for a lever and the throne of God for a ful- crum you can move earth and heaven. Tiorseless Wagon vs. HorSo. Never sweats. Doesn't feel its oats. Has no kick coming. -Couldn't if he had. Can go on a nails track without a ski =id never turn a bait. Can't be joelseyed. Never scares at trolley -ears. Doesn't "eat its head off." Goes like lightning. Never stalls ill an ash wagon. Can't be spurred. Doesn't gat hot under the collar. Not afraid of bikers. Never backs over the dump. Doesn't buck like a broneho. Isn't afraid of the stable boss. Not a high flyer. Will not jump on the hoeseshoer. "Anybody can ride it" --if he or she knows how. Dees the hostler. Doesn't demolish the dashboard with its heels. Doesn't want to stop at every water- ing-trouah on the road. Has no objeot in taking the bit in its teeth. It 17111 not bite. Doesn't eat much. Isn't afraid of getting its hoofcaught in a slot. Has no reason to depend on mane strength. STILL— It can't do muck plowing. Hence—it is not the farmer's friend. Wouldn't be much accouot in a hurdle race—Aause it can't jump fences and things. Couldn't "follow the hounds" in a fax hunt. Doesn't know gee from haw. It is liable to come on top of the pedes- trian "so sudden" It has wheels. BUT— It's a good thing evhich doesn't need pushing along. A Comparison. The parliamentary system in vogue in the Canadian provinces has a tendenoy to develop strong leadership, and to give that leadership a continuity of service that results in statesmanlike training of great value. Our American system gives high average training in publio life to a larger number of men; but it would not seem so well to promote the development of permanent and highly trained leaders of the first rank, whose positions depend upon their unquestioned qualities of in- tellect and character. There is no par- ticular reason why Ws ill the 'United States should not feel as much interest and as much pride in the strong and ad- mirable men who are our neighbors across the line in Canada, as anybody is entitled to feel in Great Britain. These men, are the products of American rather than.X European conditions. They owe nothing more to their traditional ties with the old home beyond sea than we in the United Stones owe to our historical European ties.—Froin "Tiles Progress of the World," in AnsorIca.n Monthly Re- view of Reviews. Removing StainS From Lin en. Wine stains in linen rnay be effectually removed by holdiugg the stained article in milk that is still boiling on the • lire. Fruit stains are best treated with yellow soap, well rubbed into each side of the stain, after which tie a piece of pearlash in the stained porbion of the fabric and boil the article in water, When finally removed and exposed to the light and. air in drying, the marks -will gradually disappear. Mildew spots on linen should be rubbed with soap and floe chalk powder. • RATS HOLD THE FORT. Refuse to be Rented by Dog or Cat and Get • Drank and Steal NIglitiy. Within it stone's throw of Sixth ave nue, where Broadway melees that thor- oughfare at Tbirty-tourth street, there is is two-story frame building wbich, it overrun by rats. The building is an old one, and up to three months ago it had been unoccupied for some time. On the geound floor of the banding is a :saloon. The second floor is used as a reception room, where meo ttd women ruay sit and drink When the present oecupaut of the building started his saloon his bartenders were mystified every morning by the dis- appearance of eggs that had been left nnder the bar at closing time. They couldn't imagine where the eggs went to until a rat was seen eating one of the shells. When the egge were put out of their reaoh the rats turned loose on tbe sager. Lump and powdered sugar disappeared In surprising quantities. It was kept in small wooden boxes screwed to the top of the bar, and the rats bit through the boxes, Raines law lunch began to vanish through a hole itt tbe rear of a big ice box. To get into the ice box an inside casing of zinc lean to be gnawed thrnugh. After Briding that all the food left °VOX night in the ice box had been stolen or made =fit for use, tbe proprietor of the saloon concluded that he 'would get rid of Ms unwelcome ,guests. He got a female cat from a friend who gays her a long pedigree as an exterminator of rats. The oat entered on her new duties, and for two days the rats seemed to have selected a new home. Then the cat gave birth to three kittens, and she was kept busy caring for them and forgot the rats. Three days after the kittens appeared one was stolen by the rats. The next. night another was carried off, and the third and last of the litter met it like fate a day or two later. Finally the rata tackled the old cat. In the early morn- ing her dead body was found on tbe barroom floor. She was badly bitten about the neek, and pieces of her fur were scattered about the floor. There was not any evidence that any of the rats had been hurt. Otto of the bartenders owns a bulldog named Jim. Jim is an ugly -looking brute and his temper is no sweeter than his looks, If there is anything Jim bates snore than other dogs it is rats. There- fore Jim's owner thought rats would be scarce if the bulldog was installed in the saloon. a ' The bulldog was left in the saloon when it was closed for the night. Easly in the morning, when .fien was placed on guard, people passing saw a very angry bulldog rushing up and down the saloon. In the dim light it was hard at first to see what be was after. If one looked closely be would make out the forms of big rats close up against the walls of the building. When the dog would rush toward them they would dis- appear. Every little while a rat would run amass thebarroom floor. Quiek as the bulldog was the rats 'svere quicker, and before many hours Jim was badly rattled. The rats seemed to recognize this fact, for they grew bolder. The struggle for supremacy lasted all night, and the dog was worsted. He killed oply one rat, and it was such a costly killing that Jim was banished the next clay. The one rat killed was first seen on the sideboard behind the bar, flanked by glassware and unopened bot- tles of liquor. Jim espied the rat, ap- parently as soon as it appeared, but the dog realized that he was playing a losing game, and he became strategic. With his business eye on the rat behind the bar, Jim kept on chasing his tormentors on the floor. Getting in a direct line with the rat on the sideboard, however, Jim made a mighty effort, sprang over the bar and landed on the rat. There was a crash of glassware, followed by growls and the squeaks of the dying rat. Mak- ing sure the job was a thorough one the dog carried the dead body of tbe rat to the middle of the floor. Crouching down beside it he watched to see if life was ex- tinct. He was still on guard when the saloon was opened in the morning. The cost of getting rid of that one rat was something over $50, and the pro- prietor of the saloon figured that he would. be bankrupt at that rate before half of the rats had been killed. The rats in this saloon are confirmed topers. Beer is their favorite beverage, and they wallow in the beer trough every night. Many of the rats have been killed because they were too drunk to get to their retreats. • The beer they drink seems to increase their appetites, and consequently raids on the free lunch are more frequent. A whole cheese has been eaten in a night, and meats go as quick- ly. Poison was resorted to, but one experi- ment put an end to that line of battle. The poison was sprinkled on a piece of cheese, but only one rat nibbled it, This one died In the wall, and tbree days after his demise the wall had to be torn out. The owner was afraid to clean the bar trough nights for fear the rats would bite through the beer pipes to get their supply of intoxicants.—New York Sun. • When Time nags. "ncientists are going to arrange it so' me can tell the time bflowers." "That won't work. Whenever I take roses to Mabel she lets me Stop the clock." 41 Wheel of Silver and Ivory. I have just heard of an infatuated and plutocratic bridegroom wile) has 'presented his pretty little wife of a few weeks with O bicycle that is an edition de luxe of a most intra -sumptuous description. This "creation" ill wheels has its frame and forks overlaid with silver openwork; the ivory handles are decorated with silver, and there are jade knobs at the ends, Parts of itis equipment are a solid silver cyclometer, a silver watch and bell and O solid silver lamp with out crystal side lights. The mud guard is silver -mounted and strung with the finest silk. What kind of frock will the tortunate owner of this magnificent machine consider fit to wear when she mounts its eolith° kid - covered saddle? I can think only of a gown of .ivory white alpaca, silky and glistening, lined with dead white silk, and with a white kid belt trimmed with silver about her waist,and a hat of white felt, with no trimming except a band of silk and a snowy quill feather to break the outline of its graceful Alpine shape. —London Letter. Couldn't be Filled. Doctor Boneset—I think you should have some chichen broth for your dinner. Mr. Lipsner—Dab's a queei: suggestion t' make t' a men in my condition, doc- tah. How's 1 gwioe t' gib cbicken—me lyin' here in bed an' can't move? You don't suppose Ise gwine t' send ray ole evomeni out On such a risky job as dat, do yo'?—Puck. One Modred drops from a medicine dropper makes one spoonful. The old-fashioned copper, or lc piece, was a little more than, an inch. THE SCOTCH ELDER, How Ile Took the Pledge to save it Lost An honest shopkeeper in the north ot Sootland, a worthy man and an elder en the ebureh, was deeply imbued with all the peculiar prejudices against teetotal.. ism, widen we find even in America beset some inen of highly respectable character. He looked upon it as a thing unreason- able and unseriptural, "God, who gave us our reason," he argued, "desires neat we should make use of it in restraining and, governing our appetites, not in starving and denying them. He who created the good things of tlais life intended see to enjoy them in moderation when plaeed within our power. .111 Soripture," be said, "the moderate 11S0 of spire -bootie liquors is nowhere • forbidden." And he thought that souse temperance people were putting reformation in places of vital godliness. Thus the good elder schooled hiinself against teetotalism. One day, while engaged in measuring off some yords of cloth, a neighbor and customer whom he knew to have become almost a wreek through the use of In- toxicating liquors entered Ids shop. The poor man's face was fleehed, and hie eye excited and anxious; but this time he was perfectly sober. "Mr. A—," said he, "will you Rave a lost roan? I want to take the pledge." "Well, do so; it's the best thing you can do," "But you know it would hecorne a brand for the like of nae, if men of re- spectable character such as you were not ofteu hauxid to take It too. Will you join the teetotalers, and join with you? If not, I must go to ruin. It's any only chance. Mr, A—, vein you save a lost soul?" The elder was staggered and, startled; some dim recollection of "who Is my neighbor?" and the pea:able of the Good Samaritan awoke in his heart; and the fellow-ereature before him, losing health, wealth, reputation, reason—stripped and, wounded of the devil—did seem fully isa as sore a plight as he who bad fallen among thieves long a,go nigh unto Jeri- cho. But then his own principle.s1 They must be regarded. Mr, A— xnust be con- sistent, and the poor tailor onust be Aft to take his own way. Mr. A—'s dinner did him little good that day; his digestion failed peony; appetite for supper he had none; and on retiriog to rest sleep came not neat his pillow—scared ever by a voice that con- tinually rang in hia ears: "S. A—, will you save a lost soul? S. A—, will you save a lost soul?" Early ixt the morning two men 'were seen wending their way together to the office of the teetotal society. The one was the elder, principled in "moderation" and anti -teetotalism, the other was the drunken tailor, on the verge of ruin temporal and eterniel. And they took the pledge together. S. A,— ate a good breakfast that day, and has slept soundly ever since. The tailor has kept the pledge, and appears to be getting along nicely with. out the stimulus of, spirits. Before he signed the pledge he suffered more or less from asthma, and used to take wbisky to relieve him, but it only made him worse. Now, while he has bad two or three atteeks since, he has got round all right without the usual appliance of Whisky. Mr. se. A— Is one of the foremost ad- vocates of total abstinence in town. Would that there were more like himl Then there would be more eeelaIrned tailors. Would that all wouhl learn of the parable as faithfully, and betenne indeed Good Samaritans in obeying the command: "Go and do thou likewise." My brother, are there those among your neighbors who are suffering from the drink habit, and are they ready td perish? Might they not, through your example and help, bave at least a ohauce to escape? Oh, turn not aside io cold neglect nor in heartless apathy, but haste to the rescue and save those for whom your Saviour died] — National Temperance Advocate. ENGLISH NIGHTINGALE. They Are Not Shy and Their Song is NOV Reserved for the Night. The nightingale does not sing every- where, yet it is the greatest mistake to consider the bird shy or to imagine its song is chiefly reserved for the night. He will sing continually from one of the oaks bordering the wayside while the vil- lage folks pass and repass. The village couples must rest upon the footside or linger to listen beneath the very tree on which the bird is stationed. Still the.full burden of melody goes on unchecked, without pause or intermis- sion. And what a glorious outburst it is! What a perfect cascade of trills and shakes and serei-euivers! Suddenly it is pierced by a single note that shivers itt the ear; then comes the wondrous water bubble, to be followed by a delicious warble, long drawn and soft as mold be breathed from the richest flute. Another prolonged trill, and then a far-off sound, that almost seems to come from another songster half a mile away, serves to throw into relief the passionate tremolo issuing from the same tiny throat; and all the tisne the wings are quivering with excitenaennand the whole coppice seems to vibrate. The song A, ins deed, a whole orchestra of bled 31111Sio. Expressive of every shade of ecstasy, we are at times startled by a succession of deep, plaintive tones that thrill like sobs. No wonder the nightingale's singing '- season is brief—six weeks only of the entire year. Nay, it is doubtful whether any indi vidual bird sings for so long a period. The redwing, another fine singer, is a similar instance of the limited period of song. Its voice in this country is con- fined to two notes, a,nd these by no means musical. Yet the redwing is the nightingale of Norway, to which land he returns for breeding purposes each suo- ceeding April. So with osar nightingale. From the day the eggs are hatched • he becomes gradually silent, until of the marvelous voice that stirred a mile of woodland, naught is heard save a dismal croak hardly to be distinguished from the coarse cry of the bnlifrog.—St. James' Gazette. • Destroys Their Manhood. An English physician says: "A boy who early smokes is rarely known to make a man of • mush energy of char ceder, and he generally lacks physieal and intiscular, as well as mental, energy. I would particularly warn boys who want to rise in the world to shun tobaece as a deadly poison." He Was Mistaken. Mrs. S(en:414removing her wraps) - 1 spent $45 th-day. Sta ff (surpnised)—I thought you Were only going shopping.