Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1897-11-25, Page 74k. *O THOU AND PREACH 0 DR. TALMAGE TELLS WHAT THE FUTURE SERMON WILL BE. The World Wants. a Living Christ—Con. detonation the Demand of the Age—Why People Do Not Go to Clanrch—Axa Appeal to the Unsaved Soul, lcopyrigbt 1897, by American Press Associa- tion.) Washington, Nov. 91. --Most appropri- ate to the times we live in is Dr, Tal - wage's clisooarse of to -day. All Christian workers will read it with interest. His text is Luke ix,, 60 "Go, thou, and preanh the kingdom of God." The gospel is to be regnant over all hearts, all circles, ell governments and all lands. The kingdom of God spoken of in the text is to be a universal kingdom, and just as wide as tbat will be the realm sermonic. "Go, thou, and preanh tbe kingdom of God." We hear a great deal in .these days about the coming roan, and the coining woman, and the coming time. Some one ought to tell us of the coming sermon. It is a simple fact that everybody knows that most of the ser- mons of today do not reach the world. The vast majority of the people of our great cities never enter church. The sermon of to -day carries along with it the deadwood of all ages. Hun- dreds of years ago it was decided what a sermon ought to be, and it is the at- tempt of many theological seminaries and doctors of divinity to hew the /- modern pulpit utterances into the same it R old style proportions. Booksellers will telt you they dispose of a hundred his- tories, a hundred novels,a bundred poems to one book of sermons. What is the matter? Some say the age is the worst of all ages. It is better. Some say reli- gion is wearing out, when it is wearing in, Sonic say there are so many who despise the Christian religion. I answer there never was an ago when there were so many Christians or so many friends of Christianity as this age has—aur age, as to others a hundred to one. What is the matter, then? It is simply because our sermon of to -day is not suited to the age. It is the canalboat in an age of loco- motive and electric telegraph. The ser- mon will haus to be shaken out of the old grooves or it will not be heard and it will not be read, The Coaling Sermon. Before the world is converted the sermon will have to be converted. You might as well go into a modern Sedan or Gettysburg with bows and arrows instead of rifies and bombshells and parks of artillery lie to aspect to conquer this world for God by the old styles of serinonology. Jonathan Edwards preached the sermons best adapted to the age in which . he lived. But if those sermons were preached now they would divide an audience into two classes—those sound asleep and those wanting to go home. But there is a corning sermon—who will preach it 1 have no idea. In what part of the earth it will be born 1 have no idea. In which denomination of Christiana it will be delivered I cannot guess. That owning sermon may be Morn in the country meeting house on r uhe banks of the St. Lawrence, or the Oregon, or the Ohio, or the Tombigbee, or the Alabama, Tho person who shall deliver it may this moment lie in a 0 cradle under the shadow of the Sierra Nevadas, or in n New England farm house, or amid the riaeflelds of southern savannas; or this moment there may be some young man in some of our tbeoln- gioat seminaries in the junior or middle or senior class shaping that weapon of power; or there inay be coming some new baptism of the Holy Ghost on the churches, so that some of us who now stand in the watch towers of Zion, waking to the realization of our present inefficiency, ,nay preanh it our- selves. '.That coming sermon maynot be 20 years off. .And let us pray God that its arrival may be hastened, while 1 announce to you what I think will be the chief obaracteristlos of that sermon when it does arrive, and 1 want to make the remarks appropriate and' sug- gestive to all classes of Christian work- ers. First of all, I remark that tbat coming sermon will be full of a living Christ, in contradistinction to didactic technicalities. a A. sermon may be full of Christ, though hardly mentioning his name, and a sermon may bo empty of Christ,while every sentence is repetitious of his title. The world wants a living Christ, not a Christ standing at the head of a formal systehn of theology, but a Christ who means pardon and sympathy and condolence and brotherhood and life and heaven A poor man's Christ. An overworked man's Christ. An invalid's Owlet. An artisan's Christ. An -every man's Christ. The World Wants Help. A symmetrical and finely worded system of the theology is well enough ,for theological classes, but it has no asore business in a pulpit than have the ehnioel phrases of an antomist or a hysioian in the sickroom of a patient. The world wants help, immediate and world uplifting, and it will Dome through a sermon in which Christ shall walk right down into the immortal soul and take everlasting possession of it, filling it as full of light as is the noon- day firmament. That sermon of the future will not deal with men the threadbare illustrations of Jesus Christ. In that coining sermon there will be intanoes of vicarious sacrifice taken right out of everyday life, for there is not a day somebody is not dying for others. As the . physician, saving his diphtherio patient by sacrificing his own life; as the ship captaill, going down with his 'vessel, while be is. getting his passengers into the lifeboat; as the fire- ; utan,consuming in the burning building, Whilehe is taking ,a ohild out of a fourth story window; as last summer the strong swimmer at Long Branch or Cape May or Lake George himself perishing tryingto resou e the drowning; as the newspaper boy not long ago, sup- porting his mother for some years, his invalid mother,when offered by a gentle- man 50 entle-pian-50 cents to get some especial paper, and he got it . and rushed up in his anxiety to deliver it, and was crushed under the wheels of the train, and lay on the grass with only strength enough to say, "Oh, what will become, of my poor, sick mother now?" Vicarious suffering? The world is full of it. An engineer said to pie on a 10004 motive in Deekta: "We men seem to be coming to better appreciation than we used to. Did you see thataccount the. other day of nib engineer, wbo to save his passengers, stuck to his place, and When he was found dead in the l000- Motive,' which was found upside down, he was found still smiling, his hand on the air -brake?" And as . the engineer said it to me be put his hand on the air -brake to illustrate his meaning, and I looked at him and thought, "You would he just as much of a hero in the same crisis." Oh, in that naming sermon of the Christian cbureh there will be living illustrations taken from everyday life of vicarious suffering—illustrations that willbring to mind the ghastlier sacrifice of hint who, in the high places of the field and on the oross, fought aur battle and wept our griefs and endured our struggles and cited our death. The ILnage of Christ. .A German sculptor made an image of Christ, and he asked his little child, two years old, who it was, and she said, "That mast be some very great man." The sculptor was displeased with the criticism, So he got another block of marble and chiseled away on it two or three years, and then he brought in his little child, four or live years of age, and he said to her, "Who do you think that is?" She said, "That must be the one who took little children in bis arms and blessed them." Then the sculptor was satisfied. Oh, my friends, what the world wapts is not a cold Christ, not an intelleotual Christ. not a severely mag- isterial agisterial Christ, but a loving Christ, spreading out his arms of sympathy to press the whole world to his loving heart. But I remark, again, that the coming sermon of the Christian ohurch will, be a short sermon. Condensation is demanded by the age in which we live, No more need of long introductions and long ap- plications and so many divisions to a discourse that it may be said to be hydra beaded, In other days men got all their information from the pulpit. There were few books, and there were no newspapers, and there was little travel from plane to plane, and people would sit and listen two and a half hours to a religious discourse, and "seventeenthiy" would find them fresh and abipper, In those times there was enough room for a man to take an hour to warm Munson up to the subject acid an hour to cool off. But what was a nececity then is a superfluity now. Cougr'gations are full of knowledge from books, from news- papers, ,from rapid and continuous intercommunioatian, and long, disquisi- tions of what they know ulr'ady will not be abided. If a religious teacher can- not compress a hat he wishes to say to the people in the spate of 45 minutes, better adjourn it to some other day. The trouble is we preach audiences into a Christian frame, and then we preach them out of it. We forget that every auditor has so much capacity of atteution,and when that is exbausted he is restless The accident on the Long Island railroad came from the feat that the brakes were out of order and when they wanted to stop the train alley could not stop; hence the casualty was terrific. In all religious discourse we want locomotive power and propulsion. We want at the same time stout brakes to let down at the rigbt instant. It is e dismal thing, after a hearer, has com- prehended thewhole subject, to bear a man say, "Now, to recapitulate," and "a few words by way of application" and "once mora," and "finally," and "now to conolude." The 31odel Sermon. Paul preached until midnight, and Eutychus got sound asleep and fell out of a window and broke his nook. Some would say, "Good for him," I would rather be sympathetic, ince Paul, and resuscitate him. That accident is often quoted now in religious ciroles as a warn- ing against somnolence in thumb. It is just as muoh a warning to ministers against prolixity. Itutyabus was wrong in his somnolence, but Paul made a mistake when he kept on until mid- night. He ought to have stopped at 11 o'clock and there would have been no accident, If Paul might have gone on to too great lengths, lot all those of us who are now preachiug the gospel remember that there is a limit to religious dis- course, or ought to be, and that in our time we have no apostolic power of miracles. Napoleon, in an address of seven minutes, thrilled his army and thrilled Europe. Christ's sermon on the mount—the model sermon—was less than 18 minutes long at ordinary mode of delivery. It is not electricity scattered all over the sky that strikes. but elec- trioity gathered into a thunderbolt and hurled, and it is notreligious truth seat- tered over, spread out over a vast reach of time, but religious truth projected in compact form that flashes light upon' the soul and drives . its indifference. When the coining sermon arrives in this land and in the Christian church—the sermon which is to arouse the world and startle the nations and usher in the kingdom -1t will be a brief sermon. Hear it, all theological students, all ye just entering upon religious work, all ye men and women who in Sabbath schools and other departments are toiling far Christ and the salvation of immortals. Brevity, brevity! But I remark also that the coming ser- mon of which I speak will be a 'popular sermon. There are those in these times who speak of a popular sermon as though there must be something wrong about it. .As these critics are dull them- selves, the world gets the impression that a sermon is good in proportion as it is stupid. Christ was the most popular preacher the world ever saw, and, con- sidering the small number of the world's population had the largest audiences ever gathered. He never preached anywhere 'without making a great sensation. Peo- ple rushed out in the wilderness to hear him,reckiess of their'physioai necessities. So great was their anxiety to hear Christ, that, taking no fa od with them, they would have fainted and starved had not Christ performed a miracle and fed them. Why did so many people take the truth a Christ's hands? Because they all understood it. He illustrated his subject by a hen and her chickens, by a bushel measure, by a handful of salt, by a bird's flightand by a lily's aroma. All the people knew what he meant, and k to him. And when the they flocked coining sermon of the Christian church appears, it will not be Prinoetonian, not 53.00hersterian, not Andoverien, not Middletonian, but Olivetio—plain, prac- tical, unique, earnest, comprehensive of all the woes, wants, sins, sorrows and necessities of an auditory. Churches Rill be Thronged. But when that sermon does come, there will be a thousand gleaming scimitars to charge on it. There are in so many theological seminaries profes- sors telling young men how to preach, themselves not knowing bow, and I am told ' if a young man in some of our theological seminaries says anything quaint or thrilling or unique, faculty end students fty at him,, and set him right, and straighten him out; and smooth him down, and chop bine off until he says everything just as every body else says it. Oh, when the coming sermon of the Christian chnroh arrives, all the' churches of Christ in our great cities will be thronged. The world wants spiritual help. All who have buried their deed want comfort. All know them- selves to be mortal and to • be immortal and they want to hear about the great future. I tell you, my friends if the peo- ple of these great cities who have bad rc.nble only thought they coulee get ,practical and sympathetic help in the Christine church, there would not be a street in Washington or New York ar 13oston which would be passable on the Sabbath day, if there were a chnroh on it; for all the people would press to that asylum of mercy, that great house of comfort and consolation. A mother with a dead babe in her arinS came to the god Veda and asked to have her child restored to life. The god Veda s, id to her, "Yon go and got a handful of mustard seed from a house in which there has been no sorrow and in which there has been no death and I will restore your child to life " So the mother went out, and she went from house to house and from home to home looking for a plane where there bad been no sorrow and where there had been no death, but she found none. She went back to the god Veda and said: "uy mission is a failure. You see, I baven't brought the mustard seed. I can't find a •placo where there bas been no sorrow and no death." "Oh," says the god Veda, "understand, your sorrows are no worse than the sorrows of others. We all have our griefs, and all have our heart- breaks.' Laugh, apd the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone, For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, But has trouble enough of its own. We hear a great deal of discussion now all over tbe land about why people do not go to church, Some say it is because Christie,uity is dying out and because people do not believe in the truth of God's word, and all that. They are false reasons. Why People Do Not Go to C1,nrch. The reason is because our sermons are not interesting and practical and syippa- thetio and helpful. tome ane might as well tell the whole truth on this subject, and so I will tell it. The sermon of the future—the gospel sermon to come forth and shake the nations and lift people out of darkness—will be a. popular ser• mon just for the simple reason that it will meet the woes and the wants and the anxieties cf the people. There are in all our denominations ecclesinstioal mummies sitting around to frown upon the fresh young pulpits of America to try to awe them down, to ory out: "rat, tut, tut! Sensational! They stand to- day preaching in churches that bold a thousand people, and there are a hun- dred persons present, and if they cannot have the world saved in their way it seems as it they do not want it saved at all. I do not know but the old way of making ministers of the gospel is better -.-a collegiate education and an appren- ticeship under the care and borne atten- tion of some earnest, aged Christian minister, the young man getting 11e patriarch's spirit and assisting hits in his religious service. Young lawyers study with old, lawyers, young physicians study with old physicians, and I believe it would be a great help if every young man studying for the gospel ministry could put himself in the home and heart and sympathy and under the benediction and perpetual presence of a Christian minister. But I remark again, the sermon of the future will be an awakening sermon. From altar rail to the front doorstep, under that sermon an audience will get up and start for heaven. There will be in it many a staccato passage. It will not Le a lullaby; it will be a battle charge. Men will drop their sins, for they will feel the hot breath of pursuing retribution on the buck of their necks. It will be a sermon sympathetic with all the physical distresea as well `as the spiritual distresses of the world. Christ not only preached, but he healed paralysis, and he healed epilepsy, and he healed the dumb and the blind and the ten lepers. That sermon of the future will be an everyday sermon, going right down into every ,Hans life, and it will teaoh him how to vote, how to bargain, bow to plow, • how to do work be is ea led to, how to wield trowel and pen and penoil and yardstick and plane. And it will teach women how to eduoate their child- ren, and how to imitate Miriam and Esther and Vashti, and Eunice, ' the mother of Timothy, and Mary, the mother of Christ, and those women who on northern and southern battlefields were mistaken by the wounded for angels of mercy fresh from the throne of God. The Gospel and the Printing Press. Yes, I have to tell you the sermon of the future will be a reported sermon. If you have any idea that printing was invented simply to print secular books. and stenography and phonography were contrived merely to set forth secular ideas, you are mistaken. The printing press is to be the great agency of gospel proclamation. It is bigh time that good men, instead of denouncing the press, employ it to scatter forth the gospel of Jesus Cbrist. The vast majority of people i our cities do not and come to church, o nothing but the printed sermon can reach thein and call them to pardon and life and peace and heaven. So I cannot . understand the nervous- ness of some of my brethren of the ministry. When they see a newspaper man coming in, they say, "Alas, there is a reporter. Every added reporter is 1,000 or 50,000 or 200,000 immortal souls added to the auditory. The time will come when all the village, town and city newspapers will reproduce the gospel of Jesus Christ, and sermons preached on the Sabbath will reverberate all around the world, and, some by type and 501 30 by voice all nations will be evangelized. • The practical bearing of this is upon those who are engaged in Christian work, not only upon theological students and young ministers, but upon all who preanh the gospel, and that is all of you, if you are doing your duty. Do you exhort in prayer meeting? Be short and be spirited. Do you teaoh in Bible class? Though your have to study every night, be interesting. Do you Accost people on the subject of relig- ion in their homes or in public places? Study adroitness and use common sense. The most graceful, the most beautiful thing on earth is the religion of Jesus Christ, and if you awkwardly present it it is defamation. We . must do our work rapidly, and we must do it effec- tively, Soon our time for work will be gone A .dying Christian took out his watch and nave it to a friend and said: "Take that watch I have no mare use for it. 'Time is ended for me, and etern- ity begins. An Appeal to tate unsaved. Oh, my friends, when aur watch has ticked away for us for the last moment and our clock has struck for us the last hour, may it be found we did our work well, that we slid it in the very best way, and whether we preached, the gospel in pulpits, or taught Sabba h classes, or administered to the sick as physicians, •or bargained as merchants, or pleaded the law as attorneys, or were busy as artisans or as busbandmon or as mechanics, or were like Martha nailed to give a meal to a hungry Christ, or like Uannah to make a Boat for prophet, or like Deborah to rouse the courage of some timid Barak in the Lord's conflict, we did our work in such a way that it will stand the test of the judgment. And in the long procession of the re- deemed that marches round the throne may it be found there are many there brought to God through our instrument- ality and in wbose rescue we are exult- ant. But, oh, you unsaved, wait not for that coming sermon. It may oome•after your obsequies It may come after the stonecutter has chiseled our name on the slab fifty years before. Do not wait for a great stoainer of tbe Cunard or White Star line to take you off the wreak, but hail tbe first craft, with however law a mast, and however small a bulk, and however poor a rudder, and however weak a captain. Better a dis- abled schooner, that comes up in time, than a full-rigged brig that conies up after you have sunken.. Instead of wait- ing for that coming sermon—it may be 20 years off—take this plain ipvitation of a roan who, to have given you spirit- ual eyesight, would be glad to be called the spittle by the band of Christ put on the eyes of a blind man, and tubo would consider the highest compliment of this service if at the close 500 men should start from these doors, saying: "Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not. This one thing I know—whereas I was blind,. now 1 see." Swifter than shadows over the plain, quicker than birds in their autumnal flight, hastier than eagles to their prey, hie you to a sympathetic( Christ, The orchestras of heaven have already strung their instruments to cele- brate your rescue. .dud many were the voices around the throne Rejoice, for the Lord brings back his awn. The Crowning of the Tear, This is the festival which the Pilgrim fathers inaugurated, which New England has annually celebrated for two centur- ies, and which the nation has adopted and sanctioned as a day of public thanks- giving to Gad, It exults tbe home and strengthens its sacred and tender ties. It brightens the shadows which have gathered over it. It dignifies prosperity, It prompt men to reach out helpful hands to their less fortunate neighbors. It reminds us afresh from whenoc every goad gift conies. If it seemed good to our fathers in the midst of the hardships 01 this new world to give public thanks to Clot] for blessings, how much more reason have we to follow their example? Abundance of food and clothing, happy homes, a free country at peace with all nations and extending its influence throughout the world, with marvelously multiplied appliances fur use and pleas- ure which snrpass the wildest dreams of those wbo first were moved to set apart a day of public thanksgiving and praise, are ours. What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? 1 will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. Thanksgiving Day. The first great reason for thankkgiving is that we are all alive to take part in the drama of humanite. Mere existence, then, is sufficient rea- son for thankfulness on the part of the generationn wbich is on earth at this period of its history. Never before was the pursuit of kuowiedge so swift as now, and never before was the chase so well directed to the goal. The remaining years of this century are few, but mea- sured by their accomplishments in politics, society, and science, they are likely to be of more valve and more in- terest than whole centuries which have already passed. This is a wonderfully interesting, a peculiarly exhilarating • time in which we are so fortunate as to live. The world is more beautiful than ever before and a better place to dwell in. Let us, then, sound the notes of rejoicing and pour forth the songs of thanksgiving. Should See Her. "She is a very businesslike woman," re- marked one young loan. "Yes," replied the other, "but I ad- mire a clinging nature." "Then you ought to see her some time when she is trying to hold on to a dollar." —Washington Star. STERILIZING Beer to Do It at Home t(aslly and With Little t xh,ouwe. Milk may be sterilized successfully by taking any ordinary bottles, filling with milk to the neck or a little below, plan- ing a stopper of cotton batting in the neck, then setting on a thin strip of wood or inverted pie plate, which has been perforated, iu a thin basin or pail of water. The whole is then heated until the mak shows a temperature of nearly 150 degrees. 'lhe bottle is then stoppered and the pail and contents are removed to the back of the stove, where the tem- perature will remain fairly constant for 20 minutes, especially if covered with some non -conducting material, as a cloth or dry towel or the pail saver. At the end of the 20 minutes the bottles are re- moved and set in warm water, which is gradually cooled and then iced, The bottle may finally be put in the refrigera- tor after being partially tainted in water. Sterilizing may also be accomplished with equally good, if not better, results in tin vessels, either a double boiler oat- meal cooker or two dishes of suitable capacity, one with a diameter two inches shorter than the other. The water is poured into the outer dish at boiling point, the milk dish and contents being set in at once and the milk constantly stirred until its temperature is 150 de- grees. It is then removed for a moment, while the water in the outer dish Is tom- pered to the salve or a degree or two higher. The milk is then set back into the boiler, put to one side and olesely covered and wrapped in order to retain the heat for 15 or 20 minutes. If the object of sterilizing be to destroy the bacillus of tuberculosis a minimum temperature of 1411 degrees should to maintained for 15 minutes, or 140 de- grees for half an hour. If milk can be obtained from a herd known to be free from tuberculosis, or the person has no fear of this trouble, a sterilizing temperature of from 138 de- grees to 140 degrees maintained for 15 or 20 minutes is sufficient to give good keeping qualities and to effectually get rid of 95 per cent. of all bacteria, in- cluding the forms which produce stom- ach disturbances, vomiting and cholera infautum in children. In all sterilizing work the sudden chilling of 50 degrees or thereabouts is imperative. The milk should be kept covered and at as low it temperature as can be obtained. Treated in this man- ner sterilized milk will be found to have a delightfully sweet, pure taste long after common milk has lost its freshness. On the average it keeps from 6 to 86 hours longer than unsterilized milk in the same temperature. English In Paris. Apropos of the exhibition and of the thousands of Engle, h speaking people who will visit Paris in 1900, a very en- terprising step has just been taken by the proprietors of the Mugasins do Louvre, the Whiteley's of Paris. The aro going to teach English to their em- ployees. A series of classes has been ar- ranged, and a number of the young men and women who serve at the counters will have the opportunity of learning the English language free of charge. The administration itself is going to pay the professors, wbo are all English- men. This scheme will enable English speaking customers to be served more agreeably and will render, too, the as- sistance of the hateful interpreter un- necessary,—London Sketch. A Season of Recreation. Thauksgiving day has long been a pe- riod of social happiness, and one cannot fail to note a decided tendency to make it a day of physical recreation also. Both of these forms of enjoyment are valuable and desirable. Perhaps the ideal Thanksgiving day would be that in which all the activities of man—the intellectual, the moral, the spiritual and the physical—work in harmony for the accomplishment of the highest and noblest purposes. Enterprising and Original.. Mrs. Watts—Tbat Simonsbee woman is a perfect fiend! Mr. Watts—I always thought her gen tle and refined. Mrs. Watts—Ob, she is among you men, but what do you think of a wo- man who will wear her little boy's base- ball shoes to a bargain rush and spike every woman who gets in her way? To Seep Blankets Fresh. Blankets cannot be too frequently exposed to the fresh air. Even those made of the finest wool, if constantly used without careful airing, will cease to afford that deligious warmth and to be the luxurious covering that they were when new. When washed they should be dried as soon as possible, and the nap raised by going over them with a fine and short -toothed wool card. The Daily Globe (Morning Edition) INCLUDING"---"a4p- The 24=page Saturday Illustrated Edition Only o0 a Year Order direct or through newsdealer or post- master and secure THE CHRISTMAS EDITION FREE. THE GLOBE, Toronto, LITTLE THINGS. Instances in Which Trifles iiavaChanged Hie „f'MVO, Some sage has observed, aid the makers of copybooks have reoorded the observation, that "Trines make the sum of human things;" Like most copybook maxims, this remark is faithfully correct,' and in addition to their makiz g the sum of human things, trifles have very often changed, also, the whole course of human lives. Here are a few instances:-- A young and clever solicitor who was making rapid headway in his profession, was asked by a friend who dabbled in, amateur theatricals, to attend one even- ing a performanee given by a club, of whioh the said friend was a prominent member. Tho man of law, having no en- gagement for the evening in question, consented readily enough, and the slight of the representation found bim In a stall near the stage, calmly awaiting the rising of the curtain. While be was engaged in studying his programme he received a message by one of the attend- ants from bis friend behind the scenes, bidding him come there et once, as he had a favor to ask of him. The favor was that he should go on in the first scene in the place of one of the actors who bad been taken i11 at the last moment, and as only ordinary dress was required, no special preparation was needed, The solicitor, who had never faced the footlights in the course of his existence, was somewhat taken aback by the suddenness of the proposition, but at length he consented to read the part, and so well did he succeed that from tbat night onward be waspossessed of the stage fever, and a few months later he threw up ]lis legal work and went on the professional stage. The erratic time kept by hotel clacks has often been the cause of many curses, "not loud, but deep," but one young fellow had occasion to bless the eccen- tricity of the timepiece in a large Ameri- can hotel, for had it registered the cor- rect time he would most assuredly have gone to his death. The young man in question was delirious of leaving the city in which be was stopping by a train timed to depart at 6.30 it the evening, and at 6 o'clock—as be thought—he left the hotel with his bag and strolled }leisurely down to the "depot," only to find that the train bad departed some five minutes. Terribly annoyed, he re- turned to the betel, and on making inquiries there be found that the cloak at that establishment was ten minutes slow --hence the loss of the train. Next mooing the whole of America was ring- ing with the news of a terrible railway accident, the train in wbich our young friend had intended to travel having been blown over a bridge into the river, not ane life being saved. It may be hn- agined that the youth in question did not regret, when be beard the news, that the hotel clack ]lad been slow, for had it been otherwise he would most surely have caught the train, and met a hor- rible death. Here, again, the terrible force of trifles will be apparent to all. But perhaps one of the most extraor- dinary eases of lives changed by trines was the following, in which the careless writing of the figure "1" so that it ap- peared 1;ke "7," altered the whole course of a young clerk's esistenoe. It was many years ago, when the gold fever in California was at its highest pitch, and hundreds were leaving every day for the ell Dorado on that western shore. Our oink, who was plodding along in a Lon- don ofidce on (el a week, was very much in love with a certain young lady, who was of n somewhat erratic and changeable disposition. In due course the young man asked the girl to marry him, and on her refusing he became very despond- ent, and accepted the invitation of friend wino was going out to California to ao- company him toward the land of gold. He accordingly made his preparations tine set out, and by a stroke of luck hit upon a valuable vein, with the result that he returned to England some years later an exceedingly wealthy man. The girl had long since married, and her sweetheart never knew that on the very eve of bis • departure she had written him a letter, informing bim that she had changed her mind and would become bis wife after all. This, bowever, she bad done, but owing to her having written the number of the house at which be lodged so that it seemed like "47" instead of "41," the note was delayed, and when at length it reached its proper destination, he who should have received it was on the Atlantic). Bad that letter been properly directed, he would in all probability have married the girl and remained a clerk on a few shillings a week to the end of his days. Strange that so tiny a thing as the figure "7" should change the whole course of a inan's existence. A Woman's Idea. When Henry Barstow got home the other night after a hard day's work in the office, the first things that attracted his attention were a lot of deep ruts in his lawn. He had taken pride in that lawn. Through all the summer months he had nursed it. He bad lifted up little pieces of sod from vacant lots near by and planted them upon the bare spots in hie yard. He had raked and mowed and clipped and worked until his lawn looked like a big pieue of green velvet. His neighbors had praised his industry, and his heart had been glad. It is little wonder therefore that he thought things which cannot be printed when he saw half a dozen deep wagon tracks in his beloved sod. He entered the house, fairly livid with rage. "Who has been driving over nay yard?" he eaolaimed when his sweet little wife came to put her arms around his neok, "Why," said Mildred Barstow, "the- coal thecoal man has been here." "Oh, he has, bas he? Haven't I always had the ooal dumped in the street and. carried into the basement?" " Yes, but you know you ordered coke this time." "Well, what of it? Why didn't you have it parried in just the same?" "But I didn't suppose it would do any• to drive bar m, over the lawn with coke." You didn't? And why not?" "Coke, you know," said Mrs. Bar- stow, as she patted ber husbanit'a cheeks, isn't nearly as heavy as coal." "How much did the man bring at a . . time?" • "A ton, he said." "And so you think a ton of coke isn't as heavy as a ton of coal?" "Why, of course. It isn't, is it?" Mr. Barstow said nothing then. He put his hands down into :his pookets, walked out and looked at the deep ruts for a long time. At last he muttered to himself:-- "And imself:—"And that woman is the mother of my children 1" --Cleveland. Leader.