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HomeMy WebLinkAboutExeter Advocate, 1900-3-1, Page 3ELIGION OF GlIOSTS, Rev. Dr, Talmage Discourses on fan Unique Subject. THE FALLACIES OF SPIRITUALISM iiis Renounces It as Witchcraft and $or- eery—We Are surrounded by Mystery —A Vast Iteaim Unexplored Whiell Science May Yet MaP Out. Washington, Feb. 25. — In this dis- course Dr. Talmage discusses a theme never more under exploration than at Aleethis time and warns people against what he calls a religion of ghosts ; text, 1 Samuel xxviii, 7: "Behold, there is a woman that hath a fam- iliar spirit at En -dor. And Saul dis- guised himself and put on other rai- ment, and lie went, and two men With him, and they came to the wo- man by night." Trouble to the right of him and trouble to the left of him, Saul knew not. what to do. As a last resort he concluded to seek Out a spiritual medium or a witch or anythieg that you please 'to call her — a -woman who had communication with the spirits of the eternal world. It was a very difficult thing to do, for Saul had either slain all the witches or compelled them to stop business. A servant one day said to King Saul, "I know of a spiritual medium down et the village of En -dor." "Do you?" "aid the king. Night falls. Saul, 1/!..tting on the dress of a plain citi- zen, with two servants, goes out to hunt up this medium. Saul and his servants after awhile reached the village, and they say, "I 'wonder if this is the house," and they look in, and they see the hag- gard, weird and shriveled up spiritu- al medium sitting by the light and on the table sculptured images and divining' rods and poisonous images and bottles and vases. They say, "Yes, this must be the place." One loud rap brings the woman to the door, and as she stands there, hold- ing 'the candle or lamp above her head and peering out into the dark- ness, she says, "Who is here!" The tall king informs her that he has come to have his fortune told. When she . hears that, she trembles and al- most drops the light, for she knows there is no chance for a fortune tel- ler or spiritual mecliuna in all the land. But Saul having sworn that no harm shall 'come to her, she says, "Well, who shall I bring up from the dead?" Saul says, "Bring up, Sam- uel," That was the' prophet who had died a •-little while before. I see her waving a wand, or stir- ring up some poisonous herbs in a caldron, or hear her muteering over some incantations, or stamping with her foot as she cries out to the realm of ease dead; "Samuel, Samuel!" Lo, the freezing horror! The floor of the tenement opens, and the gray hairs 'float up and the forehead, the eyes, . 'the lips, the shoulders, the arms, the feet—the entire body of the dead Seenuel—wrapped in sepulchral robe, appearing to the astonished group, who stagger back and hold fast and csIt e, their breath and shiver with ter or. 'he dead prophet, white and awful from the tomb, begins to naove his ashen lips, and he glares upon King Saul and cries out: "What did you bring me up for? What do you mean, King Saul?" Saul, trying to compose and control himself, makes this stammering and affrighted ut- terance as he says to the dead pro- phet: "The Lord is against me, and I have come to you for help. What shall I do?" The dead prophet stretched forth his finger 'to King Saul and said: "Die to -morrow ! 'Come with me into the sepulcher. I am going now. Come, come with me!" And, lo, the floor again opens, and the feet of the dead prophet dis- appear and the arms and the shoul- ders and the forehead! The floor closes. Oh, that was an awful seance! We are surrounded by mystery—be- fore us, behind us, to the right of us, to the left of us, mystery. There is a vast realm unexplored that sci- ence, I have no doubt, will yet map out. He who explores that realm will do the world, more.service than did ever a Columbus or an Amerigo sVespucci. There aro so many things that cannot be accounted for, so many sounds and appearances which defy acoustics and investigation, 'so 'many things appr.oximating to the Spectral, so many effects which do not seem to have it sufficient cause. Spiritualism in America was born in Hyde,sville, Wayne County, N.Y., when one night there was a loud rap heeecl against the door of Michael 's W ' kmaii; a rap a second time, a a a third time, and -all three times, when the door was operied, there was nothing found there, the knocking having been made seemingly by in - 'visible knuckles. In that same house there was a young woman who had s, cold hand passed over her 'face, and, there being seemengly no arm attached to it, ghostly suspicions were excited. • After awhile Mr. -Fox with his farn- i" moved into that house, and then 77.heY had banginge at the door every night. One night Mr. Fox cried out, "Are you it spirit?" Two raps—ans- wer in the affirmative. "Are you an fnitirecl spirite" Two raps—answer in the affirmative. Then they ,knew right away that ft was the spirit of a peddler Who had been murdered In that house years before and who had been robbed of his $500. Wile - 'tiler the spirit of the peddler came back to collect' his $500 ot his bones I do not know. . 'The excitement spread, There was a universal rumpus. The Hon. Judge Edmonds declared in a book that he had actually seen a bell start from the top shelf of a closet, heard It ring over the people that were standing in the el oset: then, swung hy invisible hands, it rang over the people in the heek parlor aud floated through the foldflig doors to the front parlor, rang over the people there a ncl then dropped on 1,lie floor. A senator of the United States, af- terwards governor of Wisconsin, had ° his head geite turned with spiritual is tic demonsti a twits The tahlee ellesed, and the steels tilted, and the bedsteads raised, and the chairs uPsete and it seemed as if the spirits everywhere, had gone into the furniture business! Well, the people said: We have got something new in this country. It is a new re- ligion!" Oh, no, my friend, thous- ands of years ago we find in our text, a spiritualistic seance! Nothing in the spiritualistic circles of our day has been more strange, mysterious and wonderful than things which have been seen in past centuries of the world. In eel ages there have been necromancers, those who consult with the spirits of the departed; charmers, those who put their subjects in a mesmeric state; sorcerers, those who by taking pois- onous drugs see everything and hear everything and tell everything; dream- ers, People who in their sleeping mo- ments can see the future world and hold consultation with spirits. Yes, before the time of Christ, the Bra- inimes went through all the table moving, all the furniture excitement, which the spirits have exploited in our day, precisely the same thing over and over again, under the man- ipulation of the•Brahmans. Now, do you say that spiritualism is difierent from these'? I answer, all these de- lusione I have mentioned belong to the same family. They are exhuma- tions from the unseen world. What does God think of all these delusions? He thinks so severely of them that he never speaks of them but with livid thunders of indigna- tion. He says, will be a ewift witeess against the sorcerer." Ile says, "Thou shalt not suffer a !witch to live." And lest you might make , some important distinction between spieitualisna and witchcraft God says in so many words, "There shall not be among ton a consulter of laminar spirits, or wizards, or necromancer, f or they that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord." The Lord God Almighty in a score of pas- sages which I have not now time to quote utters his indignation against all this great family of delusions. After that be a spiritualist if you dare! You lose a friend; you want the spiritual world opened, so that you may. have communication with him. In a highly wrought, nervous and diteased state of mind you go and put yourself in that communication. That is why I hate spiritualism. It takes advantage of one in ae moment of weakness, which may come upon, 'us at any time. We lose a friend'. The trial is keen, sharp, suffocating, almost maddening. If we could marshal a host and storm the eter- nal world end recapture our loved one, the host would soon be marshal- ed. The house is so lonely. The world is so dark, The separation is so insufferable. But spiritualism says, "We will open the future world, and your loved one can come back and talk, to you." Though we may not hear his voice, we may hearthe rap of his hand. So clear the table. Sit down. Put your hands on the ta- ble. Be very quiet. Five minutes gone. Ten minutes. No motion of the table. No response from tele fu- ture world. Twenty minutes. Thir- ty minute. Nervous excitement all the time increasing. Forty minutes. The table shivers. Two raps from the future world. The letters of the alphabet are called over. The de- parted friend's name is John. At the pronunciation of the letter J two raps. At the pronunciation of the letter 0 two raps. At the pronun- ciation of the letter H two raps. At the pronunciation of the letter N two raps. There you have the whole name spelled out—J-o-h-n, Sohn. Now, the spirit being; present, you say, "John, are you happy?" Two raps give an affirmative answer. Pretty soon the hand of the med- ium begins to tw-ich and toss and begins to write out, after paper and ink are furnished, a message from the eternal world. What is rensarls- able, the departed spirit, although it has been amid the illumination of the heaven, cannot spell as well as it used to. It has lose all grammati- cal aceuracy and cannot write as dis- tinctly. I received a letter through a medium once. I sent it back. I said, "Just please to tell these ghosts they had betLer go to school and get improved in their orthography." Now, just think of spirits, that the Bible represents as enthroned in glo- ry, coming down to crawl under the table and break crockery and ring tea bells before supper is ready and rap the window shetter- on a gusty night! ' What consolation in such miserable stuff as compared with the consolation of our departed friends free from toil and sin and pain are forever happy and that we will join them, not in mysterious and half ut- terance which makes the heir stand on end .and makes cold chills creep the back, but in a reunion most bless- ed and happy and glorious! And none shall inurmer or inisdoubt When God's great sunrise ands us out. • SO do they all. Away with thl re- ,u 4 • ligiost of spooks! PAI F AL NG Still fute,lier, I lea,rn from my text ' 4 that sr)irittialisni is doomand death it TI1E Or VERY MANY e" YOUNG GLILS IN CANADA es I learn still further from this sub- ject that spiritualism ,and necroman- cy are affairs of darkness. Why did not Saul go in the day? He Was ashamed to go. Besides that, he knew' that- this spiritual mediuneelke all her successors, performed he ex- ploits in the night. The Davenports, the Fowlers, the Foxes, the spiritual mediums of all ages, have chosen 'the night or a darkened room. Why.? The majority of their wonders have been swindles, and deceptions pros- pers best in the night. You have all seen strange and un- accountable things in the night. Ale' most every man has at sothe time had a touch of hallucination. Some time ago, after 1 had been over - tempted to eat something indigesti- ble before retiring for the night, after retiring I saw the president of one of the prominent colleges ,astride the foot of the bed, while he demanded of me a loan al: 5 cents! When .1 awak- ened, I had no idea it was anything supernatural. And I have to advise you, if you hear and see strange things at night, to stop eating hot mince pie, and take a dose of billions medicine. It is an oUtraged physical organism, enough to (ICCeiVe the very elect after sundown and docs 10arly all its work en the night, The witch En -dor held her Peanties at Mat; e 1 to Its disciples. King Saul thougl that he would get help from the "ni diuin," but the first • that he se makes him swoon away, and no soon- er ,4s he resuscitated than he is told he must die. Spiritualism is doom and death to every one that yields to it. It ruins the body. Look in iipen an audience of spiritualists—ecadaver- dus, weak, nervous, exhausted, hands clammy and cold, voices sepulchral and ominous, bewildered with raps. I never knew a confirmed spiritualist who had a healthy nervous system. It is incipiereeepilepsy and catalepsy. Destroy your nervous system and you might as well be dead. I have no iced that people who are hearing rar from the future world have but lite strength left to bear the hard raps this world. A man can live with only one lung or with no eyes and be happy, as men have been under such afflictions, but woe be to the inan whose nerves are shattered! Spiritu- alism smites first of all, and mightily, against the nervous system and so makes life miserable. A man in Bellevue, Hospital dying from wounds made by his own hand was asked why he tiled to commit suicide, and he said, "The Spirits told me to'." Parents have strangled their children, and when asked why they did it replied, "Spiritualism demand- ed it." It is the pa,tronizer and for- ager for the madhouse. Judge Ed- monds, in Broadway Tabernacle, New York, delivering a lecture concerning spiritualism, admitted in so many words, "There is a fascination about consultation with the spirits of the dead that has a tendency to lead peo- ple oft from their right judgment and to instill into them a fanaticism that Is revolting to the natural mind." It not only ruins its disciples, but It ruins the mediums also, only give it time. The Gadarene swine on the banks of the Lake of Galilee no soon- er became spiritual mediums than down they went in an avalanche of pork, to the consternation of all -the herdsmen. The offiee of a medium is had for a man, bad for a woinambad for a beast. I bring against this delusion a more fearful indictment—it ruins the soul immortal. First, it makes a /Ilan a quarter of an infidel; then it makes him half an infidel; then it makes him a whole infidel. The whole system, as I conceive it, is founded on the in - They are Subjeet to Readeelsee, Heart T you ble, and an Indisposition to Exer. tion—Paronts should Aot Promptly in Saab. ()Ube'. Miss Alma Gauthier, daughter of Mr. Adelard Gauthier, proprietor of it well-known hotel at Three Rivers, Que., enjoys a wide popularity among her young friends, and they have re- ceutly had occasion to rejoice at her restoration to health after a serious illness. When a reporter called to le 'Ascertain the facts of the case Miss 01 Gauthier was out of the city on a visit, but her father very gladly con- sented to give the story of her cure. He said :--"I believe that had it not been for Dr. Williams' Pink Pills my daughter Alma might have been in her grave, and I woUld be ungrateful indeed if I did not at all times say a Iciud word in favor of the medicine that restored her to health. My daughter's health first began to give way several years ago. At first the trouble did not appear to be serious, and we thought she would soon regain her accustomed health. As time went on, however, this proved not to be the case. She grew 'weaker, wee troubled with headaches, poor appe- tite, dizziness and a fooling of almost constant languor. She was treated by a good doctor, but still there was no improvemet. She seemed to be gradually fading away. If she walk- ed up stairs she wonld have to stop several times to rest on the way. She lost all her color and her face was as white almost as chalk. Her trouble was clearly that which afflicts so many young women entering womanhood, and we feared it would develop into consumption. One day a friend of the family urged her to try Dr. Wil- liams' Pink Pills, and she consented, and procured a coup/e of boxes. Be- fore they were quite gone there was a slight improvement in her appetite and we looked upon this as a hopeful sign. Another half dozen boxes were sufficiency of the word of God as revelation. God says" the Bible i enough for you to know about th future world. You say it is no enough, and there is where you and the Lord differ. ' And although the Scrieture,s say, "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee and thou he found a liar," you risk it and say: "Come back, spirit pf my departed father; come back, spirit of my departed mother, of my compan- ions, of my little child, and tell me some things I don't know about you And about -the unseen world." "Bet," says some one, "wouldn' it be of advantage to hear from th future world? Don't you think i would strengthen Christians?' Ther are a great many materialists wh do not believe there are souls, but i spirits from the future world shout knock and talk over to us they would be persuaded." To that I answer i the ringing words of the Son of God "If they believe not Moses and th prophets, neither will they be per- suaded though one rose •froin the dead." 1. beliove these Are the days o which the apostle spake when he said "In the latter titnes some shall de- part from. the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits." Audiences in this day need to have reiterated in their hearing the passages I quoted some minutes ago, "Tnere shall not be among you a consulter of familiar spirits, or wizard, or necromancer, for they that do these things' are en abomination unto the Lord," and "The soul that turneth after such as have fa,miliar spirits I will set my as have familiar spirits 1 will set myself against them, and they shall be cut off from their people." But I invite you now to a Christ- ian seance, 'a, noonday seance.. This congregation is only one great family. I-Iere is the church table. Come around the church table; take your seats for this great Christian seance; put your Bible on the table, put your hands on top of the Bible and then listen and hear if there are any voices coming from the eternal world. I think there are. Listen! a procured, and under their use she day s by day acquired new strength and e new interest in life. She is now as healthy a girl as there is in Three Rivers, with every trace of her pallor and lang,our gone. This is entirely due to Dr. Williams' Pink Pills, and I am rejoiced to be able to say so publiely." The case of Miss Gauthier certainly carries with it a lesson to other par- ents, whose daughters may be pale, languid, easily tired, or subject to headaches, or other distressing symp- toms that mark the onward progress of anaemia. In cases of this kind Dr. Williams' Pink Pills will give more certain and speedy results than d any other medicine. They act prompt- ly and directly, making new, rich ri red blood, and strengthen the nerves, • and correct all the irregularities inci- dent to this critical, period. Sold by all dealers or sent post paid at 50c. a box or six boxes for $2.60 1 by addressing the Dr. Williams' Medi. , eine Co., Brockville, Ont. Do not be persuaded to take some substitute. "Secret things belong unto the Lord, our God, but things that are reveal- ed belong unto us and to our chil- dren." Surely that is the voice from the spirit world. But before you rise from this Christian seance I want you to promise me you will be satis- fied with the divine revelation until the light of the eternal throne breaks upon yoor. vision. Do not go after the witch of En -dor. Do not sit down at table rappings either in sport or in earnest. Teach your children there are no ghosts to be seen or beard in this world save those which walk on two feet or four—human or bestial. Re- inember that spiritualism at the best is a useless thing, for if it tells what the Bible reveals it Is a superfluity, and if it tells what the Bible does not reveal it is a lie. Instead of go- ing out to get other people to tell your fortune tell your oWn fortune by putting your trust In God and doing the best you can. 1 will tell your fortune: "All things can work together for good to them that love God." Insult not your departed friends by asking them to come down and scrabble under an extension table. Remeeiber that there is only one spirit whose dicta- tion you bave a right to invoke, and that is the holy, blessed and omnipo- tent spirit of God. Earlt! is rapping now, not oh a table or the floor, but rapping on the door of your heart, and every rap is an invi- tation to Christ and a warning of judgment to COMe. 01, grieve him not awayl Quench him not. He has been all around you this morning. isle was all around you last night. He has been around you all your lives. Hark! 'There comes a voice with tender, overmastering intona- tion, saying, "My spirit shall not al- v*.va strive." "Good Morning" in Various Lands. "Good morning!" How it is said in various countries. "How are you?" That's Swedish. "Etow do you are?" That's Dutch. "How do you stand?" That's Ital- ian. "'God with Go, senor." That's Spanish. "How do you have yourself?" That's Polish. "Thank God, how are you?" That's Arabian. "May thy shadow never grow less. " ' That's Persian. "How do you carry yourself?" That's French. "How do you do?" That's Eng- lish and American. , "Be under the guard of God." That's Ottoman. Good Digestion Shoule wait on Appe- tite.—To have the stomach well is to have the nervous system well. Very delicate are the digestive organs. In some so sen- sitive are they that atmospheric changes affect them. When they become disar- raugecl no better remedy is procurable thau Parmelee' e Vegetable Pills They will assist elle digestion so that the hearty eater will suffer no inconvenience and will derive all the benefits of his food. Matchmaker's Problem. Hicks—It is hardly possible that a marriage should come out of it be- tween two such persons. Wicks—I don't Iniow. He is a reg- ular stick, and she has got enough brimstone in her to make a match. • Miller's Worm Powders are the best laxative medicine for children; as nice as sugar. Bare Chance, Mrs. Binks—The Paper says a west- ern woman has a baby that has never cried in its life. Mr. Binks—By Jove! I wonder how she'll trade. Health for the children.. s Worm Powders. , Inspiring Confidence. "11 pays to be chce,rful.'' ,"That's right: as long as yon look as if you had money you'r creditore have confidence in you." Keep Minard's Liniment in the House, in A lg., Oa. )frane0 itt above to raise a loan of P20,000,000 for public parks in Algeria. 411. ‘lAritePican 1.4 SbJi'd' '1" i4Cantinent •1•—• ANNUAL STATEMENT OF THE NORTH AMERICAN LIF ASSULIA.INCE COMPANY. Head Office: 112 118 King Street We TORONTO. For the year ended December 30th, 1899. Dec 81 1898 To net Ledger Assets • 80 977 4,51 RECEIPTS. Dec. 80, 1899, To Cash for Premiums._ ,........$744,865.58 " " To Cash Income on Investmenis......... 148,650.81 893,522,39, 83,870,9740i Dec. 80, 1899, By payments forDea,th Clairns,Profits,etc..$303,081.50 " " By all other payments... .. 281 182.32 5141,263,82 Balance net Led,erAssets.... ASSETS.; $3,836,710.21 Dec. 30, 1899. By Mortgages, ,etc........, 416.92.681 d Debentures (market Value 5608,935.65). , .. . Stock e and Bonds (market value 5587,391.50. 55h,903.62 Real Estate, including Company's building. , , 334(51 7 44 Loans on Policies, etc. .. ... . ......... ..... 02116115.8? 6‘ Leans On Stocks (nearly all on call) .. . . . . ........ 194,821,4:2„: " Cash in Banks and on hand........... , , 28.705,9et ,,33(1,710.21 " Premiums Outstanding, etc. (less cost of collection) 187,298.2e Interest and Rents, due and accrued............ 35,0.74.75 66 Market value of Debentures and Stocks over cost 56.294.15 53 565 477.3e LIABILITIES. Dec. 30, 1899, To Guarantee Fund...... . .. 60,000 00 " Assurance and _Annuity Reserve fund 2,929,552 00 " Death Losses awaiting proofs, etc... 51 507.85 3 04.1 059 34 Net Surplus................ ... ..... ........ $524,4,18.0 t The financial position of the Company is unexcelled—its per- centag.re of net surplus to liabilities exceeds that of any other Home Company. New insurances issued during 1899. .. ... ..........5 4,929,140.00 e Exceeding the best previous year by nearly one million. Insurance in torce at end of 16199 (net).... , PRESIDENT: JOHN L. BLAIKIE. VICE-PRESIDENTS: HON. G. W. ALLAN. HON. SIR FRANK SMITH, K.C.M.G imitEcToRs: HON. SENATOR GOWAN, Q. C., E? GURNEY, ESQ. LLD., C.M.G. JOHN N. LAKE, ESQ. L. W. SMITH, ESQ., Q.C., D.C.L. J. KERR, OSBORNE. ESQ. D. McCRAE, , ESQ., Guelph. HON. SIR WM. R. MEREDITH, Chief Justice of Ontario, MANAGING DIRECTOR,: WM. McCABE, LL.B., F.I.A., F,S.S. SECRETARY: MEDICAL DIRECTOR: L. GOLDMAN, A. I. A. J. THORBLTEN, M. D Edin The Report containing the proceedings of the Annual Mooting, held on, January 30th, last, showing marked proofs of the great prog,Tcss and solid pros- perity of the Company, will be sent to the policy -holders. Pamphlets explana- tory of the attractive investment plans of the Company and a copy of the animal report, showing its unexcelled financial position, tvill be furnished on applica- tion to the Head Office or any of the Company's agencies. SIEGE OF KIMBERLEY. P. ar More Thai: Foxy.. 3Iontlis This Tows Has Been Invested by the Boers Anxious to Get Rhodes. Kimberley was invested more than 'four naonths ago. Since the begin ning of war the world has never known such irony of fate as the per- sons beleaguered there have endured. Within this besieged town were 10,000 to 15,000 white people and as many blanks. At their command is wealth so vast the ordinary mind cannot grasp it. Stored in vaults are at least $40,000,000 worth of diamonds. Each day $100,000 could be taken from the earth in gems. Yet with all this vast wealth the people of Kimberley have been living on horse and mule meat since Jan. 8, and all rations have been cut to the mini- mum. During these four months the Boers have made no attempt to capture Kimberley by storm. Their purpose evidently has been to starve the peo- ple out. There can be no doubt that they want possession of Kimberley. Should they capture it they would have the wealth of its diamond mines --- enough to pay the expenses of the war a dozen times over. The Boers also want Cecil Rhodes, who went there just before the break- ing out of hostilities, declaring that he would be as safe there as in Pic- cadily, London. The personal hat- red of the Boers centres upon Rhodes. They recognize him as their arch enemy, the real cause of the war. 'Ihey realize the importance of cap- turing the men of whom W. T. Stead wrote: • "He is the greatest personage in the 'British Empire, bar two -- the Queen and Lord Salisbury. He is the greatest rnan in the British Em- pire, bar one." Kimberley is 647 miles from Cape Town by railroad. It lies in a plain that stretches for miles in every di- rection and is unbroken, save toward the east, where there is a line of low hills. Its area is out of all ratio to its size. The streets are wide and the houses are detached, surrounded by yards. Land tas little value save when diamonds are found. The town- really suerounds a hi:Igo hole, the VVesselton mine, an opening, 2,000 feet wide and 612 feet deep. Of course every one knows that the diamond trust formed by Cecil Rhodes in 1885 owns or controls nearly everything in Kitnberley, lo (191Li on to the mines, which are in- closed in a great wire netting,. The native workerS are compelled to live iji ive workmeri, were pressed into ser- wice. and a detachthent of the Roye.1 Artil- there to fortify the pla,ce. The Da - Stores of provisions, , wheat, flour, lery, tinder Major Chamier, was sent oatmeal and biscuits were laid in, a compound in order to minimize t ions were made for a siege. Vast Before hoe tilities beg'an prepare- Conclitions 'were favorable enough. Surrounding the wliole town is an ar- tificial ransport, the dee)ris from the !nines, placed there to be rid of it, eesides there are inany net -Oral mounds, Tn many reeves this ram- part was bililt to it height of (10 feet. and guns were mounted on top.. In addition trenches were made, or course, and the work as a whole wae• pronounced remarkably effective. The Loyal North Lancashire battal- ion arrived in Kimberley Oct. 7, and the siege began with the opening of hostilities a few days later. The in- habitants were then placed on siege rations, which were gradually re- duced. Meantime steps were taken to or. ganize for defense. One writer says Kimberley ead 20 big guns. Another that it had nine Maxims and 12 field guns. The DeBeers Company, which ownis the mines, organized its police as it military force, and also equipped an artillery company. Also a town guard was organized, part infantry, part mounted. The total fighting force, as nearly as can be learned, was about 3,000 men, made up of the following: Royal Artillery. Diamond Field Artillery, First Battalion Loyal Ncrth La. cashires. Kimberley Regiment. Diamond Field Horse. Diamond Police. Town Guard, Lieut. -Col. Ieekewich, of the Lan- cashires, has as commandant con- ducted the defense of the town with skill. A nsost efTectis•e weapon of defense were the scores of searchlights be- longing to the mines, and the most powerful in the world, which scoured the surrounding country at night and flashed upon the eky signals said to have been read, as far off as Orange River, SO miles south. Directly after the war began Lord Methuen was sent with a force of 9,- 000 men to relieve Kimberley and Cecil Rhodes. The latter has lived in the sanitarium, especially fortified to a height of 60 feet with sandbags and debris from the mines to protect them. fyi er AT a tor IV ith Coal 00. It is a common practice in many', sections of Louisiana, to use coal oil in the cisterns and wells to destroy, germ life, A physician in that see - tion gives the results of experiments to determine its value. Ile took a. barrel of rain 'water, full of "wiggle - tails" and wood lice, poured in it. tablespoonful of coal oil, stirred up the water, and in an hour afterward no living insect eves to be found in the barrel, the water being as clean as crystal, the oil only showing on top, and the taste ssvciet and pure. Ile believes ie purifies the water as well as prevents the formation ol germs, aed that it prevents all dis- eaees originating in impbre water, • en ter Ora uses in Paris. Theatre Omnibuses have been start- ed ill Paris, which leave the chief theatres after the perforthances and go ont to six residence quarters for the oreSen1, Why Views Differ. It is said that 111,41910 are right had left eyed, just the semi, ne they are right ate left heeded, e)leoecounts for the per- sistency with eihich se nany persons took ai things differeeily from ourseiresess Reston TrabSeriPt,