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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1894-9-27, Page 2THE EOLI COMPLIISIONI THE LOVING STRESS PUT UPON Tag BEARERS OF SOULS, Yee Great Feast Made to Wispy Wition Were not Midden-The Msconeet Seiet by invited Guests -Mee aordes itianissen to Save to Me itritermost. linOonmeer, September 10, 1S94 -Rev, Dr. Talmage, who is still absent on his roundtthe-world teen him selected as the subject of his sermon through the press for to -day ; " Holy Compluelop," the to being Luisa 14-23 ;-;' And compel them to come in. Tho plainest people in our day have lux- uries whieh the kluge: and_ queens of olden times never imagined. I walked up aud down the stairs of Holyrood Palace -a palace thee was considered one of the won- ders of the world -and I said, "Can it be possible that thin is all there was of this reputed wonderful place r Aud this is the case in many other instances. There are fruits in the Westchester County end on. Long Ieland farms far better them the pomegranates end apricots of Bible times. Through all the ages there have been scenes of festivity, and the wealthy man of my text plans a great entertainmenn and, invites his friends. If one bends a beeutiful home he watts his acquaintances to come and enjoy it, If one buys an ex- quisite picture he wants his friends to come end appreoiate ib; and it was a laud- able thing when. the wealthy men of my text, happy himself, wanted to make other people happy. And so the invitations went out; butt something went very muoh wrong. You °an imagine the embarrass - merle of any one who has provided a grand feast, when he finds out that the guests in- vited do not intend to come. There is nothing that so provokes the master of the feast as that. Well these people invited to this great banquet of the text made most frivolous excuses. The face was, I suppose, that some of them were offended that this men had succeeded so much better in the world than they had. There are people in all occupations and professions who con- sider it a wrong to them that anybody else is advanced. I suppose these people invit- ed to the feast said among themselves, "We are not going to administor to that man's vanity, he is proud enough now; we won't go; beside that, we could all give parties ffwe made our money tlse way that man made his." So when the messengers went out with the invitations there was a unanimous refus- al. One man said, "Oh, I have bought a farm, and must go and look at it." Ile was a land speculator, and had no business to buy land until he knew about it. A frivolous exouse. Another man said, " have a bought five yoke of oxen," The probability is he was a speculatorin livestock. ele ought to have known about the oxen before be bought them. Besides that if he had been very anxious to get to the feast; he could have hooked them up and driven them on the road there. Another frivolous excuse. Another man said, " Oh, I have married a wife and I can't come;" when if he had said to his wife, "1 have an invita- tion to a splendid dinner; it is highly cam- plimentry to me; I should very much like to go; will you. go along with me ?" she wouLd have said: "To be sure I will go." Another frivolous excuse. The fact was that they did not want to go. "Now," said the great man of the feast, "I will not be defeated in this matter I have with •an honest purpose provided a banquet, and there are scores of people who would like to come if they were only invi- ted. Here, my man here, you go out, and when you find a blind man, give him your arm and fetch him in; and when you find a lame men, give hirn a crutch and fetch him In; and when you find a poor man, tell hirn that there is a plate for him in my mansion; and when you find someone who is so ragged and wretched. that he bas never been invited anywhere, then, by the'kindest tenderness and the most loving invitation any one ever had, compel him to come Oh, my friends, it requires no acuteness on my pert, or on your part, to see in all this affair that religion is a banquet The table was set in Palestine a good many years ago, and the disciples gathered around it, and they thought they would have a good thee all by themselves, but while they sat by this table the leaves began to grow and spread, and one leaf went to the east and another leaf went to the west, until the -whole earth was covered up vsith them, and the clusters from the heavenly virieyard were piled up on the board, and the trumpets and harps of eternity made up the oral -metre, and as this wine of God is pressed to the lips of a sin- ning, bleeding, suffering, dying, groaning world, a voice breaks trona the heavens saying, "Drink 0 friends; yea drink, 0 beloved I" 0 blessed Lord Jesus, the best friend I ever had, was there ever suoh table? Was there ever ertch a banquet? From the Grote uplifted high* Whore the Saviour deems to die, What melodloas sound e I hear Burstiag on the ravished. earl Heaven's redeeming work is done, Corne, and welcome; sinner come. Religion is a joyous thing. I do not wart to hear anybody talk aboet religion as though it was a funeral. I do hot want anybody to whine in the prameroneebing about the kingdom of God. I do not went any man to roll up hie eye*, givene in that way evidence of his smactity. The men seed vvornen of God whom I happen to timw, for the most pert, find religion a great joy. It is an exbilaration to the body. It is invigoration to the mind. It le reptere to the soul. Ib is balni for all wounds. Th is light for all darkness. le is harbor from all Storms, and though God knows that some ef them have trounie enough how, they rejoice beciutie they know they are on the view to the con- gratulations eternal. I stopped one nightfall, years ego, at Ereerburg, Switzerland, to hear the organ of worldmvide celebrity in that place. I Went into the cathedral at nightfall. All the accumeoriee wore favorable. There Was thilyend light in all the eathedral, trod that a feint tepee on the elear, I looked tip into the veterable itrellem and sent the ithadovee of cenearies, and Whee the organ awoke the cathedral awoke,, and all the artheegeemed to lift and quiver as the mole come ender them. That Man -Meant did. not them to be made oet 9f wood mid Metal, but aim of hurnan beartst so won- derfully did it pulsate with every emotion; now laughing like a Maid, now webbing him a tempest. At one moment the memo would die &weer until you, anedd lima the °Menet chirp outside the wall, and then it would roll up until it Seemed AS if the surge of the Me eedthe ;mesh of an even &riche had atm* the orgammipee at the sante moments At ono time that eight it seemed as if a squadron of spirits weeping up from earth had met a. squadron of de- scending angels whose glory beat bank the woe. Standing there and locilting at the dim taper on the altar of the cathedral, I said, 'How much like many a Christian's life 1 Shadows hover, and, sometimee his hope is dim, and faint, and flickering, like a tepee on the altar. Bur at what time God wills, the heavens, break forth wi See music upon his soul, and the air becomes resonant as the angels of God beet it with their shining sceptres." Oh, the Lorn God has mealy tair and beautiful daughters; but the Wrest ut them all is she whose ways are pleasant - nese and whose paths are peace! Now my brothers arid sisters -for I have a right to call you eel so -I know some people look back on their ancestral liue, and they see they are descended from Puritans or 1 Huguenots, and they rejoice in that; but I look back on my ancestral line, and I see therein such a mingling and mixture of the blood of all nationalities that akin to all rhe world, and by the blood of the Son of God, who died for all people, I address you in the bonds of universal brotherhood, I come one as only a servant, bringing are in- vitation to &party, and I put it into your hand, saying, "Come for all things are now ready," and I urge it upon you and continue to urge it, and, before I get throueh, I hope, by the blessing of God, to compel you to come in. We muse take care how we give the in- vitation. My Christian friends, 1 think sometimes we have just gone opposite to Christ's command, and we have oompelled people to stay oun Sometimes our elabor- ated instructions have been the hindrance. We graduate from our theological seminar- ies on stilts, and it takes five or six years before we can come down and. stand Melte beside the great massee of the peopie,learn- ing their loys, sorrows, victories, defeats. We get our heads so brimful of eheological wisdom that we have to stand very straaght lest they spill over. Now, what do the great masses of the people care about the technicalities of religion? What do they care about the hypostatic union or the difference between sub-lapearian and supra- lapsarian ? What do they care for your profound explauations, clear as a London fog? When a man is drowning he does not want you to stand by the dock and describe the nature of the water into which he has fallen, and tell him there are two parte hydrogen gas and one of oxygen gas, with a common density of thirty-nine Fah- renheit, turning to steam under a common atmosphere pressure ot two hundred and, twelve. He does not want a clemical lec- ture on water, he wants a rope. 0 my friends, the curse of God on the church, it seems to me, in this day, is meta, physics. We speak be an unknown tongue Maier Sabbath Schools, and in our religious assemblages, and in our pulpits, and how can people be saved unless they understand us? We put on our official gowns, and we think the two silk balloons flapping at the elbows of a preacher give him great sanctity. The river of God's truth flows lown before us pure and clear as crystal; but we take our theological stick and stir it up, andstir it up until you cannot see the bottom. Oh, for the sim- plicity of Christ in all our instructions - the simplicity He 'practiced when standing among the people, He took a lily, and said, "There is a lesson of the way I will feed you; consider the lilies- behold the fowls." I think there ie work also in the way of kindly admonition. I do not believe there is a person in -this house who, if approached. in a kindly and brotherly manner, would refuse to listen. If you are rebuffed ; it is because you lack in tact and common sense. nue oh, how much effective work there is in rho way of kindly admonition ! There are thousands of men all round about yoa who have never had one personal invitation to the cross. Give that one invitation and you would be surprised at the alacrity with which they would accept itt I have a friend, a Christian physician, who one day became very anxious about the salvation of a brother physician, and so he left his office and went down to this man's office and said, "Is the doctor in ns "No," replied the young man waiting, "the doctor isnot in." "Well," said this physician, "when he comes in telt him I celled, and give hint my Christian love." This worldly dilator came horne after a while and the message was given him and he said within himself, "What' does he mean by leaving his Christian love for me?" And he became very much awakened and stirred in spirit, and he said after a while, "Why that ma,n must mean my soul," and he went into his back oflice, knelt down, and began to pray. Then he took his him and went out to ties office of the Christian physician and said, "What can 1 do to be saved ?" and the two doctors knelt in the office and commended their soul e to God. I think there is a great work also to be done in the way of prayer. If we had faith enough to -clay, we could go before God and ask for the salvation of all the people in our churches, and they would all be saved, there tend then, without a single exception. There might be professional men there, polieical men there, worldly men there, men who have not hearcle the gospel for twenty years, men who are prejudiced against the preach -ere, men who are prejud- iced against the music, men who are pre- iudiced against. the chtirch, men Who are prejudiced against God -I do not care - they might be brought in by ferventprayer --you would compel them to come in. Oh, for such an earnest prayer' ! People of God, lay hold of the horns of the altar now and supplicate the salvation of all those whe sit im the same pew with you - yea, the redentiption of all who shinyour churches. What a momenteus hour? God help Ab the close of a religious service, ancl when the people had nearly all left the building, a peen:re eaw en little girl with her head bowed on the back of the pew, and, passing down the aisle, he said to himself, "Tho little child has fallen asleep," So he tapped her on the ithoulder and geld, "The sereice is over," She said, "I know it le over ; I tem priming sir, I am praying." 'Well" said the minister, " whateoever ye ask of God, believing, ye will receive," She Mid Is that in the Biblcs ?" "See," he field, "there is a promise of that kind in the Bible," "Well," slie send, let me me it." Sohn turned over the -Bible until he mine to the remise* mid silo said, "That's so, is it? Now, 0 fiord, bring my father to thie elision tiers igh " While elle was preyiug her fethet passed futo the door of the eirercla e,ud.osiedwn by his child and id,"aeWhat do you want isf me .?" When that ehild had begun, to prey one hour before for her father, he was three miles atvey ; but by some strange ina puler, that he (meld not understand, he heetened to the ehereh, and there the twain knelt, the fethern arm around the tasild'e neck, the child's twin around. the father's nee's, and there be entered on the road to " Whatsoetver Ye Ask of God, be- lieving, ye shall receive. Thet was an answer to the child's prayer, What did she do ? She compelled hiu to mime ie. I tell you to -day, my friends ole, great salvation. Do you underetand what it is to have a Saviour ? He took your place. He bore your sin. Ile wept your sorrows. He is here now to save your soul,. A Sol- dier, worn out in his country's service, took to the violin as a mode of earning his living. He weer found in the streets of Vienna playing his violin; bet after a while bis hand became feeble and tremu- lous, and he could no more make music. One day, while he sat there weeping, a man passed Moue and said, "My Miami, you are too old and too feeble ; give me your violin ;" and be. took the man's violin and began to discourse most exquisite muses, and the people gathered around in larger and larger multitudes and the aged mac held his hat, and the coin peered in and poured in until the hat was full. "Nov'," said the ,man who was playing the violin, "put that aein in your pockets." The coin was put in the old man's pockets. Then he held his hat again, and the violin- ist played more sweetly than ever, and played until some of the people wept and some shouted. And again his hat was filled with coin. Then the violinist dropped the instrument and passed tiff, and the whisper went, "Who is it? who is it?" and some ono just entering the crowd said, "Why, that is Becher, the great vio- linist, known all through the realmyes,that is the great violhast." The fact was, he had just taken that man's place, and as- sumed his poverty, and borne his burden, endplayed his music, and earned his 'wen - hood, and made sacrifice for the poor old man. So the Lord Jesus Christ comes down, and He finds us in our spiritual penury,ani across the strings of His own broken heart He strikes a strain of infinite music, which wins the attention of earth and heaven. He takes our poverty. He plays our music He weeps our sorrow. Ile dies our death. A sacrifice for you. A sacrifice for me. Oh, will you accept this sacrifice now? I do not single out this and that man,and this and that woman. But I say all limy come. The sacrifice is so great, all may be saved. Does it not seem to you as if heaven was very near? I can feel its breath on my cheek. God is near. Christ is near. -The Hely Spirit is near. Ministering angels axe near. Your glorified kindred in heaven. near. Your Christian father near. Your glcrified mother near. Your departed chil- dren near. -2 our redemption is near. PEARLS OF TRUTH. • Understand your antagonist before you answer him. -Anon. The more one spealss of himself, the Miss he likes to hear another talked of.--Lava.- ter. Vnhat seems to us the merest accident springs froni the deepest source of destiny. - Schiller. Content can soothe, where'er by fortune placed; can rear a garden in a desert waste. - H. X. White. And yet I know out of the dark must grow, sooner or later, whatever is fair, for the heavens have willed it so--Anoe. All men have their frailties ; and who- ever looks for a friend without imperfec. Mons will never find what he seeks. ---Cm ries. It is far more important to me to preserve an•umblemished conscience than to compass any object however great -Channing. It was as if the spirit of life in nature were but withholding any too precipitate revelation of itself, in its slow, wise manna ing work. -W. Pater. It is impossible to indulge in habitual severity of opinion upon our fellow -men without injuring the tenderness and delica- ey of our own feelings, -H. W. Beecher. Never bear more than one kind of trouble at a time. Some people bear three kinds -all they have had, all they have DOW, and all they expect to have. -B. B. Hale. Her little life dream rounded Ao with sleep had all there is of life -except gray. hairs; hope, love, trust, passion and devo tion deep, and that mysterious tie a mother bears. -T. W. Parsons. Nature to each allots his proper sphere, but that forsaken, we like comets err, tossed through the void of some rude shock were broke, and and all our boasted fire is lost in smoke. --Congreve. Wondrous is the serength of cheerful- ness, aud its power of endurance in the cheerful man will do more in the same time, will do it better, will persevere in it longer, than the sad or sullen. -Carlyle. The countenance is the title -page which heralds the contents of the human volume, but like other title -pages it .sometimes puzzles, often misleads, and often says nothing to the purpose. -W. Matthews. For they the royal -hearted women are who nobly love the noblest, yet have grace for needy, suffering lives in lowliest place; carrying a choicer sunlight in their smile, 'the heavenly ray that pitieth the vile. - George Eliot. Cigarette Cramp. On a hasty consideration, it might be asserted that a disorder known as "tiger- . ette cramp" would be a purely imaginary and impossible thing. "Cigarette cramp," neverthelees, exists, and it is in France that the muscular disturbance has obtained recognition and definition. 15 appears that the stifferers from it ere work -girls, who get there living by rolling cigarettes of "caporal" tobecco from morning till night. It is only in comparatively recent times that the state in Franoe added to jt e under. talkiest in the tobacco line the sale of readymnade cigarettes. Curiously enough, however, the state does not seem to employ tnaehinery for the purpose. A simple mechanicel eontriva,nce would do away with "cigarette cramp" mud the evile with which it is apparently associated, Better Than AlarM Cloaks. Bright Boy -"You don't have to wake up the girl an' more, do yea ?" 11/other-- No, foe a wonder; she hart avvakened hersolf every Morning for a week." "I thimghe she woeld.4 "Why so ?" "All the flies I &night in that flytrap took Upsteleg and let out in her room," THE DOOTORIS STORY, wtr WribSON sTnimvANT. Ie was on the fourth morning out from Queenstown, on board the eteerner Wel- vieeorhlaetalilyiahtoIuri.mcientled to the (leek et a y I was surprised to see a group of offieere and semen, standing a Retie forward of amiciship, and all barcellemied. For e moment, the siguifinance ot this did aot °emir to me, and as I strolled forward it was something of a shock to find that in the °onto of the group was a body sewed up in canvas, and just abort to be coin - Dated to the leaves. o'CtIorthaoSilawr:.eup ulaustkallY early 2" 'said D I answered. " i have not got accustomed to the holy -stoning of the decks over my hea,d. Who has died ?" " One of the steerage passengers. He had some kind of a fever, and died last night. I don't think it was contagious, but it was best to get the funeral over as soon as possible. By the way, Captain Watson sends his eomplimente, and re- quests you will not say anything about she death to any of the saloon passengers." " Certainly not. Do you generally bury people so quiekly at sea ?' " Usually. Of 'course, if the passenger is wealthy, and has friends on board, end if we are within a short distance of port, we on arrange to preserve the body." "And ship r, Ishsuppose yon never have inquests on "What a splendid place it would be, then, for' a poisoner to operate in." I weer utterly unprepared for the effect vahioh rny chance remark made upon the doctor. His face suddenly turned white, and he staggered against the bulwark. " What's the matter?" 1 cried. "Von are ill. What shall I geb you?" "Nothing," he replied, with an evident efforttoovercome his agitation. Then he acid: "Come down. with me to my room. I that take something to tone me up after thie shock, and I owe you an explanatioe." The toning -up procese was duplicated, and then, yielding to my. request, Doctor Shaw told his story : "What I am going to tell you happened nearly twenty-five years ago, and as some of the parties are still alive, I 'won't give real names. At that time, ocean passages averaged at least two or three days longer than they do now. I was but a youngster, just out of college and hospital, and ap- pointed to my first ship. One voyag.e.,-from Liverpool to New York and bacinwas made 'without any Mining incident, but the next return voyage from New York was destined to leave an impression upon me the effect of which I shall never forget. You saw just how your chance Words agitated me. Well, if my nerves are so affected after the events are twenty-five years old, you may judge the state 1 wasen the time I am go- ing to tell you about. "It was in the month of December, that we were preparing to leave New York, and She passenger list was very light. I was congratulating myself that I should have very few to look after, for I had not then got my own sea -legs any too firmly. But, within a very few minutes of our sailing time, a lady, who was evidently very weak and delicate, was half led, half carried up the gang -plank. A dark, handsome man, who had the appearance of a 'Frenchman or a Creole, was very attentive to her, and at once set him down as her husband -a conclusion in which I was not mistaken. "'The lady was taken down to her state- room, and a few minutes later we were steaming down the bay, "Late in the afternoon, Captain Carew introduced me to Mr. Valcour, the husband of. the invalid. He iniormed me that' his wife had long been ill, and that he had de- cided to give her a sea trip, with the hope that her health. would be benefited. The New York doctors had failed, he said, to effect the least improvement in her case. He begged me to exert myself in her behalf, so that the ocean voyage might ause a possible change. , , "Mr. Valcour was very polite, but there was something in the hard glitter of hie bril- liant black eyes that did not seem to be quite in keeping with the sad and affec. Monate tone he employed in speaking of his wife. Pretty soon, the captain came along the deck again, and impressed upon me his desire to be of service to Mr. Vaecounwho, he said, was a wealthy NewYork merchant, and a frequent shipper by our line. "It was not till toward eveuing that Mr. Valcour asked me to visit his wife. Although the sea, was calm, I found her suffering greatly from sea -sickness. The stewardess was in attendance on her, for, strange to say, in Mrs. Valcour's weak con- dition, she had not brought a servant. Despite the poor woman's sufferinge and weakness, I was thoroughly charmed by She refinement and delicacy of her manner and speech, a.nd by the gratitude she evinc- ed when I was fortunately, able to afford her some slight relief. "Her husband's devotion and his pain. f ul auxieby, when subsequedtly questioning me, did much to remove the slightly un- pleasant impression he had at first made. "The next morning, early, I was roused by the stewardess, with a request that I would visit Mes.Valcour as goon as possible. I found her terribly ,weak and exhitusted. The medicine, which in the evening had proved eomevvhat efficacioue, had apparent- ly lost its power. I changed the treatment, and was again rewarded by a trifling im- provement. 'It is ho use to weary you with details of an iline,ss of tine kind ; suffice it to say that for four days, Mts. Valcour continued to grow steadily were°. There were fluctuations, of course, but each morn- itig found her perceptibly weaken _ " In vain I ponderedm over y books, and tried every way to give bar relief. The stewardess was getting worn out with the eoestrent watching, but Mr. Valcour's iron nerves and muscleseemed 56 know no weariness. I offered to relieves him on the fourth eight, but he would not hear of my losing My rest. However, I felt so anxious &beim my patient, that / told him I Mould lie down partly dressed, and be ready for a call at any moment, "On teething my room, I felt that 1 was too aneieue boatel-0rib to sleep for it while, and Once Mere I thetight oVer every detail and synaptoin iti her case. Something in the &fel decline of Mes.Valcour's strerigth, er"" 't ' , 'neeeenest end the intermittent cheranter of the dis- ease leathered me. Foe hours I sae, reeding every book, I had whiali cioeld,in any way, throw a light on the sebeset. At lest, tvearied more from the constant strain on ttil;le6y, els lathyednofIrvonmairgy alottliinergef,D4ritntero,fasfai believed then, lockine my door. "I menet tell you how long I lime been there, but I atelese foll into what we, for the want of a better name, cell a doze. The one subject that had for days filled my thoughts, was still so actively employ. ing iny brain. that'I confess 1 was scarcely eurprieed when I turned my head and thought I saw Mrs. Valcoura form standing before me. Ralf uncoescious as I was, 1 ehould probably have taken no further notice of what I deemed the creation of my brake. had I not seen a sudden motion of the figure. It held oue to me a smell bot- tle, which lied evidently been taken from my meclizine cupboard, the doors of which were swinging open. "As 1 half rose to look more closely at the bottle, the figure started, and dropped the bottle upon the little shelf under the cepboard. The glass broke with a crash, my eyes followed the sound, and when I looked round the room again I was alone. I coeld have almost swore that it was im- possible for any one to havepaseed eut cif the room and shut the door in the second orgtwo that my attention was diverted, but I am only telling you facts, and you can drawyour own explanation. , "I jumped from my lounge and tried. the door. It was not locked ; yet as I said before, I believed I had locked it. Next, I proceeded to pick up the pieces of the broken bottle. Almost before 1 touched them, I had a presentiment of what had been the contents. I turned the piece that held the label, and read the word'Arsenic.' "Instantly, the truth flashed upon me. Mrs. Valcour was being slowly poisoned by arsenic, the effects produced by which might easily be mistaken for an aggravated case of sea•sickness. But how had she summoned strength to come to my state. room and why had she not spoken, in. stead of selecting a bottle containing the poison, and holding it before my eyes? "11 hut upon oath I could have sworn that she -was too weak to leave her bed. If what I had seen was the warning of a spirit visitor, how was I to account for the physi- cal power to open the cupboard and hold the bottle? A third solution occurred to me, viz: that I had been dreaming; that the appearance was simply a creation of my over -tired mind, and that a -sudden lurch of the vessel had thrown the cup- board doors open, and the bottle upon the slab. "My objection to this was that I should have felt the lurch, and that the bottles were held in reeks, from which the rough- est weather I had seen had no power to move them. "A few moments later, 1 met the stew- ardess, who, 'in response to my query, in- formed me that she had just left the in- valid's room,and that she had fallen asleep after a very bad night. • "I knocked gently at the door, and re- ceiving no answer, turner' the haudle and entered. .As the stewardess said, she was asleep. Without disturbing her, I. noted the action of the pulse and heart. Surely, Shia woman, who was so near death, was far too feeble to have risen and passed from her room to mine and returned. Besides, at the hour of the morning at which I awoke she would surely have been' seen by some of the stewards who were cleaning up. and who, knowing her danger, would at once have informed me. "Looking round the room Ifound a glass in which the medicine had been given, not entirely empty, As I was securing it, the stewardess returned. She told me that Mrs. Valcour harl passed a very had night, but that Mr. Valcour would not allow ine to be disturbed. 15 was less than half an hour since she had fallen asleep. Mr. Valcour then wene to another room to lie down. The stewardess had remained about ten minutes later; then, feeling that her patient was really asleep, had gone up on deck for a few minutes. She wits posittve she had not been away fifteen minutes, or at the utmost, twenty. I asked her to look and see if Mrs. Valcour had moved and she replied that she was exactly in the earns attitude as when she sauk exhausted to sleep. • "After cautioning the :stewardess not to allow any more medicine to be given to Mrs. Valorem, as I was going to change the treatment, amd to let me know the moment she awoke I went back to my room, carry- ing the glass, which I contrived to aide from the stewardess. I divided the con- tents into two parts, and tried eaoh by different tests. The results were the sa.me. Both colitained arsenic in censiderable quantiMee. s "A cold perspiration broke out over me. Here was I, scarcely more than a boy, brought face to fame with a deeply ated attempt to murder, and r in such a position tbat I feared I was alinost power less to fight the danger. Even at that mo- ments it was quite uncertain whether my patient would wake to life or death. dan ' "And, 11 15 should be the former, how - could I prevent her husband from gaining access to her? To denotinee him as a would-be 'murderer, was a terrible risk to run, and yob I came to the conclusion that I had no other resource. I muse go to the captain and consult him. On hearing my statemeete the captain was both astounded and perplexed. Upon the flimsy evidence I had furnished, he knew it would be rash to eaeeUee Valcour of thee villainy that I had suspected. He therefore deter/Tuned to try to, keep him &may from his wife by the exercise of a lit. tle strategy. "'1 will send for Mr. Valcour,' the cap. tain said, 'and tell hint you think his pres- ence is derimental to his' wife's renovery. I will be guided in my subsequent course by bis manner.' "'Very well, sir. Will you allow me to be presene at, the interview. 1 will promise not to speak till either you or he shall addrese me. " ' On that condition you may remain.' "The Ceptlfin gurnmoned a boy, and by aim sent a request to Mr. Valeour to come to hi cabin at once. Neither of us spoke while waitingMt presence. Captain Carew was probably to finery with me to care to hold any conversatioti about ordinary mat. ters, I was glad of the respite to once more summon all my mental powers to deal with Mr. Valcour. " Ile came quickly, and gave a glance of Unpleasant surprise at seeing me. He bowed dourtemisly, however, and at once addressed himself to the captain. "'Von wanted to speek to me, eaptain?" " Yes, Mr. Velooer, about your wife.' "'AI, poor Marion ; I can find no inn provernenn Whet does Doctor 8haw sees?' he oontinued* turning to mo, with a ensile that Maned to give hie a shudder. "Before I oould frame an answer, the captain broke in: " Doctor Shave has made it report to trim g Isiah it will possibly be eestert for hint if communicated by me. He thinks that your constant attendance upon your Wife 1,0 detrimental, to her. He thinks that the etewardees should have entire °barge of her. I will esk the putser to give you a stateroom entirely to yourself, if you will agree to be guided by Doctor Siiistv'e opinion, and let me add, that 1, iumielf, meet earnestly advise the clump,' "Mr, Valour fixed his dark, glittering eyes on me as soon as, the first words which mule Meer the ',stream of the craptain's speech hail been uttered. When the eeptein hail finished, Mr. Valeour ruasie no reply to liim, but took a step, which brought him directly in front of inc. I rose as he did so, and we stood looking each other squarely in the eyes. " Doctor Slum' said he, with some- thing of a sneer, 'your experience leads you to conclude that my attendance on my wife prevents Iter recovery?' "If ever a Man attempted tie quell another by, a look, he tried it then. So much so,' I answered, that cet:)rilli:sli usetirYoYoltilutharils.:anzbei :taut: r Pe ros0000 will b e i tlse one which meant to say, You murder- er I' " For a moment or two, he did not anewer. He kept his eyes fixed on mine. Suddenly they flinthed, and he turned to the captain and said ; " it shall be as you wish; Captain Carew, I would make any sacrifice to _secure my wife's recovery." ne:r?oA:om atiil he b°weci to us betili end left tloi " Well, captain, what do you thint " I ain afraid you are right. Now you had better go to her. Bub how will you explain her husbaud's absence?" '' I must leave that to chance. Say he's temporarily worn out, or something.' " Well do your best' my boy. You're a plucky mice "Mrs, Velcour was still asleep when I remelted her room, and the stewardess re- ported no change in her condition. I dis- missed the stewardess to get a little much- needed rest, and sat down, to wait the eick woman's waking. I had not long to wait before she moaned feebly, and then turned slightly and opened her eyes, with a look of evident fear in them. On seeing I wag alone with her, a feeble ghost of a smile hovered for an instaut on her lips. Are you feeling any better?' I ask. ed. 4' No I was very ill in the Might. I fear I shall not live the day out.' " You must not dream of sach a tbirign I cried in as hopeful a Nioice as 1 could assume. '1 have a new medicine that I know will work wonders.' "The change in my voice attracted "her attention. She placed her hand on my arm and whispered: "'Where is my husband?' "'1 have secured another room for him, I don't think it is geed. for either of your that he should be constantly nursing you." "The clasp upon my arm tightened with a force which 1 could not have believed she possessed. "'Then, she exelainaed, 'you know All what?' I gasped. "'That lent being poisoned!' "'Row, and when did you. know?' I cried, forgetting all my caution and fearing that rth the knowledge would cadt' se sushock as to make recovery hopeless, • " Last night, or early this morning, after I had taken some �f the medicine, it seemed to make me worse. I would not take more then, though Mr. Valcour tried to persuade me. I told him to put it down, and 1 would take it in a few minutes. I don't know how or why, but something I had read about a case of arsenical poisoning awoke again in my brain, and seemed to burn into it. 1 reviewed my own symptoms and became convinced that I was another victim, and that the murderer's band was Shat of my -husband 1 " I felt that I must get to you and tell you. He had, gone. I was alone. I tried. to move, but I fell bath powerless; then I tried again, and I knew no more till lawoke and found you here. I read it ell in your face -you will save me, won't you, doctor ? I am too youtig to die yet --I don't want to die -oh, save mc! "She sank back weeping. I begged her to be calm, and assured tier that it rested as much with herself as with me, to strengthen her hold of life. Her will must come to the aid of my BEM She promised to control herseff as well as she could, and.after sum- meining the stewardess, I left the room, and wen t to prepare the necessary meaicine. " It is of no use to tellyou in exact terms the progress, slow but steady, Of her recovery. Before we reached Queenstown, Mrs. Valcour was able be leave her 'bed. Two brief notes passed between %her and, her 'husband, and, on our arrival in Liver- pool, a preliminary agreement* ti m semen, alien was signed before the American Consul, who had been telegraphed to meet the vessel. The cause of the attempted crime was never veryclearly made known, though it seems that Mr. Valcour had got into diffi- culties, that his wife had a great deal of money of her own, which he would have inherited, and, as usual, there were rumors of 'another woman in the case.' I nave oftenseen Mrs. Valcour since, and had many substantial proofs of her gratitude. I be. lieve he is in jail somewhere for forgery. "Eeplanation ? Yen must take your own. I don't like to think of the affair myself, for it always unsettles me. Did that feeble woman get out of her bed, and pass nearly a hundred feet to my -room, and return without being seen? It appears to me to be impossible. Did hor desire for life so work upon her spirit, or soul, that it left the body, assumed eite outward shape, and came to me ? "To believe Meat is to believe in spirit- ualism, and / am not prepared to do that. If the force of her will only acted on my brain, how can you account for the broken bottle? I cursfees I cannoe But whatever explanation you choose to aceenst, ie seems to me to bear equally strongly the impress of the miraonlorts intervention of a special Providence." ' Broad Hint. Sir Andrew Agnew, of Luclettow, it well. known Seotch baronet, was long pestered by an impudent sort of person,who in8isted on being colietently "underfoot." Finally, however'he dropped off, and Sir Andrew was asked. how he got rid of him. "OM" fetid he, "I gave him a bkoad hit." "A broad hint?" repeated the immirer, "I thought he was one of those who never could be induced to take one," ' "By nia 'gain," said Sir Andrew, "he was obleeged to talc' it 1 For as the °Mel eves -lea gang otit et the doer, I jute threw him oot of the window 1" The Fasenee Lighthouse, on the Irish coast, is said to be in a dangerous conditi n, as the iron fasteniegs of the tower heve be- come corroded., • THE SUNDAY 801100L INTERNATIONAL• LESSON, :KUL,- SEPTEUBER. BO, zraTizw Qursigtnis, I. Whet news did an augel bring to tee thepliorde of Bethlehem ? Who euddenly appeared with the augels ? What was the song of the angele ? ierhist did the thee. herds do? How was the report of the shepherds received by them who beard it ? If, Who wise Simeon? Whet did he do when he saw the infant Saviour ? How did he express hie joy ? What did he my to Mary ? What other aged seine rejoiced when she saw the infant Seviour ? III. Where wise Jesus born? Who came to Jerusalem to visit hilt ? How did Herod feel when he heard the wise men? Why was Herod troubled! Row did the,wise men know the infant King? IV. Who Appeared to Joseph in Bethle• hem? Of what did the angel give hire war- ning? Whit did iTosepli do? Whet did Herod do at Bethlehem ? Where was efeaus taken after the death of Herod ? V. What is mid of the child Jesus? Ab what age was he taken to the passover ? What did he do at the Mom of the feast ? How long did his permits seek him? Where did they find him? What did he say to his mother when they lied found him? VI. Who appeared as a messenger to prepare the way for the comiug of Christ? 17 a i foretella. t at lit et the eos os emnigaegr adf o t? h e Wmhea.s ladhid? What followed. the 13aptism of jesue ? What did a voice from heaven say? V1I. Where did Jesus go after his baptism ? How was he tempted to doubt the word of God ? How was he tempted to presume upon the word of God? How .was he temptecl to deny the word of God? How did he meet each temptation? VIII. What did John say of Jesus to two of his disoiples ? What did the two disciples do? Who were the two disciples ? dWiohatdafje did Andrewaae do ? Who neet became ipe IX. What took place the third day after the ceiling of Nathanael? Who were at the marriage? What miracle did. Jesus perform ? What did this miracle mani- fest? What was its effect on the disciples? X. What did Jesus find in the temple? What did Jesus do there? What did he say to those that sold doves? What did reply? elJews say to him? What did Jesus y? XL Who came to Jesus by migbt? Why in did ho come to Jesuet What did Jesus first say to him? What did he tell him of God's great love for the world? What is God's word to us? XIL What did Jesus ask of the woman at the well? What did he tell her he would have given her if she had asked him? What did he say of the living water? How must we worship God? What great truth aid Jesus reveal to the woman? X111.-1. What purpose did Daniel form ? What did he propose to the stew- ard ? What was their appearance at the and of that time? What did -,the eteward then do ? What did God give them ? XIIL -2. How is Christ's coming form told? How shall he be anointed for his work ? Venat shall be the effect of ehis anointing? How will he act as judge? What shall be the condition of his kingdom? HUNAN SACRIFICES IN itUSSIA. vain Attempts to Abolish the Practice - /Revelations ora Nc,wspaper. 15 10 probably known to few people that the practice ofsacrificing humanlives under certain conditions still exist in parts of the Empire of Russia. The Government and the orthodox church have attempted in vain te stop the inhuman practice, but up to the present time they have been unsuc- cessful. Revelations regarding the custom were made in recent issues of the Gazette of Yakootsk, Siberia. It prevails among a sect known as the " Tshukshen," not far from that city. Old people, beyond the 13iblical limit as to age, and sick ones,tireci of life, offer themselves as the sacrifices. When it " Tshuksbe " decides to offer him- self up, he sends word to all hie relatives, friends and neiehbors'who then visit him and try to pertuarie him to change his in- tentions. • But prayers, upbraidings, three te, are useless in such a casesand the fanatic pre- pares for his end. The friends and relatives leave his house and realm in ten to fifteen' days, bringing the death candidate white clothing and several weapong, with which he is supposed to defend himself in the other world against evil spirits and shoot reindeer. Aftet completing bis death toilet the candi date takes his place in a corner of his house or hut. About him gather his relatives, who offer him the choice of three iestru. meats of death, a knife, aspear, and a rope. If he chooses the knife, bwo friends hold his arms while a third planges the blade hate his breast. Practically the same thing is done if he decide to die by the spear. When he prefers the rope, two of those present place ie about his neck and strangle him to death, A cut is then made in the breast to let the blood flow out. All thoee present sprinkle their fame and hands with theblood, believing that it will ameerve ehern frozu evil and bring themsforelPit The body, after thee ceremony is planed oh a sled, which is drawn by it reindeer, to the "cremation hill," near the village. The neck of the animal is mit at once epees ar- rival at the place. The body is stripped of °lobbing, which 18 0011 cue into small pieces and placed on the altar with the dead man or woman. During the ceemit. tion the " mourner% " utter prayers to the epirits,begging them to wetch over these mortals mill left eti earth. This custom has been followed by the item for center/en A Great Invention. Peddler -"I am introaacing a new Ond improved brand of oombinetion toilet, kitthen, bath -room, and shaving soap, ma'am, warranted perfest for metals, woodwork, pain t, vamanh, cithes, teeth, skin, diehes-m Woman-" No enable getting soap in this house. Got plenty. What we want is soMething to eat that Won't ceet all my husband muskies." Pediler-eThet's it, manari ; jest the thing. Buy a cake of this soap, put a lib• oral pieee into eeery dish you (rook, ana you'd find it will take very little to satisfy the family." Themes Doherty, formeely a G. T. It. conductor on the Sareist branch, died in London reeentIns aged 38, "Did yen ever try the faith cum, Tomp. kins ?" "'Stes. /t cured . me, too," "What of ?'‘' Vaith in the ersith mere," 4