Exeter Times, 1897-4-15, Page 3CUA.RENT NOTES.
Inasroncth as the ▪ C▪ e▪ l▪ es▪ tial Empire has
lately come Ines the :European money
marked as a burrower of considerable
Fiume, and an it is andeestood to con-
template building several long lilies
of railway, we are interested in learn-
ing something definite regardeig the
extent and elasticity of its fiscal re-
sources. Sonata welcome information
on this eubjeot is furnished by Mr.
Jamison, the Britigh Consul at Shan-
ghai, in a report on the subject, which
has been published as a Parliamentary
paper. The difficeetty of obtaining data
will be obviates when we say that the
central Government pubrishes no sta-
tistics or returns of any sort, except
those of the foreign maritime customs.
Budgets are unknown, and the finances
of the central and provincial Govern-
ments are Inextricably interwoven.
Tho investigator, consequently, has to
wade thrOugh the provincial financial
accounts, which are published in the
the Pekin Gazette, and it is only by
extending the inquiry over a wide area
that it is possible to gain a fairly ac-
curate idea of the extent of the re-
souroes of each province, and of the
manner in which its revenues are dis-
posed of.
YINMIMM•0011.111*
Mr. Jamison points out that the dif-
ficulty of the problem arises from a
fact, imperfectly tunderstood in for-
eign countries, that for purposes of re-
venue, as, indeed, for other purposes.
China must be regarded, not ast a, high-
ly organized . and intensely centra-
lized State like the Japan of the pres-
ent day, but as as agglomeration of
many quasi -independent provinc tal
Governments. Excepting the revetue
derived from the foreign maritime crit -
ferns and a few of the old native elm -
tam houses, no part of the national in-
come is collected directly by the, agents
of the, imperial Government. All the
collectors of revenue, with the excep-
tions noted, are agents of the provincial
Governments, and responsible in the
nest instance to them. The money col-
lected is first paid into one. of the pro-
vincial treassieles, a which there are
several in each province, and there-
after is remitted, according to the ap-
portionment of the year, partly to
Pekin, barely for local (goverincont
needs, and partly, if there is any mu --
plias, in aids to other less wealthy pro-
vinces. It appears that the remit-
tances to the capital are forwarded,
as a role, with reasonable punctuality,
but, although the system works well
enough in times of peace and plenty.
it is liable to break down in times' of
stress, and then special requisitions are
made on the provinces which can beet
afford them. When demands from
Perkin become more imperative, the
local authorities have to increase their
exactions, which almost invariably take
the form of an extra daty on salt or
merchandise.
••••••••••••••
PILLAR
TO THE LORD,
LESSONS TAUGHT BY THE WONDER-
FUL PYRAMID OF GNAW
Rev. Dr. Talmage Likens It to the pyra-
mids of Good or Pyramids ot evii We
Are All liaisling—The Greatest Muir for
Modern Pyramidetuilding.
Rev. Dir. Talmage preached on Sun-
day from the text, "In that day shall
there be an, altar to 'the Lord in the
midst of the land of Eigypt, and a
pillar at the border thereof to the Lord.
And it shell be for a sign and for a
wiitheese" Isaiah xix, 19, 20.
Isaiah am doubt here refers to the
great pyramid at Gizeh, the chlee pyra-
mid of Egypt. The text speaks of a
pillae in Egypt, and this is the great-
est pillar ever lifted; and the text says
it is to be at the balder of the land,
and this pyramid is at the border of
the land; tend the text says that it
shall be for a witness, and the object
of this sermon is to tell what the pyra-
mid witnesses.
We had, on. a molraing of December,
landed in Africa, Amid the howling
boatmen. of Alexandria we bad come
ashore and. taken the rail train from
Cairo, Egypt, along the banks of the
most. thoroughly harnessed river of the
world—the River Nile—we had at even-
tide entered the city of Cairo, the city
where Christ dwelt while staying in
Passing to figures we learn that in
the year 1893 the total returns from
the imperial maritime =stoma were
21,989,800 feels, the expense of collec-
tion by the foreign staff and the Chin-
ese superintendents being 10 per cent.
of the whole. Mr. Jamieson estimates
that the land tax yields on an average
25,088,000 'Meta per annum, and the
grain tax 6,562,000 feels; the difference
between this latter amount and, that
actually received by the Pekin Govern-
ment, (5.040,000 teals) being due in great
part to sheer waste. The salt tax pro-
duces, it is computed, 13,659,000 taels,
and the likin, or tax on merchandise,
12,952,000, 'Adding to these the amount
received from the native customs, the
duty and likin on native opium, and the
income from miscellaneous resources,
Mr. Jamieson arrives at a total rev-
enue of 88,979,000 taels, or about 074,-
000,000. In the likin the local officials
find a 'convenient instrument for
"squeezing," and promises have been
(repeatedly made by the Pekin author-
ities, that, when peace 'shoule be re-
stored, and the finances of the country
should recover their pristine equilibri-
um, 'the likin should be abolished. The
conditions' precedent 'to such an abol-
ition, however, are not yet forthooroe
ling.
TIIE EXETER. TINEEE
ly la•eded. Then came one of the most
wonderful feate of daring and agility.
One ot the Arabs solicited a dollar,
saying he would run up and down the
pyramid in seven minutes. We would
rather have given him a dollar not to
go. But his ascent and descent in
seven minutes he was determined op,
and so by the watch in seven minutes
he went to the top and was back again
at the base. It was a bloodcurdling
spectacle.
I said the dominant color of the pyra-
mid wan gray, but in certain lights it
seems to shake off the gray of• cen-
turies and become a blonde, and the
silver turns to the golden. It covers
thirteen acres of ground. What an an-
tiquity 1 It was at least two then -
sand yeam old when the baby Christ
Was mated within sight of it by his
fugitive parent, Josepb and Mary.
The storms of forty centuries have
drenched it, bombarded it, ehadowed
It. flashed upon it, but there it stands,
ready to take another forty centuries
of atmotapheric attack if the world
should continue to exist. The oldest
buildings of the earth are juniers to
this great senior of the centuries.
lietudotus says that for ten years
preparations were being made for the
building of this pyramid. It bee
eighty-two million one hundred and
eleven thousand cubist feet of masonry.
One hundred thousand workmen. at
one time toiled in its erection. To bring
the stone from the quarry a causeway
sixty feet wide was built. The top
stones were lifted by maohinery such
as the world ktiotys nothing of to -day.
It is seven hundred and forty-six feet
eaoli side of the square base. The
structure is four hundred and fifty feet
high; higher than the cathedral of
Cologne, Strasburg, Rouen, St. Peter's
and St. Paul's. No surprise to me
that it was put at the bead of the
seven wonders of the world. It has a
Egypt during the Herodic persecu-1 zubterraneous room of red granite,
time It was our first night in Egpyt.
°dig rtob:m- t(illeutteber,"
destroying agent sweeping through ben," end the probabilitycfrilictst there
as once, but all the stars were out and are other rooms yet unexplored.
The evident design of the architect
was to make these rooms as inaccess-
able as possible. After all the work
of exploration and all the digging and
blasting, if you aould enter these sub-
terratiCOUS rooms you would go
through a passage Maly three feet
eleven inthes high and less than four
feet wide. A sarcophagus of red gran-
ite stands down under this mountain
of masonry. The sarcophagus could
not have been carried in after the pyra-
mid was built. It must have been
put there before the structure was
reared. Probably in that sarcophagus
once lay a wooden coffin containing a
dead king, but time bee destroyed the
coffin and destroyed the last vestige
of human remains.
For three thoueand years this sepal -
canal was unopened, and would have
been -until to -day probably unopened
had not a superstitious impression got.
abroad that the heart of the pyramid
was filled. with silver and gold and
diamonds, and under Al Mamma an
excavating party went to work, and
having bored and blasted through a
hundred feet of rook, they found no
opening iihead, and were about to give
up the attempt when a workman
heard a stone roll down into a seem-
ingly hollow place, and encouraged by
that they resumed their work and
came into tee underground rooms.
The disappointment of the workmen
in finding the sarcophagus empty of all
silver and gold and precious stones
was so greatt hat they would have
assassinated Al. Mamoun, who employ-
ed them, had he not hid in another
part, of the pyramid as numb silver and
gold as would pay them for their work
at ordinary rates of wages and in-
duced them there to dig till they to
their surprise came upon adequate com-
pensation. Was the design God's own?
I wonder not that this mountain of
limestone and red granite had been
the fascination of echoers, of scien-
tists, of intelligent Christians of all
ages. Six John Herschel, the astrono-
mer, said he thought it had astronomi-
cal significance. The wise men who
accompanied Napoleon's army into
Egypt, went, into profound study of
the pyramid that they might be as
continuously as possible dose to the
pyramid which they were Investigat-
ing. The pyramid, built more than
four thousand years ago, being a cora-
glete geometrical figure, wise men con -
°aide it must have been divinely con-
structed. Man came through thou-
sands of years to fine architecture, to
music, to painting, but this was perfect
at the world's start, and God must
have directed it.
All astronomers and geometricians
and scientists say that it was scientifi-
cally and mathematically constructed
before science ande mathematics were
born. From the inscriptions on the
pyramid, from its proportions, from the
points of the compass recognized in its
structure, from the direction in which
its tunnels run, from the relative posi-
tion of the blocks that compose it,
scientists, Clheistians and infidees have
demonstrated that the being who plan-
ned this pyramid must have known
the worlds' sphericity and that its mo-
tion was rotary, and how many miles
it was in diameter and circumference
and how many tons the world weighs,
and knew at what point in the heav-
ens certain stars would appear at cer-
tain periods of time.
Not an the four 'thousand years since
the putting. up of that pyramid has a
sing. e fact in astronomy or math ema-
'tics been found to contradict the wis-
dom of that structure. Yet they had
not at the age when the pyramid was
started an astronomer or an architect
or a mathematician worth mentioning.
Who then planned the pyramid? Who
superintended its erection? Who from
its first foundation stone to its cap-
stone erected everything. It must have
been God. I say it is right when be
said in my text, "A pillar shall be; at
the border of the land of Egypt, and it
alma be for a sign and a witness." The
pyramid is God's first Bible. Hun-
dreds, if not thousands of years before
the first line of the Book of Genesis
wa.s written the lesson of the pyramid
was written.
Well, of what is this Cyclopean ma-
sonry a, sign and a witness? Among
other things—of the prolongation of
human wore compared with the brev-
ity of human life. In all the four
thousand years this pyramid has only
lost eighteen feet in width-; one side
of its square at the base changed one'
from seven hundred and sixty-four
feet to seven hundred and forty feet
and the most of the eighteen feet tak-
en off by architects to furnish stone
for balding in the city of Cairo. The
men who constructed the pyramid
worked at it only a few years, and
then put down the trowel, and the
compass, and the square, and lowe-red
the derrick which had lifted the pon-
derous weights; but forty centuries
has their work stood, and it Will be
good for forty centuries more.
All Egypt lets been shaken by ter-
rible earthquakes and cities have been
prostrated or swallowed, but that pyra-
mid has defied all volcanic paroxysms.
Arabs to bold us back, we were low- It 'has looked upon same of the great-
ered, band below hand, until the est battles ever fought since the world
ground was invitingly neat, and amid stood. Where are the men who con -
the jargon of the Aea,be we were eafee erected it I Their bales gone to
the skies were filled. with angels of
beauty and angels of light, and the air
was balmy as an. American rune. The
next morning we were early awake and.
at the window, looking upon. Palm*
trees in full glory of leafage, and upon
gardens of fruits and flowers at the
very season when dux homes far away
are canopied. by bleak skies and the
last leaf of the forest has gone down
in the equinoctials. •
But how can I describe the thrill of
expectation, foe to -day we are to see
what all the world has seen. or wants
to see—the pyramids. We are mount-
ed for am, hem and a ball's ride, We
pass on, amid bazaars stuffed with rugs
end carpets and curious fabrics of all
sorts from Smyrna, from Algiers, from
Persia, •frera Turkey, and through
streets where we meet people of all col -
lees and all garbs, carts loaded with
garden productions, priests with gowns,
women iaa black veils, Bedouins in long
and seemingly superfluous apparel,
janissaries in jackets of embroidered
gold—out and on toward the great
pyramid, for though there are -sixty-
nine pyramids still standing, the pyre -
mid at Gizeth is the monarch of pyra-
mids. We meet camels grunting under
their loads and see buffaloes browsing
in mestere fields.
The road we trat el is for part of
the way under cramps of acacia and
by loag rows of sycamore and. tamer-
isk, but after a while it is a path of
rook and sand, and we find we have
reached the margin. of the desert, the
great Sahara desert, and we cry out
to the dragoman as we see a huge pile
of rook looming in sight, "Dragoman,
what is that I" His answer is, "The
pyramid," and then it seemed as if we
were living a century every minute.
Out thougbts and, emotions were too
rapid and intense tor utterance, and
we ride on, in silence until we come to
the foot of the pyramid spoken. of in
the text, the oldest structure in. all
the earth, four thousand years old at
least. reere it is. 'We stand under
the shadow of a structure that shuts
out all the earth and all the sky, and
we look up and strain our vision to ap-
preciate the distant top, and are over-
whelmed while we cry, "The Pyramid!
The Pyramid!" • •
I had started that merging with the
determination of ascending the pyra-
mid. One of my chief objects in going
It should be further noted that when
the Chinese Government decided upon
continuing the short line of railway
constructed between the Helping col -
larks and Tientsin a requisition was
made, first, on the four northern pro-
vinces, and subsequently, on sixteen out
of the eighteen provinces, to forward
the sum of 50,000 taels each per antnum
as a railway fund. This would have
amounted to 800,000 taels, or about
$666,500, per annum, had each province
responded. So fax as the printed re-
ports show, at hetet ten of the pro-
vinces have annually remitted the sum
required. Presumably, this money con-
stitutes the fund from which is to be
built the line between Tientsin and the
(Apital, as well as the projected exten-
sion into Manchuria. It ought to al-
low -of work being pushed at the rate
of thirty or forty miles a year. The
larger railway systems, which are now
being proposed, cannot, of course, be
constructed with this small special fund,
and attempts are being made to fin-
ance them with loans and concessions.
On 'the whole Mr. Jamieson's conclu,s-
loo is that a survey of the revenue and
expenditure of the Chinese empire shows
that, its vest resoinees ere only drawn
upon at the present time to a very small
degree, and that their development will
open up great possibilities for its the -
'manse population,
Benzine rubbei cal the edges of car-
pets is a sues ereventive of ;moths.
to Egypt was not only to see the base
of that granitic wonder, but to stand
on top of it. et the nearer I came
to this eternity in store the more my
determination was shaken. Its alti-
tude to me was simply appalling. A'
great height has always beesi to mei
a most *disagreeable sensation. As
we, dismetented at the base of the pyra-
mid, I said: "Others may go up it,
but not I. I. will satisfy myself with
a view from the base. The ascent of
it would be to me a foolhardyunder-
taking." But after I had given up
all idea of ascending, I found my
daughter was determined to go, and 1.
cooed not. let her go with strangers,
and I changed my mind and we start-
ed with guides. It cannot be done
without these helpers. Two or three
times foolhardy men have attempted
it alone, bee their bodies came tumb-
ling down unrecognizable and lifeless.
Each person in our party had two
or three guides or helpers. One of
them unrolled his turban and wrapped
it around my waist, and he held the
other end of the turban as a, matter of
safety.. Many of the blocks of stone
are four or five feet high and beyond
any ordinary human stride unless as-
sisted. But two Arabs to pull and two
Arabs. to push, I found myself rapidly
ascending from height to height, and
on to altitudes terrific and at last on
the tiptop we found ourselves on a
level space of about thirty feet square.
Through clearest atmosphere we look-
ed, off upon the desert, and off upon
the winding Nile, and off upon the
Sphynx, with its features of everlast-
ing 'stone: and yonder upon the minar-
ets of Ceiro, glittering in the sun, and
yonder upon Memphis in ruins, and
eft upon the wave& of empires and the
battlefield of ages, a radius of view en
-
eagle to fill the mind and shock the
nerves and overwhelm one's entire be-
ing.
After looking around for a while, and
a kodak had' pictured the group, we
descended. The descent was moan try-
ing than the ascent,- for climbing you
need not see th:e depths beneath, but
coming down it Was impassible not to
see the abysms beneath. But two
Arabs ahead to help US &WU, and two
dust, and even the dust scattered.
Even the sarcophagus in which the
king's mummy raa.y have slept is
empty.
So men die but teeter work lives on.
We are all building pyramids not to
last four thousand years but forty
thou ..trad, forty Million, forty trillion
betty quadrillion, forty quintillion. For
a while we wield the trowed, or pound
with the hammer, or measure with the
yard stick, or write with the pen, or
experiment with, the scientific, battery,
or plata with the brain, and for a while
the foot earalk, and the eye sees and
the ears hears, and the tongue speaks.
All the good words or bad words we
speak are spread out into One layer
for a pyramid. All the kied deeds or
malevolent deeds we do are spread out
in another layer. AU the indirect in-
fluences of our Hies are spread out
intoanother layer. Then the time soon
comes when we put down the imple-
ment of toil, and pass away, but the
Pyramid stands.
Tbe twentieth century -will not rook
it 'down, non t he thirtieth century, nor
the one hundredth century. The earth-
quake that rocks this world to pieces
will not stop our influence for good
or evil. You modestly say. "Thetis
true in regard to the great workers
for good or evil, and of gigantic
geniuses, Miltonlan or Talleyrandian,
but not for me, for I live and work on
a small scale." My hearer, remember
those who built the pyramids were
common workmen. Not one of them
could lilt one of those great stones.
It took a dozen of them to lift just
one stone, and others just wielded a
trowel, clicking it on the hard edge or
smoothing the mortar between the
layers. One hundred thousand men
'toiled an these sublime elevations.
If one of those granite blocks that X
just touch with my feet as the two
Arabs pull me and the two other Arabs
pUsh me could speak out and tell its
history it would say: "The place of
my nativity was down in the great
stone quarry of Mokattam or Asswa,n.
Then they began to bore at my sides,
and then to drive down great iron
wedges, crushing against me till the
whole quarry quaked and thundered.
Then I was pried out with (nowhere
and levers, scores of men putting their
weight on the leverage. 'Then chains
were put around me, and I was hoist ed
with wheels that, groaned under the
weight, and many workmen had /heir
bands on the cranks" and turned until
the muscles on their arms stood out
in ridges, and the sweat rolled from!
their dusky foreheads.
"Then I was drawn by long teams of
oxen, yoke after yoke, yoke after yoke.
Then 1 was put on an incline plane
and hauled upward, and how many;
iron toe1s,. and bow many human
hands, an how many beasts of bur-
den were mployed to get me to this
place no one can tell. Then l'had. to
be measured and squared and com-
passed and fitted in before I was left.
here to do my silent work of thou-
sands of years. God only knows how
many hands were busied in getting
me from my geological cradle in the
(merry -to the enthronement of innu-
merable ages." My bearers that is
the autobiography of one bloek of the
pyramid. Cheops didn't build the
peramid. Some boss mason in the
world's twilight didn't build thepyra-
mid. One hundred thousand men built
it, and perhaps from first to last two
hundred thousand men.
So with the pyramids now rising--;
•perhniels of eyeleor warn* of good.
The pyramids of druikenness, rising
ever since the time when Noah got
drunk on wine, although there was at
this time such a superabundance of
water. All the saloonists of the world
adding their ale casks and wine pitch-
ers and rum jugs until the pyramid
overshadows the Great Sahara desert
of desolated homes and broken hearts
and destroyed eternities. And. as the
pyramid still rises, layers of human
skulls piled on top of human skulls and
other mountains of human bones to
whiten the peaks reaching unto the
heavens, hundreds of thousands of
people are building that pyramid.
to the memories of thosetowhom we
can do a kindness, the memories
those -whose struggles we may align -
ate, the memoriee, of those whose souls
we may save. •
DIE SUNDAY SCHOOL
INTERNATIONAL LESSON, APRIL 25.
"Peter Deltvered From Prison." Acts 12,
5-17. Golden Text, esitlin, 34.7.
Verse 5. Peter therefore was kept in
Prison. When Pilate superintended the
trial and execution of Jeeus. the Jew-
ish watherities were forced to appeal
to him lest the holy character of the
passover ahold be lessened by his pub-
lic death; but Herod. Agrippa, with his
full sympathy with the Jewish feelings
about tbe Mosaic law, took care that
the trial and execution of Peter should
be postponed till after the feast. Pray-
er was made without ceasing. The
first reapter of Acts show with sin-
gular emphasis how valuable to the
Church was the life of Peter.
6. When Herod would have brought
him forth. Better, "was about to
bring him forth." Simultaneously there
were several scenes of singular inter-
elst. .111 about was tihe great city
confidently expected the execu-
tion of the apostle the next, morning,
asleep till thea; in the house of Mary,
the mother of Mark, was the little
band of Christians praying with an
intensity and perseverance that took
no denial, through all the silent night;
in his place lay the king at ease in
mind, for his conscience was hardened;
in a cell lay the servant of Jesus
Christ, bound with chains to two sol-
diers, and shut in by iron gates, which
were watched by the ether two mem-
bers of the quaternion ; but he, too,
was at his ease in his sleep, for he was
wattheel over by God himself, and
conscience was at ease, though death
might knock at his door before day-
light.
'7. The angel. . a light. They Hash-
ed together upon his vision as he was
awakened by the stroke on his 'side.
Ris chains fell off from his hands. See
tote on verse 6. How this was done
without awakening the soldiers we can-
not say.
S. Gird thyself, and bind on thy cau-
date. Fasten tightly the girdle about
thy tunic or inner clothing, and buckle
the sandals on your feet. Socks were
not than used. Cast thy garment about
thee. The outer garment.
9. He wist aot. An old word for
"knew bet."
TEE KING OF RI
THE LATEST TRICK OF CL
OINQUEVALLL
e The Rainy Day" Feat is Most
any—mis Wonderful Belau
Plays a Game of Billiards
Body,
Paul Ciesquevalli, the gene.
who is at present the reignut
don of the London =nein
added to hie most endless xepertol
extraordinary feat, which he calls
re413T day." Ohaquevalli in his we
ful pernormance, juggles always
very heavy articleseand gets ideas -
new feats in very curious ways.
Of this rainy day trick he relat
that on one eummer afternoon he
on the Thames picnicking with se
of friends. They had luncheon on
grass at Marl/ave. Later Mr. Ciali
valli commenced juggling an ma
with everything in reach, sardine berm
glasses, and so on. Than he picked up
an unopened underelea and an unoerk-
ed bottle half filled with lemonade. Af-
ter juggling these in various ways, he
threw the bottle into the air, opened
the umbrella and the bottle descended
and caught its open mouth on thief
rule, while the bottle poured out
contents. This little trick was repee
ed until practice made him perfect
it, and then it was added to leis felbal
performance.
Once he dropped quite by ateide
a silver half dollar. It fell On his
slipper. Without stopping to pick I
Up, he gave his foot a jerk, and, 1
the coin flew into 'his eye as an eye-
glass, When this 'was done, be jerked
the lease slipper univard from his foot
and caught It upon hits head
WITH THE TOE DOWN.
The moat wundeatul of his balano-
ing -feats was tot shown it public un-
til after eight years' practice, and it
statads to -day the moist diffioult feat
ever executed ha the balaaeing lesere.els
glees is held In his roon.tle In the
glass is a billiard ball, on which e is hal-
atnced an ordinary cue. On top of the
cue are balanced two other 'billiard
balls, one on top of the other. After
eighteen =minis' weary practice he
was skilful enough to maintain the lot
itn posit ion for from one to three sec-
onds; then, so he says, "my will gave
way and I gave it up."
Later he attempted the feat in coei
cage, but failed utterly, becauseges he a
afterward discovered, there as some tea"
heavy raerliineey in the basement of atel
the house in which he lodged. While in and
San Francisco he repeated. his expert- and
ments with s•uece,ss.Save
Chaquevalli's trick with the billiard right
waited
sbouche
nih
ed
So with the pyramid of righteous"
nese. Multitudes of bends are toiling
on the steeps, hands infantile„ hands
ootogeparian, mescaline hands, female
hands, strong bends, weak hands.
Some clanging a trowel, some pulling a
rope, some measuring the sides. Lay-
ers of psalm books on top of layers of
sexneans. Layers of prayers on top
of layers of sacrifice. And hundreds
of thoueands coming down to sleep
their last sleep, but other hundreds of
that/goads going up to take their
places, and the pyramids will continue
to rise until the millennial morning
gilds the completed work, cwad the toil-
ers on those. heights shall takeoff their
crying:
t ditsf
h
w rs finished."
ntheir trowels,
Your business and mine is not. to
build a pyramid, but to be one of the
hundreds of thousands who shall ring
a trowel, petit a rope', or turn a crank
of a derrick, or cry, "Yo, heave!"
while lifting another block to its ele-
vation. Though it be seemingly a
small work, it is a -work that shall last
forever. In the lase day many a man
and woman whose work has never
been 'recognized on earth will come
to a special honor. Fifty million
Methodists in all parts of the earth do
honor to the memory of John Wesley,
but I wonder if any of them thinlo
to twist a. gaelased for the memory of
humble Peter Bobler, the Mora,vien,
who brought John Wesley into the
kingdom of God.
I rejoice that an the thousands who
have been toiling in the pyramid of
righteouistness will at last be recog-
nized and xesverded—the mother who
brought her children to Christ, the
Sabbath teacher who brought her class
to the knowledge of the truth, the un; -
pretending man -who saved a soul.
Then the trowel will be more honored
than the sceptre. As a great battle
was going on the soldiers were order-
ed to tbe front end a. sick man jump-
ed out of an ambulance in which he
wee being carried to the hospital. The
=Bean aeked him what he meant by
getting out of the ambulance when be
was sick and alneaet weedy to die. The
soldier answered, "Doctor, T am going
tto the front. I had rather die on the
field than die in the ambulance."
Thank God; if we cermet do much we
can do a little.
While there seems to be no practical
use for postmortem consideration later
than the time of one's greategrande
children, yet no one wants to be for-
gotten as soma as the obsequies are
over. This pymanid, welch Isaiah says
is a sign and a witness, demonstrates
that neither limestone nor red granite
are competent to keep one affectionate-
ly remembered neither can bronze,
neither can Parian marble; neither can
Aberdeen granite do the work. But
there is something out of which to
build an overheating monuraent and
that will keep one freshly remembered
four thousand years—yea, forever and
ever. It does bet stand in marble
yards. It is snot t obe purchased. at
elude It is not to be purchased at
=turning stores! Yet it is to be
found in every neighborhood, plenty
of it, inexhialuetible quantities of it.
It is the greatest Stntef in the universe
to build mainnelente out of., I refer
a.
ie. The first and the second- ward.
The fine and second guard, which
may mean either the two remaining
soldiers of the quaternien, standing
each in his place, or the place where
each stood. One street. The Greek
indicates a narrow street, what we
would call a lane. Forthwith.
Straightway, immediately. There
would eeem to have, been a sort of in-
fectious rapidity of movement in every
action wherein Peter was concerned.
The Gospel of Mark, which is suppos-
ed to tame been dictated by Peter, is
full to the brim of such words as
"straightway," "immediately," "forth-
with." Here Peter rises up quickly
and the angel departs forthwith.
U. Of a surety. Better, "Of a
truth." The Lord bath 'sent his an-
gel. He had had various angelic mani-
festatians before now and knew teem
"of a truth." In the words of the An-
glican Prayer Book, "Grant that as
thy holy' angels always do thee ser-
vice is 'heaven, so by thy appointment
they may suffer and defend us on
earth."
12. When he had considered. Better
"When he perceived." That is, -when
he recognized the truth of the deliv-
erance and knew it "of a surety."
Mary, the mother of John, was an
aunt of Barnabas. Col. 4, 10. Paul and
Barnabas may now have been in her
house for all we know; indeed, one
would expect them to be there. They
took Mark with them to Antioch.
Many were gathered together praying.
The early meetings of the Church were
as, a rule held at night, and this for
many reasons of safety and conven-
ience.
13. The door of the gate was proba-
bly such a door as we find now often
in connection with stable yards. A
door for a man to enter cut into and
binged upon a larger door of one side
of a gateway. A damsel came to
hearken. A maid came to listen. The
knock at the door at that hour of the
night undoubtedly carried terror with
it. and a girl ran, as it may have been
her special duty to do, to' find out who
and how many were there, and what
they wanted.
14. She knew Peter's voice. The eye
carries more things to the memory
than the ear, but it is doubtful whe-
ther the things remembered by sight
will remain as long as these remem-
bered by bearing. It is the footstep,
the cough, the voice, the very rustle
of the clothing of the friend beloved
that we first recall,before his form
is in view, or. if in view, is recognized.
She opened not the gate for gladness,
but ren in and told. This is a delicious
bit of nature. The worst and silliest
possible. thing to do, but the thing al-
most anyone would have done under
such circumstances.
15. Mon art med. They were as con-
sistent as 'many Christians now are.
They asked God with faith, as they
believed, certainly with earnestness,
for they staved up all eight to ask him,
to liberate Peter, but wthee a woman
c,aene and teld them that God had ans-
wered their prayer, they shouted, "You
are crazy." But the girl was confi-
dent, and her dogged persistence led
them to believe that Petelee voice was
outside the gate; but they couldn't be-
lieve that it was Peter; so they rush-
ed to another alternative and said, It
as his angel, just what they meant
by this we. cannot positively say; pro-
bably his guardian angel, tor the
Sews had very strongbelief in the
geardia,nehip of angels; but as we
cannot even know certainly what that
belief was we must allow this to pass
without further explanation. In its ef-
fects on the imagination of those gath-
ered at night it would be about the
same as saying now, "It is his ghost."
1
OLD ROMAN TOYS,
Some quaint and curious toys, 1,500
years old, were recently found in a
child's grave in course of some excava-
tione in an old. Roman cemetery made
in Itheinbessen, Germany, Most of
them were Made of glass.
balk 0,nd cue is no fake. He does not
use flattened or waxed balls, and has
won considerable money in proving
that they axe as represented.
With the aid of cups fastened to his
shoulders and hips and one. at the base
of his spine, the, king of jugglers plays
a remarkable
GAME OF BILLIARDS
oln his own sinewy body. The jacket
he wears is of billiard cloth. The cush-
ions are his knees and arms. The sixth
"pocket" is the, juggler's oven right ear,
and his forehead is "spot."
"I ,play an ordinary game of 'fifty
up• ," says Ciequevalle ,e'Caerorns are
made in the air. There is a pocket on
each sholulder, two in front, and one
at the bottom of my bark."
The game, is a muraole of neatness rangsr
and skill. The balls fly 1,ntea the aix,'ram, 4148
(Allem and then descend. only to useetPPee
glide hither end thither, in and out of eteetewL
the pockets, actuated only by series tee' e
of sharp jerks on the part of tleaelee e
ea "When the balls are reoeing over ale
my back, I am guided only by the. sense sea
of touch." Anct marvellously delicate
must that touch be. emasidering the
relative lightness of the balls and the
thickness *f the- green jacket and
tights. The prettiest and most diffi-
cult reeve of all is from the low 'bet
ta)etckiaesttinitrieg
toone:onfiztit: shitsoulddeerstplamcke
The ball doesn't seem to know whe
to go; it, runs along hesitatingly,
and seeks it with a comical ,
.e
spurt.
Itoget
prom
he
CAI
disa
manta
ing .judu
Advie.0-1
Then,
and w
GzIadet
"Now.
The ki,
earnest pe
AN EFFECTIVE REMEDY.
Hove a College student vfas cured of
Practiral Joking.
It was the minister who finds plenty
to laugh at in life that told how he
was cured of practical joking:
"All through college I was a great
chap to have .sport at the expense
of the other fellows. If I could only
'do one of them in the eye,' as we put
it, I was happier than when I took a
first or pulled in the winning crew.
There was cot a grain of malice in it
'all and I never resented the attempts
of the other boys to get even though
for three years I bad all the best of
them.
"One morning when I appear d at
breakfast I was greeted with a roar
of laughter and only increased it by
looking my ClatilseS over to see what
might be wrong, for 1 had dressed in
a great hurry. 'Look at your nos
shouted one, and I rushed to a rairr
No tippler ever carried a more SUS,
than& sign than I did. It was a ben
shading from a deep cardinal into th
most delicate shades of pink.
"I joined an the, hilarity and then
went to we*nature's tinting into evi-
dence again. But soap and water nev-
er phased the stuff. Then I Wen trou-
bled and consulted a physician. For
weeks I bad him treating me for indi-
gestion, erractic circulation, inapeded
heart action, caked liver, nervous pros-
tration and a neraliber of abler disor-
ders that I never had. What made it
Worse. was that I never drank a ire
but who would believe it. Iendo
ew
ese
all eial life and. went only o clo,ssee
"One day when little Brooks theught
1 bad been sufficiently punished for
making a butt of him, he came in and
confessed. He bed hired a chemist to
mix the coloring, warranted fast. Ile
managed to apply it when I was as-
leee and occasionally put on another
coat. As he left the inegic wash and.
clashed down stairs I sent a hennaed
a fele chairs after Idea, but I thou
better of it and admitted that
worsted inc. I was Mead,"
LAST/NO.
I like to cook enough to last,
ed the e young bride.
ton do, you do, groaned the
hubby, no matter how little
Tires.
ni
lab, D
At th
ened iii
ago; bee.
fore the
through
butter t
was One
clown tht
old. -when
foot, wit
The ap
taken I
wheat
one of:
stone's
V