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The Brussels Post, 1900-11-15, Page 3EIAP?INESS OF RELIEE Rev. Dr. Talmage on the Christian Heroes of 7"o --Day,,. A de+spateb from Wareheneten says; —Rev. .Ar. Talmage preached from the follaw,ing text; '-I am escaped with the skin of my teeblt. —lob, xix: O. Job bad i.t hard. Ile wished he was dead -cued I do not blame iri,m. , His. flesh waa gene, 'awd his boons were dryHe cries .out; "1 am osc.aped with the ekim of my teeth". A very narrow escape, you say, for Job's body and scut; but there are thousands of men who make just as narrow escape fax their soul.. There was a time when the partition be- tween them and ruin was no thinker than a tooth's enamel; but, as job finally escaped, ao bave they. Thank God! I -want to dhow you, it God well help, theft some men make narrow escapes for their souls, and are saved as "with the skin of their teeth." We will admit that it is more die - float fan same men to accept the Gospel them or others, Some of you, in coming to God, Moat have to run against seeptioaL notions. It is use- less for people bo say sharp and out - hog things to those who reject the Christian religion. I cannot say such things. By what process of temptation, or trial, or betrayal, you have come to your present state, 1 those bot -breathed passions, and with thein ride down injustice and wrong. There are a thousand, things in the world tbat we slight to be mad at. `,there Le no harm to getting rod hot if you only baling to the forge that wbese needs hammering, A man who has no 'Vow- ed' of righteous indignation is an im- henna. But be some il( is a righteous indignation, aiid not a potnlanoy that blurs, and uirravele, and depletes the soul, There is a large class of persons in mid-life who have atilt in them ap- petites- that were aroused in early manhood, at a time when they prid- ed theroaelves on'being a "little fast," "high livers," "free and easy," "hale fellows well met." They are now i d ' to t for trou Ticar mme, all sooty Maly, x preach to TUE S, S, LESSON. you no rounded periods, no or'nenaental 1 as cliecoutee; butt put My hand an your shoulder, and Invite you tate the melee of the Gospel, 'Here lea rook an wbeee INTERNATIQNALeLRSSON, NOV. 18, you may stand firm, though the waves dash against it barder than the At- lantio, pitching its surf clear above Eddystone. Light-boueo, Do not ()Large ypon God all these troubles of the world. As long aa the wand: stook to God, God stuok to the world; but the earth seceded from his govern- ment, and hence all these outrages and Galilee, The road leading him emee- Tao Ten 1,50.0 4 Cletnrset, Lake 57. 11.59, t.eldea Text, -•1i Dte 1154 Thankful. :i. 15, PTLACTIOAL NOTES. Venae 1i. AS he went to Jerusalem. At the very beginning' of his direct journey to the feast. Pie Passed througla the midst of Samaria.' and all these woes',, God is good. Icor many times on one side of the border, some - hundreds of years he bas been coaxing times on the other. the world to oolne, boo$ to him; but 12. He entered intoe certain village, the more he has coaxed, the more vie- An unwalletl touvn. There met him ant have men been ine their resistance, tan men tbet were lepers. The pre - and they have stepped bank and Stop- ped bank until they have dropped Into East was, appalling. Even now the ruin most loathsome incidents of travel in Try this Gad, ye who have had the palestina are clue to the persistent home'? Where are the nine? Why blood -hounds after you, and who have beggary of these sufferers, Euro- axe the majority, ungrateful, or, if thought that God had forgotten; you, peon methods of sanitatlan would there is any gratitude, why is it un- T'yl him, and see if he will not help• eopn do away with the abominable,diee eelreseedg "Well acquainted with Try him and see if he will not pardon, ease, but Turkish authority Boas no. the plans w'htoh had already been T The fl w and see if he will nob bloomofarther than to compel the tainted forged in Judea for his destruction, flowers of riming have no the Saviour yet once again makes Ode sd sweet as the flowering of Christ's to live together in settlements, and g affections. The sun bath no warmth the result is frequent marriages and boundary tract of Galilee the theater paying n compound rn res compered, with the glow of his heart, the perpetuation of a leprous race, as of his saving love, and even at the Mee they collected twenty years ago. The waters bave nb refreshment. Like vile and pitiable in morals and man- first miracle on bis journey it is Some of you are trying to escape, andthe fountain that will slake the thirst vers aS Ln body. Lepers were made mamifosted Trow very marsh the ora you will—yet very narrowly, "as withof thy soul. At the moment the rein- ; oeremanially unclean by the Jewish veiling tone of feeling is now altered. the skin of your teeth." God and For formerly a miracle performed on deer stands with his hip and .nostril law. They grouped themselves to - your owe soul only know what the th'ru'st in the cool mountain torrent, g•ether, and 2 Kings 7. 8 gives a sin- one animated many hundred tongues to bis praise; now, on the other hand, the healing of ten unhappy ones does not even elicit from the majority of the healed, still less from the inhabi- tants of the viula.ge, even a single word of thanks. He has this time rather concealed than made conspicu- ous the brilliant ohuracter of the miracle by its form, but he experi- ences at the same time how the Doer of the miracles is at once forgotten, and wells he on his part, even in this Last period, displays 311s respect for the law and the priesthood, he is re- warded therefor with a mean alight. The observation of this fact goes to the Saviour's heart; and as he had just shown himself the compassion banged himself because his steward' as the Messiah. It is astonishing how ate high priests, he feels himself sow little theological knowledge is noes- the deeply conteutnad sary to saving faith; how 'little a the complaint to which hie sadness. man needs to know if only he will even utterance is at the same time trust with all his heart in God. Have a eulogy. for the one thankful one mercy on us. Orientals would address who appeared before him; and with such words to any king er powerful the words, 'Rise up, go the way, thy man faith hath saved thee," the benefit is 14. When. he saw them. When he for this one heightened, confirmed, sanctified,"—Van Oosterzee. 18. This strangler. The Samaritan was farther removed from the sym- pathies of the orthodox Jew than even the Gentile. feet with, oriental dsmonatrativs- ness. He wan a Sameriteee The Jews went on to their priestly, and Probably axpreeeee gratitude both to God and to Jesus wheat they returned to thetle homes, Bet the Samaritan cannot wait to be formally pronouno- eel whole until he Tulle in ecstasy at the feet of his beuefaotor. 17, Jesus answering said. Wbat a man says when he is praised is apt to reveal luuob of his character, Our Lord never told those wibe praised bin that bre did not merit their praise, as is often the fashion with us. Here he makes fro remark eo the healed leper, but turns to his disolples to inquire, Were there not ton 010anead? No doubt this very morning God is ask- ing, Were there not many fed in the Dominion, in our Peovinca, in OCT towns or village, in our struggle is. Omnipotent grace has pulled- out many a soul that was deeper in the mire than eau: are. They, line the beach of heaven—the multi the stag, aims his gun, draws the they were, the lepers of our story had tude,whom God has rescued from the trigger, and the poor thing rears inits heard, of Jesus. Stood afar off, They thrall of svloidal habits. If you this death -agony and falls backwards, its were compelled to remain a presor. ib - day turnbook on the wrong, and antlers crashing on the rocks; but; ed distance from all healthy folk. the panting hart that drinks fromtbe! 13. They lifted up their voices. The water -brooks of God'a promise shall voice of the leper is husky and hot - never be fatally wdunded,- and shall i low—pan awful travesty on the na- never die. !tissue voice of mankind. Tbese men This world is a poor portion for were compelled to " lift up " their your soul, oh business man' 420 East- , voices because of their weakness as ern king bad graven upon his; well as because of their enforced dis- tomb two fingers, represented as tance. Jesus, blaster." Prophet, Teanit sounding upon each other .with a . er." They made no appeal to the "Son snap, and under them the motto, "All of David." They knew little or noth- ie not worth that" Apicius Coelius Ing of the public talk concerning Jesus the, hunter may be doming through gular example of a tiny proteetive tee- the thicket. Without crackling a sociation, a sort of " trades union," stick under his foot, he comes close by :'formed by leprous men. Isolated as knew not. There are two gates totstart anew, God will help your 0h ,,our nature; the gate of the bead, i the weakness of human help! Men and the gate of the heart. The gate will sympathize for a while, and then of your head es leaked with bolts and 1 turn you off. If you ask for their. bass that en archangel could not 1 pardon, they will give it, and say break, but the gate aE your heart they will try you again; but, falling swings easily em its hinges. 12,1 as- away again under rho power of temp- saulted your body with weapons you cation, they oast you off for ever. would meet me with weapais, and it But God forgives seventy times seven; would be sward -stoke for sword- i yea, seven hundred times; yea, though stroke and wound for wound, and this be the ten thousandth time, be' blood for blood; but. .if I acme end is noose earnest, more sympathetic, knock at the door of your house, you more helpful this last time than when open it, and give he the best seat I you tock you' first mis-step. Ln your parlour. If'Isbould some at 12, with all the influences favor - you with an argument, you would able far a right life, men make eo answer me with an argument; if with ! many mistakes, how mush harder is sarcasm, you would answer me with ; it when, for instance, soma appetite sarcasm; blow far blow, stroke for i thrusts its iron grapple into the stroke; but when I come and knock . roots of the tongue, and pulls a man at the door of your heart, you 01131.: ' down with hands of dostruotion t If, it and say, "Come in, my brother, under suchcircumstances, he break and tell mo all you know aboutaway, theme will be no sport in the 'Ohriet and heaven." uradertaking, no holiday enjoyment, Listen to two or three questions; but a struggle In which the wrest - Are you as happy as you used to 1.e i lea's move from side to side, and bend when you believed in the truth of the . and twist, and watch for an oppor- Ohriertian religionq Would you like • tunity to get in a heavier stroke, un- to have your children travel on In til with one final effort, in which' the the road in which you are muscles are distended, and the veins new travelling? You had a stand out, and the. blood starts, the a relative, who professed to be a Chris-' swarthy habit falls under the knee tian, and was thoroughly oonsistent, of the victor—escaped at last as living and dying in the faith of the "with the skin of his teeth." Gospel. Would you not like to live There are others who, in attempt- the same quiet life, and die the some Ing to oome to God, must run between peaceful death? I recently received a great many business perplexities.. a letter, sent me by one who has re- If a mai go over to business at ten jested the Christian religion. It says, o'clock in the ,morning, and comes "I am old enough to know that the away at three. o'clock in the after joys and pleasures of life are evanes- noon, be has some time for relLgion; omit, and to realize the faot that 1t' bet how shall you find time for re - must be comfortable in old age to ligious contemplation when you are believe in semelbing relative to the driven from sunrise to sunset, and future, and •to have a faith in some ,have been for five years going behind system"&hat proposes to . save. I am in business, and are frequently dunned free to conferee that I would be kap- by creditors whom you cannot pay, pier If I could exeroise the simple and and when, from Monday morning beautiful faith that is possessed' by until Saturday night, you are dodging many whom I know. I am not will- bills that you cannot meet? You walk Ingle, out of the Church or out of the day ,by day in uncertainties that have faith. My state of uncertainty to kept your brain on fire for the past one of unrest. Sometimes Idoubt my three years. Some, with less business Immortality, and look upon the death- troubles Phan you, have gond crazy. bed as the closing scene, after which Now, God will ,,tot be hard on you. He there is nothing. What shall I do that I have not done 1" Ah 1 sceptic - ie a dark and doleful land. Let me say that this Bible is either true or false. If it be false, we are as well off as pia; if it be true, then which of us is safer.' Do you not feel that the Bible, take it all in all, is about the best book that the world hes ever seen ? Do, you know any book that has as much in it? De Vete port think, upon the whole,. that its influence has been beneficent? I come to you with both hands extended toward you. In one hand I have the Bible, and in the other I have nothing. This Bible in one hand I will surrender for ever just as aeon as in My other hand you oan put a book that is better, I invite you back into the good old- fashioned religion of your lathers,— to 'the God whom they worshipped, to the Bible they read, to the promises on which they leaned, to the oross on which they hung their eternal expectations. You have not been hap - Py a' day since you swung off ; you will not be, happy a minute until yon• awing' back. Again: There ,,may bo some of you who, in the attempt after a Chris- tian life will have to .run against Powerful passions and appetites. Por - baps it is adisposition to anger that you have to contend against; and per- haps, while in very serious mood,yorl bear of something that makes you. feel that you must swear or die. All your good resolutions heretofore have Cheep torn to Tatters by explosion of temper, Now there is no harm in getting need 'ir you only get mad at sin. You need to bridle end saddle knows what obstacles are in the way of your being a Christian; and your first effort in the right direction he will crown with 5000588. Do not let Satan, with cotton bales, and kegs, and hogsheads, and counters, and stocks of unsaleable goods, block up your way to heaven,. Gather up all your energies. Tighten the girdle about your loins. Take an agonising look into the face of Gad, and then say, "Here goes one grand effort for life eternal," and than bound away for heaven, escaping "as with the akin of your teeth." In the last day it will be found that Hugh Latimer, and John Knox, Hues men Den amid mole -taw laq 'so.}.zee iseetiea8' 5t11. sou ewe 'Sainte puss up inoorrupt from the contaminations and preplextties of the exchange, the the market, the courts and from busi- ness. Ou earth they were called brokers, or stook -jobbers, or retailers, or importers; bat in heaven, Christian heroes. No fagots were heaped about their feet; no Inquisition demanded from them recantation; no sol- dier aimed a pike at their heart; but they had mental tortures, com- pared with which all physical ,aoirsum- ingis as the breath at a spring morn- ing. I find in ,the community a large class of men who bave been so cheat- ed, so lied about, so' outrageously wronged, that they bave lost their faith In everything. In a world whore every thing sestris so topsy-turvey, they ,do not see how there oan be any God, They are confounded, and fi5'nziotl, and misanthropic. Blab or- abs ergnmonts'to prove to them the truth of Chriabin,nity, or the truth of, anything also, touch them nowhere, informed hilm that he had only 80 tbousand pounds sterling left. All of this world's riches make but a smell ineeritanoe for a soul. Robespierre attempted to win the applause of the world; but when he was dying, a wo- man came rushing through the crowd crying to him, "Murderer of my kin- dred, descend to bell, covered with the nurses of every mother in Franoel" Many who bave expected the plaud- its of the world, have died under its Anathema Maranatha. Oh, find your peaoe In God, Make one strong pull for heaven. Not half- way work will do it. %Imre sometimes ,tames a time on shipboard wires ev- erything must be sacrificed to save the passengers. The cargo is nothing. Tire captain puts the trumpet to his lip and sbouta, "Cut away the mast!" Some of you have been tossed and driven, and you have, in your effort to keep the world well-nigh lost your soul. Until you have decided this matter, let everytlhing else go. Over- board with all those sails of your pride, and out away the mast. With one earnest cry for help, put your pause into the hand of him who help- ed Paul out of the breakers -of Melita, and who, above the shrill blaat of the wrathiest tempest that ever blacken- ed the aky or albook the ocean, oan hear the faintest imploration for mercy. Heaven grant that some of you,who have oonsidered your ease as hopeless, will now take heart again, and that with a blood -red earnestness, such as you have never experienced before, you will start for the good land of the Gospel—at last to Iook back, say- ing, "What a great risk I ran I Al- most lost, but saved I Just got through and no more Esoaped by the akin of my teeth I" • RELATIVE ARMAMENTS. The naval strength of the great Powers of Europe, the United States and Japan, as fax as artillery is GOO - earned, is given by a reliable German authority, as follows: Great Britain, 10,240 guns; France, 5,052 guns; Rus- sia, 8,607 guns; Germany, 2,864 guns; Italy, 2,608 guns; United States, 2,- 824 guns; Japan, 1,592 guns. It must be mentioned that in the figures of the British artillery there are yet in- cluded 810 muzzle -loaders with which, of course, only the older vessels of the reserve fleet are armed. Comparing the artillery of Great Britain with the combined strength of Russia and Francs, we arrive at. 10,240 guns against 8,669 guns. As fax as torpedo tubes are concerned, however, the British fleet is inferior to the number of 19 tubes. Great Bri- tain possesses 1,634 ; Russia and. Franco 1,553 torpedo-lanoers. The above oomparLions, have, of course, but a mecltanioal value,' as not oily the number of guns, but, perhaps, to a higher degree, their quality plays the gl'estest part in battle. QUITE A COME -DOWN. Tom. Snoterly seems to ba very mush cast down to -day. Jack, No wonder, ae asked old Grumlay for his daughter's hand in marriage hest night.. Tom. Well 1 Jack, Grourlcy lives on the third floor, you know. dlersi:ih, Yet pletroeLved thong Saw their condition, beard their cry, and perceived theio Inner need. He said unto them Shouting across the hundred paces tent parted them Go show your- selves unto the priests. This was an entirely new way of dealing' with tapes. While the disease WAS pope., laxly said to be incurable, there were occasionally cases of recovery from it; and it is not improbable that severe akin diseases were grouped un- der the general term leprosy. At all events, the Levitical law furnished methods by which a leper when cured cupid ba reintroduced into society. He TO MAKE HOME PLEASANT. Do away with fault finding. Without carelessness on our part, we break dishes, tear our garments and forget the things we have been asked to do. Yet we would not like to be scolded ar punished for this. Shall we not exercise toward atbers the same consideration we so much need ourselves 4 wee to appear before a priest and be When accidents happen if we would officially examined according to der- quietly listen to an explanation of tain prescriptions. When the priest . their.causo, our temper would by that was satisfied that the disease was itimo be under control and we would gone the man was pronounced clean. be ready to kindly excuse what in nine Every one of tbiese lepers had doubt- cases out of ten could not be helped. less hoped that the happy day would I Do away with family quarrels, dawn when he could thus visit the It is and to thunk about, but they do priest and be reinstated in normal scour, and not alone among the ohil- hhuman life; but none of them could dree. bave expected to be cured after this It does seem that older people would abrupt taeb:ion. Jesus does not say, know; better than to exchange up - "I will; be thou, clean." He does not braidings and scornful words, know - say, "According to your faith be it ing how little good they accomplish unto you." He mattes no promise that and how much harm comes from them. when they reach their hoanes they will But human nature ie weak, and if find themselves well. But just as , not sustained by the grace of God will they,are, with all their repulsive sores, give way to nagging, scolding and they are told to go to the priest to be ugly words and deeds that all but pronounced well. Here was the ex- break up the home. tremest demand of faith' that our Lord If 'the angry word has been spoken, ever made. As they went, they were be the first to ask forgiveness, to ac - cleansed. The rest of the story •shows that immediately, wben they began to go, the healing processes asserted themselves. If any man could do without what we in madern life call "church rules" certainly ,the Lord Jesus could. Yet, as he had said to John the Baptist, so noted hes life through: "It becometh us to fulfill all righteoussresss" And while ,he knew that the priests .repre- sented an effete and dying system, while he knew that they were person- ally his malicious enemies, Jesus show- edhis respect for the sacred law by insisting' oar his "patients" obeying its most minute requirements. He said 'priests," because one of these men was acdamaritsn a berates with whom no respectable Jew would consort; though the degrading influence of the disease had blotted oat all distinction, between Samaritan and Jew, and the lepers haat huddled together. Now they ware toga to their priests—the Jsws to Jerusalem, the Samaritan to Mount (inlet= and probably they, at onc,o parted company. 15, 16. Wlwn las saw that he was healed. It must have been with strange sensations that they extend - ,al their wholesome limbs en the high road, and felt their nerves again tingle with health, 'With a loud voice glortfted God, and fall down on his face at his feet, giving him thenke. 1115 voice, like hls 1x901' bo:ly, ltad been restored to health, lee thanks God and thanks his leunan Realm, as he flings himself tet his UNIFYING THE RIME. w ---e knowledge you have been in the wrong and peace will soon be restored and the home atmosphere clearer than be- fore the storm. A good rousing quarrel over ,with and the sun again shining is far bet- ter than days of pouting, sulking and general disagreeableness. Above all things refrain from un- kind words and angry disputes before friends and visitors—that is unpardon- able. You know yourself how ashamed anti embarrassed you have been at being obliged to listen to upbraiclings and rudeness between the members of a family whore you happened to be and how you wished yourself well out of the way. 1'f we m•usc quarrel at least let us spare outsiders. Cultivate a gentle voice. You have been in homes where every member of the family might be deaf judging Pram the loud harsh tones used in conversation. The words may be kind enough, but the lifted voloe suggests impaticeee and irritability and has nothing rest- ful in it. Only Ole sweet logy voice is music in the home. It wo oan do away with fault find- ing' and quarreling in the family and the impatient, sharp tone we have helped in it largo measure to snake the honks a sweet abiding place. AN UNANSWERED ROBLEM, "I don't sec," she Simpered, "how you ever came to love cue." "Oh, well," he pliantly remarked, "perhaps it would be better to waive these 'puzzling leading questions, POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 5510 (corse lt0bo0lsen drones aft Imporbsns Ssreclt Before Oa 5rltlsu Association, At the eeeentleth mooting of the British Assoolatiom, Sir George Rob- ertson gave an address which has at traoted considerable attention. Ile Reck as his subject "Political Geo- graphy and the British Empire." One of the points dlsaussed was this; 'There is a general impression thab we -have been hastily and unfortu- nately acquisitive whether we could help it er not; that the new prav- Lnces, dlstr.'icts and protectorates. are same of them weak, to fluidity; that the great• and unprecedented gtraiwth of the Empire has led to e etretehing and thinning of its helde ing links whioh are overstrained by the weight of unwieldy extension and far beyond bhe help of a prateating hand." Sir George's eonolusion was thus stated ; "I hope to bo able to show that in some important respects this suspicion is not altogether truer that science, human ingenuity and racial energy have given us some compen- sations, and that it is not paradoxi- ca1 or 1ncorreot to say that our re- cent enormous growth of empire has been everywhere accompanied by a remarkable shrinkage of distance—by quicker and closer intercommunica- tion of all lie porta one with another and with the heart centre. "Tho world as a whole has strange- ly contracted owing to a bewilder- ing increase in lines of communica- tion, to our more detailed geographical knowledge, to the formation of new harbors, the extension of railways the increased speed and the increased number of steamships, and the greatly augmented carrying power of great vessels built of steel. Thea hardly second in importance to these influ- ences are the great land lines and the sea cables, the postal improvements, the telephones and, perhaps we may soon add the proved commoroial util- ity of wireless telegraphy. This uni- versal time -diminution in verbal and personal contact has brought the col- onies, our dependencies, protectorates, and our dependencies of dependneaies, closer to each other and all of them nearer still toes. Measured by time - distance, which is the controller of tbhe merchant and the 0abinet. Minis- ter just as much. as of the soldier, the world has, indeed, wonderfully con- tracted, and with this lessening the dominions of the Queen have been rapidly consolidating. Nor is this powerful influence by any means ex- hausted. lin the near future we may anticipate equally remarkable im- provements of a like kind, especially in railways, telegraph lines, and deep- sea cables, and in other scientific die - cove -ries for transmitting man's mes- sages through water, in the air, or Perhaps, by the vibrations of the earth.• For us particularly, rail- way schemes of extension must be mainly relied upon to open up and to conneot distant parts of the Em- pire. But our true and only trust- worthy road of intercommunication between the heart of the) Empire and its limits must always be the sea„ If we ever forget that, there may be e calamitous awakening. We are a world Power solely because of our warships and because at our command of the sea. In the future also we shall remain a world Power only so, long as we bold command of the sea in the fullest sense of the term, not merely by the force and efficiently of the fighting navy, but by the excel- lence and the perfeetin.g of our mer- cantile marine, by increasing its mag- nitude, carrying power and speed, and by anxiateily attending to its recruit- ment by British sailors. We must not attempt to overtax our resources to guard railway lines through for- eign semi -civilized or savage c01111 - tries by exported or local armies. A heavy land responsibility rests upon us already. Under a little more 008 might be easily overweighted and arused down. We must concentrate all our surplus energies upon, our sea communications, Therefore the railway livres which I spoke of as helping to consolidate the Empire in bhe near future are those only whtoh are projected or ars being built in the various Colonies and dependencies, lines to distribute and collect, to con- nect provinces and fend harbors. "We owghtcertainly to juin; all the shores of the Queen's dominions by an cables completely controlled by British authority. To rely upon con- nection between ous own cables through telegraph systems atretchiirg aoxoas foreign countries, hemmer friendly, ar , to permit the ends of them sentient nerves of the Empire to emerge upon shores which might possibly bcem,me an enemy's country, is dangerous to the point' of r0cltl0s0- uess, that parent of disaster. As a melancholy instance of my meaning 11 is only necessary for es to remember tatPekin salastrophe—hew we suf- Gored from those dreadful intervals of dead silillee, when we could not even eammunioate aiterely with our own naval officer's at Taku, or with any one beyond Sb.'inglei, allhottgh we heves in cur possession a place of arms at Wet -hal -Mei eptm the Gulf of Prehtil.i." Toronto Letter. So far as an ordinary *Rouen being cola understand Me d'uvlaittes whet 2'5 aide in owe style Olympus the stater meant of the Oity Engineer ixi regard bo bleak paving is a Moat astound- Jog awn, The came appeals to be this; Aid Grabens hare proved that certain pavements, teeing '`put dawn, are not up to the speeefieetions in regard bo the quality of the ocdar blocks used. The Engineer blandly replies that he knew this all alaug; everybody hn the business knows it. If the speeitiorre teens were aarri'ed out, he says, cedar hes become :yo scarce that the pavement would nett: 23 per cent more than present r '.ettlee peen. Inrspeotars and aonlreeeets hove therefore come to agree span a quell, ty elf cedar Meeks, which, while below, the standard, is atoll goad enough for all practical purposes. Something Neo. This in a preposition so novel that ratepayers well have to welt to get thee,, seemed wind before they oan think it aver, The oontraotors and the es,gimeer have it would appear, come to the conclusion that good cedar es praeti ally a thing of the past, and they have fixed an a basis of "reason- ably sound" which meets the require- mints. If the la the curse what is the gaud of apeci'fications at all. If a level 25 per omit. below bhe speeir ficatiion is to be struck why not fix on this at the outsets The whole thing es so incapable of defence, a0 wholly rotten that one scarcely kmaws whore to start in tie wrote_ about it. Sleekto the Speci,ficatian. One bhemg is quite clear and thee is that the SpeiLfieations shouldin every 056e be the measure 02 the olon,trantor's respona;bilety, and the demand of the Works Department, Ratapayers have all. along supposed that they were getting a certain article while thee, bave in foot been getting an article, worth, Engineer Rust says, 23 per cent less, and, possibly, so far as any ons oan see, even poorer. If the specifications axe abandoned in this way why should the deterioration in quality stop at • 15 per cant? and why should we think it is confined to block pavLng ? If bbere is so lit- tle real sound cedar in Ontario that to use it would be a needless expenses why, not lower the specifications ac- cordingly? In no case is it wisdom to ask a oontractor to put in certain quality and then let him off on a sliding scale. Besides, look at the possibilities for jobbery, under such a system, and look at the impossibllitya of real competition in tendering for, city work, when men tender on a lower basis than the specification in ardor to get the job and yet may be held up to those speclfioations at the whim of an official. The alder- men who are backing up the Engineer and Contractor in the present dis- pute, are placing themselves in a very unenviable light before the rate- payers. The Street Railway Ooze, The Council decided rightly, but after what an expenditure of energy on the part of some aldermen, to press forward the suit against the Street Railway Company for failing to put on the, proper number of oars; and to drop that part of the suit relating to over -crowding. The over -crowd Log part would just suit the Street Railway Company, as tending to be - aloud a matter perfectly clear; while damns prefer to get even a crowd- ed car, to gettingnone at all. Besides Lf the. city wins and forces the Com- pany to put on the proper number of oars, the over -crowding, will lake care of Resit.A. B. 0, A 170TI0N CF BRIDES. One of the festivals of India is the annual marriage fair of the bill tribes, which takes place six miles from Simla, the summer capital of In- dia. This festivity, which is sure to at - trace tourists to the vicinity, is e very important affair to the mar- riageable men and maidens of the tribe. The latter are describes as rather handsome, and beautifully formed, but smelling of garlic to a degree which cameos distanos to lend a great deal of onobanbment. The oostumes of the girls are bril- liant to a degree. Tbsy affect deep pinks, glaring yellows and primitive greens, and the tinkling silver ban- gles of their anklets make a pleas- ant sound as they walk and call at- tention to their small feet, whioh are on this festive ocoasion dyed pluk, i'he veil warn by them is of the filmi- est material, and through it their block oyes, with the heavy lime of black stain beneath them, gleans co- quntti 1:fy Up to a few years ago the girls wave openly sold to thele future; bus- t: seeds; now the finanolal part of the ceremony is kept carefully In the background, though tt still exists. The fost3vitioe of the fair last a long time, and booths for the sale of jewels to be pr`oeented to the menet srova brides do o tbrivirg trade.