The East Huron Gazette, 1892-04-14, Page 2D
•
HOUSEHOLD.
Early Marriage Customs;
The first tsttempt of the barbarian to
establish come form of legal relation in lien
of the free love of earlier times, was the
marriage by capture, says a writerin Frank
Lassie's Weekly. In this the young
ran
having seen some girl of his tribe who pleas-
ed his fancy. called together et band of his
brother braves, and, catching his victim at
some defenceless moment, bound and gagged
her, and dragged her away to his home,
henceforth to be his wife. Two effective
scenes are those representing, first, the
maiden Happily sleeping in her rude hut,
while the love -maddened brave, stealthily
enters, and quietly, but firmly, tangles his
jagged spearhead in her heavy hair without
rousing her ; and, second, the poor girl`
awake, and being dragged away by the hair
of her head, her hands and feet tied, by her
ruthless captor. This was a very common
method, and is even now practised in the
wilds of Australia.
A modification of thio custom was found
among the. Egyptians: There, the female
population met at thepublic math, and the
charms ot this and that ending girl were
described to the youth who wished to wed,
by his female relatives. When he decided
upon one that suited his fancy, an arrange-
ment was made with the girl's father. The
prospective bridegroom, at the head of a
gorgeous procession of his friends, accom-
panied by musicians and dancing -girls, then
went to the girl's home in the evening, and
made a show of tearing bis resisting bride
from her father's protecting arms, There-
upon he placed her, entirely covered by an
embroidered and jeweLstudded veil, under a
magnificent canopy borne by four slaves,
and, in company with torch bearers, singers,
with all the display possible, bore her away
to his home. Once there, the singers sing
and the dancers dance, while the bride, still_
carefully veiled, walks up and down before
the groom to display her grace and charm.
The entertainment finally over, and the
guests departed, the husband unveils her,
and tor the first time feasts his eyes upon
her beauties. These are two especially et-
feetive scenes.
Next in importance we have the marriage
by purchase. Strictly speaking, this cus-
tom varies among the different nationalities
as to the actual wedding ceremonies, almost
all of which _were, however, wild and
picturesque! Int a view of a slave market
always gives a fine opportunity for pictorial
effect. Here we have the girls yet to be
sold postured in the foreground, while their
unfortunate comrade is standing on exhibi-
tion before the group of buyers, a profes-
sional exhibitor, herself a Nubia* slave,
calling attention to the good pointe of the
present "lot." At the extreme left a slave
is just covering his master's recent purchase,
while the auctioneer in his box cries his
" Going, going, gone" over the freedom and
happiness of a defenceless woman. The
prospective buyers, with radiant faces
each c``-othed in brilliantly bedecked gars
ments, and bearing a casket of jewels in his
hand to win loving glances from indifferent
eyes, form an appropriate background to
the white robes and sad or stony faces of
the girls in front.
Mor the Woman Who Loves Flowers,
larite respecting the time of meals. The
human system seems to form habits, and to
be in a degree dependent upon the perform-
ance of its functions.in accordance with the
habits formed. Ininespect of digestion that
is especially observable.
Another cold meat dish. Cut into thin
unbroken slices some cold roast beef ; sea-
son with salt and pepper, and spread each
with a thin -layer of veal stuffing. Roll up,
secure with string or narrow tape, put into a
stewpanand cover -with brown gravy. Stew
for about twenty minutes, thicken the
gravy with flour and butter, and serve on
slices of toast.
The practice of " trotting" a child on the
knee of the nurse or the mother, though it
has the sanction of long practice. has not the
sanction of common-sense, ond.should never
be indulged ia, especially with infants.
Treating the adult in the ratio of corres-
ponding strength, the exercise would be
about equivalent to being ourselves churned
up and down on the walking beam of a good-
sized steam engine.
THE REALITY OF FAITH.
BY GEORGE HODGES.
We are all able to sympathize with the
man who said. " Lord, I believe ; help Thou
mine unbelief."
This man believed ; he had faith. But no
sooner had he said his creed than there
came upon him a deep consciousness of the
weakness, of theinadequacy, of the igno-
rance, of the limitation, of his faith. What
did he believe ? He believed that Jesus of
Nazareth could help him. He looked into
His face, he heard His voice, and he recog-
nized in Him a helper in his time of need.
Yet had you asked him questi:,ns about
Jeans of Nazareth ho would have been puz-
zled how to answer. Was He only another-
rabbi ? was He the long expected Messiah
of Israel ? was He the incarnation of the
Son of God ? —this man would have replied,
" I know not. Yes ; He is a rabbi, but
what more I cannot tell." Not a Sunday
school scholar in any Christian parish but
could have posed him. That is, this man
+ had faith, but he was notably lacking in
knowledge of theology.
SPRING SMILES. Yet Jesus helped him. The density of
his theological ignorance a as not dark
enough to keep the light of that benediction
out. The man was blessed, though he was
ignc.rant of systematic divinity. The in-
ference is that there is a difference between
theology and faith.
That there must be a difference between
theology and faith would seem to be plain
from the fact that theology is difficult, com-
plicated, full of entanglements, and impas-
sible of acquirement except to people of in-
tellectual ability and training, while faith
is expected from the simplest Christian.
Faith, indeed, is set beside the gate of en-
trance into religion. It is one of the pre-
requisites of the initial sacrament. First
faith and then baptism. Evidently this
cannot be theological faith, or else nobody
should be baptised without a satisfactory
theoligical examination. Only the graduates
Boston Mother—" Why does Priscilla of divinity schools would have any right in
blush ?" Annette—" Please mum, she's the Christian Church. Only the parsons
studying improper fractions." could be saved. The parsons ? How many
of them, in these undogmatic days, could
stand the test? Few are even the parsons
who could get into this theological ►Leev' n
except on large conditions.
Another reason for being sure thathbeol-
ogy andfaithare not by any means identi-
cal is the fact, which is attested by many
unfortunate experiences that it is quite
possible for men to be excellent and accur-'
ate theologians without being very good
Christians. Everybody knows that when
our Lord was here the people with whom
He was able to find least in common, against
whom He had to use the strongest language
of condemnation, were the professors of
systematic divinity in the theological semi-
naries of Jerusalem. Jesus found more
good in publicans and sinners than in scribes
and pharisees.
There is a difference, then, between the-
ology and faith. The Christian religion in
its demand for faith must not be understood
as requiring a knowledge of theology. The
Apostles' Creed may be recited by very im-
perfect theologians. " Lord, I believe ;
help Thou mine unbelief," may rightly be
the voice of our own heart. What, then, is
the difference between theology and faith ?
This will best be understood by asking, first,
"What is theology ? and, then, What is
faith ?
What is theology? Theology is ordered
religious knowledge. It is the technical,
scientific and exact statement of religious
truth. The business of the theologian is to
gather together all the religious truth that
can he found, to classify it, to set it in a
system, and to draw inferences from it. He
is to do in his department what the man of
science does in his.
Plainly, then, theology will contain a
great many statements of a great many de-
grees of importance. Part of it will be of
very considerable value: part of it might be
lost or forgotten and the world be quite as
happy. Plainly, also, theology will include
a great many mistakes. It will not, in this
respect, be much different from the similar
statement of physical truth. It will have
its guesses and its misses. It will have its
working hypotheses, some of which will be
presently found to be unworkable. It will
advance and recede. It will abandon some
of its positions. Theology, that is, like any
other science, will grow with the growth of
man.
There is no sense in decrying theology.
There has always been theology, there al-
ways will be theology, and there always
ought to be theology. Theology is to be
censured only when it forgets its place.
Theologians are not to be accounted per-
" Now then," said Judge Sweeter in a
loud voice, " Mr. _Baumgartner, you were
present at this fray. Did Murphy, the
plaintiff, seem carried away with excite-
mentment?" " Nein ; he vos carried away
on two piece poards mid his heath split
open all down his pack." " That will do.
You may stand down."
It is probably after he has given himself
away that a man feels cheap.
Telephones are a great convenience, and
yet people are all the time talking against
them.
A postal card is a good deal like a man's
watch. When he gets hard up he tries to
get all he can on it.
" You kick the bucket, we do the rest,"
is theuniquesign over a coffin shop in one
of our Western cities.
The quality of mercy may not be strain-
ed, but it frequently manages somehow to
get exceedingly thin.
Good Old Lady tto tramp at the door)—
" Are you a pious man?" Tramp—"I think
so, mum ; I love pie."
The woman who loves flowers yet who
cannot at this season afford to indulge her
taste should go afield as the buds begin to
swell. Let her gather 'lac and sprays of
young birch, branches et beech, wild plum,
pussy willow, cherry, h 'sythia, and wis-
taria. Then, if she have i sunny window,
let -}ger set the hare bran, hes in a vase of
warm (trot hot, not tepid) water on the
window ledge and patiently await develop-
ments.
Her pains will soon be 'warded by abun-
dance of blossoms, small i ns true, but per-
fect in form and color. ,f t the water evap-
orates care must be taken to fill up the vase
every second day, using, of course, warm
water. As far as possible keep an even
temperature and avoid draughts. The
writer recalls a case where a bunch of prom-
ising bads was completely spoiled through
the carelessness of a servant who left them
in front of an open window for hall an hour.
To Stop Nail Biting.
The suggestion is made concerningh the
nail-biting habit that an efficient remedy
is to dip the finger tips after every hand -
washing into a strong solution of quinine
and glycerine. Any druggist will prepare
it of requisite strength ; the bitter taste will
stop children from further biting, and will
remind an adult as well.
Persons afflicted with hang nails can cure
them with persistent treatment. They come
usually from an abnormally dry condition
of the skin. The fingers should be soaked a
few minutes every night and the dried and
loosened skin carefully cut away. Then
rosaline or nail salve, procurable at any
drug store or toilet counter, may be applied
and left over night. The salve performs a
double office of healing and nourishing
the sore and impoverished skin. In caring
for the nails a jeweler's file, so called, will
be found very much better to use than the
coarse ones usually provided in manicure
sets. In any event, eschew these—the sets
—buying separately and of the best quality,
scissors, polisher, nail brush and file.
no one ought, then, to keep the"command-
ments uniesa he is able to answer the meta-
physical questions that are suggested by the
moral law ?
This, however, comes out more plainly
when we leave our inquiry about theology
and ask the other question, what i8 faith ?
Faith is the accepting as true what we are
told. If I see an event happen, I know
that that event has happened. That fs
knowledge. If I am told by somebody in
whom I have confidence that an event has
happened, I am as sure of it as if I had seen
it with my own eyes ; but my certaktty is
not knowledge, it is faith. Faith, then,
has regard both to a proposition and to a
person. It may be thought of in both ways,
as the accepting of the truth of a statement,
and as the putting of faith in a person.
These two elements enter into faith. Faith,
then, depends upon authority. Authority
is one of the essential factors of human
thought. We cannot get along without it.
Authority is no more to be decried than
metaphysics. Like the theology it is both
right-, and valuable, and necessary so long
as it keeps its place. Authority gets dis-
tinctly out of its place, when it speaks in
imperatives, when one says to another "you
must not think, you must let me do your
thinking for you. To such a demand no
rational being has any right to yield ; no,
not for one hour. That means intejCtual
slavery.'
Authority, however, is in its proper place
whets instead of commanding, it bears wit-
ness. Perhaps a better word than " authors
ity" would be " testimony." Authority in
its right meaning signifies the witness, the
judgment, the verdict, the decision of one
whom we consider to be competent to dt -
cide. In this sense of it, we are all the time
letting other people do our thinking for us.
We, have great reason to be profoundly
grateful that we are so made that by this
hand of faith we can reach out and accept,
and make our own, what others give ate.
Otherwise, the world would be full of grown-
up babies. Each person would have to dis-
cover all knowledge for himself. As it is,
we all help e' ch other. All the generations
of the past help us to do our thinking. All
the discoverers, all the explorers; all the in-
ventors, all the deep reasoners, help us to do
our thinking. No man lives, though he be
the most independent of all free thinkers,
who does all his own thinking. '
The creed is the verdict of the great Leidy
of spiritual masters upon the truths of re-
ligion. Let a man, if he can, work thin
out for himself. Let him test each article
by all the tests he knows. The Christian
Church welcomes all such testing. But let
no man blame another who, not being of a
theological bent of mind, is content to ac-
cept what the church teaches. This person
is satisfied that the church is wiser than he
is. •. He is glad to have set down in this brief
form of words the simple statement of the
truths in which the great company of the
Christian saints and scholars have from the
first agreed. He looks back and notes that
questioners have tested this old creek with
every acid known to theological chemistry,
and that the creed has endured. He makes
up his mind that the tests of the present
day questioners aro likely to result in the
same assurance of the validity of these an-
cient truths. And he asks no questions, he
puzzles himself with no problems, he vexes
himself with no doubt. He accepts the
Christian creed as - he accepts the law of
gravitation, worrying as little about the
theological difficulties oftheone, asaboutthe
mathematical complications of the other.
It seems to me that such a decision and ac-
ceptance is a sign of most excellent good
sense.
But faith is even simpler and easier than
the acceptance of a proposition, it is the put-
ting of our trust in a person. Faith, accord-
ingly,is level to the attainment even of a lit-
tle child. Christian taith is faith in
Christ. The Christian looks into Christ's
face, like the man in the text say-
ing : Lord I believe. And like the man
he may not ave an answer to any
of your questrt4:as. Yet he believes in
Christ. Can 1 believe in Christ without
knowing how the divine and human meet
in him ? Cannot a child believe in his father
without knowing how body and soul the
spiritual and the physical, meet in him ?
That is what faith is at its best. It is
that loving, personal abiding confidence.
No question in the world can touch it. No
puzzle calx perplex it. It includes defini-
tion. It doos not lend itself to the system-
atic logic of the theologian. It is a matter
of personal experience. You nay prove to
the Christian that even the Christian creed
is full of error. It makes no difference.
How that may be he knows not—one thing
nicious members of society so long as they he knows. He knows Christ, and Christ
mind their own business. Yes ; there is a has helped him, and he loves Christ. Jesus
Christ is the beginning, and the middle, and
large element of good in even the most
the end, andthe whole of the Christian faith.
metaphysical theology.
There will alweys be metaphysics not only
in theology, but in every other department
of thinking, so long as man continues to be
a rational and inquiring being. Metaphy-
sics is the region into which we get when
we take for our guide the inark of interroga-
tion. It is the only possible answer that
can be made to certain questions. Every
object of .thought, if it is questioned lor.g
enough, takes ns into metaphysics. .
Here is a scrap of paper. There is no ap-
pearance of metaphysics in the look of this
paper. But ask the paper where it came
from. You will not ask very long before
you get back to a plant growing in a field.
And there you are in the presence of mys-
tery. The mystery of growth, and the
mystery of life—these are even yet beyond
discovery. Nor can they be adequately
discussed without the aid of metaphysics.
Every stone in the street represents the
mystery of matter. The wisest man of
science does not know what ;natter is.
Every bit of metal t epresents the -mystery
of force. Who will define force ? Emerson
said that every object that can be, seen by
human sight is a window into the infinite.
It is also a great wide-open door into the
metaphysical ..,_
Take the simplest question in morality,
" Thou shalt not steal." . Is there any
metaphysics about that ? Is there anything
transcendental about being honest ? Sup-
pose we set beside the commandment—as
we must if we think—the question, Why ?
Why must we keep the moral law ? At
once we are precipitated into an arena of
gladitorial metaphysicians. We must keep
the moral law because it is the will of the
Supreme Moral Being. We must keep the
moral law because it is the dictate of our
own enlightened conscience. We must keep
the moral law because this is the verdict of
the world's experience of pain and pleasure.
There are three different answers. Every
one of them involves metaphysics.
Now, 'what moral philosophy is to mor-
ality just that is theology
oraphilosophy.faith; Ques-
tion
morality and yeget
Question faith and you get theology. But
who will maintain that only the moral phile
osophers can be moral? How, then, can it
be
a maintfai ainedA that d 1ymaothhe saido lto i mas the
'th.
v
h
'
otheroday that no one had a right to
say that he believed the Apostles' Creed nn --
less he is able to answer the metaphysical
d. isBl
questions thet are therein a g,
ought it not to be said -with equal -force that
"Patti has a pensive air about her, don't
you think so ?" " Not a bit of it. On the
contrary, it is -ex -pensive."
" Is it true that Chollie lost all his
clothes in a hotel fire ?" " It is. When
Chollie was fired they kept his trunk."
Sunday -school Teacher—" Now, can any
little boy tell me what Easter is celebrated
for?" Good Little Boy (eagerly)—" Eggs."
Teacher—" Mary ? And what is your last
name?" Young Woman—" I can't tell just
yet, the chances are it will be Smith."
" I'll—nee . you later," said the slangy
young man; " No, George," she murmured,
" don't you say that. It's nearly twelve
o'clock now."
Ah, soon the season will be here
Of which swains often dream,
When it's 'most too warm for oysters
And 'most too cold for cream.
Bertha's mother saw fit to punish her for
some little naughtiness. After a minute the
child sobbed out, " Well, mamma, that
hurt ; you whipped me right where there
weren't•any bones." -
Bards often write. " Oh, onward flow,
Thousilver stream the meadows threugh."
Suppose they told it not to go—
What do you think the stream would do ?
Does your pastor permit himself to make
jokes in the pulpit ?" said one lady to an-
other. " Oh, yes," was the answer in an
apologetic tone " but they are never very
good ones and no one laughs."
"It's my terrible month they say, that makes
My enemies all decamp,"
He grimly said, and then with his mouth
He licked a poor little sump !
Professor—" All statistics prove that the
blonde women are more difficult to get on
with than the brunettes." Astonished
Auditor—" Are you certain of that ?" Pro•;
feasor—" It's a fact." Astonished Auditor
Then l'mpositive my wife dyes her
hair ! "
He must have been a very bright boy, a
very bright little boy, who said to his
mother : " I wish a lion would eat me up."
" Why?" the mother asked. "Because it
would be such a joke on the lion. He would
think I was inside of him and I should be
up in heaven."
Young Sprightly—" I have come, sir, to
ask your daughter's hand. The affection is
returned, and I ani in a condition to keep
her." Father (spreading his hands over his
face)—" I have only one daughter." Y. S.
—" Well, I only want one wife ; I am not
a Mormon."
Hints for the Household.
Salt and vinegar will clean the mica in
stove doors.
If salt is put into whitewash it will stick
much better.
Eighty-five per cent. of the people who
are lame are affected in the left side.
If you want boiled rice to be white add a
Fettle lemon juice to the water in which it is
boiled.
Ladies will be glad to hear that the crocus
is to be the favorite flower for bonnet trim-
ming this spring.
Cod-liver oil,,taken in small dozes in the
form of an emulsion after meals, is recom-
mended as a preventive of influenza.
Cases of deafness -have often been cured
by the use of glycerine applied by dropping
it into -the ear and a plug of cotton wool or
lint being placed in afterwards, so as to
keep the ear moist.
_ Persons suffering from cold in the head
will secure some relief by using glycerine.
They should obtain a camel's hair brush,
medium size, of druggist, and with this
paint the nostrils with glycerine as far back
He the passage as possible.
For the baby the bath should be just a
few degrees above blood -heat, and whenit is
over a=gr the rubbing with a soft towel will
not only „iasorb any moisture left on the
skin,but will tend to promote the circula-
tion, and to maintain the heat of the body.
Children should- be taught early—even
-clean
their
trio
t
set of feet
i the firs
during, -
rat least once a deer. This will :prevent
the teeth. deemag, . and thus injure the
ot'eeond tet. By':..Fug careful of the first set
e"iayvinng: a good foundation for the
edete
eetat
What Does it Matter?
BY LLA Wfi1$LEii, WILCOX.
Wealth and glory. plc and power,
What are they worth to me or you ?
For the lease of a life runs out in an hone-,
And Death stands ready to claim his due •
Sounding honors or heaps of gold.
What are they all when all is told I
A pain or a pleasure, a smile or a tear—
What does it matter what we claim
For we step from the cradle ant) the bier,
And a caieless world goes on the same.
Hours of gladness or hours of sorrow,
What does it matter to us to -morrow
Truth of love or vow of friend.
Tender caresses or cruel sneers,
What do they matter to ua in the end?
For the brie` day dies and the long night
nears.
Passionate kisses or tears of gall,
The grave will open and cover them all.
Homeless vagrant or honored guest,
Poor and humble or rich and great—
All are racked mil the world's unrest ;
All must meet with the common fate
Life from childhood till we are old,
What is it when all is told
Coming, but not Sudden.
Oh, the good time is a-comin', you must hope
to see it start,
When the sermon and doxology won't be so
far apart;
An' the man with the collection won't strike
one piece o' tin,
An' they'll Beta man to glory without whippin'
of him in!
It will be with us some day.
For we kinder hear it hummin';
But it's mighty far away.
An' it's mighty long a -comm' 1
Oh, the good time is a-comin', you must meet
it if you can,
When the office with a lantern will go looking
for the man ;
And the man when caught, and taken by a
whirlwind of surprise,
Will not see his friends forsaken, and resign
before he dies!
It will be with us some day
For we kinder hear it hummin'; .
But it's mighty far away,
An' it's mighty long a-comin'l
Golden Thoughts For Everyll_
Mondav—
For all we love, the poor. the sad.
The sinful, unto thee we call ;
O let thy mercy make us glad ;
Thou art our Jesus, and our all.
Through life's long day and death's Aare night,
O gentle Jesus, be our light.
Sweet Saviour, bless us ; night is come •
Through night and darkness near us be ;
Good angels watch about our home,
And wn'are one day nearer thee.
Through life's long day and death's darP ahat.
O gentle Jesus, be our light
P. W. Faber,
Tuesday=keligion is so far, in my opin-
ion, from being out of the province or the
deity of a Christian magistrate that it is,
and it ought to be, not only his care_ tut
the principal thing in his care ; because it is
one of the great bonds of human society, and
its object the supreme good, the ultimate
end and object of man himself. The magis-
trate, who is a man, and charged with the
concerns of men, and to whoin very special-
ly nothing human is remote and indifferent,
has a right and a duty to watch over it with
an unceasing vigilance, to profect, to pro-
mote, to forward it by every rational, just,
and prudent means. It is principally his
duty to prevent the abuses which grow out
out of every strong and efficient principle
that actuates the human mind. As re?i ion
is one of the bonds of society, be ought not
to suffer it to be made the pretext of destroy-
ing its peace, order, liberty, and its security.
—[Edmund Burke.
Wednesday. .
Through the day Thy love has spared ns ,
Now we lay us down to rest ;
Through the silent watches guard us.
Let no foe our peace molest ;
Jesus, Thou our guardian be;
Sweet it is to trust in Thee.
Some Russian Sketches.
A correspondent of the London Daily
Graphic; jjnvestigating the famine -stricken
districts of Russia, came to describe some of
the native's customs as follows :
" There are scarcely any forests in the
: firobince of Tambof, the ground is simply
iareeteppes, with scarcely a tree or shrub
on them. You can take a sledge and drive
for miles overthe undulating plains without
coming across any forest land. Here and
there you see a recently planted wood con-
sisting of young trees which have been set
by some enterprising landed proprietor.
The res lt�.of this want of wood is that the
inhabi'$inis are obliged to use straw for fuel,
&i bundle of straw is pushed into the oven
and a light is applied. When the straw has
burned out, leaving nothing but the glowing
embers, the nveu is shut up so that the heat
may beretained for as long a period as pos-
sible. As there was a failure of the crops
last autumn, there has been very little straw
available for fuel this winter. In fact, in
some of the poorer villages there are cottages
where the warmth of a fire has for, several
months been unknown. In such cases two
or three families have crowded into one hut,
and have tried to keep some heat in their
bodies by packing themselves like sardines
on the top of the stove, and on the shelf
which extends thence to the opposite wall,
on a level with the top of the oven. This
shelf is generally six feet wide and eight
feet long, so that about eight people can find
sleeping accommodation on it. In many of
Terrible Plight of Two Ladies -
The Daily Graphic contains the third
letter of their special commissioner describ-
ing his visit to Russia. He writes of a
workroom having been established by prince
Viasimsky's steward and his wife and adds
—The steward's wife told me an amusing
though touching anecdote of what had oc-
curred two days before. The news of the
sewing -room had spread to a village some
miles off, and two sisters determined to
make the attempt to get to the workroom,
although they had sold every article ot
clothing they possessed for food. They bor-
rowed a neighbour's horse, harnessed him
to their sledge, wrapped their father's sheep-
skin coat round them, and drove off to the
workroom. Arrived there, they jumped out
and ran into the room, when the steward's
wife saw that one girl was stark naked,
while the other had nothing on but the rem-
nants of a shirt. They had driven the eight
or ten miles with only their father's tatter-
ed sheepskin coat over them, and the ther-
mometer was standing at something like 10
degrees below zero (Fahrenheit). These two
determined young girls were pointed out to
me. They_ were now clothed in garments
made in the workroom, and looked clean
and industrious lasses. -
A Question of Time.
A story is going the rounds about a local
juryman, an Irishman, who cleverly out-
witted a judge, and that without lying:
He came breathlessly into court saying
"Oh, my Iord, if you can excuse me, pray
do. I do not know which will die first, my
wife or my daughter."
" Dear me, that's sad," said the innocent
judge, " certainly you are excused."
The next day the juryman was met by a
friend, who, ina a. sympathetic voice, asked :
"How's your wife ?"
"She's all right, thankyon." -
" ,
An ` your our."da r 1
" She's all right too. Why do you ask?"
know w
" why,hich yesterdwoulday ydieonfirst said1" you did not
"Nor do I. That's a problem which
yea of eatbgestion iv irregu- j time alone can solve."
The Lovely May flower.
BY 1:. G. JONES, M. D.
When the snow -drifts of winter,
Have melted away;
And the warm April showers
Colne to gladden the earth,
There's a sweet little blossom,
Peeps out from its vine,
'Tis the Trailing Arbutus,
The lovely May flower.
On the hill where the pine trees,
Grow silent and dark ;
And the cool winds of April,
Sweep over the earth,
Under dead leaves and branches,
So lonely I found it,
The sweet flower of spring time,
The lovely May flower.
Sweet flower of our country,
So dear to New England :
How gladly we -velconte
Your coming again ;
Though cold are the winds,
That sigh through the branches,
And chilling the blast,
That blows over your vines,
Yet warm are the hearts,
That welcome your coming,,
And clasp to their bosom,
The lovely May flower.
Though blooming alone,
Midst dead lest es and branches,
.And all but forsaken,
By other sweet flowers;
Yet gladly we seek you,
And lovingly greet you -
Dear flower of our country,
The lovely May flower.
the larger huts a wide benchs take the
Pilzrims here on earth. and stranger*
Dwelling in the midst of foes ;
Us and ours preserve from dangers ;
In Thine arms may we repose ;
And, when life's short day is past
Rest with Thee in heaven at last.
--f Anonyrt:ous.
Thursday—Like flakes of snow, that fall
unperceived upon the earth, the seemingly
unimportant events t,f life succeed one
another. As the snow gathers together, so
are our habits formed. No single flake that
is added to the pile produces a sensible
change. No single action creates, however
it may exhibit, a man's character ; but as
the tempest hurls the avalanche down the
mountain and overwhelms the inhabitant
and his habitation, so passion, acting upon
the elements of mischief which pernicious
habits have brought together by imper-
ceptible accumulationmay overthrow the
edifice of truth and virtue.—J. Bentham.
Friday.
I can not know why suddenly the rtorm
Should rage so fiercely round me in its wrath ;
But this I know—God watches all my path.,
And I can trust.
I may not draw aside the mystic veil
That hides the unknown future from my sight;
Nor know if for me waits the dark or light ;
But I can trust.
I have no power to look across the tide.
To see while here the land beyond the river,
But this I know, I shall be God's forev r :
So I can trust. --[Anonymous.
Saturday—I trust everything under God
to habit, upon which, in all ages, the law-
giver, as well as the schoolmaster, has main-
ly placed his reliance ; habit, which makes
everything easy, and casts all difficulties
upon the deviation from a wonted course.
Make sobriety a habit and intemperance
will be hateful ; make prudence a habit and
reckless profligacy will be as contrary to
nature of the child, grown or adult, as the
• , most atrrocious crimes are to any of us. --
[Lord Brougham.
place of the shelf, but the bench is
not a very warm sleeping place if
there is no heat in the stove, hence the pre-
ference for a shelf close to the ceiling where
it is warm.
While passing through St. Petersburg the
other day I saw some clothes which some
industrious and philanthropic ladies were
making for the distressed peasantry. These
ladies were, in my .opinion, wasting their
labor, for in the first place the material used
wastoo good, costing about four or fivetimes
the price ot the cloth of which the moujik
and his wife make their clothes ; and in the
second place the garments were not such as
the people ordinarily wear. The peasant
woman wears a shift, a petticoat, and a
sheepskin coat. Her legs are wrapped up in
rags, and bark shoes are tied to her feet ;
while the richer women wear long felt boots
reaching to the knee. The man wears a
shirt, trousers, and bark shoes, or long felt
boots, and a sheepskin coat. For head -gear
the women tie a scarf or handkerchief over
the head ; the men wear a sheepskin cap.
Obviously these people don't want jackets
made of flannelette, or vests of hygienic
wool, or petticoats of pink flannel, with cur-
ious designs in aesthetic colors. A woman
was offered a petticoat which had been sent
from Moscow and she refused it, saying she
would be afraid to appear in that in the vil-
lage. Such are the inexorable decrees of
fashion even in humble life. It would,
therefore, be better if the ladies of St. Pet-
ersburg and Moscow were to buy common
material and send that to the villages with
stocks of needles and cotton, and let the
villagers make their own clothes. As it is,
some of the people honestly say they can
not wear the clothes, and refuse to take
them, while others take the clothes—and
sell them. The money thus obtained goes
to the dram -shop.
Bid For a Spring Hat. -,
They were about going out, and she sat
down while her husband got into his over-
coat. -
".I don't believe yon love'me any more,"
she said with a_sigh "I'm convinced of it,"
and her voice trembled a little.
"Not love you, my dear? Why, how
absurd ! Must I tell you - every moment
that I love you—love you with all my
soul ?" -
" Oh, that will do to say, but I know_ you
care for me no longer. How can you love
me in this old hat ?"
Of 500.000,000 passengers carried last
year on American waters and from
Am
eri.
canPort* only sixt-five lives were loath.
She—" Jack, how am lgto know that you
are telling the truth when you say you love
me ?" He (surprised)-" Why, all the rest
of the girls believe me !"
Electrical Science.
To say that the electric world is in a flut-
ter is merely to note its normal condition.
The students of this branch of physics are
the devotees of a science whose inexactness
is only exceeded by its progress. But the
flutter now perceptible is suggestive of pre-
paration for a flight more protentous than
any yet undertaken. Hitherto thoughts of
electricity have been inseparably connected
with conductors of one form of another.
Now there comes news from the savants all
over the world that they are rapidly ap-
proaching the solution of a problem to eli-
minate existing methods for the transmis-
sion of currents in a manner to compare
with that in which electricity has so largely
annihilated distance. The air itself is to
become the conductor of the future, its
capacity for such a purpose depend-
ing on changes to be made ui the
nature of the currents to be transmit-
ted. Experiment has already demon-
strated the possibility of passing currents
between two widely separated metallic
plates unconnected by any other medium
than that of the atmosphere. By the help of
concentrating apparatus of " enormous lens -
shaped masses of pitch and similar bodies
it is expected that immense distances will
before long be traversed by the subtle pow-
er without visible conductors. It is as im-
possible to foresee the developments which
will follow this research as it would have
been fifty years ago to fortell most of the
scientific triumphs of to -day. But the field
opened to speculative imagination is bewil-
dering in its immensity and fascinating in
its mystery. Without going so far as to
suggest that these discoveries will lead to
means of inter -stellar communication, there
can be no doubt that its effects on our own
planet will be enormous. Here the way will
be opened ft r communication between light-
ships and the shore without the inconve-
nience of submarine cable. Mountainous
peaks can be put in communication without
the work of stringing a wire over miles of
difficulties, and throughout the countries of
the world, there is a promise that unsightly
poles and dangerous weblike networks will
cease to be a feature of the city streets.
These are all consummations devoutly to be
wished, and that the hope for them is no
mere visionary dream, is testified by the
nature of the success already achieved, and
the practical knowledge of the men pushing
the investigations. Gigantic as the progress
in the use of electricity has already been,
the world is but awakening to the smallness
of its knowledge and the extent of the re-
gions yet to be explored.
A Hotel in the desert.
It is said that 6,000 foreigners in
quest of health are spending the present
winter in Cairo. Among them are a few
who prefer quiet to gayety, and the air of
the desert to that of the city. A while ago
a hotel was built in the desert near the
pyramids. Several hundred acres of ties
desert land were bought in 1884 by a
wealthy Englishman, who was a sufferer
from consumption. He believed that the
desert air would be a specific. For two
years he lived with his wife in a little house
erected on the sand waste he had bought,
and regained most of the strength he had
lost.
Believing that the desert air would be
mostbeneficial to invalids afflicted as he was
was, he erected a sanitarium on his property
bat be died just before its completion. The
building he put up now forms a part of the
hotel, which is reached easily from Cairo,
and has a good many guests, not only in-
valids, but those who teish to spend a night
'nthe desert and have more time for inspec-
ting the pyramids than they enjoyed former-
ly, when they were compelled to hurry away
after a few hours in order to return to Cairo
the same evening.
If'you pine to be introduced a rich
to
lumberman's daughter, see that you look
spruce.
James Whitcomb Riley's income from hie
readings and recitations equals a bank presi-
dent's
Clea
in -1
39
1
BillN
e
s while
dents alarY
$40,000 from his appearances on the rostrum.
Max O'Rell and Will Carletonet $200 a
nigght from their managers, and Georgee W.
Cable receives $100 ever time be reads.
Careful Pat. -
Travelling several years ago on the top of
a stage coach in Ireland, the late Mr. P. S.
Fraser heard the guard suggest to the driver
that he had better put on the brake, as they
were approaching a steep descent.
"I'll try it without," said John; "bold on
hard, gentlemen " And forthwith, gather-
ing up the ribbons, he started his horses at
a rapid pace
"Have yon a bit of chalk about you?"
said Paddy a few momenta later to Mr. Fra-
ser, who indignantly asked what on earth
he could want chalk for at such a time.
"I was just thinking," Paddy replied,
"thitt some of our lees and arms ere likely
ih
the
before
we r�
al
bo
to be flying a
bot-
tom of the hill, and that it wo% d be desir-
able for every man to mark his own, far the
purpose of identification."
Startling 1
A painsta
A confider
A happyir
The only
garden is to
'l'is bad t
worse to be
" Er—le
xlothed in a
f
guess."
" Lost y.
`It must h
eras. I lost
" There's
son, " in k
•ez don't w
What is t!
very prett
led the oth
Leary—"
some in, eh?
Whole fleet
She—" Si.
of France I'.
Friend—"
must be."
" Your bi
due." " Th
customer ;
I'll believe y
Judge—"
you promise
Prisoner—"
come vol un t.
Doctor—"
nothing the
rest." Bu
tongue 1"
A dr-:
" Bifu
`' Sus.
" Tru
And
"Jennie,"
"I'm never
with another
" All the yo
'.able betting
lsn't it scan.
.l
To Pr
The On tar
appointed in
its labors, an
I he provinci.,
province was
into districts,
es were exa+
commissione
The answe,
to the questi.
evidence he..
ed before th
state of affai
fish of the p
alarming. I
commission,
had been issu
from every q
sickening to
remorseless s
years ago ga
now to be fo
that, as in t.
those animai
ousastobe1'
soon become
In many pl.
erly aboundei
clearing up tr
the forests, t
ravages of th
hunting of th
of dynamite a
the general d
the land. T
indeed a dept,
from the spor
point of view.
The good
true to the m
cheap game a
to such an ex
able. What
to grace the
neighboring
are obtained i
in Canada.
The amonn
annually by
though your
have been qu
proximate es,
in the legiti
It will be rea'
out for powd;
and tackle,t
camp supple-
many inciden
amounts year
guessed at,
and many fa.
pend chiefly
their liveliho.
As the gal
year by year,
also decreases
retic, if the
vince re-stoc
taken to press
the common
thereby.
Your coin
given the mo
ters presente.
having weigh
presented to
that their d
measures as
servation and
even althoug'
give offence
themselves s.,
recommendat
It was reco
deer be entire
counties ot B
north as the
boundary of
lowed to kill -
no more ; Th
tain a permit
the same ; T
appointed to
elk and earl•
That all expo
hibited ; Tha
wild turkey
sold for 3 y
ducks in the
gard to the p
stoners advise
abolished and
by permission
cion and that
established,-
head
stablished,-head be paid
There is no
with shame as
If a young 1
modesty with
little worth,
iio
to ns
be intent!: el
playing haat