DR. TALMAGES SERMON.
The Baro and Xia Surroundings,
“The shopherés said one to another, Lot us
now go even unto Bothlchem and see this
thing which is cone to pass,” Luke 2: 15.
OnE thousgnd years of the world’s
existence rolléd painfully and wearily
along, and no Christ, Two thousand
vears, imd no Christ, Three thousand
vears, and no Christ, Four thousand
vears, and no Christ,
MIYE US A cunst,’
had cried Assyrian and Persian and
Chaldean and Egyptian civilizations,
but the lips of the earth and the lips of
the sky made no answer. The world
had already been affluent of genius,
Among poeis had appeared Homer and
Thespis and Aristophanes and Sopho-
cles and Euripides and Alexis Esch;
lus; yet no Christ to he the most poetic
figure of the centuries. Among histor-
ians had appeared Herodotus and Xeno-
phon and Thucydides; but no Christ
from whom ail history was to date
backward and forward—n, C and A. D.
Among the conquerors Camillus and
Manlius and Regulus and Xantippus
and Scipio and Pompey and Caesar; yet
no Christ who was to be conqueror of
earth and heaven.
But the slow century and the slow
vear and the slow month and the slow
houy at last arrived. The world had
had/matins or concerts in the morning
and vespers or concerts in the evening,
but now it is to have a concert at mid-
night, The black window shutters of
a December night were thrown open,
and some of the best singers of a world
where they all sing, stood there, and
putting back the drapery of cloud,
chanted a peace anthem, until all the
echoes of hill and valley applauded and
encored the Hallelujah Chorus,
At last the world has a Christ, and
just the Christ it needs. Come, let us
go into that Christmas scene as though
we had never before worshipped at the
wanger. Iere is
A MADONNA WORTH LOOKING AT.
1 wonder not that the most frequent
name In all lands and in all Christian
centuries is Mary, And there are
Marys in palaces aud Marys in cabins,
and ‘though German and French and
Italian and Spanish and English pro-
nounce it differently, they are all name-
sakes of the one whom we find on a bed
of straw, with her pale face against the |
soft cheek of Christ in the night of the
Nativity. All the great painters have
tried, on canvas, to present Mary and
her child and the incidents of that most
famous night of the world’s history.
Raphael, mn three different master-
pieves, celebrated them, Tintoret and
Guirlandjo surpassed themselves in the
Adoration of the Magi, Correggio
needed to do nothing more than his
Madonua to become immortal. The
Madonna of the Lily, by Leonardo da
Vinci, will kindle the admiration of all
ages. Dut all the galleries of Dresden
are forgotten, when I think of the
small room of that gallery containing
the Sistine Madonba. Yet all of them
were copies of St. Mathew’s Madonna,
and Luke's Madonna, the inspired Ma- |
donna of the Old Book, which we had
put into our hands when we were in-
fants, and that we hope to have under
our heads when we die,
Behold, in the first place, that on the |
first night of Chirist's life God honored |
the brute creation. You cannot get |
into that Bethlehem barn without going
past the camels, the mules, the dogs, |
the oxen.
Take off that curbed bit from that
bleeding mouth, Remove that saddle
from that raw back. Shoot not for fun
that bird that is too small for food.
Forget not to put water into the ©
of that canary. Throw out some crumbs
to those birds caught too far north ip
the winter's inclemency. Arrest tht
man who is making that one Jorse
draw a load heavy enough for three,
Rush in upon that scene wlere boys
are torturing a cat, or transfixing but-
terfly and grasshopper. Drive not off
that old robin, for her nest is a mother’s
cradle, and under her wing there may
be three or four prime donne of the sky
in training.
In your families and in your schools,
teach the coming generatlon more mer-
cy than the present generation has ever
shown, and in this marvellous Bible
picture of the Nativity, while you point
out to them the angel, show them also
the camel, and while they hear the
celestial chant, let them also hear the
cow’s moan. No more did Christ show
interest in the botanical world, when
He said, “Consider the lilies,” than He
showed sympathy for the ornithological
when He said, ‘Behold, the fowls of
the air,” and the quadrupedal world
when He allowed Himself to be called
in one place a lion, and in another place
a lamb. Meanwhile, may the Christ of
the Bethlehem cattle-pen have mercy
on the suffering stock yards, that are
preparing diseased and fevered meat for
our Anaerican households,
Behold, also, in this Bible scene, how,
on that Christmas night,
GOD HONORED CHILDHOOD,
Christ might have made His first visit
to our world in a cload, as He will de-
gseond on His next visit in a clond, In
what a chariot of illumined vapor He
might have rolled down the sky, escort
ed by mounted cavalry, with lightning
of drawn swoid.
carriage of fire to fetch Him down?
the Lord might have descended. Or
Christ might have bad His mortality
built up on earth out of the dust of a
garden, as was Adam, in full manhood
at the start, without the introductory
feebleness of infancy. No, no! Child.
hood was to be honored by that advent,
He wiust have a child’s light limbs, and
a child’s dimpled band, and a child’s
beaming eys, and a child’s flaxen hair;
more than a grave, Mighty God! May
the reflection of that one ehlld’s face be
seen in all infantile faces,
Enough have all those fathers and
mothers on hand if they have a child in
the house, A throne, a crown, a scep-
Be care
ful how you strike him across the head,
jarring the brain,
him will be centennial and millennial,
years will not stop the echo and re-echo.
Do not say, *‘It is only a child.” Rath-
er say, “It is only an immortal.” It is
only
A MASTERPIECE OF JEHOVAH.
It is only a being that shall outlive sun
and moon and stars, and ages quadril-
lennial. God has infinite resources, and
He can give presents of great value, but
when He wants to give the richest pos
sible gift to the household, He looks
around all the worlds and all the uni-
and then gives a child. The
THE BRUTES OF THAT STABLE
lieard the first cry of the infant Lord
Some of the old painters represent the
oxen and camels kpeeling that night
bvefore the new-born babe, And well
might they kneel! Have you ever
thonght that Christ came, among other
things, to alleviate the sufferings of the
brute creation? Was it not appropriate |
that He should, during the first few |
days and nights of His life on earth, be
surrounded by the dumb beasts, whose |
moan and plaint and bellowing have |
for ages been a prayer to God for the
arresting ot their tortures and the
righting of their wrongs? It did not
merely “bappen 80’ that the unintelli-
gent creatures of God should have been
that night in close neighborhood.
Not a kennel in all the centuries, not
a bird’s nest, not a worn-out horse on
tow-path, not a herd freezing in the
poorly-built cow-pen, not a freight car
in summer tine bringing the beeves to
market without water through a thous.
anid miles of agony, not a surgeon's
room witnessing the struggles of fox, or
rabbit, or pigeon, or dog, in the horrors
of yivisection, but has-an interest in the
fact that Christ was born in a stable,
surrounded by brutes, He remembers
that night, and the prayer he heard in
THEIR PITIFUL MOAN
He will answer in the punishinent of
these who maltreat the dumb brutes,
They surely have as much right in this
world as we have. In the first chapter
of Gevesis you may see that they were
placed on the earth before man wus, the
igh and fowl created the fifth day, and
the quadrupeds the morning of the sixth
day, and ‘man not until the afternoon
of that day. The whale, the eagle, the
lion, and all the lesser creatures of their
kind were predecessors of the human
familly. They have the world by right
of possession, They have also paid rent
for the they occupied. What an
army of defense all over the world are
the faithful watch dogs, And who can
tell what the world owes to the h
and camel, and ox, for transportation
And robin and lark have, by the can-
hood. He makes almost every picture
a failure unless there be a child either
playing on the floor, or looking through
the window, or seated on the lap, gaz.
ing into the face of the mother.
It was a child in Naaman’'s kitchen
that told the great Syrian warrior where
he might go to get cured of leprosy,
which at his seventh plunge in the Jor-
It was to the cradle of leaves, in which
a child was laid, rocked by the Nile,
that God called the attention of history.
It was a sick child that evoked Christ's
curative sympathies. It was a child
squabbling disciples, to teach the lesson
of humility,
wolf and leopard and lion shall be yet
80 domesticated that
A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM,
A child decided Waterloo, showing the
army of Blucher how they could make
a short cut through the fielvx when, if
the old read had been followed, the
It was a child that decided Gettysburg,
be having overheard two Confederate
generals in a conversation, in which
they decided to march for Gettysburg
instead of Harrisburg; and this, report-
ed to Governor Curtin, the Federal
forces started to meet their opponents
at Gettysburg, And to-day
THE CHILD IS TO DECIDE
all the great battles, make all the Jaws,
gettle all the destinies, and usher in the
world’s salvation or destruction. Men,
women, nations, all earth and all
heaven, behold the child! Is there any
there any sky so blde as a child's eye?
voice? Is there any plume 30 Wavy as
a child’s hair?
Notice also that in this Bible night
scene
GOD HONORED SCIENCE,
Who are the three wise men kneeling
before the Divine Infant? . Not boars,
is the college t}
LH prayers, Yaus bowing at the manger?
10 have been the greatest physicians?
the names of the living, lest
mong them Christian men like our
vn Joseph C, Hutchison and Rush and
Valentine Mott and Abercrombie and
Abeenethy? Who have been our greats
est scientists? Joseph Henry, who
lived and died 1: the faith of the Gos-
pels and Agassiz, who, standing with
his students among the hills, took off
his hat and said, “Young gentlemen,
before we study these rocks, let us pray
for wisdom to the God who made the
rocks.” To day the greatest doctors
and lawyers, of Brooklyn and New
York and of all this land and of all
Wuds, revere the Christian religion, and
are not ashamed to say so before juries
and legishitures and senates,
All geology will yet bow before the
Rock of Ages, All botany will vet
worship the Rose of Sharon, Ali as-
tronomy will yet recognize the Star of
Bethlehem, And physiology and anat-
omy will join hands and say, “We
must, by the help of God, get the human
race up to the perfect nerve, and per-
fect musele, and perfect brain, and per-
fect form of that perfect child, before
whom, nigh twenty hundred years ago,
the wise men bent their tired knees in
worship,
Behold
night that
GOD HONORED THE FIELDS,
Come in, shepherd boys, to Bethlehem
and see the child. **No,'" they say;
“we are not dressed good enough to
come in.” “Yes, you are; come in."
Sure enough, the storms and the night
dew and the brambles have made rough
work with their apparel, but none havea
| better right to come in. They were the
| first to hear the music of that Christmas
| night, The first announcement of a
| Saviour's birth was made to those men
fields, There were wiseacres
| that night in Bethlehem and Jerusalem
| snoring in deep sleep, and there were
| salaried officers of Government, who,
{hearing of it afterward, may have
| thought that they ought to have had
the first news of such a great event,
{some one dismounting from a swift
also in that first Christmas
{in the
{at some sentine’s question, “Who
{ comes there?” the great ones of the
| palace might have been told of the
| celestial arrival. No: shepheds
i heard the first two bars of the
the
i in the subdued minor;
in the highest, and on earth peace, good
i will to men.” Ah, yes; the fields were
| honored.
The old shepherds with plaid and
crook have for the most part vanished,
{ but we have grazing—our United States
| pasture fields and prairie about forty-
| five million sheep—and all their Keepers
ought to
FOLLOW THE SHEPHERDS
of my text and all those who toil in
| fields, all
| all husbandmen. Nor only that Christ.
| mas night, but all up and down the
| world’s history God bad been honoring
| the fields. Nearly all the messiahs of
old-time eayp, and great round spectacles,
and apron of her own make, and knit
your socks with her own needles, seated
by the broad fireplace, with great back-
log ablaze, on & winter night, It mat-
ters not how many wrinkles crossed and
re-crossed her face, of how much her
shoulders stooped with the burdens of a
long life, if you painted a Madonna,
hers would be the face,
What a gentie hand she had when we
were sick, and what a voice to soothe
pain, and was there anoyone who could
so fill up a room with peace, and purity,
and light? And what a sad day that
was when we came home and she could
greet us not, for her lips were forever
still, :
COME BACK, MOTHER,
this Christmas day, and take your old
place, and as ten, or twenty, or fifty
years ago, come and open the old Bible
you used to ; read and kneel in the same
place where you used to pray, and look
{law and
i the fields,
| Jefferson from the fields, The
| dential martyrs, Garfield and Lincoln
from the fields. Henry Clay from the
fields. Danie Webats:
Martin Luther from the fields,
Before this world is right, the over-
| flowing populations of our crowded
| cities will have to take to the
Instead of ten merchants in rivalry as
| to who shall sell that one apple, we want
| at least eight of them to go out
| raise apples. Instead of ten merchants
desiring to sell that one bushel of wheat,
| we want at least eight of them to go out
and raise wheat, The world wants
| now more hand hands,
| cheeks, more muscular
fields! God honored
arms,
them when He
anthem. and he will, while the world
lasts, continue to honor the fields
When the shepherd's crook was that
he Bethlehem kahn, it was a prophecy
lof the time when thresher’s flail and
farmer 8 plough and woodman’s axe
| and ox's yoke and sheaf binder's rake
shall surrender to the God who made
the country, as man made the town.
Behold, also, that on that Christmas
| night
GOD HONORED MOTHERHOOD,
Two angels on their wings might have
| brought an infant Saviour to Bethlehem
without Mary's being there at all
When the villagers, on the norning of
December 28, awoke, by divine arrange-
| ment, and in some npexplained way,
{ the Child Jesus might have been found
in some comfortable cradle of the vil-
lage. But no, no! Motherhood for all
time was to be consecrated, and one of
the tenderest relations was to be the
maternal relation, and one of the sweet.
est words, “mother. ”’
In all ages God has honored good
motherhood, John Wesley had a good
mother ; St. Bernard had a good mother;
samuel Budgett, a good mother ; Dod-
dridge, a good mother ; Walter Scott, a
good mother ; B wjamin West, a good
mother. In a great avdience, most of
whom were Christians, I asked that all
those who had been blessed of Christiaa
mothers arise, and almost the entire as
sembly stood up, Don’t you see how
important it is that all motherhood be
consecrated? Why did Titian, the Ital
jan artist, when he sketched the Mae
donna, make it an Italian face? Wh
did Rubens, the German artist, in his
Madonna, make it a German face?
Why did Joshua Reynolds, the English
artist, in his Madon make it an
English face? Why did Murillo, the
Spanish artist, in his Madonna, make it
a h face? 1 never heard, but I
think they took their 6wn mothers as
THE TYPE OF MARY,
the mother of Christ. When you hear
some one, in sermon or omtion, sped
in the of some good, fa ;
tears, while you say Til ap
was my mother, The first word a ¢
utters is to be “Mother,” and the
upon us as of old when yon wished us a
Merry Christmas or a Happy New
Year. But, no! That would not be
fair to call you back, You had troubles
enough, ard be-
reavements enough while you were
here. Tarry by the throne, mother, till
we join you there, your prayers all an-
swered, and in the eternal homestead of
our God we shall again keep Christmas
But speak from your
thrones, all you glorified mothers, and
say to all these, your sons and daughters,
words of love, words of warning, words
of cheer. They need your voice, for
they have travelled far and with many
a heart-break since you left them, and
vou do well to eall from the heights of
Hail,
We are coming.
Keep a place right beside you at the
banquet,
“Slow-footed yours! More swiftly run
Into the gold of that unsettling sun,
Homes ck we are for theo,
Calm lund beyond the sea.”
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON.
Boxpay, Jax, 15, 1588,
Jesus Walking on the Sea.
LESSON TEXT.
Matt, 14: 2238 Memory verses, 25.07.)
LESSON PLAN.
Toric or THE QUARTER ;
GOLDEN TEXT FOR THE QUARTER:
- Hew,
and chosen, and faithful. 17 : 14.
Lessox Toric: The King's Follow-
ers Affrighted
(L The Trouble § Crew, va 20.08
<1 The Ternfied Disciple, va, 7-31,
{2 The Hoya Master, va 2208
Gorpex Texr: Be of good cheer;
-~
it is I; be not afraid. — Matt, 14: 27,
Larnmon
Outline :
Dany "Houe READINGS:
M.--3Matt, 14 : 22.38. The
followers affrighted.
T.—Mark 6 : 45-36.
lel narrative,
John 6 : 15-2L
allel narrative,
Mark 4
storm,
F.—Psa. 65:
in nature,
Pea, 46 :
God,
NS, —-Psa, 107 :
Lord.
King's
Mark's paral-
Ww John's par-
T 35-41. Stilling a
1-13,
God's control
8,
1-11.
a3.31.
e—————————
LESSON ANALYSIS
i. THE TROUBLED CREW,
I. The Storm:
The was...
boat distressed by the
i
{
{
i
All thy waves and thy billows are gone
over me (Psa, 42 1 5.
The boat was covered with the waves
(Matt. 8 : 24).
A great storm of wind, and the waves
beat into the boat {Mark 4 : 37).
The stern began to break up by the vio-
lence of the waves [Acts 27 141).
IL The Apparition :
They were troubled,
apparition (26).
1 see a god coming up out of the earth
{1 Sam, 28 : 13).
Then a spirit passed before my face
{Job 4 : 15.
They entered into the holy city and ap-
peared unto many (Matt, 27 : 53).
They supposed that it was an apparition,
and cried out (Mark © : 49),
JIL. The Outory :
They cried out for fear (26).
In my distress 1... cried unto my God
(Psa. 18: 8).
They cried unto thee and were delivered
(Psa. 22: 5).
This poor man eried, and the Lord
heard him (Psa, 34 : 6).
Out of the depths have I cried unto
thee, O Lord (Psa, 130: 1).
1. “He went up into the mountain
apart to pray.” (1) Prayer desired;
(2) Privacy sought.—(1) The Lord's
ned of prayer; (2) The Lord's
place of prayer; (3) The Lord's
privacy in prayer,
2. “He was there alone.’ (1) Who?
(2) Where? (3) When? (4) How?
(5) Why?
3 “The wind was contrary.” (1)
Obeying the Lord, vet buffeted ;
{2) Brought into peril, yet deliv-
ered, ~~(1) Opposing influences | (2)
Overrnling providences ; (3) Glor-
ious deliverances,
1, TERRIFIED DISCIPLE,
I. His Forwardness :
Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto
thee upon the waters (28),
The counsel of the froward is carried
headlong (Job 5 : 13).
Thorns and snares are in the way of the
froward (Prov, 22: 5).
to rebuke
Peter took him, and
him (Matt. 16 : 29).
If all shall be offended in thee, I will
- never be (Matt, 26 : 33),
11. His Peril;
He was afraid; and nning to
sink, he cried out (30), beg?
the s
I
He drow we out of many waters {2 Baa
22 : 17).
Above, ...the mighty breakers of the
sea, the Lord ig mighty (Psa, 93: 4),
Through the waters, 1 will be with thee
(Isa, 43: 2).
Yet hast thou brought us my life from
the pit (Jonah 2 : 6),
1, “Be of good cheer; itis I; be not
afraid.” (1) Jesus present ;
Fears dismissed ; (3) Cheer secured.
A present Jesus (1) Dispels fears;
(2) Secures cheer,
2, “He said, Come.” (1) Granting
his servant's desire ; (2) Guarantee-
ing his servant's safety,
3. “When he saw the wind, he was
afraid : and beginning to sink, he
eried out.” (1) Sight instead of
faith ; (2) Fear instead of coufi-
dence ; (3) Sinking instead of
safety,
II. THE ROYAL MASTER.
IL Quieting the Winds :
When they were gone up into the
boat, the wind ceased (32),
A man shall be as an hiding place from
the wind (Isa, 32: 2).
Even the winds and the sea obey him
(Matt, 8: 27).
The wind ceased : and they were sore
amazed (Mark 6: 51).
Who then is this, that he commandeth
even the winds? (Luke 8: 25).
IL Healing the Sick:
As many as were touched were made
whole (36).
If I do but touch his garment, I shall
be made whole (Matt, 9: 21).
might touch him (Mark 3: 10).
Power came forth from him, and healed
them all (Luke 6 : 18).
his body handkerchiefs (Acts 19 : 12),
HL Receiving Worship .
They that were the
shipped him (33),
his star in the east, and are
come to worship him (Matt, 2: 2).
There eame to him a leper and wor-
shipped him (Matt. 8: 2),
When they saw him, they worshipped
him (Matt, 28: 17).
Let all the angels of God worship him
{Heb. 1: 6),
1. “Of a truth thou art the Son of
God.”” (1) The scope of their con-
fession ; (2) The basis of their con-
feasion,
2 “When the
they
that
in boat wor-
M1
.. KNEW
brought. ..
{13 The Lord
men
and
sick”?
sent,
were
(3) The si k helped,
3. “As many as touched were made
whole,” (1) Touching Jesus ; (2)
Receiving wholeness, {1} The
touch of faith; 12) The gift
wi
W0leness,
emmma————————
LESSON BIBLE READING.
BYMBOLISM OF THE SEA,
taging of hostile armies (Isa. 5: 30;
Jer. 6: 23).
Inrush of enemies (Jer, 51 : 42).
Devastations of war (Ezek. 20 :
yp
3 4)
13).
: 8).
19).
18),
Prevalence of knowledge (Isa.
Hab, 2 : 14).
Abode of the dead
11: 9:
tev, 20 : 13).
Rev,
4:6;
15:2).
sn ———————
LESSON SURROUNDINGS,
of this
is immediate; but we are in-
The connection
last
the multitude to ‘take him by force, to
Mark (Mark
intimates that
4), vear of Rome 782, — A.D. 20,
started was on the eastern side of the
lake, not far from Bethsaida Julias
(Luke 9 : 10) ; the boat landed in Genne-
17, 59). Mark
(Mark 6 : 45) names Bethsaida as the
point which they were atiempting to
reach: but it is disputed which place of
that name he refers to.
The parallel passages are Mark 6 : 45-
50; John 6 : 15-21.
He Knew His Business,
M. Gravey was pale. He was sweat
ing blood.
M. Floquet was with him, He was
with him mm person, but not otherwise,
“Let go,” was M. Floquet’s counsel,
“Let go and give me a chance to catch
on"
The cancel bad swept down the Boule-
vard des Capucins and now surged
through the Place de la Mayonaise,
The canecl was sweating, too; but not
blood.
“Vive la repubilique! vive l'empereur!”’
cried the caneel, It was like the hoarse
muttering of a lioness at bay. They
had done this before. History is full of
it. In 1875, when Louis Leblano m-
flamed the vroletariat. In 1801, when
Jean Marie Briscobuy crimsoned the
pathway to the guillotine. In 1823, in
1851, in 1872, the same, It was now
1887, Act 7 of the ghastly comedy!
Irony of fate!
In the Rue da Normande the caneel
, Upon this street faces the
otel de Veal. 1ts front was somber.
The curtains were drawn, A mana
baker wearing a red ribbon—tried the
door. It was
“Death to M. Gravey! Vive la repu-
b uel’!
a fave at a win.
dow, It was a pale It was the
face of M., Gravey, bus it looked like
Sie dn attop Dame aux Camel
“Vive la republique! Vive les Bour.
bons! ive monaichiel Vive la
o
| Won at Lasiy or, a Brave Coward.
1 woke up on that particsiar morn.
ing in a particularly dehghtful frame
of mind. 1 know I sang so loudly that
Tompkins, who occupied the next room
in the barracks to mine, flung his shoes
{ ab the walls and waxed very profane,
i as I continued to vocalize,
The reason of my hilarity may be
stated in afew words, I bad fallen
desperately in love with Norah O'Cre-
gan, the belle of that military tewn,
and I expected to find out bir opinion
of me that very day at the picnic some
of the boys had arranged.
I need not state here that Miss O°Cre-
gan would attract atiention anywhere,
and that she is the most delightful Jit-
tle tady in the world, You may
imagine that I dressed myself very
carefully that day, not omitting a rose-
bud in my coat.
That odious Tompkins, my rival,
was one of the party of course, but the
sight of Norah under the trees made
me disregard the silly jokes he was Lry-
ing to crack at my expense, and I felt
very happy.
1 suggested to her that the rest of the
party were going to visit the ruins and
asked if she cared to folloy, *‘I want
to put some cattle in this sketch first,’
she answered, *'1 see some fine oxen
near if you will show me the way.”
It was a group of fous ferocions-look-
ing beasts, one standing, the rest lying
in various attitudes around. ©ne, a
great black animal, eyed us steadily,
and slightly altered his position the bet-
ter Lo see us,
{| “I think, Mr. Maurice,” she said,
| I could manage better if you would
not mind going on the other side of the
bullocks, and attracting the notice of
| that black one in the other direction.
They are all looking the same way, and
it looks so stiff, If you held oul some
grass te him, or switched your stick
about, 1% might keep his attention
| fixed,”
I rose slowly, and cautiously found
my way to the other side,
It was quite needless to do anything
to attract that wonster’s atiention; his
eye was on me, As I moved, sodid he;
and, as I sat down, he turned his head
| right round, the better to watch me.
| I was turning bot and cold by turns.
“That will do nicely; thanks, Keep
| him in that position for a few min-
| utes, * called Norah,
Then came a silence, broken only by
| the beating of my heart, Tove suspense
| grew unbearable, and the perspiration
| began to pour down my face. 1 drew
| out my handkerchief to wipe my heat-
ied brow, when, with an angry grunt,
| the animal began to rise. 1 saw my
{ fatal error; the handkerchief was red!
Rapidly the brute gained bis feet,
and with bead bent low, advanced to-
ward me. It was too much, All all
| was forgotten but the fate that seemed
| before ne, 1 sprang up—1 blush to
| own it—1 turned round, and } ran? i
| made straight for a fence just in front
| of me, which having vaulted, I found
| myself safe at last,
| Then the whole absurdity of my po-
{ sition burst upon me, The ridiculous
figure 1 must have cut before Norah,
| the contempt she must feel for my cow-
| ardice! Oh, what would 1 not have
given to be able to wipe the last haif
hour out of my life!
{ 1 knew I had lost Norah O'Cregan.
| How could she ever care for a man
whose conduct mnst have appeared so
| contemptible?
My life after this incident was not a
| happy one. As far as 1 could, 1 pass-
ed the time alone, pondering bow to
retrieve the lost ground, and hailing
| with delight an opportunity which soou
after offered itself of changing mio
another regiment, which was ordered
| abroad on immediate active service,
Time passed, and once more 1 was
We received a per-
we landed in dear
{on my native soil,
{ feet ovation when
old England.
Tel-el-Kebir was the subject of every-
| one’s thoughts and, siok and 3H as I
was, my cheek flushed with pleasare as
| handkerchiefs were waved and wel-
| comes shouted,
I was faint and dizzy. My arm had
| been ampulated at the shoulder aud 1
suffered acute pain, but it was a proud
| moment for me all the same,
{ I was invalided directly after, and
| weeks were passed in the sick ward of
: Brighton barracks,
One day the door was suddenly
| thrown open and some of our fellows
{ burst in,
“Cheer up, cheer up, old man!"
‘cried one. “Hear this,” skimming
{through a paper be held m his hand,
i * “Conspicuous bravery, V. C.> Why,
| it’s worth dying for!”
And as their cheery congratulations
poured in apon me I felt it was worth
living for.
I began to nvnd rapidly after thisand
was soon able to go down to the sea in
a chair. :
One moming as I was lazily lying
back drinking In the fresh air I became
concious of a figure standing by my
chair, 1 opened my eyes,
“Norah!” I eried—**NorshP’
Neither of us spoke for a few mo
ments as 1 gazed fondiy on her blush.
ing face,
“At last she said: “Oh, Iam so sorry,
and yet so very glad, so very premd!”’
i tell me you do not think me
a coward now!” I cried, eageriy
“How could I? Oh, do not ask me
such a cruel question!” she faltered.
Aud as ber eyes rested on the empty
sleeve that was pinned across my brest
1 saw they were full of tears; and so
were but they were tears of joy,
for as my closed on hers, 1 knew
that for all time Norah was my own,
He Chose tie Wroxa Proves.