{ Y, LONG time ago, as approached, a little Mayflower that had white been . and, smiling in the spring sunlight, prayed that it might be an Easter blos som. All winter it had of this, nestling cozily down in the warm soil at the foot of a great elm. One day the Mayflower saw a company of children out in the forest picking blos dreamed with be plucked borne away to celebrate the upon which the Lord arose, “Oh! Don’t you wish they come and take us also?’ it whispered to the Kindly fernfrond which had bent its tall head to shelter the little white from the spring winds frond waved said “No.” But the Mayflower was to be carried off into the world away from the woods, “Isn't this little Mayflower a perfect darling!” exclaimed the boy who had plucked it, offering the blos- som to the girl who stood nearest. “Pin it on your coat lapel and wear it, the pretty little thing!” But the girl Shook her head, smiling. “No, 1 will not wear it.” she said. “These wild flowers fade and droop so very quickly unless you treat them very tenderly indeed. And this par ticular little flower is so beautiful and perfect that I should like it for our church to-morrow. See! We will lay it away in this eardboard box of mine, with some cool, wet ferns beneath and eagerness to reo = at day would blossom The fern- idedly, and 80 oOite head I. dec its still eager “ty i 4 wilite ‘WE WILL LAY IT AWAY." above it, and it will come out as fresh and bright as ever when we get home and are ready to take the flowers to the church.” The Mayflower was so pleased to hear that it was to help in decorating the church that it fairly trembled again with Joyousness. When the box was opened late in the same afternoon, however, and It knew itself being transferred to a place near the altar, it grew very still. Next morning, just when tne sun- shine was pouring In gloriously through the stained-glass windows and the organ began to send forth the soft. est, sweetest music imaginable, and wll the wild blossoms were lifting | their eagerly iand to praise God also with ! faces and sweet perfume, a lady with {a pale face, which she tried hard to | keep bright and cheerful, and { stood beside the big bowl of wild flow- | ers for a few moments. “Are they not beautiful?’ she asked of the minister, who stood there with { her. “And do see that dear little white | Mayflower. Doesn't it seem to bring all the sweetness of the wild wood | right to one? How I wish I had that { one flower, to take to my sick little { girl at home! 1 do belleve she would { feel better all day for having seen it.” “Take it to her,” said the minister, | gently, drawing the startled blossom from among its fellows; “take it to her at once, dear Mrs. Bradley. You will | just about have time to go home and got your before the rry a lit. to drink it all in smiling heads came back Iuto place | service cominences, if you | tle.” The pale lady walked very quickly { when she had left the church, and it hardly a moment before was standing beside the bed of the lit. tle sick girl, with the Mayflower in Ler hand. “Oh, motherkins, how lovely! Where { did you get it? And is it for me? It { must have come right straight out of | the woods!” the sick child cried, joy- i fully. “Hurry back to ehurch motherkins, or you'll be late.” she added presently, when the flower had been placed in a tiny crystal vase and the table sup- porting it drawn very near to her bed side. “I wouldn't have you miss that service for anything in the world.” When the pale lady had left the room again the child drew the table even nearer to her bedside, and all morning the Mayflower leaned over the edge of the vase and told her beantiful stories, in the wordless language which only children and flowers and a few others know and understand, un. til the little siek girl forgot to be tired or impatient of her {liness. The stories were all about the woods and the trees and the ferns and the flowers. Long before the tales were finished the child felt her eyelids growing heavy and less feverish, just as if a gentle, cool hand had been lightly laid upon them, and when the pale lady came back from the morning service, bringing a great sheaf of odorous and perfect Easter lilies with her, the May- flower was the only one of God's chil dren awake In the room. And even its head was beginning to droop wearily. It only lived until sunset, that little white blossom, for Mayflowers are as fragile as lovely, and they seldom live long away from the woods and the fields. Then the pale lady kissed the dead Mayflower tenderly and took it, all brown and withered, from the table by the bed, and she laid it softly away between the leaves of her Bible That Easter was the turning point of the little daughter's iliness, and day by day she grew stronger until she was ns well as anybody. “The Mayflower cured me,” she often says to her moth. er. So every Easter the mother brings th Jdtle Mayflower out of the Bible and places it in the sunlight, where its dry petals seem to revive and agala grow fragrant and tell stories of tha flowering wilderness.—Hthel Maude Colson, in the Chicago Record. seemed she i i The cross is never so conspleuous in religious observance as during Holy Week. Draped in the emblems of mourning on Good Friday it is reful- gent with glory and embowered with lilieg on Easter morning. In the Roman Catholic world special honor is paid to the crucifix on Good Friday. The custom of venerating the cross on that day was first introduced when Idolatry was overthrown. Before the crucifixion of the Divine Master the was regarded as a common instrument of capital punishment by the Romans. Death on the cross was considered so Cross TANSEY TIO cruvcirx, ChTHOD Ox Chute, dishonorable that only slaves were so The crucifixion of Christ, led his followers regard the cross with feelings of veneration. It finally became used as a public dec- executed, to o — {dentified by the tablet containing ap inscription in three languages, placed on it by order of Pontius Pilate. Pleces of the true cross are still extant ip possession of dignitaries of the church, Of late years it has been somewhat of a fad to make collections of crucl fixes, which are valued for their an tique as well as historie worth. Many Episcopalians have evinced great in terest in the subject. It is no great mistake to imagine every crucifix is what Catholics consider orthodox There are three kinds—the Roman, the Jansenistic and the Pugin. The effigy of the Baviour is placed upon the cross according to the Jansenistic idea, which the Romans do not accept, The thorn-cpowned head is placed below the beam of the cross and the hands extended far above it. Up-to-Date Blacksmith Aprons, On Eastern Monday blacksmiths all over ing on immemorial custom, put on ! new leather They do this twice 8 year, at the Eastér and Christ. i mas holidays. Dealers expect it of { them, and lay in a great stock in ad vance. The most recherche black- smith's apron Is now made of sheep- skin. It has a diamond-shaped bib to cover the breast, but fashion dictates that this should not be worn up, but should fall from the down over the stomach carelessly. The fastens behind w two brass buttons, and i { | lemon and tan. The white one, i morning the the land, follow aprons. waist apron ith white, COMMes colors which “RESURRECTION" oration, being introduced as such by Constantine in the third century. He placed a cross of “gold and precious stones In the chief hall of his palace. The cross was used as a holy sym: bol long before the crucifix was intro duced into the Christian world. Near ly four centuries elapsed before the THE ORIGINAL CRUCIFIX, first crucifix wae made, It was formed of dark red wood, with the figure of a lamb on it. In the sixth century it was usual to put only the bpst of Christ In the centre of the cross, and many of this kind still exist in south- ern Europe. The true cross in the Christian world always signifies the actual wood disinterred by the Em. press Helana in the year 328 and ac capted then, and ever since, as the vicitable tree en which Jesus died. Some historical writers assert it was —~BY CARRACCI. is affected by the younger and more modish sort of blacksmith, is re-en forced and padded at the knees for horseshoeing and such like work. This is an effeminancy disdained by the austere and hardy blacksmith of the old school. Though all aprons are slit up the middle to the thigh, they still continue to be sold unslit. It is be- cause the manufacturers are not pro- gressive. An apron costs $1 and lasts about six months —Philadelphia Rec- ord. The Trpleal Flower. The original colors of the lily, the typical flower of the Eastertide, were orange and purple, but it is centuries since the white bell showed itself, and at once became a symbol of purity to stand for ages. Solomon spoke of the orange and the purple flower. Homer referred to the same gorgeous clusters in his songs of praise. It was only after Clovis met the angel, who bade him embroider the lily in white on we armorial bearings, that that flower be came the emblem of the Christian peo- ple. Mrs. Hen-“He's awfully comm a! Why, his mother was a second-hand | $2.08 Incubator.” Life. : RICHMOND HOTEL FIRE. | : The Palatial Jefferson a Prey to the | Flames. SOUTH'S GREATEST CARAVANSARY, COMMERCIAL REVI General Trad: Conditions, Y } : 1) i in Is In Ruins-~No Lives Are Known to Have | Been Lost, Although Several People Had Narrow Escapes, and Rescued With Difficulty. Richmond, Va. (Special).—Richmond | Friday night suffered her greatest dis aster by since the burning of the | Spot i Hotel, 1870. The Jefferson Hotel, the cent ture built and fur the late Lew inter, at a co $1,000,000 n asl y lost Th brie k and fire WOO on Christmas magnifi- nished by t of about | were sire oc lik met Oil A Lifc-Saving Plan. A { Spe 5 5 i & » Settled Their Differences. Tenn, (Special).—~The nthe La Virginia Iron. Coal iy and the Vir were settled here ceiver and Archer A ¢ his successor was agreed K. McHarg is retained Wi: tl s filed by withdrawn accepted a posi- of Judge the lien the been ated, i 3 vice-president ager and railroad company in of a large iron, coal Nova Scoti «1a. filinois Lyncher Sentenced. Galesburg, 1. (Special) —~Consterna- tion prevails among those who Wed- nesday night led in the attempt to lynch i i LATEST QUOTATIONS. Baltimore. $16.00 ~Market firm aiic; old Lg hickens, 10a12c; winter under, 16a18c. Ducks ioatgc. Geese, apiece The market bbl Poultry Quote: each, 25¢; ao. 2 JOSIErs, 10813C Loabic Butter is steady. We of Charles B. Rowe, because the Sheriff has sworn out a number of warrants, The first arrest was that of E. C. Gross, riot, it is alleged, urged the crowd to kill the Sheriff. Gross was arraigned before Judge Post, who fined him $100 and gave him a term of one year in the county jail. Gross has a wile and four children at Madisonville. Woman and Child Suffocated. New York (Special).—Firc in a large tenement house in Wiiliamsburg, Brooklyn, caused the death of Mrs, Bessie Finkelstein, aged 26, wile of Nathan Finkelstein, and also the death of Benjamin Levy, the §-year.old son of Moses Levy. The fatalities were caused by suffocation in the smoke which filled the building. The other tenants managed to escape with the help of the firemen and the police. ‘Squire M'Mullen Dead. Philadelphia (Special). William Me. Mullen, better known as “Squire” Mee Mallen, is dead. He was one of the most noted figures in Philadelphia poli- tics and had been actively identified with the life and development of the city for more than half a century. He ruled the southern part of the city like an auto- crat. La Sweden Adopts the Guillotine. Stockholm, Sweden (By Cable). The Riksdag has sanctioned guillotine ing instead of beheading with an ax in case of capital punishment, i i reamery Lreamery Creamery Separator .. Gathered Cream Imitation . ..... Eggs. —Fresh laid eggs. 12Vic ¢Dressed Hogs.~Choice Western Maryland and Pennsylvania light- per Ih, 64a635c: Southern and Virginia, per 1h, 634c Calves —Strictly nice veal, per 1h, 6a 5%3¢. Lambs and sheep. Spring lambs, rhoice, §15a6c per Ih; poor, small stock, sc per 1h 22V:a23 20a i8ai19 Philadelphia. Wheat, firm, Yc higher: contract grade, March, yBayBisc. Corn, firm, Yc higher; No 2 mixed, March, gragrigc. ata, steady; fair demand; No. 2 white, sipped, 33c. Butter, firm; fair demand; ¢y Western creamery, 22%c: do rints, 2c; some lots, 23c; fancy near. y prints, 23c. Eggs, firm; good de- mand: fresh nearby, 13%¢; do West- ern, 13%c; do Southwestern, 13%c; do Southern, 13c. Cheese, quiet but frm; New York full creams, fancy small, 1235¢. Live Steck. Chicago. IIL —Cattle-~Receipts, 10.000 head, nominally steady: good to prime steers, $s.00a6.00, fancy. up to $6.25; poor to medium, $37524.90; stockers, and feeders, steady to firm, $3.15a4.85; cows, $Saroag40. Hogs, mixed and butchers’, $5.85a6.10. East Liberty, Pa.—Cattle, steady: ex- tra, $35.30a5.05; prime, $5.2088.40; com- mon, $3.28a400. Hogs, steady: prime mediums and heavy hogs, $6. Ja6.Jo; best Yorkers, $6.xca6.25; light do. $6. 1086.15; pis $3.00a6.00; skits] $4.75a 5.50: roughs, $70. Sheep, steady; choice wethers, $5.20a8.35.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers