Pittsburg dispatch. (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, June 28, 1890, SECOND PART, Page 9, Image 9

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    .".'.
HER STRONG APPEAL
Frances TVillard's Plea for Temper
ance in the Sunday
School Lesson.
FIFTEEN STATES BACK OF DEB.
Teachers" Whose Breaths Smell of Wine,
", Beer or Eje Kot Wanted in
": Sunday School.
"FOUB TEMPEBANCE TALKS A IEAK
Is All the Memorialists Ast, Bnt Tasy Must b Tery
tactical.
The proceedings of the International San
day School Convention yesterday were un
usually interesting. When the temperance
question was taken up a breezy discussion
arose over the time to be allotted to Miss
Frances Willard. After a short but sharp
tilt it was decided that Miss Willard's ad
dress should be delivered in the afternoon.
It was the feature of that session, and as the
utterances of Miss "Willard on this question
cannot but command Katioa.il attention,
The Dispatch herewith presents her ad
dress in its entirety. She said:
Dear Friends I am here in a Representa
tive capacity. Fifteen State Sunday School
Conventions have memorialized this vaBt meet
ing for four specific temperance lessons a rear.
They are Ohio, New York, Indiana. Pennsyl
vania, Iowa, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts,
Vermont, New Hampshire, Delaware,
Connecticut, Rhode IsAnd, Arkansas,
Oregon. Chicago sends a memorial with
1,500 names, including almost all her
pastors and Sunday school superintendents.
Boston sends another of equal unanimity;
Rev. Dr," Noble, of Chicago, personally me
morializes the convention in a notable appeal:
Dr. Gray, of the Interior; Dr. Gilbert, of the
Advance; Dr. Edwards, of the Northwestern
Christian Adiocate; Dr. Hewicn Johnson, of
everywhere, send urgent pleas. We do not
ask for a new Bible, but for an applied power
ottbe old one: we do not ask for fixed date,
but for four Sundays as the minimum, and we
are confident the blessed Book will prove
itself amply equal to the strain.
WHAT THEY EARNESTLY ASK.
1 am also here to represent the National W.
C. T. U. in its Sunday school department, and
the IS States and two great cities tbat have set
their seal to our memorial. We ask you to ad
just this belt to the great driving wheel; to
give us specific temperance lessons at least
four times a year; to place our temperance
books on the shelves of the Sunday school
llbrarv; distribute the Young Crusader of the
W. C."T. TJ.. and the Temperance JJanner, of
the National lemperance Society to the schol
ars once a month; to teach them Anna Good's
marching song; to keep the Koll of Honor
with its triple pledge always in sight upon the
schoolroom wall; and to retain no officer or
teacher whose breath reveals familiarity with
the wine cup. the beer mug or the demijohn.
We do not ask, as some have said, for a oew
Bibie." We are abundantly content with the
old one. Miss Lnceu E. F. Kimball, of Chi
cago, is at the head of Sunday school work in
our National W. C. T. TJ. A native of Maine,
with all the temperance education that hon
ored name implies; a graduate of Mr. Holyoke,
where Mary Lvons spirit is genus loci; a suc
cessful public school teacher in Chicago, Miss
Kimball resigned her position when our mu
nicipal authorities threw the Bible out
of the public schools. This was in
1ST!, and since then this indomitable
woman has steadily worked onto socure the
temperance education of the children in our
Sunday schools. It was by her efforts, seconded
br ber faithful coadjutors in every State and
Territory and in our local W. C. T. unions, that
the great petition was presented resulting in
the present arrangement, through the Louib
viUe Sunday School Convention, which called
for the quarterly lesson, not as an option but
an established rule. Miss Kimball is in this
convention as a delegate from Illinois, and her
thanks are yours, true men and women, who
have borne and labored and had patience until
this crisis hour.
WHERE BEFORM SHOULD LEAD.
My first polntis that temperance reform should
conduct toward the church, and never away
from it. Jnst as a "citizens' league" is but a
temporary expedient to be set aside when
municipal government ceases to be the sham
that now disgraces our Republic, so tem
perance societies will be superfluous in the
exact proportion that the Church of Christ
comes to be w bat it ought always to have been,
the one great temperance society. For myself
I am first a Christian, afterward a White Rib
boner, and nothing so fills my heart with joy as
to see the Church take any step by which the
temperance caue becomes more welcome at
the sacred altars where it was cradled at the
first. For movements come ana movements
go, but the Church of Jesus Christ goes on
forever.
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union
does not come with its petition in any other
spirit than one of love and good will. We are
not an outside force, but part and parcel of
yourselves. At onr national convention in
Chicago last November, with its 4G6 delegates,
when all the Sunday school workers
were asked to rise less than half a
dozen remained in their teats. To
come with our own when we' come here.
We rejoice in the International Snndav school
lessons; tbey are the first great reciprocity
treaty among the nations; tbey are God's
blessed John the Baptist of universal peace.
Themselves the coinage of Heaven they predict
a common coinage tor commerce; themselves
God's standard nf moral weights and measures,
they
SUOCtSX A UNIFORM STANDARD
upon the earthly plane; themselves a universal
language of peace on earth, good will to men;
they help conduct to the unification of this
planet's babel-jargon; themselves the incarna
tion of God's idea in government, tbey predict
the prohibition of the dram shops and pioneer
"The Parliament of Man.
The Federation of the world."
They have come in Ood'a good time and come
to stay.
But what shall wwho are devoted sons and
daughters of the household of faith say ta
euch facts as the following: The Japanese
Government sent a commission to Great
Britain to see about making the Church of
England the Stat church of Japan, but after
careful investigation an adverse report was
rendered on the ground that "Christianity had
not saved England from becoming a drnnken
nation." Alas ! nor has It saved England and
America fioin making other nations drunken.
Let Africa stretch out her hands to God and
bear witness to the crimes of Christian En
gland and America, whose bottles of alcoholic
poison are In many places the only coin in
which Europeans pay lor the rich products of
that tropical region, debauching whole villages
and blotting out tribes by the whisky-lighted
fires of bell
There are 7.000,000 young men in America to
day, of whom over 8,000.000 never darken a
church door. That is about 75 out of every 100
of these Young men do not attend church.
Ninety-five out of every hundred do not belong
to the church, and ninety-ieven out of every
hundred do nothing to spread Christianity.
But on the other hand, sixty-seven oat of every
one hundred criminals are young men, and
young men are the chief patrons of the saloon,
the gambling house, the haunt of Infamy. It
was noticed recently that into a single saloon
of Cincinnati and within a slnglevhour went 232
men. 238 of whom or all but 18 were young
men. As a resnlt the death rate steadily in
creases from H to 25 years of age. Their evil
habits reporting themselves in deteriorated
bodies and distempered souls, at the age when
tbey should have attained their manly prime.
THE TERRIBLE STATEMENT
is made that three-fourths of the convicts in
the penitentiary of Ohio which we women
loved to call "the Crnsade State." were onco
Sunday school scholars, and an equally large
proportion of them are ia prison because of
crimes growing out of tfieir intemperate habits.
If this statement is correct, we know that it is
sot essentially different from the showing that
all our prisons make. Fitty-two Sundavs in
the year are devoted by the growers of darfc
' nets, through their emissaries, the 250,000
legalized saloons of the nation, to the produc
tion of intemperance.
.. Now I am here to ask most solemnly and
tenderly: Will not our leaders dedicate toor
x Sundays in a year to the nroniotion ot personal
temperance? This is the practical question
"before us. Sunday is the saloon's harvest time;
in all our cities children must pass its open
door to reach the Sunday school at all. What
S are we going to do about it? The children of
jttae Basses suffer most, for their homes are
;
closest to the groc shops. The masses think
the church cares little for them. How can we
prove that our devotion is real and PracticalT
To-day the Pagan boy who walks the streets
ofPekin,bohewellor ill born, is safer trom
the alcohol temptation than the boy who walks
these Pittsburg streets, A bov in Cmcinnatus
not so sheltered from the drink curse as ir lie
lived in Calcutta or Constantinople: one in
Boston is in more danger than if be lived in
Bombay. We are confronted not bv a theory
but by a condition. Why is the Mohommedar.
boy better prepared to resist tho drink tnan
the boy In .Massachusetts? Because his Bible
tho only one he knows, and be calls it tho
Koran teaches him that it is his solemn duty
to let alcohol alone. Ibis teaching has come
down from father to son; has been worked
Into the warp and woof of his character; has
boen engraved upon that childish memory
which is wax to receive and marble to retain.
CLIMATE NOT A FACTOR.
But you say that I do not take account ot
climate, race environment? But these have
not prevented the Eastern nations from falling
away into drink when it is pressed to their
lips by Christians long enough and with suf
ficient aid. or, per contra, millions of total ab
stainers have been made among our Anglo
Saxons when they have been specifically
trained to let strong drink alone, because to
use it was a sin against God and their own na
tures. , ...
"There is a tide in the affairs of men. which,
taken at the flood, leads on to fortune."
The floodtide is the flowing torrent of the
youthful soul; the determinative period of
mind is gelatinous, when an impression once
made is made more deeplvthan it can be again.
Silver workers say that when you can see your
face In the melted metal that is the time to
work. So it is with tho heart of childhood, in
that malleable state when it reflects your char
acter and teaching, then stamp with a firm,
true hand the white cross upon the soul; the
the royal habits of personal cleanliness of life,
with total abstinence from strong drink as
their basis. First of all the parents must do
this, bnt society and most of all the Sunday
schools is a foster parent to millions who are
worse than orphans.
The Church stands for prohibitory law. but
we shall never fully realize our hope until the
oncoming generation individually enacts a
prohibitory law. ...
This must be done in the legislation of each
brain, declared constitutional In the Supreme
Court of each judgment, and enforced by the
energies of each will that is what we have a
nrbt to expect as the outcome of the Sunday
school.
WANT TEMPERANCE TEACHING.
In view of facts like these we are not willing
to leave these priceless fortifications of the
child's character to haphazard builders, but
solemnly urge the Master Masons to make
them an integral part of all the working plans.
Wo are not willing to grade the
step of the Sunday school regiment
with Its mighty swing of conquest
to the slowest toot in the last battalion. We
are not willing to leave the defenceless little
one. with his mocking enemy of inheritance
and bis measureless temptations, legalized and
set along tho streets at tho mercy of the luke
warm superintendent or the indifferent teacher.
We want the orgamemetbods of the Sunday
school upon the Bide of temperance teaching.
Wo want a plan that puts the very vis inertia
of officer and teacher on the child's side, for if
the kev is set by your authority, the leBson in
dicated by the International Committee and
the lesson helps provided by the Sunday school
purveyors then, and not till then, is the chain
complete then and not till then is the lesson
gomg to be taucht
Whv should this cause be forever rowing up
stream? Nay, my comrades, let us as christian
workers compel the very current of the Sunday
school movement to help carry it forward to
victory. Here wo are with the machinery,
levers and wheels, cogs, belts and bands, all in
splendid condition: all that is asked is that
we shall gear on this temperance wheel and set
it spinning all round the w orld. We women
do not believe this teaching should await until
the arrest of thought concerning his duty and
opoortunity has come to every teacher. The
temperance lessons will furnish tbat arrest to
thousands of these kindly, but often chaotic
minds I mean chaotic so far as total absti
nence is concerned,
THEN AND NOW.
Nearly SO years ago I was a teacher in tho
Pittsburg Female College and had a class in a
Mission Sunday school, where we had to watch
as well as pray. But to those wild young
Ishmaelites of civilization I never said a word
upon the temperance question because I had
not sense enough to do so of my own accord,
and nobody ever told me to. Sixteen years
ago, in company with a band of crusading
women, I went on the floor of a saloon
on Market street, asking God to have
mercy on those who drank and sold,
and to teach us what to do. Ts-dayl come
to you pleading for an advance all along the
line ot our blessed Sunday school army, and
the utmost utilization of the International
Lesson Series for the building in of character
along the line of least resistance to temptation
m boyhood's life, and that line Is notoriously
well known to be the drink habit. The child
in the midst is also in the market place, and
tbey are bidding for him, the men of the saloon.
How like a requiem in many a mother's heart
rings their "Going going gone."
1 have argued the case of the boys, whose
temptations are so emphatic, but the training
of tie girls, soon to be the mothers of our
nation, the trainers of our children, the dis
pensers of its hospitality, while of
less apparent is of greater actnal
necessity, indeed. Both of these are but
parts of ono tremendous whole. When wo
went to the public school educators of the na
tion's youth some said: "Any true school is a
temperance training school; every teacher
whose heart is enlisted can bring true temper
ance into his teaching; any day in the j ear it he
is not enlisted requiring him to do so would
amount to very Utile." But now. when, out of
42 States all but 11 have the law so patiently
worked for by the W. C. T. TJ.. under the lead
ership of Mrs. Hunt, oureducators find that
when
TEMPERANCE TEACEING
is required, then and not till then normal
schools Introduce it into their course; teachers
become experts on the subject to the advan
tage of their own personal influence and habits
as wall as of their teaching; educational jour
nals furnish lesson helps; sidelights are
thrown upon the subject and the whole
attitude of the public school is changed
Some said: "We are too full already; have no
time for extras." But others answered, in
effect, as did the Superintendent of Public
Schools in a notable New England city: "If
there isn't time then shorten up some other
exercise, for this temperance teaching shall
have the right of way."
Nowadays the State gives to the child a tem
perance lesson In a secular way five times per
week as a result of the urgent demand of
church-going people, and I do not believe we
are going to refuse a relisionn reinforce
ment of the same four times a year in Sunday
school.
To resolute is well, to evolute is better.
Eighteen hundred aud eighty-seven witnessed
a grand enthusiasm. May 1&90 bottle this up
for use. Electricity is priceless, but oaly stored
up electricity can 'make the w heels go "round."
Twelve days hence 1 speak before the National
Educational Association, where it is claimed
that 20,000 delegates will be in attendance. Lot
mo carry the glad tidings that temperance
teaching Is enthroned in the Sunday schools as
well as in tho public schools of this great land
and of onr conslns in Canada.
On the week day a boy learns this fact of
nature: That the heart of a healthy man exer
cises an amount of force equal to lifting 125
tons in 21 hours, one foot for each ton, and that
if in the meantime he absorbs eight ounces of
alcohol, his heart must do an extia amount
of work equal to lifting 25 more
tons, one foot each. On Sunday be should
get this clear-cut, "Thus saltb nature."
clinched by a "Thus saith the Lord:" "Ho
that defileth the temple of God, him shall God
destroy, for the temple of Goil is holy, which
temple ye are." Thus taught, the boy sees
tbat this destruction is not out of vengeance,
bnt comes as
THE INEVITABLE SEQUENCE
of laws written in onr members for our highest
good. In these materialistic days we wish to
prove to the young people that God's Bible
laws always confirm and emphasize His natural
laws. If it Is of great advantage that in the pub
lic schools of the nation strong enphasis is laid
upon God's natural la.ws against the use of brain
poisons, can it be of less advantage to accentu
ate and specialize the teaching of His Bible laws
in Sunday school? A curious commentary
upon the practical value of our Sunday school)
it vfould be, to let the secularists outrun the
Sunday schools in ethical value along the line
of greatest temptation and least resistance in
the life of the average young American.
The public school must teach him theso les
sons that forewarn; the bunday school maj;
the public tcbool rnut do ihis five days in
every week; the Sunday school may one day in
seven, and that day holy unto the God who
can only be worshiped out of the perceptions
ot a clear brain and the lervor of a pure heart.
Making these lessons simply optional has not
worked well. Like certain other laws wot of,
it has been 'too local and too optional." Each
Sunday school decides for ItBelf ; the Sunday
school publishers have the review to provide
for and anything else coming on that day is
mortgaged to defeat. No publisher knows
what school will elect the review, what one the
mission, or wbat one the temperance lesson.
We plead for the carrying out of the will ex
pressed to .strongly at Louisville in 1SS4
the clear-cut four Sundays a year as a cer
tainty, and then as much more teaching Of the
nnmiitaai Individual intelligence and devo
tion may anggest, It is In Sunday, school that I
THE PltTSBIJRG DISPATCE
the cigarette habit should be fought and the
White Cross enthroned.
NOT A MOVABLE FEAST.
Because some do not wish to teach the les
son let us not make it a movable feast which
turns out animmovblo fast so often through
the teacher's total abstinence from it. Those
who leasdesire to give their scholars this in
struction are doubtless tboso who most need to
learn about temperance themselves, Then let
us make it as easy as -possible for them to
gravitate toward rather than climb up to the
temperance lesson by making it so fixed that
all the Sunday school papers shall find it to
tbeir interest to fnrnish first rate lessons.
This lesson regularly taught with the best
lesson helps furnished by export writers, will
educate the public sentiment that shall banish
the wine cup from society; separate the Gov
ernment from the llqoor crime and givens
prohibition with the officer behind the ordi
nance, the law enforcer back of the law. It
will stir up the church to demand the down
fall of rum upon the Conco; enlarge its heart
and pocket toward the blessed cause of foreign
missions and do mote to hasten the universal
reign of Christ than any other one thing that
tbii convention can ordain.
With the majesty of God's Book and the dig
nity of the church militant, what a power
these lessons will becomel They will bring
THE MASSES AND THE CLASSES
nearer together. The masses say our churches
are not practical; that wo are not in touch
with the every day sins and sorrows of human
ity but we know better and we will prove it by
keeping step with the reforms that Christ's
church alone makes possible. "But other in
terests will ask for special Sundays." Thev
may do so but surely will not claim to outrank
or measure up to this overmastering issue. The
recipe for cooking a hare is hero in point: First
catch your bare and you must catch your boy
with the saloon snatching for 4iim on every
band; you must keep the skylight of
his brain free from the cobwebs of alcohol
and nicotine or you will seek in vain
to keep him within sound of the good lessons
of the Sunday school concerning foreign mis
sions, kindness to animals and the unfoldment
of "the Christian year." Self-preservation is
the first law of nature; if the saloon steals away
your boy, where is the Sunday school? First
catch your hare.
It is not enough tbat the lesson is indicated
and may be taught In providing for nothing
beyond this; in falling to provide specific appli
cations of Scripture truth, we leave the young
and untaught at the mercy of every teacher's
whim, or ignorance, or want of training instead
of putting upon the teacher himself tho
panoplv not of knowledge alone, but of what
is hardly less important attractive
methods of presenting what he knows.
If you give us four temperace lessons in a year
that hinders nobody from bringing in the sub
ject as often as he wilL No denomination if
such there be unfriendly to these lessons, Deed
give them a temperance Interpretation. Our
forefathers did not, and surely
NO CHURCH CAN OBJECT
to Scripture passages, and if its Sunday school
publishers prefer to furnish a more general
commentary on the text they can do so. En
gland need not put tho words "Temperance
Lessons" at the bead of ber thirteenth Sunday
selections, but I judge by the temperance news
now coming to us, the Mother Country will not
be far behind. The United States are ready,
Canada is ready let the Americans head the
advance, they are used to the setting of key
notes. Falter who must, follow who darel
Once thefcientific teaching now required In
public school would have been worthless, for
Dr. Austie, with bis dictum, "alcohol a food,"
was its chief teacher and moderation was its
verdict. Now, after an added generation of
experiment. Dr. Benjamin Ward Richardson is
chief, and total abstinence the only safety is the
conclusion.
The development of Biblical teaching has
been along parallel lines. Fifty years ago the
clergy taught that alcoholio drinks were "a
good creature ot good to be received with
thanksgiving." and proved tbeir sincerity at
ordination dinners and pastoral visitations.
To-day the gospel precept "Be temperate in all
things," means to the Church of Christ, be
moderate in the use of all things good and
totally abstain from all things harmful, of
which alcoholic drinks are chief."
Total abstinence is in the Bible. It lives by
implication in every letter of the Golden Rule;
it stands by explication in the Pauline doctrine
that declares "It is good neither to cat meat
nor drink wine nor anything whereby thy
brother is offended. It is thereby the whole
philosophy of the gospel and thewholo trend
of the sermon on the mount.
A child's answer.
In one of our work meetings the question
was asked by Miss Anna Gordon in her speech,
"Why are saloons bad for this villager' A
hundred little folks were presont and many
hands were railed. "You may answer," said
Miss Gordon, turning to a pale-faced Doy of 12,
whereupon he said in a voice full of pathos,
"Saloons are bad for onr village because tbey
spoil the home." We learned later that he and
his mcther wore kicked out into a snowdrift
the night before by his father when drunk.
Two years aco I bad to speak before a com
mittee of the United States Senate on behalf
of our white ribboners' petition for prohibitory
law. Louis Schade, attorney for the Brewers'
Congress, spoke also, and based his argument
on "vested interests," claiming tbat the Gov
ernment was in duty bound to protect these.
When my time came to answer I pleaded for
the holv motherhood of America, who have
gone down into the valley of unutterable pain
and in the shadow of death with the dew of
eternity upon their foreheads: have passed the
sacred but terrible ordeal that gives to Ameri
ca her sons. By as much as the homo is better
than a distillers vat and the mother's heart
more precious than a brewer's cask; by tbat
much is the temperance reform bound to be
victorious.
And so I am not thinking wholly of this
blessed throng with its kind hearts. These
faces fade from view and I behold the children
in ten thousand homes: the little soldiers newly
mustered in the army of temptation and sin:tbe
boys to whom hard hands hold out mugs of
beer and poison cigarettes and greasy packs of
cards. I see them snared and trapped by
the legalized temptations of the streets.
Bnt these have been to Sunday school, where
sacred standards are set up, where life is
squared to laws divine. If they had come to
my clas "ip 1800 and ever so few" they would
bave learned, perchance, a theory concerning
the species of sheep on which grew the horns, at
the blowing of which Jencbo fell down or an
hypothesis relative to the ingredients of Esau's
mess of pottage and they would most assuredlv
bave been taught to bound the map of Syria.
Should they come now, and if I had a class who
are forever "on the wing," I'd try to teach them
to bound the map of character.
WOMAN IN THE VAN.
My comrades in Christ's Holy War, it is
woman who have given the costliest hostages
to fortune; out into tho battle of life they have
sent their best beloved, with snares that bave
been legalized, and set along the streets. Be
yond the arms that have held them long their
boys have gone forever.
At Pompeii we saw among the moulds of
human figures found beneath the ruins
a little child tnat bis mother had tried to save,
but there be lay just neyond ber reach, and for
centuries ber poor prostrated form bad been
there with stretched out aims and fingers still
showing her agony by their futile curves for
the" child was Just beyond her power to grasp.
How often lsee them as I study the pitiful
pavements of our towns and cities mothers
tender and trne. whose sons forevermore are
just beyond their reach.
Bnt not beyond yours perhaps; not beyond the
united efforts of the Church of Christ. In
Edinboro one of those old eight or ten-story
houses had fallen, and in the ruins the occn-
Sants were burled. Wnen the workmen who
ad wrought earnestly and long ceased tbeir
efforts, believing that all were lost, tbey heard
a feeble voice calling: "Heave away, there; not
dead yetl" It is buried under the degredation
of centuries; poor old humanity, with its pain
and passion, and the Infinite pathos of its earth
ly estate, but, as the Christian worker bends to
bis heavenly task of rescue, evermore comes
the cry from childhood's lips: "Heave away,
there; we're not dead!"
Fireworks! Fireworks!
All the novelties in this line, consisting
in part of a choice selection of salute
rockets, cascade rockets, meteor rockets,"
bomb rockets, screamer rockets', phantom
rockets, calliope rockets, electric shower
rockets, Jewell jet rockets, royal salute
rockets, verticle wheels, floral shells, devil
among the tailors, dragon nests, whistling
jacks, roman candles, balloons, crackers,
torpedoes, mines, floral bomb shells, saucis
sions, triangles, red fire, torches, etc., etc.,
etc. Positively no advance in prices with
US. JAMES V. GROVE.
WFS
66, 68, 70 Fifth ave.
Lace curtains The low prices have
greatly reduced the stock in this depart
ment. Come at once for a bargain.
TTSSU, Hugus & KACKE.
"We are closing up the remains of several
fine cases of fine French dress goods, in
stripes goods that sold at t and SI 25.
Price to close, 50c a yard.
Campbell & Dick.
Ladies' Wnltta nnd London Shirt.
A new line of these popular goods in
stripes and dots jnst opaned.
WXASSa KOSENBAUM & Co,
PITTSBURG, SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1890.
THEY LIKE OUR CITY.
Delegates to the Sunday School Con
vention Are Unanimous In
THEIR PRAISE OP THE GAS CITY.
Such Hospitality Have They Met Here as
They Never Experienced.
PITTSBURG SDEPBISED MOST OP THEM
The church people of Pittsburg may well
feel proud of their manner of entertaining
the 700 and more delegates who came from
near and far to attend the great Inter
national Sunday School Convention. They
opened their houses and their hearts, and
gave freely of their bounties to the visitors.
"What is most grateful to Pittsburg ears is
not their own agreement that they have
done well, bnt the unanimous thanks of the
delegates and their one voice that such hos
pitable treatment they never did receive
anywhere else. The visitors speak in the
highest words of their welcome, and with
surprise of the greatness and enterprise of
this city. Many of them say that they had
no notion that Pittsburg was so large a
place. They thought it was a foundry
town, all black and grimy, with the people
living mostly in dingy frame houses in long
rows all alike.
City Controller Morrow, the Chairman of
the local Executive Committee, said yester
day to a reporter for The Dispatch:
"Many of the delegates have come to me to
thank me for what our people have done for
them, and they have taken occasion to ex
press their admiration for Pittsburg and its
business activity. This convention will do
us good in a business as well as in a relig
ious way. A majority of these delegates are
laymen. The ministers are greatly in the
minority.
GOOD rOB BUSINESS.
"There are business men here from all
parts of the land, men of important inter
ests, who had never visited Pittsburg, It
is a good thing for them to come here and
see what we are and what we can do. One
gentleman whom I met is from South Caro
lina. He has had business relations with
Pittsburg for many years, but he never was
here. He told mo that he was greatly sur
prised to see what a large and handsome
city this is. He thought it was a much
smaller town, full of mills but not a great
deal more. I met also a delegate from Ala
bama, who had been in Pittsburg 20 years
ago. He said he thought he knew the city,
but he did not He could not recognize
anything except the rivers, and said that he
was greatly astounded at the growth. These
are just like other talks that I bave had
with the visitors, and we are all very much
pleased over the good impression we have
made."
It is true that many of the delegates have
been so busy with the three sessions a day
that they have had no time to see more of
the twin cities than what passed before
their eyes as they rode or walked from their
lodging place after breaklast; but others
have seen such hints of interesting sights
hereabouts that they have taken the time to
go around a little, while still others have
made up their minds to linger here awhile,
now tbat the convention is over, and be
sight-seers for a few days.
There is not much praisefor the weather,
except as it was yesterday, and few of the
visitors are able to speak well of the acoustic
qualities of Mechanical Hall.
A TRIP TO BESSEMER.
Yesterday quite a large party of visitors
vent, under the guidance of William F.
Maxon, Secretary of the Local Executive
Committee, to Bessemer, where they made a
trip of inspection throngb the Edgar Thom
son Steel Works. There were in the party,
among others, Judge and Mrs. Bamfield, of
Bhode Island; Mr. and Mrs. Hough, of
Michigan; E. P. Searle, of Tennessee; A.
H. Gleason, Miss Lucy Wheelock, Miss
Bertha Vella, Mrs. W, If. Hartshorn, Mr.
Durdmer, Dr. Dnnning and wife, Mr.
Armstrong and Mr. Saunderson, of Massa
chusetts; H. G. Talcott, of Connecticut, and
Mr. and Mrs. Mackie, of Louisiana. All
members of the party, tired and footsore
with the walking over cinders, were de
lighted with the visit and with tho gigantic
and wonderful workings they saw.
The opinions of many delegates, chosen
partly for their representative character and
partly at random, have been solicited and
are herewith given:
Mr. B. E. Jacobs, of Chicago, the Chair
man of the Executive Committee, said:
"Pittsburg has exerted herself to give us
great pleasure, and has succeeded wonder
fully well. I cannot say that this conven
tion and the manner in which it has been
conducted surpassed the one held in To
ronto, but there never has been any equal to
it in the United States. Chicago is obliged
to take off her hat to Pittsburg, but that she
is ever ready to do, as she has a great ad
miration ior the 'Smoky City.' Indeed,
Pittsburg stands higher in the estimation of
the Chicago business people than many
cities twice its size.
NEVER BETTEE REPORTED.
"Oh, yes, another thing I wish to say is,
that we never have had better press reports
than have been given us here. It is a mat
ter of universal comment among the Ex
ecutive Committee." With a "Now you
smooth this np in writing it," Mr. Jacobs,
who without doubt is the best-known man
among the Sunday school workers of the
United States, was carried off by several
who wanted him to visit either the Carnegie
Library, the Edgar Thomson Steel Works
or the Westinghouse electric building.
William Beynolds, of Peoria, 111., the
general organizer of the International
Union, is, alter Mr. Jacobs, the most famil
iarly known. He is a native of Pennsyl
vania, having had the good fortune to look
at the light and cry for the first time down
near Chambersburg. Mr. Beynolds said:
"I never knew the delegates so well satis
fied. I have been at all the conventions,
and never saw snch enthusiasm. They are
united in praise of their treatment. I have
known Pittsburg well for many years, and
I worked to bring the convention here. I
knew what the people here could do."
Bev. Dr. John Potts, oi Toronto, Ont., is
a leader from the Dominion. He is a
giant in body as well as in mind. He said:
"We have been delighted. There is only
one feeling among the friends from Canada
of the extraordinary kindness of the people
in Pittsburg aud our reception by the Amer
ican delegates, and I voice the sentiment of
the whole Canadian delegation in that, I
believe that this international Sunday
school work is calculated to keep the two
countries in the most friendly relations. I
have been around the city somewhat, and
have seen your splendid residences. I was
not able to look into any of the manufactur
ing interests, but I see that 'Pittsburg is a
city of much greater magnitude than I sup
posed. It seems to be a city of great
wealth."
ABUNDANT HOSPITALITY.
A. Henderson, a delegate from Wood
stock, N. B., said: "We could not feel any
better over your treatment. I have gone
through your city quite a little. Your
hospitality has been abundant We could
not ask any more; in fact, we have received
probably more than we deserved. You have
a busy town. I have been to some of the
places of interest, and I wish I only had
time to stay here awhile."
Lewis.C. Peak, Chairman of the Toronto
delegation, said the Canadian delegates
were delighted with the way they had been
received in Pittsburg, and spoke particu
larly regarding the efforts of the ladies in
the cafe, which were so gratifying and
pleasing to the members of the convention.
He said he could not form much of an idea
of the beauties of the city from the path
they trod going to the Exposition
building from their places of entertainment.
H. W. Hartshorn, Chairman of the Bos
ton delegation, said: "The business activ
ity and the iron industry of Pittsburg im
presses a stranger very forcibly as soon as
he arrives in the city. With what I have
seen of the city I am more than pleased.
The hospitality of the people equals, if not
exceeds, anything I have ever seen. The
ladies deserve any amount of praise for
their part or the entertainment programme,
and have made a host of warm friends
among tbe delegates by their kind atten
tions and the manner in which they provid
ed for their wants in the Exposition cafe,
as well as at tbeir homes. But
I am surprised that the city does
not possess a hall, comfortable, commodious
and well ventilated, with good acoustic
properties, wherein a convention could be
held with a greater degree of comfort than
in this building. Pittsburg i3 wealthy
enough and has numerous philanthrophists.
Whv is she so negligent regarding a public
hall?"
BEAUTIES OP TnE CITY.
Of the beauties of Pittsburg Mr. Harts
horn said his wife could speak with more
knowledge, akshe had improved her oppor
tunities to ascend Mt. Washington, visit
the East End and enjoy many delightful
drives. Mr. Hartshorn, who is the only
child of W. S. Ford, the editor of the
Youth's Companion, is a talented, bright,
well-educated little woman, and discoursed
delightfully upon the natural scenery in
which Pittsbuig abounded; it3 picturesque
location at the juncture of the rivers, and
its beautiful residences with their spacious
lawns. The view from Mt. Washington was
a pleasant surprise to the lady, who pro
nounced it one of the prettiest she had ever
seen, and her travels have been extensive.
Bev. M. B. Drury, associate editor of the
Dayton, O., Telescope, said: "Pleased
with our reception? I should say I was.
Nothing has been left for us to reasonably
desire. Of the six conventions we have
held, this has been, so far as I can read, the
most agreeable."
Mrs. Walter Parker, of Alston, Col.,
said: "Our reception has been perfect.
Pittsburg ladies have all along proved tbat
they ran be as hospitable as they are amia
ble, which is saying a great deal."
Bev. J. G. Brown, of South Fork, Pa.,
remarked that being a Penusylvanian he
would be proud of Pittsburg anyhow, but
that the reception tendered to the delegates
had far surpassed his brightest expectations.
"The Ladies' Beception Committee," he re
marked, "have far exceeded wbat was
necessary in the .way of hospitality and
politeness. I have talked to far Western
and far Eastern delegates, and never heard
tbe shadow ot a complaint, but rather the
greatest praise of Pittsburg's mode oi re
ception" LOUD IN LAUDATION.
Mr. George W. Jones, of Annaville,
Cal., was also loud in laudation of Pitts
burg and its hostesses. He repeated Bev.
Mr. Drury's remark that the convention of
'90 was tbe pleasantest so far.
W. A. Wilson, private secretary to Mr.
Jacobs, when asked what he thought of
Pittsburg ejaculated the one word, "Hot,"
while he industriously wiped the perspira
tion from bis face; but he continued: "We
are delighted with the way we have been
treated by the local people. Tbe arrange
ments for our comfort have been 'such as to
call forth the most complimentary comments
from all the delegates. We were thoroughly
familiar with the city before we arrived
here through maps and plans supplied us
by the local committee, but there is one
thing I never would become accustomed to,
aud that is the freight trains on Liberty
street They are as bad as being 'bridged'
in Chicago."
D. B. Wolfe, Chairman of the St. Louis
delegation, spoke of the convention as being
a large, harmonious and efficient one, and
eulogized the people for their hospitality
and tbe kind attentions they bestowed upon
the visiting delegates. Oi the city, he said:
"Pittsburg is a point of which not only
Pennsylvania but the whole 'country can
justly be proud. I have bad the pleasure
of transacting business with many of her
leading men for years, and can bear testi
mony to their correct methods and their un
tiring energy."
DELIGHTED VITH ALL.
William Bandolph, of St Louis, a mem
ber ot the cotton bag manufacturing firm ot
H. & L. Chase, said: "I regret exceedingly
that I have not had time to see much of the
city. I never was here belore, and have
been delighted with the appearance of things
everywhere. The hospitatity shown us has
been delightful in its Christian spirit The
ladies bare supplied every needed want so
openly and so cheerfully. The convention
itself has been one of the best I ever at
tended in its spirit and the character of its
delegates."
N. D. Thurmond, of Fulton, Mo., said:
"The comment made by the Missouri dele
gation has been universally in the highest
praise of Pittsburg hospitality. We do not
:eel that we could have been treated more
royally anywhere else.
Bev. Isaac B. Self, of Denver, State
Organizer for Colorado, said: "I am very
well satisfied with tbe results of tbe con
vention. The people of Pittsburg have en
tertained us splendidly. I have had no
time yet to see the city, but I will stay until
Monday and look around." Bev. Mr. Self
will preach to-morrow evening in the Cum
berland Presbyterian Church on Wylie
avenue.
ME. SEAELE SURPRISED.
"I was intensely surprised when I stepped
off the train and saw Pittsburg in all her
beauty," said Mr. E. P. Searle, of Tennes
see. "In our part of the country there is a
prevailing opinion that Pittsburg is stuck
between two rivers and turns out some iron.
People asked why the Sunday school con
vention was to be held in that town instead
of a big city. But it is safe to say tbat the
delegates would not have changed the place
now if they could. I am well satisfied with
your city. Numerous expressions of pleas
ure from many have come to my ears.
Pittsburg seems to be everlastingly
on the go, and. onr convention must have
caught some of the dash and spirit of the
people here, for we have had a most suc
cessful meeting. Your natural gas system
is grand. It would take me a year to tell
all the nice points I like about Pittsburg."
THEIR BEST RECEPTION.
Bev. Walter Gay, of the Mt Vernon
Colored Baptist Church, of Durham, N. C,
Baid: "This is the best reception I ever
had. ' The colored delegates are highly
pleased with their reception. We expected
to be treated as we have been in the Squth,
put in the kitchen or somewhere like that,
but we find things very different What I
have seen of your city is splendid. I did
not expect to find as large a city. We be
lieve that this convention will do much to
help our people in thb South. I was glad
to see that resolution concerning a worker
among our people passed as it was. We
did not want this convention to raise the
color line."
Of the 13 delegates here from North Caro
lina, 7 were colored men.
J. B. Eads, President ot the Ashland
Collegiate Institute of Kentucky, said:
"We have been treated most hospitably,
everything has gone smoothly. We have
never seen a people who seem to have put
themselves to more pains to make us all
comfortable. I think I must stay awhile
and see the city. I have seen old Fort Du
quesne and have looked into some of the
stores, and am anxious to see some of the
works. The city is large and very solid, and
there is more" elegance than I had sup
posed." James W. Grove,
Fifth ave., can show you the largest line of
trunks, hand bags, sample cases, traveling
sets,dress suit cases, collar and cuff boxes,
etc, etc., to be found in the city. Prices al
ways the lowest. wfs
French satines Koechlins& Schuerer's,
Bott's best styles and finest qualities, 20o a
yard. HUGUS & HACKS.
xxssu
TMM&B RIM F
Alive or dead there is no other way. Native
Proverb.
There is, as the conjurers say, no decep
tion about this tale. Jukes by accident
stumbled upon a village that is well known
to exist, though be is the only Englishman
who has been there. A somewhat similar
institution used to flourish on the outskirts
of Calcutta, and there is a story that if you
go into the heart of Bikanir, which Is in the
heart of the Great Indian D&ert, yon shall
come across not a village, but a town, where
the dead who did not die but may not live
established their headquarters.
And, since it is perfectly trne that in the
same desert is a wonderful city where all the
rich money lenders retreat after they have
made their fortunes (fortunes so vast that
the owners cannot trust even the strong hand
of tbe government to protect them, but take
refuge in the waterless Bands), and drive
sumptuous C-spriug barouches, and buy
beautiful girls and deonrate tbeir palaces
with gold and ivory and Minton tiles aud
mother-o'-pearl, I do not see why Juke's tale
should not be true.
He is a civil engineer, with a head for
plans and distances and things of that kind,
and he certainly would not take the trouble
to invent imaginary traps. He could earn
more by doing his legitimate work. He
never varies the tale in the telling, -and
grows very hot and indignant when he
thinks of the disrespectful treatment he re
ceived. He wrote this quite straightfor
wardly at first, but he has since touched it
np in places and Introduced moral reflec
tions, thus:
2IR. JTJKES BE0IN3.
In the beginning it all arose from a slight
attack of fever. My work necessitated my
being in camp lor some months between
Pakpattan and Mubarakpur a desolate,
sandy stretch of country, as everyone who
has bad the misfortune to go there may
know. My coolies were neither more nor
less exasperating than other gangs, and my
work demanded sufficient attention to keep
me from moping had I been inclined to so
unmanly a weakness.
On the 23d December, 1884, 1 felt a little
feverish. There was a full moon at the time,
and, in consequence, every dog near my tent
was baying it. The brutes assembled in
twos and threes nnd drove me frantic A
days previously I had shotone loud mouthed
singer and suspended his carcass in terrorem
about 50 yards from my tent door. But
his friends fell upon, fought for and ulti
mately devoured the body, and, as it seemed
to me, sang tbeir hymns of thanksgiving
afterward with renewed energy.
The light headedness which accompanies
fever acts differently upon different men.
Mv irritation gave way after a short time to
a fixed determination to slaughter one huge
black and white beast who had been lore
most in song and first in flight throughout
the evening. Thanks to a shaking and a
giddy head I had already missed him twice
with both barrels of my shotgun, when it
struck me that the best plan would be to
ride him down in the open and finish him
off with a hog spear. This, of course, was
merely the semi-delirious notion ot a fever
patient, hut I remember that it struck me
at the time as being eminently practical and
feasible.
THE START.
I therefore ordered my groom to saddle
Pornic and bring bim round quietly to the
rear of my tent When the pony was ready,
I stood at bis head prepared to mount and
dash out as sooo as the dog should again lift
up his voice. Pornic, by the way, had not
been out of his pickets tor a couple or days;
the night air was crisp and chilly, and I
was armed with a specially long and sharp
pair of persuaders with which I had been
rousing a sluggish cob that afternoon. You
will easily believe, then, that when he was
let go he went quickly.
In one moment, for the brute bolted as
straight as a die, the tent was left far be
hind, and we were flying over the smooth,
sandy soil at racing speed. In another we
had passed the wretched dog, and I had
almost forgotten wbyit was that I had taken
horse and hog spear.
The delirium ot fever and the excitement
of rapid motion through the air must have
taken away the remnant of my senses. I
have a faint recollection of standing upright
in my stirrups and of brandishing my hog
spear at the great white moon that looked
down so calmly on my mad gallop, and of
shouting challenges to the camel thorn
bushes as they whizzed past Once or twice,
I believe, I swayed forward on Pornic's
neck, and literally bung on my spurs, as the
marks next morning showed.
The wretched beast went forward lice a
thing possessed over what seemed to be a
limitless expanse of moonlit sand. Next, I
remember, the ground rose suddenly in front
of us, and as we topped the ascent I saw the
waters of the Sutlej shining like a silver bar
below. Then Pornic blundered heavily on
his nose and we rolled together down some
unseen slope.
I must have lost consciousness, for when I
recovered I was lying on my stomach in a
heap of soft white sand, and the dawn was
beginning to break dimly over the edge of
the slope down which I had fallen. As the
light grew stronger I saw that I was at the
bottom of a horseshoe shaped crater of sand,
opening on one side directly on to the shoals
of tbe Sutlej. My fever bad altogether left
me, and, with the exception of a slight dizzi
ness in the head, I felt no bad effects from
the fall over night
IN THE CRATER.
Pornic, who was standing a few yards
away, was naturallv a good deal exhausted,
but had not hurt hfm self in the least His
saddle, a favorite polo one, was much
knocked about, and had been twisted under
his belly. It took me some time to put him
to rights, and in tbe meantime I had ample
opportunities of observing the spot into
which I bad so foolishly dropped.
At the risk of being considered tedious I
must describe it at length, inasmuch as an
accurate meutal picture of its peculiarities
will be of assistance in enabling the reader
to understand what follows.
Imogine, then, as I have said before, a
horseshoe-shaped crater of sand with steeply
graded walls about 35 feet high. (The
slope, I fancy, must have been about 650.)
This crater enclosed a level piece of ground
about SO yards long by 30 at its broadest
part, with a rude well in the center.
Bound the bottom of the crater, about
three feet from the level of the ground
proper, ran a series of 83 semi-circular,
ovoid, square and multilateral boles, all
about three feet at the mouth. Each hole
on inspection showed that it was carefully
shored internally with driftwood and bam
boos, and over the mouth a wooden drip
board projected, like a peak of a jockey's
cap, for two ieet
No sign of life was visible in these tiin
nels, but a most sickening stench pervaded
tbe entire amphitheater a stench fouler
than any which my wanderings in Indian
villages have introduced me to.
Having remounted Pornic, who was as
anxious as I to get back to camp, I rode
round the base ot the horseshoe to find some
place whence an exit would be practicable.
The inhabitants, whoever they might be, had
not thought fit to put in an appearance, so I
was left to my own devices.
My first attempt to "rush." Pornlo np thaj
BY fjlVrf(P niPUMQrC
steen sandbanks showed me that Ibad fallen
into a trap exactly on the same model as
that which tbe ant lion sets for its prey. At
each step the shifting sand poured down
from above in tons, and rattled on the drip
boards of the holes like small shot. A
couple of ineffectual charges sent ns both
rolling down to the bottom half choked
with the torrents of sand, and I was con
strained to turn my attention to the river
bank.
CAUGHT IN A TRAP.
Here everything seemed ea3y enough.
The sand hills ran down to the river edge,
it is true, but there were plenty of shallows
across which I could eallop Pornic and find
my wav back to terra firma by turning sharp
ly to the right or to the left As I led Por
nie over the sands I was startled by the
faint poD of a rifle across the river, and at
the same moment a bullet dropped with a
sharp "whli" e!oie to Pornic's head.
There was no mistaking the nature of the
mi:l!e a regulation Martini-Henri "pick
et." About five hundred yards away a
country boat was anchored in midstream,
and a jet of smoke drifting away from its
bows in the still morning air showed me
whence the delicate attention bad come.
Was ever a respectable gentleman in snch
an impasse? The treacherous sand slope al
lowed no escape from a spot which I visited
most involuntarily, and a promenade on the
river frontage was the signal for a
bombardment from some insane native in a
boat I'm afraid that I lost my temper very
much indeed.
Another bullet reminded me that I had
better save my breath to cool my porridge:
and I retreated hastily up the sands and
back to the horseshoe, where I saw tbat the
noise of the rifle had drawn 65 human be
ings from the badger holes which I had up
till that point supposed to be untenanted.
I found myself in the midst of a crowd of
spectators about 10 men, 20 women and 1
child who could not have been more than 5
years old.
They were all scantily clothed in that
salmon colored cloth which one associates
with Hindu mendicants, and at first sight
gave me the impression of a band of loath-
THE LEAP INTO
some fakirs. Tbe filth and repulsiveness of
tbe assembly were beyond all description,
aud I shuddered to think what their life in
the badger holes must be
A EUDE BECEPTION.
Even in these days, when local self-government
has destroyed the greater part of a
native's respect for a Sahib, I have been
accustomed to a certain amount of civility
from my inferiors, and on approaching the
crowd naturally expected that there would
be some recognition of my presence. As a
matter of fact there was, but it was by no
means what I had looked for.
The ragged crowd actually laughed at me.
Such laughter I hope I may never
hear again. They cackled, yelled,
whistled and howled as I walked into their
midst, some of them literally throwing"
themselves down on the gtound in convul
sions of nnboly mirth. In a momeqt I let
go Pornic's head, and, irritated beyond ex
pression at the morning's adventure, com
menced cuffing those nearest to me with all
tbe lorce I could.
The wretches dropped under my blows
like ninepins, and the laughter gave way to
wails for mercy, while those yet untouched
clasped me around tbe knees, imptoring me
in all sorts of uncouth tongues to spare
them.
In the tumult, and just when I was feel
ing very much ashamed of myself for
having thus easily given way to my temper,
a thin, high voice murmured in English
from behind my shoulder: "Sahib! Sahib!
Do you not know me? Sahib, it is Gunga
Diss, tbe telegraph master."
I spun around quickly and faced the
speaker.
Gunga Dass (I have, of course, no hesita
tion in mentioning the man's real name) I
had known lour years before as a Deccanee
Brahmin lent by the Punjab Government to
one of the Khalsia States. He was in
charge of a branch telegraph office there,
and when I had last met bim was a jovial,
full-stomached, portly Government servant
with a marvelous capacity lor making bad
puns in English a peculiarity which made
me remember bim long after I bad lorzotten
his services to me in his official capacity.
It is seldom that a Hindu makes English
puns.
GUNGA DASS "WAS CHANGED.
Now, however, the man was changed
beyond all recognition. Caste mark, stom
ach, slate colored continuations and unc
tuous speech were all gone. I looked at a
withered skeleton, turbanless and almost
naked, with long matted hair and deep-set
codfish eyes. But for a crescent-shaped scar
on the left cheek the result of an accident
for which I was responsible I should never
have known him. But it was indubitably
Gunga Dass, and for this I was thankful
an English speaking native who might at
least tell me the meaning of all that I had
gone through tbat day.
The crowd retreated to some distance as I
turned toward the miserable figure and
ordered him to show me some method of
escaping from the crater. He held a freshly
plucked crow in his hand, and in reply to
my question climbed slowly on a platform
of sand which ran in front of the holes,
aud commenced lighting a fire there in
silence.
Dried bents, sand poppies and driftwood
burn quickly, and I derived much consola
tion from the fact that he lit them with an
ordinary sulphur match, "When they w ere I
. -
PAGES 9 TO 12.
I
In a bright glow, and the crow was neatly
spitted in front thereof, Gunga Dass began
without a word of preamble:
"There are only two kinds of men, sar
the alive and the dead. When you are
dead you are dead, but when you are alive
you live;" (Here the crow demanded his
atteution for an instant, as it twirled before
the fire in danger of being burned to a cin
der.) "If you die at home, and do not die
when you come to the ghat to be burned,
you come here."
The nature of the reeking village was
made plain now, and all that I had known
r read of the grotesque and the horrible
paled before the fact just communicated by
the ex-Brahmin. Sixteen years ago, when
I first landed in Bombay, I had been told by
a wandering Armenian of tbe existence
somewhere in India of a place to which
such Hindus as had the misfortune to re
cover from trance or catalepsy were con
veyed and kept, and I recollect laughing
heartily at what I was then pleased to con
sider a traveler's tale.
Sitting at the bottom of the sand trap the
memory of Watson's Hotel, with its swing
ing punkahs, white robed attendants and
the sallow laced Armenian rose up in my
mind as vividly as a photograph and I
burst into a loud fit of laughter. The con
trast was too absurd!
GUNGA DASS' STORY.
Gunga Dass, as he bent over the unclean,
bird, watched me curiously. Hindus sel
dom laugh, and his surroundings were not
such as to move Gunga Dass to any undue
excess of hilarity. He removed the crow
solemnly from the wooden spit and as sol
emnly devoured it Then he continued his
story, which I give in his own words:
"In epidemics of the cholera you are car
ried to be burnt almost before you are dead.
When you come to the riverside the cold air,
perhaps, makes you alive, and then if yon
are only little alive, mud is put on your
nose and mouth and you die conclusively.
If you are rather more alive, more mud is
put; but if you are too lively they let yon
go and take you away.
"I was too lively, and made protestation
with anger against the indignities that tbey
endeavored to press upon me. In those
davs I was Brahmin and proud man. Now
I am dead man and eat" here he eyed the
well gnawed breast bone with the first sign
of emotion that I had seen in him since we
met "crows and other things. They took
me from my sheets when they saw that X
was too lively and gave me medicines for
one week, and I survived successfully. Then
they sent me by rail from my place to Okara
station, with a man to take care of me, and
at Okara station we met two other men and
they conducted we three on camels, in the
nicht, from Otcara station to this place, and
they propelled me from the top to the
bottom, and the other two succeeded, and I
have been here ever since two and a half
years. Once I was Brahmin and proud
man, and now I eat crows."
"There is no way of getting out?"
"Noni of what kind at all. When I first
THE CRATER.
came I made experiments frequently, and
all the others also, but we have always suc
cumbed to the sand which is precipitated
upon our heads."
"But surely," I broke in at this point,
''the river front is open, and it is worth
while dodging the bullets, while at night "
MAKES HIM LAUGH.
lhad already matured a rough plan of es
cape, which a natural instinct of selfishness
forbade me sharing with Gunga Dass. He,
however, divined my unspoken thought al
most as soon as it was formed, and to my in
tense astonishment gave vent to a long,, low
chuckle of derision the laughter, be it un
derstood, of a superior or at Jeast of an
equal.
"You will not" he had dropped the sir
completely after bis opening sentence
make any escape that way. But you can
try. 1 have tried. Once only."
The sensation of nameless terror and ab
ject fear which I had in vain attempted to
strive against overmastered me completely.
My long fast it was now close upon" 10
o'clock, and I had eaten nothing since tiffin
on the previous day combined with the
violent and unnatural agitation of the ride
bad exbansted me, and 1 verily believe that
for a few minutes I acted as one mad. Z
hurled myself against the pitiless sand
slope. I ran round the base of the crater,
blaspheming and praying by turns. I
crawled out among tbe sedges of the river
front, only to be driven back each time in
an agony of nervous dread by the rifle bul
lets which cut up the sand round me for I
dared not lace the death of a mad dog
among that hideous crowd and finally fell,
spent and raving, at the curb of tbe well.
No one had taken the slightest notice of
an exhibition which makes me blush hotly
even when I think of it now.
Two or three men trod on my panting1
as they drew water, but they were evidently
used to this sort of thing, and bad no time
to waste upon me. The situation was hu
miliating. Gunga Dais, indeed, when ha
had banked the embers of his fire with sand,
was at some pains to throw half a cupful of
ietid water over my bead, an attention for
which I could have fallen on my knees and
thanked him, but he was laughing all the
while in the same mirthless, wheezy key
that greeted me on my first attempt to force
shoals. And so, in a semi-comatose cocdi- .
tion, I lay till noon.
A 'WRETCHED 2IEAL.
Then, being only a man after all, I felt
hungry, and intimated as much to Gunga
Dass, whom I had begun to regard as my
natural protector. Following the impulse
of the outer world when dealing with na
tives I put my hand into my pocket and
drew out four annas. The absurdity of the
gift struck me at once and I was about to
replace the money:
Gunga Dass, however, was of a different
opinion. "Give me the money," said he:
"all you bave, or I will get help and we will
kill you!" All this as if it were the most
natural thing in the world.
A Briton's first impulse, I believe, ii la
guard tbe contents of his pockets; but a mo-
ment's reflection convinced me of the fu
tility of differing with the one man who had.
it in his power to make me comfortable, and
with hose help it was possible that I might
eventually escape irom the crater. I gave
him all the money in my possession, Km,
v-o-onmv rupees, eignt annas ana nv
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