Mr,. m v BEACHING THE POOR, f Commander Booth Tells How His Army Distributes Its Charities. I "NOT A PENNY WASTED And of 5150 Entrusted to It $145 ' Would Go for the Good. MEAXS OF DETECTING FRAUD. The Advantage of Tersonal Yisits to the Abodes of Fqualor. SEW IDEAS FOR CHRISTMAS GITIKG TKHTIS FOB TBI DISrATCH.1 If I had $150 for Christmas charity what irould be the best war to-give it by per sonal distribution cr through the aid of a mission? A rich man said to me: "I -would give enough to do some good down in the slums If I knew half of it, would reach the deserving poor. Charity ought to be made more accessible and then your dollars will pour in." I admit that there Is some truth in this but I claim that there is a mission whose officers receive only SI a week, and whose girls, dressed in slum uniform, can stop a street fight and walk alone into the worst dens of our Northern and "Western cities. It is through these girls, who have won the confidence of slumdom, that rich men's charity may reach tl e people who de serve it with the waste of less than 1 per cent. For example, $10 given to an impostor or an inebriate, who will immediately spend it in drink, or the same amount spent on levr clothing for the children ot parents who will, within half an hour, have pawned it, does more harm in the increase of vice and pauperism than would altogether with holding the amount. Generous Band Versus Generous Heart. Thousands of dollars are given annually in our large centers which are productive of results that amount to little more than a bagatelle so far as efficient benefits are con cerned, though often productive of ir remediable harm, and this because the good such money would hare effected falls short of reaching those in real poverty and need ins help. The donors of such large gifts would be wonderfully enlighteped if they would take the trouble of following up the gold and silver they have seat before them, and finding out how far its influence had penetrated. Strange that so many should be perfectly satisfied with having given the money with out troubling themselves as to its direct purpose or usefulness! It is as though some laid aside a certain percentage and said, "This I will give away to aopease my conscience. The giving is just as praiseworthy to me, the glory just as great, so long as I give, whether it be carelessly fiung from a generous hand or carefully given from a generous heart. " Let us then be careful to what eKd we give our monev. It is not for me to say that $150 would be best spent in the Salvation Armr. That would appear as though I werl underrating other institutions, and this is furthest from ray intention, but I may, without tear of egotism, state that there is no organization known to me, after traveling round the world, that so actually and systematically nakei as much of the" funds given to it as does the Salvation Army. Two Special Branches or Charity. Particularly is this so in connection with Two of Vie Worker. two branches of work which come most closely into touch with the greatest need, in which, I believe, all knowing any thing ot our missionary enterprise are especially interested viz., the "Food and Shelter" and "Slum" brigades. I can say this confidently, because during the past 12 months the officers in connection with one New. York shelter brigade alone have found employment for 654 men, have provided beds for 14.9L'6 men, besides pro viding meals lor nearly 24,000 men "and women. Turning to those engaged in the very heart ot slumdom in New York alone our women during the past year have visited no less than 28,690 families; they have en tered with their War Crys and consecrated influence 16,659 saloon: and 1,340 places ot disrepute, and have personally dealt with 39,845 persons on the streets and in places of squalor and vice. The energetic and self-sacrificing women have set up and stitched 6,497 garments and have received into their patient care and constant and loving watchfulness 6,384 babes, that their overburdened fathers and mothers might have a chance of gaining some livelihood. They Enter the Lowest Diies. But figures would only leave my readers with the tale half told, for no words within our reach could explain the heroic and merciful eflorts of these women in sitting up with the sick through the long hours of the night, in washing filthy bodies and in caring for the weak and dying. ' Now, it will be at once apparent that as the officers engaged in this Savior-like mis sion enter the lowest dives and the most vicious abodes themselves, daily and nightly, on their errands of mercv, they are as a natural sequence the most likely to know who are really needing help and deserving. Living in their very midst as neighbors they can very readily detect the profes sional swindler of charitable people, while at the same time they are able to administer the help for which the sincere languishing soul cries, and consequently they are scarcely ever deceived. Oh, that we had the help that it is within the power of some to give us at this Terr Christmas time, when hundreds of men are pleading at our shelter doors for admission, and when the voices of these uplifted, gaunt faced applicants would move the heart of a stone! Money Spent for Vanities. It has been sometimes difficult tor me to control my feelings upon learning of some worldly persons paying tor a single banquet or for floral decorations that would supply a year's lodging for a score of the unhoused and destitute multitude who apply nightly ' Beorov-joT " : S. . i ""v A A CZkm. A " . f i -. n "-p- n t-w Jm o rrT -? -f- -m. .. -- 1TK0DU0TI0R. J P Hl B! p "g. 1 P - f Ha! Hat p ' im. f .-. 17 ' Si "" ; T -i 3 5g -jai EEr ' - g v - r -T Ha! Ha! ' Z HalHalHaTBa! Hal -Z. r !Ha!Ha7ia! Ha. p .- &JSHal " 7 A a J 1 8va w Sva A.2. , O" 'alHar HaTHaT" i ' ' -"'' ' '" ' ' " ' tlJ a ' ' LJ ' ' ,-- jr-rjfh TL-'f f f f f f f f f-L-T.J& v. ! I ) .. . ig--5Lfe- is- g- ff f s. u - - J,y i? Sea . A f u.aI Ha! 13 ' - ' P r - Ha! Hal " 1 - ' Sa! HaTV - r . ""1 r -g-'F-r - r T JfS r v r r-rg:5"zr I to these shelters, and I confess to having sometimes felt the flush ot shame rising to my face when hearing of some "fashion lollower spending for one jewel that which would enable the heroic and self-sacrificing women of our Slum Brigade to carry food to scores of families who are ekeing out a miserable existence on food which they would scarcely consider fit to throw to their pet docs. If" the dream of the equal dis tribution of wealth is Utopian, I venture to hope, in the light of this dire need ot my fallen brothers and sisters, that the day is near at hand when in reality some whom God has blessed with abundant meanc will assist these workers who measure out in praverful conscientiousness and with com mon sense judgment each quarter intrusted to their charge. I can confidently assert that out 'of $150 handed to the heads of our "Slum" and "Shelter" brigades not above 510, possibly not more than $5, would be appropriated to the individral support ot those who carry forward this merciful mission. Particular Instances of Charity. Bead the following, which I have just "received lrem the representatives in their own language, ot the above named branches of work. I'will, without altering, let them speak for themselves. A young elrl scarcely In her teens was found crying near onr Shelter one day and when questioned, by one or oar workers as to what was the matter said that she was unable to co to work lor food as her mother and father both lay at home sick and her rr . One Way to Mcach llicm. three little bi others were all crying lor pomethlni: to eat. buo was sent home for a basket and pitcher, both of which were filled, one with lood and the other with soup. Some time later in the day our Shel ter officer visited the bouse to see If the story were true. On entering the rooms that were called "home" the scene that met our officer's uaze was heartrending. The poor father, in the last stages of consumption, lay on a broken down bed in one corner and the mother, exhausted by starvation and overwork, lay on the other sido of the room. The young girl, who had been earning nearly $3 a week, had been oblized to stay at home to wait on her sick parents, and tnus all means ot keeping soul and body together seemed shut out. Hearing the little ones crv for bread so often had wrought upon the father's feelings until he bad repeatedly risen fiotn nis couch and made attempts to so out to work, but bad failed: and now tbey were in danger of being turned1 out of the rooms because the rent was due and there was no money with which to pay it. Provided for Both Bent and Food. Although a little out of the ordinary, our Shelter officer paid the rent and dally saw that they were provided with food. As the father grew corse be was finally removed to the hosifltal, where we still continued to visit him, he professing conversion until he FSSfcyn THE .LAUGHING POLKA. OESIeo! Ha,! ECa-1 Sta.. , tempo at jrouoa. . A t-t- - : died. When dyinghe made mention of the kind words of prayer that had helped make him a better man and told his little git 1 they were "such sweet words of prajer." The mother recovered and all are now in fair circumstances. Visiting one afternoon in a dark, noisome alley, it was rather haid to get up a flight of narrow, winding stairs. When we got up we knocked and wont into a little room, wiiose walls had once been white, but now were al most black, and whose dirty windows were broken and stuffed with paper and rags. Facing us as we entered was an old table and on it a dry crust. Turning to our left we haw; sitting ou an old bench, a poor man in the last slaves of consumption trying to net as close as he could to a little stove, so broken that he could only use a little wood in it. Looking into his pinched face I tried to say a few words or kindness, but it was hard to kenp back the tears while 1 spoke tp him, for my heart took in so much at a glance of what be must be suffering. In a fen minutes I said, looking aiound, "Where do .you sleep at night?" for there was not so much as a bed. He answered, "On that," pointing to an old broken mattress doubled up in the corner, "and someone else shares it at night." Sold Sunday Beer for a Living. We sang of Jesus' lovo and prayed, which lie enjojed very much, as a smile came over his poor white face. We visited him contin ually," brought him beef tea and milk gruel regularly ahd attended to bis room each week. One day he told the slum officer or the only way ho had of gettlug the rent. Every Saturday be bought a case of bottled beer and sold it to his neighbors Sunday morning, the profits on which paid his rent. He was too sick to work and had no other means of getting his lent, but knew he must give this up helore he could get saved. He haid he would do it that day, and did, and gotsavedtnd really accepted Chi is t. The slum officer promised him lie should not want for tood'and she would also pay his rent, and did for months, as his sickness was Ilnsering. We bonght him a little cot to sleep on and did what el'o we could dur ing his last days on earth. We found he had a brother living and hunted him up. Al though himself very poor he took the dying man to his bouse just before the end came. Prevention or Demoralization. For shch as these we gladly live and spend our lives, and it brings joy. Now, we wish it distinctly understood by all that there is nothing we have a stronger objec tion to than the pauperizing or demoralis ing of those classes whom this organization specially seeks to relieve and reclaim. We deem it in infinitely preferable for a man who applies to us with an empty stomach, after having been supplied with lood, to be put 4o work at once, that he may have some opportunity of earuing sufficient means for securing his next meal, and, consequently, we hold that money given to the Salvation Army is used in the best possible manner for the immediate relief of suffering human ity. The Slum brigades and the Food and Shelter depots, in which our men and women officers are engaged, aflord magnifi cent iacilities for preventing this pauperiz- uji ttuu ucuiumuziug OLSUCQ people. 0( one thing we are increasingly confi dentthat any help given will bring not only blessing to the poor, needy ones, but will redound in multiplied b'lessings to those whose hearts have been touched to respond. Yours faithfully, on behalf of the Unpro tected and unrescued of our cities, . pfayfaMm Wtw-Ttei. vt Superstitions Abont Eggs. The ancient Finns believed that a mystic birdlail an egg on the lap of Vaimainon, who was to hatch it lu his bosom. But he let it fall and it broke, the lower portion ot the shell forming the earth, the upper the sky. the-liquid white became the moon and the yelk the sun, while the little fragments of broken shell were transformed into stars. English and Irish mothers tell their chil dren to push their spoons through tlie'bot tom of egg shells after finishing their meal, 'or else the witches will make boats of them." In France a similar oustom pre vails, but the reason assigned is that the magicians formerly used egg shells in con cocting their diabolical witcheries, A LOVELY BOAT BIDE. Wakeman Has a Skipper Sail Him Around Quaint Isle of ilan. A PEOPLE WORTHY OP STDDT. feeing the Fashionahle Watering Places Is teeing but Half. HAXT HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS fCOTtErSPONDKNCE OT THE DISPATCH. 1 Eamset, Isle op Man, Dec. L You will always have the Isle of Man clearest as a series of charming pictures in your mem ory alter yon have sailed around the island. It is only a little journey of 75 or 80 miles. ' The steamers bring you from Douglas to Douglas again in only six hours' time. Fleasanter still is it to engage a smart lit tle craft and alone or with, friends idle along at will with wind or tide, gaining much Manx color and feeling .from your grave and serious skipper's tales, and com ing close to the fisher life of the countless half hid coves and hays. Betides, in this way with a good marine glass you can scan every square foot of Jlaxland. There is nowhere a greater dis tance than six or seven miles from highest mountain peak to edge of circling sea. The beautiful topographical configuration of the island is thus made memorable. From a mile or two at sea, otT'Douglas, which shines from its crescent hay with almost the brilliancy of Kaples, the chief mount ain range shows at its best. It extends three-fourths of the island's length, almost as centrally as a line could be drawn. And every one of these pleasant Manx mount ains is in full view. Largest Water "Wheol In the World. Coasting to the north is found a great cairn called King Orry's grave, which tra dition and dim Manx history assign to the bones of the Danish Prince who mure than a thousand years ago gave the Manxmen freemen's rights. Older than Orry's bones are the Laxev mines, the only ones of im- 'portance in Man, which possess the famous Laxey-overshot water wheel, said to be the largest in the world. Perhaps six miles farther to the north, and your craft will b: abreast of the Maughold Head. It is a wei'd and grand old headland, and the vicinity has tor ages" possessed a reverential awe to all seafaring lolk. This has been due to the miracles wrought at its holy well, and to the odor of sanctity left upon the place by St. Maughold. The latter was in his early life a gav and wicked Irish Prince. Converted by the preaching of the good, St. Patrick, he determined to-renounce the worldV He put to sea iu a wicker boat, giving himself up to the 'mercy ot the winds and waves. He was driven ashore here on the most in accessible coast of Man. The holy well or fountain burst from the spot where be-first gained safe ground. Then followed the wonderful conversion to Christianity from I paganism of the Manx people. A Curious voting Qualification. The very walls of the curious old St Maughold "Church were built by this evan gelist; and one ofthe strangest and most venerable crosses in Britain, the cross of St. Maughold, still standing in the an cient churchySrd, was erected to commem orate the eamt's deliverance Irom the sea and his conversion ot the .Manx people. One side ct this remarkable relic contains, a carving of St. Maughold; another of the Virgin and the Child; and a Inter, embel lishment on a third side depicti the cruci fixion, to which is joined the arms of Man the three bent.legs, with the brave toot to: "Whichever way thrown (or cait), it stands." The entire district is a bit of un changeable antiquity, bound by primitive By CLARENCE WHEELER. A zm-ZS customs, enmeshed in the strangest super stitions. Illustrative, the parish clerk is still elected by the votes of only thoe parishioners who "put out smoke," that is, whose habitations possess a chimney; and a near Eunic cross by the roadside is a pro fane old female wool carrier who, tor curs ing at the wind, was turned to stone. When Maughold Head is rounded, the long reach of Bamsey Bay, extending nine miles to Point of A vre, the northernmost headland of Man, gives a scene of unsur passed beauty and interest The red cliffs trace an almost vermillion shore line be tween the blue of the sea and the shimmer ing gold of the upland gorse. At the center of the bay is the fine old town, its ancient walls and roots contrasting strangely with its modern ways and facades. A sleepy yet bright old lace has Bamsey; like some nodding grandam whom hoyden children have stolen upon intfier sleep to befiower and beribbon and who, on waking, has as much mischief in her glad old eyes as in the merry hearts that made the frolic. To the right and left, , villas and villages in numerable; and behind, but a mile or two away, the golden gorse is blended with the purples and mists 'among the heights of North Barrule. Back Into the Centuries. All along down the west coast your in terest'will be divided between glimpses of strange old Manx hamlets peeping Irom the mountain bales where Hashes ot foaming streams tremble like the gorse tops upon the hills, with the splendid mountain views behind and above, and the plsHnly discerned Irish coast where the Mourne Mountains through the distance, cover with purple their emerald green. But at last here is ancient Peel, Thistle Head and St Patrick Isle. Miles of white strand threa I along the coast to the brown old nest upon the rocks, like a shining way ot faith leading unfalteringly to a dateless antiquity. No cobweb lover will be disgruntled that a broom of progress has modernized Peel. Everything is old and mellow and dim. The hundreds of fishing craft forming with their old masts an antique tracery before the town seem to belong to a forgotten age. Dark are its walls, narrow its streets, tiny its windows, grave and silent its people. Gray and old and more forbidding than all eise is its once mighty castle at the harbor mouth. It stands on Patrick's Holta, or St Patrick's Island, seven acres in extent Venerable, haunted and hal lowed all. Hallowed and venerable for St Patrick himself raised the beginnings of the church on whose site the half ruins of a great cathedral are now found. Haunted because of inexpressible cruelties and foul murders in crypts and castle here. Through these lofty pillars, bending arches, hollow galleries and by these dismantled altars one can stride from the nineteenth to the fifth century. In the saddening echoes of the sea calls he cad hear the moanings of im prisoned Eleanor, the curses of Stanley, the triumphant "Allelujah!" of Germanus that put to rout the Saxons in the bloody Flint shire fields. Haunted, more than all else to Manxland mind, because it is the abiding place for all time of that most terrible or Manx powers of darkness, the black ahd dreadful "Moody Dhoo." A Fashionable Watering Place. .Here of crorse is some true Manx color in the strange old closes and wynds of the ancient part of the city; but Douglas is essentially a fashionable watering-place the whole year round. You must leave Douglas behind to completely know Manxlaud. This rs no venturesome task. You can walk to the remotest portion of the island in one day. There never were finer roads. There never were lovelier Mews. There never were quainter, more comforting old inns. And there never were more simple, genial, hospitable people than fn Man. In most countries I ha e visited the peasantry are vacous and listless or suspicious and resent ful of him who comes to spy into their ways and poke among their shrines. The Manx folk take it as an honor. The Manxman is proud ot his ancestry, his history, his inde pendence, his changeless customs aud laws. Indeed I often think that much of his good ness to the stranger comes from pity that the stranger was not born in his fair, liberty-loving island. EBOAB L. WAKE3IAK. ' READING . THE BIBLE. "It Would Be a Good Thing to Try It in German or in Hebrew. NEED OF A NEW PBIXTED FORM. Uixht Pe Well to Put It Up in the Shape of the Modern ovel. RATIONAL WAT TO 6TUDX THE BOOK fWElTTKX FOR THE DISPATCH.! It is not necessary, I think to defend the statement that the Holy Scriptures are profitable reading. The Bible has more than once wrought reformation. There was that old Bible which the King found in the church cellar in Jerusalem. It was the only Bible in the country. 'The Holy Scriptures had beeu lost out ot the memories of men for years. Somehow even the Church had forgotten the Bible. And then this roll of writing was found among the rub bish; and the King read it And behold, it was the word of Godt And that word gave a law; thus and thus must they behave who would please God. And alljerusolem and all Judea were every day breaking that law. The whole nation was disobeying God. Bepentance, then, and reformation! Sackcloth and as"hes, and tears and peni tential prayers for the past, and promises far the future. Thus the Bible changed the lives of men in King Josiah's tftne. The Reformation Through. Luther, s There was that other Bible which the monk found in the monastery in Germany. Again the Bible had been lost; again the laws of God were set at naught, and even the Church had ceased to teach men out of Holy Scripture. And the monk took the Bible in his hand and went out and read in the ears ot men what he found written there, and tyrants trembled, old despotisms in Church and Statcprepared for flight, the Middle Ages came to au end, the era of civil and religious liberty, ot the right of every man to think his honest thought, the era of representative Government afcd of spiritual religion began. That is what the Bible did in Luther's day. The Holp Scriptures are able to make men wise unto salvation. That we know. The Holy Scriptures, however, are not able to make anyonan wise unto salvation unless the man is able to' make wise use of the Holy Scriptures. Nor is it, perhaps, quite plain what is meant by this phrase, "wise unto salvation." .What is salvation? The sentence needs for its complete under standing a knowledge of the saving pur pose and of the saving use of Holy Scrip tures. In what sense will the reading of the Bible save us? And how shall we read the Bible that it may thus save us? This sermon is in answer' to these two questions. The Central Idea of Christianity. The whole purpose of religion is summed up in this word "salvation." The "Holy Scriptures" which are here alluded to are, ot course, the books ot the. Old Testament These, St Paul says, have been known by Timothy even from his childhood. All that Old Testament religion was meant to save men. When Christ came, he reaffirmed this supreme purpose of religion, and em phasized it. His mission was to seek and J save the lost The central idea of Chris tianity is coutained in this word "salva tion," What is religion for? It is to save the souls of men. And' yet, important as this word js, and familiar as it is, mistakes are mad: as to its meaning. In spite of repeated definition, and of the plain sense of Holy Scripture, salvation is taken to be a blessing which awaits men in the future. Death comes, and the soul goes forth on its untraveled way, and there are two paths, one to the left and the other to the right And the soul goes on, impelled by a choice already made, along one or the other ot these paths. And one path sinks into the pit of damna tion, while the other climbs the Bhining mountain ot salvation. Salvation, that is, is made a synonym of heaven. i It Is an Escape Fro in Sin. We desire to be saved. What must I do to be saved? is the cry of the race. But to be saved from what? Why, from that tear ful tail at last into the black pit, from the abode of the undying worm and ot the eter nally ascending smoke. But is that what the Lord Christ promised? He came, He said7 to save us from our sins. To save us, nnt in tIih distant future when we die. bat. to save us now, to-day; to save us not froml punishment, but from that which merits punishment No man will be saved when he dies who is not saved while he lives. Salvation does not mean an escape from pain, but an escape from sin. Salvation is simply spiritual health. Some things that havebeen said of late in regard to the relation of this matter to the missionary work among the heathen lead me, to illustrate the meaning of salvation by a reference to the motives ot missions. What is the motive ot missions? Un doubtedly, the word which contains, the essential'meaning ot missions is this word "salvation." It has, indeed, been taught, and is still taught by some people, even, I am inlornied, by some missionary societies, that the chief purpose of the missionary is to save souls irom the everlasting burnings. The Gospel of Wrath. It has been represented that the whole pagan world, the bad and the good together, lies under . the curse of God; God hates pagans, the only people whom uod loves are Christians. And the Christian mission ary goes out preaching the Gospel of the wrath of God, and persuades one here and another there out of the darkness of heathenism into the light of Christianity, and these souls are saved. The rest, even the best of them, so we are taught, go into hell. The argument which touches the Christian purse is that all the heathens who are not made Christians are losf everlastingly. And the preaching which touches the pagan heart is the preach ing of the malediction ot God. '.that is what some say. And so deeply, footed is Jhis old error about the meaning and the effect of salva tion that a good many people think that when we learn enough ot the real Gospel to reject the heresy ot the damnation of the heathen we have lost all missionary motive. If God, who is the Father of the most ignorant and superstitious pagan as much as he is of the most Christian saint, will not everlastingly punish the heathen for being heathen, why, then, some people ask, should we try to make thep Christian? Because we believe that Christianity is the religion of salvation, the religion of spiritual health. We have learned which they do not know in pagan lands; and these truths we account of such importance, of such spiritual help, that we want all men to know them. The Motive or Missionary Work. What a blessing to be sure'that the Su preme Spirit loves us and is our Fatherl What a blessing to be sure that after death, is life eteraall These great truths arc, in deed, guessed at even in heathen lauds. But a guess is not enough. Sorrow comes, bereavement comes, death approaches, and men lose laith in guesses. What we want is certainty. And that we have in the word of Jesus Cnrist; and we desire that all men should know it. We cannot rest while life goes on anywhere without the sunshine ot this, gospel ot salvation. So wa I send missionaries to carry ttiese marvelous messages. , As to the ethical side of life, we have the inspiration of the ideal example. Philosoph ical ethics, moral maxims, wie counsels, good advice, are very well as far as tlicV go. Uut in the stress of strong tempjatioti mac, needs some bettcn help thari these afford. We vant the inspiration ot a life. Wc need the sustaining remembrance and presence of one whom we lore, who met this temntation and triumphed over it, aud who can heln us to meet it The one su preme element in the ethics wbichitlie .1 Christian missionary lanes to pagan lanas is tb-i inspiration of the ideal life and of the abiding strength of Jesus Christ That inspiration has no pagan parallel. There is no influence to potent for good the whole world over as that which has its source at the cross ot Jesus Christ And we want the saving power of this divine influence to be brought to bear upon all tempted men. And we send missionaries to teach the heathen about the life and death of Christ Oat of Darkness Into Light The salvation which we would share with our brethren in pagan lands is a salvation out of darkness into light, out of error Into tru,th,'out of conjecture into certainty, out of sorrow into joy. It is concerned, first ot all, with this present life. It means better ment, uplifting, growth ingraee and knowl edge, hannine&s and sniritual health. This is' the salvation unto which the Holy Scriptures are meant to make men wise. The Bible, if we read it rightly, will make us better men and women. It will help us out of selfishness into fraternal love. It will teach us to be honest, to be truthful, to be kind, to be pure, to live right lives. It will make us good Christians. It will save us from our sins. But how, then, shall we read the Bible? This great help is of no help to some people because they do not know what to do w,ith it How many Bibles lie unread? How many more Bibles are so read as to do no good"? The Bible, some people say, is not inter ing. We know it all bv heart , We have read it over and over till there is nothing new in it We are tired of it The Bible in a Foreign Tongue. Bead it. then, in some new way. Bead it in Greek; read it in German. Get away from the old words. It is astonishing what a new book the Bible is in an unfamiliar language. Or read it with a commentary. Whoever imagines that he knows all there is between these covers is very much mis taken. The wisest men are content to study day after day for all the years of their lives in these old writings, forever finding out new truths. We do not yet un derstand the Bible. There are great thoughts bidden in it whtch will yet be the inspiration of great revolutions. The child who knows the letters may not yet have learned what the letters' spell. And we who read the worths may miss the deep meanings which lie beneath them. A wise commentary will help greatly in this dis covery of the wonderful meanings of the Bible One hindrance to the appreciation of the Bible is its printed form. It is different from any other book. The conventionality .of its appearance affect3 the mind of the reader. These double columns in small type, with divisions into verser, distract at tention. There are few books in any litera ture that would not sufkr'lrom such typog raphy. If the Bible could be bound in different volumes, the histories by them selves, and printed straight across the page, and arranged in paragraphs like any other writing, and bound like any other book, it would be read with a new interest. The Bible has beeu translated out of Greek and Hebrew, now it needs to be translated into new type and binding. Beading the Story Elsewhere. It might be well for some people to stop reading the Bible altogether for a rear, and to read, in place of it, books whicfi tell the Bible story and teach the Bible truth in other words. Bead Stanley's "History ot the Jewish Church,'1 and. Edersheim's "Life ot Jesus, the Messiah" and Cony beare and Howson's "Lite ot St Paul," and Farrar'a "Early Days ot Christianity." These books run along with Holy Scripture from Genesis to Revelations. They are written in our modern tongue. Tbey are commentaries and sermons with Bible texts. They are like' a wise companion who should read the Bible to us, with an ac companiment of illustration, of explana tion, of application. For a year keep the Bible shut and read these boobs. The next year you will read the Bible, and you will read as you never read it before. The Bible ought to be read regularly, ra tionally and religiously. Every day, and at a certain hour ot the day, consult the or acles of God, listen to the" counsels of the wisest and best men that ever lived. Begin the day or end it with this inspiration. But make the reading of the Bible regular, have a rule about it, so that it may be a re membered part of every day. Let this reg ular reading be rational. It is irrational to read the Bible as if it were all one book, to dip into it now here, now there, without re- , gard to author, or time, or context; to read to-day a chapter Irom the gospel of St John and another chapw to-morrow from the sBook of Ecclesiattes, and the next day to eek advice from St. Paul, and the day alter Irom one of the unrighteous counsellors of Job. The Bible is a library. It ought to be read with an understanding of the difier- neces that there are between its hooks. Having Favorite Biblical Authors. It is irrational to read any part of the Bible which is not personally helpful. Everyone ought to have' his favorite au- thors'and his favorite books in this library as in any other, and to read those most which help mm most, xne xmue nas a great number of pages, and there is something in in for every taste, for every need, for every emergency, an answer somewhere to every question. Let us read what we nejed. And let this regular and rational reading be religions. That is, let the ourpose of it be the desire for spiritual counsel. The mere reading of so many verses of a morn ing or an evening, alter which the mind keeps no impression, and has no remem brance of what is read, is only a pious way of wasting time. There is no "more religion in it than there is in the prayer wheels of Thibet It is no more good to the soul than the reciting of a section of the multiplica tion table. The right purpose of reading the Bible is to get help, inspiration, comfort, strength. Bead that which contains counsel. Bead it slowly. Bead it three times over. Think about it as you read. Bring it elose to your own life.' Get the heart of its lesson into your own heart Make the truth your own possession. Bead so that as yon go along about your work you will he able to think it over in your mind. One verse thus read is better than a chapter read without attention. Such reading will make us wise unto sal vation, v Geokge Hodges. &THISP0TS AND 1HUNDZB SI0EH3. Next Summer Not Likely to Be Visited' by Any Bad Weather. Tontli's Companlojj.t Among the supposed relations between suuspots and the atmosphere of the earth is one in which, thunder storms are concerned. Half a dozen years ago it was noticed in Bavaria that destructive lightning strokes were apparently less numerous during a maximum than during a minimum of sun spots, and Doctor Yon Bezffld came to the conclusion that "high terareratures and a spotless solar surface gives years abounding in thunderstorms." If this theory is correct, the summer just passed should have beenomparatively tree from thunder-storms, lor the sunspots are now approaching a maximum. Next sum mer alsb should, upon the lame hypothesis, witness relatively frw thunder-storms. In England there has, indeed, been noticed this year an apparent tendency to follow the supposed law described above, as thunder-storms there have been less numerous than they were a few years ago, when the sunspots were near their minimum. Probably, as is the ease with allthe other supposed relations between sunspots and terrestrial phenomena, the proof in this case will be very slow to obtain and very far from convincing, until we have learned much more than we now know of the gen eral laws of solar action. The Diplomats Waxed Hot An amusing incident of the Americanists Congress; at Huelva occurred when an En glish member offered a resolution suggest ing to the Spanish Government the desira bility of making the collections in the national libraries and despsitories of Spain more accessible by means ot catalogues, in stancing the British Museum as a good ex ample tor Spam to follow. This well meant request was construed into a reflection upon the Spanlsn Government, and a scene en sued which is seldom witnessed In scientific bodies. , OUR CLUB WOMEN. W gfc lw'' Mrs. Anna Some McCtotij. The Head of a Great Charity. ' Among workers in local charity, few are more honored than Mrs. Anna Home McCro ry. Her labors are, as a rule, confined to tho organizations of her own denomination, but the multiplicity of these offers a wide field. She is a member of the Women's United Presbyterian Association, the most power ful charitable organization in Western Pennsylvania, and was last year National President of the Women's General Mis sionary Society of the United Presbyterian Church and presided at the convention held in Philadelphia last May. She has a pleasant home on Wylie ave nue, where her tact and kindness make every visitor feel welcome. Naturally of a retiring disposition, the presidency of the General Missionary Society was thrust upon her, but, in spite of her own misgiving?, she justified the good opinion of those who had elected her by making a most efficient executive officer. Mrs. JlcCrory is not a Pittsburger by birth. She came from Mon mouth, III, where she was educated in the well-known United Presbyterian College. She is very popular with the congregation of the Third Church, and at the United Presbyterian Orphans' Fair, held in the postoffice building last week, was one of the most active workers. How to Bo President and Popular. Someone has been wondering if the presi dent of a women's clnb is ever popular after her inaugural and before her farewell ad dress. She has a hard time to be sure, but - if she really yearns for popularity, there are some things she needs to remember. The president who fs populat- doesn't come late to the club two meetings out of every three. Smiles on the woman who has forgotten or hadn't time to write her paper as sweetly as though she had delivered a Ciceroniaa address. There is a difference between a presiding pfficer and a schoolmistress. Doesn't expect to do all the talking for the club. There is nothing women resent so much as the appropriation of that privi lege. f If a member differs rwith henn opinion, doesn't consider it her duty to convince that member and the club -that tbedissenter is an idiot. Just as likely the burden of proof will be against herself. Will not make a practice of appointing none but her friends on committees. Nor appoint her enemies and then lay awake nights thinking up 'an exense lor reprimanding them when they report Will not persist in criticising the secre tary's and the treasurer's reports, especially if tho3s ladies happen to have influential friends in the club. Will not make the club feel its obligation to her by forcing on it favors from herself. Will not say she hates "newspaper no toriety," and order the members not to "tell those horrid reporters anything;" then go out behind the door and give the press representative a nice piece about herself. Won't go through the farce of publicly telling the club fiv-o years In succession that they must get a more worthy President, that really she does not want r'enomination, when she knows very well that her aunts and cousins have the "whole scheme "cut and dried" to pat tier in office again. If she catches a woman discussing her new fall bonnet with a neighbor instead of listening to a deeply interesting paper on the wars of Barneses will not call the at tention of the club to the fact by pounding with her gavel and shrieking order. Why doesn't some one write up Mrs. Barneses' bonnets, anyhow? Bat then she wouldn't be a good Presi dent if she didn't keep order. Who ever knew of a good President to be popular? Club Notes. JJiss Xaxxiz HAiiMEit.tbe popular soprano, was at the hist meeting of the Travelers' Club elocted an active member. Foil the first time in year!) the managers ot the Home for Incurables have no a poll, cation lor admission to the institution. Siice Mrs. MeCreery's departure for Europe Mrs. Samuel McKee is left the sols ludy manager ot the WestPeun Hospital. Tue Christmas Letter Mission is preparing to send oat its usual mcsages of good cheer to the sick or sorrowing in hospitals and prisons. The Kilo Clnb. of Chicago, the most aris tocratic of the Windy City's m.iny literary organizations, hnsjust completed the study of architecture and music, historically con sidered. Miss Belle McElhajet, of the New York Jfail and Exitreu, lormerly of the Pittsburg Woman's and Women's Press Clubs, will issue n holiday book lor cnildren said to be very clever, AT Mondnj's meeting of tbo Tourists' Clnb Miss Henderson will read an interest ing paprron Unssla, while Jlis-i Hoasf and Sirs. J. W. ioaver will 'disccss "The Power of the Tzur in the Sixteenth Century." Is PclcTsonli Sew ilmthly Migizine for De cemrer appear a clener character study, "His Yokemate," from the pen ofMiss Vir ginia Hyde, one of the most brilliant mem hero of the Women's Press Club. Tue Secretary of the South Carolina Equal Itights Association, Hiss Lily Darant, is the youngest ofOcer of that organization In the country. She is only 17 years old, and is said to be a successful writer for the press. The Women's Dormitory Association, of the World's Fain, has sold sufficient stock: to begin w oik on its five proposed buildings. After January it will be ton late to build and furnish the dormitories in time for the Fair. There is telk among the ladies ot the Con cordia Club of organizing an artclrcle.many of the ladles being interested in that subject and desirous of pursuing a s stematic coursa of study in regard to the masters and mas terpieces. Alias Habrixt IIoao. of the Tourists' Club, Is an architect of no mean ability. She drew up the plan for a row of bouses she wag building In such excellent stylo that the contractor who put them up asked her to design a row for him. Tue little sheet, li'tws of the Work, issued by the Touns Women's Christian Associa tion in connection with their first anni versary ,xerci-e is the forrrunner of a possible journalistic venture by that enter pti5lug association. At lost Tuesday's meeting of the Woman's Club, the revised constitution under con sideration was adopted without one dissent ing vote. The growth of tho club numeri-. cally and intellectually made a broader system or laws necessary. Una. 3. D. Uria will this yoar continuous Chairman of tho Entertainment Committee of thf Heart and.Hand Society. The must ca'.ei of the association's cood work ara given every Jlonday afternoon before tho convalescent patients at the Homeopathic. Hospital. Tni Kattonal Convention of the Indian, Association was In session; last week In Brooklyn. It will be remembered Jast year's convention was held in Pittsburg'. Local delegates to the convention were Mrs. E. Pentlce, Mrs. N. L. McEoberts and Kiss Ella Uartln. .. - "K'JKT.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers