ljc crrst llfpnblinm
M friH.IBlIKD KVEBT WIDHMlDAY, HT
J. E. WENK.
Office in BmMrbkugta A Co.'s Building,
ELM STREET, - TIONESTA, PA.
X KltMS, l.OO lKIt YKAIl.
No (ml)oriptiotiR received for a shorter pcsiofl
tliiin ttiTA month.
(', it !.; iwlrncr! rv il(-d from nil partsof tho
country. Nn inr ico i 1 bettikin of kmmymouii
oimniiiiirul .on .
HATES OF ADVERTISING.
Om Square, one Inch, one Inivirton,... II (Ml
One Square, one inch, one month.,.,. .. 8 00
One Nqnare, one inch, three month 6 00
One (Square, one inch, one year.. 10 00
Two (Squares, one year................. IS 00
Quarter Column, one year............. 80 00
Half Column, one year., ...... COCO
One Column, one year......... .... 100 0
I,oal notices at established rates.
Jilnrii.ion and deeth notices gratia.
All bills for yearly adTerti.vnienta collected
qimvtoily. Temp-Tary advertisements mnat be
ill for in advance.
Jub woik, cshU on delivery.
VOL. XV. NO. 30.
TIONESTA, PA., WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25. 1882.
$1.50 PER ANNUM.
Woman's Trust.
, "Good wife, what are yon singing for? Ton
know we've lost the hay,
Ind what we'll do with horao and kye is more
thnrt I enn Bay;
While like m no', with storm Rnd rain, we'll
lose both corn and wheat."
Ehe looked np with a pleasant face, and. an
swered low and sweet:
"There is a Heart, there is a Hand, wo feel,
but cannot see;
We've always been providod for, and we shall
always bet"
jffe turned around with sudden, gloom. She
said: "Love, be at rest.
You ont the'gniss, worked soon and late, you
did yonr very best.
That was yonr work; you've nanght to do
with wind and rain,
And do not donbt bnt you will reap rich flolds
of golden grain;
For there's a Heart and there's a Hand, we
feel, but cannot see;
We've always been provided for, and w shall
always be!" j
" That's like woman's reasoning we must
because we must."
She softly said: " I reason not) I only work
and trust;
Tue harvest may redeem the day keep heart
whats'er beUdo;
When one door shuts I've always seen another
open wide.
There is a Heart, there is a Hand, we feel,
but cannot see;
We've always been provided for, and we shall
always be."
fle kissed the culm and truthful face; gone
was bis restless pain.
Blie heard him with a cheerful step go whist
ling down the lane;
And went about her housohold tasks fall of a
glad content,
Bulging to time her busy hands as to and fro
,' she went;
'There is a Heart, there is a Hand, we feel,
but cannot aee;
We've always been provided for, and we shall
always be."
Days some and go 'twas Christmas tide,
and the great fire burned dear.
The farmer said: " Dear wife, it's been a
good and happy year;
' The fruit was gain, the surplus com has
bonght the hay, you know."
She lifted then a smiling faee and said: "I
told yon sot
For there's a Heart and there's a Hand, we
feel, but cannot see,
We've always been provided for, and wo shall
always be!"
ilusieal Record.
Dlmeon Pingree's Chance.
A group i of men was gathered in
Elijah Wiswell's store, which was -also
the postofflee. A debate was in prog
ress, and, as usual, Simeon Pingree had
tho floor, lie was a long, loose-jointed,
shock-headed specimen of humanity,
with so large an Adam's apple in
his long lean throat as to continually
excite surprise that ho was not choked
hy it, and huge feet upon which lie had
a way of uneasily shuffling to and fro.
Sim had inherited from his father
the trade of a shoemaker, but had long
ago decided that it was not sufficiently
"intellectooal" for him. Occasionally
the inhospitable spirit manifested by
his neighbors when he was "a-passin'
by, and kind o' dropped in" to take his
meals with them, drove him to tho un
congenial pursuit just long enough to
"set tho pot a-b'ilin'." To keep it boil
ing was not in tho line of Sim's ambi
tions; after a day or two of effort he
fell back into his old ways with an air
of supererogatory merit.
. His neighlws, who did not appre
ciate his "intellectooal" views, regarded
him as lazy and "shiftless," and openly
pointed to him the poorhouse as his in
evitable destination. "As good-for-nothing
as Sim Pingree," was the
height of invidious comparison in the
village. But though he was of so small
practical worth Sim had a "flow of
language" which caused his Boeiety to
be much sought, and won1 for
him a certain kind of respect. It was
generally conceded that if he had been
possessed of "sprawl" (tho common
eynonym for energy in Greenhollow),
and a little more " book-learnin'," Sim
ml-rht have been a schoolmaster; and
there were a few who even went so
far as to think he could get the better
of the minister in a theological dis
cussion whichever side ho might take;
but this opinion was generally thought
sacrilegious, and those who held it were
looked upon with mournful suspicion
as being inclined to inlldelity.
Tho discussion had begun with theol
ogy to-day, and gradually wandered
down to luck and chance subjects
upon which Sim was always sure to
"run of an idee."
"There was a man that I come
acrost up to Gorham more'n twelve
year ago that give me some idees that
I hain't never forgot," said Mm, ms
hand3 buried deep in hi3 trousers pock
ets and his feet shuffling an accom
paniment to his words. The more ex
cited Sim grew the more energetic be
came his shuffling; on the rare occa
sions when he preserved silence the
motion was feeble and monotonous.
" He was an all-fired smart feller. The
lightnin' calkerlater, nor the funny
ifeller that was here with the show last
,BUimner wa'n't a circumstance to him.
He was in the show busine, too; fact
is most of the tarlent nowadays is
a travella'ontl.e road. I've sometimes
' i.h'e of turnin' my own tarlcnts
to account that way, but .the chance
nam t never scorned to come along.
And I'm one o' them that believes in
a man's bein sure of his chance. Some
time or nother it's bound to come.
That's tho doctrine that this feller
preached. Hazlitt Eph Hazlitt his
name was; and smart? Ho'd swaller
snakes as quick as look at 'em; a boy
constrictor wa'n't no more'n a com
f table mouthful for him! Edicated?
Ho wouldn't hare thought nothin of'
makin' a dictionary or an almernick if
he had 'a felt so inclined. Kind of
a slim, pigeon-breaslcd feller, too,
but terrible hearty to his vic
tuals. He was a master-hand for lot
teries, and such kind of resky business,
and it alwers turned out well; seemed
as if ho hadn't nothin' to do but to put
out his hand and haul in the money.
Made mo think of a king that I'd read
of somewhere in f urrin parts, that ev
erything ho took holt of turned to gold.
I hadn't never took no stock in the
story them stories about f urrin parts
is mostly deceivin' and it didn't seem
to stand to reason, but when I see Eph
Hazlitt I bejrunto think mebbo'twan't
bo big a lie after all. Says I to Eph,
says I, 'Cur'us what a run of luck you
have, ain't it?' 'No,' says Eph, says
he, 'it ain't cur'us at all. It's in the
natcr of things. I've been failin' for
a long time, and it was time that mv
luck como. It had ought to 'a come bust
year, accordin' to tho law o' probabili
ties ; it was bound to come this year,
as suro as two and two make four.'
W ell, I kind of laughed it oif as a ioke.
or a flgger of speech as you might say,
but ho went on and reasoned it out to
mo till 'twas jest as clear as daylight.
You see there's jest about so much good
luck and so much ill luck goin', and one
is bound to get through with a man
and let t'other have its turn some time
or 'nother. Eph he'd reasoned all out
about hisn, jest like tho multiplication
table, but I never had no head fur Ag
gers. But I had wit enough to see
that what ho said was true on gineral
principles.
How you soin' to account for the
bad luck that f oilers some folks all
their lives?" said, in aquerulous voice,
a dejected, wizened little man named
Z;'hariah Avery, and called uncle by
everybody, although ho was nobody's
uncie in reality. Uncle Zach had
fallen from the proud position of stage-
driver, lower and lower by degrees,
until lie had become a permanent guest
in the low, straggling, dingy building
winch gave shelter to the town poor.
" A.inan lias got to have wit enough
to see when his chance comes along;
that's where tho dift'erkilty comes in,"
said Sim. " There's a good many that
ain't got understandin' enough to
know that it's suro to come, so they
get terrible discouraged with their
poor luck and are afraid to take holt
of anything even if it does look prom-
lsin ."
" Mebbe I'd better 'a went shares
raisin' hogs with 'Liph'let Junkins
when ho wanted mo to," said Uncle
Zach, in a plaintive voice; " but folks
they told me that 'Ligh'let was a ter
rible hand to git all the fat and leave
tho lean for other folks, and I calker
lated that would be dretful poor busi
ness so fur forth as hogs was con
sarned." "And then there's other folks that
ain't got the sense to wait till their
chance comes along," pursued Sim, ig
noring this interruption. " And them
kind is terrible apt to make slightin'
remarks about them that don't care
about goin' through with all the fail
ures that belong to 'em in tho nater of
things, but toilers Proverdential lead
in's and keeps a good lookout for their
chance."
" A Proverdential leadin to set and
twiddlo your thumbs is dretful apt to
lead to tho poorhouse, said Elijah
Wiswell, the storekeeper, a brisk little
man, who was suspected of great en
ergy in the matter of sanding sugar.
" I never seo my way clear to haul
them logs for Abijah Sprowl for three
and ninepenco a day, though Ldone it,
Mebbo there was Avhere 1 missed my
chance," murmured Uncle Zack, who
evidently accepted Sim's theory with
profound faith, and was looking back
all along tho track of his enterprises
to discover traces of the chance he had
lost.
" You must bo .all beat out waitin'
for that chance of yourn, Sim," said
Jim Durgin, who prided himself on
being the wit of the village. " I ex
pect it'll get here 'long with the mil
lennium, or Cy Underbill's machine
that's goin' to pull weeds and never
touch the plarnts. Cy has been to
work on that nigh upou to fifty year
now, and he ain't a mite discouraged."
" He might jest as well 'a been takin'
things kind of easy all them iifty years,"
said Sim, ignoring Jim Durgin's per
sonal inquiries. "He'd ought to 'a
found out long ago that he was jest
a-wrastlin' with fate, and fate was
bound to win. Like enough his
chaiice has come joggin his elbow
time an' ag'in while he was t'ilin' away
on that ero machine, and he's shet his
eyes to it, or fairly gin it a h'ist out o'
the winder. That's where the iatel
leck comes in; bein' an ouintcllectooal
man, Cy has done a terrible sight of
hard work, and missed his chance.
And he wouldn't bo apt to seo it now
if 'twas p'inte.i out to him. Ha can't
believo in nothin' but that pesky ma
chine. And there's a :-ight of folks in
this comuiuuerty that's got their un
derstandin' darkened through settin'
too much by stiddy days' works. They
don't darst to leave 'em, for fear o'
gittin into tho poorhouse, not if their
chance comes along and yanks 'em by
the hair of the head. But, lal you
can't expect everybody to be intellec
tooal; it ain't in tho nater of things."
" Well, you won't forgot us poor fel
lows when your chance comes along,
will you, Sim?" said Jim Durgin.
The mailbag arrived at that mo
ment and created a diversion.
" I was calkerlatin' to go home and
set my dinner pot a-b'ilin'," said Sim,
"but I guess, as long' as the mail's got
in, I may as well wait amd see if there's
any letter for me."
The men all laughed at this, Sim's
standing joke, for ho had never been
known to have a letter; but their
laughter was soon exchanged to excla
mations of astonishment, for the post
master called, "Here is a letter for
you, Sim, as sure as you're born." And
he came out from behind the partition
which shut the postoUico in sacred pri
vacy from the store, in a state of great
excitement. Sorting the remaining
contents of the mailbag was not to bo
thought of until curiosity concerning-
Sim's letter was gratified.
Every feature of Sim's face dis
tended with astonishment. Ho took
the letter tenderly between his thumb
and forefinger and looKed at it in si
lence, at tho superscription and the
postmark alternately. There was no
doubt about it; the address was, "Sim
eon Pingree, Esq., Greenhollow,
Maine." The postmark wa3 almost il
legible. The crowd waited in respect
ful silence while Sim struggled to de
cipher it.
" Californy 1" he exclaimed at last,
bringing his hand down upon his side
with a resounding thump. " Cur'us if
my chance had come along now,
wouldn't it?"
" Some advertisin' cirkler minin
stock or somethin'. They've found out
that you are a capitalist, Sim, and
want to get you to invest," said Jim
Durgin.
" Or mebbe they want a man of tar
lents for president of a minin' com
pany," suggested Elijah WiswelL
"Mebbe it's from your girl," said
one of the boys. But his jest was im
mediately, frowned down, for Sim's
sweetheart, Cynthy Jane Reynolds,
had deserted him and married his
brother, and this disappointment was
thought to have had something to do
with Sim's queerness.
Sim proceeded to open the letter
slowly and cautiously. He read it
aloud, picking his way laboriously
along, while his audience listened in
breathless silence.
" Friend Simeon " (it ran ), " this
is hopein' to iind you alive and to say
that I am enjoyin' tho same blessin'.
And likewise have had a run of luck,
after I'd begun to think 'twa'n't never
comin'. I've struck a vein of silver
that's goin' to make my fortin' sure, if
it pans out anything at all as I ealker
late now, and I want an honest man
to come and help me keep it away
from these sharpers that are as furco
as wolves after it. I write to you fust
of anybody because I ain't forgot the
good turn you done me liekin' the
schoolmaster and taking care of me
when I had the fever, and nobody else
come nigh me. I send a check that
will pay your expenses gettin' here and
I hope you'll let me know pooty quick
whether you're a-comin'.
" Yours to command,
"Cyrus Badger."
" P. S. You can be sure there wa'n't
never nothin' like it for a chance to
make a fortin."
There was a chorus of exclama
tions. "Well, Sim, I begin to b'lieve there
is somethin' in your figurin', after all,"
said Elijah Wiswell, scrutinizing the
check. Elijah was a practical man,
and knew that brilliant prospects
were often delusive, but tho chock im
pressed him.
" Well, I never had no head for
figgers, and mebbe that's the reason
I'm to the bottom of the heap," said
Uncle Zach, mournfully. "Gran'ther
he always said a man's luck lay in his
bumps."'
"Just my luck that I never licked
a schoolmaster nor took care a feller
through a fever," grumbled Jim Dur
gin. " But Em glad of your luck any
way, Sim."
And Sim received a gnat many
hearty grips of the hand, for though
he was "shiftless" there was some
thing about Sim that made everybody
like him".
In spite of his firm faith that his
chance was on the way Sim seemed
almost overcome by surprise. His
angular frame trembled and perspira
tion stood in drops upon his brow.
" I'm obleeged to ye all," he said, in
a somewhat bewildered way, " but I'm
kind of took by surpriso, for it's como
sooner'n I calkerlated, You see, it's
been a little kind of hard. I wa'nt
never one that stiddy days' works come
nateral to, but I ain't one neither that
likes to have folks think slightin' of
him, and p'int their finger at him and
begrudge him a meal of victuals. So,
though I ain't a-goin to complain of
nothin', it has been sometimes a little
mite hard. For there ain't none of us
but what's got feelin's. And now my
chance comin' along so kind of onex
pected I be a little upsot. So I'll jest
shake hands all round once more and
then I'll go home." And Sim shuffled
off, while the crowd lingered, glad of
an opportunity to talk over his good
fortune without tho embarrassment of
his presence.
As he drew near his own gato Sim
saw that a group of neighbors was
gathered around it. Had the news of
his good fortune reached them so soon
and had they come to rejoice with him ?
Sim liked sympathy, but just now,
until tho first flush of his joy was over,
ho felt that he would rather bo alone.
But the neighbors fell into the back
ground as he drew near, and disclosed
a stranger a worn and haggard-looking
woman, who, with two little girls
clinging to her skirts, leaned against
the fence.
Sim looked at her with no sign of
recognition in his face. But she raised
her sad and heavy eyes to his, and said,
appealingly: "He's dead, and he told
mo to come to you. I didn't want to,
and I've been tryin' for more'n a year
to get along, but I fell sick,
and I couldn't see my children starve.
I've had a hard time, Sim. He didn't
treat mo very well, particularly after
ho took to drinking; but he had hard
lack, poor fellow; everything seemed
to go against him. If you'll take me
and the children in we sha'n't cost you
much. I sha'n't last a great while,
but I can work some; you know I used
to stitch shoes."
" You can't never in thislivin' world
be Cynthy Jane?" said Sim, tremu
lously. " Yes, I am, It's no wonder that
you don't know me," said the woman,
sadly. " I used to be so bloomin', and
now I'm nothin' but a shaddcr."'
" I do know you, Cynthy Jane. I
know your voice and your eyes, but I
kind of didn't want to believe 'twas
you lookin' so pindlin'."
Ho smoothed back the children's
hair from their foreheads and scrutin
ized their faee3 gravely. Then he
marshaled the little group before him
into the house.
It was a dreary and sparsely fur
nished little place. The emptiness and
dreariness struck Sim as never before,
but a vine nodded at the window, and
it was cool and quiet. The woman
sank down on the hard little lounge
with a long sigh of relief, but the
children cried out, in their pathetic
voices, that they were hungry.
Sim wa3 filled with shame and dis
tress. A very few dry crusts were all
that his larder afforded. Dan Win
gate had been fishing, and he had in
tended to drop in upon Dan upon
some errand that would serve as an
excuse at about the time when Dan's
fry would bo likely to be done to a
turn. He had made no preparations
whatever to " set his own pot a-bilin' "
that day. He was rubbing his fore
head with his bandana in direst per
plexity, when, moved, as it seemed to
Sim, by some indirect interposition of
Providenco, Mrs. Timberly, the wife of
tho .well-to-do blacksmith who lived
next door, appeared, bearing a dish of
soup, from which was wafted an appe
tizing odor, and a loaf of bread of
goodly size. And following in her
wake came other neighbors bringing
eatables, until Sim's table groaned
under such a. burden as it had never
known before.
"You seo we thought you might
not be 'prepared for company, being a
single man," explained Mrs. Timber
ley, " and, besides, we felt as if wo
wanted to do something to welcome
Cynthy Jane back."
Sim was glad and thankful that his
guests were provided with food, but
every mouthful that he tried to eat
seemed to choke him. He remembered
that yesterday he could have eaten his
neighbors' food without shame ; but
then Cynthy Jane was not there to
see.
"It's the last meal they shall ever
have by the charity of the neighbors,
if steppin' round lively can fetch
anything to pass," said Sim to him
self. And as soon as the dinner was
eaten he went down to Sam Ellis'
shop. Sam Ellis was the shoemaker,
and he always had more work than he
could do. lie had offered Sim a great
many jobs, which he had declined.
When he asked, with great eagerness,
for a job, Sam Ellis looked amazed.
"Why, they've been tellin'that your
chance had come along, that you was
goin' to Californy to make your for
tune," he said,
Sim turned away his head .and looked
out of the window. Witli the beckon
ing finger of his chance lifted above
the "stiddy days' works" which he
saw stretching before him in a dreary
monotony which his soul abhorred,
luring him to change of scene and ad
venture, and to fortuno which should
drop into his hands like manna from
heaven, as he had always dreamed it
would, was it strange that for a
moment Sim's spirit wavered ? But ho
turned again to tho shoemaker and
straightened himself so that he stood
almost erect.
"If you've got a job for me, I calk
erlate I'd better tackle it right away.
Folks seem to think I'm goin' to Cali
forny jest because 1 got a letter from
an old friend invitin' on mo. But
'tain't every invite that comes along
that's a man's chance. A man of in
terlock he discrimernates."
Sim and his chance and tho return of
Cynthy Jane were the subjects of a
nine days' wonder , in Greenhollow, but
Sim was disappointingly reticent, and
he kept persistently at work, contrary
to tho prediction of everybody in the
town, and was seldom to be found at
his accustomed pastime of "settin' in
the store."
Everybody who had ever heard of
Cynthy Jane cJled upon her, and all
pronounced her "in a decline," and
wondered what would become of those
poor children left to the care of " that
shiftless Sim Pingree," when she was
gone. He was working now, but he
" couldn't become a steady working
man any more than the leopard could
change hi3 spots."
But Cynthy Jane seemed to makeup
her mind not to go. Instead of grow
ing worse with the fall of the leaves,
as everybody had predicted, she grew
better. The children were well fed
and clothed, and sent to school, and
Sim's humble domain began to take an
air of thriftiness and comfort. One
day. Sim came homo with something on
his mind.
" Cynthy Jane," he began, shuffling
to and tro in his most excited man
ner, "they're a-sayin' down in the
village you know it comes kind of
nateral for Greenhollow folks to talk
about other folk's affairs, and they
don't mean no harm by it neither
they're a-sayin' that you and I had
better git married. I know I ain't fit
for you, Cynthy Jane, and never wa3 ;
but when a woman can git stiddy days'
works out of a man that he never
thought was there, why, if she would
bring herself to be so accommodatin'
as to have him, seems as if 'twould be
the makin' of him."
"Why, Sim, I believe you've for
given me," said Cynthy Jane, blushing
as brightly as when she was young.
And the upshot of the matter was
that Cynthy Jane and Sim went to
see the minister.
" It was about five years afterward
that Sim sat in the store one evening
with about the same group that had
been there when his memorable letter
from California had arrived.
" Did ybu ever hear again from that
friend of yours in Californy that was
goin' to give you a chance to make
your fortin, Sim?" said Jim Durgin.
" Yes. He made a pile of money,
and then he lost it, and made more
ag'in, and I don't know jest how 'tis
witii him now," said Sim, rather in
differently. " Them minin' fellers has their ups
and downs," said Uncle Zach, with the
manner of one who knows all about
it. "Seems as if that must 'a been
your chance, Sim, seein' no other one
hain't ever come along," he added.
" I don't see as Sim has nnything to
complain of," said Elijali Wiswell, the
storekeeper. " Industrious as any man
in Greenhollow, and growin' fore
handed every day, ain't you, Sim ? I
guess 'twas Cynthy Jane comin' along
in the stage that day that was Sim's
chance."
" AVell, there is sometimes a thing
comes along that seems a man's chance
and it ain't, and then ag'in there's a
thing that don't seem to be and is.
I've always said it took a man of in
terlock to tell when his chance come,"
said Sim, in his old oracular way.
" But this of yourn seemed to bo a
case of heart more'n interleck, eh,
Sim?" said Jim Durgin.
Sim hung his head sheepishly.
"AVell, now, there's that chubby
faced youngster of yourn, mebbe he'll
git your chance and hisn too. Couldn't
that happen accordin' to your theory?"
asked Uncle Zach, who had never
ceased to puzzle over Sim's theory of
chances. ,
" Well, now, to tell you the truth, if
ho gets as good a chance as I have I
won't ask any better for him," said Sim,
still looking a little sheepish, but hold
ing his head very straight.
And Sim's content was as great as it
seemed, in spite of the " stiddy days'
works," though once in a while he did
have an attack of laziness, when they
became Intolerable. But then he went
fishing with Dan Wingate, and brought
homo a great quantity of fish. And
Cynthy Jane never scolded. Harper's
Bazar.
WISE WOBDS.
Hope is a fatigue ending in decep
tion. Flattery is effective only with a weak
man.
Man pardops and forgets ; woman
pardons only.
To wait and 'trust, is often the latest
lesson we learn in life.
There is little in the world but that
has cost some one deeply.
Ono forgives everything to him who
forgives himself nothing.
To bo faithful without loving is to
have tho patriotism of virtue.
Choose that which is best and cus
tom will make it most agreeable.
AVo should believe only in works ;
works are sold for nothing everywhere.
Love comes when we expect it the
least and when wo tlread it tho most.
You can get tho respect of honest
men in ono way only by deserving it.
Hate enters sometimes into great
souls ; envy comes only from little
minds.
Gold is, in its last analysis, the
sweat of the poor and tho blood of the
brave.
READING.
Prayer.
An article found among the unpub
lished papers of the late Dr. J. A. Al
exander, on "Circumlocution in
Prayer," closes with the following
" practical suggestions to. young men
who are forming their habits" in re
spect to prayer. They are equally ap
plicable to all who pray in public, and
especially to those who pray in the
Sunday-schools.
1. Let your prayer be composed of
thanksgiving, praise, confession and
petition, without any argument or ex
hortation addressed to those who are
supposed to be praying with you.
2. Adopt no fixed forms of expres
sion, except such as you obtain from
Scripture.
3. Express your desires in the brief
est, simplest form, without circumlo
cution. 4. Avoid the use of compound terms
in place of the imperfect tense.
5. Hallow God's name by avoiding
its unnecessary repetition.
C. Adopt the simple devotional
phrase of Scripture; but avoid the free
use of its figures, and all quaint and
doubtful application of its terms to
foreign subjects.
7. Pray to God and not to man.
Religious News and Note.
Ocean Grove, the famous camp
meeting ground, was unknown thir
teen years ago.
The Northern Presbyterian church
has 572,128 communicants and the
Southern church 124,806.
A writer in the Independent ex
presses the opinion that the Mahom
medan power is sick unto death.
There are five branches of tho
Methodist church in England, and
their aggregate increase in member
ship last year was 22,713,
The richest colored congregation in
the country is said to be that of St.
Augustine's Roman Catholic church,
Washington. The bett church music
at the Capital is alleged to 1 be that of
its choir.
Professor James D. Dana, of Yale
college, who has received higher honors
from European scientific societies than
any geologist now living in the United
States, says of the first chapter of
Genesis: "Examining it as a geologist,
I find it to be in perfect accord with
known science; therefore, as a Christian,
I assert that the Bible narrative must
be inspired." f(
It is related of Rev. William Ar
thur, tho President's father, that while
presiding over the Baptist church in
West Troy his choir drawled out the
hymn with variations, which did not
pleaso him, so he took his text and
preached two hours and forty minutes.
His head deacon grew impatient and
consulted his watch. "Keep your
watch in your pocket, Deacon Jones,"
said he. " You had a long Bing, and
now I am going to preach till I get
through."
Rev. Vivian Dodgson was lately en
gaged in preaching to a crowd of idlers
upon tho beach at Lowestoft, Eng
land, when suddenly loud cries for
help werv. heard coming from the sea.
Mr. Dodgson leaped from a barrel on
which he was standing and ran to the
water's edge. There he saw that a
boat had upset in the sea and that five
persons were struggling for their lives.
Without a moment's pause he rushed
into the water and swam out to the
struggling creatures. One woman he
brought safely to land, two were res
cued by others, and a child was saved
by a man in the overturned boat that
could swim. It is presumed that the
lloyal Humane society will confer a
medal upon Mr. Dodgson.
Rev. Frederick D. Power, who en
joys some reputation as being Presi
dent Garfield's pastor, and chaplain of
the House of Representatives, writes
the Christian Union concerning tho
" Christian " or " Disciple " church :
Tho religious people known as
" Christians," or " Disciples of Christ "
simply, had their origin in the early
half of tho present century in Ken
tucky, parts of Ohio and West Vir
ginia. Alexander Campbell, ef
Bethany, W. Va., was a prominent
teacher of the views held by them, and
after him they aro sometimes called,
but without their consent, "Camp
bellites." Since Mr. Campbell's death,
which occurred in 18t(, they have
made their mightiest strides. Though
tho youngest of tho religious bodies,
they have advanced from the foot of
the list to tho fifth rank, and are in
creasing at a rate of not less than
50,000 yearly. They now number
078,000 communicants in this country,
and have churches in England, Aus
tralia, France, Denmark, Turkey and
the island of Jamaica. Theirstrength
in the United States is chiefly in the
West and Southwest, Indiana, Illinois,
Kentucky, Missouri and Ohio having
the largest bodies. They support some
forty colleges and sixty religious
periodicals.
Tho gum of the palmetto, which is
found in abundance in Florida, makes
as good if not bi tter mucilage than
gum arabic.
A solid lump of pure silver, weigh
ing nearly a pound, was found near
Magnolia, X. 0., recently,