-s
- r
O. F. BGHWEIBB,
THE OON8TITUTION-THE UN I ON-AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAWS.
VOL. XLVIII.
MIFFLINTOWN, JUNIATA COUNTY. PENNA.. WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 22. 1894
NO." 36
AN AVERAGE KAN.
1 realist's story
Without any gush or Rlor?,
W itn no hd tlmentai llmetlghs
And no Ar.work display,
t itt pour old ignoramus
Who was never rich nor famous.
And who eoul.ln't ignite the river,
Ax.d ho worked out b tuedar.
A wry common feller
Ya this fcbeneyer Weller,
A'itb the osual share of virtues
And with vices two or three ;
JJe 'd no fatal gift of beamy,
IJJut an average sense of nuty,
v'sitlir very good nor evil
J oat about like you and we.
And he wed an axrrne woman.
Vary BJea and Tt ry human,
Jsst about Uke Eoeneier.
rieitbar very good nor bad ;
Oft in riarmonv they'd warble.
Often thry would scold and squabble,
Bat they lovei ach other dearly.
And they couldn't continue maid,
Wirror had enough on Monday
Je supply the bouse till bnnday,
Ji'vvmt made enough in April
To support theuiselvea in May ;
If they worked hard in November,
7bev inn at work hard in Deeember,
Ar.J the eoaxae bread of to-morrow
Wu the hard work of to-day.
They worried on, crew gray and grayer.
Yet they never made him mayor.
And ahe plucked no social honors.
And his wage, still were amall;
Then the load of year craw weighty
And thry died when tney were eighty.
And they put tbem in the graveyard.
And they left them there. That's ai
A realistic story,
W it bout any gush or glory.
Yet this fellow Kbenezer
Represents the human clan ;
His the average share of pleasure.
Bis the average lack of leisure.
His the average joy and sorrow
Of the common average man.
WATER l'UKISSIMA BELLS
Captain Sinion Matthews did some
am. s quote the Bible, but always in
a slighting, colloquial phrase and
merely to suit his private purposes.
For instance, '"that there apple
;.u-iness" was thrown at Josefa, nig
granddaughter, as an unanswerable
reason why she should not be given
the liberty of his orchard.
To irrigate, to spray, to annoint, to
fumigate his few trees was the anx
ious delight of his life. lie accounted
fur his enthusiasm over some fine
persimmons in words that might
ta?ily have had a human application.
I've watched that there fruit,"
ae'd say, "pit-kin' its way along from
a bud."
Josefa, too, or "Chepa," as she was
nicknamed, had been "picking her
way along" under his eyes.
She had pretty, caressing tricks,
would lay her soft, round cheek down
upon her grandfather's arm. But
children do not choose convenient
times. Old Matthews' attention was
absorbed by a thousand trifles. If
he was busy, the arm Chepa pressed
remained as irresponsive as a bone
under its flapping gingham sleeve.
Chepa had a feeling that her grand
,'ather locked her out of bis heart
with the same key clicking sharply in
the padlock of his orchard gate.
Indoors there was always her Aunt
Porflrlo, a representative of the Mexi
can element of Pueblo Viejo, where
Matthews had been settled these
thirty years.
The scnora secretly called the Cap
uin '-that robber." Had he not been
ready to snap up a bit of property
whenever her improvident country
men were forced to sell?
With a man's dullness the Captain
fiad never discovered this domestic
enemy, or how Chcpa's life was em
bittered by her.
She hated Chepa as the heiress ol
calf the Pueblo.
When Chepa's last and dearest
playmate, Tablo MciNamara, left the
dead town to seek a livelihood else
where the girl would have run away
from home; but, profoundly ignorant
as she was, a vague terror always ac
companied her speculations upon such
a course.
At 16 she had touches of beauty
iLout her Ut to dream upon; a rich
culpture of the lips, a dewy fire deep
in her dark eres, a glint of ravishing
color where her somber hair ridged
itself to the sun.
But she pondered too deeply about
he-se!f. There was much in her
lonely habits to draw her to forsaken
places. Such a place was one of the
piany ruins in Pueblo Vieja "Mer
cedes' house" it was called, after a
bride killed there by the falling of a
tila through a weak place in tho
thatch.
The dwelling, with all it contained,
had been superstitiously abandoned.
Such rooms as were open had beea
robbed by Indians, but the death
chamber at one end of the row, her
metically sealed by the weight of the
sinking roof, remained untouched.
A footpath leading from the placita
to the little Catholic Chapel on tho
m;t-kirts of the town would have
1 1. n shortened by going past Mer-;ed.-'
house, but curved off widely in
stead. A thicket of castor-bean and wilA.
tobacco grew rankly around it.
Chepa couid be sure of solitude there.
One afternoon she fled to Mercedes'
house in bitter revolt, fe'aegave vent
to her feelings with childish abandon
by tearing at the braids of her hair,
into which black strings had been
tightly woven a hideous Mexican
fashion.
She flung the string on the floor.
Her two braids divided into six deeply
waving strinds; she attacked each
strand, whipping it about. Iler
thoughts went even faster than her
fingers.
"My grandfather will do what h
pleases with his own," she declared,
addressing her aunt. Luise Porflrio,
in imagination. "You cannot 6top
him."
IVr loose locks spread gradualli
into a rich mass. She flung them
around until her head swam and an
electric lire awoke in each airy Ala
in en t.
The sunshine pouringdown through
the broken roof of the room where she
eat took this magnificent mist of hair
to itself, setting it allre.
Chepa was diverted from one cause
of o.ngcr to another.
"Is ibis Indian hair?" she asked, Id
a transport of scorn and delight.
For the Senora Porflrio had not
icept from her the ugly old rumor that
he; grano father's tlrst wife, her verit
able grandmother had leen, not a
Mexican woman, but an Indiao
squaw.
Little birds, accustomed to make free
with Mercedes' house, could not wait
' for the disappearance of that glorified
appartition.
Sitting silent on a rubbish-heap
lillca iu from the roof. Chena Xelt
MrtJ Crop lightly down beside her. '
She welcomed her visitor with a
half hiss, half whistle, a charm she
had learned from a Cahuilla Indian
girl.
With a hop the bird took tho edge
, tile-shard nearer to that rays
terious summons, no twisted his
head with insatiable curiosity.
As the hissing whistle went on in
quisitive twitterings fell from ragged
rringesof thatch overhead, excited
shadows winked across the sunshine;
bird after bird slipped down the gold,
en chute and alighted.
In the midst of this growing flock
Chja was cautiously gathering up
the hem of her gown so as to make a
leep bag.
Whistle, whistle. A knot of snaki
pass, stirred by Heaven knows what,
ror nothing else was stirring, rustled
with sound of life trailing by; but
t, bird took fright. Whistle,
whistle. A wild tobacco tree, whose
top, dripping slenderly over the
wall, dipped deep into the sunstrcam,
sprang up suddenly, riding some flaw,
and sprinkled Chepa and her en
hanced observers with sundrops.
Whistle, whistle. Swiftly Chepa's free
hand darted out to catch a bird, and
returning, whisk it into her improv
ised bag.
The other birds flew wildly away.
but Chena k nPW YlrtW irk lit pa fhnm
i v ,v juiv VUI.UI
back until her game pouch was as
full as she cared to have it.
What did she mean to do? With.
ut doubt the Cahuilla girl had kept
aer captives for the spit.
Chepa stood up, gathering the
klit of her gown closer and closer,
jhe talked to her prisoners aloud:
"You will never, never fly again:
no:"
An ever-recurring 'no" from the
Spanish tongue was shaded to infinite
meanings on Chepa's lips; was defer
intial, gracious, wistful, from mood
omood.
"Only your feathers will fly when
t pick them. One by one they will
ay away to the top of the trees;
.way high up to the sun."
The imprisoned birds chirped Iran
Sically. Chepa was thrilled by the
feel of their tiny feet kicking and
cratching.
"But you will be dead, dead, dead."
With this dire repetition she gav
the tumbling, palpitating mass an
jeatatic squeeze and let her gowo
rail.
The birds rolled downward as one,
Dut only far enough to catch then
wings, and whirr! They were slant
ing madly up the sunbeam up, up,
is if not to stop short of the sky.
I'hepa's very heart rose with them.
She stretched up her arms as if tc
ihare in their glorious liberation.
Her rebellious mood had given way
so an ecstasy of hope.
This hope had some foundation. A
orporation of medical specialists
were bargaining for a thousand acres
f her grandfather's land. They
were to build a sanitarium for con
mmptives, to plant gardens and or
:bards in which patients might work
tut their own cure.
The Captain thought it a magnsfl
:cnt scheme. He had gone into it
leart and soul, raising his price en
thusiastically from day to day. He
talked to Chepa incessantly, with
lashes of youth in his weak, old eyes,
f what he would do with changing,
pet always fabulous sums of money.
The birds were gone. Chepa sat
lown once more on the rubbish heap
:n the midst of her red-gold bush of
lair.
A dream of the future glittered
uid spun like the sunshine, adorably
pure, laden with balm and ozone
which men were coming to buy wltr
aer grandfather's land.
Out of this dream of the future,
advancing to meet the self she war to
be, came her lost playmate, Pablo
'tfdXamara.
He turned adoring eyes upon her.
"You are beautiful," he seemed tc
lay, '"and I love you."
A sound not human broke upon her
jars with startling nearness. Just
ne thrilling note, and at an omin
us interval another.
The bells of the Mater Purissima
a ad begun to toll.
Ineffably clear and
ind yet those tones
toundof remoteness.
hAt-rtrtait.Inn nrryi llfPli
right at hand,
had a 6lngulai
Kb material in-
this effect. It
oca a a. anlrttual nualitv. an aloofness.
In touch with the dead pueblo, with
Its summer-burned hills and the
teeping away of life.
Those vibrations as they widened
ut toward infinity took Chepa's soul
with them. Her dream of the future
passed Into them as a breath passes
Into a wide-winged wind and Is lost.
She rose quickly and went to look
through the great blossom brushes of
the castor-bean with an instinctive
sffort to lay hold upon some object
that would bring back the present to
aer senses, bring back her hopes for
the future.
Beyond the thicket, across a sun
baked open space, stood the little
:hapcl. As through a mist she saw
its side door standing open, its dark
Interior showing as a niche of shadow.
Rude figures which the sunshine
jould not enliven were crowding out
f this shadow. One of them bore
1 tiny box decorated with gay tatter9
Df cloth and paper.
"It is only an Indian baby," Chepa
said, in a daze.
Behind the charpel rose up austere
ly the bare posts and cross-beams
where the bells hung, or, as now,
rolled languidly against the blue ol
the deep sky.
Seen through these posts as in t.
frame, immeasurably perpectives of
wild land merged in the sapphire up
lift of False Bay.
Upon this vacant water the after
noon was passing in flights of gofaen
arrows.
Would those bells never cease! Tht
priest who, only, had the right to
ring them was tying back their con
secrated tongues.
But whenever Chepa awoke that
night their vibrations seemed to be
c m .i.ionini, mit.ward from her brain.
Chepa's heart was full of delirious
expectations. The hours that sepa
rated her from a new life of travel
and luxury, such as her grandfather
had garrulously pictured, were on
their way. At noon sharp, that very
day. the great land deal was to be
consummated.
At 10 o'clock, giving up an attempt
to spend ths.mprnjag, as ujiua4Jnb13
orchard, the Captain had dressed
himself with distinct reference to his
dignity as a man of means.
The taiki of his gingham shirty
wont to flow free, were tucked in.
His hair, ordinarily left to draggle in
gray wisps over his shoulders, was
drawn up and spread painstakingly
thin to conceal an extensive baldness.
A strong musty odor exaled from a
brand new silk handkerchief knotted
about his throat
Chepa, on tiptoe with exultation,
Announced to him constantly how
many more teams and horses were
Pitching in the piacita.
He remarked with an air of pride:
They've heered of this big 'buy
ill over the country."
The Senor rorfirio, who had tatter,
the Captain's side against Luise Por
flrio and other mossback opponents of
the sale, dawdled uneasily back and
forth between bis open door and the
Captain's.
"You might spring an advance of
Jve thousand on them," he advised at
the last minute. "They would not
let their scheme fall through for live
housand."
"Think ye? Think ye?-' demanded
the Captain, grouping and regroup
ing his wrinkles to the expression of
rarylng shades of cupidity.
With the suddenness that surprises
us in things long waited for, the great
interview was actually taking place.
Chepa bad fled to an adjoining
room to listen. Her head and heart
throbbed together with joy theD
terror.
Was. that her grandfather's voict
orcaking out furiously?
"Who's made ye a better offer'
Porflrio? He hasn't an acre in his
wn right. Forty dollars an acre?
Take him up, then, and when your
improvements are in see if there ain't
a right o' dower or trust deed, some
d n Mexican trickery, trumped up
to drag ye into litigation?"
If Senor Porflrio had spoiled Cap
;aln Matthews' sale the Captain
looked to a prompt return of the at
tention. Those eminent specialists went else--here,
leaving Pueblo Viejo to its old
ways.
After such a terrible disappoint
ment Chepa found the deadly monot
ony of things indoors unendurable.
A golden perch swimming in circles
oounded by a glass bottle startled so
stupidly at nothing. The round
wooden clock on a bare wooden shelf
was perpetually rolling over on its
bead and ticking placidly upside
down. When Chepa was half mad
with drawing threads from endless
strips of perfllada, her aunt's favorite
species of Spanish lace, she ran des
perately to her grandfather.
She found him talking aloud tc
himself as he stooped over a pepper
vine. She laid her cheek, pale with
thoughts, upon the arm he needed to
have free.
"What's the matter of ye anyhow?"
ne shouted. v
She had startled him when he was
deeply pre-occupied.
"Let go, there? Eh, eh?"
Chepa had said something in a low
tone which he could not hear.
He jerked his face up at her ana
instantly, in the intensity of a peev
ish inquiry, drew his toothless lips
apart.
What has an old man of 80 to dc
vith storms of feeling?
In the Captain's agitation he pulled
off a green pepper and stood up fum
bling at it and blinking his weak old
?yes at Chepa.
"What's on ye, Chepa?"
She tried to speak, but could onlj
draw her breath hard.
The Captain's discomfort pusher!
him to seek relief in a general accusa
tion. "Weemen are al'ays hankerin fcr
lomethin'."
"Grandfather," said Chepa with z.
deep, still gaze upon him, and a child
ish quiver of her lip, "could not a girl
like me be a religious, a nun? Is it
not good, no?"
How had the Captain's life pre
pared him to answer such a query?
"Who's been a-talkln' to ye?"
"Xobody sure, no. I think of it
myself."
"I've got along all my life and 1
ain't goin' to begin givin' in to such
notions. You're your grandmother
all over."
With the green pepper still in hU
nand he had disemboweled it and ate
the carcass with a furious churning of I
the jaws. His eyes were redder than
usual from the burning.
"But when she got ane o' her spelH
a' hankerin' on I jest upped and off
fer a week's huntin'. When I got
back she was pcrtty generally ready
to take things as they come."
Grandfather," taid Chepa, looking
at him as never before, with eyes that
summoned htm before the judgment
bar of a soul, "I have often thomrh
to myself I would ask vou, Is that
tory true that I hear? Wa9 my
rand mother an Indian?"
Her lip quivered, not childishly
aow, as she waited.
"Is it true, grandfather?"
He answered sharply, "You're a
ool"' and turned his back on her. i
As Chepa was going vaguely out of i
the garden she saw Pablo McKamara
whirling away from the town in a '
jaunty dog-cart. j
Dead grasses flickered ghost-like in
the placita. The sunshine absorbed I
there by dark walls lay dimly as in an .
eclipse. j
At a curbless well, covered by a lid 1
let into the street like a trap-door, a '
superannuated horse was waiting for
some one to give him a drink. He
blew his nostrils at Chepa and pawed
at the wooden lid. j
She drew water and gave him to
drink. i
The chapel door was standing open
apon the eternal shadow of its in
terior. A Driest praying alone before
the altar did not look up while Chepa 1
stood about. i
Behind the chapel those bells
jcemcd to be forever waiting for youth '
to be dead and borne to its burial.
A second time that strange seizure!
Staring up soberly at tho bells Chepa
found the present with its despair
trembling outward from her soul to
possess that vacant landscape, the
world, eternity itself, in ripples .of
solemn sound. v
S . "
: AstjajureejenJihaiIQulcieBcd
rueblo Yiejo Into gal van Ic'sembTance
f life.
Chepa Matthews' sudden disappear
ince was associated with Pablo Mc
Kamara's equally sudden departure
from that section cf the country.
ButCapt. Matthews charged furi
ously upon all gossips with another
theory. His "little Chepy" had lcen
"inveigled away" from him by priests
who wanted his-land.
An Indian boy stoning birds near
Mercedes' house heard a strange
sound in there.
The house had a', ways been haunted,
ft was long before men were led to
ttarch it.
A heap of stones and tiles rudely
tinmlating a flight of steps led from
the earthen floor up to the roof ol
Mercedes' death chamber.
Looking throii ;!i the ruinous hatch
into tliL- cdl-like glto;u below a sight
,o chill the Mood was seen.
Kooteil amid dust and cobwebs, hei
wild hair in a sunless mist, stood
what had been Chepa Matthews.
Her arms hung rigidly down in front
ot her; the hands, locked together,
made one fist.
At odd moments, far apart, moved
oy some blind mechanism, her arms
lifted toward her breast, the list
sinote there, and a voice, not hers,
but hollow and vibrant, answered the
stroke as a bell its clapper. One
lamentable great tone, and : t ouiinouf
intervals another and another:
oh-h: oti-h: oa-h:"
Then marble silenco again. De
.out Catholics saw how this affliction
had come about.
Had not that robber of a captain
,ust "floated a claim"' over the land
an which the chapel stood?
To punish this heretic, those blessed
jells had "gone to Chepa Matthews'
brain."
Solemn groups stand for hurs at
iafe distances from Mercedes' house
to hear and shudder at those lament
able great tones.
"Oh-h! Oh-h! Oh-h:'
Thus ringing her own knell dies
Chepa Matthews, aged 10.
No other knell is rung for her
Tho pif.-stly guardian of the bells
will ihTu untie their austere sweet
tongues.
i:i1iralmH Sin.
L'ncle Silas was a very ho:iest. and
pious old colored man who preached
op. Sundays,and had a great influence
for good upon the others in thi set
tlement During one of his revival
seasons, among a dozen or so at tho
mourners bench, was a black boy
called Eph. about 20 years old, and
for a long time unregenerate. Uncle
Silas was greatly rejoiced to see him
come forward, and at once went to
him. Kph was crying.
"Hain't no use in mv comin' up,'
he sobbed. "I'se sinned away deday
ob grace. "
"No, vou ain't, brudder," protested
Uncle Silas. "You am de kiu' what
de Lawd wants to save . All you got
to do is to gib up sin."
"I'se dun done dat. Uncle SKas,"
sobbed Kph, "but dey ain't no salva
tion fer me."
"Yes dey is, too, honey. I ley ain't
no sin so black dat hit ain't washed
white as snow."
"I clone "stole fo chickens las'
week," confessed the penitent.
"Dat's all fuggib, Eph'm."
"An' two de week befo', Uncli
Silas."
"Dat's fuggib, too, Eph'm."
"An' two de week befor'dat. Undo
Silas."
"Uat's all right, too, Eph'm.
"But dem two was you'n,
Uncle
Silas. Dem fat pullets you low'd so
much sto' bv. Uncle Silas."
"Wha dat?" exclaimed Uncle Silas,
suddenly.
"Item las' two wuz yo' pullets,
Uncle Silas," sobbed Eph.
Uncle Silas became solemn and
6tern.
"I reron, Eph'm," he said, slowly,
"You' case needs advisement wid
pra'r. I ain' sho dat we wanter lie
clutterin' up de Kingdom of Ilebbcn
wid chicken thieves, an' you better
stay right on de nio'ners' bench till
dc mectin' am done, an' we kin
dezamine yo' state ob sin for per
ticklers." Free Press.
Capt. Cable. Crew of Slave..
The death of Capt. George W.
Cable, one of the earliest of Missouri
River stcaniboatmen, cuts the list of
old-timers notably. He was 84 years
Did when he died. He had been
master, mate, engineer, owner, and
pilot, nc was 23 when he began his
zarecr. In rive years he was a
licensed engineer. Three years later
be was coui missioned as a pilot from
New Orleans to the llocky Mountains
and on the Upper Mississippi to St
Faul. As those were the days of mag
nificent salaries in the steamboating
busltcss, Capt. Cable made a great
deal of money by carefully invest
ing the liberal pay that he received.
It was not long until he became a
steamboat owner in his own name.
Of the famous boats of the forties
and fifties that he owned the Edward
Walsh. George Collier, Mary Mc
Donald, and Luther Kcnnett were
the largest and fastest Later ho
was master and part owner of the
John Anil, probably the fastest boat
that ever cut the muddy waters of
the Missouri Kiver.
The crew of the Aull were negro
slaves, the property of the boat man
agement. When Capt. Cable was
roo;i prosperous he used to while
away the evenings on the hurricane
deck, throwing handfuls of silver
half-dollars into the air, letting them
fa!:n the forecastle, where he could
watch the crew scramble for them.
Misfortune overtook hiiu with the
joinings of the railroads. His boats
and other property were swept away,
leaving him in his old age poor in
money and health, with only a
memory of the brighter days to cheer
him.
The sooner a man becomes convinced
of the things ha can't do the quicker lir
wi'l succeed in life.
Measured by our time standard,
there are forty years of constant day
light, followed by forty years of un
broken night, around the poles ol
Uranus. And the sun rises in the wee
and sets in the east there.
If thou thy part do well, the prize ii
sure; all shall inheret bliss who to th'
end endure. " "
Ibev. dr. mm.
THE BROOKLYN DITINE S SUN
DAY SJSRMON.
Subject: TIi Tragedy of Dress."
Tet "Whoso adorning let it not ho that
outward aflornias of plniting the hair and
tha wearing ot gold or of putting on ot ap
pare), bat let It b ths hidden man of tha
heart." I Peter ill., 3, 4.
That we should all be clad Is proved by
ths opening of thetirnt wardrobe in paradfcw,
with Its apparel ot dark: gnea. That we
shook! aU, aa far as our mniuis allow ui, fee
I'eautlfnlly and graoefully appareled la
proved by the tart that God never made a
wave tot He gilded it with golden sunbeams,
or a tree but He garlanded it with blossoms,
or a sky but He studded tt with stars, or al
lowed even the smote of a furnaoe toasoend
but He columned an l turreted and domed
and scrolled it into outlines ot indeserilable
gracefulnpos. Wtieu I see the apple or
chards of the spring nud the pnrmntry ot
the autumnal forcets, I come to the conclu
sion that, if nature does ever Join the nhurub,
while she may be a Quaker in the silence of
her worship, she never will be a Quaker in
the Kyle ot her dreeo. Why the notches of
a frn leaf or the Mitmcn of a water lily?
Whv, when the day departs, doos it let the
folding doors of heaven stay open SO long
when it might go in so quickly?
One summer morning I saw an army ot a
million spenrs, euch one adorned with a
diamond ot the first water I mean the
grass, with the dew on it. When the
prodigal came home, his father not only
put a cont on his bock, but jewelry on hut
hand. Christ woro a beard. Paul, the
bachelor apostle, not nffllcted with any
sentimentality, admired the arrangement of
a woman's hair when he said in his epistle,
"If a womnn have long hair, it is a glory
unto nor.
There will be a fashion in heaven as on
earth, but it will be a different kind of
fashion. It will decide the color of the dreus,
and the population ot that country, by a
reantiful law, will wur white. I say thueo
things as a background to mr sermon to
show you that I have no prim, precise,
prudish or vat iron theories on the subjoet
of human apparel. Uut the goddess of
fashion has set up her throne in this world,
and at thoHoun 1 of tlie timbruls we are all
expeeted to tail down and worship. The
Old and New Testament of her litole are
j the fashion plates. Her altars smoke with
I II U I L1L l ..111 W,,,T30, 1UUIUO U'. 1'u 1. 1.
of 10.000 victims. Jn her temple foir
people stand in the organ loft, and from
thm there oomee down a cold driz-Ele of
muc, frerzing on the eurs of her worshipers.
This goddeea of fashion has become a rival
of the Lord of heaven nnd earth, and it is
biirti time that wo un!itubrd our batteries
BU.tiust this idolatry Wb'n I come to
count the victltrs of fanhlon. I And aa many
maeuline as feminine. Men make an eaxy
tirade against woman, as though she were
the chief worshiper at this Idolatrous
brine, and no doutit some men in the more
conspicuous part of the pew have already
east glances at the more retired part of the
pew, their look a prophecy of generous dis
tribution. My sermon shall be as appropriate
for one end of the pew as fort he otner
Men ore as much the idaiators of fashion
as women, but they snenHee on a di:Tt-r.-nt
port of the altar, With men the fashion
goee to cicars and c'.ubrooms and yachting
parties and wine suppers. In the Uuit-l
States the men chew up and smoke tlOO,
000.000 worth of tobacco every year. That
is their fashion. In London not long atro a
man died who started in life with t750,OL0,
bat he ate it all up iu gluttonies, sen-ting hk
agents to all pans of tne earth for some rare
delicacy for the plat sometimes one plate
of food costing him ;)00 or 9400. He ate
up hU whole fortune and had only a guinea
left. With that he bought a woodcock and
bad it dressed in the vory bust style, ate It,
gave two hours for diunition, then walked
out on Westminster bridgeond threwhimself
into the Thames and died, doing on a large
Male what you and I have often seen done
on a small scale. Hut men do not ahetain
from milUnery and elaboration of skirt
through any superiority ot humility. It is
only because such app'-niages would bo a
blockade to business. What would snU'-s
and trains three and a halt yards long do in
a stock market? And yet men are the dls
eipln of fanhion just ns much as women.
Home of them wenr boots so tight they can
hardly walk in the paths of righteousness.
And then are men who buy expensive fcults
ot elothe and never pay tor thm. and who
go through the streets in great stripes ol
color like animated checkerboards. I say
these things because I want to show you that
I am lmtartlal in my discourse, nsl that
both sexes, in the language of the snrro
gale'a office, shall "share and shore alike.
As God may help me, I snail show you what
are the de-i. roving and deatuful influences
of inordinate fashion.
The lir-t baleful Influence I notice is In
fraud, illimitable and ghastly. Do you know
that Arnold of the revolution proposed to
sell his country in esvier to gat mosey to
support bis wife's wardrarai? I tootars hers
before God and this people that the ?Trt to
keep np expensive establishments ml this
country is Bending more business men to
temporal perdition than all other causes
combined. What was it that sent Oilman to
the penitentiary and Philadelphia Morton to
the watering of tock, and the life insurance
presidents to perjured statements n ho tit
their assets, and ha completely upset our
Aaerican finances? What was it that over
threw the United Slates secretary at Wash
tntrtoa. tha crash of whose fall shook the
continent t Uut why shouM t go to these fa
mous defaultlngs to show what men will d
in order to keep up great home style and ex
pensive wardrobe when you snd I know
scores of men who are put to their wits' eu i
and are iaebed from .Tnnuarr to bwiculjt
in the attempt? Our politician may theor
ies until the expiration of their terms of of
fice as to the best way of improving our
monetary condition in this country It will
be of no use. and things will be no oettor
until we can learn to put on our heads and
backs and feet and hands no more than we
oan pay for.
There are clerks in stores nnd banks on
limited salaries who. in the vain attempt to
keep the wardrobe of their family as snowy
as other folks' wardrobes, are dying of muffs
and diamonds nnd shawls and high hats, and
they have nothing left except wimt they give
to cigars nnd wine suppers, and they die be
fore their time, nndthey will exp-?ct us min
isters to preach about t item as thougti they
were the victims of early piety, and afti-r a
high class funeral, with silver handles at the
side of the Icoffln of extraordinary bright
ness, It will be found out that the under
taker is cheated out of his legitimate ex
penses. Do not send to me to preach tin
funeral sermon of a man who dies like that
I will blurt out the whole trut and tell that
he was strangled to death by his wife's rib
bons. Our countries are dr--eed to death.
Ton are not surprised to find that tho put
ting up one public building in New York
cost millions ot dollars more than tt ought
to have cost when you find that tue man
who gave out the contracts paid more than
5000 for his daughter wedding dress.
(fl"J"TH of S thpil" 'Jl l 'Wl--' '- -
not rare on Broadway. It Is estimated teat
there are 10,000 women In these two cities
who hare expended on their personal array
t000 a year.
What are men to do In ordr to keep np
suoh home wardrobes? Steal? That is the
only reepeotabie thing they can do ' During
the last fifteen yean there have been in
numerable One businesses shipwrecked on
the wardrobe. The temptation comes in
this way A man thinks more of his family
thaa of all the world ontstde, and if they
Spend the evening in describing to him t'5
superior wardrobe of the family across tb
street that theycannot bear the siffht of te
man Is thrown on his gallantry and on his
pride of family, and without translating hi9
feelings into plain language be goes into ex-
tortlon and issuing false stock ami skillful
penmanship in writing someboly else's
name at the foot of a promissory note, and
they all go down together the husband to
the prison, the wife to the s -wing machiruaVtribnlation, are entering into the kingdom ot
tne cauitren to oe taken care ot oy tnose wns
were called poor relations. OV for some new
ihe children to be taken care of by those wNswrGod. Christ announced who would make
1 1 I .!... 1 - SI. t- ! 1 I 3 11 , I. U ..n Uaa.ll
Shakespeare to arise an J writj the tragedy
of human elothes 1
Will yow forgive me if I say In tersest
ihaps possible that some ot the men have to
forge and to perjure and to swindle to pay
for their wives' dressus. I will say it whether
Fa foMire me ox not '
Again. inordinate fashion la the foe of all
Christian almsgiving. Men nnd women put
so rnu -h in personnl display that they otten
iiavn nothing for Cod and the ciuse of suf
fer hu:n:inity. A Christian m ui crackin g
h i'.ilais Hoyal glove across the back by
shutting up hu ImjU to 111 lethe cent he puts
into the poortiox. A Christian womoji, at
the story or the Hottentots, crying colons
tears into a t'la handkerchief and then civ-
. ing a two ueut piece to the collection, thrift-
inu' " "-it biiid so people wul not know but
it was a f 10 goidpiece. One hundred dol
lars i or inoanse to fashion; two cents tor
(tod. Ood gives us ninoty cents out of every
dollar. The other ten eents by command ot
His Bible belong to Him. la not God liberal
according to Hist tithing system laid down
In the Old Testament? Is not Ood liberal in
riving us ninety cents out of a dollar when
He takes but ti? We do not like that. Ws
want to have ninety -nine evnta for ourselves
nd one for God.
Now, I would a great deal rather steal tea
ynta from yon than from Qo.I I think one
reason why a great many people do not get
U'- ; in werMly accumulation foster Is be
ause they do not observe this divine rule.
i 3od says, 'Well, if that man is not satisded
with ninety cents of a dollar, then I will
:ake the whole dollar, and I will give it to
:ho man or woman who is honest with Me."
Th Krealeet obstacle to charity in the Chris
.ian oburch to-day is the fact thnt men ex
Bend so much money on their table, and wo
nen so niuoh on their drees, they have got
lothlng left for the work of God and the
world's betterment. In my first settlement
it Belleville, N. J.. the rjiwi o" missions
was being presented one S ihbath, and a plea
'or the cn.inty of the people was being made,
when an old Christian man in the audience
to his balance ani said right out in the
xiidat of the sermon, "Mr. Talinage, how are
we to give liberally to those grand and glorl
u causes when our families dress as they
lot" I iid not answer that question. It
was the onU- ti no iu u;y life w.ien I ha 1
nothing to si v.
Aeain, inor.hnve fa-iaion Is riUtraelloa to
pn'ille worship. You know very well there
are a good many people who come to church
Jnt as they sro to the races to se who will
come out first. What a flatter it makes in
' church when so-ne vmin with extraordi
nary display of f iahlo i eo nes In ! ''What a
love of a l oiinM ' cays one. "What a per
fect fnsht 1" aiys 50). Tor tho most merci
less critics in the world are fashion critics.
Men and women with souls to be save 1 pass
ing the hour in won li-riug wluro that man
got his cravat or wh.-.t storo that woman
patron: s.
In many of our chnrclnie the preliminary
exerc-s are taken up with the discussion
of warlrobes. It is piti ible. Is it not won
derlul that the Lord does not strike the
meeting houses with lightninK? Wh.it dls-i
traetlou of puMIc worshipl Dying men and,
and women, whose bodies we soon to be
turned into dost, yet bsfore three worlds
strutting like peacocks, the awful question
of the soui's destiny submerge I by the ques
tion of navy blue vtlvet and long fau train
skirt, long enong to drag no the church
aisle, the haaand's ntop'. offl.re. shop, fac
tory, fortune an i the a-lmiration or half the
people in the building! M-n anl women
come late to ohnrch to show their clothes.
People sitting down in a pew or taking up a
bymnbook, ait absorbed at the s ime time iu
personal array, toslng :
R'e, mv oal, and stretch thy wing;
Tny b-W-r portion trace.
Rise from transttorr thtnws
Toivftr 1 h&Ten, 1117 native place.
1 adopt the Kn's-opillm prayer an t sir,
"Good Lord, deliver m "
Insatiate fashion also bl!ttles the intel
lect. Our minds are enlarged or they dwin
dle just in proportion to the import'ta -a of
the subject on which we constantly dwell.
Can you imagine anything more dwarfing to
the human intellect than the study of fash
lonf I see men on the street who, judging
from their elaboration, must hive taken two
hours to arrange their apparel. After a few
yesirs of that kind of absorption, which on )
of McAllister's magnifying glass will be
powerful enough to make the man's caanw
ter visible? They all land In idiocy.
I have seen men at the summer watering
places, through fashion, the mro wreck of
what they once were. Sallow of chee -.
Meagre of limb. Hollow at the chest. Sho -ing
no animation save in ruhimr aero 1
room to pick up a lady's fan. Simpering
alongthu corridors the same eomplim-nt-4
they Htmpared twenty years ago A Xew
York lawyer at UiiltM Stat" Hut d. S tr.i
toa, within our ceariuir. rashel n-ross a
room to say to a sensible woman, "1'oa ai 1
as sweet as pea-h The foils o faahlo 1
are myriad. Fashion not ouly destroys the
boly, but It makes idiotic the intelleot,
Yet. my friends, I have giv-n vou only tho
milder phase of this evil. It shu sa great
multitude out of heaven. Tum first peiil
thunder that shook ijinai demanHl. "l'TVi
Shalt have no other Go 1 before Me," and
you will have to choos h-tween the go Mvs
ot fashion and the Chritian Go I. There
are a irreat many seats in hoarsu, and they
are all easy seats, tun not one sent lor the
devotee of fashion. Heaven is for raeek anl
quiet spirits. Heaven Is forthoe who think
more of their souls thnn of thoir ho lies.
Heaven is for those who have more joy iu
Christian charity than In dry goo is religion.
Why. if you. with your idolatry of fashion,
sheu! i somehow git into heaven, you would
be fur putting a French roof on the "homo
of many mansions." Give up this idolatry
of fas!iion or give up heaven. What would
you do standing beside the Countess of
Huntiuirton. whose joy It was to build
chapels for the poor, or with that Christian
woman ot Boston who fe I 100J children of
the street at Fanemil Hall on New Year's
day, giving out as a sort of doxology at the
end of the meeting n pair of shoes to eaeii
one of them, or those Dorcases of mo lorn
soe'etv who have consecrated their nee lien
to the" Lord, and who will get eternal rewir I
for every stitch they take?
Oil. men and women, give up the idolatrj
of fashion! The rivalries nu.i the competi
tions of such a life are a stupendous wretch
edness. You will always hud some one witb
brighter array and with more palatial resi
aenee, and wttsi mvnder kid gloves that
make a tighter fit. And if vou buy this thing
and wnr It vou will wish you had bought
something els and vceaw tr. And the frets
ofsneha life will bring the crow's teet to
yonr temples Vpfore they are due, and when
yon come to die you will have a miserable
tim. I have w'n men and women of fash
ion die, and I never saw one of them die
well. The trappings off, there they lay on
the tumbled pillow, and there were just two
thingsthat bothered them a waste I life and
a coming eternity. I could not paeiTy thorn,
for their body, mind and soul had been ex
hausted iu the worship of fashion, snd they
eonl I not anpreidnte the gospel. When I
knelt by their bedsido, they were mumbling
out their regr.its an t saying. '"0 do 1 1 O
God1" Their garments hung up in the
wardrobe, never again to lie seen by them.
Without any exception, so far as my mem
ory serves me, they die I without hopo and
went into eternity unprepared.
The most ghastly deathbeds on earth nro
tbeone where aman dies of delirium tremens
and the other where a woman diesafter hav
ing sacrificed all h;tr faculties of body, mind
and soul in the worship of fashion. My
friemis, we must appear in judgment to an
swer for what we have worn on our bodies as
well as for what repentences we have exer
cised with our souls.
On that day I see coming in Bean Bru-n-mel
of the last century, without his cloak,
like which all F.ni-land got a clonk, nnd with
out his cane, like which nil England got a
cane, without bis snuiTnox. like wiilcii all
England cot a snuffiiox ne, the fop of the
age-, particular about everything but his
morals, nnd Aaron Burr without tno lett -rs
that down to old nire b showed iu pri :e to
prove his early wicked gallantries, an 1 Ab
salom without his hair, and Marchioness
Pompadour w thont her titles, nnl Mrs.
Arnold, the belle of Wall street, when that
was the center of fashion, without her frip
peries of vesture.
And in great hagg tr lnes they shall go
away into eternal expatriation, while am ing
the qneens of heavenly society will ba found
Tasuti, who wore the inodst veil before the
palatial bacchanalians, an 1 Han-lab, who
annually ma le a little coat for Samuel at the
temple, aufl Grandmother Lois, the ances
tress of Timothy, who .imitaled her virtue,
and Mary, who gave Jesus C!iriSt to the
world, and many of you, the w.vjs and
mot beta and sisters and daug iters of the
present Christian church, who, through great
Whosoever doeth the will of God, the Sams
Is My brother. My sister, Mv mother."
Tbo angriest enr will fawn at tho
feet of a begger if Le has a bone to
throw him.
WITH HIS WHIP.
I ''"-llid.oJ the Kevolver From tho Sap
! Itoliher's I! m.l.
j 'lThcra is quits a difference be-v
iftcen stuging iu the early days of
th ' State and now," said William'
j Miller, th : owner of the stae line
running from Cazaaero to Lkiah.
"When I ramn here from Boston
in 1854, I drifted about a bit, and
dually went into the service of,
Charles McLaughlin, the man who
was afterward killed by Jerome
Cox. He was the owner of the longest
stage line in California at that time.
It ran with relays from San Joie to
Los Angeles.
'I reuiemher once, in a Jonely
coast range canyon, through Thich
the road wound, we had a little ex
perience that was thrilling for the
moment, It was about 10 o'clock and
a moonlight night. I was just put
ting: the horses through. The staue
was full of passengers, and t ere was
a heavy treasure box.
"Ju t as I got around a bend in
the roa 1 1 saw a figure of a man on
hor-ebacit st inding by the side of the
road. He yelled to stop, and I saw a
Klin barrel gleam in the moonlight.
The horses were going at a speed
that might be callefl breakneck, and
1 ust made up my mind to taki the
c ancc of t'cttinvr through. 1 saw
the gnu raised to the lellow's shoul
der as we approached. 1 haa my
Iong whip in my hand, and with a
iesperatiun born of peril of the mo
iiient 1 made a vicious swipe at him.
"1 don't knowiow itoccurred, but
the lash wound itself around thrf
j;un, and as we dashed by the whip
was drawn taut, and I knew it had
caught, s-o held fast. I was nearly
pulled out of my seat, but the gun
was dragged from the robber's hand
and fell to the ground, at the same
time it was discharged by the shock.
It rattled along the road for o,uite a
distance before the whiplash un
wound itself. 1 don't know what the
highwayman thought, but I'll bet he
was surprised." San Francvsco ( all.
I.iglitin"; from Storage.
Lighting cars electrically by stor
fijre Latteries has now been practiced
on the Chesapeake and Ohio road for
s-imc months and at present ciuht
coaches, eiht combination, eight ex
j ress, live dining and four postal cars
are provided with the necessary ap
paratus. A comparative statement
jl the cost of working: and mainten
ance, lndluding interest charges of
these thirty-three ca s, twenty-one
cars lighted by l'intsch gas and 137
tars lighted with kerosene oil hat re
rcntly been tent to the General Man
t.' ier ot the road. The report states
i hat the cost of the electric lighting
is about 13 per cent less than that
of lighting by l'intsch gas and 70
per cent, more than with kerosene
lamp- The st'iraue batteries are
l.o.'d in oblong boxes weighing com
plete about t:0J pounds, forty boxes
be'ug enough to light an ordinary
ttiac-h from .New York to Cincinnati
;u l return, althorgh most of the cars
tarry six boxes. In the run between,
these cities tho apparatus rerjuires no
attention vhatcer, the trainmen
turning the lijht on and oil as re
quired. The cells are charged ati
Covington, Ky., where there are two
dynamos driven by a seventy horse
power engine running steadily ten
hours a day. The battery is built
up of lead plate3 laid horizontally,'
the positive and negative plater be
ing separated by a special packing.
The negative plates wear out very
slowly, say in e'ght or nine years,
but the life of the positive plates is;
only about eighteen months. Al
though the plates a:e kept in rub
ber ce le and are handled carefully at
the i barging stations, tho constantj
jarring of the cars is found to hasten,
their destructi hi, ju-t as does the
'arring of street railway cars.
Mahan on liati le iSliips. j
Capt. Mahan was asked some ques-. '
tions the other day by an English-
man about thp battle ship of the fu-:
t ;ro, ana this was his answer: "Mil-
itary superiority in warfare depends;
upon heavy blows struck at the
enemy's organized fighting force,
uch blows must be struck by massed
forces, the units of which should bo
individually powerful for offense and
defense, because so only can they be
brought under t he unity of command
essential to success. The same agi I
gregatc of force in two or throe dlf-
ferent, ves.;o!i wl I rarelff bp nminl tr
that concentrated in (die. because of"
the diiliculty of insuring mutual sup
port. This means heavy vessels or.
battle ships. Of course, like all
other statements, this means limita-!
tion. The sie of vessels is condi
tioned not only by construction con-,
sulerations, but by the fact that you
need to scatter at times as well as'
concentrate. This involves the ne
cessity of diviaing your force into
several vessels, because a ship onco
built cannot be divided. Uetween
the two horns of the dilemma you
must strike a mean; but always a
battle ship.
Condiments.
To those who preach simplicity of
iict, condiments seem not only un
necessary but injurious. Why, they
ask, should one take apiece of cheese
the '-higher" the better, of course
after a full mea", or why is it that
we i'avor our viands with sauce this
or sa'.ce that? Science has an answer
ready: Itecause tho condiments,
pickles and cheese are all so many
substances which tends to I'avor a
flow of the digestive secretions.
They stimulate digestion, in other
words, because thev cause an in
creased s cretion of the saliva and of
gastric juice wherewith ourfoods are
part indigested. Again, they are
agreeable to the palate, and the men
tal influence which is thus shed on
the assimilation of food is of no
mean value in determining that good
digestion should "wait on appetite."
The first known European library
originated in the present to the family
of lirgulus by tho Iloman Senate of
all the books seized at the capture of
Curtti-igo.
Only two people attend a real pic
nlc. 3So womax can lace herself so tight
4s a man can drink himself.
. There are 13,009 varieties of postage
itaaiM in the worliA
I
A GOOD BREAD CRUSADE. .'
An Englishman Will Try to Accomplish
Much Needed Reform.
Of all the crusades recently started
for the refor.n, improvement, or pro.
pagotion of this, that, or tho other,
the very latest is one looking to tha
ne Iter ment of physical mankind
through the correction ot dietetic er.
rors of various sorts into which civil
ized people have fallen. An English
man named Herbert William Hart ij
the high priest and moving spirit ol
this crusade, and although 55 yean
of age, he is said to be a most c m.
vlnclng example of the excellence of
bis ideas as applied. Mr. Hart and
such followers as he has alreadt
gained . hold to the belief that the
nervousness, lack of reserve force,
and general want ot robustness
among moderns, especially the clas-ea
living in cities and engaged in seden
tary occupations, are due almost en
tirely to lack of proper nourishment.
Even the present labor and business
troubles, theyaver, are due to mental
depression and excitement superin
duced by want of wholesome and di-
I crest.lblft food.
"With the meat we eat and tho veg
etables even, the crusaders have no
particular quarrel. It is the bread
that a majority of the clvilied pco.
pie of to-day put into their stoma In
which Mr. Hart and his disciples
severely condemn as being innulrit
ious, provocative of fermentation and
consequent dyspepsia and other dis
orders, and altogether harmful in
various ways. Our bread, made o;
bolted and reboltcd wheat Hour, pay
they, contains little else but starch,
and starch docs not supply neaily ail
the requirements of the human sys
tem. Wheat, as taken from straw,
contains a number of elements elim
inated in the modern milling pro.
cesses which are absolutely necessary
to the restoration of tissue and the
formation of blood an i bona Conse
quently bread should be made from
whole wheat flour i. e. Tour suanu '
factured by the si mole process of
crushing the wheat g.ains. It was
upon such flour, says .Mr. liart, that
the apostles built up the constitu
tions which enabled t hem to perform
their great work ot evangcliat ion a
work requiring wounderful physical
energy and endurance as well as great
mental power, it was upon whole
wheat f.ou ', they sav, that tha
Greeks became the most learned, the
most artistic, and the handsomest
people the world has known, and
upon It the Konians nourished the
warriors and statesmen which made
their capital the mistress of h8
whole known world. Shakspearc,'
most industrious and lertilc-bralned
of all poets and writers, was wont to
take his own selected grain to Lucy's
mill and have it made into meal from
which no element was eliminated,'
and the American and African abo
rigines, whose splendid health and
sinewy frames have caused the white
man envy, never ate breadstuff of anv
other kind than that containing Mic
whole grain until brought into con
tact with civilization.
Lime, iron, and sllex are the prop
erties of wheat climated in modern
bread making, and they are all vi
tally uecessary to the bumau consti
tution. When Mr. Hart and his fol
lowers have succeeded in bringing the
world to a realization of this fact, and
consequent rational milling and mau-
! ufacturc ot breadstuffs. it is safe to
say that the general health will be
vastly improved, even if all men do
not become marvels ofstrength and
intellect, all women paragons o:'
beauty and grace, and all doctors and
dentists unnecessary and suierlluou.
adjuncts of society.
Mispronunciation of WiirdH.
Many mispronunciations mav be nc
rounted for on the ground of laziness
inherent in man. It is a yreat
deal easier to pronounce the
vtwel sounds than the consonant
sounds; and, by the way, it i:i a curi
ous fact that man is a consonant
sounding animal; animals use vowels;
it is the province of man to shape
these vowels into words with the use
jf consonants. Hence, Homer de
llties) man as "speech-dividing." It
is a great deal easier to say sah,
mistah, and wall, than to say sir,
mister, and war. It is easier to say
mornin', cvenin', than morning,
evening. IUit on the other hand, thera
are cases when thedestroyerof English
seems to take considerable trouble to
accomplish his purpose. Is is easier
to say Ixirrer than borrow, or garding
than garden sauce.-' It is easier
to say 'oss than horse; but why go to
the gratuitous labor of prefixing an It
in a great many cases where it does
not belong? Almost anybody could
say asparagus, but it seems to require
some little etymological erudition to
say sparrow-grass. A country friend
of the writer invariably called succo
tash suecothash, being apparently
under the impression that it is an in
genious compound of the vegetable
and the animal, coming under the
' general name of hash. Another ac
j luaintance, who speaks very delihcr-
ately, and with an e xasperating-- "I
' know-I-am right" expression of coun
tenance, laboriously adds a "g" to all
words ending with "n" as capting,
Hosting, and so on. His mispro
nunciation seems to proceed from a de
sire to be unusually exact and finished
in speech, and it would require some
courage to call him to account for
his errors.
stealing electricity.
The progress of science has ca'.lcd
A new crime into existence. A case
recently came before a certain law
rourt in which a man, with some
Knowledge of electricity, caused the
ineter which registered the amount
which he used for illuminating pur
poses to record less than he had con
turned. The lawyer who defended
him ingeniously argued that as elec
tricity was an intangible something
of which no one could really state the
exacPnature. and that at law it was
actually unknown, his client could
not be convicted of stealing it. Hut
the lawyer met his match on the
other side in one who showed that gas
was also unknown at common law,
but was recognized as a thing that
could be stolen. In the sequel the
judge took advantage of a certain
statute which makes fraud committed
with a view to theft, a felony, and
the man who stole the electricity is
therefore likely to meet with the re.
ward of his misdeed- -
V
I . '.
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