SERMONS OF THE DAY. RELIGIOUS TOPICS DISCUSSED BY PROMINENT AMERICAN MINISTERS. ■lSelf-Heroism" is the Title or tlio Fifth of the New York Herald's Competitive Sermons—By n Now Jersey Minister— Talmaceon "God Among tlie Fishes." "Be strong, and quit yourselves like men." —I. Samuel, iv., 'J. Reputation h» what a person seems to be; character is what he is. A man's real self Is within, not without; and any permanent progress must proceed fi;om the centre toward the circumference of his life. What is on him or around him cannot determine his value. The aristocracy of character includes the members of the rea! nobility of earth. Such are thoy who fight the bravest battles and win the most vuliant victories. Real glory Springs from the silent conquest of our- And without that the conqueror is naught But the first slave. My sercon is dedicated to these victors, and my subject is their namesnke, "Self- Heroism"—the heroism of'self-examina tion, tho heroism of self-preparation, the heroism of self-concentration, the heroism of self-perpetuation. I.—Tho Heroism of Self-Examination. Nothing is insignificant. There is a divine meaning in tho existence of every thing. No life can infringe upon another's right of way in living; for the legitimate property of no two lives lies along exactly the same track. Each life is a monopoly in itself; for to each has been given tho sole permission to exercise certain exclu sive powers. The author of my being has made a mistake or my life is of tremendous significance. Introspection partakes of the heroic. Ignorance of self-knowledge is the reef upon which many of tho con querors of the world have been wrecked. They knew others, but did not know them selves. They guided others, but failed to guide themselves. They mastered others, but could not master themselves. The fields upon which they were victors lay beyond themselves; the fields upon whioh they were victims lay within themselves. If self-oxamination were an applied science, I venture tho opinion that some who are now in tho pulpit would bo behind the plough; some who are at the bar woHld be in tho blacksmith shop: some who aro in Congress would bo In the cornfield; some who sit in faculties would lie In fossil beds, and others would awake to their native right and riches and put honor upon lives divinely gllted. Whoever you are, wher ever you are, be brave enough, be honest enough to get intimately and accurately acquainted with yourself, and with Jean Paul ltiohter be enabled to say: "I have made as much out of myself as could be made of tho stuff, and no one can require more." II. —The Heroism of Self-Preparation. Gibbon tells us that every one has two educations—one which ho receives from . others and one which ho gives to himself. The popular idea of education seems to bo the art of ullowing others to do as much for us as we have tho capacity of receiv ing. "He is not capable of receiving an education" is a suggestive expression. True education Is self-preparation. It must find something within you, or it brings nothing out ol you. It converts your possibilities into practical powers. The richer« nature the harder and slower its self-preparation and development, To day the noblest figure fn Europe stands erect under the snows of moro than four score winters, and because of his rigid, righteous self-preparation through all these years tho "Grand Old Man" is the freshest in thought and maturest in wis dom of all who meet in tho councils of men. Putient preparation is permanent power. In an ago that lacks composure men are apt to mature too quickly and decay too soon. Reserve power should bo greater than spent power. By self-preparation de posit each day for future drafts, aud then you are not apt to overchock your ac count. lll.—The Heroism of Self-Concentration. A life often fails to mako a lasting im pression because of its diffusion. What wo call genius fs frequently only tho child of application. To attempt any thing and to accomplish nothing is a fatal folly. While we aro striving to know something about everything we must zealously try to know everything about something. The higher and more unselfish the end toward whioh we direct our lives tho greater is the de mind for intense and ceaseless concen tration of our noblest powers. Focus your best powers upon the details of your lifo work. These may seom to be trifles; but remember the wise words of the pains taking artist: "Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle." Like tho fabled bird in tho Oriental legend which slept on the wing, learn to rest in your labor, but never rest from your labor. Contemplate! Concentrate! Consecrate! IY.—The Heroism of Self-Perpetuation. Great and good men aro not half living when they are alive! Their best and truest life on earth comes after they walk no longer on earth. In their day Moses and Paul wore not near so influential as they are to-day. Truth, like a seed, does not bear Its fruit In a day, and the richer tho truth and more precious the seed the long er the full fruition is delayod. Great prin ciples and groat lives, like great bodies, move slowly. A man's.self becomes a part of tho truth to which his life is wedded,and as this truth passes beyond the limit of his visible existence and takes its endless course through the ages the best part of the man is perpetuated. Each lifo is '. contribution to history; but few lives have thoir historians. Heroic lives are often times written anonymously upon the tab lets of time, and coming ages never recall by name thoir greatest benefactors. Some men are dead while they are living; others aro living while they aro dead. Think much of your post-mortem lifo among men. Maintain* an uncompromising enmity to-, ward tho false, an invincible friendship to ward the true. Cultivate a practical faith in the living God. Accept Christ as your Ideal and Redeemer. This is the hidden spring of self-heroism. It crowns man's lifo with the truest success; and when tho veil is lifted ho shall stand erect In the light of a glorified manhood. 11. ALLEN TcrrEß, JN.. D. D., Pastor First Baptist Church, Montclair. N. J. FINDS GOD IN THE FISHES. Itev. Dr. Tit!mage Discourses on the Ichthyology of the Bible. TEXT: "And God said. Let the waters bring forth abundantly tho moving creatures that hath life." —Genesis 1., 20. Is it not strange that tho Bible Imagery is so inwrought from tho fisheries, when the Holy Land is, for the most part, an inland region? The world's geography has changed. Lake Ualllee was larger and deeper and better stocked than now, and, no doubt the rivers were deeper and the fisheries were of far more importance then than ! now. Besides that, there was the Mediter- ' 112£ nc «?1. tt onl Y thirty-five miles away, and \ the fish were salted or dried and brought ' Inland and so much of that article of food ' was. sold In Jerusalem that a fish market n ? mU to ° n »°ttho gates of Jeru- Gat™ by ' 1 Was called the Fish So important was the fish that th« nod ; ESraTsM ftlV" kiH»Unes, was I ® of the Lort'J' ' S4on, I °he 1 lh a god! l ßtood r beside^h t ' istlne* this j Layard ftn< i Wilkinson found th« « v object ot idolatry all through and Egypt. The Kile was fall of fish, and that explains tho horrors of the plague that slaughtered the ilnny tribe all.upand down that river, which has been and is now the main artery of Egypt's life. Tho flah has priority of residence ow every living thing, it preceded the bird, tho quadruped, the human race. The next thing done after God had kindled for our . world the golden chandelier of the sun, and tho silver chandelier of tho moon, ' was to make the llsh. Tho first motion of ' tho principle of life, a principle that all ' the thousands of years since have not been i able to define or analyze, the very first stir of life was in the fish to oonfound tho scientists. It does not tako tho universe to ! prove a God. A ilsh does it. No wonder that Linnaeus and Cuvler and Agassiz and the greatest minds of all the centuries sat ' enraptured before its anatomy. Oh, Its ■ beauty, and the adaptedness. ; Tho Lord, fey placing tho fl9h In the sec ond course of the monu in paradise, mak ing it precede beast and bird, indicated to ' tho world tho importance of the fish as an article of human food. We mix up a fantastic food that kills the most of us bo fore thirty years of age. Custards and whipped sillabubs and Roman punches and chicken salads nt midnight are a gauntlet that few have strength to run. We put on many a tombstone epitaphs saying that the one beneath died of patriotic service, or from exhaustion in religious work, when nothing killed tho poor fellow but i lobster eating at a party four hours after he ought to havo been sound asleep In bed. No man or woman ever amounted to any thing who was brought up on floating island or angel cake. The world must tura back to paradisaic diet if it is to get para disaic morals and paradisaic health. The i human race to-day needs moro phosphorus, and the llsh Is charged and surcharged with phosphorus. Phosphorus that which shines in the dark without burning! What made the twelvo Apostles such stalwart men that they could endure anything and "Achieve everything? Next to divine inspir ation, it was because thoy were nearly all fishermen and lived on fish and a few plain oondlments. Paul, though not brought up to swing the net and throw the lash, must of necessity have adopted the diet of the population among whom he lived, and you see tho phosphorus in his daring plea be fore Felix, and the phosphorus in his bold est of all utterances before tho wiseacres on Mars Hill, and the phosphorus as he went without fright to his beheading, and the phosphorus you see in the lives of all the apostles,who moved right on undaunted to certain martyrdom, whether to be de capitated or flung off precipices or hung in crucifixion. Phosphorus, shining in tho dark without burning! No man or woman that ever lived was independent of ques tions of diet. Napoleon lost one of his great battles through an attack of indiges tion. The cook in kitchen, or encamp ment, has decided many of the great bat tles. Tho fools who become Infidels because they cannot understand the engulfment of the recreant Jonah in a son monster might have saved their souls by studying a little natural history. "Oh," says some one, "that story of Jonah wns only a fable." Say others, "It was interpolated by some writer of later times." Others say, "It was a reproduction of the story of Horouies de voured and then restored from tho mon itor." liut my reply is thnt history tolls us that there were monsters large enough to whelm ships. The extinct ichthyosaurus of other ages was thirty feet long, and as late as the sixth century of the Christian era, up and down the Mediteranoan, there floated monsters compared with whioh a modern whale wns a sardine or a herring. Tho shark has again and again been found to have swallowed a man entire. A fisher man on the const of Turkey found a sea monster which contnined a woman and n purse of gold. I havo seen in museums soa monsters largo enough to tako down a prophet. But I have a better reason for believing the Old Testament account, and that Is thnt Christ said it was true and a typo of His own resurrection, and I sup pose He ought to know. In Matthew xii., 40, Jesus Christ says:"For as Jonas wn9 three duys and three nights In the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in tho heart of the earth." And that settles It for mo and for any man who does not bcliove Christ a dupe and an imposter. God help ns amid tho Gospel Fisheries, whether wo employ hook or net, for the day cometh when we shall see how much depended on our fidelity. Christ himself declared: "The kingdom of heaven is ilke unto a net thnt wns cast into the sea and gathered of every kind, which, frhenit was full, they drew to shore, and sat down and gathered the good in the vessels, but cast the bad away; so shall it be at the end of the world, the angels shall come forth and separate the wicked from the just." Yes, the fishermen think it best to keep the use ful and worthless of the haul In the same net until it is drawn upon ;he beach, and then the division takes place, and If it Is on Long Island const, tho moss-bunkers ore thrown out and the blueilsh and shad pre served; or, if it is on the shore of Galilee, the fish classified as slluroids are hurled back Into the water or thrown up the bank as unclean, while the porch and tho carp and the barbel are put In palls to be car ried homo for use. So in tho ohuroh on earth, and the saints and the hypocrlts, the generous and the mean, the chaste and the unclean, are kept in tho same membership, but at death the division will be made, and the goodwill bo gathered Into hoaven and the bad, however many holy communions they may havo celebrated, and how many rhetorical prayers they may have offered, and however many years their names may have been on the churoh rolls, will bo cast away. God forbid that any of us should be among the "cast away." But may wo do our work, whether small or great, as thor oughly as did that renowned fisherman, I!ev. Dr. George W. Bethune, who spent his summer rest angling in the waters around the Thousand Islands, and beating at their own craft those who plied it nil the year, and who, the rest of his time, gloriously preached Christ to the people of Philadel phia or Brooklyn, and ordering for his own obsequies: "Lay me out in my pulpit gowns and bands, with my own pocket Bible in my right hand. Bury me with ray mother, my father and my grandmother, Isabella Graham. Sing also the hymn I composed years ago: Jesus, Thou Prince of Life, Thy chosen cannot die. Like Thee they conquer In tho strife, To reign with Thee on high." CHEAP TYPEWRITERS IN SIGHT. The Patents on Essential Improvement* Have Expired. The Typewriter Trust is in danger. As tho patents on all of the essential Improve ments in the typewriter ran out long ago, it is now possible to duplicate almost any machine in tho market. The matter having thus been reduced to a question of factory cost, which is alleged to be about sls, tho timo is regarded by many as having arrived for a bold stroke to gain the supremacy in the market. It Is believed that tho SIOO machine will go now, as the high price maintained by the Trust permits rival concerns to live, and the opposition companies are making a larger allowance for a second hand machine of trust make than would be allowed for it by the combination Itself. This amounts to a cut in the price. Increase in Postal Receipts. A statement prepared at the Postofflce Department shows that the gross postal receipts at fifty of the largest ofiloes for November amount to $3,527,863, an Increase of $382,533, or 12 9-12 per cent, over the corresponding month of last year. These receipts are greater than for any November in the history of the service. Postmaster General Gary expressed himself as very much gratified at tho showing made, and said he regarded It as an accurate barome ter of the improved business oonditlon of | the country. I HMNNMNNIN P THE REALM. OF FASHION. 8 Several women have been seen in upper Broadway recently with their hair in nets, says the New York Press. The arrangement was much like the old-fashioned chignon. AGAIN THE CHIGNON, Chignons were worn almost uni versally at about the time of the Civil War. Nobody ever has been known to assert that they were beautiful. The real chignon is made by rolling LADIES' AND MIBS DRIVING^ the hair into a large unpleasant bunch, which then is surrounded by a net. This makes the entire mess look like the braided rope fenders worn by tug boats. Au inducement offered by the chig non is that one can wear somebody else's hair if one lacks enough of the real article. The fact that it is an exceptionally ugly fashion probably will insure its popularity. In the old ohignon days the women often carried in these nets enough false hair to stuff a sofa, and enough wire, etc., in the shape of crinolines to furnish a junk shop. Styllsb Driving: Cont. However varied and numerous the short coats and wraps may be, says May Man ton, the long driving cloak or ulster, that pro tects from both dampness and cold, must always find a place. The moc&l shown is eminently stylish and prac tical and admits of wear either with or without the capes, so providing for moderate or extreme weather. The backs are snug-fitting, but the double breasted fronts are loose, so avoiding all danger of crushing the gown be neath. There are both under-arm gores and side-backs, the two together rendering the fitting easy of accom plishment. The fulness at the back is laid in underlying plaits below the waist line. The sleeves are one seamed and close. The neck is fin ished with a high storm collar, and the fronts are extended to form the revers that turn back over the capes when the latter are worn. The three capes are circular in shape and are joined together at the neck where they are neatly bound. As illustrated, the material is heavy diagonal c%>th, the only finish being double rows of machine stitohing. The body of the garment is unlined, but both capes and sleeves are lined with silk. Pockets are inserted in the fronts and are finished with stitched laps. The closing is effected by means of large buttons and button holes, a second row of the buttons be ing added for decoration. To make this coat for a lady in the medium size will require six yards of fifty-four-inch material. Party Gowns. The exquisite , color of Parma vio lets has been adopted by Parisian elegantes for party gowns and the ar tistic creations worn in the after noons. One of these evening toilettes is of Parma satin, the skirt trimmed with a flounce of embroidered tulle, headed by a wealth of Parma violets. The blouse corsage of Parma satin is ornamented with a scarf of the em broidered tulle caught into a largo bow by a bouquet of violets. Small joskeys of satin fall over the tulle draperies which form the short sleeves. The tulle is used as a cra vat, and ties in a large bow at the back of the neck. Nothing could be more becoming to a tall, slender woman than this simple yet thorough ly artistic model. * * Winged and Creeping Things. Spiders, grasshoppers and all sorts of winged insects and groveling bugs are the popular designs in jeweled pins. Overalls For Small Boy. Every mother knows the advantage of an apron. The overalls here shown, writes May Manton, serve the same purpose, and fill the same need for the boys, at the same time that they are essentially masculine. While they have been widely used during the summer they are also of great value for indoor play and work, such as carpen tering and the like. The material is the denim that is also worn by the workman and cau be trusted to endure even boy's usage. The garment is fitted by means of inside and outside leg seams. Two patch pockets at the front, and one at the back [provide storage place for all implements. Straps are attached at the back which pass over the shoulders and buckle onto the waist portion of the front. To make these overalls for a boy of BOYS' OVEKAIiIiS FOB WOBK OB PXiAT. ten years will require two yards of thirty-aix-inch good*. 264051 Apple Breaks a Record. Dr. E. J. Puckett, of Muncie, Ind., has in his possession an 'apple that was plucked by him thirty years ago. Before the doctor went into the army he planted an apple tree on the grave of 4iia mother, in the cemetery at Teetersburg, Tipton County, this State. Four years later, when he re turned home from the war, the tree was bearing fruit, and he pulled off one of the apples and has preserved it ever since.—Cincinnati Enquirer, Difficult Navigation* It was a vexed question in 1890 whether the Pilcomayo River, which flows for hundreds of miles from the Bolivian Andes to the Paraguay, might be used as a commercial high way from Bolivia to the ocean, says a writer in Harper's Bound Table. Our countryman, Captain Page, settled this question so conclusively that no further effort to utilize the Pilcomayo is likely to be madl; and in this work, that cost him his life, for he died of privations after being hemmed in for months by hostile Indians, he de vised a plan for steaming up river when the water was so low that his vessel was stuck in tho mud. He was determined togo still further, though his little steamer, which drew only eighteen inches, rested on the river bottom; so behind the boat he threw up an embankment of earth clear across the channel, backed it with palm trunks and brushwood and be fore long the water had risen a couple of feet and the little Bolivia was able togo on her way four miles before she •tuck again. Then another dam was built, and this process was repeated seven times, and with the aid of the dams the vessel advanced about thirty-five miles above the highest point she could reach at the natural tow water stage. Popular Justice In Bavaria. A debate in the Bavarian Diet re jently shows that in some parts of Bavaria a kind of popular justice, a relic of the Middle Ages, is still exer 3ised by the people in the case of offences which do not fall within the pale of the ordinary law, such lis usu ry, flagrant immorality, arbitrary con duct of officials, and the like. This method of procedure, which is called, "Haberfeld-treiben," is practised by people who assemble with blackened or masked faces before the offender's (louse, aud there create a horrible din, nowling, firing rifles, nnd beating pots and kettles. Then a mock sermon, in doggerel verse setting forth the offence of the person concerned is re cited in the heaving of the misde meanant. Neither person nor property is, however, injured. The Largest In the World. The largest power plant in the world, says the American Engineer, will be erected by tlie Metropolitan Street Railway Company of New York for the purpose of furnishing power for the 218 miles of its street railroads. The plant will comprise eleven cross-com pound condensing engines of G6OO horse-power each, and eiglity-seven water-tube boilers of 800 horse-power eacb. yp v v ▼ v *v *v if v > r > A 4 . * can be driven in or driven out. Ayer's Sarsa- > ► 4 parilla drives disease out of the blood. Many ► * * medicines suppress disease cover it but don't * y cure it. Ayer's Sarsaparilla cures ail diseases y < i originating in impure blood. \ * V T T V ■' r . V . Y^ < A A iWfc .ivh A DADWAY'S " PILLS, Purely vegetable, mild and reliable. Cause Per fect Digestion, complete absorption and healthful regularity. For the cure of all disorders of the Stomach, Liver, Bowels, Kidneys, Bladder, Nervous Diseases. LOSS OF APPETITE, SICK HEADACHE, INDIGESTION, DIZZY FEELINGS, FEMALE COMPLAINTS, BILIOUSNESS, DYSPEPSIA, PERFECT DIGESTION will be accomplished by talcing Radway's Pills. By their properties they stimulate the liver in the secretion of tnebile ana its discharge through the biliary ducts. These Pills in doses from two to four will quickly regulate the action of the liver and free the patient from these disorders. One or two of Rad way's Pills, taken daily by those subject to bilious pains and torpidity of the liver, will keep the sys tem regular and secure healthy digestion. Price, 26 ctm. per Box. Sold by all druggists, or sent by mail on receipt of price. RAPWAY le CO., 55 Eli St., New York. " Brevity is the Soul of Wit." Good Wife, You Need SAPOLIO How They Do It. "Did you say that this is to be a wedding present?" asked the clever salesman in the jeweler's shop. "No, I didn't say anything of the kind," replied the man who was mak ing the purchase. ' "And I don't see that it makes any difference to you." "Not the slightest," was the reply. "I merely thought that you might like to have us take off this prioe-mark and paste on another with a higher ligure on it."—Tit-Bits. Some Famous Kisses. The kiss, we are told, was a formula of good will among the ancient Bomans and was adopted by the early Christians, whose "holy kiss" and charity" carried the weight of apostolic sanction. Kisses admit of a great variety of character and there are eight diversi ties mentioned in the Scripture. It is a sign of reverence and in order to set a sacred seal upon their vows the witnesses in a court of law, when they are called upon to speak "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth," are required to touch the Bible with their lips, as also are soldiers when they enlist and make the oath of allegiance to Queen Vic toria. Men in uncivilized regions kiss the feet of a superior or the ground in front of him, and in ancient times to press the lips to the knee or the hem of a garment was to humbly implore protection. The Maoris have adopted the custom of kissing, but the natives of West Africa refuse to do so, and ap parently that which is a medium of so much pleasure to many nations fills them with dislike. The pleasant old Christmas oustom of a kiss under the mistletoe is a relic of Norse mythology. Baldur, the beautiful god of light, was slain by a spear whose shaft was a mistletoe twig. This was bewitched by Loki, the malevolent god of fire, until it swelled to the requisite size and was given by him to Hodur, who threw it and uniatentionally struck Baldur when the gods were at play. Friga had made everything in heaven and earth swear not to harm Baldur, but had left out the mistletoe as being too slight and weak to be of harm. Bal dur, however, was restored to life and Friga guarded the mistletoe, which the gods determined should not again have power to do any mischief unless it touched the earth. For this reason it is always hung from the ceil ing and tho vigilant goddess propitiat ed by the kiss, a sign of good will.— Chicago News. Largest Leaves In the World. Dr. Jackson, after a world-wide travel, says that the largest leaves in the world are those of tho Inaji palm, which grows on the banks of the Amazon. The leaves of the Talipot palm, a native of Ceylon, are often twenty feet in length and eighteen feet broad, and those of the double cocoanut palm are generally thirty feet long and six feet wide. But Dr. Jackson says he found leaves of the Inaji palm which were fifty feet long and twelve feet in breadth. PATENTS Watson E.Coleman. Attorney-ut-Liw and Solicitor of Patents, 903 F St., N. \V., Washington, IJ. O. Highest references in oil l-arts of the country. A GENUINE BORAX | t HAPPED T- nflPP Cleanse. HANDS, mm \B 1111 ■ Finest Clothe*. r" V I J W For Bath, Toilet U ■ I au