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<l Hair ribamiioo,
lln L worth treble its cost. Full
■ B ■ ■ pound bars at all sorts of stores.
U" ~ ORErDOPPEL SOAP.
THE KLONDFKETRAIL
Oreatest puzzle of the season. Old and young. By
mail, 10c. E. W.Mitchell, 82 Nassau Bt. ( Room 28 K. Y.
PENSIONS, PATEN I S. CLAIMS.
Jjra. in last war, 15 abjudicating olainns aUj. 8i&oa»
ADVERTISINGKvITj^f
«t Cough Sjrup. Tastes Good. Dm M
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