-111 Harry Vardon is now hailed as the wizard of the golf links. He won the English championship this year for the third time on the links of the Royal St. George Golf Club at Sand wich. His aggregate score for the four rounds was 310. Last year he cap tured the championship at Prestwick in 307, and won in 1896 at Muirfield with 316. Since the championship of 1898 he has taken part in many con tests with wonderful success. It is easy to understand why golf has become so popular. Any person who is fond of being out of doors and of wandering across the hills and fields in pursuit of entertainment will find it in golf. And yet the exercise may be made as mild as one wishes, for while the player chases the golf ball from hole to hole ingoing over the "links" aR much time may be consumed as de sired. The sport is so interesting, however, that the player usually rushes IIARRY VARDON. (Y.'iunnr of the open golf championship for tha third time ami accepted by au thorities as the greatest player oi tho decade.} through the game with all possible speed. The rules and method of the game are simple. Making the strokes with skill enough to"put" the golf ball into each of the score holes scat tered over the links within a reason able number of strokes is the difficult part of the game, and a part to be learned only by practice. The "links" comprise the course over which the game is played. They vary in form and extent to suit the taste of the makers of the links and to conform to the "lay of the land." As obstacles in the wuy of "holing" a ball add zest to the game, the links which have sand pits, clumps of bushes, streams, bridges and so forth in the way are consideied most desirable. Such objects that interfere with the play are called hazards. A hazard in the form of a sand pit, fence, wall, ridge, bowlder or other large obstacle is called a bunker. The eighteen holes usually constituting tho "course" are marked by either flags or signs bear ing tho hole numbers, beginning with No. 1 at the starting point and ending with No. 18. Uusually the holes are placed from 200 to 300 yards apart, the course being away from the start ing point to the ninth hole and back toward the starting point to the eight eenth hole. The first nine holes com prise the "out" course, and are usual ly identified by red flags. The last nine holes comprise the"in" course, and are usually identified by white flags. At the beginning of the course is a "teeing ground," from which the bull must be "teed" or driven. This space is bounded by two whitewash lines at right angles with the course. The distance between these lines is usually about six feet, and stakes about twen ty feet apart indicate the other bouuderies. The player shall not play in front of the foremost boundary line nor outside of the stakes. To make the first stroke, or tee, the player builds a little hill of eand not over an inch high, places the ball on this elevation and makes a strong "drive" in the direction of the first hole. The object is to get the ball into the hole with the fewest possible etrokes. The holes are four and a 'vf. , »: N >,«" OOLF STICKS AND STROKES. quarter inohes in diameter. The regu lation ball is two and three-quarters inches in diameter and is made of gutta-pbrcha. Each hole is surround ed by a "putting green," or plat of carefully dipped sod. This putting green extends to a distance of twenty yards in every direction from the no]*. ITunh ho!ft {a liner) with mAf.al and is four inches deep. After the first hole is made the ball is lifted out aud carried to the teeing ground, there being one near each hole, and again teed, this time toward the sec ond hole. This method is continued until all the holes have been made. In the ordinary match game of golf the side that wins the greater num ber of holes wins the game. The holes are won by the side holing its ball in the fewest number of strokes. The same rule applies when only two persons are playing. After the balls are struck from the tee the ball farthest from the hole being played for shall be played first, the players then play ing in rotation until one side has holed the ball. The side winning a hole leads in starting for the next hole. After the ball is once started from the teeing ground it may not be touched with anything except one of the "clubs" or implements used for "driving" or "putting" a ball. All strokes must be made with the club swinging freely in the hands—the club must not touch the ground or I any object resting on the groand. Each stroke made to get a ball out of a hazard, over or beyond an obstruc tion or toward the object hole counts as a stroke, regardless of whether the ball is hit or not. "When a ball is lost the player's side loses the hole. A player's caddie (the assistant who carries the clubs) may stand at the hole being played for, but no other person is permitted to indicate tho hole by any other means than point ing to indicate its direction. Any player by forfeiting twoj strokes may lift the ball out of a difficulty and tee it from behind the same. While the greater amount of skill is required in putting the ball into the hole after it has reached the putting green, the "drive," or knocking tbe ball to cover the long distances be tween the holes, is very important. Your effort should be to get such a grasp on your "driver," and stand in such a position when driving tliat you will hit the ball squarely with all your force and send it flying in a straight line in the direction of the next hole. Figures 1 and 2 in the accompany ing illustration will show you the be- . /a- JT Pi 7 NQ.R MA n - ___ SIMPLE FLANS FOB BUILDING A HOMEMADE FLATBOAT. ginning and the finish of the driving stroke. You will miss it often until you learn the "knack" of driving, but if you do hit the ball squarely you may send it skimming a distance of 400 feet. The accompanying illustration shows representations of the olubs in common use. These and the golf balls may be procured at any sporting goods store, but it is not difficult to make your own clubs, and a good ball may be whittled out of hickory. Evolution. A Yankee paper mentions the case of a near-sighted hen which mistook sawdust for Indian meal, and ate heartily thereof, then laid a nest full of wooden knobs, and in three weeks hatched out a set of parlor furniture. —Pearson's Weekly. The Mexican Government coins an average of 825,000,000 a year in silver, cold and notmer. § How to Make aFhtboatl *&9ioK^"c;c:c:c:Q!G!BK^^ Select two'clear and straight boards of elm, white cedar or pine, each 12 feet long, IS inches wide and 1$ inches thick, for the side pieces. This tim ber must be free from knots or cracks or deoayed spots. For the end or "nose" pieces select two H-incli planks, each 3 feet long and 7 inches wide. Next, from a point 2 feet 6 inches from each end of each sidepiece, saw the boards diagonally (gee figure 1 in the illustration) so that the end will measure 6 inches in width. Of course it will be neces- F/G 5" THE FLATBOAT AS A SAILBOAT. sary for you to exercise great care in having each of the ends cut to ex actly the same shape. Now put the endpieces in their proper places and inside the sidepieces. Have the side pieces resting on their top or straight sides. When these four pieces that form the skeleton of the boat are in place the endpieces should project one inch above the ends of the sidepieces. Nail the frame together with large copper, "wire" or wrought-irou nails. The next thing to do is to nail the bot tom boards onto the sidepieces (see figure 2). These bottom boards must \ be of clear timber and each 3 feet 2 J 1 inches long and 1 iuch thick. Six of ! the boards should be 10 inches wide, ! to cover each of the sloping ends. Now you have completed the frame ! of a boat that has an inside measure ment of 11 feet 9 inches in length by ; 3 feet in Next secure two ; strips of elm each 13 feet long, 6 ' inches wide and five-eighths of an inch thick. These are to be nailed to the 1 bottom, directly under the sidepieces (see a-a, figure 3). A similar piece, but 1 inch in thickness and 8 inches wide, should be nailed to the centei of the inside bottom of the boat (see c, figure 4). These serve to brace the boat and make the bottom secure, as well as to act as guards on the out side bottom. The seat, or seats, may be placed to suit your convenience, excepting that one should be placed far enough to one side of the centre to make it useful for rowing purposes (see 112, figure 4). Each seat should be 3 fee\ long, 10 inches wide and 1 inch thick and be placed 14 inches above the bottom of the boat. The seats should rest on brackets or 2-inch planking, which may be fastened to the side pieces of the boat. The oarlocks may be simply hand-made rests (see d, figure 4) or the patent metal ones usu ally found iu beats of more preten tious pattern. Eaoh end of the boat should be covered with a platform of greater or less width (see b, fig ure 4), according to the taste of the maker. Many fiatboats have all the sloping portion covered, and a piece of planking 10 inches wide separating this covered part from the rest of the j inside of the boat, thus making a fish box. One end of the boat may be fixed up that way and the other end arranged for the acoommodation of a sail mast. To do this simply cut a hole the size of the mast in the plat form, and directly under that hole and in the bottom of the boat nail a piece of 2-inch planking supplied with a similar hole. A straight basswood or maple sapling may serve as a mast and a square piece of rag carpeting or heavy canvas, stretohed on two arms (see figure 5), will do for a sail. If you wish to be stylish you may nail side strips at the top of the sides (see e-e, figure 4) and add to the strength of the boat. MOST FAMOUS CUBAN DETECTIVE Domingo Martinet Has Sent Coantleu Criminals to the Oarrote. Domingo Martinez is probably one of the most unpopular men in Havana. Certainly the Cnbaus have no great fondness for him. He has sent more Cubans to the garrote and penal ser vitude than any modern sleuth. Martinez has made a life study of rogues, and has brought up a family of boys to recognize the faot that, a criminal is one on whom sympathy should not be wasted. They say of Martinez, at least the Cubans do, that he was the paid assassin of Spain; that he has sent more innocent men to the vivac, the carcel and the gar rote than ever Weyler. The Span iards naturally deny this and hint that Martinez has not brought quite a sufficient number of Cubans to jus tice to suit the criminal condition ol Havana. Martinez was chief of the detective bureau of Havana when the American military authorities assumed charge. When Mario Menocal was ap pointed civil chief of police he iu true Cuban frankness promptly turned Martinez out and appointed his brother Gustavo in his place. Military Chief of Police Majoi Gary Evans became convinced about the same time that John McCullagh and Sergeant Crowley did that Mar tinez was the only man in Havana lit to take charge of the then newly or ganizeJ detective bureau of that city, and made that recommendation to Major-General Ludlow, who indorsed the idea, but altered his opinion when the whole Cuban police force said it would resign in a body in the event ol Martinez being made chief of the bu reau. Martinez was not made chief of the bureau, and the Cubans considered ii a capital joke that be was not. Some are inclined to the belief that it isn't quite a joke after all, for Martinez has DOMINGO MARTINEZ. (This Is a picture of Cuba's tamous detec tive who has sent countless men to the garrote). a forty-five years' record of all the noted criminals of Cuba and Porto Rico, knows hundreds of them by sight, and as the Cubans haven't a rec ord of any kind and Martinez has his knowledge secured where the Cubans cannot get at it, the merchants of Ha vana, who really favor the return of Martinez to power, want to know what guarantee of protection they have. There have been twenty-one distinct attempts on the life of Martinez. In general appearance he is a thin, wiry man of ordinary height and weight, but he has the eyes of a mind reader aud the grip of a 'longshoreman. Soldier'* Itfarvelouft Kftcape. Mrs. J. E. Overshine, wife of Lieu tenant Overshine, of the Seventeenth United States Infantry, who arrived home from the Philippines recently, reports that Joseph Kenny, of Com pativ L, Seventeenth Regiment, who fell from a transport in the Indian Ocean, on the way to the Philippines, has turned up in Australia. He was seen to fall by companions, who threw life-preservers after him in the darkness and gave the alarm, but when the vessel was stopped noth ing could be heard of him audit was supposed he had drowned. Kenny says he caught a life-pre server by which he was kept afloat, and was picked up by an Australian vessel and carried to Melbourne. There he reported to his command ing officer at Manila by mail aud will soon join his regiment there. Now Fins For Pontal Service. The special flag proposed for the postal service by Postmaster Charles U. Gordon, of Chicago, and the adop tion of which is now being considered by the department, is in representa tion of the obverse side of an envelope. It has a white field, with a blue cen ter, in which is the figure of a mounted ~ j SPECIAL FLAG PROPOSED FOR THE POSTAL SERVICE. mailman with a mail pouch slung across the back of the saddle. Crimson stripes mark the folds of the envelope. Danzig is now a free port. The free harbor is 1830 feet long and 330 feet broad and is in easy communica tion with the sea, the harbor canal and the river Vistula. The free area ol laud and water is about forty-one acres, bat admits of enlargement. Eight hnrdred thousand people still speak Welsh. DE TALMAGBS SERMON. SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED DIVINE. 6nl>ject: Choice of Belleff—Rellcloua Tol erance Advocated All Kvangc Ileal Churches Are Good and Are Seeking the Same Praiseworthy End. [Copyright. Louis Klopsch. 1859.} WASHINGTON, D. C.—ln this sermon Dr. Talmage discusses a topic which will In terest domestic circles everywhere. The text is Genesis xiii., 8; "Let there be no •trife, I pray thee, between me and thee nnd between my herdmen and thy herdmen. Is nc;' the whole land before thee?" Uncle and nephew, Abram and Lot, both pious, both millionaires, and with such large flocks of bleating sheep and lowing sattle that their heidmen got into a light, perhaps nbout the best pasture or about the best water privilege or because the cow of one got hooked by the horns of the pthers. Not their poverty of opportunity but their wealth, was the cause of con troversy between these two men. To Abram. the glorious old Mesopotamian sheik, such controversy seemed absurd. It was like two ships quarreling for sea room In the middle of the Atiuntlc Ocean. There was a vast reach of country, cornfields, vineyard#, harvests and plenty of room in Illimitable acreage. "Now," says Abram •'let us agree to differ. Here are the moun tain districts, swept by the tonic sea breeze and with wide reaching prospect, and there Is the plain of the Jordan, with tropical luxuriance. You may have either." Lot, who was not as rich as Abram, and might have been expected to take the second choice, maiie the first selection nnd with a modesty that must have made Abram smile said to him: "You may have the rocks and the fine prospect; 1 will take the valley of the Jordan, with nil its luxuriance of corn fields and the river to water the flocks and the genial climate and the wealth im measurable." Soothe controversy WHS forever settled and great-souled Abram carried out the suggestion of the text: "Let thftre be no strife, I pray thee, be tween me nnd thee, and between my herd men and thy herdmen. Is not the whole land before thee?" Well, In this the last decade of the nine teenth century and In this beautiful land, which was called America, after Americus Vespucius, but should have been called Columbia, ufter its discoverer, Columbus, we have a wealth of religious privilege and opportunity that is positively bewildering. Churches of all sorts of croe Js and of all kinds of government nnd all forms of worship and nil styles of architecture— what opulence of ecclesiastical oppor tunity! Now, whllo In desolate regions there may be only ouo church, in the opulent districts of this oountry there is such a profusion that there ought to be no difficulty in making a selection. No fight about vestments, or between liturgical or noullturgical adherents, or as to baptismal modes, or u handful of water as compared with a rlverful. If Abram prefers to dwell on the heights, where he can get only a sprinkling from the clouds, let him consent that Lot have all the Jordan in which to Immerse himself. "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me nnd thee and be tween my herdsmen and tby herdsmen. Is not the whole land before thee?" Especially is it unfortunate when fami lies allow angry discussion at the break fast or dining or tea table as to which is the best church or denomination, one at one end of the table saying he could never endure the rigid doctrines of Presbyteri anism, one at the other end responding that she never could stand the forms of Episcopacy, and one at one side of the table saying he did not understand how anybody could bear the noise in the Metho dist church, and nnother declaring all the Baptists bigots. There are hundreds of families hopelessly split on eccleslastlcism, and iu the middle of every discussion on such subjects there is a kindling of Indig nation, and it needs some old father Abram to come aud put his foot on the loaded fuse before the explosion takes place and say: "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, be tween mo and thee and betweeu my berd men'und thv herdmen. Is not the whole land before thee?" I undertake a subject never undertaken by any other pulpit, for it is an exceed ingly delicate subject, and if not rightly handled might give serious offense, but I approach it without the slightest trepida tion, for I am sure I have the divine direc tion in the matters I propose to present. It is n tremendous question, asked all over Christendom, often asked with tears aud sobs and heart breaks and involving the pence of families, the eternal happiness of mnny souls. In matters of church attend ance should the wife go with tho husband or the husband go with the wife? First, remember that all the evangelical churches have enough truth In thena to fave the soul aud prepare us for hnpplners on earth and In heaven. I will go with you Into any well selected theological library, and I will show you sermons from minis ters in all denominations that set forth man us a sinner and Christ as a deliverer from tin and sorrow. That is the whole Gospel. Get that into your soul nnd you are fitted for the here and the hereafter. Thero are differences, wo i.dmit, and some denomi nations we like better than others. But suppose three o:four of us make solemn agreement to meet each other a week from pow in Chicago on important business, and ouo goes by the New York Central Rail road, another by the Erie Railroad, another by the Pennsylvania Railroad, another by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.- One goes this way because tho mountains are grander; another takes this because the cars are mere luxurious; another that be cause the speed is greater; another takes the other because he has long been accus tomed to that route, and all the employes are familiar. So far as our engagement to meet Is concerned It makes no difference If we only get there. Now, any one of the Innumerable evangelical denominations; if you practice Its teaching—although some of their trains run on a broad gauge and some on a narrow gunge—will bring you out at the city of tho New Jerusalem. It being ovidont that you will be snfoin any of the evangelical denominations, I proceed to remark, first, If one of tho mar ried couple be a Christian and the other not, the one a Christian Is bound logo any where to a church where the unconverted companion Is willing togo, If he or sho will goto no other. You of the connubial partnership are a Christian. You are safe for the skies. Then it is your first duty to secure the eternal safety of your lifetime associate. Is not the everlasting welfare of your wife impenitent, or your husband impenitent, of more importance than your church relationship? Is not the conditio! of your companion for the next quadrillion of years a mightier consideration to you than the gratification of your ecclesiastical taste for forty or fifty years? Amu or a womnu that would stop half a minute to weigh preferences as to whether he or she had better go with the unconverted companion to this or that church or de nomination, has no religion at all, and never has had, nnd I fear never will have. You are loudcdupwith what you suppose to be religion, but vou are like Captain Froblshcr, who brought back from ills voy age of discovery a shipload of what he supposed valuable minerals, yet, Instead of being silver and gold, were nothing hut common stones of th 9 field, to bo hurled out as finally useless. Mighty God! In all Iby realm Is thero ne mnn or woman professing religion, yet so stolid, so unfitted, so far gone unto death that there would be any htsltaney in surrendering all preferences before suah au opportunity of salvation and heavenly re- : union? If you, a Christian wife, are an at- . tendant upon any church, and youruncon- I verted nusband does not go there because j he does not like its preaeber, or Its music, i or Its architecture, or its uncomfortable crowding, ancf goes not to any house < 112 worship, but would go it you would acoom-, pnny him somewhere else, change you| cliureh relntlons. Take vour hymabooi) home with you to-day. Say goodby to youl friends in the neighboring pews, anil gf with blm to any one of a hundred churchel till hl9 soul la saved and he joins you in tin inarch to heaven. More important than that ring on the third linger of your left hand it is that your heavenly Father com- I mand the angel of mercy, concerning >out husband at bis conversion, as in the para* ble of old. "Put n ring on his hand." No letter of more importance ever care to the great city of Corinth, situated on what was called the "Bridge of the Sea," and glistening wlt.i sculpture and gated with a style of br.ts. the magnificence of which the following nges have not been able to successfully imitate and over shadowed by the Acro-Corlnthus, a fortress of rock 2003 foot high—i say no letter over came to that great cltvof more importance than that letter in which Paul puts the two startling questions: "What knowest thou, O wife, whotber thou shalt save thy hus band? Or how knowest thou, Oman, whether thou shalt save thy wire?" The dearest sacrifice oa the part of the one Is cheap it It rescue tVie other. Better goto the smallest, weakest, most insignificant church on earth and bo copar.nurs iu eternal bliss than pa<s your earthly mem bership in mo9t gorgeously attractive church while your companion stays out side of evangelical privilege. Better have the drowning snved by a scow or a sloop than let him or ber go down while you sail by in the gilde.t cabins of a Ma jestic or Campania. Second remark: If both of the married couples be Christians, but one Is so natur ally constructed that it is Impossible to enjoy the services of a particular denom ination, and the other is not so sectarian or punctilious, let the one loss particular go with the other who is very particular. As for myself, I leel as much at home in one denomination of evangelical Christians as another, and I think I must have been born very near the line. I like the solemn roll of the Episcopal liturgy, and I like the spontaneity of the Methodists and I like the importance givoii to the ordinance of baptism by the Baptists and I like the free dom of the Congregatlonallsts and I iiko the government and the sublime doctrine of the Presbyterians and I like many of the others just as much as any I have men tioned and I could happily live and preach and die and be buried from nuy of them. But others are born with a liking so stout, so unbending, so inexorable for some de nomination tnat it is a positive necessity they have the advantage of that one. WUa't tliey were intended to be in ecclesiasticism was written in the sides or their cradle, if the father and mother bad eyes keen enough to see it. They would not stop crying until they had putin their hands as a plaything a Westminster Catechism or the Thirty-nine Articles. The whole cur rent of thoir temperament and thought and character runs into one sect of relig ionists as naturally as the James Riverinto the Chesapeake. It would be a torture to such persons to be anywhere outside of that one church. Now, let the wife or husband who is not so constructed sacrilice the milder prefer ence for the one more inflexible and rigor ous. Let the grapevine follow the rugos ities and sinuosities of thecak or hickory. Abram, the richer in flocks of Christian grace, should say to Lot, who is built on a smaller scale: "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee and be tween my herdmen and thy herdmen. Is not the whole land before thee?" As you oan be edified and happy anywhere, go with your companion to the church to which he or she must go or be miserable. Bernard the third: If both the married couple are very strong in theirsectarlan isai, let them attend the different churches preferred. It is not necessary that vou attend the same church, llellglon is be tween your conscience and your God. Like Abram and Lot, agree to dif fer. When on Sabbath morning you come out of your home together and one goes one way and the other the other, heartily wish each other a good sermon and a time of profitable devotion, and when you meet again at the noonday repast let it bo evident, each to each, and to your children, and to the hired help, that you have botli been on the Mount of Transfiguration, although you went up by different paths, una that you have both been fed by the bread of life, though kneaded by different hands in different trays and baked in different ovens. "But how about the children?" I am often asked by scores of parents. Let them also make their own choice. They will grow up with reverence for botli the denomina tions represented by father and mother if you, by holy lives, commend those de nominations. If the father live." the bet ter life, they will have the more favorable opinion of his denomination. If the mother lives the better life, ttey will have the more favoruble opinion of her denom ination. And some day both the patents will, for nt least one service, goto the same church. The neighbors will say, "I wonder what Is going on to-day, for I saw our neighbor and his wife, who always go to different churches, going arm in arm to the same sanctuary." Well, I will tell you what has brought them together, arm in arm, to the same altar. Something very important has hap pened. Their son is to-day uniting with the church. He is standing in the aisle, taking the vows of a Christian. He had been somewhat wayward, and gave father and mother a good deal of anxiety, but their prayers have been answered in his conversion, and as he stands lu the aisle and the minister of religion says, "Do you consecrate yourself to the God who made and redeemed you and do you promise to serve Him all your days?" and with manly voice he answers, "I do," there is an April shower In the pew where father and mother sit and a rainbow of joy which arches both their souls, that makes all dlf ferences of creed infinitesimal. And the daughter who had been very worldly and gay and thoughtless, puts her life on the altar of consecration, and as the suulight of that Sabbath streams tnrough the clntrch window and falls upon her brow and cheek, she looks like their other daugh ter, whose face was illumined with tho brightness of another world on the day when tho Lord took her Into His heavenly keeping years ago. I should not wonder, If, after all, these parents pass the evening of their life in tho seme church, all differences of church preference overcome by the joy of being in the bouse of God wliere tueir children were prepare! for usefulness and heaven. Hat I cun give you a recipe for ruining your children. Augrily contend in the hous<*hold that your church Is right and the church of your companion is wrong. Bring silver and caricature to emphasize your opinions, and your children will make up their minds that religion is a sham, and they will have noue of it. In the northeast storm of domestic controversy the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley will not grow. Fight about apostolic succession, fight about election aud free agency, light about baptism, light about the bishopric, light nbout gown and sur plice, aud the religious prospects of yout children will be left dead on the Held. Vou will be as unfortunate as Charles, Dukeol Burgundy, who in battle lost u diamond the value of a kingdom, for in your tlghl you will lose the jewel of salvation for youi entire household. Tills is nothing againsl the advocacy of your own religious theo rles. Use ail forcible argumeut, bring al telling illustration, array all demonstrativf facts, but let there be no acerbity, nostlng lug retort, no mean Insinuation, no super elllousnei»s, as though all others wen wrong und you infallibly right. I.icentlute* May l'«e Tobacco. The Presbytery of Boston tins refused tc make total abstinence from tobacco i condition precedent of ordination In thi cube of the young licentiates under its oar and of elders-elect. German* and the Nlrariigu Canal. Germans are said to be trying to get con trol Of the Nicaragua Canal route.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers