* "Oom Piet's Fort." i AN INCIDENT OF BOER LIFE IN THE TRANSVAAL } < tBY P. Y. BLACK. > VVV FVVtfVVV'VVVVVVVVVVVVwji The fires ou tbe hills were the warning. The farmers were com maudeered, that is, every able-bodied man between lt> and l>o in the district was cnllel to take his horse, his "bil tong" or dried beef ration, his rifle and a nmuuitiou and proceed at once to the rendezvous, thence to proceed against the fierce and warlike Zulus, who had again raided the Transvaal. Farnie: Putter sa Idled up and hurried off, as his first duty was, but first he callel to him Piet, his son, aud sol emnly spoke to him. "Sou of mine," said the farmer-sol dier, "you are not yet man tall enough to face the Zulu iuipis iu open field, but to your care I give mein vronw aud your little sister Greta and Pre torius, your brother. You must, if need be, play n man's part, for, since the two gold prospectors left the farm at the sign of war, there is none to take command of the Kaffir servants but you." Then Piet said without bravado: "i'ou may trust, my father, for, though I be not a man, still I am a Boer." So the farmer rode away, and Piet, thus promoted to command, withdrew into the sitting room, aud almost at once his troubles begau. His first care was to clean and load all firearms. These hung ou the walls, and some were old-fashioned aud without am muniton to fit them. But Piet's eye, seeking his own pet light rifle, which he bad won in a shooting match against all boys of his age for many miles rouud, missed it. He was startled, for it is almost criminal to meddle with another man's glory—his ride, and he sought Pretorius to see if that ambitious youth had taken it down. Pretorius had it not, aud Piet ran out to call Malula, a native servant, with sudden fear in his soul. Malula did not come at the call, aud Piet, with a pale face, thought for a moiaeu', and then, taking his old gun aud belt, leaped bareback on a horse, without a word to alarm the family, and rode off unseen at a gallop. He rode to the cornfield, where the native labor ers should have beeu working. The green corn waved in the wiud deserted. Not a mail was iu sight. He clashed to the meadows down the valley, where the herders should have beeu with the cattle. Here,in spite of him self, tears sprang to his eyes, for the cattle were gone, and the herders were absent. The great grassy fields were silent as were those of corn. 'They have deserted us, as soon a3 my father's back was turned," cried Piet iu dismay. "Aud they were not Zulus! Can it be a general rising among the Kaffir tribes?" At that thought he trembled,but h? had still vigor enough to ride to the top of a kopje near by. From the peak he had a view of much country, and saw a cloud of dust far away, which he guessed wai male by the s.oleu cattle. "Never miud, "siid Piei, "if we beat the Zulus we shall get them back with interest." Then he dug his heels into his horse's ribs and dashed down the hillside. He had seen, half a mile away, a black figure moving swiftly across the veldt, and the sun glauced from something borne ou hi-< shoulder —a gnu, Malula. Before the traitor servant was aware of pursuit, Piet was within 400 yards of him. Then the Kaffir heard the horse's hoofs aud turned. For a' moment the black seemed inclined to run, but changed his mind as the boy shouted to hi:u angrily. Malula deliberately raised the stolen rifle to his shoulde". Piet threw himself from tha horse,as a bul let whistled over the vacant saddle. The boy, a'ready a hunter, replied, with but a hasty glauce through his sights, aud Malula uttered a howl aud staggered and fell to the ground struck in the chest. Piet felt a of horror. Deer a-plenty had he shot, but never till now a man, so that his heart for a flash stood still, and his own face was deathlike. He 10 le slowly up to Malula, and found the Kaffir writhing in a death a»ouy. Piet agaiu dismounted anil attempted to offer aid,but the savage repulsed him. With a look of hate he glared at the boy, and cried iu his own tongue: "I am one, but tonight coaae th 9 Zulu, and no white thiug on the farm shall live. For mine there shall be ten deaths." So he died, glorying iu the hope of a speedy revenge, and the Boer boy, leaving him, recovered his new rifle and rode slowly and mournfully home ward. Here his troubled mother met him. "Piet," she sai.l, "the Kaffirs have left us. "I know," said he, and looked into her brave face, and told her what had happened and what Malula had said of the uearness of the Zu'.us. "If my father had known it," said her son, "he would m>t have left us." "He was commandeered," said the Boer wife. ' It was his duty. Country first—always, my son." "But," said Piet, in much pertur bation, "mv father did not think the blacks would fly. He thought that they, Basutos, would fight their old enemy, the Zulu. If these couie, what are we to do? Shall we leave the farm and trek to Van Boeven's?" The Boer mother pressed her lips with a frown of pride. "Thit was not well said, my son," she answered. "Ooiu Putter said 'Stay.' As he obeyed his general and went, so we shall obey him, and s:ay and tight till he comes." It was a Roman speech. Even as the words came from her month, she looked round and saw Piet, a well-, grown boy of 15 years; Greta, a child of 11; little Pretorius, aud the baby— a goodly garrison to defend the hearth! But she saw that hearth—she saw the dear walls her husfiand had built to bring her home as a bride; she saw the fields he had tilled aud the barns he had raised, aud seeing them, she would have fought to the last scratch of her nails,like a wildcat, "Yather than give them up. "Besides," said she hopefully, "what could the wretch Malula know that we don't? The Zulus caunot be near, and if they are, the farmers have out their scouts, and they say the Eng lish from Natal are also ready. Be fore they reach our farm the Boers must meet them, aud surely the sav age shall b3 stricken." Piet had an idea as be stood in the broad yard looking at the house, the chickens came clucking about him in their search for food. All day he worked busily, leaving his mother to the children, and by nightfall he had prepared a i'ort to withstand a siege. Two or three times during the afternoon he had slipped off to the top of the kopje, where lie could look afar, but each time he came back, having seou nothing but the rolling veldt. They had supper, and again Piet slipped away and came ba;-k, but now with a grim fa"e. "Mother," he whispered, "from the west I beard the war song of the Zulus. It came faintly with the wind. In the direction also of Van Boeven's farm the skie-i are red, end if Igo at dark I fear I shall see the flames rising j from their barns." The mother gathered her baby tight iu her arms for a moment, aud then quietly asked her eldest: "Are the guus cleaned and loaded?" j "Yes," said Piet, "and, mother, if : you approve, we must leave the house. j it is too big and rambling for us two to protect" "Leave the house?" "Not very far," said Piet, and ex- j plained. In that laud of few dwellers,spaco is not of much consideration. The | farm buildiugs were quite widely scat- | tered, and Farmer Putter had built his cowbyres aud pigpens aud so on a ! proper distance away from his house ; walls. All the afternoon Piet had been ' marching, la leu with packages and bundles, betweeu the house and the ' out-buildings. Now, when it was dark, i he put out all the lights of the house, j and the windows and doors were I stoutly barred. "Where are we going to sleep?" the children askel,accustomed to rise and ■ lie dowu with the sun, aud Piet an- ' swered chjerfully: "In the chicken coop." The childreu.at first astonished aud . incredulous, were delighted when they discovered that their brother meant j what he said, for the sight of the chickens feeding had given the boy the necessary idea. If the house were 1 too big, the coop could not be accused of that fault. About the rocky kopje j stones were plenty and more couveu- [ ieut than wood. Therefore, Piet had j aided his father iu building a solid af- | fair to shelter the many fowls. It was | stone, and high aud roomy. Piet.dur- i ing the afternoon, had made on each I side, by careful removal of stones, j loopholes,aud carried to the henhouse the more precious articles iu the house, ! with all the ammunition and guns. 1 Now the chickens, squawking, were i ruthlessly turned out, and the little j family went in, the youngsters gig- > gliug. The door which Piet had strengthened was closoit, and the gar rison prepared. Vrouw Putter was not without experience in war's alarms. She looked round with a' brave smile. "Well done, Piet," she said, aud ; calmly began to examine thj guns, while at the same time quieting the children, who, now in the dark aud disturbed by such preparations, begau to be afraid. Agan Piet slipped away to the kopje, and when he came back he said: "Flames are rising from the Van Boeven's, and the war song is coming near." "Loud?" the vrouw asked, briefly. "Not very," her son answered, pil ing rocks against the door. •'A detached party," said his mother, quietly. "If the Lord wills it, we will protect our own." And she made them all kneel down aud pray, and then siug a psalm. It was a fitfully moonlight night in the dry season, and chilly. White clouds pursued the moon after hiding it and leaving the veldt in darkness, then passing ou aud flooding the laud with silvery beams. For a long time a'l was very still. At last Piet, peer ing out of his loophole to the west, saw a shadow among the shadows, and this shadow moved and glided and came swiftly up the slope on which the chicken coop stood betweeu the house and the trees by the river. It was followed by another and another and another aud another, coming ou like wild dncks iu a V or wedge, and from the heart of the shadows came a low hum—the song of the Impis. "How many?" the mother asked,as the moou shone out, aud Piet told her there were about 20, with shields ! aud assegais, for in those days firearms were not common among the Kaffir ! tribes as now. "A raiding party," said Vronw Put- j ter, and took command. Piet was : eager to fire at once, but she forbade. - Tbe children •were very qniet, though trembling. Tbe savages came ou and baited, aud came ou again, now silent and apparently pnzzled at there being no sign of life abont the house. As the coop stood it could not be readily discerned in tbe shadow of the slope* Again the Zulus advanced. "Mother," said Piet, "if they gel close to tbe house they will fire it" tbe nodded, but waited until tbe savages were only fifty yards away* then —"Fire" she whispered,and from her own loophole and from Piet's at tbe same instant streamed a flame, and the Zulus gave one great cry of rage and astonishment, as two of their number threw their arms high and fell, their shields clattering beside them. At oace little Gretn and Pretorius did their part, and with incredible bravery in suoh infants forebore even to trem ble, but banded up fresh guns, while tbe two defenders passed the empty ones down to be loaded by these small but trained fingers. The Zulus,how ever, did not fall back. Furious at being taken by surprise they dashed at the little for', and a shower of spears came clashing against the stone walls. Crack! again went the guns, and again a bowl of pain resounded through the night. The Zulus were almost iu touch of the fort, and were pressing onward, one on top of the other, with their ferocious yells, when a tall man among them with an iron ring on his head, sign of an iuduna chief, shouted a command, aud at once his warriors fell back. "Mother," cried Piet, as they seized fresh rille a , "don't let them think that we are so few. Greta aud Pretorius, load as fast as you can. Mother, let us fire continuously and, thinking we are numerous, they will retire." Vrouw Putter no.lded con sent, and without a moment's pause, the induua gave his savages their in structions, and suddenly they ran apart from one another in the moon light and surrounded the henhouse aud came at it from three sides. Now, indeed, the besieged were hard put to it, but never quailed. Greta took the lightest ritle, aud, little girl though she was, her father aud brother aud even her mother had taught her to use it. She took position, a white faced heroine, at one side, aud her mother and Piet in their old places. Down came the Zulus, casting spears before them, and sheltered by their lon;.', tough bullhide shields. Crack! crack! crack! swiftly the rifles rang out, and still the Zulus rushed on. The fingers of little Pretorius were busy on the floor of tL<s hut, loading the rifles now ge'.ting hot. Crack! crack! The savages reached the wall; on* scrambled to the roof; he thrust a spear down a craok. The Boer's wife cried out; her shoulder was pierced. But Piet's voice was triumphant as a yell came from the induua himself. "I aimed for the chief and got him!" cried the boy, and indeed tbe induna seemed badly hurt, for he limped back, supported, and again culled off his soldiers. Piet ran to his mother and helped her bandage the mounded arm. "It is nothing," she said, bravely, and added more softly, "nor my life, either, if children and home are saved." Suddenly little Pretorius cried out in dismay. "Piet," he said, "there are uo more cartridges." It was true. One box was empty, and the other covered bos did not hold ammunition. Piet looked aud despaired. Two gold prospectors had been stayiug at the farm who used dynamite in their work. They had gone off at sign of trouble, but bad lel't some tools and things behind. Iu this box which Piet had carr ed ofl' for ammunition, were instead some sticks of dynamite. "I have betrayed—my father's trust!" cried Piet. "My mistake has been our ruin!" And he flung L imself in despair agaiust the wall. Bat his mother, finding nothing bijt empty guns, kueeled quietly down and prove I, hev babies about her. She had done all she could. The rest lay with a higher power. For a moment Piet was crazy, and then recovered himself. He looked through his loophole. The Zulus were in a group quite a hundred yards away, almost indistinguishable in the night. Even as Piet looked they moved and he knew they were about to attack again. With a shout of rage the furious boy suddenly stooped to the dang rous box he had carried from the house, and then drew down the rocks from the door and burst out. In his bauds he carried two sticks of dy namite, carried such deadly things in his hands that a stumble meant de struction. Yet be dashed ahead through tbe night, yelling. The Zulus turned ou him in amaze, thinking him mad, and greeted him with a shower of spears. Unstricken, Piet ran to within fifty yards of them, and then, one after another, he threw at them with all his might the fearful dyna mite. There was a fearful concussion, which dashed the boy to the earth, a roar as of artillery, a medley of fear ful shrieks from the unhappy Zulus, and all was still. Vrouw Putter and the children came out trembling, and found Piet insensible, but of the Zulu raiders no trace, save scattered limbs, where the earth was thrown about, leaving a great hole. The dynamite must have struck fairly in their midst aud had exploded with fearful effects. That happened long ago. Piet is today a man aud owns tbe farm. His father is dead, but the brave old mother lives ou with Piet and his wife. Many changes have taken place ou the lonely farm ou the veldt, but one building remains unchanged and rev erently preserved. It is the chicken coop, which is known by the children for miles aud miles as *'oo«a Piet'* Fori"—New York Sua. DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON. SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE Br THE NOTED DIVINE. Subject: The Coining Sermon—limplrntlon For the Future lteligioua Exhortation Will Be Drawn From the Living Christ —Theology Must. Take a Mack Seat. [Copyright, Louis Elopacb. 18W.1 WASHINGTON, D.C.—ln this discourse Dr. Tnlraage addresses all CUrlstiaa workers tind describes what he thinks will bo tho modes of preaching the gospel In the future; text, Romans *ll., 7, "Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering." While I was seated on a piazza of a hotel at Lexington, Ky., ono summer evening a gentleman asked me, "What do you think of the coming sermon?" I supposed he was asking me In regard to some new discourse of Dr. Gumming of I.ondon, who some times preached startling sermons, and I replied, "I have not seen it." But I found out afterward that be meant to ask what I thought would be the characteristics of the coming sermon of the world, the ser mons of the future, the word "Cummlng" as a noun pronounced the same as the word "coming" as nn adjective. But my mistake suggested to me a very important and procticul theme, "The Coming Ser mon." Before the world is converted the stvle of religious discourse will have to be' con verted. You might as well go Into tho modern Sedan or Gettysburg with bows and arrows, instead of rifles and bombshells and parks of artillery, as to expeot to oon quer this world for God by the old styles of exhortation and sermonology. Jona than Edwards preached the sermons most adapted to the age In whioh ho lived, but If those sermons were preached now they would divide an audience Into two olasses —those sound asleep and those wanting to go home. But there is a dlscourso of the futuro. Who will preach It I havo no Idea. In what part of the earth it will be born I have no Mea. In which denomination of Christians it will be delivered I cannot guess. That discourse of exhortation may be born in tlio country meeting house on the banks of the St. Lawrenceorthe Oregon or the Ohio or the Tomblgbeo or the Alabama. The person who shall deliver it may this mo ment be in a cradle under tho shadow of the Sierra Nevadas or in a New England farmhouse or amid the rlceflolds of South ern savannas, or this moment there may be some young man in one of our theological seminaries, in the junior or middle or sen ior class, shaping that weapon of power, or there may be coming some now baptism of tho Holy Ghost on tho churches, so that some of us who now stand in the watoii towers of Zion, waking to a realization of our present efficiency, may preach It our selves. That coming discourse may not bo lifty years o(T. And let us pray God that Its arrival may bo hastened whllo I an nounce to you what I,thluk will be the jhlef characteristics of that discourse orexlior latlon when It does airive, and I want to make my remarks appropriate aud sug gestive to all classes of Christian workers. First of all, I remark that that future re ligious discourse will be full or u living Christ In contradistinction to didactic technicalities. A discourse may be full of Christ though hardly mentioning His name, and a sermon may beomptyof Christ while every fentence is repetitious of His titles. The world wants a living Christ, not a Christ standing at the head of a formal sys tem of theology, but a Christ who means pardon and sympathy and condolence and brotherhood aud life and heaven, a poor man's Christ, a rich man's Christ, an over worked man's Christ, an invalid's Christ, a farmer's Christ, a merchant's Christ, an ur tlsan's Christ, an every man's Christ. A symmetrical and fine worded system of theology Is well enough for the theological classes, but It has no moro buslnoss In a pulpit than have the technical phrases of an anatomist or a psychologist or a physi cian in the sickroom of a patient. The world wants help, Immediate and world uplifting, and it will como through a dis course In which Christ shall walk right down Into tho Immortal soul and take ever lasting possession of It. ilillng It ns full of light as is this noonday llrmament. That sermon of exhortation of the future will not deal with men In the threadbare Illustrations of Jesus Christ. In that com ing address there will be instances of vicarious suffering taken right out of evoryday life, for there Is not a day when somebody Is not djlng for others—as the Jibyslclan saving bis diphtheritic patient >y sacrificing his own life; as the ship cap tain going down with hl9 vessel while ho is getting I.ls passengers into the lifeboat; as the llreman consuming in the burning building while he is taking a child out of a fourth story window; as in summer tho strong swimmer at East Hampton or Long Branch or Capo May or.Lake George him self perished trying to rescue tho drown ing; ns the newspaper boy oue summer, supporting his mother for some years, his invalid mother, when offered by a gentle man llftv cents to get some special paper, and he got It and lushed np In his nnxiety to deliver it and was orushed under the wheels of the train and lay on tho grass with only strength enough to sny, "Oh, what will become of my poor, sick mother now?" Vicurtous suffering—the world 19 full of it. An engineer said to me on a locomotive In Dakota: "We men seem to bo coming ton better appreciation than we used to. Did you see thnt account the other day of an engineer who to 6ave his passengers stuck to his post, and when he was found dead In the locomotlvo which wusup9ide down, he was found still smil ing, his hand on the air-brake?" And as the engineer said it to me he put his hand on tbo air-brake to Illustrate Ills meaning, and looked at me and thought; "i'ou would be just as much a hero In the same crisis." Oh, In that religious dlscourso of the future there will bo living illustrations taken out from evoryday life of vienrious suffering—lllustrations that will bring to mind the ghastlier sacrifice of Him, who In the high places of the Held, on the cross, fought our battles, and endured our strug gle and died our denth. A German sculp tor made an Image of Christ, and he asked Ills little child, two years old, who It wa9, and she said, "That must bo some very great man." The sculptor was displeased with the criticism, so he got another block of marbio and chiseled away on It two or three years, and then he brought In his littlo child, four or five years of age, and cald to her, "Who do you think thnt Is?" She said, "That must be the One who took little ohlldren In His arms aud blessed ttiem." Then the sculptor was satisfied. Oh, my friends, what the world wants is not a cold Christ, not an Intellectual Christ, not a severely magisterial Christ, but 11 loving Christ, spreading out His nrms of sympathy to press the whole world to His loving heart. But I remark again that the religious discourse of the future will have to be short. Condensation 1* demanded by the age In which we live. No more need of long introductions and long applications and so many divisions to a discourse thnt It may be said to bo hydra-headed. Iu other days men got all their lnformatlou from tho pulpit. There were few books, and there were no newspapers, and there was little travel from place to piaffe, and people would sit and listen two and a half noursto a religious discourse, and "seveu teeuthly" would llud them fresh and chip per. Iu those days there was enough time for a man to take au hour to warm himself up to the subject and an hour to cool off. But what was a necessity then Is a super fluity now. Congregations are full of knowledge from books, from newspapers, from rapid and continuous Intercommuni cation and long disquisitions of what they know already will not be abided. If n re ligious teaoher cannot compress what he wishes to say to the people In tho space of forty-live minutes, better adjourn It to 9ome other day. The trouble Is we preach audiences into n Christian frn-ip. and then wo preach them out of It. Wi > forget that every aud itor has so much capacitv of attention, and when that 13 exhausted He is restless. That accident on the Long Island railroad years ago came from tho fact that the brakes were out of order, and when they wanted to stop the train they could not stop, and hence the casualty was terrific. In all re ligious discourse we want locomotive power and propulsion. Wo want at tho same time stout brakes to let down at the rlnlit In stant. It Is a dismal thing, after a hearer has comprehended tho whole subject, to hear a man say, "Now to recapitulate," and "A few words by way of application" and "Once more," and"Finally," aud "Now to conclude." Paul preached until midnight, and Euty chus got souud asleep and fell out of a winnow and broke Ills neck. Some would say, "Oood for him." I would rather be sympathetic, like Paul, and resuscitate him. That accident Is often quoted now In religious circles as u warning against som nolence In church. It Is just as much a warning to ministers against prolixity. Eutycbus was wrong !u his somnolence, but Paul made a mistake when he kept on until midnight. lie ought to have stopped at II o'clock, and there would have been no aouldent. If Paul might have gone on to too great length, let all those of us who are now preaching the gospel remember that there Is n limit to religious discourse, or ought to be, and that in our time we have uo apostolic power of miracles. Na poleon In an address of seven minutes thrilled his army and thrilled Europe. Christ's sermon on the mount, the model sermon,was less than eighteen minutes long at ordinary mode of delivery. It Is not electricity scattered all over the sky that strikes, but electricity gathered Into a thunderbolt and buried, and It is not relig ious truth scattered over ami spread out over a vast reach of time, but religious truth projocted in compact form that flashes light upon the soul and rives Its indifference. When the religious discourse of tho future arrives in this land and in tho Christian church, the discourse which is to arouse the world and startle the nations and usher In the kingdom, it will boa brief discourse. Hear It, all thooiogical student*, all ye just entering upon religious work, all ye men and women who In Sabbath sobools and other departments are tolling for Christ and the salvation of immortals brevity, brevltyl But I remark also that tho religious discourse of the future of which I speak will boa popular discourse. There are those in these times who speak of a popular sermon as though there must bo something wrong about it. As these critics are dull themselves, tho world gots tho impression that a sermon is good in proportion as it Is stupid. Christ wa3 the most popular preacher the world ever saw and, con sidering the small number of the world's population, had tho largest au dlenoe ever gathered. He never preached anywhere without making a great sensation. People rushed out in the wild erness to hear Him reckless of their phys ical necessities. So great wa? their anxie ty to hoar Christ that, talcing no food with them, they would have fainted and starved had not Christ performed a miracle and fed them. Why did so many people take the truth at Christ's hands? Because they all understood It. He illustrated His sub ject by a hen and her chickens, by a bushel measure, by a handful of salt, by a bird's light and by a lily's aroma. All the people knew what lie meant, and they flocked to Him. And when tho religious discourse of the future appears it will not bo Prince tonlan, not Rochesterlan, not Andoverlan, not Mlddletonlan, but Ollvetic—plain, practical, unique, earnest, comprehensive of all the woes, wants, sins and sorrows of an auditory. But when that exhortation or discourse does come there will bo a thousaud gleam ing sclmlters to charge on It. There are in so many theological seminaries professors tolling young men how to preach, them selves not knowing how, and I nm told that If a young man In some of our theological somluarles says anything quaint or thrill ing or unique faculty and students fly at him and set him right and straighten him out and smooth him down and chop him off until ho Bays everything just as every body else says It. Oh, when the future re ligious discourse of the Christian churohar rlves all the churches of Christ in ourgreat cities will bo thronged! The world wants spiritual help. All who have buried their dead want comfort. All know themselves to be mortal and to he immortal, and they want to hear about the great future. I tell you, my friends, If the people of cur great cities who have had trouble only thought they could get practical and sympathetic help In tho Christian church, there would not be a street in Washington or New York or any other city which would bo passable on the Sabbath day If there were a church on it, for all the people would press to that asyluai of mercy, that great house of comfort and consolation. A mother with a dead babe in her arms came to the god Siva and asked to have hor child restored to life. The god Siva said to her, "You go aud get :i handful of mustard seed from a house in which there has been no sorrow and in whioh thore has been no death, and I will restore your child to life." So tho mother went out. and she went from house to house and from home to home looking for a place where there had been no sorrow and whero there had been no death, but she found none. Sho went back to the god Siva and said: "My mission is a failure. You see, I haven't brought the mustard seed. I can t flnd a place wboro there has been no sor row and no death." "Oh!" says the god Siva. "Understand, your sorrows are no worse than the sorrows of others. We all have our griefs, and all have our heart - breaks." "Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Woep, nnd yon weep alone; For tho sad old earth muit borrow Its mirth, But has trouble enough of Its own." We hear a great deal of discussion now all over tho land about why people do not goto church. Some say it is because Christianity is dying out and because peo ple do not" believe in the truth of God's word, and all that. They are false reasons. The renson Is because our sermons and ex hortations are not interesting and practi cal and helpful. Some one might as well tell the whole truth on this subject, and so I will tell It. Tho religious discourse of the future, tho gospel sermon to come forth and shako tho nations and lift people out of darkness, will be n popular sermon, just for tho slin plo reason that it will iseet the woes and tho wants and tho anxieties of tho people. There are In all our denominations ec clesiastical mummies sitting around to frown upon the fresh young pulpits of America to try to awe them down, to cry out: "Tut, tat, tut! Sensational!" They stand to-day preaching in churches that hold a thousand people, and there are a hundred per ons present, aud if they can not have tlio world saved in their way It seems 11s If they do not want it saved at all. I do not know but the old way of making ministers of the gospel Is better—a col legiate education and an apprenticeship under the care and home attention of some earnest, aged Christian minister, tho young man getting the patriarch's spirit and as-, slsting him in his religious service. The printing press is to bo tho great agency of gospel proclamation. It is high time tliat good men, instead of denouncing the press, employ It to scatter forth the gospel of Jesus Christ. Tiio vast majority of people in our cities do not como to church and nothing hut the printed sermon can reach them and call them to pardon nnd life and peace and heaven. Tho time will como when all the village, town and city newspapers will reproduce tho gospel of Jesus Christ, nnd sermons preached on the Sabbath 'will reverberate nil around the world, and, sone by tvpe and somo by voice, all nations will be evango lizeJ. THE GREAT DESTROYER. -- SOME STARTLINC FACTS ABOUT THE VICE OF INTEMPERANCE. Wonliln't You ?—Official Kiinmeratlon of the Reeling Host oi American Drunk ards—'The Awful Census Taken In 140 Cities—A Traffic That KilU. If a little pledge will keep me Safe and sound. And will show some sinking mortal Solid ground; If It tle9 me fast to lire-llnc9 Strong and true. Why, I'll take tin pledge and keep it— Wouldn't you? * Drink's Grand Army. The Department of Labor has recently Issued from Washington a bulletin (Number 24), edited by Commissioner Carroll D. Wright, In which statistics are given of the police arrests In all our cities of 30,000 and upwards. The statistics for tUe most part are for the police year 1898. There are 140 cities in the country liv ing the required population, and the record of which Is given in the compilation. According to the figures, there were 291,- 820 people arrested for drunkenness in - these cities alone—almost ten times a& • many men as now comprise our army In the Philippines. This crop of drunkards, from these 140 cities alone, would make up five armies each as large as the combined British and Boer forces In South Africa. If this great army of drunkards wore marshaled for a parade, before our canteen advooates, marching twenty abrna.-t. It would require four and oue-hnlf duys, marching ten hours a day, for them to puss. And these 295,000 drunks do not In clude the arrests for "disorderly conduct," "assault" and a dozen other offences which grow out of the legalized rum busi ness. The total arrests for all causes In these cities was 915,167. Counting the moderate estimate of three-fourths of these as being the victims of the lawful saloons, It would require more than a Week's marohing, twenty abreast, for the great procession to stngger past a review lug stand—and the rum product of only 140 cities heard from. Views of nn Kmlnent Specialist. Au eminent specialist In diseases of children has noted the progress of twelve families with parents who wero habitual i drinkers of alcoholic driukf, aud of twelve') families with total abstaining parents. During the twelve years these families were under his observation,the twelve llrst named gave birth to llfty-seven children, of whom twenty-five died in the first week after birth, five were Idiots, five were dwarfs, five later became epileptic? and later one hud chorea ending In Idiocy, and five others w»re more or less deformed and unhealthy, leaving only eleven of the fifty-seven children to arrive at maturity in a healthy condition of body and mind. The twelve families with temperate par ents, during the same period of time wero bleesed with slxtv-one children, of whom only six died during the first week after birth, later two showed inherited defects of the nervous system, leaving fifty-three of the sixty-one healthy in body and mind. My own observations during a continued period of sixly-two years of medical prac tice, adds u doctor, fullv corroborate the infe»ences to be drawn from the foregoing statements. In the Hatter of Alcohol as Food. Professor Atwater's "food" killed my father about sixty years ago, burned up our clothing and food nnd drove the smile from my mother's eye, and I would rather live in the serenity of Ignorance than in an infatuation of so-called science that de fends alcoholic drinks under any circum stances. I would be glad to submit to a public test with Professor Atwater, I being allowed to use water In connection with my food und he being limited to diluted al cohol aud see what the results would be. Upon the supposition that Professor At water's duties would probably make it im possible for him to visit Chicago for such a test, I would suggest that he might send, us a substitute, the Bishop whose recent utterances against the Prohlbltloniit* have not been forgotten, Dr. Lyman Abbott or the President of the Brewer's Congre-s. —l''. McGulre,Surgeon Fourteenth Wiscon sin Infantry, 1800-65, St. Cloud, Minn. Intoxicants Fatal in Alaska, In a recent Interview In Chicago, Joa quin Miller, the post, who has s pent some time In Alaska, said: "To use Intoxicants In Alaska is fatal. No one can use stimu lants without serious results. Even cofTee Is not necessary to the habitual coffee drinker. Teals the proper beverage there, und that is the populur drink. Whisky is a deadly thing to the Indians, and they are perishing in Alaska very rapldlv."—Chris tian Work. The Home of tlie Boodler. We ought to woge a constant and ag gressive warfare against an Institution Innt breods the venal voter and stands as the convenient clearing house In which Hie boodle politician can buy Ills way to and dishonorable power. What Keeps Them Poor. Ex-Governor Grant, of Colorado, savs !hiit liquor driuklug is the thing that keeps the 9melter men poor, and not low wages or long hours. He shows that 42,500,000 in checks have been cashed for ilie men by the during the last few years. The Crusade In Paragraphs. The way to prevent drunkenness is to destroy the cause. Men are drunkards becnuso bovs are tempted to drink. Two thousand saloous have been opened In Cuba since the war. If you want a cool head and a clear brain keep clear of the snloon. Every true patriot will hit the drink devil whenever he gets a chance. If we had a million tongues we would cry: "Snvo the children from the curse of alcohol." A Christian has no right to assist in maintaining a traffic whose fruits are nec essarily erll. Hereafter in New Haven County (Conn.) saloon licenses will not be granted to gro cery dealers. Temperance societies should be more wideawake than they are. They, nt pres ent, are in danger of lapsing Into a state of quiescence that bodes but little good to the cause of total abstinence. The Texns Liquor Dealer denounces as "blackmail" a letter from the officers of the W. C. T. U. of a Texas town, notifying a saloon keeper that he would be prose cuted if he did not cease violating the law. There are, acoordlng to L'Etoile du Matin, juvenile temperance societies In 2750 of the 4062 prlmnry schools of the king dom of Belgium. There are also 081 adult temperance societies lu Belgium schools with more than 14,000 members. Tue drink seller fattens on the destruc tion of public health and virtue. That intemperance Is one of tSe grer est known causes of failure of youkg n Is unquestionable. It is the bane t! human raee. Anything that will dest even temporarily, the power to use intuitive faculties und the judgment, I appul'lng evil, and, unfortunately, it evil that is largely prevalent. We shnll make short work as a recognized legal establ' ever we can get our ow about aud form In batt forts of folly. Fuce though for nearly balf nnd the saloon have I never faced each ot!
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers