OLD-TIME HUSKINC BEES. Memory often takes an outing 'Mid th i husks upon tho (loor, From the present passing show After waich the girl would snugglo Spreads her pinions and goes scouting To hi:n closer thau before, To the soenes of long ago. Blushing to her linger tips Back unto the fun and froiio From the thrill boru on her lips. Of the rural Bports and plays, Pleasures charmingly bucolio How the happy picture lingers That wore ours in younger days, With us through the fleeting years And the very chief of these Of the way the toil scarred lingers Were the country husking bees. Snatched the jackets from the cars. Of the Hashing lanterns hanging On the old barn floor we'd gather, 'Bound, and casting flickers o'or Boys and girls and older folks. Merry dancers who were banging Heart* us light as downy feather, Dust from out the old burn floor Lips all ripe with rustic jokes. As the flddler jerked his bow Air just sparkling with our laughter Muscularly to and fro. As the gay hours onward sped Until every cobwobbed rafter Everyday I hear the singing In the shadows overhead Of some dear old rural ode, Seemed to quiver and to ring Melody of youth-days ringing As a high-keyed llddle string. Through our mountalnland abode, And my loving glances wander Now and then the air was riven To that happy wifely face \\ ith a shout t d wake the dead, That I learned to love back yonder Telling that the fates had given In that far east country place. Some glad cuss an ear of red, She is all the world to me; Then would come the kissing struggle Found her at a husking bee. j WHY IS A JELLY-FISH? I j A WONDERFUL TALE OF JAPAN. C i j BY F. W. REMY. | You little children of today, who are so wise in school-room lore, may objoct to the title of my story,—"Why is a jelly-fish?" I hear you say iu scoffing tones, "Why, because it is, of course,— -just .like a clam or an oyster; it just is a jelly-fish?" But I atn going to give you the answer that the Japanese fairy-tales give to the brown-eyed little ones of old Japan. You know how very old Japan it is quite likely that in her past history she would have seen the very beginning of many things; aud she says that the jelly-fish was not always the holpless, quivering mass that you see lying helpless among the bright lined shells and shining pebbles on the seashore. Years and years ago, when the world was very young, the Japenese fairytales tell us that the jelly-fish was far more active aud spry thai any of his finny brothers; for he, besides his fins and tail, had tiny feet, which enabled him to walk upon the land with the utmost ease and grace. I do not myself believe that his brain ] was very active; for I think that auy j fish—yes, even a clam—would today be wise enou- 1 to escape the horrible fate by wh 1 oue silly jelly-fish mined a whole race of active, agile creatures. For just see what happened. The old king of the dragons, who ' had for many years been a cross, i cranky old bachelor, fell in love with j and married a beautiful young ; dragoness. So lovely was she, with sea green eyes, coral lips, and yellow jair, that it was 110 wonder the old king adored her. Great was the re joicing throughout all the kindgom at the marriage festivities. Every fish that could swim, from the least to the jeatest, came bearing beautiful gifts. But the clams and the oysters were jonsidered iu those days the wise men of the kingdom; aud royalty even leferred to them, waiting for hours at itime for them to open the r mouths >n grave questions of state. So, they aever left home, but received in great fereinonv iu their own domains. To ;hetn, attended by a long train of •ourtiers, composed of the finest Icholars in all the schools of fish, .vent the dragon king and his wiu lome bride;and so everyone in Dragon Land welcome 1 the sovereign',and all joy. But, a'as! this happiness .vas too great to last! At the zenith of ,he lioueymoou the sweet young Iragon queen became mysteriously ,11; a id iu spite of constant care from ihe best doctors iu the realm, she ained away, and seemed about to die. One day, iu a voice as soft as a fish's Dreath, she said to her husband: "In i dream I learned of what will cure aie. Fetch 1110 the liver of a live monkey, and your little periwinkle" —for so the king had often called her in a tender moment—"will get strong again." "The liver of a live monkey, periwinkle of my heart!" cried the astounded king. "Why, monkeys live far away, among the great forests on the land! They, poor things, can not swim nor live iu tli3 water kingdom of the dragons! Heart's periwinkle you must be mad!" Then the young quoen moaned and Bobbed: "All! it is true what mamma sa d. You never loved me! One little thing I ask, to save my life; and you will not give it to me. Go away! Disport among fairer aud younger dragonesses!" Iu great distress the dragon kiug sought coui:selamong the scholars of the jelly-fish school, and, after listening to the strange fancy of their idolized queen, the bravest among them said: "Listen, O dragon kiug! I will swim across the waters, and climb the forest hills; and so sweetly will I sing of the beauties aud delights of Dragon Land that I will entice the monkeys from the tree tops, and they will all clamor to return with ine. But I will choose the plumpest and the youngest and bring him on my back to your august dragouship." "Do this," said the dragon king, and the choicest coral house, inlaid with pearl, and the most radiant dragoness in the kingdom shall be yours!" Sothe gallant jelly-fish started •n his "Liver Quest." He swiftly swam across the water; and'—fortuue always favors the brave—just where ho happened to land stood a grove of trees, aud up iu the top of one ho saw a beautiful young monkey. He knew by the monkoy's cheerful face, and the enjoyment with which he was eatiug nuts, that his liver was iu good shape. 3o he commenced his beguiling talk: '•O Mr. Monkoy, jump down from your tree! Come, cross the beautiful water with me! There shall you see a beauteous land, Where fruit-trees and nut-trees grow stately and grand; And man, who is always annoying you here. That radiant country does never eoine near." The monkey, entranced by this lovely song, forgot the ties of his home, anil clambering quickly down from his perch, suid: "I accept your invitation. Lend ine your bathing suit." "No," said the wily jelly-fish. "Jump on my back, and I will take you there. It is not litti:ig that a guest to my king should even wet liis worshipful feet." Now you know how impulsive a monkey is) and also how clever. So it is 110 wonder that, alter they had started, the monkey be gan to think and wonder if he bad not been acting unwisely in trusting himself to this stranger. So he put 011 his most winning manner, and offering the jelly-fish his last nut, said: "How clever you are! Yon walk so beautiful on the shore, and swim with such ease in the water! If all your people are so smart, why should you care to take such a clumsy creature as I to your 1 eautiful • country." And now the jelly-fish, who had become very tired of carrying his heavy load, and also was not loalh to show that his brain was quite as clever as his shell, l'elt that he could safely tell his real reason for taking the mon >ey on this journey. "Oh!" said he, in an airy manner, as he shook the salt drops lrom his tail and wiped the water fioni his eyes with one tiny foot, "Oh, I forgot to mention that, although Dragon Land is far 1110 e lovely than I have ever told you, your visit will Vie short. His majesty, the dragon kin;, really wishes for your liver, that it may be made into a medicine lor his wife, the lovely young queen." Now the shell of the jelly-fish was so thick in those days that he could not feel the shiver of fear that shook the monkey from head to tail, and the roar of the waters drowned the gasp of horror that the monkey gave. He only heard him say: "I ask nothing better than to yield up my ( battering, frivolous life for the sake of the queen of the dragons, the fame of whose b;a'lty has mounted to the tops of our highest trees. But, un fortunately, I left my liver hanging 011 the branch of the tree in which I was playing. You see a good liver— and mine is of the best—is too precious a thing to carry about with one; aud so I usually take mine out when I a 11 playing, and only put it in when I am ready togo home. Ia n sorry to ask you togo back fort. But, you see, I would be of no se vice to the queen at present, unless."—a sudden thought seemed to strike him, — "unless my heart, lungs, or brains would be of use. All I have is ners!" "No," said the jelly-fish: "only a liver. We must go back for yours. I wish I had told you at first what I really wanted yon for. bit I had 110 idea you tree dwellers were so good natured." The jelly-fish was so ill nature.l on the return trip that he chose the roughest course he could, aud the moukey l>e*aine very sea-sick before they reached the shore again. "Now hurry up your liver!" called the jelly-fish, as the moukey bounded from his back as soon as they touched the shore of Monkey Land. Up to the topmost branch of the tree climbed the moukey in less than no time; aud then, after scrambling a'lout in the branches, and making a great fuss, he called out: "I cannot find my liver auywhere. Some oue must have stolen it, or perhaps my mother has taken it home to keep it safely for me. I will go and look for it; but you had better go home and tell your king about it, or he may be worried about you. Come for me to morrow at this time, and I'll have my liver all ready aud waiting for you." Of course, you all know what the silly jelly-fish never dreamed of, that the monkey had no intention of giving tip his liver for any dragon queen, and that he was chuckling to himself at the ease with which he had fooled the jelly-fish. But the jelly-fish started off in high good huuior, and hastened to the dragon king with a glad heart. What was his amazement, however, when, after telling the kiug all that had happened, he beheld his briny ma;esty fly into a fearful rage- So wild with fury aud disappoint ment did the king become that he called to his "officers of shell-fish law," —the sword-fish and the whale, and bade them deal with the jelly-tish to the fullest extent of the law. "Away with this barnacle of stupidity! Bent him to a jelly! Let no boue, nc smallest bit of nh.dl, remain nnbroke.il May his feet, his tins, his eyes,—yes, nu I his liver—-al 1 become oue shapless mass." So the officers seized him, and did ns the king commanded; and that is why, at this la e day, jelly-tishes have 110 bones, are nothing but a pulpy mass. And the dragon queen? Why, would y< u believe it? When she found that she could not have fl liver from a live monkey, she simply made up her mind to get well without it, especially after she heard twc young star-fish talking, as they glided past her poarl window one night, o) the 1 eauty and charm of ayouiia dntgoness who had just been presented to the drag.in king by her match making and fat-seeing parents.— Christian .Uegislor. QUAINT AND CURIOUS. A youug man in Buffalo, N. Y., from some impulsive freak, took il into his head to save all his cents. lit wearied after two years when he g:>t 1201) of them and tried to sell them, but nobody would buy even at 80 cents on the dollar. Some shopkeepers in timated that he might have been rob bing poor luxe', and th • agony of the young man is not to be measured by o boxful of cents. They pay that on Mcosehead Lake, Maine, an angler recently was tishin : with a steel rod during a thunder storm and struck a trout at the instant that a thunderbolt dallied with his rod. The cork handle prevent* d the angler feeling anything more than a slight sho. k, but when h;> hauled it in he found the TO :t stone dead. He figured it out thai the lightning bolt followed the rod and the enameled line down to where the trout had just taken hold of tho hook, and there killed him. A workman drove a wagon loaded with sixty gallons of nitroglycerin ' into Van Buren, Ind., the other day and dismounted to transact soma busi ness. The horses became frightened and run down the principal stee t of the town, causing a panic. Citizens ran from th ir offices aud stores, de serting their business and seeking safety by getting a distance from the wagon, wlii. h was expe ted to explode every second. Finally the horses broke loose from the wagon and left it standing in the street. English police report the strange death of a valuable horse belonging to the Lancashire & Yorkshire K ul wav company, which hail been placid in a field under suspiiion of madness. At midnight it es aped from the fi Id aud kuo -kel up the landlord of tho Fielden Arms by battering his front door with its forefeet. Driven tlitiu.e, it was s£en to try to scale several cot tage bedroom windows, and being at length captured by the village con stable ami sundry helpers, and placed in another held, it dashed away at a gallop and leaped madly into the swamp, breaking its neck against a brick culvert. It has just been mad > pulili • that a find of incalculable value to science was made a' a stone quarry n. arAkrou, Ohio. The find consists of the skele ton of a gigantic man, believed to have lived in prehistori • times, and reliis of a time when civilization was just beginning to dawu. In clearing away refuse qnarrymen found the almost complete skeleton of a man. The skill was entire ami the lower jaw boue of such proportions as to easily tit over the outside of the jaw of the largest modern man. Vertebrie wore found, as were aso ribs and femurs an 1 the large pelvis bone, which was broken in two. It is believed the man must have been at hast ten feet in height. Gwan lu in Africa, which coutains between 10,000 audio,ooo inhabitants, is surrounded by a palisade of tree poles, the top of every i ole 1 eing crowned with a human skull. There are six gates and ttie approach of each gate is laid with a pavement of human skulls, tho tops being tho only part that shows above gronud. More than 2000 skulls are used in the pavement leading up to the gate. The pave ment is of snowy whiteness, polished to the smoothness of ivory by the dai y passage of hundreds of naked feet. Among other curious materials which have been used for pavements may be mentioned molasses mixed with sand aud compressed into blocks; hors s' teeth set. in cement, granulated lork, India rubber, shells, steel and glass. A pave.uent of grass blocks has been laid in the city of Lyons, France. The costliest macadam on record is that whi h once paved the streets of Ivimberley, South Africa. It was so thickly studded with diamonds that gemsf worth millions were taken from it. Tnvolins in J.iva. A man who has been traveling in Java thus writes about the I>.nch colonial rail ways. He says: "Trains are liseil in Java, not on account of their speed, but on ac.ount of the long distances one lias to cover. If you are in a hurry and you haven't more than five miles to go—walk. You may lind some difficulty in keep ing up to the train if it is going down a stiff' gradient, but you will more than make this up on the flat, as you'll romp past it on coming to the slightest ascent. It is a solemn fact," he continues, "that once in the course of a mile walk along a highway itin ning parallel with the railway line I | caught up to aud passed a 'snel' (ex ! press ti ain\ Toward the end of the ! walk I entered a shop to purchase ( an article, and only after I had been in the shop ten minutes did the train ! aeain pass me."—Pinanz Gazette DE. TALMAGES SERMON. SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED DIVINE. Subject! Our Father's House God's Homestead, Untitled on tile Hilts of Heaven, Provides ltoouis For All- Vivid Picture of the Celestial Home. [Copyright, Louis Klopsch, 189W.1 WASHINGTON, D. o.—ln a unique way the heavenly world is discoursed upon by Dr. Talmage iutbis sermon under the figure of a home; text, John xiv.,2, "In My Father's house are many rooms." Here Is a bottle of medicine that is n cure all. Tho disciples wore sad, and Christ offered heaven as an alterative, a stimulant nnd a tonic. Ho shows them that their sorrows are only a dark back ground of a bright picture of coining lellcity. He lets them know that, though now they live on the lowlands, they shall \et have a house on the uplands. Nearly all tho Bible descriptions of heaven may bo figurative. I aim not positive that In all heavon there Is a literal crown or harp or pearly gate or throne or ohariot. They may be only used to illustrate tho glories of the pluce, but how well they ilo It! The favorite symbol by which the Bible pre sents celestial happiness is a house. Paul, who never owned u house, although ho hired ouo for two years iu Italy, speaks of heaven ns a "house not made with hinds," and Christ in our text, the translation of which Is a little changed, so as to give the more accurate meaning, suys: "In My Father' 3 house aro many rooms." This diviuely authorized comparlsou of heaven to a grent homestead ot large ac commodations I propose co carry out. In some healthy neighborhood a man builds a very commodious habitation. He must have room for all his children. The rooms come to be called after tho different mem bers of the family. That Is mother's room, that Is George's room, that Is Henrv'sroom, that is Flora's room, that Is Mary's room, and tho house Is all occupied. But time goes by, and the sons go out into the world ami build their own homes, and the daughters are married or have talents enough singly togo out nnd do a good work iu the world. After a while the father and mother are almost alone In the big house, and, seated by the evening stand, they say, "Well, our family Is no larger now than when wo started together forty years ago." But time goes still further by, and somo of the children aro unfortunate aud return to the old home stead to live, and tho grandchildren como with them and perhaps great-grandchil dren, and again ttie house is full. Millennia ago God built on the hills of heaven a great homestoad for a family In numerable, yet to be. At first He lived alone in that grout house, but after awhile it was occupied by u very lurge family, cher ubic, seraphic, angelic. The eternities passed on, and many of tho inhabitants became wayward nnd left, never to return, and many of the apartments were vacant. 1 refer to the fallen angels. Now these apartments aro lining up again. There are arrival-) at tho old homestead of God's children every day, and the day will i-ome when there will be no unoccupied room in all tho house. A« you and I expect to enter It and mako there eternal residence, I thought you would like to get some more particulars about tho many roomed homestoad. "in my Father's house are many rooms." You see, tho place is to be apportioned off into apartmonts. We shall love all who are in heaven, but there aro somo very good peo ple whom we would not want to live with In the same room. They may be better than we are, but they are of a divergent temperament. We would like to meet with them on the golden streets and worship with them In the temple and walk with them on tho river banks, but I am glad to say that we shall live In different apart ments. "fn my Father's house aro many rooms." You sec, heaven will bo so largo that if one wants an entire room to himself or herself it can be afforded. An ingenious statistician, taking tho statement made In Revelation, twenty-first chapter, that tho heavenly Jetusaleiu was measured aud found to be 12,000 furlough and tbat the length and height and breadth of it are equal, says that would make heaven in size U4S sextilllon 088 quliitilJlon cubic feet, aud then, reserving a certain portion for tho court ot heaven aud the streets aud estimating that the world may last il hundred thousand years, ho ciphers out that there are over 5,000,000,000.000 rooms, each room seventeen feet long, six teen feet wide, fifteen feet high. But I have no faith in tho accuracy ot that calcula tion. Ho makes the rooms too small. From all I can read the rooms will bo palatial, and those who have not hail enough room In this world will have plenty of room at the last. I should uot wonder if, instead of tho room that the statistician ciphered out as only seventeen feet by sixteen, it should be larger than any of tho rooms at Berlin, St. Jaines or Winter palace. 'lu my Father's house are many rooms." gtJarrylng out B[ |u further the symbolism of the text, let us join hands and go up to this majestic homestead aud see for our selves. As we ascend the golden steps an invisible guardsman swings open the front door, und we are ushered to the right into tho reception room of tho old homestead. That Is the place where we llrst meet the welcome of heaven. There must bo a pla:;e where the departed spirit enters aud a place iu which It coufrouts the inhabitants celestlul. The reception room of tho new ly arrived from this world—what scenes it must have witnessed since the first guest arrived, the victim of the first fratricide, pious Abel! in that room Christ loviugly greets all newcomers. Ho redeemed them, and He bus the right to the llrst embrace on arrival. What a minute when the ascended spirit first sees the Lord! Bettor than all we ever real about Him or talked about Him or sang about Him in all the churches aud through all our earthly lifetime will It be, just for one second to see Him Tho most rapturous idea we over had of Him on sacramental days or at tho height ot some great revival or under the uplifted baton of an oratorio is a bankruptcy of thought compared with tho first Mash of His appearance in that reception room. At that moment when you confront each other, Christ looking upon you auil you looking upon Christ, there wilt bo an ec static thrill and surging ot emotion that beggar all description Look! They need no luttoduction. Long ago Christ chose that repentant sinner, und that repentant sinner chose Christ. Mightiest inomect of an Immortal history—the first kiss of heaven! Jtsus und the soul! Thosoulauil Jesus! But now into that roceptlon room pour tho glorified kinsfolk, ouough ot earthly retention to let you know them, but with out their wounds or their sicknesses or their troubles. See what heaven has douo for them—so radiant, so gleeful, so transportingly lovely! They call you by name. They greet you with an ardor pro portioned to the anguish ot yonr parting and the length of your separation. Father! Mother! There is your child. Sisters! Brothers! Friends! I wish you joy. For years apart, together again in tho reception room of tho old homestead. You seo, tboy will know you are coming. There are so muuy immortals filling all too spaces between hero und heaven that news like ttiat flies like lightning. They will be there in an Instant. Though they wore In somo other world ou errand from God, a signal would bri thrown that would fetch them. Though vou might at lirst feel diized anil overawed at their super nal splendor, nil that feeling will be gone at their llrst touch of heavenly salutation, and we will say: "Oh. my lost boy!" "Oh, my lost companion!" "Oh. my lost friend! Aro wo hero together!" What scenes In that reception room of tho old homestead have been witnessed! There met Joseph aud Jacob, finding it a brighter room than anything they saw in Pharaoh's palace; David and the little child for whom he once fasted und wept: Marv aud Laz nrus nfter the heßrtbreuk of Bethany, Timothy ami Rraudinotlier Lois; Isabella Oraham BDII her sailor son; Alfred and George Cook man, the mystery ot the sen at last made manifest; Luther and Magda lene. the daughter ho bemoaned; John Howard and tho prisoners whom he gos pelized, aud multitudes without number who, once so weary and so sad, parted on earth, but gloriously met in heaven. Among all the rooms of that house there Is no one that more enraptures my soul than tbat reception room. "In my Father's house ure many rooms." Another room lu our Father's house 1 < the throne room. We belong to the royal family. The blood of King Jesus Bows in our veins, so wo have a right to enter tho throne room. It Is no easy thing on earth to get through even the outside door of n king's re?ldenco. During the Franco-Gor man war, one eventide in tho summer of 1870, 1 stooil sludyiug tho exquisite sculp turing of the gate of the Tullories, Paris. Lost in admiration of the wonderful art of that gate, I know not that I was exciting suspicion. Lowering my oyes to the crowds of people, I found myself being closely In spected by the government officials, who from my complexion, judged metobea Gor mauand tbat for some belligerent purpose I might be examining the gates of the pal ace. My explanation lu very poor Fnuich did not satisfy them, and they followed mo long dlstance-i unlii I reached my hotel and were not satisfied until from my land lord they found that I was only an Inoffen sive American. The gates of «rrtlily pal aces are carefully guarded, and if so, how much more the throncroom! A dazzling place is It for mirrors and all costly art. No one who ever saw the throneroom of the first and only Napoleon will ever for get the letter N embroidered In purple and gold on the upholstery of chair and win dow, tho letter N gilded on the wall, the letter N chased on the chalices, the letter N flaming from tho celling. What a con flagration of brilliance the throneroom of Charles Immanucl of Sardinia, of Ferdinand of Spain, of Elizabeth of England, of Boniface of Italy. But the throneroom of our Father's house linth a glory ocllpslng all the throne rooms that ever saw scepter wave or crown glitter or foreign embassador bow. for our Father's throne is a throne of grace, a throne of mercy, a throne of holiness, a throno of justice, a throne of universal dominion. Wo need not stand shivering and cowering bofore It, for our Father says wo may yet one day come up anil sit on it beside Him. "To him that overeometh will I grant to sit with Mo in My throne." You see, we are princes and princesses Perhaps now wo move about incognito, as Peter the Great In tlio garb of a ship car penter at Amsterdam or as Queen Tirzah in the dress of a peasant woman seeking tho prophet for her child's euro, but it will be found out after a while who we aro when wo get Into the throneroom. Aye, we need not wait until then. Wo may "by prayer and song and spiritual uplifting this moment enter the throneroom. O King, live forever! We touoh the scepter aud prostrate ourselves at Thy feet. Another room In our Father's Is tho music room. St. John and other Bible writers talk so much about tho music of heaven that there must bo muslo there, perhaps not such as on earth was thrum med from trembliug string or evoked by touch of Ivory key; bat, If not that, then something better. Tnere are so many Christian harpists and Christian composers and Christlau organists and Christian hym nologlsts that have gone up from earth, there must bo for them some place of es pecial delectation. Shall wo have muslo in this world of discords and no music in the land of complete harmony? In that music room of our Father's house you will some day meet tho old masters, Mozart and Handel and Mendelssohn and Beethoven aud Doddridge, whoso sacred poetry was as remarkable as his sacred prose, and James Montgomery and William Cowper, at last got rid of his spiritual mel ancholy, and Bishop Hober, who sang ot "Greenland's Icy mountains and India's coral strand," aud l)r. R.ifTies, who wrote of "High in yonder realms ot light," and Isaac Watts, who went to visit sir Thomas Abney and wlfo for a week, but proved himself so agreeable a guest that they made him stay thirty-six years, aud side by side Augustus- Toplady, who has got over his dislike for Methodists, and Charles Wesley, freed from his dislike fot Calvlntsts, and George W. Bethuno, as sweet as a songmaker as he was great as a preacher and the author of"The Village Hymns," and manv who wrote in verse or song, in church or by eventide cradle, and many who wore passionately fouil of music, but could make none thorn selves, tho poorest singer there more than any earthly prima donna nnd tho poorest players .there more than auy earthly Gott sehulk. Oh, that music room, the head quarters of cadence aud rhvthm, sym phony and chant, psalm and anliphont May wo be there some hour when Ilaydn sits at the keys of one of his own oratorios, aud David the psalmist fingers tho harp, aud Miriam of the Red sea banks claps the cymbals, and Gabriel puts his lips to tho trumpet and the four and twenty elders chant, and Lind and I'areparender match less duet in tho music room of tho old heavenly homestead! "In my Father's house are many rooms." Another room in our Father's lrt>uso will bo tho family room. It may correspond somewhat with tho family room on earth. At morning nnd evening, yon know, that Is the place we now meet. Though every member of the household have a separate room, in the family room they all gather, and joys and sorrows and experiences of all styles are there rehearsed. Sacred room in all our dwellings, whether it be luxuri ous with ottomans nnd divans aud books lu Russian lids standing in mahogany case or there be only a few plain chairs and a cradle. So the family room on high will bo the place where the kinsfolk assem ble aud talk over tho family experi ences of earth, the weddlugs. the births, the burials, tho festal days of Christmas nnd Thanksgiving reunion. Will the children depnrtod remain chil dren there? Will the aged remain aged there? Oh. no! Everythiug is per fect there. The child wilt go ahead to glori fied maturity, ami the aged will go buck to glorllled maturity. The rising suu of tho one will rise to meridian, and tho descending sun of the other will return to meridian. However much wo love our children on oarth, we would consider it a domestic disaster if they staid children, and so we rejoice at their growth here. Aud wlieu wo meet iu the family room of our Father's house wo will be glad that they have grandly and gloriously matured, while our parents, who were aged aud in llrm here, we shall be glad to flail re stored to the most agile aud vigorous im mortality there. I hope none of us will he disappointed about getting there. There Is a rooir. for us If wo will go and take it, but lu order to reach it it is absolutely necessary that we take the right way, and Christ is the wav, ami we must enter at tho right door, and Christ Is the door, aud wo must start In time, aud the only hour you aro surenl is the hour the clock now strikes, and the only second tho one your watch is now ticking. I hold 111 my hand a roll ot letters inviting you all to make that your home forever. Tho New Testa ment is only a roll of letters inviting you, as the spirit of them practically say.-: "My dying yet Immortal child In earthly neighborhood, I have built for vou a great residence. It is lull of rooms. I have furnished them as no palace was ever furnished. Pearls aro notli ng, emeralds are nothing, chrysoprasus is nothing, illu mined panels of sunrise aud suuset noth ing, the aurora o the northern heavens nothing, compared with the splendor with which I have garnttured them. But you must be clean before you can enter there, and so I have opened a fountain where yon may wash all your sins away. Come now! Put your weary but cleansed feet on the upward pathway. Do you not see amlil the thick foliage oi: tho heavenly hilltops the old laml-y homestead?" "In uiy Father's house are manv rooms." rHE GREAT DESTROYER, CCWIE STARTLINC FACTS ABOUT THE VICE OF INTEMPERANCE. Co"il Water—A Pleasant Cure For ihe Liquor Habit—'Fresh Fruit Will Take Away tile Craving Fur brink—Distilla tions of Nature's Laboratory. Shall e'er colJ wnter be forgot, When wo sit down to dice? Alt, no! my frlonds, for is it not Toured out by hunds divine? Toured out by hands divine, my friends, Toured out by hands divine, From springs und wells it Rushes forth, Toured out by hands divine. Cold water, too (tho' wondorfui 'Tis not less true again), The weakest of all earthly drinks. Doth make the strongest men. Doth make the strongest men, my friends. Doth make the strongest men; Tho weakest of all earthly driuks, Doth make the strongest men. And as the bells of tulips turn To drink the drops,.tliat fell From summer clouds, then why should not The two lips of a belle? The two lips of a belle, my friend?, The two lips of a belle, What sweetens more, than water puro, The two lips of a belle? The sturdy oak, full many a cup, Doth hold up to the sky, To catch the rain, then drink it up, 'Tis thus the oak gets high. 'TIs thus the oak gets high, my frioud.->, 'Tis thus tho oak gets high Dy having water in its cups— Then why not you and I? Then let cold water armies fling Their banners to tho air; So shall the boys like oaks get strong, The girls like tulips fair. Toe girls like tulips fair, my friends, The girls like tulips fair, The boys shall grow likesturdy oaks, 1 he girls like tulips fair. —IiU--ien Minor, In the Now York Observer, Antidote For Liquor. A writer in a European tomporancn jour nal calls attention to the value of fruit as an antidote for the craving for liquor. Ho says:"ln Germany, a nation greatly in advance of other Cjiintrles iu matters re lating to hygiene, alcoholic disease has been successfully coped with by tho adop< tion of pure diet' and natural iurativ« agencies. I have said that the use of fresh fruit is an autldote for tho drink crave, anil this is true. I havo met men who hnvt told mo that fruit has often taken awaj tho craving for drink. It may bo asked How can fruit and pure diet do all thlsl The explanation is simple. "Fruit may ho called nature's modiclna Every apple, every orange, every plum and every grape Is a bottle of medicine. Al orange is three parts water—distilled ii nature's laboratory—but this water Is rtcls in peculiar fruit acids medicinally bai auced, which are specially cooling to tin thirst of the drunkard and soothing to th« diseased state of the stomach. An apple or an orango eaten when tho desire toi liquor arises would generally take awaj that desire, and every victory would mnkt loss strong each recurring temptation, Tho function of frosh fruits und succulent vegetables Is not so much to provide soiii) nourishment as to supply thenoedful acid( and salines for the purification of th< blood. Once get the blood puro, overj time Its puro nutrient stroain bathes thl several tissues in the body it will briny away some impurity and leave behind lit atom of healtuy tissue until in time tht drunkard shall stand up purlllod und it his right mind."—Christian Work. A Great Physician on Moderate Drinking, One of the most famous medical men of Europe Is Sir Henry Thompson, surgeon of tho University College Hospital, fellow of the lioyal Society, and Surgeon extraor dinary to the King of the Belgians. SiF Henry has made an especial study of alco hol and its effect upon the human system, und lias been most vigorous in his denun ciations of the business of selling it as a beverage and of its use as such. On one occasion ho made this observation: "I havo long had tho conviction thai there Is no greater cause of evil, moral and physical, in this country than iho use ol alcoholic beverages. Ido not mean by this that extreme indulgence which pro duces druu kenness. The habitual use ol fermented liquors to an oxtout fnr short of what Is necessary to produce that con dition, und su:h as is common in all ranki of society, Injures tho body and diminishes the mental power to an extent which fovt people are aware of. I have no hesitatlor in attributing a very large proportion o) some of the mrfst painful and dangerous maladies whic l ' come under my notice, at well as those which every medical man has to treat, to tho ordinary and daily use of fermented drink taken in tho quantity which Is conventionally deemed moder ate."— Tresbyterian Banner. The lloys Oot Scared. As a result of the recent visit of Dr. Crothers (editor qf the Journal of Inebri ety) to Butte, Mont., whither ho was called to give expert testimony in a case before the courts, the saloon keepers of that city report a perceptible decroase In their cash receipts. So says a leading liquor organ The doctor, it Is stutod, "drew such a dis mal picture of the dangers of alcoholism, declurlng thnt every man who had once been drunk is never afterward perfectly sane, that the boys havo got scared and have been thinking In double shifts." Th« anti-liquor forces would make much mor« rapid strides toward victory if there were more such specialists as Dr. Crothers ic tho field to testify by voice and pen to the true nature of alcohol. Tho most potent arguments for total abstinence in these days—tho arguments which cause quickest arrest of thought—are, wo believe, to be found in the sclentiilo phases, of the prob lem.—Union Signal. Manila (letting "Civilized." O. E. Banker, a St. Tanl (Minn.) poilco man, who joined the Thirteenth Minnesota and is just home from service in the Phil ippines, Is quoted by a St. Paul paper us saying: "Manila is getting to bo a real hot town nnd it has assimilated Americau ways very rapidly. On tho Escoltu there are some fine saloons, and you can buy American boor there—that is, if you waut to pay eighty coats t bottle (Mexican money) foi It. Some of the saloons take In as high tis S3OOO a day, whioti is not so bad." The Gin-Mill Krtart. Joseph Cook says that "the road to po< lltlcal preferment runs through the gin. mill," nnd tho voting church appears tc havo deliberately elected to travel thai road in peace rather than run the risk ol temporary defeat by making an heroic ef fort to remove tho glu-mlll from its path. The Crusade in llrlef. Total abstinence is self-disclplino. Drunkenness is individual anarchy. The saloon nevor takos a vacation. 'Tis bettor to abstain thnn to reform. Tho saloon stays because we are too lazy to be in enrnest. Day and night, Sunday nnd week-dny, liquor continues its ruinous work. With the sanction of t'ne law tho liquor traffic robs men of money and health un<] character. An ordinance has been passed In West Palm Beach, Fla., forbidding females to enter saloons.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers