8 The Trouble in the g I „ Isthmus of Panama. § IT needed no war nor revolution to make the Isthmus of Panama one of the most picturesque spots on earth, but now that both are Im "JEFFERS, AN AMERICAN" SOLDIER OF FORTUNE." uinent the country is fairly ablaze with local color. Foreign war ships ride in the har bors of Colon and Panama, the flags of nil nations are hoisted over the lints of the frightened inhabitants, while tatterdemalion native soldiers roam at large through the streets. Martial law Is in force, and the af fairs of life are regulated by drum taps and bugle calls. Especially is gold lace (somewhat tarnished) in ev idence in Panama. A few days ago an uncommonly noisy fanfare called us to the Alcal dia. A platoon of barefooted, under sized soldiers was drawn up in front of the portal. From the veranda the Alcalde, surrounded by half a dozen dusky policemen, read aloud a long ! Spanish pronunciamiento '"ln the i name of the President." The crowd that had gathered list ened to this proclamation with length ening faces. What it meant was soon made apparent when the Governor of the province, General Alban, who had hastened from Cartagena, summoned a baker's dozen of the most prominent j citizens to the Alcalde's ofllce, and t locking the door behind him, required j each of them to extend to the Govern- j WOMEN NATIVES OF THE lOWEF. COUN- 1 TRY THEIR STATURE IS TWO- ; THIRDS THAT OF THE IIIGU ALTI- ! TUDE WOMEN. ment a "voluntary" cash loan of S3OOO ! in Colombian silver. For a few days the Government ofli oials were jubilant over their success- j ful coup. The starveling soldiers received ; some of their arrears, besides the reg- j tilar pay of four and a half cents per day, and Panama's crack battery <lf artillery was even equipped with new uniforms. I seized this auspicious mo ment to obtain photographs of the en tire corps, and of their young colonel, ! Estcban Huertas, the hero of a recent encounter with the liberals, where he lost his arm. Then came bad news. In the face of a threatened naval demonstration on the part of Venezuela and Ecua dor, a wretched crew of native sailors had managed to founder the Colom bian gunboat La Poppa off the coast of Cartegena. She proved a total loss. rLAZ.Y DE BOLIVAR, IN BOGOTA. SHOWING STATUE OP THE LIBERATOR AND THE CATHEDRAL, THE SCENE OF FRE QUENT REVOLUTIONS, THE CAPITAL IS TO THE RIGHT. In vain did the Government try to suppress the news of this misfor tune. As I traveled by rail across the Isthmus I heard the train hands and passengers shout the joyful tid ings to the disaffected mo3os who gathered at the little palm-covered Str.: ions to see the train go by. By tlie time we reached Colon the news was spreading like wildfire from the Isthmus Into the Interior. Even the rebels in the military prison heard the news. The results were soon forthcoming. Word reached Panama that I-londa del Agua, a small port not fifteen miles Inland, had been captured by the liberals, and that a number of ref ugee Panamenos had joined their ranks. There was talk of an expedition against them, but before the military governor of Panama could secure a suitable ship for the purpose, even more urgent requests for reinforce ments were telegraphed across the Isthmus from Colon. A trainload of soldiers was shipped over to Colon on the morning traiu, and another train load followed on a freight train at midday. At the wharf I found the soldiers of both detachments drawn up for in spection. Behind the ragged line of soldiers I " "BOCAS DEL TOHO, AN IMPO THREATENED WITH IMMKD ING FORCE OF NONDESCRIP crouched their women, some ten ii> number, mostly mere slips of girls, not more than twelve or thirteen years old. Many of their soldier hus bands were not much older. One little corporal of the guard, who carried a huge Remington rifle of .58 calibre, and who proudly took charge of a curly-headed Indian girl of even more diminutive size,'told me that he was thirteen years old. Ilis captain told me that the boy had been with tlie colors for two years, and had served in three battles, earning his rank of corporal through bravery in the field. In the last fight between the liberals and the Government forces in the out skirts of Panama, the insurgents charged up the railroad embankment live times in succession, and were beaten back each time with unusually losses on both sides. Herbert Jeffers, an American soldier of for tune, who commanded the Govern ment forces on that occasion, told me that the fighting on both sides be came so fierce that his gunners were cut down with machetes while serv ing their pieces. By way of side comment to this story a Colombian general told me pri vately that Jeffers would have lost all iiis guns had he not taken them apart in the midst of the melee and sen: them back to a better position piece meal. Jeffers himself was seen to stagger out of the trenches with the best part of his favorite machine-gun strapped to his back, while he kept the most persistent of the insurrectos at bay with a revolver. Presently the order came to embark, and all were bundled aboard without further ado. Next morning we drew near the coast until we came within a mile of the shores said to be held by the en emy. All hands were called to quar ters, and the soldiers were ordered to lie down on the upper deck and to re move their red caps. Be it that our information was false or because of the drizzling rain, no enemy showed himself—nothing was to be seen but thick groves of palmetto, prickly pear and high coeoanut palms. A few ten tative shots into the thickets brought forth no response. At last we skirted the jutting point of the last island in Chirriquisito La goon, commanding the entrance to the harbor of Bocas del Toro, and came In plain sight of the palm-leaf huts of the liberal forces besieging the town. LIEUTENANT-COLONEL ESTEBAN HUEBTAS (He began as a soldier at tbe age of nine and is now twenty-five. He weighs less than ninety pounds and is stand ing by the gun be captured at Tomaco. A volley of shots sent into the hamlet sent some women and children flying into the thicket. The answering shots came from a high bluff further inland. The bullets splashed Into the water some twenty or thirty feet short of our vessel. I was In hopes that an imme diate reconnolssance in force might be made, but those In charge decided otherwise. The engineer was ordered to put on full steam. With a fine burst of speed we cut through the RTANT BANANA PORT, WAS I ATE ATTACK BY A SURROUND- T LIBERALS." | clear water of the lagoon and put into port. J At the wharf we found a large I crowd assembled in an indescribable state of excitement. The debarking soldiers were received with wild cheers. It appeared that an attempt to rush the town had been made but the night before. It was determined to send a recon noitring party at once, so as to pre pare for a counter attack on the rebel island. The "attack" was made at dead of night. I was invited to accompany the expedition. We ran into a thick ly shaded cove and waded ashore. De ploying to right and left, the troops j made a rush on the rebel hamlet. It was found deserted. Somebody from the town had given the alarm. All I night long we scoured the bushes without finding a soul. At last, at j daylight, I heard a distant bugle call. I It was repeated again and again, and | tlie officer in charge of our detach ! ment led us in that direction. Pres ently there came a quick call of "Hal- N'ATIVES OF THE INTERIOR PLAYING IN STRUMENTS MADE FROM BONE AND EEED. to! quien vive!" with the simultaneous click of a rifle—loading. Our captain gave the cry, "Colombia!" and was answered at once by the countersign, "Por Siempre." It proved to be the second detachment, that had effected a landing on the other side of the Isl and. and was manoeuvring into the thicket without any better success. In the end It was decided to return to Bocas del Toro, to ascertain from reliable sources whether the liberal forces had not crossed over to the mainland. Once more life in town re turned to the intolerable conditions of martial law.—Edwin Eiuersou, Jr., in Collier's Weekly. Had Seen It Before. I>r. C. W. Crawford, manager of the Grand Opera House at Spencer, lowa, vouches for this: At a recent performance at this tliea | ire an over-dressed woman, after rust ling ostentatiously into her seat, finally composed herself and looked at her program. Opening it at the sec ond page of the bill she saw in prom inent letters, "Synopsis," which she mispronounced in an audible tone. "Pshaw!" she remarked, turning to her companion, "we've seen this here play before; let's go home." But after a whispered objection on the part of her friend, who probably explained her mistake to her, she set tled back in her seat somewhat dis comflted.—New York Clipper. DRASTIC TREATMENT OF ADMIRALS In Olden Times Tliey Were Hung on tlie Yard Arm or Thrown Overboard. In the olden times the treatment meted out to admirals charged with disobedience was somewhat more drastic than It is to-day. They were shot on the quarter deck, hung at the yard arm or thrown overboard. One of the most remarkable cases was that of Prince Caraccloli, a popu lar admiral of the British Navy. He was charged by Nelson with treachery, cowardice and disobedience. He was tried by court-martial in ISOo and found guilty. He was then hung at the yard arm of his own ship, and af ter being allowed to swing there for some time his body was thrown into the sea. It was afterward found that he was convicted on false testimony. Hon. John Byng, a British admiral, was also charged with the same of fence. The court-martial acquitted him of cowardice, but decided that he had not done his utmost when in charge of the British fleet at the siege; of Minorca. Sentenced to death, he was taken on the quarter deck of his own flagship, a file of marines drawn up and Admiral Byng was shot. One of the most extraordinary cases in American naval history, although it did not involve an admiral, brought about the most sensational court-mar tial in this country. A commander of a small American war ship returning from Europe, when only one day's sail outside of Sandy Hook, had two of the midshipmen hung at (he yard arm. One of these young gentlemen was the son of the then Secretary of War. An immense sensation was produced when the war ship arrived here. A lengthy court-martial was held in Brooklyn Navy Yard, presided over by Admiral Charles Stewart, grandfather of the late Charles Stewart Parnell.— New York Herald. Killing an Aerial Illrycle. Here is the picture of an inspector makiug his daily round of the sus pended railroad in Elberfeld, Ger many. This railway is suspended in the air on supports fastened like an inverted U, the line itself being sup ported by cross-girder wort, hung on A-shaped trestles. Each car has two pairs of wheels, bending from one side over the centre of gravity of the carriage, which hangs iu suspension from a single line and is worked by electricity. Obviously such a railroad could not be inspected by a person on foot. To meet the difficulty an ingenious adaptation of tb/? bicycle was sup plied. The framework is that of an -•rdiuary bicycle, and the machine is operated by means of an ordinary ped al and chain gear—the difference be ing that the bicycle is suspended from the wheels which run on the single line of railway over the rider's head. Despite his exalted position the rider is in perfect safety, he even runs no danger of being arrested for scorching, as he flies along well out of reach of the policeman, who regulates the traf fic below.—New York Herald. A Help to YOUUJJ Musicians. A support for the arm, intended fot the use of youthful students of the violin, has been invented by a distin guished French violinist. The support consists of a semi-circle DEVICE TO AID YOUTHFUL VIOLINISTS. which enfolds the lower part of the arm a little above the elbow, aud which Is connected with a belt that can be lengthened or shortened accord ing to the size of the arm. Its maiu usefulness lies ill the fact that it pre vents muscular fatigue, keeps the shoulder in a proper position and filial ly gives the arm that power over the Instrument which it must have in or der to produce the best effects, Swiss papers record a decline in the export of wood carvings, and attrib ute It to the lack of variety In the carvings, the few subjects being mo notonously repeated. DR. TALMAGIfS SERMON SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED DIVINF. Subject: Good or Evil Returns to Itless or lllaflt—Actions May Mnko tlie Circuit of Many Years, But Come Back to L's Tncy Will. [Copj-Tig-lit, 1901. ] WASHINGTON, D. C. —In this discourse Dr. Talmage shows that the good or evil we do returns 10 bliss or blast us; text, Isaiah xi, 22, "It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth." While yet people thought that the world was flat and thousands of years be fore they found out that it was round Isaiah, in my text, intimated the shape of it—Got sitting upon the circle of the earth. The most beautiful figure in all geometry is the circle. God made the uni verse on a plan of the circle. There are in the natural world straight lines, angles, parallelograms, diagonals, quadrangles, but these evidently are not God's favorites. Almost everywhere where you find Him geometrizing you find the circle dominant, and if not the circle then the curve, which is a circle that died young. If it had lived long enough it would have been a full orb, a periphery. An ellipse is a circle pressed only a little too hard at the sides. Giant's causeway in Ireland show? what God thinks of mathematics. There are over 35,000 columns of rocks —octagonal, hexagonal, pentagonal. These rocks seem to have been made by rule and compass. Every artist has his molding room where he may make fifty shapes, hut he chooses one shape as preferable to all others. I will not say that the Giant's causeway was the world's molding room, but I do say out of a great many figures God seems to have selected the circle as the best. "It is He that sitteth on the circle of the earth." The stars in a circle, the moon in a circle, the sun in a circle, the universe in a circle and the throne of God the cen tre of that circle. Appreciation of this would correct the architecture of churches, whose shape is often a defiance of divine suggestion. When men build churches they ought to imitate the idea of the Great Architect and put the audience in a circle, knowing that the tides of emotion roll more easily that way than in straight lines. Six thou sand years ago God flung this world out of His right hand. Hut He did not throw it out in a straight line, but in curvilinear, with a leash of love holding it so as to bring it back again. The world started from His hand pure and Edenie. It has been rolling on through regions of moral ice and distemper. How long it will roll God only knows, but it will indue time make complete circuit anil come back to the place where it started—the hand of God—pure and Edenie. The history of the world goes in a cir cle. Why is it that the shipping in our day is improving -so rapidly? A scientific shipbuilder says it is because men are imitating in some respects what the small wits deride, the old model of Noah's ark, not as we see it in old time pictures, but as it really was according to the account given. Great ships have we now, but where is the ship on the sea to-day that could outride a deluge in which the heaven »nd the earth were wrecked, landing all the passengers in safety, two of each kind af living creatures, hundreds of thousands of species? Pomology will goon with its achieve ments until after many ceutnries the world will have plums and pears equal to the paradisaical. The art of gardening will grow for centuries, and alter the Dowmngs and Mitchells of the world have done their best in the far future the art of gardening will come up to the arborescence of the year 1. If the makers of colored glass goon im proving they may in some centuries be able to make something equal to the east window of York minster, which was built in the vear 1290. We are six centuries be hind those artists. But the world must keep on toiling until it shall make the complete circuit and come up to the skill of those very men. If the world continues to improve in masonry, we shall have after awhile, per haps after the advance of centuries, mor tar equal to that which I saw in the wall of an exhumed English city built in the time of the Romans 1600 years ago, that mortar to-day as good as the day in which it was made, having outlasted the brick and the stone. I say, after hundreds of years masonry may advance to that point. It the world stands long enough we may have a city as large as they had in old times—Babylon, five times the size of Lon don. You may go into the potteries of England and you find them making cups ana vases after the style of the cups and vases exhumed from Pompeii. The world is not going back. Oh, no! But it is swinging in a circle, and will come around to the styles of pottery known so long ago as the days of Pompeii. The world must keep on progressing until it makes the complete circuit. The curve is in the right direction; the curve will keep on until it becomes the circle. Well, now, what is true in the material universe is true in God's moral govern ment and spiritual arrangement. That is the meaning of Ezekiel's wheel. All com mentators agree in saying that the wheel means Cod's providence. But a wheel is of no use unless it turns, and if it turn it turns around, and if it turns around it moves in a circle. W hat then.' Are we parts of a great iron machine whirled around and around whether we will or not. the victims of inexorable fate? No! So far from that I shall show you that we ourselves start the circle of good or bad ac tions, and that it will surely come around again to us unless by divine intervention it be hindered. Those bad or good actions may make the circuit of many years, but come back to us they will as certainly as that Cod sits on the circle of the earth. .Tczebel, the worst woman of the Bib,e —Shakespeare copying his Lady Macbeth from her picture—slew Naboth because she wanted his vineyard. While the dogs were eating the body of Naboth Elijah, the prophet, put down his compass and marked a circle from those clear around to the dogs that should eat the bodv of Jezebel, the murderess. "Impossi ble!" the people said. "That will never happen." Who is that being flung out of the palace window? Jezebel. A few hours after they eaine around, hoping to bury her They find only the palms of the hands and the skull. The dogs that de voured Jezebel and the dogs that devoured Naboth. Oh, what a swift, what an awful circuit! But it is sometimes the case that this circle sweeps throuph a century or through many centuries. The world started with a theocracv for government —that is. God was the president and emperor of the world. People got tired of a theocracy. They said: "We don't want Cod directly interfering with the affairs of the world. Give us a monarchy." The world had a monarchy. From a monarchy it is going to have a limited monarch v. After awhile the limited monarchy will be given tip ami the republican form of government will be everywhere dominant and recog nized. Then the world will get tired of the republican form of government, and it will have an anarchy, which is no govern ment at all. And then all nations, finding out that man is not capable of righteously govern ing man, will cry out again for theocracy and say. "Let God come back and conduct the affairs of the world." Every step—monarchy, limited monar chy, republicanism, anarchy—only differ ent steps between the first theocracy and the last theocracy or segments of the great circle of the earth on which Cod sits. But do not become impatient because i vou cannot sec the curve oi events aud therefore conclude that God's government is going to break down. History tells us that in the making of the pyramids it look 2(H)0 men two years drag one stone from the quarry and put it into the pyramids. If men short lived can afford to work so s'owly as that, cannot God in the building of eternities afford to wait? What though God should take 10,Of) 1 ) years to draw a circle? Shall we take our little watch which we have to wind up every night lest it run down and hold it up beside the clock of eternal ages? If, according to the Bih'.e, a thousand years are in God's sight as one day, then, accord ing to that calculation the GOOO years of the world's existence has been only to God as from Monday to Saturday. Hut it is often the case that the rebound is quicker, the return is much quicker than that. The circle is sooner completed. You resolve that you will do what good you can. In one week you nut a word of counsel in the heart of a Sabbath-school child. During that same week you give a letter of introduction to a young man struggling in business. During the same week you make an exhortation in a prayer meeting. It is all gone. You will never hear of it, perhaps, you think. A few years after a man comes up to you and says, "You don't know me. do you?" You say, "No, I don't remember ever to have seen yon." "Why," he says,"l was in the Sabbath-school class over which you were the teacher. One Sunday you in vited me to Christ; I accepted the offer. You see that church with two towers yon der?" "Yes," you say. He says. "That is where I preach," or. "Do you see that gov ernor's house? That is where I live." One day a man comes to you and says "Good morning." You lonk at him and say, "Why. you have the advantage of me; I cannot place you." He says. "Don't you remember thirty years ago giving me a let ter of introduction to a young man—a let ter of introduction to William E. Dodge?" "Yes, ves, I do." lie says,"l am the man. That was my first step toward a fortune. But I have retired from business now and am giving my time to philanthro pies and nublic interests. Come up to my house and see me." Or a man comes to you and savs: "I want to introduce myself to you. I went into a prayer meeting some years ago. I sat back by the door. YoiS arose to make an exhortation. That talk changed the course of my life, and if I ever get to heaven under God I will owe my salvation to you." In only ten, twenty or thirty years the circle swept out and swept back again to your own grateful heart. But sometimes it is a wider circle and does not return for a great while. I saw a bill of expenses for burning Latimer anil Ridley. The bill of expenses has these items among others: Shillings. Pence. One load of fire fagots 3 4 Cartage for four loads of w00d..2 Item, a post 1 4 Ttem, two chains 3 4 Item, two staples 0 Item, for laborers 2 S making in all 255. Bd. That was cheap tire, considering all the circumstances, but it kindled a light which shone all around tne world and aroused the martyr spirit, and out from that burning of Latimer and Ridley rolled the circle wider and wider, starting other circles, convoluting. overrunning, circumscribing, overreaching all heaven—a circle. But what is true of the good is just as true of the bad. You utter a slander against your neighbor. It has gone forth from vour teeth. Tt will never come back, you think. You have done the man all the mischief vou can. You rejoice to see him wince. You say, "Didn't I give it to him?" That word has gone out. that slanderous word, on its poisonous and blasted way. You think it will never do you any harm. But I am watching that word, and I see it beginning to curve and it curves around, and it is aiming at vour heart. You had better dodge it. You can not dodge it. It rolls into your bosom, and after it rolls in a word of an old book rolls in after it, saying: "With what meas ure ye mete it shall be measured to you again." You maltreated an aged parent. \ou begrudge hiin the room in vour house. You are impatient with his whimsicalities and garrulity. It makes you mad to hear him tell the same story twice. You give him food he cannot masticate. \ou wish he was away. You wonder if he is going to live forever. He will be gone very soon. His steps are shorter and shorter. He is going to stop. But God has an account to settle with you on that subject. After awhile vour eve will be dim, and your gait will halt, and the sound of the grinding will be low, and you will tell the same story twice, and your children will wonder if vou will never be taken awr.v. They called you "father" once. Now they call vou the "old man." It" you live a few "years longer they will call you the "old chap." What are those rough words with which vour children are accosting you? They are the echo of the very words you used in the car of your old father forty years ago. A gentleman passing along the avenue saw a son dragging his father into the street by the hair of the head. The gentle man. outraged at this brutal conduct, was about to punish the offender, when the old man arose and said: "Don't hurt him. It's all right. Forty years ago this very morning 1 dragged out my father by the hair of his head!" It is a circle. Other sins may be adjourned to the next world, but maltreatment of parents is punished in this world. That circle is made quickly, very quicklv. The meanest thing a man can do is after some difficulty has been settled to bring it up again, and (lod will not do anything like that. God's memory is mighty enough to hold all the events of the ages, but there is one thing that is sure to slip His memory, one thing He is sure to forget, and that is pardoned transgression. How do I know it? I will prove it. "Their sins and their iniquities will I re member no more." "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven." But do not make the mistake of think ing that this doctrine of the circle stops with this life. It rolls on through heaven. You might quote in opposition to me what St. John says about the city of heaven. He says it "lieth four square.' That does seem to militate against this idea of a cir cle. But do you not know there is many a square house that lias a family circle fac ing each other and in a circle moving, and I can prove that this is so in regard to heaven. St. John says,"l heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders." And again he says."l saw round about the throne four and twenty seats. ' And again he says, "There was a rainbow round about the throne." The two former imply a circle; the last, either a circle or a semicircle. The seats facing each other, the angels facing each other, the men facing each other. Heaven an amphitheatre of glory. Circumference of patriarch and prophet and apostle. Cir cumference of Scotch Covenanters and Theban legion and Albigenses. Circumfer ence of the good of all ages. Periphery of splendor unimagined and indescribable. A circle! A circle! But every circumference must have a centre, and what is the centre of this heav enly circumference? Christ. His all the glorv; His all the praise; His all the crowns. All heaven wreathed into a gar land round about Him. Take off the im perial sandal from His foot and behold the scar of the spike. Lift the coronet of do minion from His brow and see where was the laceration of the briers. Come c!oser. all heaven. Narrow the circle around His great heart. O Christ, the Saviour! O Christ, the man! O Christ, the God! Keep Thv throne forever, seated on the circle of the earth, seated oa the circle of heaven. "On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; All other crouud is shitting saud.'
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers