A Cartoonist's Idea of Life on the Isthmus. MUT' r %• ANY TiME YOU - |"% WANT IT. *fr£" r'^.JTT^'. *<£'s*>*. **-' ABOUT THE SIZE OF IT. —From the N«w York Tribune. OOOwOCOOwCOOOOCCOOOvCOCCCO § Wonderful Brain Work. § O c» Mail Clerks' Memories Heavily Taxed ® © O CD3CCC"<OCOOCOOvOOOCCOOOCOO MILLION'S of people are com plaining nowadays of being taxed financially, but an 6 army of men in the employ ■of Uncle Sam are burdened with a mental practice unheard of, as re- ds extent, in any other country of the world. Things that a railway postal clerk must remember have increased in such volume (hat one would think every cell of his brain would be filled with the name of a postoffiee or railway connec tion. and the wonder is that the clerk's mlud does not falter under the press ure. Despite these facts cases of in sanity among this class of public serv ants are rare. One Chicago postal clerk maintained Tor several years a record of 21,000 cards (which take the place of letters in examinations) with an average per •cent, of correct distribution of a frac tion over ninety-nine per cent. He knew how to reach that many offices an several States by the shortest, rjuickest route, and he knew the cor vect location of each office in its State. A clerk on the New York and Chi cago Railway postoffiee must know the correct location of every postoffiee in a group of States made up of Illinois, lowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska. In these seven States there are 12,317 post offices. Not only is the clerk required to be "up" on the general scheme, which means the correct location of the postcffices in each State, but he must know how to reach the whole 12,000 pjstoffiees from one or more stations. A clerk running between Chicago and Minneapolis underwent no fewer than seventy-eighth examinations in fifteen years, learning 13,300 offices in fifteen different sections of the United States. In some of these examina tions he was required to make a Chi cago city distribution, which means that while running over the country at the rate of a mile a minute he must distribute letters to the carriers of the Chicago delivery. He must keep not only where every public building and leading mercantile house is located, RAILWAY POSTAL CLERKS UNDER EXAMINATION. but also how to illvlde the numbers on a particular stmt, so that he can "tie out" his letters to the correct carrier, uccordlus to the route oL the latter. This same clerk made thirteen examin ations in ten months, with an average correct distribution of 00.88 per cent. In twenty examinations ho came out of nine of them with a clear 100 per cent. each. Think of such a task, taking into consideration the puzzling similarity of names that are used to designate postofflces. Then, too, must be consid ered the fact that there are hundreds of cases where in each State is a post office of the same name. For instance, in the States named above there are live postofflces named Hamilton, six Grants, four Garflelds, four Genevas, four Smithvilles, four Spartas and five .Teffcrsons and so on. In some in stances there is a postoffiee of the same name In each of the seven States. As one may Imagine, this only tends to confuse the average mind. Periodically the clerks are examined at railway mail headquarters. Packs of cards, each card bearing the name of a postoffiee, are furnished a candi date for examination. He takes a po sition In front of a case of pigeon holes labeled with the names of differ ent railway postofflces throughout the country. He "throws" the cards, dis tributing them to proper routes, just as he would packages in a postal car. After lie finishes the examiner goes over the cards and charges up the errors the clerk has made and gives him his percentage of correct distribu tion. The clerk is also examined on general and "standpoint" or station schemes at different times. It is asserted at railway mail serv ice headquarters that there are clerks who have reached the capacity of their minds in the matter of remembering names. They now remember so many that It would be absolutely Impossible to learn another State or part of a State. It would seem that of the mill ions of cells in their brain machinery none are left to till, all having been taken up in the prosecution of the ex acting duties imposed by their occu pation.—Chicago Record-Herald. A Power in Tonn Building;. A newspaper whose columns over flow with ads. of business inen, has more influence in attracting attention to, and building up, a city or town, than any other agency that can be cm ployed. People go where there is busi ness. Capital and labor will locate where there Is an enterprising cominu- n'ty. No power on earth is so strong to build up a town as a newspaper well patronized, and its power Jbould be ap preciated.—Rev. T. De VV. Talmage. I BEEKEEPING IN | I UNITED STATES. | y—1 —r HE general public is prone to I ' think of bee keeping merely | ' as an adjunct of agricultural operations, but in reality it has attained during the last few years to the position of a very important American industry. Extensive apiaries WORKER lIEE AND STINO. have been established, and thousands of persons in various parts of the country are devoting their entire time to the scientific fostering of honey pro duction. Something of the scope of the operations now being carried on may be imagined from the fact that there are now in the United States considerably over 100 aparian societies, eight periodicals published solely in the Interests of the industry, and fif teen steam factories for the manufac tury of bee hives and apiarian imple ments. It is estimated that there are fully 300,000 persons engaged in the culture A CLUSTER OF QUEEN CELLS. of bees in this country at the present time. Prominent bee keepers who un dertook, a year or two ago, to form some idea of how much honey is pro duced in the country, came to the con clusion that at least 50.00U pounds is stored in sections every year, while they assumed that 100,000 pounds of extracted honey is produced—an aggre gate of 150,000 pounds. The bee keep ers, however, were probably too mod est in their claims, for their calcula tions showed the annual honey crop of the country to be worth $10,000,000, whereas the ofiicials of the United States Department of Agriculture, who have made an especial study of the subject, place the valuation at fully double that figure. This record of the great wealth represented in u comparatively obscure food product is nil the more remark able when it is remembered that the apiarian industry iu the United States is practically a development of the last forty years, although isolated indi viduals were engaged in that work long prior to that time. In th'e score of years from 1800 ts >39 the Amer ican production of honey was quadru pled. Increasing from less than 15.000.- 000 pounds annually to nearly G4.000,. 000 pounds annually; and the closing decade of the century witnessed a growth proportionately greater, since the estimated output of the closing year of the cycle, as given above, is very much more than double that re corded ten years ago. The bee keep ing Industry, however, far from having reached the acme of possible develop ment, would appear to be only just entering upon an era of even more re markable growth. The progressive, present day apiarist does not look for the production of wax In so great a proportion compared with lIAKINO COMB FOUNDATION. his honey yield as did the old time bee hive beekeeper. The latter ob tained much of his honey for the mar ket by crushing the combs and strain ing it out, leaving the crushed coiuba to be melted up for their wax. Fre quent losses of bees in wintering and through queenlessness also gave more combs for melting, as without hive frames, honey extractors, comb foun dation machines and the other new modern devices the vacated combs were seldom used a second time. The wax from the pressed combs was all marketed, since there could be but little home use for It.—Scientific American. Circulates Warm Air. Most people put away their electric fans in the fall, thinking they will have no further use for them until the warm weather arrives In the spring, but we show here a simple arrange ment which makes It possible to util ize the electric fan for blowing hot as well as cold air. It is the Invention of Edwin F. Portor, and can be used to heat rooms and offices wherever there is a gas jet handy. It also keeps the air In circulation about the room instead of allowing It to remain still and dead all day. In this apparatus the frame or guard, which surrounds the blades of the fan is of hollow tub ing, and Is connected with a gas jet by a rubber tube. The frame being perforated at Intervals the gas Is ig nited as it flows from the opening.--, the resultant heat being driven about the room by the action of the fan blades. The inventor designs this heater especially for attachment to a OAS HEATER ON THE FAN. thermo-electric fan, which runs solely with the aid of the gas, generating its own current for rotating the fan, but the frame can be readily attached to any electric fan witli but little ex pense. Hlstoiic Place of Worship. It has been ascertained that the first Protestant church erected west of the Mississippi River is still standing, near Jackson, Cape Girardeau County, Mo., being used now as a hay barn. It was built of logs, in 18015, by a Baptist congregation, and was long known ONCE A CHURCH, NOW A BARN. ns Bethel Church, having for some years the distinction of being the only house of Protestant worship west of the river. Rev. I>avid Green, a native of Yirginia, waa !ts pastor until his death, in 1800. 'rhe Louisiana (Mo.) Times suggests that the building be moved to St. Louis and made a part of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. In the year 1S9!) the German impe rial post received 2,022,012 letters am; packages which could not be delivered; only 984,732 could be returned to tlia senders. t)R. TAIUAOKS SEKMON SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED DIVINE. iuliject: Tim Merciful Interpretation of Human Kotiavlor—Follow the Divine Treading —Wo Will Not Pum Tills Way Again, So Do Tour Good Now. WASHINGTON, I). C.—This discourse is & most unusual presentation of things that take place in many lives, and Dr. Talmage pleads for merciful interpretation of human behavior. The text is Joshua iii, 4. "Ye have not passed this way hereto fore." In December, 1539, I waded the River Jordan, and, although the current was strong, I was able to bear up against it, but in the time of spring freshet, when the snows on Mount Lebanon melt, noth ing but a miracle would enable any one to cross this river. It was at the dangerous springtime that Joshua and the oHicers of his army uttered the words of my text to the people who were in a few hours to cross the Jordan. About that crossing we fay but little, because on a previous occa sion we discoursed concerning that piling up of the waters into crystal barricade. We only speak of the march to the brink of the river. No stranger thing has ever occurred in all history. The ark of the covenant was a brilliant chest of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, on the top of which were two winged figures facing each other. It was five feet long and three feet wide. Poles were thrust through the rings at the side, and by these poles the ark was lifted. This splendid box was to be carried three quarters of a mile ahead of the hosts of Israel on the way to the crossing. That distance between the box and the advanc thousands must be kept because of reverence. There was a sanctitv in that divine f.ymbol that they must observe by keeping three-quarters of a mile away. They must watch that glittering box and follow; otherwise they would lose their way and not arrive at the right place for crossing. They had never been there be fore, and they must be guided. For that reason Joshua utters the words of my text. "Ye have not passed this way heretofore." And the subordinate officers at the head of the regiments repeated it. "Ye have not passed this way heretofore." What was truthfully said of the ancient Israelites may be truthfullv said of us. We are making our first and last journey through this world. It is possible, as some of ray good friends believe, that this world will be corrected and improved and puri fied and floralized and emparadiscd as to climate and soil and character until it shall become a he::ven for the ransomed, but I do not think it. I have an idea that heaven is already built somewhere. Our departed friends could not wait until this world is fixed up for staintly and ange'ie residence. Having once gone out of the world, I do not think we will come buck, except as ministering snirits to help those who remain in the earthly struggle or per haps to look at the wondrous spectacle of a burning planet. But, leaving that theory aside, we are very sure that we are for the first time walking the earthly pilgrimage. "Ye have not passed this way before." Every min ute is a new minute, every hour a new hour, every century a new century. Other folks have gone over the same road we are traveling, but it is our first trip. New ap pearances, new temptations, new sorrows, new joys. That is the reason so many lose their way. They meet some one on the road of life and ask for direction, and wrong direction is given. We have all been perplexed by misdirection after ask ing the way to some place we wished to visit. Some one said to us, ' Take the first road to the right and, having gone a mile on that road, take the first road on the left, and vou will soon reach your destina tion." We took the advice, but our infor mer forgot a turn in the rond or forgot one of the roads leading to the left, and we took the wrong road and were lost in the woods, and night came on, and we were put to great irritation and trouble. The fact is, I blame no one for making lifetime mistakes. I pity them instead of blaming them. There are so manv wrong roads, but only one right one. You can not in midlife draw upon your youthful ex periences for wisdom, for midlife is so en tirely different from youth. You cannot in old age draw upon midlife experiences, for the two stages of existence are so di verse. What is wisdom fin" one man to do would be folly for another to undertake. A man of nerve and pluck is not qualified to advise a man timid and shrinking. An achievement that would be easy for you might be impossible for me. Human ad vice is ordinarily of little value. People review their own suecesess or failures and then tell us what is best for us to do. not realizing that our circumstances are differ ent, our temperament is different, our phvsical and mental aid moral capacities different. Most of the great mistakes that have been made have been made un der human advisement. So, also, it may be said to every nation. "Ye have not passed this way before." Our own republioi is going through novel experiences. Could wisest statesman twenty years ago have prophesied present conditions? Every President, every Con gress. has new crises to meet and new questions to settle. So prophecies made about conditions in this country fifty years from now may turn out as far untrue «s the prophecies made fifty years ago by the greatest of American statesmen when he declared on vonder Canitol hill that it was unwise to think of civilization or pros perity the other side of the Rocky Mount ains, and according to his belief the Pa cific coast would be the perpetual abode of barbarians and mountain lions, and we must not think of annexing those forbid ding regions. Many prophecies in regard to our nation failed and many prophecies concerning its future will fail, because it is traveling a new road. Every step it takes on that road is a novelty. The opinion of a Mon roe or a Jefferson in the far past is not of as much value as the opinion of our wisest men now. How could men know in 1523 what, it would be best for this nation to do in 1901? It is belittling as well as unwise for our statesmen, who are quite equal to the statesmen of the past and who have, in addition to the natural talents of their predecessors, attainments in knowledge that were impossible in any decade but our own, to depend on advice of men who have been dead three-quarters of a cen tury. In all other things the world has advanced. Can it be that in statesman ship it. has gone back, and that this open ing of the twentieth cantury must consult the opening of the nineteenth century? "Ye have not passed this way before." Yea, our entire world is on a new path irav. It may be swinging in the same old orbit as when bv the hand of the Al mig'ity immensity was sprinkled with worlds, but it has been rocked with earth quakes and scorched with volcanic fires and whelmed with tidal waves and wrought upon by climatic changes—cities sunk, and islands lifted, and mountains avalanched into valleys. So it is another world than that which was first started in the solar system. Yet it is all the time changing and will keep changing until the hour of its demolition. Of this beautiful world, this lustrous world, this glorious world, it may be said, "Ye have not passed this way before." What is the practical use of this sub ject? Instead of putting so much stress unon human advice and instead of asking cf the past what we ought to do, follow the divine leading as the men of Joshua followed the golden lidded chest of acacia, which was the symbol of the divine pres ence. That three-quarters of a mile distance between tbc ark or Mcred box aad the front column of Joshua's troops mightily impresses me. It was a forceful way of teaching reverence for the Almighty. They needed to learn that lesson cf reverence, a 9 we all need to learn it. Irreverence haa cursed all nations, and none more than our own. Irreverence in the use of God's name. Hear you it not on the streets and in social groups, and is not a profane word sometimes thought necessary to point jo cosity? Irreverence for the Scriptures, the phraseology of the Bible often intro duced into the most frivolous conversation and made mirth provoking. Irreverence for the oath in courtroom or custom house or legislative hall by the conventional and mechanical mode of its administration. Irreverence for the holy Sabbath by the way it is broken in pleasure excursion and carousal. Irreverence on the part of chil dren for their parents, insolence being substituted for obedience. Irreverence for rulers, which induces vile cartoons and as sassination. Irreverence in church during prayer, measuring off song and sermon by cold, artistic or literary criticism, and in prayer time neither bowing the head nor bending the knee nor standing as one does in the presence of earthly ruler, thus show ing more respect for a man than to the King of kings. We ask not for genuflex ions or circumflexions or prostrations, but when prayer is offered let us either bow the head or bend the knee br let us in some way prove that we are not indiffer ent. No one has como to midlife who has not been stung of ingratitude. On the battle field of Alma in 1854 a wounded Russian was crying in anguish of thirst for water. Captain Eddington, of the English Army, ran to him and gave hirn drink. As tlie captain was running bv to join his regi ment the wounded soldier shot him. Al most all languages have proverbs setting forth this perversity. English proverb, "Bring up a raven and it will pick out your eyes." Arabic proverb. "Eat the present and break the dish." Italian pro verb, "The ass, after having drunk, gives a kick to the bucket." An old proverb says, "If God were to be so complacent as to carry us on His back to Koine, we would not thank Him for His pains if He did not also set us down in an easy chair." You will never be happy in this world if you do not do all the good you can and look for no responsive gratitude. All the damage I did a man who is my enemy was to take him from a position where he re ceived ft,oo a year salary into a position where he has ever since received $2500 a year. He never forgave me. but lias pur sued me with pen vitriolic ever since. The worst enemy you ever had is the man you introduced and favored and helped. Rut be not disturbed or even irritated. You are no better than your Lord. If the world had had anv thankful ap preciation of His coming it would have filled that Bethlehem caravansary with flowers, which bloom there clear on into the December month, and Herod, instead of attempting His death, would have sent a chariot to fetch the infant to the palace, and the oyer and terminer of Pilate's courtroom would have pronounced Him not guilty, and instead of a cross and a crown of thorns it would have been a coro nation. with all the mighty ones of the earth kneeling at the foot of His throne. But closely allied is the other fact which we hinted at in the opening—that we will not pass this way again. This is our only opportunity for doing certain things that ought to be done. On all sides there are griefs we ought to sotace, hunger we ought to feed, cold that we ought to warm, kind words that we ought to speak, generous deeds we ought to perform. All that you and I do toward making this world better and happier we must do very soon or never do at all. Joshua and his troops never came back over the way they were marching toward the crossing of the Jor dan. The impress of the sandal or the bare feet of each soldier showed in what direction he was going, but never did the impress of the sandal of any one of them show that he had returned. We are all facihg eternity to come. There is no re treat. Alertness and fidelity would not be so important if we could truthfully say: "I will be back here again. The things I neglect now I will do the next time I come. I will be reincarnated, and I will resume my earthly obligations. Having then more knowledge than I have now, I will dis charge my earthly duties better than I can now discharge them. I do not give solemn farewell to these obligations and opportunities, but a smiling and cheery good-bye until I see them again." No, we cannot say that. There will be no new and corrected edition of the volume of our earthly life. After we make exit from the stage at the close of the fifth act we can not re-enter. How many millions of people have lived and died I know not, but of all the human race who have gone only seven persons that I now think of have returned, the son of the widow at Zarephath, the young man of Nain, the ruler's daughter, Taciitha, Entychus, Lazarus and Christ. Among all the ages to come I do not suppose there will be one more who will return to this life, having once left it. At this point I ask you to notice the fact that niv text does not call attention to the crossing of the Jordan, but to the way leading thereto. We all think much of our crossing of the Jordan when the march of our life is ended, but put too lit tle emphasis on the way that leads to the crossing. What you and I need mo9t to care about is the direction of the road we are traveling. We need have no fear of the crossing if we come to it in the right way. In other words, we need not care about death if our life has been what it ought to be. We will die right if we live right. What an absurdity it would have been for Joshua and his men to have asked each other questions like these: "How can we cross the Jordan if we get there? Will not the water be too deep to allow us to wade? Will we not all be so saturated that we may lose our lives by exposure? How many of us can swim? Had we bet ter not wait until the artnual freshet has subsided?" No such folly did they com mit. They were chiefly anxious about the way that they had "not passed before" and were ignorant of and to keep their eves on the golden covered acacia box, wing mounted, which was the ark of the covenant. O hearer, stop bothering about your exit from sublunary scenes! By the grace of God get your heart right and then go ahead. If the Lord takes care of you clear onto the bank on this side of the river, I think you can trust Him to take you from bank to bank-, from the willows on this side the stream to the palms on the other side, from the last kiss of sorrowing ones on this side to the welcome, saintly, cheru bic, seraphic, deific on the other side. One Easter morning Mas9ena, the Mar shal of France, appeared with 18,000 armed men on the heights above the town of Feldkirch. There were no arms to de fend the town, and the inhabitants were wild with terror. Then the old dean of the church cried out: "My brothers, this is Easter day! We have been depending on our own strength, and that fails. Let us turn to God. Ring the bells and have service as usual." Then the bells rang out sweetly and mightily from the church towers of Feldkirch, and the people thronged to the houses of prayer for wor ship. The sound of the bells made the en emy think that the Austrian army had come into save the place, and Massena and his 18.IKX1 soldiers retreated. By the time the bells had stopped ringing there was not one soldier in sight. So put your trust in (loci, and when hosts of troubles and temptations march for your over throw ring all the bells of hone and faith and Christian triumph, and the threaten ing perils of your life will fall back, and your deliverance will be celehrated all up and down the skies. The God who led you through the w-.y you never passed befor* will be with you at all the crossings. lOuwrrwbt- Mil. L Kluim-h.l
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers