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The Danish j r„'"L
West Indies j| """.H..
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The Danish West Indies have come
int i public notice on account of the ne
gotiations between the United States
and the Danish Government by ■which
the three Islands St. Thomas, St.
John and St. Croix become the posses
fiiens of the United States a*t a lower
li.-ico than this country was willing to
pay for m.-tn many years ago.
The islands cover about 12" square
miles, and the population is estimated
nt about 30,000. Denmark has been in
possession of the islands since 1071,
4iit they have never been a preat
source of revenue, and for many years
\ ia .
i ---9 '>«o A \
it has cost Denmark mveh money in
excess of the revenue to maintain
them. A former resident of Charlotte
Amalie, the largest plnci on the island
of St. Thomas, in speaking of the sen
timent of the people as to annexation,
said:
The white papulation and nearly all
sugar producers are in favor of annex
ation, but. the blacks are opposed to
the scheme. There are comparatively
few whites on the islands, not more
than fifteen per cent, of the population.
The blacks are of a superior class, and,
having the same rights and privileges
as 1 lie whites, they naturally fear that
their condition would suffer if they be
came American citizens. There is no
such thing as a color line there. Edu
cation is compulsory, and all the chil
dren, white and blael:, RO to school be
tween the aces of seven and thirteen.
In the churches there is also an ab
sence of all distinction as to color, and
there is certainly 110 line drawn in
business. The Dane recognizes a man
for his worth, a'id never thinks of ex
cluding his neif .lbor from social, busi
ness or religions functions because of
his color. In the Colonial Council at
St. Croix there are two black men, and
they fill the places with credit to them
selves and to the satisfaction of their
associates. Intermarriage between na
tives and whites is nothing unusual,
and clergymen of the various denomin
ations never refuse to perform the mar
riage ceremony between white and
black men and women.
There seems to be a misunderstand
ing in the United States as to the lan
guage used by the people in the Dan
ish West Indies. The fact is that
everybody speaks English, and, al
though the official language is Danish,
English is used in the schools as well
as in the court of justice.
St. Thomas has no agricultural !m
--por nee. A few onions and other veg
etables are raised there, but not
errigh to supply the 10,000 inhabit
ant--. and nearly everything that is
CHARLOTTE ASIA LIE, ST. THOMAS, FROM THE HARBOR.
used at the table is sent from the Uni
ted States. The place has a flue har
bor. large coal wharves and a drjdock,
and tiuoug the larger buildings are the
Government house and a hotel. The
stores and shops as well as the houses
of the inhabitants are nearly all one
story buildings. The old structure#
are built of stone, but the modern
houses are of -wood, and all are of the
old Spanish style. The roofs are tiled
and flat and so arranged that they shed
the rain into cisterns, -where it Is ltept
for drinking purposes, there being no
other water available.
On the Island of St. Croix Frederiek
sted and Chrir innsted are the chief
towns. These places have a popula
tion of about 1000 encb. They have
stores and shops like those of St.
Thomas, anil the population is made
up of the same elements. There are
Episcopal, Moravian, Catholic, Dutch
Reformed and Methodist churches and
a synagogue, and there are two Ma
sonic lodges on the island, one French
and one English. In each of these
there are as many black as white mem
bers. One of the deacons in the Dutch
Reformed Church is a full-blood negro.
One of the peculiarities of the houses
iil EAilith P>tbif \V \
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I' ¥' '\ „ . JRTKEI*AS IT 0
\\Wi to.
\Wk T7
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niz IDEAIL HAMBOn oiy
ST.yz-m-'^s.
in the Danish West Indies is that they
have no chimneys. The kitchens are
all detached, and as tire is used for
cooking only, houses require no fire
places or chimneys. The stores, if they
stand directly on a street, have doors
front and back, and those that stand
away from the regular thoroughfare
have openings on all four sides. In or
der to protect the merchandise from
the sand many glass eases are used.
St. Thomas has a eab system which
is usually a surprise to the visitor. The
horses and cabs are not of the showy
kind, but the price is in keeping with
the outfit, ten cents a mile being the
regular rate. People who travel in
the country ride on little ponies, which
ore safe of foot and scamper over t.bt
mountains li'-o goats.
Denmark maintains nn army on the
Islands of about 2."0 men. Those are
volunteers recruited from the veteran
corps in the home country and sent to
the islands for a term of six years.
They have guard and barracks duties
to perform, but those who have trades
may work at them when they are not
on duty, and when their term of office
Is over they receive free transporta
tion home, or, if they desire to remain,
receive positions on the police force.
"The clearness of the air at St.
Thomas," said a former resident of the
place, " may be judged by my expe
rience. I lived on the highest of the
three hills on which the city is built,
and from my house I could see Porto
Rico, fifty miles to the west, and with
the naked eye could see the palms of
St. Croix, forty miles south. The ther
mometer registers between ninety and
ninety-five degrees in the shade nine
months in the year, but one feels com
fortable, and some of my friends who
were in New York during the hot sea
son last year went home to St. Thomas
to escape the New* York heat.
"The low price of wine does the peo
ple more harm tliau (lie warm weather.
For six cents one can buy a bottle of
native wine, anil half of that will settle
the strongest man. The people are hos
pitable to a fault, and strangers are al
ways made welcome. People in this
part of the world are surprised to hear
this, but it is just as true as that the
hurricane stories from St. Thomas and
St. Croix are nearly all exaggerations,
for there are 110 more hurricanes there
than there are in the Southern Siates
of this country."
Then- are thirty-lwo sugar estates
on the Island of St. Croix, the product
of which goes to one concern in New
York. But. in order to protect growers
who are not in this combination the
Danish Government has established
sugar stations where growers bring
their cane for sale. It is ground in
mills belonging to the Government,
and the producer receives pay based
on the New York prices.
The water about these islands is so
clear that the bottom may be seen at
any point, and it abounds in fish. Very
little fishing is done, but many people
predict that it will not be long after
the United States has the Islands be
fore large canning establishments will
bo started there.
A sail of half an hour from the east
end of St. Thomas takes one to St.
John, which lias a population of about
700. There Is much grazing laud ou
this Island, and with a small invest
ment profitable stock farms might be
established there. The inhabitants of
this islnnd are nearly ail blacks. The
chief judge of the island fills several
other important offices. He is the chief
of police, the postmaster, the head of
the truant school which is situated on
the Island, the wharf master and cus
tom house officer. The Police Depart
ment over which he presides has two
members.
Sproutliis: Table
A three-legged table, belonging to a
Donegal farmer named O'Brlan, has
been distinguishing itself in a remark
able way lately. It has been varnished
and revarnished many times. It has
§.[X.n
| { JL.S?
JUrfST
LEAVr.S ON TABLE LZdS.
never been out in the air, and has not
received any excessive amount of sun
shine; nevertheless, about two months
ago tiny buds formed 011 two of the
legs of the table, and now vivid green
sprouts have become slender branches,
covered with leaves. It is a remarka
ble manifestation of the vitality of
plant life under adverse circumstances.
SILENT MACHINERY.
Transmission of Power Through Whff'.i
Without Contact.
In the illustration is shown the pow
er transmitting the device recently de
signed by Charles G. Armstrong, the
object of the Invention being to drive
DRIVES MACHINERY WITHOUT CONTACT.
machinery by employing magnetic lines
of force. The inventor states that he
is enabled to transmit the rotary mo
tion of a driving wheel to a driven
wheel without actual contact and with
out any mechanical wear and tear or
noise resulting while the machinery is
in motion. The driving wheel is pro
vided with magnetic coils arranged
around the periphery, with means for
energizing a portion of the coils at a
time. This is accomplished by passing
the electric current from a generator !
through the upper spring contact arm
into the two or three coils immediately
below, and allowing it to pass out
through the lower arm. In this way a
strong pull is exerted on the projecting
spokes of the larger wheel on the side
toward the energized coils, with abso
lutely no attraction after the centre is
passed. The tendency is for the mng
nets and attracted spokes to continu
ally approach each other, and as fresh
magnets and spokes are constantly
coming under the drawing power the
wbeel continues to revolve as long as
the energizing current is supplied.
A New Kaftlanft Wtmun's Invention.
A railway snow plow is rather a
strange thing for a woman to invent,
hut the one shown here is not only a
evoruan's device, but has a number of
practical advantages which recom
mend its use by railways and street
•ar lines. The chief feature of the ap
paratus is that it will cut through a
Irift of crust or packed snow about as
?nsy as uu ordinary plow removes a
Hslit drift. This Is accomplished by
Brst disintegrating the ice and snow
MINCING KNIVES ON THE SNOW I'LOW. !
with the revolving cutters mounted in
the mouth of the plow, when it is an
easy matter to dispose of the small sec
tions. A motor is provided to revolve
the knives, and the same power runs
the endless elevator which projects up
ward from the centre of the car. Di
rectly beneath the upper end of this
elevator the roof takes the shape of the
letter A, with the lower ends project
ing over either side of the car. In ac
tion the flaring mouth of the plow
scoops in the snow, while the revolv
ing knives mince it fine and drive it
back to the elevator. Here it is lifted
and falls on the sides of the slanting j
roof, passing thence to the ground on
either side of the track. A turret above
the knives affords a housing for the
controlling motors and the operator
who has charge of the machine. The
inventor is Katharine C. Munsor., of
Massachusetts.
Another Marconi Pntent.
A patent has been recently granted
in Kngland to William Marconi, cover
ing Ills invention of a portable signal
ing apparatus designed for use in war
/j\ ,
WIRELESS TELEGKAPHING ACTOMOBILK.
fare on land. The principal feature !s a i
telescoping tower, which is intended for
use in transmitting signals and col
lapsed when the vehicle is ou the
move. The accompanying diagram is
from the English patent and shows the
construction and the mode of opera
tion.
Court KMquett© Freuvrvec?.
Charles the Second once grunted an
audience to the courtly Quaker. Will
iam I'enu, who, as was his custom,
rufered the royal presence with his hat
or.. The humorous sovereign quietly
laid aside his own, which occasioned
I'enn's inquiry: "Friend Charles, why
dosi. Thou remove thy hat'.'" "It is the
custom," he replied, "in this place for
one person only to remain covered."—
The Argonaut.
Metal v>—.re is still largely imported
by ltusjiia from Germany, though tho
United states is proving a strong eoai
oetltor
DR. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Suhjeet: The Work Noreit at Hand—Put
Your Kellglou Into Practice—He Grate
ful For Uod'a Common BlMilifi—
Revenue of Spiritual Strength.
WASHINGTON, D. C.—ln this discourse
Dr. Talumge advises IM to do our best in
the spheres where we are placed and not
v.ait to serve (tod in resounding position;
text, I Corinthians x, 31, "Whether, there
fore, ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do,
do all to the glory of God."
When the apostle in this text set* forth
the idea that m> common an action as the
taking of food and drink is to be conduct
ed to the glory of God, he proclaims the
importance of religion in the ordinary af
fairs of our Hfe. in all ages of the world
there has been a tendency to set apart cer
tain days, places and occasions for wor
ship, and to think those were the chief
realms in which religion was to act. Now,
holy days and holy places have their im
portance. They give opportunity for spe
cial performance of Christian duty and for
regaling of the i-eligjous appetite, but they
cannot ink* the place of continuous exer
cise of faith and prayer. In other words,
a man cannot bf! so much of a Christian on
Sunday that he can nfTord to be a world
ling all the rest of the week. If a steamer
put out for Southampton and go one day
in that direction and the other six days in
other directions, how long before the steam
er will get to Southampton? It will never
get, there. And, though a man may seem
to be voyaging heavenward during the holy
Sabbath day, if during the following six
I days of the week he is going toward the
' world and toward the flesn and toward the
devil how long will it take him to reach
the peaceful harbor of heaven. You can
not eat so much at the Sabbath hanquet
that you can afford religious abstinence
the other six days. Heroism and princely
behavior on great occasions are no apology
for lock of right demeanor in circumstances
insignificant and inconspicuous. The gen
uine Christian life is not spasmodic; does
not go by fits and starts. It toils on
through heat and cold, tip steep mount
sins and along dangerous declivities, its
eye on the everlasting hills crowned with
the castles of the blessed. I propose to
plead for an everyday religion.
In the first place we want to bring the
religion of Christ into our conversation.
When a dam breaks and two or three vil
lages are overwhelmed or an earthquake
in South America swallows a whole city,
then people begin to talk about the uncer
tainty of life, and they imagine that they
are engaged in positively religious conver
sation. No. "Vou may talk about these
things and have no grace of God at all in
your heart. We ought every day to be
talking religion. If there is anything glad
about it. anything beautiful nbont it. any
thing important about it, we ought to be
continuously discussing.
I have noticed that men just in propor
tion OH their Christian experience is shal
low talk about funerals and graveyards and
tombstones und desthbeds. The real, gen
uine Christian man talks chiefly about this
life and the great eternity beyond and not
so much about the insignificant pass be
tween thew two residences.
And yet how few circles there are where
the religion of Jesus Christ is welcome.
| Go into a circle even of Christian people,
I where they are full of joy and hilarity, and
! talk about Christ or heaven and everything
i is immediately silenced. As on a summer
I day when the forests are full of life, chat
j ter, chirrup and carol —a mighty chorus of
bird harmony, every tree branch an orches
tra—if a hawk appear in the sky, every
I voice stops and the forests are still,
j .lust so I have seen a lively religious cir
rle silenced on the appearance of anything
j like religious conversation. No one had
! anything to say save perhaps some old pa
triarch in the corner of the room, who
really thinks that something ought to be
paid under the circumstances; bo he puts
one foot over the other and heaves a long
sigh and says, "Oh, yes; that's so, that's
so!"
My friends, the religion of Jesus Christ
is something to talk about with a jjlad
heart. It is brighter than the sunshine.
Do not go around groaning about your re
ligion when you ought to be singing it or
talking it in cheerful tones of voice. How
often it is that we find men whose liveß
are utterly inconsistent who attempt to
talk religion and always make a failure of
it! My friends, we must live religion or
we cannot talk it. If a man is cranky and
cross and uncongenial and hard in his deal
ings and then begins to talk about Christ
. and heaven, everybody is repelled by it.
' Yet I have heard such men say in whining
tones, "We are miserable sinners," "The
Lord bless you," "The Lord have mercy on
you," their conversation interlarded with
such expressions which mean nothing but
canting, and canting is the worst form of
hypocrisy. If we have really felt the re
ligion of Christ in our hearts, let us talk
it, and talk it with an illuminated counte
nance. remembering that when two Chris
tian people talk God gives special atten
tion and writes down what they say: Ma
lachi iii. 16, "Then they that feared the
Tyord spoke often one to another, and the
Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book
of remembrance was written.'
Again, 1 remark, we must bring the reli
gion of Christ into our employments. "Oh."
| vou say. "that is very well if a man handle
: large sums of money or if he have an ex
i tensive traffic, but in the humble work in
I life that I am called to the sphere is too
j smail for the action of such grand, henven
i ly principles." Who told you so? Do you
i not know that God watches the faded leaf
j on the brook's surface us certainly as He
i does the path of a biazing sun? And the
j moss that creeps up the side of the rock
j makes as much impression upon God's
I mind as the waving tops of Oregon pine
and I>ebanon cedar, and the alder, crack
ling under the cow's hoof, sounds as loud
in God's ear as the snap of a world's con
flagration. When you have anything to do
in life, however humble it may seem to be,
Cod is always there to help you to do it.
If your work is that of a fisherman, then
God will help you. as He helped Simon
when He dragged Gennesaret. If your
work is d -awing water then He will help
you. as when He talked at the well curb
to the Samaritan woman. If you arc en
gaged m the custom house. He will lead
you as He led Matthew sitting at there-
I ceipt of customs.
A religion that is not good in one place
is not worth anything in another place.
The man who has only a day's wages in his
pocket as certainly needs the guidance of
religion as he who rattles the keys of »
bank and could abscond with a hundred
thousand dollars.
There are those prominent in the
churches who seem to be on public occa
sions very devout who do not put the
principles of Christ's religion into practice.
They are the most inexorable of creditors
They are the most grasping of dealt' .
They are known a.-, sharpers on the st» t.
They fleece every sheep they can catc' A
country merchant i oraes iu to buy /ring
or fall goods, and he gets into the h ore of
one of these professed Christian men who
have really no grace in their hearts, and he
is completely swindled, lie is so overcome
that he cannot get out of town during the
week. He stays in town over Sunday, gcej
into some church to get Christian consols
tion, when what is his amazement to find
that the very man who hands him tlia poor
box in the church is the one who relieved
liim of his nionev! But never mind; the
deacon has his black coat on now. Ua
loots solemu and goes houie, talking about
"the blessed ssrmou." If the wheat ia the
churches should be put into a the
first turn oft Vie frank would make the
chaff fljr, I tell you. Some of these men
are great sticklers for gospel preaching. *
They say: "You stand there in bands and
surplice and gown and preach—preach like
an angel—and we will stand out here and
attend to business. Don't mix things.
l)on't get business and religion in the same
bucket. You attend to your matters, and
we will attend to ours." They do not know *
that God sees every cheat- they have prac
ticed in the last six years; that He can look
through the iron wall of their fireproof
safe; that He has counted every dollar
they have in their pocket, and that a day
of judgment will come. These inconsistent
Christian men will sit on the Sabbath night
in the house of Cod singing at the close of
the service, "Hock of ages cleft for me,"
and then when the benediction is pro
nounced shut the pew door and say as they
go out: "Goob bye, religion. I'll" be back
next Sunday."
I think that the church of Cod and the
Sabbath are only an armory where we are
to get weapons. When war comes, if a
man wants to fight for his country, he
does not goto Troy or to Springfield to do
battling, but he goes there for swords and
muskets. I look upon the church of Christ
and the Sabbath duy as only the place and
time where and when we are to pet armed
for Christian conflict, but the battlefield ii
on Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurs
day, Friday and Saturday.
Now, be careful to let none of those an
noyances gu through your soul unarraigned.
Compel them to administer your spiritual
wealth. The scratch of a sixpenny nail
sometimes produces lockjaw, and the clip
of a most infinitesimal annoyance may
damage you forever. Do r.ot let any an
noyance or perplexity come across your
soul without its making you better.
Our National Government did not think
it belittling to put a tax on pins and a tax
on buckle 3 and a tax on shoes. The indi
vidual taxes do not amount to much, but
in the aggregate to millions and millions of
dollars. And 1 would have you, O Chris
tian man, put a high tariff on every annoy
ance and vexation that comes through your
soul. This might not amount to mucli in
single cases, but in the aggregate it woulil
be a great revenue of spiritual strength and
satisfaction. A bee can suck honey even
out of a nettle, and if you have the grace
of God in your heart you can get sweetness
out of that which would otherwise irri
tate and annoy. The only way to get pre
pared for the great troubles of life is to
conquer these small troubles.
And I have to tell you, O Christian men.
if you cannot apply the principles of
Christ's religion on a small scale you will
never be able to apply them on a large
scale. If you cannot contend success/ulTy
against these small sorrows that come
down single handed, what will you do
when the greater disasters of life come
down with thundering artillery, rolling
over your soul?
Again, we must bring the religion of
Christ into our commonest blessings. W r heti
the autumn comes and the harvests are in
and the governors make proclamations, we
assemble in churches and we are very
thankful. But every day ought to be a
thanksgiving day. We do not recognize
the common mercies of life. We have to
see a blind man led tv his dog before we
begin to bethink ourselves of what n grand
thing it is to have undimmed eyesight.
We have to see some wounded man hob
bling on his crutch or with his empty coat
sleeve pinned up before we learn to think
what a grand thing God did for us when He
gave us healthy use of our limbs. We are
so stupid that nothing but the misfortunes
of others can rouse us up to our blessings.
As the ox grazes in the pasture up to its
eye in clover, yet never thinking who
makes the clover, and as the bird picks up
the worm from the furrow, not knowing
that it is God who makes everything from
the animalcule in the sod to the seraph on
the throne, so we goon eating, drinking
and enjoying, but never thanking, or sel
dom thanking, or, if thanking (it all, with
only half a heart.
T compared our indifference to the brute,
but pc-haps I wronged the brute. I do not
know but that, among its other instincts,
it may have an instinct by which it recog
nizes the diviue hand that feeds it. I do
not know but that. God is, through it,
holding communication with what we call
"irrational creation." The cow that stands
under the willow by the watercourse chew
ing its cud looks very thankful, and who
can tell how much a bird means by its
song? The aroma of the flowers smells like
incense, and the mist arising from the river
looks like the smoke of a morning sacrifice.
Oh. that we were as responsive! Yet who
thanks God for the water that gushes up
in the well, and that foams in the cascade,
and that laughs over the rocks, and that
patters in the showers, and that claps its
hands in the sea? Who thanks God for
the air, the fountain of life, the bridge of
sunbeams, the path of sound, the great fan
on a hot summer's day? Who thanks God
for this wonderful physical organism, this
sweep of the vision, this chime of harmony
struck into the ear, this soft tread of a
myriad delights over the nervous tissue,
this rolling of the crimson tide through ar
tery and vein, this drumming of the heart
on our march to immortality? We take all
these things as a matter of course.
But suppose God should withdraw these
common blessings! Your body would be
come an inquisition of torture, t.he cloud
would refuse rain, every green thing would
crumple up, and the earth would crack
open under your feet. The air would cease
its healthful circulation, pestilence would
swoop, and every house would become a
place of skulls. Streams would first swim
with vermin and then dry up, and thirst
Rtid hunger and anguish and despair would
lift their sceptres. Oh, compare such a life
as that with the life you live with your
families! Is it not time that, with every
action of your life we began to acknowl
edge these everyday mercies? "Whether
ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all
to the glory of God." Do I address a man
or a woman who has not rendered to God
one single offering of thanks?
I was preaching one Thanksgiving Day
and announced inv text—"Oh, give thanks
unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mer
cy endureth forever." I do not know
whether there was any blessing on the ser
mon or not, but the text went straight to
a young man's heart. He said to himself
as I read the text: " 'Oh. give thanks unto
the Lord, for He is good'— Why, I have
never rendered Hira any thanks! Oh, what
an ingrate 1 have been!" Can it be, my
brother, that you have been fed by tho
good hand of God all these days, that you
have had clothing and shelter the
never offered your heart to God? Oh, let
beneficient surroundings, and yet have
a sense of the divine goodness shown you
in everyday blessings melt your heart, and
if you have never before uttered one ear
nest note of thanksgiving let this be the
day which shall hear you sing! What I
say to one I say to all. Take this prac
l' J religion 1 have recommended into
jur everyday life. Make every day a
Sabbath and every meal a sacrament and
every room you enter a holy of holies. We
all ha*e work to do; let us be willing to do
it. We all have sorrows to bear; let us
cheerfully bear them. We all have battles
to tight ; let us courageously fight them. It
you want to die right, you must live right.
Negligence and indolence will win the hiss
of everlasting scorn, while faithfulness will
gather ita garlands and wave its sceptre
and sit upon its throne long after this
earth has put on ashes and eternal ages
have begun their march. You go home to
day and attend to your little sphere of du
ties. I will go home and attend to my lit
tle aphere of duties. Every one in his own
place. So our every step in life shall be a
triumphal march, and the humblest foot
stool on which we are called to sit will be
a conqueror's throne.
[Casrricht. IMS. L. Klopick. 1