tttttttttttftttftttfttt 5 UliVnAV QFPMfiN 3 2 MUlWtM OLsllMVIl v A Scholarly Discourse Dy 2 Rv. Alfred H. Mori,Tr JJ sssssstsc Brooklyn, N. y. In the Strong Plnca Baptist Church the pastor, the Itev. Alfred II. A. Morse, spoke Sunday on "Tito Secret of Happiness." Ho said: There nre two hidden linnds,' con trolled by tli game intelligence, which are constantly working upon the hu man heart. And these are pain and pleasure. Man was made to he happy. If sometimes lie must eat the. bread of sorrow It la because, as Mr. Beceher aid, "Sorrow Is medicine." Joy Is wore divine than sorrow, and does not belong only to these pnsslng days, but shall remain with lis when nil tears are dried and sorrow Is swept forever from tho universe. Now, Joy may be divided Into three classes. There is the Joy of appetite, a merely animal condition. It conies from .the fitting of n goodly organism into circumstances which are suited to supply Its need. This is tho Joy that, makes the child skip nnd play and 1111 the Lome with laughter. It Is the Joy of the singing bird. It Is simply pleas tire. But we are not always children. Wo grow and come into the place of work and responsibility. And hero also Is Joy, and this wo may call happiness. An earnest man finds Joy in his em ployment. The lawyer and doctor and teacher enjoy their professions. The minister enjoys to preach. The mer chant enjoys his business, and the me chanic his shop in spite of all its toll. This Is Joy, but It Is tho Joy of the bee that gathers the honey and stores it away ngainst the needs of a hungry .winter. There is thn Joy of living, and there Is the Joy of working. These nre all that many n man nttalns. But it takes a higher Joy than these to till the soul of mnn.'ns the sunlight fills the sky, or tho ocean fills the deep. There is a Joy that is known as "blessedness." which archeu these as the heavens span the sea. It is the Joy of love, the Joy of faith, the Joy of n good conscience, the Joy of doing right for the sake of right, the Joy of sacrifice and of service. These are so fur above the others that they belong to nuother kingdom whose law is obedience, whoso Joy is right eousness, whose fellowship is with God, and whose entrance Is by menus of a birth from above. And into this kingdom there are certain well dellncd steps. "Happy," said Jesus, "nre the poor in spirit, for theirs Is the kingdom of lieavcn." And poverty of -spirit is na kedness of soul before God. He is happy who lbrows'nside his own rags of righteousness nnd goiug to (Jod says, "Clothe mo, for I am naked; feed me. for I am hungry; guide me, for I nm ignorant; put Thlun anus under uie, for I am weak." As In tin; mountain passes of the West the traveler holds tip his hands before the bandit, so in the presence of God's righteousness tho soul must throw up its hands und sur render to God. Blessed are the poor in spirit, the consciously bankrupt in the presence of God. So long as the young er son remained In the l'nr olT land, so long as he was satisfied with the busks from the troughs of tho swine, so long as he wanted nothing, the father might mourn, but there was nothing for him to do. But when that son threw him self upon his fothcr's love and said, "I have sinned, and you see my want" then the father could clothe and feed and kiss; place sandals upon his feet aud give him the place of the son. Does a prodigal soul wish for happi ness? I know of no chance for him till he fling away bis sin nnd standing in his naked need acknowledges his pov erty of soul. The happiest moment in tho prodigal's experience was when ho burled his face iu his father's shoulder and said, "I havo sinned." The hap piest man at the temple gate was he who smote his breast and without so much as lifting his eyes, snld, "God be merciful to me the sinner." Hnppy aro they who mourn for sin. It is not enough to be ashamed of it, but there must be an actual sorrow therefor. This does not mean to mourn for its consequences, nor for its pub licity, nor for the misery it entails. Sin is more than a blunder which ono may regret. It is more than n mistake ;wblcb ono would try to repair. It is open and flagrant and defiant rebellion. When a man mourns this, then God flings above him His smile as the rn In to w spanned the flood, aud ho "shall he comforted." Happy are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. But who are tho meek? They who obey the law. Moses has passed Into history as the meekest of men. But Moses bent the neck of his manhood to law, and maybe that is the reason that to this day our best in stitutions are all to bo traced to the legislation in the wilderness. Only once did Moses lose his meekness, when with an angry frown he smolo the rock. Thnt shattered hia meekness into a thousand pieces, and he lost the promised laud. Ho did not inherit the earth. .Jesus was the meekest man, and He has flung out His challenge for the world to come to Him. He was meek, for He was obedient, even to tho place of death. Happy are tho hungry. Hunger and thirst are spurs which are driven into men to drive ahead. When men aro hungry they struggle, and there is hope for a nation when times nre hard But when men and nations nre filled they He down to sleep and rise up to play. When a man is idle his arm grows wouk with disuse. Hunger aud thirst are spurs to activity. But the noblest hunger is the hunger for rlght ness, for that is the meaning of "right eousness." To seek God and His righteousness is to seek for God and His Tightness. A man whose soul is famished with this consuming desire may well be happy, "for he shall be tilled." Happy are tho merciful. But mercy does not always mean leniency. When a man Is convicted of some gross crime it Is no mercy to let him go to do the same crime again. Mercy sometimes exacts an awful penalty, for mercy is a prerogative of righteousness, and mercy belongs to God. The man stand ing beside God. poor in spirit, mourn ing his sin, hungry for righteousness, is merciful, and mercy comes, also to him. "He shall receive mercy." Happy are the pure in heart. But What does this mean?, Who of us Is pure? It means to bo single in pur pose. The diamond must be or "ths first water" if it is to flash tho light. The man must be single in purpose if he is to see God. The doublu-ruliidod . man can never see the vision of Him whose countenance is as the sun shin ing la his strength; for his vision is broken and disturbed, llko the waves of the ea driven by tho wind and tossed. Ah! I love the sea. I've watched it on a windy day, and heard It weep and moan and Bob, and breathe out its anger in an awful curse. I'vo seen the waves rise buffeted and beat en, now backward, uow forward, till its face was white with rgo. but Its heart was ttlactt ns death. I've seen ft reel and toss, till at last sobbing as though its heart would break. It would burst Into a myrlnd briny tear upon the shore and pour from Its wretched bosom the seaweed and driftwood and filth it has gathered in tho Journey. That wave never saw the sun. But I've looked again. The sea was llko a mirror, as clear as crystal. I could see the pearly pebbles, and there in its heart I could see the sun. The pure hearted waters lay all day long and looked into the face of the sun. Hap py, blessed are the pure, the single in heart, "for they shall see God." The man who has a supreme desire to please God, he is pure, He may have temptation, he may stumble, he may fall, but he rises again, and he is farther ahead. I shame to confess it, but I once played football, the barbar ism of college. I've seen a mau fall and slide four times as far as he could go without falling. He's a pure man, though his clothes ore covered with grime. The man who is pure in heart shall see Him that is Invisible. The man who serves God shall see Him. Happy are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. God is a peacemaker, and hath recon ciled all things unto Himself. And now the man who makes peace shall be called His son. He has passed through the school, and has learned poverty and mourning and mercy and singleness of heart, and now he Is taken Into tho family of God as Moses was taken into the family of Pharaoh' daughter. There is one other "blessed" spoken by Jesus. It Is found in the compara tive form. "It Is nioro blessed to give than to receive." It makes more for happiness to give than to get. "When self is the centre there Is no happiness. But when self Is forgotten there is hnp piness at Its height. When a man knows he has nerves he cannot be happy. Mr. Rockefeller thinks thnt happiness can be ruined by a sensitive stomach. The happy man Is be who not knowing that he has nerves or stomach cares for the other man. This is tho call to self-sacrifice. How utterly intolerable this world wonld bo if every one lived for himself. Happily this cannot be, and the altruism lies at the bottom of family and social life. But there are different kinds of sacri fice. Thero is the sacrifice of self to self, of tho lower to the higher, of the passion to principle. There is tho sac rifice of self for others, and there is the highest sacrifice, that is, of self to God. Do we talk of Joy in these things? Most people think of them as a disagreeable sort of necessity. May be we see that this necessity serves a useful end. But to rejoice In theml To tuke up our sacrifice with a song, that seems out of tho question. That Is the dream of the poet. giving is blessed, because it is most like God. He has need of nothing but Just to give. The glory of the gospel is a hnppy God, but He gave His Bon. Ho might havo stripped heaven of its angels and it would not have impover ished Him, The only gift that He could feel was the gift of His Son. And that was what made Him happy. (Jod Himself could not be happy if He had wlthholden this greatest gift. That was the law which Jesus de clared. It makes more for happiness to give than to get. The whole life of Jesus was giving, but the happiest mo ment was that last, when He said: "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit," nnd Ho had given His life for a ransom. In these simple words, then, I And the whole philosophy of salvation, of happiness and of heaven. If a man mourn fir his sin, he shall be com forted and an infinite peace shall dry his tears. If a man hunger for Tight ness, he shall be filled. If he strive to servo God with a single heart, ho shall see Him. If He do the work of God and live at pence, ho shall be called the chijd of God, and if he seek for chances to pour out his life in service, he shnll And heaven about him on every side. And this is the secret of happiness. A Life of Salf-Abnacatlon. The Itev. Dr. Joslah Strong draws this picture of the blessedness of self sncrltice. He says: "The life of self .abnegation does not attract you. A cathedral window seen from without la dull and meaningless. But enter, and the light of Heaven, streaming through it, glorifies it with every beauty of form and color. Consecra tion to God for service may seem dull enough when seen from without; but enter Into that experience, and tho light of the divine love, streaming through It, shall glorify your life with beauty and blessedness which aro Heaven's own." Tba Way We Do Things. Rev. F. B. Meyer says: "Knitting needles are cheap and common enough, but on them may be wrought the fair est designs In the richest wools. So the incidents of dally life may be- com monplace in the extreme, but on them ns the material foundation we may build the unseen but everlnstlug fab ric of a noble aud beautiful character. It does not so much matter what wo do, but the way in which we do It matters greatly." Four Uuuil ltulna. General Gordon, the hero of China nnd likewise of Khartum, based his life upon four rules: Forgetfulness of self, absorute sincerity. Indifference to the world' Judgments, absorption in the will of God. These four rules abide ns guide-posts on the path to great ness, but tho greatest of these Is sur render to the will of God. raeillo Baptist. Not lha AttltuiU. Itovereut attitudes are necessary In wodilp, but it Is the reverence and not the attitude in which the virtuo resides. Our hearts must be right. Sunday-School Times. LIVE8 VVITHOUT A STOMACH. Girl In Vlonna Undergoes a Remark-able- Operation With Success. In the Rothschild hospital In Vi enna is a girl without a stomach, that organ having been removed by a sur gical operation, necessitated by a can cerous growth. This was about two months ago and the patient is doing much bettor than could be expected. Immediately aftor the operation the surgocn Inserted an Intestinal tube for tho purpose of Introducing the necessary nourishment. After a lapse of a fow days, after which the pa tient's life hung by a thread, a change for the hotter took place, and It be came evident that the operation had succeeded entirely. For tho first week tho patient, though ' receiving sufficient nourishment by means of tho tube, suffered terribly from the effects of thirst, as she was not per mitted to swallow water. Aftor the eighth day milk in very small quanti ties was given to ber, and now she Is permitted to take as much as slit wants. The patient is ptrmltted to leave her bed occasionally. THE SUNDAY SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS FOR MAY 7. Robjeoti The Tine and the Rrnnrhas, John ., 1-19 Uoltlen Text, John it,, S Memory Varsos, 0, 0-Cominantary on the Day's Lemon, 1. The importance of abiding In Christ (vs. 1-5). 1. "I" Jesus. The true vine." The true vine Is Christ; the living, abiding Christ, who repro duces Himself In every true disciple. ''The husbandman." The owner of the vineyard, the original planter, posses sor and cultivator of the vine. The Saviour speaks of Himself ns the sub ject of Ills Father's care and cultiva tion. 2. "Every branch In Me." Many aro supposed to be In the vine, according to the opinions of men, who have no root In the vine. Baptized, professing, partially believing members may be found In abundance. "He taketh away." Removes, thnt the vino may not be damaged In reputation, or the world be imposed upon by empty pro fessors. "Beareth fruit." The fruit of the Spirit love, Joy, pence, etc. (Gal. 5:22, 23). All manner of good works. "Purgeth It." Cleanseth and pruneth, Stripping It, ns the husbandman does, of whatever Is rnnk nnd luxuriant n process often painful, but no less need ful and beneficial than in the natural husbandry. "More fruit." Everything '.s removed from tho branch which tends to divert the vital power from the production of fruit. Christ cleans eth the soul. The object of nil redemp tlve work is In order thnt tho soul may bring forth more fruit. 3. "Now ye are clean." Ye nre un der this discipline of pruning. Jesus comforts them with the nssurance that they are bearing fruit, though they need further cleansing In order that they may bring forth more fruit. "Through the word." You nre already cleansed from, past sin. through your acceptance of nnd obedience to My word. The word of God is the pruning knlfo. 4. "Abide In Me." Hold fast faith nd a good conscience; let no trials turn you aside from the truth. Yo shall receive every help and Influence from Me thnt your souls can require In order to preserve them nnd snve them to eternal life. "I In you." He abides In them ns the source of spirit aal life and frultfulness, on condition thnt they abide in Him by n living, bedleut fnlth. Christ's power, knowl sdge and love will fill the hearts nnd live of His people. "The branch can not," etc. If the branch should be cut off nn instant it would become fruit less. "No more can ye." Ye must be partakers of My divine nature, be wise In My wisdom, powerful In My might nnd pure through My holiness. 5. "Much fruit." The desired end is se cured. Tench Christ, live Christ, abide In Christ nnd fruit is sure. "Without Me." Separated from Mo. Without Christ we can do nothing that will olense God. II. The result of not abiding In Christ (v. 0). 0. "It a man nbide not in Me." Whatever man may do to merit salvation is worthless. Except he be Joined to Christ by abiding fulth Slid love, he is no more a child of God '.ban the dead branch is a part of the living vine. "Is withered." Having no heavenly unction, no spiritual life, he cannot bring forth mature fruit. Though no mortal can discern the de fect the husbandman can. "Men gath er the.m,'' Through the Judgments of Sod they are separated from the fruit bearing branches. "Burned." Void of spiritual life, the soul destroyed. III. Blessings thnt come from abid ing in Christ (vs. 7, 8). 7. "If yo abide." Keep in constant communion with Hlni, lean always on Him, make Him the fountain of life nnd strength. "My words abide." Words of promise. i doctrine, precept. Keep My sayings I nnd tira..tnta ' air tvtinf- vn will " Because tills Indwelling of Ills words In them would secure the harmony of their askings with the divine will. Such will ask in submission to His will. "Shnll be done." The asking Is unlimited because tho will of the be liever will bo In harmony with the will and purpose and love of Christ. 8. "Herein." In the abundance of tho fruit, "rather glorified." it Is tho honor of God to havo strong, vigorous, holy children, perfectly filled with Ills love. Chrlstlaus are God's representa tives on earth, and therefore the larger and more perfect their success in sav ing men from sin the more God is lion bred. "So shall ye be My' disciples," It would seem that hearing fruit Is made here a test of dluclpleship. IV. Chrlat's commandment (vs. 0-12). B. "As tho Father," etc. Our Lord was conscious of being the object of the Father's infinite love; here He as serts that His love to His disciples cor responds with the eternal Father's love to Himself. "Abide ye" (It. V.) Bo settled and fully established In Christ, being fully persuaded that nothing shnll be able to separate us from Ilia love (see Horn. 8:Sr !iD). 10. "If ye keepye shull abide." This Is the method and secret, tho stimulus, tho proof of nbldlng In the love of Christ, The obedience hero described is tho outcome of love, but the power Is thus gal n oil to continue to dwell In tho di vine love, to abide in tho full enjoy ment of It. 11. "My Joy might remain." Al though within n few hours of the cross Jesus speaks of His Joy. "Joy full." The Joy of the Lord filling the soul. A Joy so deep thnt no sorrow can disturb It. Such a condition of soul cannot be described; It must be experienced to bo understood. 12. "My commandment." Hero we have "a commandment of mu tual love based upon His example of love." This commandment Includes all others. "As I havo loved you." Christ is the only preacher who fully exempli fied in His own life the perfection He preached. The measure of our love for ethers is His love for us. RAM'S HORN BLASTS HE more one iove fJJj I the good in all the ffifP" X more he knows the I Vrd $1i" Grace does not l TBllvLitt grow in gloom. Moat beartllness Is really heedless ness. We give nothing until we give our selves. Whore money is blggeBt men are apt lo be smallest. People get wedded to slu through flirting with the devil. It's a delusion of the pit to mistake pessimism for piety. , He Is the Vine only to those who will bear His fruit The cultured are always most con scious of their crudites. Many a reproach of others Is but a reflection of oursolvf MAY 8EVENTH. The Making of a Christian: his exer cise. Jas. 1: 22-27. (Conse cration meeting.) There Is no virtue In listening and hearing; it is nothing until transmut ed into dohig. There Is no reality In an Image in a mirror; as unreal and unsubstantial Is speech without action. Yet it Is by this "foolishness of preaching" and hearing that men are to be saved; the danger Is not in the hearing, certainly, but in being a "forgetful hearer." Even religion may be "defiled"; and the religion most defiled of all In the eyes of God is the religion of a hypocrite that is made up only of words. Suggestions. It Is a sound principle never to al low one's emotions to be stirred in favor of a good action, without at once performing it. That a Christian Is "known by his fruits" Is not to say that the fruits make the Christian; it is the Chris tian that makes the fruits it is the union with the Vine. Christ's desire for us is not that we bear fruit, but that we bear much fruit. We are not half ambitious enough in our Chrlstlnnlty. Every valuable exercise may ba carried on without apparatus. It does not need wealth and learning to do grand things for God. Illustrations. One may harm his body by wrong exercises as much as he benefits it by right ones. See that what you do for Christ is what He wants you to do. When we are weak In a certain part of the body, you take exercises adapt ed to that part. So there are kinds of church work that will build you up Just where you are weak spiritually. To be most beneficial, exercise should be regular and systematic. So with our Christian labors. The athlete keeps a record of his growing powers, and tho record helps him to grow stronger. We should know In the same way that we are growing stronger in definite Christian service. Questions. What definite Christian work am I doing? Is my work for Christ up to the measure of my powers? Is there any work which Christ wants mo to do that I am not dorng? EPWDRTH LEAGUE LESSONS SUNDAY, MAY 7. The Making of a Christian; His Ex ercise. James 1:22-27. The Epistle of James is one of the most practical of all the books of the Bible. It combats those tendencies which threaten to paralyze the spirit ual life of the church, and never more than now In this age. It exalts the doctrine of salvation by works. The special section which we study Is the distinction between hearing and do ing. It emphasizes the thought that nothing can avail In real religion, other than really doing the will of God. Profession is not enough, there must be the exerclso of the Christian graces. A Christian is made not by being bora nnd fed alone, but in the exercise and development of Christian traces. There is a vast difference between hearing and doing. One may be a devout hearer without becoming a doer of the Word. But one cannot be a doer without first bei'Jg a hearer". The gospel is God's message to a lost and dying world. The institution of preaching is God's ordained plan for saving tho world. We can hardly overestimate tho value of hearing as a means of grace. No activity in Chris tian work can atc.ie for a failure to hear the Word. If God calls men to preach, he calls others to hear. But tho danger Is that we become only hearers; that the repetition of the message will harden the heart unless it be heeded and obeyed. To hear and fall to do is practical atheism. To be a "doer" Is more than doing. It is more than a single act of obedience; it is a habit of obedi ence To be a doer is to so habitu ally obey that we translate all pre cepts Into active life. To hear and to do Is tho whole duty of man. We are to be doers along both the two lines of wit'.iln and without the church. We are to refrain from unbridled tongues, having respect to persons, n-.id neglect of the poor; we are also to keep our selves unspotted from tho world. Not services, but servtco, Is the true criterion. Not attendance upon the preaching only, but transforming that preaching Into Hfo, is tho highest Christian duty. The true ambition of a -noble Hfo is service. We era to hear the Word, of course; but we nre to watch against only hearing. We are to "work out our salvation" In the, sense of doing right. We are to be come an habitual "doer of the Word." u Torpedo Dived Into Mud. A torpedo was fired recently from the after starboard tube of the flag ship Wisconsin of the Asiatic squad ron. It went straight until within 100 yards from the ship, when It dived and burled Itself in tho mud. Until tho propellers stopped it created a black whirlpool where it was burrow ing Into the bottom. A buoy was dropped and native divers were dls pached to the scene. Some hours later the torpedo was located and re turned to the ship. The tall of the little deitroyer was burled six feet beneath the mud sad it wan a difficult task for the diver to make a Una fast t: It. Horrorl The superintendent of a department store In Brooklyn which caters a great deal to the German trade tells tho story of a 'woman who came to tho store the other day and admired a large basket of .shamrocks which were on sale. She stared at them for a long time and finally asked the unleswomnn what .they were. "Shamrocks," replied tho sales woman. "They are viry pretty," replied tho oman, "but haven't you got them In red?" New York Times. irvdi PRAYER. God, ry whose breath supernal, My fire of life doth burnl Great God, to whose eternal Essence I must return! . Thou Silence, strong, unbroken, In which my voice, must drownl Bestow on me some token, Before time drags me down. Grunt me some Sinn, or proving, Thnt I have crown to be, In doing, or in loving. A soul more fit for flice. Fair in tho heavenly city The happy spirits shine. Ah, Christ! Thy gentle pity Is all I ask for mine. Is all I ask or offer, Blind with my starting tcarSf Nothing have 1 to proffer For nil my surging years. From yesterday or morrow, This only did I win Comfort 1 said my sorrow! But now forgive my sin! -Kli7jbcth Stuart Phelps, in Harpcr'i Dhziu', The Making of a Christian! Hit Foon. BY AMOS K. WIXS. ' In nawtborno's wonderful story, 'Itapncinl's Daughter," he describes a chemist who. in the study of poisous, had a garden full of lovely but poison ous flowers, to whose brenth. In n fiendish experiment, he exposed for years his beautiful daughter. The girl became so Impregnated with the poison that her own breath was deadly to any living thing. This Is a true picture of those that breathe the selfish atmosphere of the world and eat its noxious food. They are poisoned by it, nnd become poison ous in their turn. There Is but one antidote, as there Is but one substance thnt will build a soul up In true man liness; and that Is the Bread of Life; It is communion with Jesus Christ. Eating Is a condition of living. Who ever or whatever Is not eating has ceased to live. Spurgcon Illustrates the truth thus: "If anybody were to say to me, 'I have a man at home who stands In my hall, and has stood there for years, but he has never eaten a mouthful of bread all the time, nor cost mo a penny for food, I should sny to myself, 'Oh, yes, thnt Is a bronze man, I know, or a plaster cast of a man. He has no life in him, 1 nm sure; for If he had life In him he would have needed bread.' " Yet mnny so called Christians are Just such men. Others, on the contrary, nre Illus trated by the story of an old Scotch baron, who, shut up In hlsonstle. with stood a long siege thnt should have starved him out. At last the enemy were surprised to see a great string of fresh fish hung over the castle wall. Thnt was a token thnt the castle could not be taken by siege while there were fish in the ocean, for it had subterranean connection with tho sen. Thus exhaustless are the Chris tian's supplies of food, nnd no siege of Satan need cause us to surrender. There nre two ways by which the soul is fed with this mysterious Bread of Life. One is by direct communion with Christ in prayer, the other Is by reading the Bible in such n way as to build its truths Into our lives. Once a little Roman Catholic boy, attending n Protestant Sunday-school, came to know and love the Bible. His priest discovered it, nnd made him give It up. The boy was very reluctant, but at last obeyed, saying, however, ns he did so, "I thank God you cannot take from me the twenty chapters I learned by heart." That is the way to profit from the Bible store It away in the heart. And let us remember. In thinking about tho Bread of Life, that we are not to eat It with thought for ourselves alone. Bread of ITcaven! on Thee I feed, For Thy flesh is meat indeed; liver may my soul be fed With this true and living bread., That hymn gives only half the truth. As Dods says: "The habit grows upon us of expecting rather to get good than do good. Wo feed too llttlo on the bread from Heaven to have strength for helping others." We, nlso. like Christ, must give ourselves freely "for the life of the world." Sabbath Read ing. Prove faith by Works. The prayer that has power with God must be prepaid prayer says tho ven erable Dr. Cuyler. If we expect a letter to reach Its destination we put n stamp on It; otherwise it goes to the Dead Letter Ollice. Thero is what may be called a Dead Prayer Office, anil thousands of well-worded petitions get burled up there. All of God's promises have their conditions. No farmer is such an Idiot as to look for n crop of wheat unless ho has plowed and sowed his fields. In prayer wo must first be sure thnt we are doing our part If we expect God to do His part. When n minister was called on to pray In a missionary convention he first tossed a coin into the plate, and said: "1 cannot pray until I have given some thing." He prepaid his prayer. For the churches iu these days to pray, "Thy kingdom come." and then spend more money on Jewelry and cigars than In the enterprise of foreign missions, looks almost like a solemn farce. God never defaults; but He requires thnt we prove our faith by our works, and that wo never ask for a blessing that wc aro not ready to labor for. llellfTO iu Pi-arar. Believing prayer Increases tho power of God In some mysterious way, so that God can work In tho mind and on tho heart of a person prayed for more powerfully nnd more effectively than if the prayer had not been offered. Be lieving prayer Is the touching of the button which completes tho circuit and so sets free tho unlimited power stored up lu God for (he accomplishment of the purpose of tho prayer. Nature may make some fools, but all the fops make themselves. Odd Month of February. 3. C. Hewett or Bockland. Mo., who has kept a diary faithfully since 1859 has tho following entry against Feb. 28, 19H0: "February hns been an odd number. The month has but 28 days, although the year Is the fourth after leap year; there was no new moon; there was a thunder thower; it has rained six times aud had four stormy Sundays. The thermometer ranged from 14 below to 4U above uero, Jan uary and March each had two new moons." . ' , i THE GREAT DESTUOlfJflK SOWS STARTLING FACTS ABOUT THE VICE OF INTEMPERANCE; An AiMrass Watla In 1743 In the British flonae of Lords by Lord Chtrflli1, Which Is as Wltherlne an Inillctmant of lha Liquor Tralllo as History Itaconts Over one hundred'nnd slxt.v years ago Lord Chesterlleld delivered' in the English House of Lords nn Indictment against the liquor traffic thnt hns not been surpassed by the most radical prohibitionist of tho twentieth cen tury. It was delivered while discuss ing a bill for Licensing the Sale of Gin on February 21, 17-1U. Tho Inw before us, my Lords, seems to be tho effect of that practice of which It is Intended likewise to be the cause, nnd to be dictated by tho liquors of which it so effectually pro motes the use; for surely It never be fore was conceived, by any man en trusted with the ndmlnlstrntlon of pub lic affairs, to rnise taxes by the de struction of the people. Nothing, my Lords, but the destruc tion of all the most laborious and use ful part of the nation can bo expected from the license which Is now pro posed to be given, not only to drunk enness, but to drunkenness of the most detestable and dangerous kind; to the abuse, not only of intoxicating, but of poisonous liquors. Luxury, my Lords, Is to be taxed, but vice prohibited, let the difficulties iu executing the Inw be what they will. Would you lay a tax on tho brench of the ten commandments: would not such a tax be wicked and scandalous; because it would Imply an Indulgence to all those who could pay the tax? The noble Lord has been pleased kindly to inform us thnt the trade of distilling is very extensive; thnt it cm ploys great numbers; and that they have arrived at an exquisite skill, nnd therefore note well tho consequence the trade of distilling Is not to be discouraged. Once more, my Lords, allow me to wonder at the different conceptions of different: understandings. It appears to me that since the spirits which the distillers produce nre allowed to en feeble the limbs and vitiate the blood, to pervert the heart, and obscure the intellects, that the number of distillers should be no argument In their favor, for I never heard that a law against theft was was repented or delayed be cause thieves were numerous. It ap pears to me, my Lords, thnt If so for midable a body are confederated agninst the virtue or the lives of their fellow citizens, it is time to put nn end to the havoc, and to interpose, while it is yet in our power, to stop the destruction. So little, my Lords, nm I affected with the merit of the wonderful skill which the distillers are snld to have attained, thnt it is, in my opinion, no faculty of great use to mankind to prepare pnlatable poison; nor shall I ever contribute my interest for the re prieve of a murderer because he has, by long practice, obtained great dex terity in his trade. If their liquors are so delicious that the people are tempted to their own destruction, let us at length, my Lords, secure them from these fatal draughts, by bursting the vials that contain them. Let us crush at once these art ists in slaughter, who have reconciled their countrymen to sickness nnd to ruin, and spread over tlie pitfalls of debauchery such baits ns cannot be resisted. This new method may indeed have upon different constitutions a different operation it mny destroy the lives of some and the senses of others; but either of these effects will nnswer the purposes of the Ministry, to whom it Is indifferent, provided the nation be comes Insensible whether pestilence or lunacy prevails among them. Either mad or dead the greatest part of the people must quickly be, or there is no hope of continuance of the present Ministry. For this purpose, my Lords, what could have been Invented more efficacious than nn establishment of a certain number of shops at which poison may be vended poison so pre pared as to please the palate, while it waste the strength, nnd only kills by intoxication? From tho first instance that any of the enemies of the Minis try shall grow clamorous nnd turbu lent, n crafty hireling may lead him to the Ministerial slaughter-house, nnd ply him with their wonder-working liquor till he is no longer able to spent: or think; and, my Lords, no man can be more agreeable to our Ministers than he that can neither speak nor think, except those who speak without thinking. Franca Cnrsotl by Alcohct. That alcoholism is steadily becoming worso in France, wbilo it is disappear ing elsewhere, was n statement made In a public lecture at Farls by Dr. Pol-tou-Du-Plessy at tho Lycee Charle magne. The subject of the lecture by the celebrated physician was "What Young People Cau Do in Combating Alcoholism." "To the drink evil," ho said, "eonld he traced the gradual disappearance of the family and the deterioration of ra cial attributes. Gradual degeneracy was sure to result unless alcoholism was checked." Dr. Poitou-Du-riessy demonstrated thnt drink was a prime factor ia caus ing tuberculosis and madness, misery aud crime. Ho then emphasized t!io growth of the evil In France aud its ue creaso In other countries. Tho speaker said that the only way to successfully combat the evil was to arouse the public conscience. The law of social solidarity, he said, had a scien tific basis, which imposed a moral duty upon members of society to defend themselves and their fellows from such a menace as that which alcolism now presents. Icinpitranoa Motas. The Government of New South Wales has sanctioned tho erection of two State Institutions for the treatment of inebriate without means. The W. C. T. U. of Michigan Is plan nlng a campaign to promote sentiment ,Jn favor of a law prohibiting saloons within three miles of colleges of the Slate. The W. C. T. U. of Marietta, Ohio, lias secured the co-operation of the ministers of the city In a series of public temperance meetings to be glveu once a month. The Board of Fire nnd Police Com missioners, of Omaha, Neb., has noti fied saloonkeepers that liquor licenses will not lie granted to saloons having music hall attachments. Okluhoma Is going to help Indian Ter ritory lu tho right of the, latter to bold fnKt, under the new order of statehood In which the two Territors are to b united, tho prohibition that It hns now. Public announcement is made of the fact that every saloonkeeper lu tho city of Orange, Texas, has entered Into n binding obligation to closo his doors hereafter every Saturday nlghr lit 12 o'clock, nud to srli nothing from that hour until 12 o'clock Sunday night. HOUSEHOLD , $9999 MATTETJS To l'lan )!flta OImm, For clearing nnd cleaning plate plawi Tonge Is most generally used by glasa manufacturers. White oxide of aim? Is nlso good, nnd when the glass I set in frames, is preferable to rouge for the reason that the latter, if It should Mine in contact with woodwork, Is very difficult to remove. Either may be had nt most any drug store, nnd Is applied ou a (lamp cloth rubbed on tho glass nnd let dry, then polished off with ft very soft, dry cloth or soft chamois skin. To Fill In OhxIcs. For filling cracks In your floor, pnt Is soak In wnter several newspapers, torn or cut Into fine pieces; mix one pound of flour and one quart of water together, beating until perfectly smooth nnd free from lumps; then stir In n tnblespoonful of alum nnd two quart of boiling wnter; set on the stovo and let the paste cook well, stirring so It will not burn. Sqnezo out the paper nnd ndd it to the paste, mixing thor oughly. Let boll, If not thick enough, until It is of the consistency of putty, nnd press it into the cracks with a knife blade, smoothing It over. It will soon harden and make the floor smooth. Damp ltnoms. To ascertain whether or not a room i. damp about a couple of pounds of fresh lime should be placed therein after hermoticnlly closing doors nnd windows. In twenty-four hours It should be weighed, and If the lime has nbsorbed more than about one per cent, of wnter the room should bo consid ered dnmp, nnd classed ns unhealthy. The question of the dampness of dwell ings is a frequent cause of dispute be tween landlord and tenant, and is nat urally solved in the negative by the former. The question can be settled in the future by the test of the hydra tion of lime, which will give irrefut able proof of the validity of such com plaint. Fnrnllura 1'ollsh. To polish the piano and remove Hit; bluish color caused by the action ot the damp air, apply n drop or two of sweet oil and rub tho surface thorough ly with a bit of clean, soft ehninoU skin. A good furniture polish is msdt of one scant ounce of linseed oil, a full ounce of turpentine nnd three-fourths ounce of vinegar. Slmke until thor oughly mixed. Hub a little on the fur niture nnd nllow It to stand for Severn; minutes, then polish well with a soft, dry cloth. In usinj nny polish, there" must be thorough, hard rubbing, in or der to bring out tho polish. AH greasy feeling should be rubbed Into the wood, else the oil will only be a dust gatherer, nud the last state will be worse tljaa the first. The Commoner. A noniamacta Antfnoa. A woman whose desire for beautiful things quite outstrips her pocketbook created from an old square pinno rase a magnificent library table. The works of the instrument had become abso lutely worthless, so they were taken out. When the plnuo was closed it was a tight box of rosewood. The front piece was taken off. nud a pine drawer was fitted In with tho front piece for tho front of the drawer. Two old fashioned glass knobs were screwed Into the drawers for handles. The legs were beautifully carved, but were of course too long, so they were snwed off to make the top come to a convenient height for a table. The whole thing wns polished highly, and the Tesult was a table that could not bo bought for $100. A Parfoct r.rA. A perfect bed is deliriously soft with, out being too impressible. The quality of rebound Is indispensable it Is the lack of it which makes the feather bed and its prototype among womankind after a while pre-eminently tiresome. As to clothes for It, Bnimmel's famous aphorism nnent dining out. "The finest linen, plenty of it nnd country wash ing," applies excellently. An exception may be noted the linen need not ha overdue provided It Is generously ap plied, of a fair whiteness nnd smelling of, rose leaves and laveudei or new mown hay. The eoarest textures bo conditioned make even beds of straw or husks more Inviting thai: those stuff monuments of great estate, flock beds, down beds or hair mattresses, even though they be sheeted wllh satlu and lace. By the way. It was a flock bed, "my second best," that Shakespeare willed Anne Hathaway, his wife, not, as some have paid, In misprision of her, but because the best bed, like freeholds nnd leaseholds, was subject to entail and went Invariably to the heir. Good Housekeeping. i Writs' DPriPFe - I 4 V Feather Drops P.ent three rggs with one cup of sugar, nud when stiff and frothy stir Into the mixture one heap ing cup of sifted flour. In which has been mixed two tenpoonfuls of baking powder. Drop in spoonfuls on a but tered tin, and bake In a quick oven. Any desired flavor may be added. Cream Fliinnn Huddle Pour two eggs well ben ten into a cup f uitlk aud stir thoroughly. Havo a cupful of picked finnan huddle brow red in but ter In a saucepuu nnd turn the milk and egg mixture in. Thicken with a little Hour and milk, season, nud .serve hot with baked potatoes for breakfast. White Mountain. Cake Ono cup sugar beaten with whites four eggs, half cup sweet milk, two and a l.alf cups sifted flour, three teaspoons level full baking powder, one teaspoon non alcoholic flavoring powder. Beat to a foam, then add halt a cup melted butter and bent ngalii. Bake iu mod erate oven. Chilled Banauas Select firm, inrpe bananas: split .uiieu ono side and re move the pulp -carefully; bent the pulp to a cream with chopped maraschino cherries icight or ten will be enough); uilit four tnblespooufuls of sugar, a tenspoouful of hmiou Juice, aud mix well together, taking cure not t nik the mixture too liquid. Fill tho If sklus aud place ou Ico