I The Pul
A SERMON i
Y tAd rev'
fot- J
IWl If -BMW
Thrmr: A Notion's Warning.
Brooklyn, N. Y. Prrnchlng at the
living Square Presbyterian Church,
I -mburg avenue and Welrflold street,
0.1 the above theme, the Rev. tra
Wommell Henderson, pastor, took as
his text Daniel 6:5: "In the same
hour came forth lingers of a man's
hand, and wrote over against the
candlestick upon the plaster of the
wall of the king's palace; ami the
king saw the part of the hand that
Wrote." Ho said:
This Is a weird story. The Inci
dent Is gruesome. The circumstances
give pause for thought. The picture
Is terrific. Belshazzar, the wicked
king. In the midst of revelry and vice,
surrounded by his retinue and the
parnsltes of a degraded court, flaunt
In, his villainy In the very Lice of the
living Cod. finds that God Is not
mocked, much less Is He de:td. The
animated hand points the tight end of
a long rope. It cniphaslze-i a clear
warning of Jehovnh. And It terrifies
the k 1 11 1-
Belshazzar had cause to fear. It Is
10 wonder that his knees knocked
and that his limbs 6hook. that he hail
a fit. so as to say, of the ague. Well
he might. For Nebuchadnezzar the
king, bis father before him, had had
an exhibition of the power and the
presence of Qod within the world.
He had harbored wickedness in his
heart and within his dominions and
God had humhled him. Belshazzar
therefore might have learned from
ancestral experience what would ha
likely to be the sure result of his
many and perverse sins. Simple rea
soning might have led him to refrain
to try the patience of Jehovah to his
own undoing. But he would not be
taught. He would not even bo
warned. And the same night Bel
shazzar the king of the Chaldeans
was slain.
This weird tale la as useful as it
is gruesome and as Illustrative as It
Is terrific. It Is admonitory. It
should be exemplary. It certainly af
fords food for sober and continued
thought. It epitomizes a lesson thet
so many men and nations In the past
have failed or refused to grasp. The
lesson that a man cannot fool with
laws of morality and righteousness
and with the principles enunciated by
Almighty God and be safe or live for
long.
How often It has happened In his
tory that men and nations have wait
ed until the noose has tightened. How
many have flaunted their wilfulness
In the face of .lehovah with a seem
ing calm superiority to the Inevitable.
How many have refused to heed oven
after the hand has, as It were, written
over against, the wall of their own
lives. Louis presumed to defy God
and mfn and to exalt his whims above
the right. And his fatuousness pre
pared the way for freedom's France.
George the Third moved to thwart
the plans of Proldence in the new
world. Rut the political Idiocy of
George the Third simply hastened tha
ascendancy of George Washington.
America tried to demonstrate the
holiness of an unholy slavery and to
compromise principle. But God wrote
large upon the page of our national
history His ultimatum concerning the
lights of man with the red blood of
the flower of our manhood.
The lesson of Belsh.izzar Is apropo3.
II is pertinent. And It Is nowhere
more needed than within the confines
of most Christian and civilized Amer
ica. To mention no others, It Is of
practical value In our commercial and
governmental and ecclesiastical af
fairs. For commerce has been made
tho creature of tho whims and fan
cies of unscruplous financiers. The
Government has-been, and Is now be
ing, made the opportunity fo thieves
and malefactors of every conceivable
political stripe. The church has been
dormant. In many quarters she has
been, so It would seem. dead. We
have baas remls3 in much. We have
been fast and loose in more. .We have
deified wealth and permitted godless
neBS to strut, with little let or hind
rance upon the king's highway. God
knows we havo been warned. Let
us trust that we shall heed the hand.
Let us not emulate Belshazzar.
No man may deny that we have
drifted fast toward the rocks of na
tional dishonor and disgrace In our
commercial affairs. The financial nun
commercial situation Is a disgrace to
a free people, not to say of a Chris
tian nation. And bad as Is the story
that comes directly to our ears It is
not half of what may be told and but
an adumbration of the catastrophe
that will follow as surely as that Cod
lives if we do not mend our ways.
The spectacle of a panic in the midst
of the most legitimate prosperity (hat
the world has ever known Is in itself
a far greater condemnation of our
methods and our career than any
sermon. Words cannot picture the
sinfulness of the situation so well r.s
can the fact with which we are face
to face. Any tane man ran perceive
tho outcome. None but a fool or a
knave would deny the sin. Shall we
hut our eyes to the writing hand?
Fast as we havo drifted toward
commercial and financial disaster we
have nonu tho less swiftly progrc-sed
In many quarters, and even now are
moving, toward political degeneracy.
The administration of our cities Is a
by-word and a Joke among the na
tions of the world. As wo contem
plate them ourselves we seem almost
to take delight to say that they are as
badly managed ng they are. Cer
tainly many of us openly despair of
reformation and pronounce popular
self-government upon that point to be
and utter and a shameful failure.
The efforts of those who sit behind
the scenes and pull tho wires tn our
national affairs are to accomplish the
discrediting and overthrow of any
man or measure that is squared to
the unflinching application of the
rule of righteousness regardless of
the consequences or the coat. Wei
taaj well thank God that heru and
tflere, especially In the South and
West, the citizenship of America Is
so keen to hear the breaking waves
and to steer the ship of our national
existence off Impending shores. For
we giuat oiling our course, or we
W;l p rlsa at. the eras.
Similarly the church has been re
miss. The prevalent and profound
antagonism toward and distrust of
tho church upon the part of too large
a proportion of the working men and
careful tbiukors of this land Is
warning that we would do well to
heed. We have exchanged leadership
for spplsuse and conviction for ease.
We have become flabby. Multitude!
of tneu regard us aa the protector?
and special pleaders, for a considers
tion, of the privileged classes. We
are regarded as too prominently tho
preservers of the status quo, ths
brake upon a health ftcpgrefs. And
It Is not strange. For the church has
not, nation wide, locked arms with a
great moral reform openly and ag
gressively In forty years. Wo havo
spent our fighting strength upon
heresy trials and game that Is not
worth our energy. In New York It
would seem, judging by the returns,
that the sure way to defeat a candi
date Is to secure for him tho open
and avowed support of the ministry
of the church. Wc have attacked In
dividuals when down and organiza
tions that It cost nothing to assail.
we nave objected to raloo:i3 within
110 foot of the churches and been :
silent while they squatted thick and 1
greedily In tho midst of the haunts I
of poverty. We have neglected the !
social evil and the men In the pews
and membership of o.ir own organiza
tion who have owned and ronted
houses of 111 fame. We have as
Faulted the moral character of the
saloonkeeper and consigned him and
his business to eternal torment, whiit j
we have ever maintained by out
suffrage our criminal silent pnrtnpr
ship In his trade. The nvanwhlls j
praying God to drive him from out
midst. And even In this dny With the 1
Inspiring and glorious example Of the I
Southland right before us we maj I
find ministers In the city of New York
who will excuse the saloon, nnd n
church that is nfrald to grapple with
the enemy In B struggle to tho death
We have been fooled so long political- '
ly that most of the politicians regard I
the chnnh element as a sort of 0
cheerful political joke.
All of this is tho handwriting on
me wan. ir. is ina warning or me
times. In no unreal sense it Is the
voice of God to us. Woo betide us
if wo fall to be warned.
Not otherwise is It in Individual
life. What a careless host there 1
of men who disregard the e!ar ad
monitions of .lehovah and who spend
their lives in riotous living, who vio
late every statute upon the moral
code, who permit In their public
lives sins they would revolt to have
exist in their private affairs, who live
privately a9 thoy neither have the
courage nor the desire to live openly,
who noil their minds and souls as
they do their votes for a considera
tion, who think that they may sow as
they please and reap what they like,
Who deny the sovereignty of God nnd
stifle the consciousness of n Judg
ment. Upon the walls of their lives
the hand writes daily. To their oars
continually crimes the warning call ol
God. Into the stilly recesses of thit
souls the still, small voice speaks
But like Lelshazzarthey are he.'dless.
They nock the God who cannot be
mocked.
It is good that God warns. It Is
well that we should hear and profit
nnd reform. For if we c!o not. Indi
vidually as nationally, we shall be
overwhelmed. It could net be other
wise. It ought not to be different.
It Is for us to watch out lest it be
said of us that in the day of warning
we were slain.
EPWORTH LEAGUE LESSONS
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22.
The Birth of the King. (Matt. 2: 2-6.)
Christmas.
Passages for referrco: Isn. Mi fi,
T; Matt. F; Phil. 3: 11, 14 j 3
Tim. 2: I; 1 John 2: (1.
Bethlehem means "House i.l
bread." so called from Its surround
Ing whent fields. Near here Ruth
gleaned. Jacob burled Barbel, nnd
Bavld fought wild beasts, for It WHS
his birthplace. In the fourth renturv
Jerome selected this little town In
which in translate the Scriptures In
to Latin, the Vulgate version, no
pied as the standard of tip' Horn. in
Catholic Church. It Is between Ave
nnd six miles south of Jerusalem, and
Is Inhabited now by about lour thou--nnd
people, who make their living
chiefly by polhng souvenirs. cave
Inside a large convent ground Iv
shown as the blrthplnoo of leans,
Over the cave stands a "bureh bu'lt
in 325-327 by Bstnl Helena, the mo
ther of the first Christian Emperor
of Rome. It Is the oldest monument
to Christ in the world.
Heathen festivals formerly cele
brated the period now observed by
Christians as Christmas. Our Christ
mas tree and Other customs were
copied frtmi them. A few authorities
have tried to prove that Jesus was
not born on December 25. Prof. An
drews in his careful and logical way
establishes tho fact that we are oh
serving the right date. American
holidays, such ai the Fourth of July
nnd Thanksgiving Bay, have become
so popular that foreigners In many
lands now observe them. The Jews,
tnfldell and people seemingly uncon
cerned about Christ diligently ob
serve Christmas. Among all clnsse:i
of people the day Is now notlc.'d by
the giving of love tokens. Hut this
custom Is fathered by and rooted in
the birth of tho King, Jesus. The
day cannot have full, rich, largo
manning, unless it Is related in his
hlrlh. We need to rernll our minds
to this lact. In the jubilation, in tho
giving nnd receiving of gifts, let us
take time to meditate on the "great
gift." Ponder the love back of It
See the resources which it opens
I' 1 1 the privilege of being his friend.
It is a good time to remind others of
the influence of Christ. How tho
world does Its homage by celebrating
"is 1 Irthday in his way!
Now York Citv. The nlm tile ttlntll
shirt wulst has Its own acknowledged
place, and Is never to be superseded,
no matter how ninny fancy ones we
may possess. This one Is admirably
well suited to washable materials, to
silk nnd to flannel nnd enn be made
with the full length or the throe
quarter slooves. In tho Illustration
white madras Is the material shown,
but pongee Is well liked nnd among
washable materials Is to be found a
generous variety. Madras alone Is
offered In a great many lovely de
signs, nnd linens are both desirable
to wenr and so durable that they are
to be commended from the economi
cal point of view ns well as that of
fusli ion.
Tho waist is made with fronts nnd
back. The fronts are simply pleated
at the neck edge and ure finished with
the regulation box pleat. The long
sleeves are In shirt waist style,
finished with straight ruffs that are
buttoned over Into place, but tho ol-
Poekct Flaps.
Pocket flaps are a distinguishing
mark of the new coat.
OolOfe In Bough Mat. Hals.
The rough materials show mlxturea
of brown with black and green, and
frequently 1 thrend of purple.
Velvets For Visiting.
Fancy velvets will evidently be
much to the fore for handsome visit
ing gowns. Some of the velvets pro
duce a watered effect, others are
faintly striped.
Pretty Antique llnR.
An nntlque wnlst bag in rich flow
ered silk, with n hook nnd mounting
In gold, Inlaid with real emeralds, has
just been modernized and renovated
by Its owner, a skilled crochet work
er, who took n delight In partly veil
ing the faded silk with shnmrocks
and harps worked In silk Irish
Crochet, to agree with tho precious
emeralds, to remind one of verdant
Krln.
Colored Slips Favored.
Last season colored slips were a
drug In the market; nothing but
white would nnswer. This season
will be a strong whlto season, but
there Is a large and growing demand
for the slip of color, and the soft
batiste Is preferred to tho silk. One
will make pink or blue or green
frocks out of her white ones by
means of these slips, and tho veiled
color Is always pretty.
Blouse With Itretelles.
No prettier variation of tho ever
useful blouse has yet nppearod than
this one. It gives the broad shoulder
effect. It Is so constructed as to con
oral the arm hole seams, and Is alto
gether grucof 11 1 and attractive, while
It Is adapted to a whole host of ma
terials. In the illustration plnld taf
feta is trimmed with frills of ribbon,
but the waisting flannels are very
Ye Are Saved TllrOWgh Faith,
To confess, to weep, to pray, to re
solve all these are of no avail un
less we believe. It is by believing
1 that we have "peace with God
I through our Lord Jesus Christ" It
j Is by believing the "etceedlng great
I and precious promises" that they are
I realised in our experiences. In order
1 to receive any benefit from the work
of Jesus we must believe that He ia
"able to do exceeding abundantly
nbovo all that wo ask or think." To
the blind men who sought lilj help,
Jesus said: "Eellevo ye that I am
able to do this? They sa d unto Him,
Yea, Lord. Then touched He th"ir
eyes, saying, According to your faith
be it unto. you. And their eyes were
opened." To the ruler of the syna
gogue Jesus said, "Fear not; believe
only."
We must remember, however, that
"a nominal faith in Christ, which
accepts Hlni merely as tho Saviour ol
the world, can never bring healing to
the soul. Tho faith which unto
salvation ia not a more Intellectual
assent to the truth. He who waits
for entire knowledge before he will
exercise faith, cannot receive bless
ing fromi God. It is not enough to
believe atiout Christ; we niuiit believe
In Him. The only faith thar will
benefit us is that Which embraces
Him aa a personal Saviour, which ap
propriates Iii3 merits to ourselves.
Many hold faith as an opinion! sav
ing faith Is a transaction, by which
thosa who receive Christ join them
selves In covenant relation with God.
Genuine faith is life." Believe, and
live in obedlenco to the will of God.
Review and Herald.
DECEMBER TWENTY SECOND
Keep in Line.
Keep In Hue with the Holy Giiost.
Whatever Is accomplished In over
throwing the kingdom of Satan and
th? upbuilding of tho Kingdom of God
can only be done through and by the
direction of the Holy Gho3t. He is
tho great Director of effort for the
redemption of the world. He is the
Controller of all the forces which God
sets to work In every age for the sal
vation of men.
There 1b diversity In His opera
tions. Ho does not always work In
the same way. He does not always
set forth the same truths. He ig
nores no truth, but presents all truth
just when and what people need. He
presents truths In their proper order.
He does not always uso the same
measures. Some things wear out and
lose their power over men. The
King's Messenger.
The Magnificat: a Christmas song.
Luke 1 46-55.
Mlcnh's song. Mle. 5: 1-4.
Zoehnrlah's song. Zcch. 14: 20,
it.
"The Sun of righteousness." Mai.
4: 2. 3.
The angel's song. Luke 2: 13. 14.
Zachartah'fl song. Luke 1: (18-79.
Simeon's song. Luke 2: 29-35.
W hen one's life is really magni
fied, as Mary's was, the first evi
dence Is a desire to magnify the
Lord.
The Christ-filled life Is not only
blessed Itself, but It blesses others,
to the end of time.
None of enrth's hunihlest ones has
bean more lowly than our Lord, and
noMO of earth's proud ones has boon
more highly exalted.
It Is only those that hunger for
righteousness that ran be filled;
those that think themselves already
filled must be sent away empty.
Note how many songs accompanied
Christ's birth by Mary, Zarharias.
and the angels. Christmas carols all
down the ages.
The Magnificat Is made up of Bible
quotations. The more Bible in your
heart, the more song In your life.
The Magnificat Is full of humility
and exaltation, and therefore Is a
prophecy of Christendom.
God cannot bring blessings to any
unless they are ready to praise Him
for them.
It Is n physical fact that musical
vibration! never die out of the air
The actual POthleheO song nnd the
actual Magnificat aro Btlll Binging
somewhere.
The voice is most easily tralnrd In
youth to sing the Christian song as
well ns other carols.
When one magnifies a physlral ,
Image, It Is that that is enlarged;
Wbaa one magnifies God, It Is the one
that sees that Is enlarged.
'FMIXIXE N'KIVS NOTES,
The t'nsecing.
The mocker and the doubter ha9
none of the spiritual sight which sees
far off, or sees perfect, delicate life In
its fulness close to him. He Bees
D .:!ilng but dusty blades and leaves.
1 There is an unseen world beside him
(Or all that. AchblBhop Buuaun.
The Blvlno Czar.
The terms employed by the notor
ious Cumarllla to describe the Ger
man Emperor wore extravagant and
absurd, but from the Hps of other
sovereigns' subjects expressions as re
markable may be heard. The Mikado
is deity as well as Emperor to hit
subjects. An Englishman sought to
condole with a Japanosn whose home
had been destroyed, and his family
swept away by a tidal wave. "Ah,
but you must rejoice with me, for I
have saved the portrait of the Em
peror," the man replied. What says
the Russian of his Czar? The son
of the then minister of education was
conversing years ago with a noble
man, now an exile In this country,
and the topic, was religion. "Well,"
said the minister's son, "I don't know
If there 1b a God In Heaven; It suffices
at present for me that there is a god
upon earth." "A god upon earth?"
echoed the other. "Yes, with all rev
erence, a god upon eurth the Cznr
of All the Rusalas!" answered that
sovereign's adoring subject. St
James' Gazelle.
The engagement of Miss Theodora
Shouts to the Due de Chaulncs has
been announced.
Members of tho faculty of New
York City Normal College refused to
allow the girls to form a basketball
team.
Frau von Pnpp, Berlin's first wom
an driver of n taximeter cab, took
$3h In fareB on tho first night of her
new career.
Many of the sailors or. the Pacific
cruise will carrv Bibles, gifts from
Helen Gould, with her name person
ally Inscribed.
Gowns valued at $10,000, the prop
erty of Miss Florence Todd, of New
Orleans, were seized by the customs
officials in New York.
Tho engagement was announced in
New York City of Mrs. Paul Leices
ter Ford, widow of tho novelist, to
marry Dr. L. R. Williams.
Tho Rev. Lucy C. McOee, all
dressed In white, was ordained as
pastor of the Chufch of the Higher
Life In Huntington Chambers Hall,
Boston.
Mrs. David Beatty, the late Mar
shall Field's daughter, was robbed of
$25,000 worth of Jewelry at her
English country house at Melton
Mowbray.
Mrs. William Jennings Bryan and ,
her younger daughter sailed from '
New York City on the steamship
Frledrlch der Grosse. They expect
to make a tour of the Holy Laud.
Mr. Andrew Carnegie placed Mrs.
Ida Lewis Wilson, keeper of the
Limerock light house, near Newport,
who has saved eighteen lives, on his
private pension list at $30 a month.
Mrs. Anetta E. McCrea, the first
woman landscape architect In this
country, is the official landscape
architect for the St. Paul road, and
consulting landscape architect for
other Western roads.
bow sleeves are finished with wide
banda. A neck band finishes the neck
nnd any collar preferred enn be worn
over It.
The quantity of material required
for the medium slzo Is four yards
twenty-one, three and one-half yards
twenty-seven or two ynrdB forty-four
Inches wide.
Ituttertlies in Hats.
Real butterfles dead, of course
as hat decorations are the latest nov
elty Introduced by a well known Lon
don firm. The largo "electric blue"
butterflies from South America, cost
Ing Beveu shllllugs sixpence each, 1
look charming in a nat of blue flowers
or plumes, nnd meadow brown butter
flies, which are practically valueloss,
look very pretty In u hat of brown
straw. These butterflies retain their
color for years. and If properly treated
will not decay.
The largest lightning conductor In
the world Is on the Lugsplte weather
statlou, In Bavaria. It runs down
the mouutalu-sido for Jjree and a
Lull miles to ake.
Sleeves mid Gown ll?r.r.
What may be, with skiltul treat
ment, a pretty fashion that of mak
ing the sleeves of an evening gown
different In color and fabric from the
rest of the dross- has been revived.
In the case of a recently made even
ing toilet, black gauze sleeves wero
allied to a whlto gown, with an out
line of black upon the decolletage to
connect the sleeves, as it were.
l acing I or the Hat.
It is oue of the fads to have the
fa:ig of the hat match the hair.
The bandeau is also the color of the
hair, and the little puffing of mallno
covering the bandeau is likewise a
cloae match to the coiffure. This Is
a particularly becoming fad, for It
does away with the sharp outline
between the hat and the hair.
Skirt Must Cling.
Skirts will be clinging, that is to
ay, the skirts worn for visiting, re
ceptions and other ceremonies, not
the walking skirt, which continues to
be full round the hem.
MONEY CHANGERS KNO'7 A LOT,
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL,
Tndrwl 'Ihey Have to, to Keep Track
of European Coins and Conntrrfrlts.
"I never realized until to-dnv,"
sold n man who hnd Just returned
from Europe, "what an undertaking
Is to bo a money changer."
"I camo bnck with about $20 In
foreign money, principally French
nnd Italian. This I took to a money
changer's to cash In.
"Ho looked over the coins rapidly,
throwing them Into little piles nnd
putting down notes on n slip of paper.
When he hnd cleared up tho lot he
said I had $10.25 coming to me.
"At first T thought he was doing
mo. But he wns not. He showed
mc a dozen or so Italian coins that
had boon demonetized and were
worth about forty cents on the do
lar. There was n nice little pile ol
counterfeits that were not worth a
cent, nnd altogether only about a
third of the coins that I brought
homo were worth their full value.
"Tho only consolation I had was
that I hanked my stars I nm In the
!:.suraneo business and not. In the
exchange business, for my poor little
brain could not carry half the thlngp
that those fellows have to remom
ber."
The man with the coins did not
exaggerate. There are thousands of
different coins floating about that n
money changer has to know. He
has to keep In mind every demone
tized coin made within tho last bun
dred years.
In addition to that there arc
counterfeits. Tho immigrants bring
over heaps of bnd coins. Many ol
them buy up counterfeits cheap with
the hope of exchanging them at Ellis
Island.
Then there are the coins of the
Soirh American countries. They nre
worse than those of the European
countries. Brazil, for instance, has
a good scheme all its own. Certain
notes are good for ten years, after
that time for every year they lose
ten per cent, of their face value until
the whole value Is used up nnd they
are worth only the paper thoy arc
printed on.
As one man expressed it you have
to know the history of the world to
be a money changer. A peculiar part
of the business Is the reshipment of
coins bnck to the countries whence
they came. Often during the rush
season one firm sends back n million
coins, while It Is estimated that In
the course of n year $10,000,000 in
foreign money is reshlpped to Eu
rope and a million to the rest of the
world.
Money changing Is a business just
like any other. They do not exchange
money. They buy it. When you
go there with foreign coins they buy
them from you at a stated price.
When you go there to get foreign
coins you buy them from them at a
certtfln price Just as you buy eggs
and cigars. New York Sun.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM
MENTS FOR DEC. 22 BY THE
KEV. f. W. HENDERSON.
He Talked Too Much.
Tn a certain village of New Hamp
shire there Is a quaint old character
known ns Boss Mellln keenly nlive to
the truth of the old saying, "Silence
is golden." Mellln's gift in this re
spect approaches genius, though he
was fully nware of what he deemed
his shortcomings therein.
Mellln used to make mattresses for
a living. One day a native of the
place entered his shop and asked,
"Boss, what's the best kind of a mat
tress?" "Husks," was the laconic reply of
Boss.
Twenty years later, bo runs the tra
dition, the same man again entered
the shop and again asked, what. In
the opinion of Mellln, was the best
kind of a mattress.
"Straw," said Boss.
"Straw? You told me husks waa
the boat!"
Boas Mellln emitted n sigh. "I've
always ruined myself by talkln'," said
he. Harper's Weekly.
beautiful this BcaBon, and suit the
model udmlrably well, while it is also
adapted to madras and linen. It can
be made with or without the frills
and with pretty three-quarter sleeves
or those that extend to the wrists, as
may be liked, so that It provides a
generous variety.
Tho waist Is made with fronts and
bnck and with tho bretelles that are
rttached beneath theoutormost tucks.
There is a regulation box plejit at the
front and the neck can be finished
with a band and worn with n separ
ate collar or with a stock as liked.
The sleevee are moderately full and
can be either gathered into bands for
the three-quarter length or Into deep
cuffs for the full length.
The quantity of material required
for the medium size la four nnd seven-
Croquet.
Eben M. Byers, Pittsburg's famous
golfer, waa talking at a dtnnor about
dawdling players.
"Nothing is more vexatious," Mr.
Byers Bald, "than to follow one of
these dawdlers over a course. They
should all be served as a bow-legged
chap was tho othor day.
"He was playing at Englewood..
His play waa as slow as It was poor.
Setting his warped legs wide apart,
he would mlBs the easiest ball three
or four times handrunnlng. He was
retarding half a dozen good, brUlc
plnyerB, but this he didn't seem to
mind at all.
"Finally one man, having drawn
very near, lost patience, and with a
neat shot sent his ball flying directly
between the slow player's bow legs.
"The slow player jumped back In
great fright. Then he yelled angrily:
" 'Say. do you call that golf?"
" 'No,' said tho other, 'but I call'lt
pretty good croquet.' " Washington
Star.
Gum and Thought.
One thing Is certain you cannot
chew gum nnd think at the same
time with any degree of success. You
may chew gum and work mechanlcal
i ly. you may reud with gum In your
! mouth and perhaps not miss anything
i In the author, but when it comes
I right down to good hard mental effort
you cannot concentrate and achieve
! the best resultB of which you are cap
I able while your jaws work unceasing
ly. That champing Is Just so much
I wasted energy and as suc.i dissipates
your force and keeps your thinking
! powers reduced to the lowest point.
Just put it down in your note book
. as a fact that no man cau think deep,
! logical or well balanced thoughts
while his Jaws are working overtime.
Chicago Tribune.
Subject: Samuel, (he Upright .Tml ;e,
I. Bnm. 7:l.f8 Golden Text, I.
Snm. 7:8 Memory Verses, 12.
18 Ifoad 1. Sum. fl-7.
It must have been with feelings
very different from those of their last
encounter, when the ark of God wae
carried Into the battle, that the host
or Israel now faced the Philistine
army near Mlzpoh. Then they had
only tho symbol of God's gracious
presence, now they had the reality.
. ,n Jn?!r PrltuaI Kldes were the
wicked Hophnl nnd Phlnehas; now
1? r,BV.,d WM no,y Samuel, says
Dr. Blalkle. Then they had rnshed
Into the fight In thoughtless uncon
cern about their sins: now they had
confessed thorn, and through the
blood of sprinkling they had obtained
a sense of forgiveness. Then they
woro puffed up by a vain presump
tion; now they were animated by a
calm but confident hone. Then their
ndvanco was hallowed bv no praver
now the cry of needy children had
gone up from God's faithful servant
In fact, tho battlo with tho Philis
tines had already boon fought by
Samnel on his knoos. Thore can be
no more Bare token of success than
this Are wo ongagod In conflict
with our own besetting sins? Or
are wo contending against scanda
lous transgression In the world
around ua? Let us first fight the
battle on our knoos. If we are vic
torious there we need have little fear
of victory in the othor battle.
It was as Samuel waa offering up
the burnt-offering that the Philistines
drew near to battlo against Israel
There was an unseen lndder that dny
between earth and heaven, on which
the angels of God ascended nnd de
scended as In Jacob's vision at
Bethel. The smoke of the burnt
offering carried up to God tho con.
fesslon nnd contrition of tho people,
their reliance on God's method of
ntonemeat, nnd their prayer for His
pardon and His blessing. Tho great
thunder with which God thundered
on tho Philistines carried down from
God the answer and tho needed help.
There la no need for supposing that
tho thunder was supernatural. H
was supernatural. It was an Instance
of what Is bo common, a natural
force adapted to the purpose of an
answer to pnayer. What seems to
have occurred is this: a vehement
thunderstorm had gathered a mile
to the east, and now broke, probably
with violent wind, in tho faces of the
Philistines, who wero advancing up
the heights igalnst Mlzpoh. Unable
to face such a terrific war of the
elements, the Philistines would turn
round, placing their backs to the
storm. The men of Israel, but little
embarrassed by it, since It came from
behind them, and gavo tho greatei
momentum to their forco, rushed on
tho embarrassed enemy, and drove
them before them like smoke before
the wind.
"Hitherto hath tho Lord holpod
us." The characteristic featuro ol
the inscription lies In tho word
"hitherto." It was no doubt a tos
timony to special help obtained in
that, time of trouble; It was a grate,
ful recognition of that help; and it
wns nn enduring monument to per
petuate the memory of it. But It
was more, much more. Tho word
"hitherto" denotes a series, a chain
of similar mercies, an unbroken suc
cession of Divine Interpositions and
Divine deliverances. The special pur
pose of this inscription was to link
on the present deliverance to all the
past, and to form a testimony to tho
enduring faithfulness and mercy of
a covenant-keeping God. But was
there not something strange in this
Inscription, considering the circum
stances? Could Samuel have forgot
that tragic day at Shlloh? Had Sam
uel forgot how the victorious Philis
tines soon after dashed upon 8b. eon
like beasts of prey, plundering, de
stroying, massacring, till nothing
more remained to be done to Justify
the name of "Ichabod?"
All that Samuel has considered
well. Even amid the desolations of
Shlloh tho Lord wus helping them.
He was helping them to know them
selves, helping them to know their
sins, nnd helping them to know tho
bitter fruit and woeful punishment
of gin. He was helping them to
achieve the great end ror which He
had called them to keep alive the
knowledge of the true God and the
practice of His worship, onward to
the time when tho great promise
should bo realized when Ho should
come In whom all the families of the
earth were to be blessed. Samuel's
Idea of what constituted the nation's
glory was large and spiritual. The
true glory of tho nation was to fulfil
the function for which God had
taken it Iflto covenant with Himself.
Whatever helped them to do this waa
a blessing, was a token of the Lord's
remembrance of them. The links
of the long chain denoted by Sam
uel's "hitherto" wero not all of one
kind. Some were In the form of mer
cies, many were in the form of chas
tenings. For the higher the func
tion for which Israel was called, the
more need was there of chastening.
The higher the destination ol a sli
ver vessel, the greater is the need
that the ellver be pure, and therefore
that It be frequently passed through
the furnace. The destination of Is
rael does not merely give thanks for
seasons of prosperity, but for checks
and chastenlngs too.
Greatest of Calamities.
Success Ill-used Is the ruin of any
man. The prosperity which forgeta
she God who gave It is the greatest
calamity of human life. Dr. Parker.
Retribution.
eighth yards twenty-one, four and
oue-uartor yards twenty-seven or
two and one-quarter yards forty-four
inches wldo, with ten yards of ribbon
for tho frills tn trim ns Illustrated.
Jewels iu the Kremlin.
All the czars of Russia hare been
crowned tn the Kremlin In Moscow,
the treasury of which contains the
most historic Jewels and the choicest
plate now owned by the Russian
crown. There is $600,000,000 worth
of gold, silver aud precious stones
In that treasury. Among the more
notable items are basins of goll as
big as a small bathtub, and two card
tables built entirely of solid silver,
Chicago Journal.
At iha fnat ..f tnn I, I ... 1 . 1 . . fn,l.tA
much red tape and the use of a cer
tified check, Mr. Hunks had succeed
ed In drawing $100 in cash from hie
bank.
When he had reached his office,
however, he made a discovery and
proceeded to call up the banker by
telephone.
"Hello, Mr. Means," he said. "I
have Just found that your cashier
gave me two $100 bills by mistake
Instead of one. Thoy had stuck to
gether." "Much obliged, Mr. Hunks," an.
ewered the .banker, "for calling mi
attention to It. You will bring if
back, of course?"
"Not by a thundering sight! I'll
send you a check." Chicago Tri
bune. j Glasgow was visited by great
darkness at. uoou the othor day.
Street lamps were lighted and shop
had to switch on the olectrlo light.
'Vhw darkness wan uu bjajk us night,