THE PItlSOX'S EVIL.
mXA IF-
xxx, 13,
waste it.
The following
aermon Is a
strong dissertation
on the largo prls-
of the curso in
side their walls,
ilia text Is i'taha
"The boar of the wood doth
and the wild beast of the
field doth devour It."
By this homely but expressive fl;;iiro
David sets forth the bad Influences
which In olden time broke in upon
God's heritage, as with swine's foot
tramping and as with swine's snout
uprooting the vineyards of prosperity.
What was true then Is true now. There
have been enough trees of righteous
ness planted to overshadow the whole
earth had It not been for the axmen
who hewed them down. The temple
of truth would long ago have been
completed had It not been for the icon
oclusts who defaced the walls and bat
tered down the pillars. The whole
earth would have been an Eschol of
ripened clusters had it not been that
"tho boar has wasted it and the wild
beast (jf the field devoured it."
I propose to point out to you those
whom 1 consider to be the destructive
classes of coclcty. First, the public
criminals. You ought not to be sur
prised that these people make up n
law proportion of many communities.
In lSii'J of the 49,000 people who were
Incarcerated in the prisons of the
country "il.t.oii were of foreign birth.
Many of ih. :n were the very despera
does or boi ieiy, oozini; into the slums
of our cilie?, waiting for an opportun
ity to riot and steal and debauch, join
ing tlie law gang of American thugs
ami crtiliroats. There ate in oar eitle.i
pe.ipie whose, entire business in life i:i
t!) commit crime. That is as much
their lm.ine;'s U3 jurisprudence ot
medicine or tnerchanili.se is your busi
ness. To it they bring all their en
ergies of body, mind and soul, and
they look upon the Interregnums which
they spend In prison as so much un
fortunate loss of time, just as you look
upon an attack of influenza or rheu
matism which fastens you in the house
for a few days. It is their lifetime
business to pick pockets, and blow up
safes, and shoplift, and ply the panel
game, and they have as much pride ol
skill in their business as you have in
yours when you upset the argument ol
an opposing counsel, or cure a gunshot
fracture which other surgeons havt
given up, or foresee a turn In the
market just before they go up 20 pei
cent. It Is their business to commit
crime, and I do not suppose that pnc
In a year the thought of the immoral
ity strikes them. Added to these'pro-,
fesslonal criminals, Amerlcdn and for
eign, there Is a large class of men whe
are more or less Industrious In crime
Drunkenness Is responsible for much
of the theft, since ft confuses a man't
Ideas of property, and he gets hit
hands on things that do not belong tc
him. Rum Is responsible for much oi
the assault and battery, inspiring met
to sudden bravery, which they musl
demonstrate, though it lie on the fact
nf t'ai next gentleman.
You help to pay the hoard of ever)
ci I'i'.iiial, from the sneak thief whe
r.natcl'" a spool of cotton up to some j
in n: .l:o enacts a "Illack Friday.'
M ire than that. It touches your heart
ia 1 1: - moral depression of tho com
:.:':ty. You might as well think tc
i! in a closely con lined room who:
:.. -i' r,i people and yet not breath
lb- lii,ucd air n3 to stand in a com
i . where there are so many oi
t'.t li'-praved without somewhat heinj
i oi.' in i n.i limI. What is the fire that
--.:v. your store down compared with
t'..1 congregation which consumes youi
:- :;;!.' What is the theft of the golf
:; ! silver from your money safe com
piled with the theft of your children'!
virtue? We are all ready to arraigt
criminals. We shout at the top of out
v:;!c "Stop thief!" and when tho po-1
lice get on the track we come out hat
!(. ; and in our slippers and assist ill
the arrest. We come round the bawl
i: :: rtillian and hustle him off to jus
tic, r.tid when he gets In prison wha!
do we do for him? With great gustc
we put on the handcuffs and the hop
p?e.;, but what preparation are we mak
ing for the day when the handcuffi
tr.il hopples come off? Society seemt
to hay to these criminals, "Villain, gt
in i!:tp and rot!" when it ought tc
f,:i : "You are an offender agninst tin
law, but we mean to give you an op
porirnity to repent; we mean to helj
you. Here are llihles and tracts nnc
Chv.-tian Influences. Christ died fui
Look end live." Vast Improve
r.i' !. have been made by introducing
: : i y into tho prison, but we want
Foi:.";l:!i:g more than hammers anc
; ;:t; l.is's to reclaim these people. Aye
v.e -...nit more than sermons on tin
i' lljl at'i day. Society must Imprest
th'.-.ii! men with the fact that It doei
i.ot enjoy their suffering and that It 1;
fitf-mpting to reform and elevate them
The majority of criminals suppose tha
rociety has a grudge against them, anc
tiir-y in turn have a grudge against so
cltty.
I stopped into one of the prisons o
one of our great cities and the air wa.
lilio that of the Black Hole of Calcutta
As the air swept through the wicket i
almost knocked me down. No sun
light. Y'oung men who had committei
their first crime crowded in among olt
offenders. I saw there one woman
with a child almost blind, who ha
been arrested for the crime of poverty
who was waiting until tho slow lav
could take her to the almshouse, wher
be rightfully belonged, but alio wa.
tbrust In there with her child, 'amii
the most abandoned wretches of tha ' walling for bread and slothee
town. Many of tha offenders In that lni ir- Tne,r ckea.
prison sleeping on tha floor, with noth-. rhelr cheekbonea stand out The r
ing but a vermin covered blanket over and are damp with alow coisua
them. Those people, crowded, and 'Jon. Their flesh is puffed u with
wan, and wasted, and half suffocated, Iropsies. Their breath la like that of
and Infuriated. I said to the men,
"How do you stand It here?" "God
knows," said one man. "We have to
i charnel house. They hearts.e roar
tt the wheels of fashion overhtad and
Jie gay laughter of men and'naldens
stand it." Oh, they will pay you when A . . .
, ..,, ' ' . . ind wonder why God gave to oJiera so
tnev pet out? WhorA fnpv nnrnn
nuch and to them so little; tome of
hem thrust Into an Infidelity lke that
they get out!
down one house, they will burn three.
They will strike deeper the assassin's
knife. They are this minute plotting 5 the Pr German girl, wht, when
worse burglaries. Many of the Jails '0,d Jn tho midst of her wretciedness
are the beet place I know of to man- 'hat God was good, she said: 'No; no
ufacture footpads, vagabonds and cut-1 food God. Just look at me. o good
throats. I ;j0d."
Among the uprooting and devouring ! In these American cities, wfose cry
classes in our midst are the idle. Of Df want I Interpret, there are hindreds
course I do not refer to the people who 9f thousands of honest poor vho are
are getting old or to the sick or to jependent upon individual, city and
those who cannot get work, but I tell tate charities. If all their voices
you to look out for those athletic men could come up at once, it world be a
and women who will not work. When sroan that would Bhake the foundation
the French nobleman was asked why of tho city and bring all ea-th and
he kept busy when he had so large a heaven to the rescue. But, for the
property, he said, "I keep on engrav- most part, it suffers unexpre-sed. It
ing so I may not hang myself." I do sits in silence, gnashing Its teeth and
not care who the man is, he cannot af- jmcklng the blood of Its own irteries,
ford to be idle. It is from the Idle waiting for the judgment day Oh, I
classes that the criminal classes ero,hould not wonder if on that day it
maue up. Character, like water, gets WOu!d be found out that son of us
putrid If it stands still too long. Who i nad some things that belonged to them;
can wonder that in this world, wl'.evo 1 ,0me extra garmen which mtcht have
there is so much to do and n'l ihc!0)aje them comfortable on cold days;
hosts of earth and heaven and h .''' some bread tbrust Into the asl. barrel
are plunging into the conflict a: U j that might have appeased their hunger
angels are flying and God is at w.rkjror a little while; some wasted candle
and the universe is a-qunke with the 9r gas jet that might have kimlled up
marching nnd countermarching, Oed their darkness; some fresco celling
lets his indignation fall upon a ma;i that would have given them n roof;
who chooses idleness? I have w:it h- B(,nie jewel which, brought to that or
ed these do-nothings who spend their j phan girl in time, might have kept her
time stroking their beard and retouch-! from being crowded off the prec ipices
Ing their toilet and criticisms iiult.s- j Df iin unclean life; some New Testa
terlous people and pass their days and 1 ,nent that would have told them of
nights in barrooms and clubhouses, him who "came to seek and to save
lounging nnd smoking and chewing that which was lost!" Oh, this wave of
and card playing. They lire not only 1 vagrancy nnd hunger and nakedness
useless, but they nrc dangerous. How; that dashes against our front door
hard It is for them to while away tho 'steps. I wonder If you hear it and seo
hours! lit as much ns I hear it nnd sue it! I
Alas, for them! If they do not know have bten almost frenzied with the
how to while away an hour, what will perpetual cry for help from ail classes
they do when they have all eternity on nnd from all nations, knocking, knock
their hands? These men for awhile: Ing, ringing, ringing. If the roofs of
smoke the best cigars and wear tho jail the houses of destitution could, be
best broadcloth and move In the high-! lifted so we could look down into them
FOND OF FANCY WORK.
Mrs. HeKialcr Dcllckta l Maklac
Pretty Tabl Mat..
In the Washington aet Mrs. McKinley
Is known for her clever crochet work.
A she la not atrong enough to be an
athletic woman aha has time to get op
many new drsigns of fancy work, all of
which are eagerly copied by the people
who are privileged to drop in the white
house of a morning when the presi
dent wife is at leisure. It Is said that
Mrs. McKinley has a new design for
each new caller to tee, and that each
one is a little prettier than the last.
While she was away last summer she
learned to make a kind of table mat to
be used upon a bare table at luncheon
est spheres, but I have noticed that
very soon they come down to the pris
on, the almshouse or stop at the gal
lows. They af-the pest of society, and
they stand In the way of the Lord's
poor, who ought to be helped, and will
be helped. While there are thousands
of Industrious men who cannot get any
work, these men who do not want any
work come in and make that plea.
Sleeping at night at public expense in
the Btatlon house, during the day, get
ting their food at your doorstep. Im
prisonment does not scare them. They
would, like It. Blackwell's Island oi
Moyamensing prison would be a com
fortable home for them. They would
have no objection to the almshouse,
for they like thin soup, if they cannot
get mock turtle.
I like for that class of people the
scant bill of fare that Paul wrote out
for the Thessalonlan loafers, "If any
work not, neither should he eat." By
what law of God or man is it right
that you and I should toil day in and
day out until our hands nre blistered
and our arms ache and our brain gett
numb, and then be called upon to sup
port what In the United States arc
nbout 2,000,000 loafers! They are a
very dangerous class. Let the public
authorities keep their eyes on them.
Among the uprooting classes I place
the oppressed poor. Poverty to a cer
tain extent is chastening. lint nftct
that, when it drives a man to the wall
and he hears his children cry in vain
for bread, it sometimes makes liini
desperate. I think that there nre
thousands of honest men lacerated In
to vagabondism. There are men crush
ed under burdens for which they are
not half paid. While there is no ex
cuse for criminality, even lu oppres
sion, I state it ns a simple fact that
much of the scoundrelism of the com
inunity Is consequent upon ill treat
ment. There are many men and wo
men battered and bruised and stung
lust as God looks, whose nerves would
be strong enough to stand It? And
yet there they are.
The sewing women, some of them in
hunger and cold, working night after
night, sometimes until the blood spurts
from nostril and Hp how well their
grief was voiced by that despairing
woman who stood by her invalid bus
band and invalid child and said to the
city missionary: "I am downhearted.
Everything's againBt us, and then
there are other things." "What other
things?" said the missionary. "Oh,"
she replied, "my aln." "What do you
mean by that?" "Wellr" she said, "I
never hear or Bee anything goodfw It's
work from Monday morning to Satur
day night, and then when Sunday
comes I can't go out, and I walk the
floor, and it makes me tremble to think
that I have to meet God. Oh, sir, It's
so hard for us. We have to work so,
and then we have so much trouble, and
then we are getting along so poorly,
and see this wee little thing growing
weaker and weaker, and then to think
we are getting no nearer to God, but
floating away from him oh, sir, I do
wish 1 was ready to die!"
I should not wonder If they had a
good deal better time than we In the
future to make up for tlicri fact that
they hnd such n bad time here. It
would be Just like Jesus to say: "Come
up and take the highest iwuts. You
suffered with me on earth. Now be
glorified with mo in heaven." Oh,
thou weeping One of Bethany! O thou
dying one of the cross! Have mercy
on the starving, freezing, homeless
poor of these great cities!
I want you to know who are the up
rooting classes of society. 1 want you
to bo moro discriminating In your
charities. I want your hearts open
with generosity and your hands open
with charity. I want you to bo made
the Bworn friends of all city evangeli
zation, and all newsboys' lodging
houses, and all children's aid societies.
until the hour of despair has come, Aye, I want you to Bend the Dorcas so
nnd they sound with the ferocity of a clety all the caat tt clothing, that un
wild beast, which pursued until It can dcr the skillful Manipulation of the
run no longer, turns round, foaming wives and mothera and siitera and
and bleeding, to fight the hounds. 'daughters these garments may be fit
There is a vast underground city 'ted on the cold, bare feet and on the
llfo lh.it is nnnnllinu and shameful. IKShlverlng limbs Of the destitute. 1
W
MRS. M'KIM.EY AT WORK.
(The Latest Mat Deslpnod by the Presi
dent's Wife.)
It is heavy enough for the hot dishes to
rest upon, and yet it has a very lacey
look. It Is made of butter-colored cot
ton, very coarse and of the dye that
washes. The design is a small round-nnd-roiind
crochet stitch, which forms
a scallop. As the pattern is carried
around the mat a stitch is taken from
the middle of the scallop, underneath,
instead of in the end, as is the common
way. This allows a little overlapping
hhcll which Is very pretty.
Mrs. McKinley makes the mats differ
ent sizes and allows an oval design for
the meat platter.
MASQUERADING DOGS.
VentrllaqaUt In France L'aes Anlmala
In Place of Dummlea.
Frella is a ventriloquist who is excit
ing considerable attention abroad on
account of his original methods. The
average dummies do not satisfy him.
His puppets come merrily on the
stage; one eita in a small chariot, ap
parently a lady of high degree; another
draws the carriage with the air of a
thoroughbred horse; a third stands up
behind the carriage, a footman In splen
did" livery. There is but one bint of de
ception; like Hamlet's father's ghost,
each of these puppets can a tail unfold
the ever wagging appendage soou re
veals to the careful observer the fact
that tho puppets are puppies. Were
any proof needed, Prelle discounts the
necessity by pulling the heads off bis
company before they leave the stage.
The proceeding sounds cruel, jind j et
it Is the kindest part of the business,
for the dogs have apparently grown so
wallows and steams with putrefaction
You go down the stairs, which are wet
and decayed with filth, and at the bot
tom you find the poor victims on the
floor cold, sick, three-fourths dead
slinking into a still darker corner un
tier the gleam of the lantern of the,
police. There has not been a breath oi
fresh air in that room for five years
literally. There they are men, wo
men, children; blacks, whites; Mary
Magdalene without her repentance ami
Lazarus without his God. These are
tho "dives" into which the pickpock
ets and the thieves, go, as well as a
great many who would like a different
life, but cannot get it. These placet
are the sores of the city which bleeo
perpetual corruption. They are tht
underlying volcano that threatens ui
with a Caracas earthquake. It rolls
nnd roars and surges and heaves ana
rocks and blasphemes and dies. And
there are only two outlets for it the
police court und the potter's Bold. It
other words, they must either go tc
prlBon or to hell. Oh, you never saw
It, you say! You never will see li
until on the day when these stagger
ing wretches shall come up In the light
of the Judgment throne and while al:
hearts aro being revealed God will ash
you what you did to help them
should not wonder If that hat that you
give should come back a jeweled coro
net, or that garment that you this
week hand out from your wnrdrobe
should mysteriously be whitened and
somehow wrought into the Saviour's
own robe, bo In the last day he would
run his hand over It and gay, "I was'
naked and yo clothed me." That
would be putting your garments to
glorious uses. , 1
Besides all this, I want you to np-
predate In the contrast how very kind-1
ly God has dealt with you In your com
fortable homes, at your well filled ta
bles, and at the warm registers, and to
have you look at the round faces of
your children and then at the review
of God's goodness to you go to your
room and lock the door-and kneel
down and say: "O Lord, I have been
an lngratc! Make me thy child. O
Lord, tliero are so many hungry and
unclad and unsheltered to-day, I thank
thee that all my life thou hast taken
such good care of me! O Lord, there
are so many sick and crippled children
to-day, I thank thee mine are well,
some of them on earth, some of thorn
In heaven! Thy goodness, O Lord,
breaks me down! Take me once and
forever. Sprinkled as I was many.
years ago at the altar, while my moth
PRELLE AND IMS DOG8.
(Well-Trained Animals Take the l'lueo of
Dummies.)
necustouied to 'the heads with which
they come Into the world that they lire
scarcely eiuiiusiasuc nooni inn miui
tional ones that the thought of Prelle
has provided for them.
At this juncture of the performance
they made their bow nnd departed to
ihe wings for fresh heads and postures
new. One came buck ns a racehorse or
a hunter; on his buck sat a real dummy
with nn enviable expression. The dog
horse galloped around, went over high
hurdles, treated all obstacles as though
they did not exist, nnd the rider simply
sat on nnd smiled like a born ipxhunter.
I'rellc stood round with n long whip,
ami was content to smile nnd look beau
tiful. Prelle Rays that he has been at
the business ninny years, that the dogs
were not easily trained nnd that he
treats them well.
Purnnlto In Antn' Kcata.
It is certain that ants intentionally
sanction the residence of certain in
jects in their nests. This is the case,
for instance, with the curious blind
beetle, clavigcr, which Is absolutely
dependent upon nuts, ns Muller first
pointed out. It even seems to have lost
the power of feeding itself; at nny rate
it is habitually fed by the ants, who
supply it with nourishment, ns they
do one nuother.
tw i. nnnthnr laver of noverM er held me, now I consecrate my soul
and destltutlon-not so squalid, but al t ln ft hollar baptism of repent
most as beipleia, You bear their In Ing teara.
A Sped no for Itnrnn,
A Parisian doctor has discovered' that
a solution of one part of picric acid to
75 parts of water will surely and speed
ily cure the most terrible burns and'
Fvalds, and recommends that barrels of
the solution be kept in foundries, etc.,
in which workmen could be immersed.
The pain I instantly removed, lores
and blister prevented and a cure com
pleted In four or five days.
Don't Go to Alaska
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