hr saan
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Nr IW
Cm
CATR
ThE NIGHT WIND.
Have you ever heard the wind go ‘*Yoooo?”
"Tis a pitiful sound to hear’
{t seems to chill you through and through
With strange and speechless fear.
It’s the voice of the night that broods outside
When folks should be asleep.
And many and many’s the time I've cried
I'o the darkness that brooded far and wide
Over the land and deep :
“Whom do you want. O lonely night,
That you wail the long hours through?”
And the night would say in its ghostly way :
**Y00000000 !
Yooo000000!
Yooooooo00!”
My mother told me long ago
(When I was a little tad)
That when the wind went wailing so,
Somebody had been bad :
And then, when I was snug in bed, A
Whither I had been sent,
With the blankets drawn up round my head,
['d think of what my mother said
And wonder what boy she meant’
And “Who s been bad to-day?’ I'd ask
Of the wind that hoarsely blew, :
And that voice would say in its awiul way
“Y00000000 !
Y00000000!
Yo00000000 !"
That this was true I must allow—
You'll not believe it, though *
Yes, though I'm quite a model nov,
I was not aiways so.
And if you doubt what things I say,
Suppose you make the test ;
Suppose when you've been bad some day,
And up to bed are sent away,
From mother and the rest—
Suppose you ask, ‘Who has been had?”
And then you'll hear what's true ;
For the wind will moan in its ruelulest tone:
“*Y00000000 !
Yoo000000"*
Yoo0000000 !"
~Eugense Field, in Chicago Record.
“TWO OLD FOOLS”
BY FRANCIS C.
WILLIAMS.
OLONEL BEE-
BE’S hat lay on
the piazza-floor,
and Colonel Bee-
be himself, his
long, thin legs
hanging fr om
the hammock,
was cujoying in-
dolently his
Henry Cla
while he debated whether he should go
over to see the Major now, or wait un- |
til it was cooler. He had just decided
in favor of waiting, when he heard a
trampling from the side of the house.
For a moment he gave it little at-
tention. Then the long-drawn bay of
a hound came to his ears. The Colo-
nel’s feet dropped to the floor and his
head was raised. Another howl from
the invisible hound, and he pulled him-
self to his feet, picked up his hat and
turned down the low stone steps in the
direction of the sound.
As he came around the gorner of the
house, there was a sudden crunching
of thn gravel on the driveway, a bel-
low of mingled fear and anger, and
the Colonel was knocked flat by a year-
ling heifer which, snorting’ its sur-
pie trailed across the grass-plot,
otly pursned by the Colonel’s hound.
+ The Colonel quickly scrambled to
hir¢ feet and looked about for the cause
of his downfall. He saw the heifer
and the hound.
making at top speed for a gap in the
stake-and-rider fence, where the
crushed rails showed that its head
and feet had been at work. As his
eye fell upon the broken fence, he in-
dulged in some highly flavored re-
marks, and followed them with an en-
couraging yell to the hound. Inspired
by this, the dog promptly bit the
heifer in the flank, nearly tumbling it
over in the gap of the fence and draw-
ing from if a bawling cry of distress.
The Colonel dashed forward to urge
on the hound, but just as he
reached the fence, there was a shot
from the bushes, and the hound came
scurrying back, its tail between its
legs. At almost the same instant a
long-legged man emerged from behind
a tree-trunk a little way off and ran
forward, all the while endeavoring to
pour powder and shot into the barrel
of the gun which he carried. :
At the fence-gap he confronted Colo-
nel Beebe. There was « mutual start
as the men recognized each other.
Then the Colonel recovered himself.
‘Major Hawkins!” he broke out; I
believe you have shot my hound?”
“I have done that very thing! re-
turned the Major with decision. ‘“‘And
let me add, that I shall repeat the per-
formance every time that brute of
yours chases my cattle!”
The Major and he were old cronies,
and, though both were hot-blooded, ,
they had never had a serious falling- |
out, and the Colonel tried hard to re- |
strain his temper. But this was the |
third time that the Major's heifer had |
broken down the fence separating the |
properties and made havoc with the
Colonel’s garden. The latter felt that
patience well nigh had ceased to be a |
virtue, particular ow in view of the |
Major’s threats.
‘Major Hawkins!” he began, and
there was significance in his use of |
the title: <I have no wish to foment |
any trouble; but most positively I
shall not allow that ‘cattle’ of yours
on my place again. See that she is
kept off, please! As to shooting my |
dog, that is a matter which only an |
apology from you ean recompense me |
for, and I trust you will render me
one immediately ?” |
“Il will do nothing of the kind!
The best thing you can do is to shoot | was as calm and his face as impassive bottom.
{ The
| a moment.
| that for the instant the insult of the
The pursued was |
alize the import of the words. Then
a dull flush crept into his cheeks, usu-
ally very sallow, and he said concise-
ly: “You are a Har!”
The fatal words
color leaped
were spoken.
into
the Colonel's face, and the Major's |
flush grew deeper while his eyes re-
| turned the flash in those of the other.
The two faced each other in silence for
Each was so taken aback
other could find no adequate return
in speech.
Then the Colonel drew himself up
and said ieily:
“You can understand that this means
only one thing?”
of bows.
“YI have a pair of pistols at my
house,” continued the Colonel. ‘With
your permission I will send for them.
The sooner this is settled, the better?”
The Major inclined his head a trifle,
| and the other turned and called:
“Israel! Israel!”
There was no reply, and again he
raised his voice. This time there was
an answering call and a shuffling of
feet, which gradually became more
distant. A little later a white-haired
old colored man came into view.
““D'yo call, Marse EKunn’l?” he
asked, stopping at the edge of the
bushes and scraping with one foot
while he fingered a battered straw hat.
“Yes,” said the Colonel. “You
know those pistols of mine in my
dressing-case! Fetch themto me!”
Yo’ dewelin pistils?”’
“Yes. Be quick!”
The colored man looked at the mcn
in turn. He noted the attitude of each
and the look in their faces.
‘Yo’ ain't goin’ t’ fight, Marse?”’ he
ventured anxiously, not moving.
““That’s none of your business, yon
rascal!” thundered the Colonel
“Gol”
An instant the colored man stood,
nervously playing with his hat-brim.
Then he turned and moved away.
The two men did not look at each
other. Somehow they disliked to.
The Major stood his gun against the
fence, and took a long time to arrange
it to his liking. The Colonel stripped
the leaves from a twig he broke from
a bush. Each had his back toward the
other. The minutes went by. But at
last there was a slow step and Israel
came up. He came reluctantly, as if
he hoped thst time would cause
them to change their minds. He
looked hopefully at them ; but saw no
encouragement. Both the Colonel
and the Major appeared as coolly de-
termined as could be, though the
color had gone from their cheeks.
Israel could not prevent a deep sigh
of despair, which the Colonel heard.
“Shut up!” he muttered savagely.
“Give me those pistols!” ‘Will the
grove suit you?” he asked, turning to-
ward the Major. :
“Perfectly!” said the latter and the
three took up their way, the Colonel
leading, the Major next and, Israel, at
his master’s command, bringing up the
rear and dragging his feet as though
they were weighted. A fear minutes
of walking, and they came to a small
open space surrounded by trees. The
Colonel halted and faced about.
‘Will this do?” he asked.
‘“Yes!” said the Major simply.
‘“There is no advantage in position,
I believe. The sun shines.across the
glade?” 3
“None!”
| “But we had better toss for posi-
| tions anyhow,” said the Colonel, and
he deftly flipped a coin into the air.
The Major called ‘‘heads ;’and ‘‘heads”
it was. :
“I will take the southern end,” he
(said. The Colonel bowed acquies-
| cence.
¢“I presume you will be satisfied if
Israel attends to the loading?” the
Colonel remarked. ‘‘He has done it
before !”—with the slightest of smiles.
“Quite!” returned the Majcr, ignor-
ing the last words.
“Then, Israel, load those pistols,
and do it carefully!” commanded the
Colonel. “‘Do you hear me?” as Israel
stood gaping at him with a terror-
stricken face.
“Yes, Marse!” mumbled Israel,
picking up the weapons mechanically.
He moved over to a near-by stump,
and for a minute sat motionless with
the pistols in his lap. The Colonel's
thunderous tones brought him tq
| movement. He glanced at the two
| men standing stiffly at some distance
from each other. Then sudden'y he
began to load the pistols. The Col-
onel, seeing him proceeding with the
task, turned to the Major.
‘“I'en paces?” he asked.
The Major nodded, an the other was
irritated more than ever by his silence
—Dbut he went on. ‘‘We will put the
pieces under Israel's hat. Then we
will draw them! Are you agreed?”
He clipped oft his words as he con-
tinued, ‘“Israel will count. On the
‘three,’ we will fire?”
This time the Major vouchsafed
agreement in words.
A minute more and Israel came for-
ward slowly with the pistols, one in
either hand. At the Colonel’s order,
| he iaid them on a fallen tree-trunk and |
The Major |
placed his hat over them.
drew one; his opponent took the other.
The two men took position back to
back, and then moved away five paces
and wheeled about so as to face each
other.
“Israel,” said the Colonel a bit husk-
ily, ‘‘Count one, two, three, and, if I
am killed, see that I am decently
buried!”
The Major winced perceptibly at
this lust order; but the next instant
The Major replied with the slightest |
| “Two!” Israel pronounced the word
| distinctly, so that it cut sharply on
! the sense of hearing.
| An instant’s pause, then: ‘“Threel”
The pistols cracked together, and a
cloud of blue smoke curtainad the men
and then drifted lazily before the
slight draft of air.
The Colonel, as erect as ever, quick-
{y bent to one side and peered past
{ the smoke at his opponent. His eyes
fell upon the Major, apparently un-
touched also. For a moment neither
| spoke; but there was a flash of joy in
the face of each, as quickly succeeded
by one of seeming mortification. The
| Major stepped forward.
“That was an inexcusable miss of
yours, Colonel Beebe!” he exclaimed.
| ‘No worse than yours, Major Haw-
kins!” retorted the Colonel. “Ten
| paces and a good light. You should
| have hit to a certainty!”
| “The trigger of this confounded pis-
| tol pulled too hard!” explained the
| Major, with haste.
“And Israel startled me by jumping
| just as we fired,” returned the Colonel.
The Colonel thought he heard a
smothered laugh at this. He turned
| like a flash upon Israel, a sudden sus-
| picion coming to him. ;
“Israel!” he fairly shouted; ‘‘what
| was the matter with the loading’ of
| those pistols? There was something
wrong! Confess it, you rascal!”
“Oh, Marse Kunn’l, don’t be killing
dis po’ man; but I didn’t put no balls
in dose pistils! I didn’t want de
Mejor and yo’ a killin’ each oder!”
“I've a good mind to horsewhip you
within an inch of your life—!” began
the Colonel. ‘
“But you won't!” broke in the
Major.
Then the Colonel looked at the
Major, and the Major at the Colonel.
A smile appeared on the former’s lips,
and the latter returned it. A moment
more, and the Colonel extended his
{hand impulsively. The Major ad-
| vanced and grasped it firmly.
They stood there, holding each
other’s hands for an instant, and then
the Major observed slowly and em-
phatically, as if he were stating an in-
disputable fact which he had just dis-
covered :
‘‘Beebe, I think we are a couple of
old fools!”
“I quite agree with you, Hawkins!”
returned the Colonel quite as posi-
tively, and, as if by one impulse, the
two locked arms and walked off.
Israel stood watching them for a
minute. Then he picked up the pis-
tols, and remarked sagely, but with
just the slightest of quivers in his
voice: ‘A coupl’ o’ ole fools!”—Ro-
mance.
|
lil ice
An Engineer’s Jumps for Lile.
“Did you ever jump from your cab
while the train was going at full
speed?” I asked of a locomotive en-
gineer the other day.
‘Yes. three or four times,” he an-
swered.
‘““What's the sensation?”
““That’s according to how you land.
One night three years ago the train-
despatcher got two of us headed for
each other on a single track at a gait
of forty miles an hour. The first
thing I saw was the headlight of the
other locomotive rounding a curve
thirty rods away. I shut ’er off, threw
over the lever and set the air-brakes,
and then made a jump. I'd no time to
pick for a spot, and as I jumped I
realized that I’d have a bad time of it,
as I knew every foot of the ground. Tt
was on a level covered with a thistle
patch. There was a strip of them
forty rods long growing up like corn-
stalks. I expect they broke my fall
somewhat, but I don't know thatI
| ever hit the ground, until I fetched up
for good. It seemed to me that I just
swept through that patch about knee-
high from the ground, and when there
were no more thistles to knock down I
landed ‘kerchug!’ against an old stump
and uprooted it. I brokea leg and an
arm, but that wasn’t the worst of it.
The doctor estimated the number of
thistle-points sticking into my body at
one billion. My wife and I have been
picking ’em out ever since they got me
home, and we’ve only finished one side
of me.”
| “Landing in a mud puddle would be
a soft thing,” I suggested.
“I’ve beenthere,” he replied, with a
fleeting smile. ‘‘While I was running
freight they built a side track to a
gravel-pit at a certain point. In ex-
cavating at the main line they dug a
hole about twenty feet long by ten
wide and four deep. As a rule this
hole was always full of water, and as it
was on my side of the engine and al-
ways came under my eye, I got tao
thinking what a snap I'd have if I had
to make a jump right here.
‘““There was a little station just a
mile above this hole, and it was a
sharp up grade. One day, while we
were humping along to make the sta-
tion, a dozen cars broke loose from a
freight side-tracking at that station,
and down they came. By the time I
had whistled for brakes and reversed
my engine, it was time to jump, and,
bless my soul! if I wasn’t just where I
| wanted to be—right at the pond. I
| waited to pass the mile-post and then
shut my eyes and took a header, feel-
| ing sorry at the same instant for my
| fireman, who'd got to jump among the
| stumps. Well, Istruck.”
“In the water?’ I asked, as he
paused and worked a finger in his ear.
‘Oh, no! There had been a long
spell of hot, dry weather, and every
| pint of water had evaporated out of
| that pond. The mud was left behind,
| though, There was three feet of it
| waiting to catch some unfortunate, and
| it caught me. I went head first to the
Then I rolled over and
i
|
your whelp and save me the trouble of | as ever. Both men raised their pistol- | foundered around for five minutes,
doing so!” and the Major tapped
his gun suggestively.
‘Then all I can say,” came slowly and a nervous twitching of the lips as bones,
from the Colonel’s lips,
are no gentleman!”
‘“is that you!
The Major started as if he had been | steadied and came into line with the i
For the instant he did not re- breasts of the men.
stung.
arms, and, strange to say, there was at
least a momentary tremor of the hands
they looked into each other’s eyes.
“One!” counted Israel. The pistols
and could never have pulled myself
out unassisted. I didn't break any
but—ugh !”’—Detroit Free
| Press.
i ee min
Naval salutes to the flag are as old
| a8 the time of Alfred the Great.
" each other hard names.
THE GOSPELIN POLITICS
THE REV. DR. TALMAGE SELECTS
AN ODP BUT INSTRUCTIVE TEXT.
SHOULD BE VBOVE REPROACH.
POLITICS
Text: “‘Sowme therefore cried one thing,
and some another, for lhe assembly was
confused, and the more part knew not where=
Jore they were come together. And they drew
Alexander oul of the multitude, the Jews
putting him forward. And Alexander beck-
oned with the hand, and world have made
his defense unto the people. Bul when they
new that he was a Jew, ail with one voice
abou! the space of two hours eried out:
‘Great is Diane of the Ephesians! ’—Acts
xix., 32.
Ephesus was upside down. It was about
the silver question. A manufacturer of silver
boxes for holding heathen images had called
his laborers together to discuss the behavior
of one Paul, who had been in public places
assaulting image worship. and consequently
very much damaging that particular busi-
ness. There was great excitement in the
city. People stood in knots along the
streets, violently gesticulating and calling
Some of the people
favored the policy of the silversmith. Other
people favored the policy of Paul. There
were great moral questions involved, but
these did not bother them at all. :
The only question about which they
saemed to be interested was concerning the
wages and the salaried positions. The silver-
smith and his compeers had put up factories
at great expense for the making of these sil-
ver boxes, and now, if this new policy is to
be inaugurated the business will go down,
the laborers will be thrown out of employ-
ment and the whole city will suffer. Well,
what is to be done? ‘Call a convention,”
says some one, for in all ages a convention
has been a panacea for public evils. The
convention is called, and as they want the
largest room in the city they take the theatre.
Having there assembled, they all want to
get the floor, and they all want to talk at
once. You know what excitement that al-
ways makes in a convention, where a great
many people want to talk at once. Som»
cried one thing, some cried another. Some
wanted to denounce, some wanted to resolve.
After awhile a prominent man gets the floor,
and he begins to speak, but they very soon
hiss him dowr. %nd then the confusion rises
into worse uproar, and they begin to shout,
all of them together, and they keep on until
they are red in the face and hoarse in the
throat, for two long hourserying out *‘Great
is Diana of the Ephesians, Great is Diana
of the Ephesians!”
The whole scene reminds me of the excite-
ment we have almost every autumn at the
elections. While that goddess Diana haslost
he: worshipers and her temples have gone
into the dust, our American people want to
set up a god in place of her, and they want
us all to bow down before it, and that god is
political party. Considering our superior
civilization, I haveto declare to you that
Ephesian idolatry was less offensive in the
sight of God than is this all absorbing Ameri-
can partisanship.
While there are honest men, true men,
Christian men, who stand in both political
parties, and who come into the autumnal
elections resolving to serve their city or their
State or the Nation in the best possible way,
I have noticed also that with many itis a
mere contest between the ins and the outs—
those who are trying to stay in and keep the
outs out, and those who are trying to get in
and thrust the ins out. And one party cries,
‘“Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” and the
other party cries, ‘‘Great is Diana of the
Lphesians I" neither of them honest enough
to say, **Great is my pocketbook !”
Once or twice a year itis my custom to
talk to the people about public affairs from
what IT call a Christian standpoint, and
this morning I have chosen for that duty. I
hope to say a practical word. History tells
us of a sermon once preached amid the high-
lands of Secotland—a sermon two hours long
—on the sin of luxury, where there were not
more than three pairs of shoes in the au-
dience, and during our last war a good man
went into 4 hospital distributing tracts and
gave atract on ‘‘The Sin of Dancing” to a
man both of whosa legs had been amputated !
But I hope this morning to pres2nt an ap-
propriate and adapted word, as next Tues-
day at the ballot box great affairs are to be
settled.
The Rev. Dr. Emmons, in the early his-
tory of our country, in Massachusetts,
preached about the election of Tnomas Jef-
ferson to the Presidency. The Rev. Dr.
Mayhew, of Boston, in the early days of our
republic, preached about the repeal of the
stamp act. There are times when ministers
of Christ must look off upen public
affairs and discuss them. We need go back
to no example. Every man is, before God,
responsible for his own duty.
If the Norwegian boasts of his home of
rocks, and the Siberian is pleased with his
land of perpetual snow: if the Roman
thought that the muddy Tiber was the
favored river in the sight of heaven, and if
the Laplander shivers out his eulogy of his
native clime, and if the Chinese have pity
for anybody born outside of the Flowery
Kingdom, shall not. we, born under these
fair skies and standing day by day amid
those glorious civil and religious liberties,
be public spirited? I propose. to tell the peo=-
ple very plainly what I consider to be their
Christian duty at the ballot box!
First, set yourself against all political faise-
hood. The most monstrous lies ever told in
this country are during the elections. Istop
atthe door of a Democratic meeting and
listen and hear that the Republicans are liars.
I stop at the door of a Republican meeting
and listen and hear that the Democrats are
scoundrels. Our public men microscopized,
and the truth distorted. © Who believes a
tenth part of what he reads or hears in the
autumnal elections? Men who at other sea-
sons of the year are very careful in their
speech become peddlers of scandal.
In the far east there is a place where once
a year they let the people do as they please
and say what they please, and the place is
tull of uproar, misrule and wickedness, and
they call it the <‘‘devil’s day.”” The nearest
approximation to that in this country has
been the first Tuesday in November. The
community at such times seems to say, ‘Go
to, now, let us have a good time at-lying.™
Prominent candidates for office are de:
nounced as unprincipled and renegade. A
smart lie will start in the corner of a country
newspaper, and keep on running until it has
captured the printing presses of the whole
continent. What garbling of speeches! What
misinterpretation of motives! What mis-
representation of individual antecedents!
The trouble is that we have inthis country
two great manufactories—manufactories of
lies—the Republican manufactory of lies and
the Democratic manufactory of lies—and
they are run day and night, and they turn
out half a dozen a day all equipped and
ready for full sailing. Large lies and small
lies. ILies private and lies public and lies
prurient. Lies cut biasand lies cut diagonal.
Long limbed lies and lies with double back
action. Lies complimentary and lies de-
famatory. Lies that some people believe,
and lies that all the people believe, and lies
that nobody believes. Lies with humps like
camels, and scales like crocodiles, and necks
as long as storks, and feet as swift as an an-
telope’s, and stings like adders. Lies raw
and scalloped and panned and stewed.
Crawling lies and jumping lies and soaring
Hes. Lies with attachment screws and
rafflers and braiders and ready wound bob-
bins. Lies by Christian people, who never
lie except during elections, and lies by peo-
ple who always lie, but beat themselves in a
political campaign. y
I confess I am ashamed to have a foreigner
visit this country in these times. should
think he would stand dazed and dare not go
out at nights! What will the hundreds of
thousands of foreigners who come here to
live think of us? What a disgust they must
have for the land of their adoption! The
only good thing about it isthat many of them
cannot understand the English language.
But I suppose the German and Italian and
Swedish and French papers translate it all,
and paddle out the infernal stuff to their sub-
scribers.
Nothing but Christianity will ever stcp such
a flood of indecency. The Christian religion
will speak after awhile. The billingsgate and
low scandal through which we wade almost
every autumn must be rebuked by that re-
ligion which speaks from its two great moun-
tains, from the one mountain intoning the
command, ‘‘Thou shalt not bear false wit-
ness against thy neighbor,” and from the
other mount making plea for kindness and
love and blessing rather than cursing.
O Christian men, frown upon politisa] false-
hood! Remember that a political lie is as
black as any other kind of a lie. God has re-
corded all the falsehoods that have been told
at the city, State or National elections since
the foundation of this Government. and
though the perpetrators and their victims
may have gone into the dust, in the last day
judgment will be awarded.
The falsehoods that Aaron Burr breathed
into the ear of Blennerhassett, the slanders
that Lieutenant General Gage proclaimed
about George Washington, the misrepresen-
tations in regard to James Monroe, are as
fresh in God's book to-day as the lies that
wera printed last week about our local ean-
didates, "And all liars shall have their part
in the lak4 which purneth with fire and brim-
stona, which is the second deatn.”
Again, I counsel you as Christian men to
set yourselves against the misuse of money
in political campaigns. Of the thousands ot
dollars already spent this autumn, how much
of the amount do you suppose has been prop-
erly used? You have a right to spend money
for the publishing of political tracts, for the
establishment of organizations for the carry-
ing out oi what you consider to be the best;
you have a right to appeal to the reason of
men by argument and statisties and by facts.
Printing and renting of public halls and po-
litical meetings cost money, but he who puts
a bribe into the hand of a voter or plies weak
men with mercenary and corrupt motives
commits a sin against God and the Nation.
Bribery is one of the most appalling sins
of this country. God says, ‘‘T'ire shall con-
sume the tabernacles of bribery.” Have
nothing to do with such a sin, O Christian
man! Fling it from the ballot box. Hand
over to the police the man who attempts to
tamper with your vote, and remember that
elections that cannot be carried without
bribes ought never to be carried at all.
Again I ask you as Christirn men to set your-
selves against the dissipations that hoverover
the ballot box. Let me say that no man can
afford to go into political life who is not a
teetotaler. Hot political discussion somehow
creates an unnatural thirst, and hundreds of
thousands of men have gone down into
‘drunkenness through political life.
After an exciting canvass through the
evening you must ‘‘take something.” and
rising in the morning with less animation
than usual you must ‘‘take something,” and
going off among your comrades through the
forenoon you meet political friends, and you
must ‘‘take something,” and in the afternoon
you meet other political friends, and you
must ‘‘take something.” and being night has
come something has taken you. There are
but few cases where men have been able to
stand up against the dissipations of political
life, :
Joseph was a politician, but he maintained
his integrity. Daniel was a politician, but
he was a testotaler to the last, Abraham
was a politician, but he was always charac-
terized as the father of the faithful. Moses
was a politician, the grandest of them, but
he honored God more than he did the Phar-
aohs, and there are hundreds of Christian
men now in the political parties maintaining
their integrity, even when they are obliged
to stand amid the blasted, lecherous ani
loathsome crew that sometimes surround the
ballot box--these Christian men doing their
political duty and then coming back to the
prayer meetings and Christian circles as pure
as when they went out. But that is not the
ordinary circumstance —that is the excep-
tion.
How often you see men coming back from
the political conflict,and theireyeis glazed,
and their cheek has an unnatural flush, and
they talk louder than they usually do, and at
the least provocation they will bet, and you
say they are convivial, or they are exceed-
ingly vivacious, or you apply some other
sweet name to them, but God knows they are
drunk! Some of you, a month or six weeks
ago. had no more religion than you ought to
have, and after the elections are over to cal-
culate how much religion you have left will
be a sum in vulgar fractions. Oh, the pres-
sure is tremendous!
How many mighty intellects have gone
down under the dissipation of polities! I
think of one who came from the west. He
was able to stand out against the whole
American Senate. God had given him fac-
ulties enough to govern a kingdom. or to
frame a constitution. His voiee was terri-
ble t> his country’s enemies and a mighty in-
spiration in the day of National peril. But
twenty glasses of strong drink a day were
his usual allowance, and he went down into
the habits of a confirmed inebriate.
Alas for him! Though a costly monument
has been reared over his resting place, the
young men of this country shall not he de-
nied the awful lesson that the agency by
which the world was robbed of one of its
mightiest intellects, and our country of one
of its ablest constitutional defenders, was the
lissipation of political life. You want to
tnow who I mean? Young man, ask your
‘ather when you get home. The adversetide
s fearful, and I warn you against it.
You need not go far off to find the worn-
out politician. Here he ig, stumbling along
the highway, his limbs hardly able to hold
nim up. Bent over and pale with exhaust-
ing sickness. Surly to anybody who accosts
nim. His last decent article of apparel
pawned for strong drink. Glad if, when go-
ing by a grocery, some low acquaintance in-
vites him in to take a sip of ale and then
wiping his lip with his greasy sleeve.
Kicked off the steps by men who once were
proud to be his constituents. Manhood ob-
iterated. Lip blistered with a curse. Scars
of brutal assault on cheek and brow. Foul
mouthed. A crouching, staggering. wheez-
ing wretch. No friends. No God. Ne hope.
No heaven.
That is your wornout politician. That is
what some of you will become unless by this
morning's warning and the mercy of God
your steps are arrested. Oh, there are no
words enough potent, enough portentious,
snough consuming, enough damning, to de-
scribe the horrible drunkenness that has
rolled over this land, and that has bent down
the necks of some of the mightiest intellects,
antil they have been compelled to drink out
of the trough of bestiality and abomination !
I warn young men against political life, un-
less they are teetotalers and consecrated
Christian men.
Again, 1 counsel you that when you go to
the ballot box at the city, or the State, or the
National elections, you recognize God and
appeal to Him for His blessing. There is a
power higher than the ballet box, than the
zubernatorial chair, than the presidential
White House. It is high time that we put
less confidence in political platforms and
more confidence in God. See what a weak
ching is human foresight! How little our
wise men seem to know! See how, every
autumn, thousands of men who are clamber-
ing up for higher positions are turned under !
God upsets them. Every man, every party,
avery Nation, has a mission to perform. Fail-
ing to perform it, down he goes.
God said to the house of Bourbon, ‘Re-
model France and establish equity.” House
of Bourbon would not do it. Down it went.
God said to the house of Stuart, ‘‘Make the
English people free, God fearing and happy.”
House of Stuart would not do it. Down it
went. God says to the political parties in
chis day, *‘by the principles of Christianity,
remodel, govern, educate, save the people.”
Failing to do that, down they go, burying in
their ruins their disciples and advocates.
God can spare all the political intriguers of
this day, and can raise up another genera-
tion who shall do justice and love mercy.
If God could spare Luther before the re-
formation was done, and if He could spare
Washington before free government had heen
fully tested, and if He could spare Howard
before more than one out of a thousand
dungeons had been alleviated, and if He
eould spare Robert McCheyne just as Scot-
land was gathering to hisburning utterances,
and if He could spare Thomas Clarkson
while yet millions of his fellow men had
hains rusting te the bone—then He can
Spare any man, and He can spars any party.
‘That man who through cowardice or blind
tidolatry of party forsakes the cause of righte-
ousness goes down. and the armed battalions
of God march over him.
O Christian men, take out your Bible this
afternoon, and in the light of that word
make up your mind as te what is your
duty as citizens! Remember that the high-
est kind of a patriot is a Christian patriot.
Consecrate yourselves, first to God, then
you will know how to consecrate yourselves
to your country. All these political excite-
ments will be gone. Ballot boxes and gu-
bernatorial chairs and continents will smoke
in the final conflagration, but those who
love God and do their best shall come to
lustrous dominion after the stars have
ceased their shining, and the ocean has
heaved its last billow, and the closing
thunder of the judgment day shall toll at
the funeral of a world! Ob, prepare for
that day!
You may vote right and get the victory at
the ballot box, and yet suffer eternal defeat.
After you have cast your last vote, where will
you go to? In this country there are two
parties. You belong to the one or the other
of them. Likewise in eternity there will be
two parties and only two. ‘‘These shall go
away into everlasting punishment and the
righteous into life eternal.” To which party
ill you belong? - God grant that, while you
Sook after the welfare of the land in which
God has graciously cast your lot, you may
not forget to look after your soul—blood
bought, judgment bound, immortal! God
save the people!
1 rents ce Eee ett
Before They Knew I[t.-
Joseph Thomas, a lawyer in the
State of Maine, at the beginning of
this century, was a man of considera-
ble reputation as a wag. A couple
were anxious to be married, and as
there was no minister at hand, they
waited upon Mr. Thomas, who, as a
magistrate, was authorized to per-
form the marriage ceremony.
He was busy writing -as they en-
tered, but paused to inquire what
they wanted. Addressing himself to
the man, he asked if he wished to
take that woman for a wife, and next,
turning to the woman, he inquired
whether she wished to take that man
for her husband. Then he went on
with his writing. .
The parties sat still, and waited
until their patience was exhausted.
Finally, te man ventured to in-
terrupt Mr. Thomas, and tell him
they were in a great hurry.
“Why don’t you go along, then?”
answered the Judge.
“But we want to be married first.”
“Married? You have been married
more than half an hour.”
He explained the requircments of
the law, and the couple withdrew,
not without some misgivings, it is to
be feared, as to the validity of a cer-
emony which had been so unceremon-
iously performed. They had certain.
ly been married in baste, but there
is no record that they repented at
leisure.
When Mussulman and Hindoo Fight.
The odd feature in these riots iy
their immediate cause. This is al-
ways reported to be “cow killing,”
but Mussulmans kill oxen all the
year round for food and so do tie
Europeans. The grievance is nat
that, but a display of the old feeling
of ascendancy on the part of the Mus-
sulmans, who, on the day of their
festival, kill a cow close to a temple
in token of high religious defiance.
Then the Hindoos, who do not mind
about the killings during the rest of
the year, turn out armed. and there
is a hattle royai, which, but for the
Enoglish, would in twenty-four hours,
develop into a religious war. The
English, however, tell the police to
fire impartially on toth rects, and
the police, though they are them-
~elves Mussulmans and Hindoos, do
~e with delight, and there is peace
and gond feeling for the ensuing
year. . : ;
If this is not a state of affairs to
puzzle Englishmen there is no such
state; but Irishmen would under-
stand it at once. The armed police
in Ireland in a “religious” row plays
just the part 1t plays in India, only,
being English in discipline and arm-
ament, it takes fewer lives.—The
Spectator.
Elixir of Youthful Spirits.
"As I was walking up and down
my room the other day,” said a man,
“wrapped in thought and absorbed
in care, with head lowered and hands
clapsed behind me, I heard a titter-
ing. and, looking back, I saw my
chilaren following me, each with
bowed head and clasped hands; they
had tried hard to be very solemn, but
had found it quite impossible.
«I couldn’t help laughing myself
when I saw them, but 1 picked up
my burden and marched on. Promply
the children fell in again and marched
aftér me; shen 1 turned a corner I
saw them tagging on as before. We
all laughed again, and then the chil-
dren and I played soldier for a while.
“When we got through with that
I found that my serious friend Care
nad gone away.”—New York Sun.’
; A Society Man.
A single man who proposes to re-
main unmarried should never show
any attention more than he can de-
cently avoid to widows. It is per-
fectly safe to associate with young la-
dies; no man who has been much in
society will lose his head with them,
or his heart either, to any serious ex-
tent, and if the worst comes and he
finds himself on the brink of matri-
mony before he knows it, all he has
to do is to run away. But it is dif-
ferent with widows. A man will
lose head and heart together when a
widow is in the case before he knows
that there is anything the matter
with him, and she will have him se-
curely married, as tight as the
preacher can do the job, in spite of
all manner of celibate resolutions.
Nor is there any such thing as run-
ning away from her. It is easier for
a train robber to escape from all the
police in the country than for a ree-
reant lover to baffle a widow deter-
mined on matrimony. She will fol-
low him to the end of the earth if
necessary, and marry him or have
him jailed.
And
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