SANS BY ENIET DIVAS
GOSPEL MESSAGES.
Martyrdom of Stephen the Theme
For an Able Sermon — Glimpses of
Heaven Through the Eyes of the
Great Preacher — The Eternal Sleep.
Text: “Behold I see the
opened,” ete.—Acts vii., 56-60.
Stephen had been preaching a rousing
sermon, and the people could not stand it.
They resolved to do as men sometimes
would like to do in this day, if they dared,
with some plain preacher of righteousness
—kill him. The only way to silence this
man was to knock the breath out of him.
So they rushed Stephen out of the gates of
the city, and with curse .and whoop and
bellow they brought him to the cliff, as was
the custom when they wanted totake away
life by stoning. Having brought him to
the edge of the cliff, they pushed him off.
After he had fallen they came and looked
down, and seeing that he was not yet dead
they began to drop stones upon him, stone
after stone. Amid this horrible rain of
missiles Stephen clambers up on his knees
and folds his hands, while the blood drips
from his temples to his cheeks, from his
cheeks to his garments, from his garments
to the ground, and then, looking up, he
mukes two prayers—one for himself and
one for his murderers. “Lord Jesus, re-
heavens
the stones hurt his head nor what would
become of his body. His first thought was
about his spirit. ‘“‘Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit.” The murderer standing on the
tray door, the black cap being drawn over
his head before the execution, may grimace
about the future, but you and I have no
shame in confessing some anxiety about
where we are going to come out. You are
not all body. There is within you a soul.
I see it gleam from your eyes, and I see it
irradiating your countenance, Sometimes
I am abashed before an audience, not be-
cause I come under their physical eyesight,
but because I realize the truth that I stand
before so many immortal spirits. The
probability is that your body avill at last
find a sepulcher in some of the cemeteries
that surround your town or city. There is
no doubt that your obsequies will be
decent and respectful, and you will be able
to pillow your head under the maple or the
Norway spruce or the eypress or the bloom-
ing fir. But this spirit about which
Stephen prayed—what direction will that
take? What guide will escort it? What
gate will open to receive it? What cloud
will be cleft for its pathway? After it has
got beyond the light of our sun will there
be torches lighted for it the rest of the
way? Will the soul have to travel through
land? If we should lose our pathway, will
there be a castle at whose gate we may
ask the way to the city? Oh, this myste-
rious spirit within us! It has two wings,
but it is in a cage now. Itis locked fast to
keep it. but let the. door of this eage opén
the least and that soul is off. Eagle's wing
could not cateh it. The lightnings are
not swift enough to take up with it. When
ceive my spirit;’” that was for - himself.
“Lord, lay not this sin to their charge:” |
that was for his assailants. Then from pain |
and loss of blood he swooned away and fell |
asleep. >
I want to show you to-day five pictures—
Stephen gazing into heaven, Stephen look-
ing at’ Christ, Stephen stoned, Stephen in |
his dying prayer and Stephen asleep.
First look at Stephen gazing into heaven.
Before you take a leap you want to know
where you are going tc land. Before vou
climb a ladder you want to know to what
point the ladder reaches. And it was right
thatStephen, within a few mements of heav-
en, should be gazingjinto it. We would all do
well to be found in the same posture. There
is enough in heaven to keep us gazing. A
man of large wealth may have statuary in
the hall and paintings in the sitting room
and works of art in all parts of the house,
but he has the chief pictures in the art gal-
lery, and there hour after hour you walk
with catalogue and glass and ever increas-
ing admiration, Well heaven is the gallery
where God has gathered the chief treas-
ures of his realm. The whole universe is
his palace. Inthis lower room where we
stop there are many adornments, tessella-
ted floor of amethyst, and on the winding
cloud stairs are stretched out canvases on
which commingle azure and purple and
saffron and gold. But heaven isthe gallery
in which the chief glories are gathered.
There are the brightest robes. There are
the richest crowns. "There are the highest
exhilarations. John says ofit, “The kings
of the earth shall bring their honor and
glory into it.” And I see the procession
forming, and in the line come all empires,
and the stars spring up into an arch for the
hosts to march under. The hosts keep
step to the sound of earthquake and the
pitch of avalanche from the mountains,
and the flag they bear is the flame of a con-
suming world, and all heaven turns out
with harps and trumpets and myriad voiced
acclamation of angelic dominion to wel-
come them in, and sothe kings of the earth
bring their honor and glory into it. Do
you wonder that good people often stand,
like Stephen, looking into heaven? We
have many friends there. 3
There is not a man in this house to-
day so isolated in life but there is some one
in heaven with whom heonce shook hands.
As a man gets older the number of his
celestial acquaintances very rapidly mul-
tiplies. We have not had one glimpse of
them since the night we kissed them good-
by, and they went away, but still we stand
gazing at heaven. And when some of our
friends go across the sea, we stand on the
dock or on the steam tug and watch them,
and after awhile the hulk of the vessel
disappears, and then there is only a patch
of sail on the sky, and soon that is gone,
and they are all out of sight, and yet we
stand looking in the same direction, so
when our friends go way from us into the
future world we keep’ looking down
through the narrows, and gazing and gaz-
ing, as though we expected that they
would come out and stand on some cloud
and give us one glimpse of their blissful
and transfigured faces.
Pass on now and see Stephen looking
upon Christ. My text says he saw the Son
of Man at theright hand of God. Just how
Christ looked in this world, just how He
looks in heaven, we cannot say. A writer
in the time of Christ says, describing the
Saviour’s personal appearance,. that He
had blue eyes and light complexion, and a
very graceful structure, but I suppose it
was all guesswork. The painters of the
different ages have tried to imagine the
features of Christ and put them upon can-
vas, but we will have to wait until with
,our own eyes we-see Him and with our own
ears we can hear Him. And; yet there is a
way of seeing and hearing Him now. I
have to tell you that unless you see and
hear Christ on earth you will never see and
hear Him in heaven. Look! There He is!
Behold the Lamb of God! Can you not see
Him? Then pray to God to takethe scales
off your eyes. Look that way—try to look
that way. His voice comes down to you
this day—comes down to the blindest, to
the deafest soul, saying, “‘Look unto Me,
all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved,
for I am God, and there is none else.”
Proclamation of universal emancipation
for all slaves! Proclamation of universal
amnesty for all rebels! Belshazzar gath-
ered the Babylonish nobles to his table;
George I, entertained the lords of England
at a banquet; Napoleon ITI, welcomed the
Czar of Russia and the Sultan of Turkey to
bis feast; the Emperor ‘of Germany was
glad to have our minister, George Ban-
croft, sit down with him at his table, “ut
tell me, ye who know most of the world’s
history, what other king ever asked the
abandoned and the forlorn and the wretch-
ed and outeast to come and sit beside him?
Oh, wonderful invitation! You «an take
it to-day and stand at the head of the
darkest alley in any city and say: “Come!
Clothes for your rags, salve for your sores,
a throne for your eternal reigning.” A
Christ that talks like that and acts like
that and pardons like that—do you wonder
that Stephen stood looking at Him? I
hope to spend eternity doing the same
thing. I must see Him.
I ‘pass on now and look at Stephen
stoned. The world has always wanted to
get rid of good men. Their very life is an
assault upon wickedness, Out with
Stephen through the gates of the city.
Down with him over the precipices. Let
every mancomeup and drop a stone upon
his head. But these men did not so much
kill Stephen as they killed themselves.
Every stonerebounded upon them. While
these murderers were transfixed by the
scorn of all good men, Stephen lives in the
admiration of all Christendom. Stephen
stoned, but Sfephen alive. So All good
men must be pelted. All who "will live
godly in Jesus Christ must suffer persecu-
tion. It js no eulogy of a man to say that
everybody likes him. Show me anyone
who is doing all his duty tostate or church,
and I will show you mem who utterly
abhor him. 5
If all men speak well of you, it is because
vou are either a laggard or a dolt. If a
steamer makes rapid progress through the
waves, the water wilk boil and foam all
around it. Brave scldiers of Jesus Christ
- will hear the carbines click. When I see a
- man with voice and money and influence
all on the right side, and some caricature
him, and somesneer at him, and some de-
nounce him, and men who pretend to be
actuated by right motives conspire to erip-
ple him, to east him out, to destroy him, I |
say, “Stephen stoned.”
a uss on now and see Stephen in hisdying
prayer. His flrst thought was wusi how
¥
i though
the soul leaves the body, it takes fifty
worlds at a bound. And have I no anxiety
about it? Have you no anxiety about it?
I do not care what vou de with my body
when my soul is gone, or whether you
believe in cremation or inhumation. I
shall sleep just a3 well in a wrapping of
sackeloth as in satin lined with eagle’s
down. Dut my soul —before this day passes
I will find out where it will land. Thank
God for the intimation of my text, that
when we die Jesus takes us. That answers
all questions for me. What though th re
were massive bars between here and the
city of light,
What though there were great Saliaras of
darkness, Jesus could illumne them. What
I get weary on the way, Christ
could lift me on His omnipotent shoulder.
What though there were chasms to cross,
His hand could transport me. Then le
Stephen’s prayer be my dying litany,
*‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
We may be too feeble to employ either
of these familiar forms, but this prayer of
Stephen is so short, is so coneise, is so earn-
est, is so comprehensive, we surely will bs
ablg to say that — ‘Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit.” Ob, if that prayer is answered,
how sweet it will be to die! This world is
clever enough to wus. Perhaps it has
treated us a great deal better than we de-
serve to be treated, but if onthe dying pil-
low there should break the light of that
better world we shail have no more regret
about leaving a small, dark, damp houso
for one large, beautiful and eapacious.
That dying minister in Philadelphia, some
years ago, beautifully depicted it when in
the last moment he threw up his hands
and cried out, “I move into the light.”
Pass on now, and I will show you one
more picture, and that is Stephen asleep.
With a pathos and simplicity peculiar to
the Scriptures the text says of Stephen,
“He fell asleep.”
place that was to sleep! A hard rock under
him, stones falling down upon him, the
blood streaming, the mob howling. What
a place it was to sleap!” And yet my text
takes that symbol of slumber to deseribe
his departure, so sweet was it, so con-
tented was it, so peaceful was it. Stephen
had lived a very laborious life. His chief
work had been to care for the poor.
many loaves of bread he distributed, how
manybare feet he had sandaled. how many
cots of sickness and ‘distress he blessed
with ministries of kindness and love, I do
not know, but from the way he lived, and
the way he preached, and the way he died
I know he was a laborious Christian. But
that is all over now. He has pressed the
cup to the last fainting lip. He has taken
the last insult from his enemies. The
last stone to whose erushing weight he is
susceptible has been hurled. Stephen is
dead. Thedisciples come. They take him
up. They wash away the blood from the
wounds. They straighten out the bruised
limbs. They brush back the tangled hair
from the brow, and then they pass around
to look upon the calm countenance of him
who had lived for the poor and died for
the truth.
Stephen asleep! I saw such a one. He
fought all his days against poverty and
against abuse. Théy traduced his name.
They rattled atthe doorknob while he was
dying with duns for debts he could not pay,
yet the peace of God brooded over his pil-
low, and while the world faded heaven
dawn®d, and the deepening twilight ot
earth’s night was only theopening twilight
of heaven’s morn. Not a sigh, not a tear;
not a struggle. Hush! Staphen asleep!
I have not the faculty to tell the weather.
I can never tell by the setting sun whether
there will be a drought or not. TIcannot
tell by the blowing of the wind whether
it will be fair weather or foul on the mor-
row. But I can prophesy, and I will
prophesy, what weather it will be when you,
the Christian, come to die. You may have
it very rough now. It may be this week one
annoyance, the next another annoyance.
It may be this year one bereavement, the
next another bereavement. Before this
year has passed you may have to beg for
bread or ask for a scuttle of coal ora pair
of shoes, but at the last Christ will come
in and darkness will go out, and though
there may be no hand to olose your eyes,
and no breast on which to rest your dying
head, and no candle to lift the night, the
odors of God’s hanginz garden will regale
your soul, and at ycur bedside will halt
the chariots of the King. No morerents
to pay, no mors agony because flour has
gone up, no more struggle with *‘the
world, the flesh and the devil,” but peace |
Stephen |
—long, deep, everlasting peace.
asisen!
You have seen enough for one morning.
No one can successfully examine more
than five pictures in a day. Therefore
we stop, having seen this cluster of divine
Raphaels—Stephen gazing into heaven,
Stephen looking nt Christ, Stephen stoned,
Stephen in his dying prayer, Stephen
asleep!
CREAT COAL PRODUCTION,
All Records Were Broken, But the Price
Per Ton Decrensed.
The total output of coal in the United
States in 1897-amounted anproximately to
198,250,000 short tons, with an acgragate
value of $193,100,000, a fraction less than
21 per ton. :
Compared with 1890, this shows an in-
crease in tonnage of 6,270,030 tous, or
about 8.3 per cent. The increase in the
value of the product was only $1,700,000,
little less than nine-teaths of one per cent.
The amount of coal produced in 1897 was
the largest on record. The average value
per ton was the lowest ever knowa, con-
tinuing the declininz tendency whish has
been shown without any reaction for the
last six years.
NOVEL ARMOR FOR THE NEWARK.
Inner Coating of Cement to Be Used With
Cellulose Packing.
The big protected United States crusier
Newark, which has been at the Norfolk
(Va.) Navy Yard for some months under-
going extensive repairs, has been selected
as the subject fora naval experiment. The
efficacy of cellulose on warships it is be-
lieved can be increased by the use of a
heavy coating of cement all the way around
the hull of the vessel.
This will really form an additional belt
of protection, which it is believed will
i prove effective against rapid-fire guns. The
i Newark is now being prepared for her novel
, armor,
Jesus could remove them.
How |
(B: SHBBMTR SEROL ESSE
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS
: - FOR MAY | he
Lesson Text: “The Triumphal ¥ntry,”
Matthew xxi., 6-16—Golden Text: Mate
thew xxi., 9=Commentary on the Les-
son of the Day by Rev. D. M. Stearns.
6. “And the disciples went and did as
Jesus commanded them.” The time had
come to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah,
quoted in the previous verse from Zech. ix.,
9, and, like all other fulfillments of prophecy,
it shall be literally fulfilled, the King of
Israel, the meek and lowly One, shall ride
upon an ass colt into Jerusalem. Thera is
a set time known to God for the fulfillment
of every prediction and a sufficient reason
for all seeming delays. It was when the
fullness of the time was come that God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were
under the law (Gal. iv., 4, 5). Everything
concerning Him and His great redemption
shall take place at the appointed time.
7. “And brought the ass and the colt and
put on them their clothes, and they set
Him thereon.” Hehadtold them to go into
the village, and as soon as they entered it
they would find a colt tied, which they were
to loose and bring to Him. It is written
that they went their way and found even
as He had said unto them (Mark xi., 2-4;
Luke xix., 20-52), The disciples did not
have to hire a eolt and have it at the ap-
pointed place at the appointed time. He
Himself arranged it all. When a king was
to be provided for Israel, Samuel did not
have to wonder what kind of a man would
do and then scour the countryto find him,
but the Lord said, “I will send thee a man,
and thou shalt anoint him” (I Sam. ix., 16).
8. “And a very great multitude spread
their garments in the way. Others cut
down branches from the trees and strewed
them in the way.” Not only their gar-
ments on the colt, but also on the ground
to honor Him. The whole event is#most
suggestive in a very practical way for
ihose who have eyes to see and ears to
hear. In Job xi., 12, man is compared to
a wild ass colt. This colt had never been
subdued, was found tied where two ways
met, wasloosed and brought to Jesus, an
instrament to carry Him, itself hidden,
but Jesus exalted.
9. “And the multitudes that went be-
fore and that followed cried, saying: Ho-
sanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He
that cometh in the name of the Losd. Ho-
sanna in the highest!’’ Their cry takes us
to Ps. exviii., 25, 26, and verse 14 of that
salm takes us to Isa. xii., 2, and back to
X.Xv., 2, and all carry us on to the ful-
filllment of our Lord’s words in Math.
xxili., 39, whea they should indeed wel-
come and receive Him in the words of Isa.
xxv. 9
10. ‘“And when He was come into Je-
rusalem all the city was moved, saying,
Who {s this?” Dr. Weston says that it
should be, “All the city was shaken,’ and
he calls attention to the same word in
Math. xxvii., 51; xxviil., 4; Heb. xii., 26.
This last takes us back to Hag. ii., 6, 7,
21, and onward to the time when He will
| eome in power and glory, not on an ass
| colt, but as a man of war upon the white
“Oh,” you say, ‘““‘what a |
horse, followed by all the armies of heaven
(Rev. xix., 11-16).
11. ‘““And the multitude said, This is
Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.”
But there was doubtless more in the testi-
mony of one Nathaniel than in a multitude
of these voices when he said: ‘Rabbi, thou
art the Son of God. Thou art the King of
Israel” (John i., 49). What does your own
heart say? What is He to you personally,
for He expects from every one an answer to
the question, What think ye of Christ? He
does not leok for viords merely, but for a
heart utterance.
12. “And Jesus went into the temple of
God and cast out all them that sold and
bought in the temple and overthrew the
tables of the money changers and the seats
of them that sold doves. Compare John
ii., 13-16. It is very significant and con-
tains a most heart searching lesson that
He should do the same thing both at the
beginning and end of His ministry. It re-
minds us that in us, who are temples of the
Holy Ghost, He desires truth in the inward
parts; that He wants hone of the entangle-
ments of this world in His people’s hearts,
but that our lives should make it manifest
that, though in the world, we are not of the
world, but citizens of heaven and here for
His service and pleasure only.
13. “And said unto them, It is written,
My house shall be called the house of
prayer, but ye have made it a den of
thieves.” Speaking of Christ in Heb. iii.,
6, the Spirit says, ‘Whose house are we?”
and in Eph. ii., 21, 22, “An holy temple in
the Lord, an habitation of God through
the Spirit,” are the names given to the
church, which is His body. The church
collectively and every believer individually
is a house in which the Spirit desires to
make constant prayer on the lines of Math.
ix., 88; Isa. Ixil., 6,-7, and Rev. xxii., 20,
but if, instead of being wholly given up to
Him for such prayer and corresponding
service, we are given over to selfishness
and worldliness and our own thoughts and
ways, are we not more guilty than Israel,
inasmuch as our privileges are greater,
being His body?
14. “And the blind and the Jame came to
| Him in the temple, end He healed them.”
Not to make money and gather substance
is the great thing in life, but to have to
give to those who need (Eph. iv., 28). To
be a means of bringing the grace of God
and the riches of His grace to those who
know it not and know him not—this is life
indeed. To be a channel of blessing from
the great and enly fountain (Jer. ii., 13),
to the poor and the perishing—this is
Christlike.
15. “And when the chief priests and
goribes saw the wonderful things that Ho
did and the children crying in the temple
and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David,
they were sore displeased.” Truly they
were the {lg tree with leaves only (verse
19), the troe that had been specially dealt
with for three years (Luke xili., 6-9), the
wicked husbandmen of Math. xxi., 38. Oh,
how patiently He had borne with theml
How He would have blessed them if they
had only been willing! But they would not.
They would have none of Him.
16. “And said unto Him, Hearest thou
what these say? And .esus saith unto
them, Yea, Have yo neve- read, Out of the
mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast
perfected praise?” I have wondered if they
were never ashamed as Ho repeatedly re-
ferred them to their own Scriptures, which
they prefessad to honor so, or were they
past all shame and dead to all but their
own thoughts and ways? They would not
let Him makes them children of God, and
yet they vainly thought that they were
such. So He left them and went out of the
city to Bethany and’ lodged there (verse
17).—Lesson Helper.
The Japanese Government has under
. consideration a plan for the establish-
ment of banks with foreign capital.
The plan, as outlined, is designed to
encourage foreigners to become inter-
ested in the support of industrial en-
terprises in Japan.
What struck a Fiume, Austria, ware-
house and set it on fire turns out to
have been a meteor. It was assumed to
have been lightning till a four-ton met-
eoric stone was found in a deep hole in
the cellar.
The largest proportion <Y¥ single per-
sons is found in Ireland and Scotland,
and the smallest in the United States.
In Irelard 67 per cent, in Scotland 6&5
per cent, but in the United States only
b9 per cent are in that condition.
The Belgian government offers a
prize of $10,000 to anyone who will dis-
cover a chemical that will take
place of white phosphorus in match-
making.
the.
KEYSTONE STATE NEWS CONDENSED
HEIRS DISSATISFIED.
Salvation Army Receives a Large Bequest
of Real Estate.
Charles Eaton, of Hickory township,
leaves in a few days for St. Paul,
Minn., to settle up a vast estate left by
his brother, who died about a year ago.
The brother, in his will, left $60,000 in
rcal estate to the Salvation army,
which portion of the will’ has been hot-
ly contested. An agreement has been
made whereby the Salvation army will
accept $10,000 and pay half the costs in
the case, Jonathan Eaton, another
brother, of Sharon, was cut off with
$1,000.
The following pensions were granted
last week: . W. P. Levy, Scalp Level,
$8; Peter Karleskind, Newville, Cum-
berland, $8; Thomas Barnes, Hunting:
don, 38; John T. Tarr, Hammondville,
$8 to 312; Andrew Dean, Uniontown, $2;
Samuel T. Reed, Tyrone, $8 to $12;
David Polard, Rimersburg, $8 to $12;
Christian Flannigan, Garland, $8 to $12;
Albert Roberts, Beliefonte, $6 to $S:
Charles B. Reddick, Allegheny, $12:
Anna Hucker, Pittsburg, $8: Anna I.
Glim, Hazelton, $8; Elizabeth ‘L.. Has-
ley, Allegheny, 3S; Matthew 8S. Mec-
Garvey, North Hope, Butler, $8: John
Wilson Shields, Gilpin, Indiana, $8;
Joseph L. Kerr, dead, Apollo, $6 to $12:
G. M. Reeser, Mehaffey, $12 to $14:
Adam Maize, Armstrong, Center, $6 tu
38; John P. Webb, Alexandria, Hun-
tingdon, $6 to $8; Charles Bowers
Bellefonte, $6 to $8; John A. Bruner
Ford City, $6 to $10; Zachariah Bliler,
Brookville, $8 to $10; Robert ¥. Law,
Horatio, $6 to $10; John T. Warden
Indiana, $8 to $10; Daniel” Hendricks.
Heshbon, $10 to $12; Jacob Bernett
Newry, $16 to $17; Christiana Bittner
Meyersdale, $12; Sarah. Ann Turner,
Julian, Center, $8; Susan Mitchell,
Kossuth, Clarion, 88; Nancy Stroup
Franklin, $8; Elizabeth Xerr, Apollo,
$8; Mexican war widow, Apoclina Hoh-
mann, Erie, $8; Robert M. Dunn, Rew,
McKean, $6; William Reynolds-
ville, $6; Abraham J. Riggle, Coyleville
Butler, $6 to $8; W. Wagner, Pittsburg,
$6 to $10; Money C. Zeigler, Shade Gap
Huntingdon, $8 to $10; Franklin Crise
Kecksburg, $8 to $10; William Mec-
Haffey, McKeesport, $6 to Miers
Powell, Smiths Ferry, $8 to 2; John
T. McCandless, Euclid, Butler, $12;
John Doty, Rochester Mills, Indiana.
$10; Andrew J. Gosser, Irwin, $6 to $12;
Mary G. Kruger, Renova, $8; Lucinda
Mitchell, Nolo, Indiana, $12; Huldah
Spricer, Confluence, $8; Hannah Adams
Milledgeville, Mercer, $3; Rebecca L.
Henderson, Black Gap, Franklin, $12;
Barbara Teeter, Mother, New IEnter-
prise, Bedford, $12; Margaret A. Fan-
saught, Pittsburg, $8; Rosilla Mahoney,
Carbondale, $12.
Deputy Attorney General W. BF.
Reeder, at the request of the Center
county commissioners, handed down an
opinion regarding the right of tax as-
sessors to assess ore and other mineral
rights to an individual or corporation
when the land covered by the right is
assessed to another party. General
Reeder holds that the commissioners
have the right to do so, and that it is
obligatory on them to have all such
rights assessed, and that such taxes
san be collected the same as any other
tax on real estate.
John J. Laue, an cil man at Sample,
in attempting to alight from a freight
train the other day, was thrown be-
neath the wheels in such a manner as
to grind his entire left arm into a
quivering mass. Laue was dragged in
this mangled condition for some dis-
tance and hurled into a stream. His
desperate struggles in attempting tc
keep his head above water attracted a
passerby and he was rescued. Hopes
are entertained cf his recovery.
The northbound passenger train on
the Pittsburg & Lake Irie road col-
lided with the New Castle branch pas-
senger at New Castle Junction the
sther afterncon. The branch train was
sn the siding and the wreck was due to
an open switch. The main line train,
due at 3:42, crashed into it, wrecking
both engines. Several people were in-
jured, but none seriously. The road
was blocked for an hour. Both en-
gineers and firemen jumped.
A shooting affray betwen two colored
men, which may result in murder, cc-
curred the other night at Gallitzin.
Robert Barber— was shot three times
by George Clark, alias “Roving Jack,”
and is at the hospital at Altoona in a
bad condition. Clark escaped. Barber
says Clark came to his room when he
was asleep, aroused him and began
shooting. The trouble was the result
of an old feud.
Secretary of Agriculture Edge has
been conducting a quiet test of the milk
supply of Pittsburg and Philadelphia
and the report ¢f the former examina-
tion has been filed. Samples were se-
tected from the milk at farms, dairies,
railroad depots, milk wagons, groceries
and restaurants, and the conciusion
reached. that Pittsburg has - furnished
the poorest sample found anywhere in
the Statue,
Fire at the mineral spring resort of
Saegertown Tuesday morning desiroy-
ed Porter's carriage shop, loss $12,000;
Appleby’s jewelry store, building: and
stock, loss $5,000; Hornschenn &- By-
ham’s undertaking and furniture store
loss $500; Mrs. Miller's dwelling house,
{oss $2,000. The total loss above insur-
ance will be $20,000. The big hotels nar-
rowly escaped the flames.
Philip Brandt, 26 years old, a brake-
nian on ‘the C. C. & Y., railroad, was
run over by the caboose of his train at
Pittsburg and cut entirely in two. The
body was found: by fellow-workingmen
jast Saturday. Brandt leaves a widow
and one child. Mrs. Drandt’s first hus-
band was killed in the same manner
and almost in the same place some
years ago.
Harry, a 2-year-old son of Frank
Truesdale, of. Shenango township,
wkile playing about a horse the other
morning, received injuries that will
likely cause his death. The animal
kicked him in the face. His jawbone
was broken in a half dozen places, sev-
eral teeth were knocked out and his
lips and nose were frightfully cut.
Miss Mary Solomecn, employed at the
Hotel Simpson, at New Castle, was
found in bed a few days ago suffer-
ing intensely from poison. She was un-
conscious. - There is no evidence that
she took the poison with suicidal in-
tent, and the case is wrapped in mys-
tery. She cannot live.
Near Webster, a few days ago, Ar-
chie Keltz was shot in the neck by
Dick Speer while shooting at a mark
and may not recover.
Thomas Robinson of Butler has re-
signed, on account of ill-health, as su-
perintendent of public printing
Thomas M. Jones, a Harrisburg news-
paper man, succeeds him.
Griest & Graham suffered a $2,500
loss by fire at their lime works at
Carbon, Lawrence county, following
~lozely on an incline wreck that caused
$3.000 damage.
Because her will was nct drawn thir-
ty days prior to death the bequest of
$1,000 made by Mrs. Rhue Hull to the
Greenville Presbyterian church is said
to be invalid. g
A man named Irwin, a stranger, 30
years old, was found unconscious sad
nearly drowned in a bathtub in a bar-
har shon in Butlee tha athir dw.
>
ee,
is
| fully arranged ‘stars, are manufactured
«by flag-making firms and by every sail
MAKING THE
$ SKK
HOAX
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HOGI
It is an excellent time to talk about
ags, particularly the American flag—
the finest of them all. It takes an in-
credible number of them to supply the
annual demands of the nation.
Nobody knows how many are made.
There is one firm in Elizabeth street,
says the New York World, that msnu-
factures more than 150,000,000 each
year, and there are scores of other
makers in this country. From which
it may be inferred that there are half
a dozen flags made annually for each
man, woman and child in the United
States.
Of course the majority of these flags
are little affairs three inches long and
two inches wide, which sell for twenty-
seven cents a gross. They are printed:
on muslin and are turned out by the
million. Cheap muslin flags are made
pix feet long and forty inches wide.
The good flags, those made of bunt-
oF)
ing, sewed toggther, and with care-
oie
3
m
and awning maker in the country.
~ STAR-SPANGLED BANNER.
HOW PRETTY MAIDS AND OLD SALT SEA DOGS WORK
: UPON THE GLORIOUS EMBLEM.
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The most interesting place where
flags are made is Building No. 7 in the |
Brooklyn Navy-Yard. There every!
flag used in the United States navy is |
made. There are the various United |
States flags, signal flags, pennants, en- |
signs, flags of high officials, from the |
President of the United States down, !
and the flags of forty-three foreign |
nations. Wherefore it will be seen
that the flag outfitof a United States
warship is pretty extensive.
Just now the workers under James
Crimmins, master flagmaker, are very
busy. Nowhere are flags so carefully
made. Every star, stripe, bar and
device is measured to geometrical ac-
curacy, and each flag must stand a
strength test. They are being turned
out at the rate of 100 a week.
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turesque workers. Theyare two old
sailors, and expert sailmakers. It is
their business to put on the finishing
touches—the rings, the tape that adds
strength, and many other things.
They wear a white canvas uniform,
use the queer sailmakers’ thimble and
talk in a fascinating sea jargon.
Directly the flags are finished they
must be measured. Triangles,
squares and stars of polished brass
mark off the floor. If a flag is an
inch or two out of the way it is re-
jected. The width of an American
ensign must be ten-nineteenths of its
length. The largest flag made at the
Navy Yard is thirty-six feet long and
nineteen feet wide.
The foreign flags give the greatest
trouble. Some of the designs are ex-
tremely intricate and the colors are us
PRETTY GIRLS WHO MAKE
THE STARS AND STRIPES.
The bunting is made in Massachu-
jetts. It is entirely of wool and of the
best quality. It must have so many
threads and a fixed tensile strength.
The colors must be fast.
The stripes are cut out just as cloth-
ing is cut, in many layers at a time,
by means of a circular knife that is
kept as sharp as a razor. Then they
nre sent to the sewing-room, where
skillful young women sew the stripes
‘ogether and place the blue field in
slace.
The stars are cut out thirty at a
Ame by means of a cold chisel and a
big iron-bound mallet. Folds of
goods, smoothly woven, of a standard
grade, ave laid in yard lengths, thirty
thicknesses together, on a large
square block made of cubes of oak,
put together with the grain running
in different directions. A metal star,
used as a model, is placed onthe mus-
lin and carefully marked around with
a lead pencil. Then the workman
places his chisel on the pencil line
AN OLD SALT MAKING THE NAVAL MILITIA
FLAG.
and drives it through. A few blows
and a constellation of thirty snowy
stars are released.
The sewing of the stars upon the
blue field is very exacting work.
There are ninety stars on eack flag,
forty-five on either side, and they are
put on so evenly and carefully that
when the flag is held up to the light
there appears to be but one star. The
stitching is -wonderfully even and
dainty,
The flagmakers are the most pic-
Josepl’s coat. At one time these de:
signs were painted, bu: they didn’t
last. Now the color is cut out by it-
self and sewed in place. It requires
expert needlewomen-to do this work.
One of the most difficult flags to
make is that of China. It is triangular
in shape, a brilliant yellow, with @
black, open-mouthed dragon crawling
about. One of the most beautiful
flags is that of the President of the
United States. It has the coat-of-
arms of the nation on g-blue field, sur-
rounded with stars. The eagle is
white, and the shield he holds is
properly colored:
There has been a deal of dispute
over the evolution of the American
flag. ‘When the Revolutionary War
broke out the flags used by the colo-
nists were English ensigns, bearing
the Union Jack, upof which were
written ‘‘Liberty and Union” or other
similar expressions.. Then were de-
veloped the Pine-Tree flag, the Rat-
tlesnake flag and many others.
The American ensign was adopted in
777 by the Continental Congress.
There is a dispute as to the significance
of the flag. The explanation accepted as
the most probable is thAt the blue
field is intended to represent the
night of affliction that in 1777 sur-
rounded the thirteen States, which
were typified by the white stars ar-
arranged in a circle, signifying the
endless duration of the new Nation,
"while the stripes were chosen out of
compliment to New York and the
Dutch Republic, and were a compli-
ment to Republican principles. :
The number of stripes symbolized
the thirteen States, the first and thir-
teenth, both red, representing New
Hampshire and Georgia respectively.
General Washington was a member of
the committee appointed to design a
flag. Mrs. John Ross, of Philadel-
phia, made the first flag. She de-
signed the five-pointed star.
John Paul Jones put the new flag
to the first public use. He ran it up
to the masthead of the Ranger. The
flag, strangely enough, had byt twelve
stars, probably due to a blunder.
Jones had the same flag ox the Bon
Homme Richard.
Of course everybody knows that
each star in the flag represents a
State, and that for two years the en-
sign had fifteen stripes; the addi-
tional one representing Vermont and
Kentucky. The flag has been un-
changed, save for the adding of stars,
since 1818. -