STRNONS BY EMINENT DIVES Subject: “Pleasures of Life’'—tns No Sym- pathy With the Wholesale Denuncia- tion of Amusements—Gl!orious Work of the Y. M. C. A, ; Text: ‘“And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson ont of the prison- house and he made them sport.” —Judges 16:25. : There were three thousand people assem- bled in the Temple of Dagon. They had come to make sport of eycless Samson. They were all ready for the entertainment. “They began to clap and pound, impatient for the amusement to begin, and they «ried, “Fetch him out! Fetch him out!” Yonder I see the blind old giant coming, led by the hand of a child into the very midst of the temple. At his first appear- ance there goesup a shout of laughter and «derision, The blind old giant pretends he is tired and wants to rest himself against the pillars of the house, so he says to the iad who leads him, “Bring me where the main pillars are.” The lad does so. Then the strong man puts his hands on one of the pillars, and, with the mightiest push that morta! ever made, throws himself for- ward until the whole house comes down in thunderous crash, grinding the audience lika grapes in a wine-press. ‘And so. it cameto pass when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison-house: and he made them sport.” In otner words there ‘are amusements that are destructive and bring down disaster and death upon the heads of those who praetice them. While they laugh and cheer, they die. The three thousand who perished that day in Gaza are nothing compared to the tens of thou- sands who have been destroyed body, mind and soul by bad amusements and good amusements carried to excess. In my sermons you must have notized that I have no sympathy with ecclesiasti- cal strait-jackets, or with that wholesale denunciation of amusements to which many are pledged. I believe the Church of God bas made a tremendous mistake in trying to suppress the sportfulness of youth and drive out from men their love of amuse- ment. If God ever implanted anything in us He implanted this desire. But instead of providing for this demand of our nature, the Church of God has for the main part ignored it. Asin a riot the Mayor plantsa battery at the end of the street and has it tired off, so that everything is cut down that happens to stand in the range, the good as well as the bad, so there dire men in the chureh who plant the batteries of <ondemnation and fire away indiserimin- ately. Everything is condemned. They talk as if they would like to have our youth «ress in blue uniform like the children of an orphan asylum, and march down the path of life to the tune of the Dead Mareh in Saul. hey hate a blue sash, or a rose- bud in the hair, or a tasseled gaiter, and think a man almost ready for a lunatic asyium who utters a conundrum. Young Men's Christian Associations of the country are doing a glorious work. They have fine reading rooms,. and all the influences are of the best kind, and are now adding gymnasiums and bowling al- leys, where, without any evil surroundings, our young men may get physical as well as spiritualimprovement. We are dwindling away to a narrow-chested, ‘weak-armed, feeble-voiced race, when God calls us to a work in which he wants physical as well as spiritual athletes. 1 would to God that the time might soon come when in all our colleges and theological seminaries, as at Princeton, a gymnasium shall be estab- lished, We spend. seven years of hard study in preparation for the ministry, and come out with bronchitis and dyspepsia and liver complaint. and then crawlup into the pulpit, and the people say, ““Doesn’t he look heavenly!” because he looks sickly. Let the Church of God direet, rather than attempt to suppress, the desire for amuse- ment. The best men that the world ever knew have had their sports. William Wil- berforce trundled hoop with his children, Martin Luther helped dress the Christmas tree. Ministers have pitehed quoits, phil- -anthropists have gone a-skating, prime ministers have played bail. . Our communities are fllled with men and women who have in their souls unmeas- ured resources for sportfulnessand frolie, Show me a man who never lights up with sportfulness and hasno sympathy with the recreations of others, and I will show you a. man who is a stumbling block to the Kingdom of God. Such men are caricatures of religion. They lead young people to think that a man is good in proportion as he groans and frowns and looks sallow,and that the height of a man’s Christian stature is in proportion to the length of his face. I would trade off five hundred such men for one bright-faced, radiant Christian on whose face are the words, “Rejoice ever- more!” Every morning by his cheerful face he preaches fifty sermons. I will go further and say that I have no confidence ina man who makes a religion of his gloomy looks. ‘That kind of a man always turns out badly. I would not want him for the treasurer of an orphan asyium. The orphans would suffer. Among forty peopie whom I received into the church at one communion, thers was only one applicant of whose piety I was suspicious. He had the longest story to tell; had seen the most visions, and gave an experience so wonderful that ‘all the other applicants were discouraged. I was not surprised the year after to learn that he had run off with the funds of the bank with which he was connected. Who is this black angel that you call religion—wings black, feet black, feathers black? Our re- ligion is a bright angel—feet bright, eyes bright, wings bright, taking her place in the soul. She pulls a rope that reaches to the skies and sets all the bells of heaven a-chiming., There are some persons who, when talking to a minister, always feel it politic to look lugubrious. Go forth, O people, to your lawfu!amusement. God means you to be happy. 3ut, when there are many sources of innocent pleasure, .why tamper with anything that is danger- ous and polluting? Why stop our ears to a heaven full of songsters to listen to the hiss of a dragon? Why turn back from the mountain-side all abloom with wild flowers and adash with the nimble tor- rents, and with blistered fest attempt to climb the hot sides of Cotopaxi? Now, all opera houses, theatres, bowling alleys, skating rinks and all styles of amusements, good and bad, I put on trial to-day and judge of them by certain ear- dinal principles. First, you judgeof any amusement by its heathful result or by its beneficial reaction. There arc people who seem made up of hard facts, They are a combination of multiplication tables and statistics, If you show them an exquisite picture they will begin to discuss the pig- ments involved in the coloring; if you show them a beautiful rose, they will submit it to a botanical analysis, which i3 only the ostmortem examination of a flower. hey never do anything nore than feebly smile. There are no great tides of feeling surging up from the depth of their-soulin billow after billow of reverberating laugh- ter. They seem as if nature had built them by contract and made a bungling job out of it. But, blessed be God, there are people in the world who have bright faces and whose life is a song, an anthem, a pean of vietory. Even their troubles are like the vines that crawl up the side of a great tower on the top of which the sun- light sits and the soft airs of summer hold perpetual carnival. They are the peoples you like to have come to your house; they are the people I like to have come to my house. Now, it is these exhilarant and sympathetic and warm-hearted people that are most tempted to pernicious amuse- ments, In proportion as a ship is swift it wants a strong helmsman; in proportion as a hocse is gay it wants a strong driver; and these people of exuberant nature will do well to look at the reaction of all their amusements. If an amusement sends you home at night nervous so you cannot sleep, and you rise in the morning, not: because vou are slept out, but beeause vour duty drags you from your slumbers, you been where you ought not to have been. There are amusements that send a man next day to his work bloodshot, yawning, stupid, nauseated, and they are wrong kinds of amusements. There are entertain- ments that give a man disgust with the drudgery of life, with tools because they are not swords, with working aprons be- cause they are not robes, with cattle because they are not infuriated bnlls of the arena. If any amusement sends you home longing for a life of romance and thrilling adven- ture, love that takes poison and shoots it- self, moonlight adventures and hair- breadths escapes, you may depend upon it that you are the sacrificed victim of un- sanctifled pleasure. Our recreations are intended to build us up, and if they pull us down as to our moral or as to our physical strength, you may come to the conelusion that they are obnoxious. Still further: Those amusements are wrong which lead into expenditure beyond your means. Money spent in recreation is not thrown away. Itis all folly for us to come from a place of amusement feeling that we have wasted our money and time. You may by it have made an investment worth more than the transaction that yielded you a hundred or a thousand dol- lars. But how many properties have been riddled by costly amusement? The table has been robbed to pay the club. The champagne has cheated the children’s wardrobe. The carousing party has burned up the boy’s primer. corner<saloon is in debt to the wife’s faded dress. Excursions that in a day mnake' a whose lifetime business it is tc ‘“‘go shop- ping,” have their counterpart in uneduca- ted children, bankruptcies that shock the money market and appall the church, and that send drunkenness staggering across therichly figured carpet of the mansion and dashing into the mirror, and drowning out the carol of music with the whooping of bloated sons ¢ome home to break their.old mother’s heart. when men go into amuse- ments that they cannot afford, they first borrow what they cannot earn, and then they steal what they cannot borrow. Tir:t they go into embarrassment and then into theft, and when a man gets as far on as that he does not stop short of the peniten- tiary. There is not a prison in the land where there are not victims of unsanctifled amusements. How often I have had par- ents come to me and ask me to go and beg their boy off from the consequence of crimes that he hal committed against his employer—the taking of funds-out of the employer's till, or the disarrangement of accounts! Why, he had salary enough to pay all lawful expenditure, but not enough salary sto meet his sinful amusements. And acain and again I have gone and im- plored for the young man—sometimes, alas! the petition unavailing. How brightly the path of unrestrained amusement opens! The younzs man says: “Now I am oif for a good time. Never | to the right, others to the left. have | soul at The table cloth of the tour around a whole month’s wages; ladies | ofthe sea, For curtains, the leaves rolled together as a seroll, Fortragedy, the doom of the destroved. For farce, the effort to serve the world and God at the same time, For the last scene of the fifth act, the tramp of nations across the stage--some Again, any amusement that gives you a distaste for domestic life is bad. How many bright domestic circles have been broken up by sinful amusements? The father went off, the mother went off, the child went off. There are all around us the fragments of blastad households. Oh! if you have wan- dered away, I would like to charm you back by the sound of that one word, “Home.” Do you not know that you have but little more time to give to domestic welfare? Do you not see, father, that your children are soon to go out into the world, and all the influence for good you are to have over them you must have now? Death will break in on vour conjugal relations, and, alas! if you have to stand over the grave of c¢cne who perished from your neg- lect. Jet me say to all yonnz men, your style of amusement will decide your eternal destiny. One night T saw a young man at a streot corner evidently doubting as to whieh direction he had better take. He had his hat lifted high enough so you could see he had an intelligent forehead. He had a stout chest; he had a robust de- velopment. Splendid young man. Cultured young man. Honored young man. Why did he stop there while so many were go- ing up and down? The faet iz that every man has a good angel and a bad angel contending for the mastery of his spirit. And there was a good angel and a bad angel strugeling with that young man’s the corner of the street. *‘‘Come with me,” said the good angel, “I will take you home. I will spread my wing over your pathway. I will lovingly eseort you all through life. I will bless every cup von drink out of, every couch you rest on, every doorway svou enter. I will conse- crate your tears when ‘you weep, your sweat when you toil, and at the last I will hand over your grave into the hand of the bright angel of a Christian resurrec- tion. In answerto your father’s petition and your mother’s prayer I have been sent of the Lord out of Heaven to be your guar- dian spirit. Come with me!” said the good angel, in a voice of unearthly symphony, It was musie like that which drops from a lute of Heaven when a seraph breathes on it. ‘No, no,” said the bad angel, “come with me; I have something better to offer; the wines I pour are from chalices of be- witching earousal; the dance I lead is over floor tessellated with unrestrained indul- genees; there is no God to frown on the temples of sin where I worship. The skies are Italian. The paths I tread arethrough meadows daisied and primaosed; come with with me.” The young man hesitated at a time when hesitation was ruin, and the bad anzel smote the good angel until it de- parted, spreading wings through the starlight upward and away, untii a door flashed open in the sky and forever the wings vanished. That was the turning point in that young man’s history; forthe good angel flown, he hesitated no longer, but started on a pathway which is beauti- ful at tho opening, but blasted at the last. mind economy; I'll get money What a fire road! What a beautiful day for a ride! Crack the whip and over the turnpike! Come, boys, fll high your glasses! Drink! Long life, health, plenty ot rides just like this!” Hard-working men hear the clatter of the hoofs and look up and say, “Why, I wonder where those fellows get their money from. We have to toil and drudge. They do nothing.’ To these gay men life is a thrill and an excitement. They stave at other people and in turn are stared at. The watc¢h-chain jingles. The cup foams. The cheeks flush, the eyes flash. The midnight bears their guffaw. They swagger. They jostle decent men off the sidewalk. They take the name of God in vain. They parody the hymn they learned at their mother’s knee; and to ail pictures of coming disaster they cry out: “Who cares!” and to the eounsel of some Christian friend, “Who are you?’ Passing along the street some: night you hear a shriek in a grog-shop, the rattle of the watechman’s club, the rush of the police. What is the matter new? Ol, this reciless voung man has been killed in a grog-shop fight. Carry him home to his father’s house. Parents will come down and wash his wounds and close his eyes in death. They forgive him all he did, though he cannot in his silence ask it. The prodigal has got home at last. Mother will go to her little garden and get the flowers and twist them into a chaplet for the silent heart of the wayward boy and push back from the bloated brow the long locks that were once her pride. And the air will be rent with the father’s ery: “Oh, my son, my son, my poor son; would God I had died for thee, oh, my son, my son!” You may judge of amusements by their effect upon physical health. The need of many good people is physical recupera- tion. There are Christian men who write hards things against their immortal souls when there is nothing the matter with them except an incompetent liver. There are Christian people who seem to think it is a good sign to be poorly, and because Richard Baxter and Robert Hall were in- valids they think by the same sickness they may come to the same grandeur of charag- ter. I want to tell Christian people that mehow. through right exercise and prudence you might bo athletic aud well. The effect of the body upon the soul you acknowledge. Put a man of mild disposition upon the an- imal diet of which the Indtan partakes, and in a little while his blood will change its chemical proportions. It will become like unto the blood of the lion or the tiger or the bear, while his disposition will change and become flerce, cruel and unrelenting. The body has a powerful effect upon the soul. There ara people whose ideas of Heaven are all shut out with clouds of to- bacco smoke. There are people who dare to shatter the physical vase in which God put the jewel of eternity. There are men with great hearts and intellects in bodies worn out by their own neglects. Magnificent machinery capable of propelling the great Etruria across the Atlantic, yet fastened in a rickety North River propeller. Physical development which merely shows itself in a fabulous lifting, or in perilous rope walk- ing, or in pugilistic encounter, excites only our contempt, but we confess to great admiration for a man who has a great soul in an athletic body, every nerve, muscle and bone of which is consecrated to right uses. Oh, it seems to me outrageous that men through neglect should allow their physical health to go down beyond repair, spending the rest of their lives not in some great enterprise for God and the world, but in studying what is the best thing to take for dyspepsia. A ship which ought with all sails set and avery man at his post to .be carrying a rich cargo for eternity employing all its men in stopping up leak- ages! When you may through some of the popular and healthful recreations of our time work off your spleen and your quer- ulousness and one-half of your physical and mental ailments, do not turn back from such a grand medicament. Again, judge of the places of amusement by the companionship into which they put you. If you belong to an organization where you have to associate with the in- temperate, with the unclean, with the abandoned, however well they may be dressed, in the name of God quit it, . They will despoil your nature, They will under- mine your morahcharacter. They will dgop you when you are destroyed. They will not give one cent to support your children when you are dead. They will weep not one tear at your burlal. They will chuckle over your damnation. But the day comes when the men who have exerted evil influ- ence upon their fellows will be brought to judgment. Scene: the last day. Stage: the rocking earth. Enter dukes, lords, kings, beggars, clowns. No sword. No tinsel. No crown. For footlights, the kindling {lames of a world. For orchestra, the trumpets that wake the dead. For gallery, the clouds filled with angel spec- tators. For applause, the clapping floods sweetest | | is the worm that never dies!” God will hold you responsible for your in- | validism if it is your own fault, and when The bad angel, leading the way, opened gate after gate, and at each gate the road became rougher and the sky more lurid, and, what was peculiar, as. the gate slammed shut it came to with a jar that indicated that it would never open. Passed cach portal, there was a grinding of locks and ashoving of bolts: and the scenery on either side the road changed from gardens to deserts, and the June air became a cut- ting December blast, and the bright wings of the bad angzei turned to sackeloth and the eyes of the light hecame hollow with hopeless grief, and the fountains, that at the start © had tossed wine, poured forth bubbling tears and foaming blood, and on the right side of the road there was a serpent, and the man said to the bad angel, “What is that serpent?” and tho answer was, ‘That is the serpent of sting- ing remorse.” On the left side of the road there was a lion, and the man asked the bad angel, “What is that lion?” and the answer was. ‘“‘“Thatis thelion of all-devour- ing despair.” A vulture flew through the sky, and the man asked the bad angel, “What is that vulture?” and the answer was, “That is the vulture waiting for the carcasses of the slain.” And then the man becan to try to pull off of him the folds of something that had wound him round and round, and he said to the bad angel, “What is it that twists me in this awful convolution?” and the answer was, “That and then the man said to the bad angel, “What does all this mean? Itrusted in what you said atthe corner of the street that night; I trusted it all, and why have you thus deceived me?” Then the last deception fell off the char- mer, and it said: “I was sent forth from the pit to destroy your soul; I watched my chance for many a long year; when you hesitated that night on the street I gained my trinmph; and now you are here. Ha! ha! You are here.. Come, now, let us fill these two chali of flre and drink to- gotherto darkness and woe and death. Hail! hail!” Oh, young man, will the good angel sent forth by Christ, orthe bad angel sent forth by sin, get the victory over your soul? Their wings are interlocked this moment above you, contending for your destiny, as above the Appennines eagle and condor fight mid-sky. ‘T'his hour may de- cide your destiny, God help youl! To hesitate is to die! ENORMOUS WHEAT CROP, Unless the Conditions Now and Harvest Time. Change Detween The Government returns of the growing wheat crop, issued by the United States Department otf Agriculture, Washington, announce a total area sown to wheat of | 43,000,000 acres and a condition for spring wheat on June 1 of 100.9, and for winter wheat on the same date of 90.8. The con- dition ot oats on June 1 was stated at 98, the condition of rye at 97, and the condition THE SHBBATH-SGHOOL LESSON. * INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS FOR JULY 3. Lesson Text: “The Kingdom Divided,” Y Kings xii., 16-25—=Golden Text: Prov, XV., le=Commentary on the Day’s Les- son by the Rev. D. M, Stearns, 16. “What portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse; to your tents, O Israel, Now seeto thine house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.” ~~ This was the result of the refusal of Rehoboam, the son of Solo- mon, to make the grievous, service of his father lighter for the people, but it was all under God’s overruling to fulfill His word by Ahijah the prophet (verse 15 and chap- ter xi.. 30, 31). Because of Solomon’s sin in forsaking the Lord’ and worshiping idols he was to lose ten parts of the king- dom, one tribe only being reserved for David's sake that he might have alight alwavs befors God in Jerusalem (chapter xi., 31-36). It was the purpose of the Lord that the twelve tribes should be one na- tion, a wholly righteous nation. in the land given to their fathers, and His purpose stands unchanged, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, and every purpose of the Lord shall be performed, but He sees the end from the beginning and is, through all seeming discouragements, patiently working out His plan (Rom. xi., 29: Isa. xiv., 24: xlvi., 9-11; Ix., 21: Ezek. XXXvii., 22). 17. “But as for the children of Israel whieh dwelt in the cities of Judah, Reho- boam reigned over them.” Judah was David’s tribe, to which he belonged; and the Son of David, who is to restore all things of which the prophets have spoken, is called the Tiion of Judah and also the Root of David, for He is David’s son as well as David’s Lord (Acts iii., 21; Rev. v., 5; xxii., 16). Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler (I Chron. v., 2). It was well for Benjamin that they were willing to stay with Judah, even though seemingly absorbed in the one tribe of which the Lord spake. 18. “Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute, and all Is- raol stoned him with stones that he died.” This Adoram seems to be the same as Adoni- ram of chapters iv., 6; v., 14. Perhaps by sending for the tribute Rehoboam was test- ing them to see if they had really revolted. The result must have thoroughly convinced him, but it was an expensive test for the collecter. Not different, however, from that of Stephen, who for the sake of the Son of David was also stoned to death. 19. “*So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day.” In II Kings xvii., 21, it is said that ‘He rent Israel from the house of David, and Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord.” Jeroboam might “have been blessed and made a blessing if only ha had been willing to keep the coms mandments of God and to walk in His ways. But out of his own heart he devised evil things and established idolatry in Israel 28,729, 33). 20. “And it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again that they sent and called him unto the congre- gation and made him king over all Israel.” Jerohoam was a widow’s son and one of Solomon’s servants, who had been promo- ted because of his industry. But when the Lord told Solomon of the division of the kingdom because of his sin then he sought to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to Egypt and was there till Solomon disd (chapter xi. 28, 40). . 21. ‘And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem he assembled all the house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men.” In II Chron. xi., 1,it is said that this army was from Judah and Benjamin, and in both passages it says that the ob- ject was to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam. This, however, was not God’s way, and therefore the army wasina sense a vain array of power. We read of another king who hired 100,000 mighty men and paid them a hundred talents of silver, but was not allowed to use them, for they were not in God’s plan. 22. “But the word of God came unto Shemarah, the man of God, saying, The name of this man of God signifles Hear- ing Jehovah,” and a true man of God is, one who hears only the Lord and delivers His messages as faithfully as Samuel did the Lord’s message to Eli. He that hath my word Jet him speak My word faithfully is a good message for every man and wom- an of God (Jer. xxiii., 28), Thenext chap- ter (I Kings xiii.) is in some respects the greatest “Man of God” chapter in the Bi- ble, for in it tho title is used not less than fourteen times, and it teaches us that we turn from what God says to listen even to, an angel bearing a contrary message we may be set aside as witnesses. Compare Gal. 1., 8. 23. “Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people.” Tho messages of God are plain, and those for whom they are intended are clearly designated (Deut. xxvii., 8; Hab. ii., 2). See also Hag. 1i., 4, and note carefully the beginnings of all the epistles; note also in the utterances of our Lord Jesus Christ the persons to whom He is speaking, and you will see among other things that the much misquoted words “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke xvil., 20, 21) were never said to disciples, but to murderous Pharisees thirsting for His blood, and we must therefore take them as in the margin or thé =. V. rather i than as in our A. V. text. 24. “Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel. Return every man to his house; for this thingis from Me.” They hearkened and obeyed and did well in so doing, for obedience always brings bless- of barley at 78.8. Wheat’s showing is a remarkable one, and it the present promise could be main- tained until harvest the result would be a “record.” J.C. Brown, statistician of the New York Produce Exchange, calculated that the figures indicate a total wheat crop of 637,300,000 bushels—366,800,000 bushels of winter wheat and 270,500,000 bushels of spring wheat. The record wheat crop of the country heretofore has been 611,780,000 bushels in 1891, preceding the good trade year of 1892, The wheat crop of 1897 was 530,149,000 bushels and of 1S96, 427,684,000 bushels. As stated by the Department of Agricul- ture the preliminary returns of the spring wheat acreage, with the two Dakotas in particular subject to revision, indicate a total area seeded of 16,800,000 acres, which, added to an area in winter wheat of 26,200,- 000 acres, makes a total wheat area of = 43,000,000 aeres, or about 3,500,- 000 acres more than last year. There was an increase of 8 per cent. in Minnesota, 22 in Iowa, 10 in Nebraska, 11 in North Dakota, 8in S8outh Dakota, 5 in Oregon and 20 in Washington. The average con- dition of winter wheat—90.8— is to be com- pared with 78.5 at the corresponding date last year and 81.6, the average for the last ten years. The principal averages are: New York, 98; Pennsylvania, 96: Maryland, 98; Tennessee, 93; Kentucky, 99; Ohio, 87; Michi- gan, 97; Indiana, 95; Missouri, 96; Kansas, 104, and California, 33. The average condition of spring wheat— 100.9—is almost, if not entirely, unpre- cedented. It compares with 89.6 on June 1, 1897, and 92.5, the average for the past ten years. Nearly all the States of princi- pal production report a condition exceed- ing that indicative of a full normal crop, North Dakota reporting 104; South Dakota, 103; Nebraska, 105; Towa, 102; Minnesota, 100; Oregon, 101, and Washington, 97. To Insure Cattle. The Swiss canton of Berne will adopt an oldecial system of insurance for the 276,409 head of cattle in the canton. The maxi- mum value of a2 cow is estimated at £160, ings (Isa. i., 19). Man’s goings are of the | Lord; how can a man then understand his own way. O Lord, I know the way of man | is not in himself; it isnot in man that walk- eth to direct his steps. A man’s heart de- viseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps (Jer. x,, 23; Prov. xvi.,, 9; xx., 24). When Laban pursued Jacob with evil in- tent, the Lord appeared to him and stopped his evil purposes. Even satan had to con- fess that God had a hedge about Job through which he could not pass. Surely we will be quiet if we believe Rom. viii., 28, 32, and Ps. xxxii., 8. 25. “Then Jeroboam bullt Shechem in Mount Ephraim and dwelt therein, and went out from thence and built Penuel.” Shechem means ‘‘shoulder” and suggests Deut. xxxiil., 12, and Isa. ix., 6, 7, and enuel means ‘‘the face of God,” but Jero- ni knew neither the one nor the other, for he turned away from the face of God and felt that he must manage things if they were to go right, according to his views. The very next verse shows that he did not believe God, and therefore he could not be established. See II Chron, xx., 20, and Isa. vii.. 9.—Lesson Helner. There has been a rise in the market prices of wives in Natal, South Africa. Before the rinderpest killed so many cattle the quotation w 11 head of cattle, valued at 33 pounds; but 11 head now represent 132 pounds. It is being urged that the Government should fix three head as the price of a wife for the present, and should make it a rule that the money equivalent may be paid where cattle are unprocurable. A French sea captain living in the rue d'Alesia in Paris kept a savage orang outang as a pet in his rooms and refused to.chain him up. During his absence recently a burglar entered the house, was tackled by the ape, which bit him horribly and tried to strangle him, but was rescued by people who heard his cries. for help. On being taken to the hospital the burglar went niad. Qo | from Dan to Bethel (chapters xi;; 38; xii; 29500000000000800 @ THE REALM OF FASHION. & Commended to the Tall, Thin Sisterhood No material is at once more soft, lustrous and durable than genuine Liberty silk. The full waist shown in this illustration by May Manton is i ol LADIES’ WAIST. all in soft cream white without figures of any sort. But all plain colors, as well as flowered designs, and the whole range of thin silks, musling and organdies, are equally well suited to the style, which is especially to be commended to the tall, thin sister- hood to whom folds and {frills are both welcome and becoming. The foundation is a fitted lining which closes at the centre front. On it are mounted the full back and fronts which are puffed to yoke depth and which close at the left shoulder and side beneath the full scarf. The latter is simply straight and full. The two sections are seamed to the arm’s-eyes and are brought (FUR) ) N NATL @ E0000 0e of their coloring makes them very ap- propriate in the summer. National Colors Little Worn. Tt is not clear what has or will be- come of the red, white and blue art- icles of feminine clothing and orna- ments shown so lavishly in the stores. Belts, hat bands, neckties and pocket- books are conspicuously displayed for sale. But so rarely are they worn now that promenaders feel privileged to right-about-face and stare frankly at a- woman who has chosen one or another of them as essential to her costume. Bicycle Convenience For Wheelwomen. The cycling -woman who does not care to carry bundles and bags on her wheel has up-to-date handles. They are made for bars one inch in diame- ter and outwardly are indistinguish- able from ordinary cork and celluloid handles; on unscrewing the ends one discovers a little transparent celluloid oiler in' one, and in the other a com- plete - tire repairing outfit. = Thus equipped the wheelwoman can be as independent as she pleases. ; Slippers For the Bedside. Leather bedside slippers can very easily be made at home. The leather is of any color that is desired, and it is often a very gay one, and is mount- ed over the toe of a lamb’s wool in- sole. A bit of fur finishes the edge, and thus is evolved a comfortable toe slipper. - A comparatively small piece of the skin makes two or three pairs, and the expense of both money and effort is very trifling. A Woman Physician in China. Dr. Ida M. Stevenson, a Methodist missionary physician in Tientsin, China, sometimes has 250 patients to treat in a single day. The strain on the strength, thc sympathies and the = EFER. down to the waist line, where they cross and are passed round to the back, at the centre of which they are caught in a knot. The sleeves are full and arranged in three groups of narrow puffs, with a full soft puff at each shoulder, over which fall the frills which form epaulettes. At the neck is a soft draped collar of the silk, which terminates in a rosette un- der tho chin. To cnt this waist for a lady of me- dium size four and one-half yards of material twenty-two inches wide will be required. Girls’ Blouse Reefer. The combimation of reefer collar and blouse jacket shown in the large illus- tration is both novel and stylish. As here given the material is covert cloth banded with braid, and the garmentis designed for general wear with any gown, but all suiting materials, as well as cloth of various sorts, can be treated in a similar manner. The seamless back and pouched fronts are joined by shoulder and nn- der-arm seams, the basque portion being separate and seamed to the jacket at the waist-line. The right front laps well over the left, where the closing is effected by means of buttons and buttonholes, an additional row of buttons being added to give the double kreasted effect. The neck is slightly open at the front and is fin- ished with a deep collar that is square at the back and is finished with rows of braid. Thesleeves are two-seamed and fit snugly. The garment is lined throughout with changeable taffeta blue and green. To make this blouse for a girl of eight years of age one and a half yards of material fifty-four inches wide will be required. A Pretty Scarf. The Roman scarf, with plain or fringed ends, especially the patriotic variety, when the bars are red, white and blue, with a slight predominance of the red, is very much in vogue. Besides its old use as an article of neckwear, it is used as a sash, a belt, a hat band and a hat trimming. Patriotic girls tie the narrow ones to parasol tips, walking sticks, bicycle handles, baby carriages and the har- ness of family horses. The brilliancy skill of a medial missionary, brought into contact day by day with dreadful cases of poverty, suffering, vice and degradation, cannot be imagined. s Wrap For Wee F olks, No wrap for wee folks’ wear is more popular or more becoming than the long coat made with a yoke. The mould given is of bengaline, in u de- licious shade of pink, and is trimmed with ruches and bands of ribbon, but the pattern is equally well suited to light weight wools and to both pique and linen crash, The foundation is a short body lining to which the yoke is faced, and to which the pleated skirt is attached. The fanciful collars cut in squares, and adds greatly to the effect, at the same time that it con- ceals the joining of skirt and yoke. The sleeves are two-seamed and in coat shape. At the neck is a rollover collar. As illustrated the skirt islined with India silk, but in the case of washable materials should be simply hemmed. Tha closing is effected in- visibly at the centre-front by means CHILD'S COAT. of buttons and buttonholes worked in a fly. To cut this coat for a child four years old, four yards of material, twenty- seven inches wide, will be required. -
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