MARCH.
ON THE
Down the canon of the street,
Hear the muffled marching feet!
Hear the thousand-throated hum,
As the soldiers nearer come!
Eagerly the people crowd :
Faintly now and now more loud,
While we listen, breathless, dumb,
Comes the droning of the drum;
Rika-tek, rika-tek, rika tek tek tek,
Rika-tek, rika-tek, rika tek tek tek,
Rika-tek tek tek,
Rika-tek tek tek, :
Rika-tek, rika-tek, rika-tek tek tek.
Marching down the western light,
Bursts the column on our sight!
Through the myriad golden motes
Splendidly our banner floats!
Then the sudden-swelling cheer,
Voicing all we hold most dear,
Wondrous, welling wave of sound,
Till the whirring drum is drowned!
Still our pulses beat in time
To the rhythmic roll sublime:
Rika-tek, rika-tek, rika tek tek tek,
Rika-tek, rika-tek, rika tek tek tek,
Rika-tek tek tek,
Rika-tek tek tek,
Rika-tek, rika-tek; rika-tek tek tek.
Now the marching men have passed.
We have watched them to the last,
Till the column disappears
In a mist of sudden tears,
Loves and hates before unguessed
Tremble in the troublsd broast;
Loves and hates and hopes and fears
Waking from the sleep of years,
At our country’s calling come,
To the rolling of the drum:
Rika-tek, rika-tek, rika tek tek tek,
Rika-tek, rika-tek, rika tek tek tek,
lika-tek tek tek,
Rika-tek tek tek,
Rika-tek, rika-tek, rika-tak tek tek.
So the night comes®on apace,
Settles on each solemn face;
While we pray with hearts of fire,
While a wistful, wild desire
Follows where the dangers are,
Where the battles blaze afar —
Till our heroes homeward come,
And we hear the victor drum:
Rika-tek, rika-tek, rika tek tek tek,
Rika-tek, rika-tek, rika tek tek tek,
Rika-tek tek tek,
lika-tek tek tek.
Rika-tek, rika-tek, rika-tek tek tek.
a iB Be Be BoB 2B 2 Be
EHOW CUANDPA CAME BY THE MEDAL,
BY
M.A. Al
RTILES.
FG IGT Ig IGN IgE IgE Fg Ig IgE gE Ng OS RE WOO WN VTE
“What 2” asked
Kent. :
He had picked up from the floor a
large silver medal that baby sister
‘had been biting with her, teethless lit-
tle gums.
“That? Why, it’s the medal that
the United States government gave
‘me in 1851-<before your mother was
born,” answered grandpa, as he stud-
ied the inscription absently.
“Did the government give yon
that?” cries Kent, surprised that his
grandfather had been on such familiar
terms with the government of the
United States. “Why, ‘what for?”
“30 I never told you that story,did
1?” says grandpa, with some pride in
his voice. “That was for helping to res-
cue the crew of the brig Zilica, bound
for Bay of Fundy and shipwrecked oft
this coast. And it astonishes me to
this day to remember that we did not
every one of us lose our lives trying
to save them.’’
“Oh, tell it! tell it! Please tell it!’ |
urged Kent, now fired with interest to !
hear abont areal adventure by his
own grandpa.
“That happened in the days before
the United States life-saving service
was organized. That branch of the
marine service was not established
until the year1871. Some time before
you leave the Cape T will take you to
the back shore to visit the life-saving
station and show you some of the won-
derful appliances they have nowadays
for saving life —lifeboats, life buoys,
petticoat breeches, mortars for throw-
ing the lines, red fire to burn and all
the numerous traps besides. I think
you will find these more interesting |
than the story, my hoy.”
“But the story, grandpa: the story!
Tell that now, grandpa,” insisted
Kent, impatient for grandpa to begin.
“How many men were there with yeu
when you rescued the sailors?’
“Tet me think! There was Steve,
my brother; Jesse Freeman, Robert
Judson—well I think there were six
of us all told.”
“And did they all have medals like
this?”
“Yes, every one of us.”
“Do tell the story, grandpa.”
“Well, it was about dark when we
took the last ones off the brig,’ says
grandpa, beginning at the end of the
narrative. ‘Poor fellows, they had
lashed themselvestotherigging, where
they had remained all day, hungry
and wet and chilled to the bone. They
couldn’t have stood it much longer—
night a-coming on and the vessel fast
going to pieces.
“Half the men in Wellfleet had
been up to the back shore that day to
see the wreck and the men. They
would just go and look at the grew-
some sight for a little while and then
turn about and go home.”
“Why did you wait all day before
you tried to get them off?”
‘‘Because the wind was .blowing a
terrific hurricane a!l .day, my boy.
The sea was raging like a fury, seeth-
ing with foam and dashing over the
wreck every moment. The breakers
were booming and crashing on the
beach, and nobody wanted to brave
their fury. The most experienced of
them thought it was foolhardy to risk
their lives with the certainty of being
drowned or dashed to death by the
waves.
“It was the first day of December,
and a smothering snowstorm raged all
day. My, how the wind blew that |
day!
“I was out of town in the morning
and did not hear of the disaster to the
Zilica until I came home about 3 in
the afternoon,” went on grandpa,now
iairly back at the opening of his
story and beginning to stir with awak-
ened memories.
‘“ ‘Have you heard the news?” your
grandma asked, as I came into the
house. ‘There’s a ship ashore up the
back side. Eight men, they say,lashed
to her'rigging and no hope of saving
them.’ !
“ “Thunder! said I, and rushed out
again into the galeaund started to walk
up to the beach.” =
“‘How far?’ asked Kent.
“Three or four miles. I was young
then and didn’t mind a little walk as {
do now. I van half the way, I guess.
As I went along Tovertook three other
men, acquaintances of mine. One of
them called:
‘¢ ‘Hullo, Ben; haven't seen ye be-
fore. Where ye been?’
¢ ‘Been to Provincetown,” I an-
swered. ‘Just heard abont the wreck.’ |
“ ‘We've been up once before. But |
it’s no use tryiny to do anything.
Going again, because we'd like to
know if the poor fellows are still hold -
ing oun. Gad, it is an awful sight,
though!
“I thought so, too, a little later,
is this, grandpa
919
“and the
{ northeast wind
when we ran down to the beach. —
“There was the vessel; driven beam
on against the sands, close on shore
big boiling seas breaking
around ard over her and over the poor
fellows in therigging. Almost crazed
with suffering «and fright, they kept
calling to the people on the shore and
groaning desperately. They soon
sighted us as newcomers ag fairly
yelled, hoping we had come to help
them: ‘Save us, save us! We
freezing to death, freezing to death!
““T'heir despairing words shrieked
out above the booming breakers and
seemed to fill the air. The wind had
abated a good deal by this time, and
it had stopped snowing. The sea was
still terrific in its violence, thundering !
and booming and lashing the shore
with foaming wrath. Nevertheless, it
seemed to me that weonght to attempt |
something, risky as itamight be.
“We men locked at each other with
questioning faces, for none of us at
the moment could see just what could
possibly be done.
“ “Poor fellows!”
hear them call to us. And they've
got to drown here before our eyes, I
reck’n. We can’t do anything without
a boat, and we can’t with a boat in
this sea, even if had one, and
there isn’t a boat—likely-— within
three miles.’ .
‘“ “We couldn’t get a boat here in
time anyway,’ remarked another.
<¢ ‘She’ll break up all to pieces in
au hour,’ said a third.
‘“ ‘Help! Help?’ wailed the voices of
the imperiled men.
“Good thunder?” said I, ‘I can’t
stand here and wait and see ’em die
like rats—can you, Jess?’
*¢ ‘I shall never have any peace of
mind again as long as I live if we do,’
answered Jesse.
* ‘Boys,’ said I, ‘let’s go down to
the town and get a boat and see what
we can do.’ :
‘At that all turned as one man tow-
ard the village, Jess waving his ‘sou-
wester’ as we reached the top of the
said Tom.
we
{ sand dune, while we all shouted back:
*“ ‘Hold on, hold on for yom lives!’
‘On the way, half running now with
| the impulse that had seized us in com-
mon, we made our plans how we would
operate for the rescue. We agreed,
for one thing, that Jess should be cap-
tain of the eanterprise, as he had expe-
rience with boats rather more than the
others of the party.
‘We'll try to get along with any-
thing that Isaiah Hateh happens to
Lave, then,” says Jess. ‘It won’t be
so far as the village.’
“When we reached
we found that he had
than a leaky old dory.
“However, we were not to be dis-
couraged now at anything. Our blood
was up, and every man of us stood
ready to risk his own life to save the
poor wretches on the brig, whose cries
seemed to be still ringing in our ears.
““ ‘She’ll leak like a riddle,” says
Jess, critically examining the boat while
others of us harnessed Isaiah's old
horse to a farm cart. ‘Get a couple
more bailers, and we'll try her any-
how.’
We hauled out the lumbering old
boat aud lifted her into the cart and
soon were on the way back, the sleet
driving in our faces and freezing on
our beards. The storm seemed to be
rising again, and we felt that the en-
terprise was desperate.
“On the way we were joined by two
other mei, who volunteered to assist
in the undertaking. >
‘“We reached the bheach at last,
though it seemed doubtful if the old
horse that we had pressed into service
would hold out to draw the cart to the
end of the journey.
‘We saw that the ship had lowered
in the water perceptibly during our
absence and might go to pieces any
moment. The men, however, were
desperately holding on just about as
we had left them. When they saw us
they cheered, and this served to
strengthen our resolution. We an-
swered as well as we could, while we
hauled the boat down to the water's
edge and jumped in. It was more or
less perilous launching a dory in such
a sea, but by watching for a smooth
instant we succeeded. ‘he current
ran strong against us, and the heavy
blew us down the
shore. Bul we had made allowance
for this in part by launching some dis-
tance north of the wreck. Then, with
faces set and muscles tense, four of
us bent to the oars, while the other
two were kept busy bailing the leaky
craft.
“The men on the vessel were silent
now, watching our desperate efforts,
While we were tossed like seaweed up
and down on the roaring waves. Twice
we were borne past them by the treach-
erous undertow and swept a quarter
of a mile down the shore before’ we
Hateh’s house
nothing better
are |
‘Just !
| could recover ground, and twice we
| stemmed the tide and wind and strug:
gled back again to our course.
¢“ ‘Fetch her round this time,’ com-
manded Jess, ‘er all’s lost.’
“Our strengthiwas well-nigh spent,
“It's no use,’ cried Steve.
“ ‘We'll be swamped if we get a
| broadside,’ said some one else.
| ‘They say ‘fortune favors the brave,’
and I think it may be so,for suddenly
| our old dory seemed to careen and al-
| most capsize and then, righting itself
in spite of the waves, swept down
| straight toward the vessel. The men
| on board her, watching us as their last
hope of life, becan to cheer heartily at
this, and in a moment more our boat
{ was in the lee of the great hulk and
| close under her bows.
| “The sailorsbegan to clamber down
‘ from the rigging, watching the seas
i and holding on all the time lest they
should be swept away while reaching
| the boat.
Il “Jess shouted his orders to them as
| they came in sight, leanin® over the
| rail. By. his directions they found
“and brought a coil of rope, one end of
"which they with some diffieulty made
| fast to ,the jib-boom, where it would
have a good height above the water.
{ff ‘Now, four of you erawl out and
{ lower yourselves on the rope. Boat
{won't hold more than four at once,’
| Jess shouted.
{ “Those boys didn’t have to be told
| twice what to do, like some boys I
| know,” said grandpa, looking mean-
i ingly .at Kent.
“But, grandpa, do tell how you got
back to the shore.”
“Well, the men carried the coil of
rope over into the boat, leaving the
| end fast to the jib-boom,and we rowed
{ away,allowing the coil to unroil as we
{ went. This proved of great service
to us in making the second trip after
the other fonr men who were still left
on the wreck.
“We landed #the half-frozen crea-
tures on the beach and charged them
| to keep moving that they might not
sink down and freeze in their exhaus-
| tion before we returned. Now they
| were on terra firma, they seemed coni-
i pletely unnerved.
| “Rowing back, partly held to our
{ course by the rope that we had made
| fast shore, we soon reached the
{ wreck the second time. The other
| four men were soon in the dory, and
| with a little cheer at our success we
| set out again for the shore.
{ ““But I cheered a little too soon for
! my part. For when we were about
{ half way in I stepped into a coil of
{rope that was lying in the bottom of
! the dory and that had somehow be-
| come twisted with the line by which
i we were helping to guide her, which
| the sailors had brought aboard. I was
| thrown from my balance and the next
instant found myself in the icy bil-
lows.
‘““ ‘Ben's overboard — nab
somebody called out.
‘Robert Jordan,at the risk of going
over himself and of upsetting the
| whole boatload of us, reached over be-
fore T could be swept off and ‘nabbed’
me, indeed, as I struggled in the icy
water. I was pulled in without upset-
ting the boat, which was a miracle al-
most, as she was overloaded, and the
sea was like a yeasty tumult of bil-
lows. They pulled me over the rail,
dripping with brine, with very little
ceremony. =
“ ‘Got a “‘sousing’’ that time, didn’t
ve, Ben? asked Steve, glad enongh
that it was no worse. ‘Give him the
oar or he will freeze.’”
“Were you much scared?’’ asked
Kent. He had been listening with
breathless interest to ascertain if
grandpareally got drowned, forgetting
that he was at that moment telling the
story.
‘Not so much as your grandma was
an hour or two later, when. I told her
about it, sitting by a hot fire in dry
clothes, sipping hot ginger tea,’ an-
swered grandpa.
“And what did you do with the
shipwrecked men, grandpa?”’
‘An organization for the relief of
sea, called the Humane society, took
charge of them and gave them new
clothes. They were then sent home
by land. They lost everything they
had, though, on the brig.”
“And what became of the brig? Did
she really go to pieces?”
“Well, I guess she did? And we
were none too soon making up our
minds to attempt to rescue, either. It
wasn’t 15 minutes after we left her
before the ship settled against the
sands and parted in the middle. Then
the sea soon did the rest. The masts
toppled over,and the rigging to which
the men had been clinging went drag-
ging over into the sea.”
“Oh, let’s put'the medal away and
keep it then, grandpa,’ says Kent, quite
seriously. ‘‘Don’t let's give it to baby
to play with any more. It might get
lost. _
“All right. We will putit away.
The time may come when you, my
boy, will want to take it out and show
it to your grandchildren, and tell
them the story I have told to you—of
how Grandpa Newcomb helped to
save the crew of the brig Zilica.”—
New York Ledger.
oll
him!"
Dewey Not Heroic in Appearance.
‘In person Dewey is not the naval
hero of popular imagination,’’ says L.
A. Coolidge in McClure’s, ‘‘He is
slight, of medium height, with finely
chiselled face,and hair sprinkle d with
Y . - » -
grayy while Lis firmly set lips and
clearfeye would mark himas a gentle-
man‘and a man of the world While
in Washington he was a clubman aud
fond of society,one of those who rarely
appeared after dinner except in even:
ing dress; just the kind of a fellow,in
short, that some have in mind when
they inveigh against the ‘dudes’ of the
navy who are pensioned on the
government and haunt the drawing-
rooms of the capital. He is quiet in
manner, sparing and incisive in
speech, courteous in bearing and de-
cisive in action.”
SERMONS BY EMINENT DIVINE.
GOSPEL MESSAGES.
Bubjeci: “Woman Wronged''—Lessons
Drawn From the Conduct of Vashti,
the Veiled=The Glory of Those Who
Staunch the Battle Wounds, As
Florence Nightingale Did.
Text: “Bring Vashti, the queen, before
the king withthe crown royal, to show the
people and the princes her beauty: for she
was fair to look upon. But the Queen
Vashti refused to come.” —Esther i., 11, 12.
We stand amid the palaces of Shushan.
The pinnacles are aflame with the morning
light. The columns rise festooned and
wreathed; the wealth of empires flashing
fromthe groves; the ceilings adorned with
images of bird and beast, and scenes of
prowess and conquest. The, walls are
hupg with shields, and emblazoned until it
seems that the whole round of splendors is
exhausted. Each arch is a mighty leaf of
architectural achievement. Golden stars
shining down on glowing arabesque.
Hangings of embroidered work in which
mingle the blueness of the sky, the
greenness of the grass and the
whiteness of the seca-foam. Tapestries
hung on silver rings, wedding together
the pillars of marble. Pavilions reaching
out in every direction. These for repose,
filled with luxuriant couches, in which
weary limbs sink until all fatigue is sub-
merged. Those for carousal where kings
drink down a kingdom at one swallow.
Amazing spectacle! Light of silver drip-
ping down over stairs of ivory on shields
of gold. Floors of stained marble, sunset
red and oewht black, and inlaid with
gleaming pearl... In connection with this
palace there is a garden, where the mighty
men of foreign lands are seated at a ban-
quet. Under the spread of oak and linden
and acacia the tables are’ arranged. The
breath of honeysuckle and frankincense
fills the air, Fountains leap up into the
light, the spray struck through with rain-
bows falling into erystalline baptism upon
flowering shrubs—then rolling down
through channels of marble, and widening
out here and there into pools swirling
with the finny tribes of foreign aqua-
riums, bordered with scarlet anemones,
hypericums, and many-colored ranunculi.
Meats of rarest bird and beast smoking
up amid wreaths of aromatics. The vases
filled with apricots and almonds. The
baskets piled up with apricots and figs and
oranges and pomegranates. Melons taste-
fully twined with leaves of acacia. The
bright waters of Eulaus filling the urns und
drcpping outside the rim in flashing beads
amid the traceries. Wine from the royal
vats of Ispahan and Shiraz, in bottles of
tinged shell, and lily-«haped cups of silver,
and flagons and tankards of solid gold.
The music rises® higher and the revelry
breaks out into wilder transport, and the
wine has flushed the cheek and touched
the brain, and louder than all other voices
are the hiccough of the inebriates, the gab-
ble of fools, and the song of the drunkards.
In another part of the palace Queen
Vashti is entertaining the Princess of Persia
at a banquet. Drunken Ahasuerus says to
his servants: “You go and fetch Vashti
from that banquet with the women, and
bring her to this banquet with the men, and
let me display her beauty.” The servants
immediately start to obey the king’s com-
mand; but there was a rule in Oriental
society that no woman might appear in
public without having her face veiled.
Yet here was a mandate that no one dare
dispute, demanding that Vashti come in
unveiled before the multitude. However,
there was in Vashti’s soul a principle more
regal than Ahasuerus, more brilliant than
the gold of Shushan, of more wealth than
the realm of Persia, which commanded her
to obey thisorder of the king; and so all
the righteousness and holiness and modesty
of her nature rise up into one sublime re-
fusal.® She gays: “I will not go into the
banquet unveiled.” Ahasuerus was in-
furiate; and Vashti, robbed of her position
and her estate,is driven forth in poverty
and ruin to suffer the scorn of a nation,
and yet to receive the applause of after
generations, who shall rise up to admire
this martyr to kingly insolence. Well, the
last vestige of that feast is gone; the last
garland has faded; the last arch has fallen;
the last tankard has been destroyed: and
Shushan is in ruin; but as long as the
world stands there will be multitudes of
men and women, familiar with the Bible,
who will come into this picture gallery of
God and admire the divine portrait of
Vashti the queen, Vashti the veiled, Vashti
the sacriflece, Vashti the silent.
In the first place, I want you to look
upon Vashti the queen. A blue ribbon,
rayed with white, drawn around her fore-
head, indicated her queeniy position. It
was no small honor te be queen in such a
reaim as that. Hark to the rustie of her
robes! See the blaze of her jewels! And
yet it is not necessary to have place and
regal robe in order to be queenly. When
I ses a woman with stout faith in God,
putting her foot upon all meanness and
selfishness and godless display, going
right forward to serve Christ and the race
by a grand and glorious service, I say:
‘“I'hat woman is a queen,” and the ranks
of Heaven look over the battlements upon
the coronation; and whether she comes up
from the shanty on the commons or the
mansion of the fashionable square, I greet
her with the shout, ‘All hail, Queen
Vashti!”’
What glory was there on the brow of
Mary of Scotland, or Elizabeth of Eng-
land, or Margaret of France, or Catherine
of Russia, compared with the worth of
some of our Christian mothers, many of
them gone into glory? or of that woman
mentioned in the Scriptures, who put her
all into the Lord’s treasury? or of Jeph-
thah’s daughter, who made a demonstra-
tion of unselflsh patriotism? or of Abigail,
who rescued the herds and flocks of her
husband? or of Ruth, who toiled under
a tropical sun for poor, old, homeless
Naomi? or of Florence Nightingale, who
went at midnight to staunch the battle
wounds of the Crimea? or Mrs, Adoniram
Judson, who kindled the lights of salva-
tion amid the darkness of Burmah? or Mrs.
Hemang, who poured out her holy soul
in words which will forever be associated
with hunter's horn, and captive’s chain,
and bridal hour, and lute’s throb, and
curfew’s knell at the dying day? and scores
and hundreds of women, unknown
earth, who have given water to the thirsty,
and bread to the hungry, and medicine to
the sick, and smiles to the discouraged —
their footsteps heard along dark lane and
in government hospital, and in almshouse
corridor, and by prison gate? There may
be no royal robe—there may be no palatial
surroundings. She does not need them;
for all charitable men will unite with the
crackling lips of fever-struck hospitals
and plague-blotched lazaretto in greeting
her as she passes: ‘Hail! Haill Queen
Vashti!”
Again, I want you to consider Vashti the
veiled. Had she appeared before Ahasue-
rus and his court on that day with her face
uncovered she would have shocked all the
delicacies of Oriental society, and the very
men who in their intoxication demanded
that she come, in their sober moments
would have despised her. Assome flowers
seem to thrive best in the dark lane and in
the shadow, and where the sun does not
seem to reach them, so God appoints to
most womanly patures a retiring and un-
obtrusive spirit. God once in a while does
call an Isabella to a throne, a Miriam to
strike the timbrel at the front of a host, or
a Marie Antoinette to quell a French mob,
or a Deborah to stand at the front of an
armed battalion, crying out, “Up! Up!
This is the day in which the Lord will de-
liver Sisera into thy hands.”
the women are called to such outdoor work
and to such heroic positions, God prepares
them for it; and they have iron in Their
soul, and lightnings in their eye, and
whirlwinds in their breath, and the bor-
rowed strength of the Lord Omnipotent in
their right arm. They walk through Iur-
on
And when |
naces as though they were hedges of wild
flowers, and cross seas as though they were
shimmering sapphire; and all the harpies
of hell down to their dungeon at the stamp
of womanly indignation.
But these are the exceptions. Generally,
Dorcas would rather make a garment for
the poor boy; Rebecca would rather fill the
trough of the camels; Hannah would rather
make a coat for Samuel; the Hebrew maid
would rather give a prescription for Nuaa-
man’s leprosy; the woman of Sarepta would
rather gather a few sticks to cook a meal
for famished Elijah; Phebe would rather
carry a letter for the inspired apostle:
Mother Lois would rather educate Timothy
in the Seriptures. When I see a woman
going about her daily duty, with cheerful
dignity presiding at the table, with kind
and gentle but firm discipline presiding in
the nursery, going out into the world with-
out any blast of trumpets, following in the
footsteps of Him who went about doing
good—I say: ‘“This is Vashti with a veil
on.”
But when I seea woman of unblushing
boldness, loud voiced, with a tongue of in-
finite clitter-clatter, with arrogant look,
passing through the streets with the step
of a walking-beam, gayly arrayed in a very
nurricane of millinery, I ory out: ‘‘Vashti
has lost her veil!” When I see a woman
struggling for political preferment—trying
to force her way on up to conspicuity, amid
the masculine demagogues, who stand
with swollen fists and bloodshot eyes and
pestiferous breath, to. guard the polls—
wanting to go through the loaferism and
defllement of popular sovereigns, who
crawl up from the saloons greasy and foul
and vermin-covered, to decide questions ot
justice and order and civilization—when I
see a woman, I cay, who wants to press
through all that horrible scum to get to
public place and power, I say: ‘Ah, what
a pity! Vashti has lostrher veil!”
When I see a woman of comely features,
ard of adroitness of intellect, and endowed
with all the schools can do for her, and of
high social position, yet moving in society
with superciliousness and hauteur, as
though she wouid have people know their
place, and with an undefined combination
of giggle and strut and rhodomontade, en-
dowed with allopathic quantities of talk,
but only homaocopathie infinitesimuals of
sense, the terror of dry-goods clerks and
railroad conductors, discoverers of signifl-
cant meanings in plain conversation, prod-
igies of badinage aud innuendo—I say:
“*Vashti has lost her veil.”
Again, I want you this morning to con-
sider Vashti the sacrifice. Who is this that
I see coming out of that palace gate of
Shushan? It seems to me that I have seen
her before. She comes homeless, house-
less, friendless, trudging along with a
broken heart. Who is she? It is Vashti
the sacrifice. Oh! what a change it was
from regal position to a wayfarer's crust!
A little while ago, approved and sought for;
now, none so poor as to acknowledge her
acquaintanceship. Vashti the sacrifice!
Ah! you and I have seen it many a time.
Here is a home empalaced with beanty.
All that refinement and books and wealth
can do for that home has been done; but
Ahasueruas, the husband and the father, is
taking hold on paths of sin. He is gradu-
ally going down. After awhile he will
flounder and struggle like a wild beast in
the hunter’s net—further away from God,
further away from the right. Soon the
bright apparel of the children will turn to
rags; soon the household song will become
the sobbing of a broken heart. The old
story over again. Brutal Centaurs break-
ing up the marriage feast of Lapithw. The
house full of outrageand cruelty and abom-
ination, while trudging forth from the
palace gate are Vashti and her children.
There are homes in all parts of this land
that are in danger of such breaking up.
Oh, Ahasuerus! that you should stand in a
home, by a dissipated life destroying the
peace and comfort of that home. God for-
bid that your children should ever have to
wring their hands, and havo people point
their finger at them as they pass down the
street, and say, ‘There goes a drunkard’s
child.” God forbid that the little feet
should ever have to trudge the path of
poverty and wretchedness! God forbid
that any evil spirit born of the wine-cup or
the brandy-glass should come forth and
uproot that garden, and with a lasfing,
blistering, all-consuming eurse, shunt for-
ever the palace gate against Vashti and
the children.
One night during our Civil War I went to
Hagerstown to look at the army, and [
stood on a hill-top and lookel down upon
them. I saw the camp-fires all through
the valleys and all over the hills. It wasa
weird spectacle. those camp-flres, and I
stood and watched them; and the soldiers
who were gathered around them were, no
doubt, talking of their homes, and of the
long march they had taken, and of the bat-
tles they were to fight; but after awhile I
saw these camp-fires begin to lower and
they continued to lower, until they were all
gone out, and the army slept. It was im-
posing when I saw the camp-fires; it was
imposing in the darkness when I thought
of the great host asleep. Well, God looks
down from Heaven, and H >» sees the fire
sides of Coristendom and the loved ones
gathered around these firesides. There are
the camp-fires where we warm ourselves at
the close of day, and talk over the battles
of life we have tought and the battles that
are yet to come. God grant that when at
last these fires begin to go out, and con-
tinue to lower until finally they are ex-
tinguished, and the ashes of consumed
hope strew the hearth of the old home-
stead, it may be because we have
Gone to sleep that last +1 :ep,
From which none ever wake to weep.
Now we are an army on the march ot
life. Then we shall be an army bivounclked
in the tent of the grave.
Once more: I want you to look at Vashti
the silent. You do not hear any outery
from this woman as she goes forth from
the palace gate. From the very dignity of
her nature, you know there will be no vo-
ciferation. Sometimes in life it is neces-
sary to make a retort; sometimes in life it
is necessary to resist; but there are crises
when the most important thing to do is to
keep silence. The philosopher, confident
in his newly discovered principle, waiting
for the coming of more intelligent genera-
tions, willing that men should laugh at the
lightning rod and cotton-gin and steam-
boat and telegraph— waiting for long
years through the scofling of philosophical
school, in grand and magnificent silence,
Galileo, condemned by mathematicians,
and. monks, and cardinals, ecaricatured
everywhere, yet waiting and watching
with his telescope to see the coming up of
stellar reinforcements, when the starsin
their courses would fight for the Coperni-
can system; then sitting down in complete
blindness and deafness to wait- for the
coming on of the generations who would
build his monument and bow at his grave.
The reformer, execrated by his econtempo-
raries, fastened in a pillory, the slow fires
of public contempt burning under him,
ground under the cylinders of the printing-
press, yet calmly waiting for the day when
purity of soul and heroism of character
will get the sanction of earth and the
plaudits of Heaven, Affliction enduring
without any complaint the sharpness of
the pang, and the violence of the storm,
and the heft of the chain, and the darkness
of the night—waiting until a divine hand
shall be put forth to soothe the pang, and
hush the storm, and release the captive.
A wife abused, persecuted, and a perpetual
exile from every earthly comfort—walting,
waiting, until the Lord shall gather up
His dear children ina Heavenly home, and
no poor Vashti will ever be thrust out
from the palace gate. Jesus, in silence
and answering not a word, drinking the
gall, and bearing the Cross, in prospect of
the rapturous consummation when
Angels thionged His chariot wheel,
And bore Him to His throne;
Then swept their golden harps and sung,
“The glorious work is done!”
Where Coal is Dearest and Cheapest.
Coal is dearer in South Africa than in any
other part of the world; it is cheapest in
China.
[HE SHBBATH-SCHOOL LESSON
NTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS
FOR JULY (7,
Lesson Text: “Elijah on Carmel,” I Kings
xvlii., 30-40—Golden Text: I Kings
xviii., 39=Commentary on the Lesson
by the Rev. D. M. Stearns.
30. “And Elijah said unto all the people,
Come near.unto me. And all the people:
came near unto him. And he repaired the
altar of the Lord that was broken down.”
In the third year Elijah is told to go and
show himself to Ahab and that the Lord
will send rain. He is as usual obedient, and
starts to seek Ahab, but on the way he
meets Obadiah, a servant of Ahab, and
commissions him to go and say to his mas-
ter: “Behold, Elijah is here!” Obadiah in-
forms him that he has been searched for
everywhere, and that kingdoms and na-
tions had been caused to take an oath that
they could not find him. How securely
hidden are all whom God hides! How
gloriously safe are all whose lives are hid
with Christ in God! (Col. iii., 3.) On be-
ing assured that Elijah would surely show
himself to Ahab. that day Obadiah goes to
Ahah with the news, and Ahab starts to
meet Elijah. Tbe result of the interview
is that all Israel, with the prophets of
Baal and of the groves, are summoned to
meet Elijah at Carmel. They are to pro-
vide two bullocks, and the prophets of Baal
(450) will take one and Elijah the other and
prepare them to be consumed by the fire
that shall come from the true God, whether
Baal or Jehovah, and the God that sends
the fire iz to be acknowledged asthe true
~God. i
31. “And Elijah took twelve stones, ac-
cording to the numberof the tribes of the
eons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the
Lord came, saying, ‘Israel shall de ‘thy
name.” It was when Jacob was made help-
less by having his thigh put out of joint
that he clung in conscious weakness and ob-
tained the blessing and the new name of Is-
rael, Iis descendants were chosen that
through them and their helplessness God
might make Himself a name for the benefit
of all Nations (II Sam. vii., 23; Isa, Ixiii.. 12
14). In theirdeliverance from Egypt, life ic
the wilderness, crossing the Red Sea and the
Jordan, it is the Lord alone who is scen
working so marvelously in spite of their
unworthiness,
‘And with the stones he built ap al.
tar in the name of the Lord, and he made a
trench about the altar, as great as would
contain two measures of seed.” Elijah had
but one motive —the glory of God—aad but
one aim—to make Him a name. He knew
and believed that he stood before God, and
he cared nothing for the opinions of Ahak
or all his people if only God was glorified.
With great calmness therefore and quiet
confidence we may imagine him building
this altar in the name of the T.ord. See
what wonders might be wrought through
us if only we were willing to live in the
name of the Lord (John xiv., 13; 14; xv., 16;
xvi. 23. 24),
33. "And he put ihe wood inorder and
cut the bullock in pieces and laid him on
the wood and said, Fill four barrels with
witer and pour it on the burnt sacrifice
and on the wood.” This would entirely de-
stroy any possibility of deception as to the
source of the fire that was expected. < The
wood is suggestive of the cross and the
bullock of the burnt offering of Lev. i. and
of Him who is the only true offering, the
antitype of all saerifice, with the taking ot
whose life buman hands had really naught
to do except as God permitted.
34, 85. "And the water ran round about
the altar, and he filled the trench also with
water.” The second and third time was the
sacrifice and altar deluged with water, un-
til even the trench was tilled. How amazed
the prophets of Baal must have been to ses
such strange preparations! Did you ever
try to kindle a five with wet weod? It not,
you can hardly appreciate this situation,
t is only when things are, humanly speak-
ing, impossible that God really has oppor-
tunity to show Himsalf. When Moses
thought that the deliveranee of Israel from
the hand of Pharaoh was a hopeless task,
then God said, “Now shalt thou see what 1
will do” (Ex. vii, 1}.
36... ‘Lord God- of Abraham, Isaac and
of Israel, let it be known this day that
Thou art God in Tsrael and that [ am Thy
servant. and that I have done all these
things at Thy word.” Having made all
these preparations and the time of the
evening sacrifice having come, the servant
of the Lord calmly looks up to heaven and
talks confidently with his God. Ue says
that he has done everything as God had
told him. No the arrangements about the
water was no thought of Elijalh's, but a
command of God. Now he asks that God
will accept and seal it all as His, that His
great name may be known. It is only
avhen we are walking with Him, self-sub-
dued and fully agreed with Him about
everything, that we can expect to see His
name magnided.
37.. “Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that
this people may know that Thou art the
Lord God and that thou hast turned their
heart back again.” All has been done that
the people may know that Jehovah is the
true God. This was the great aim of all
God's dealings with Israel, that ail people
of the earth might kuow the hand of the
Lord (Joshua iv. 21). Oan we say that,
as far as we know, we are living day by
day simply that the band of God may he
seen upon us to His glory? Is it our one
aim that, regardless of what it may cost
us or of how or where He may iead us, we
want above all things the life of Jesus
made manifest in us? (I Cor. iv., 1
3%: “Then the fire of the Lord
sonsumed the burnt sacrifice,
wood, and the stones, and the
licked up the water tnat was in. the
trench.” “Was there ever a fire like that?
Ah, Lord God, there is nothing too hard
for Thee! Water and even stones are as
easily consumed by Thy fire as wood or
flesh. How quickly the answer cams, and
on Elfjah’s part there was no striving or
wrestling, but a calm and holy confdence,
Thus the fire came atthe dedication of
the tabernacle and of the temple and on
other oceasions (Lev, ix., 24; II Chron.
vii., 1; Judg. vi.,, 21; I Chron. Xii.; 26)
And I doubt not but that Abel's sacrifice
was accepted by the sword of flam » touen-
ing and consuming it.
39. “And when all the people saw it they
fell on their faces, and they said, The
Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the
God.” How much they meant by their con-
fession God knew, who read their hearts,
and He knows just how much or how lit-
tle we mean by our professions end confes-
gions, May we have that truth in the in-
ward parts which he so desires (Ps. li., 6).
As the prophets of Baal were overcome, so
will every one be who sets himself against
God (Isa. ii., 11, 17; IL Thess. i., 7-10). May
He now cast down every high and proud
thing in or about us and subdue us wholly
to Himself that we may magnify Him.—
Lesson Helper.
32.
1.)
fell and
and the
dust, and
Dewey Reminded Him.
When Dewey was First Lieutenant of
one of the gunboats which Farragut
used as a dispatch boat, the Admiral
used often to come aboard and steam
up near the levee to reconnoiter. The
Southerners had a way of rushing wn
field-piece to the top of the high bank!
firing it point blank at the gunboat,
and then backing down again. Upon
one such occasion Farragut saw Dewey
dodge a shot. “Why don’t you stand
firm, Lieutenant?” said he: “don’t you
know vou you can't jump quick,
enough?” A day or so after the Ad-
miral dodged a shot. The Lieutenant
smiled and held his tongue; but the Ad-
miral had a guilty conscience. He
cleared his throat once or twice, shifts
ed his attitude, and finally declared:
“Why, sir, you can’t help it, sir. It's
human nature, and there's an end to
ite”