At this distance it looks as though
Spain is suffering from a serious im-
pediment in her pocketbook.
or m—— ie vey
The flag of the United
States find it impossible to keep up
This of
accentuated patriotism cannot be very
factories
with their orders. evidence
encouraging to Spain.
The Austrian government has en-
larged the to
such an extent that the
boundaries of Vienna
metropolitan
area is now half as large as London,
twice as large as Paris and three times
larger than Berlin.
Since the Declaration of Independ-
ence the United States has had six
the little differ-
These were
the war of the revolution, of
1812, the war with the Barbary states,
the Mexican war
The war with Spain makes the sixth.
not
ences with the Indians.
wars, counting
the war
and the civil war.
It is said that a big trade in Ameri-
can bicycles will soon be opened up
in China,
sells for §
An American bicycle which
100 here brings $225 in Chi-
As the
20 to
it would be interesting to know how
long it will take him to save enough
money to buy a bicycle.
nese silver. average China-
man makes from 25 cents a day
Naval experts are not going to see
so many disputed questions settled in
the they
hoped. What modern ships can do
“Yanko-Spanko’ war as
acainst modern forts how great a role
destroyers will play in nasal battles,
will still be debated after all the light
that can
of the present war.
be had frem the experience
It is the pérson-
al equation which vitiates the con-
clusions. Spanish gunnery has been
so bad that little to
termine the power of forts to resist
it has done de-
ironclads. Spanish mechanical skill
has been so poor that the ineffective-
ness of torpedoboat destroyers in
Spanish hands proves little or noth-
ing.
A ently
lished in Paris, France, what purports
statistician has rece pub-
and some of his
the
are in-
to be a horse census,
figures just at this time, when
government is buying horses,
teresting. According to this expert,
Russia leads the world in the number
of horses.
000,000 he
comes second
The Argentine
Austro-Hungary and the German Em-
pire are tied for fourth place, with
3,500,000 each. France is credited with
2,880,000, and the United Kingdom
with 2,790,000.
England and France have the
the
Her total is placed at 22,-
United States
12,000,000 head.
Republic
ad, and the
with
is third, and
This expert says that
most
United
1ext.
valuable horses, with
States and Canada rankin
It is estimated that the
of Great
team pow-
Jritain is equal to the
100, 00,0
The number of persons employed in
her coal mines is but 200,000,
two-thirds
than for
65,6606 nien to mine the coal necessary
1,000,000,000. The
ule by 60,000
that 126,666 men [urnish the means
the of 1,000,000,000
the strength of each being thus multi-
united strength of 1, 00 men.
and of
these fully dig coal for
other uses engines, leaving
to do the work of
engines are mi men, so
of doing work
plied nearly 8000 times. This gives
to each man, woman and child of a pop-
000,000 some
fully
ulation of 35, thirty will-
ing slaves, born grown, exempt
from sicliness, needing no clothes,
eating only fire and water,and costing
one man in 8000.
merely the work of
In mineral wealth Cuba is
of taking high rank. Gold and siiver
have
tities.
by the natives before
not been found in paying guan-
Cobre
Columbus dis-
Copper was mined at
covered the island, and there is strong
proof that native copper was carried
Florida and
hundreds
used the
Indians of years
The of that
state buried with their dead copper
across to by
Florida
220. mound-builders
ornaments and utensils hammered
from native copper, which always has
an admixture of more or less foreign
matter. As no copper ore is found in
Florida, or in that portion of the
United States, and, as that found in
the United States or in Mexico
not correspond chemically with that
buried in the mounds, it occurred to
Professor R. H. Sanders, of the Acad-
emy of Natural Sciences, ‘in Philadel-
does
phia, that it was possible that these
mound-builders had water communi-
cation with Cuba... In the early part
of the present century some English
capitalists purchased these imines in
Cuba, which are nine miles from San-
tiago. From 1828 to 1840 an average
of from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 worth
of copper ore was shipped ann
the United
How much
not known,
States from these
was shipped elsewhere is
Large quantities of cop-
per still remain wamicel ia this lo-
cality.
SYMBOLS FOR THE ARMY.
HOW CORPS, DIVISIONS AND BRI-
GCADES MAY BE IDENTIFIED.
Civil
by
Ordzr by General Miles—Not Like
War Designs—Ingenuity Exercised
War Department
Badges and Pennants
Officials—Distinctive
Preserved.
General Miles has issued a general
order designating the symbols, flags
and pennants by which the various
army corps, divisions: and brigades
may be identified.
The order prescribes corps badges
and pennants entirely different from
those which were in use by the army
during the civil war. It was the
original purpose of the war depart-
ment to adopt for the present army
badges precisely like those for the
corresponding corps during the civil
war, but the idea met with much op-
position from prominent soldiers of
that war. They maintained, with
force, that their badges and pennants
were distinctive; that they had been
baptized in the blood of many a hard-
fought field, and that their individual-
ity ought to be preserved. This view
was acceded to by the war officials
and a new set of designs was pre-
pared.
Following is a part of the text of
the general order:
When the land forces of the United
States are organized into army corps,
divisions and brigades the same will
be designated by the following sym-
bols, flags and pennants, made ac-
cording to descriptions and designs
in the office of the quarter-master
general:
Symbols.
Cavalry corps,” a winged horse foot;
artillery corps, crossed conieal pro-
jectiles, with round shot above centre;
1st Corps, = a circle over a letter I of
special design; 2nd a four-leaf
clover; 3rd Corps, a thre e-tooth clutch;
4th Corps, a caltrop: 5th Corps, a fire-
bastion fork; 6th Corps, a six-tooth
sprocket; Tth Corps, a seven-pointed
star; Sth Corps, two. circles over-
lapping each other, resembling the
figure 8; 9th Corps, a buzz saw with
nine teeth; 10th Corps, two triangles,
point to point, resembling the letter
X; 11th Corps, badge of 10th Corps,
with horizontal bar through centre,
representing XI; 12th Corps, a square
with clover leaf at each corner, there-
by showing twelve small circles; 13th
Corps, a palm leaf with thirteen
spikes; 14th Corps, a square with one
half circle on each side; 15th Corps,
an anchor; 16th Corps, a bugle: 17th
Corps, a spearhead; 18th Corps, a
battle-ax; 19th Corps, an arch; 20th
Corps, a broom.
Designating the Divisions.
The division of a corps will be rep-
resented by the color of the symbol,
as follows:
First division, red; second division,
white; third division, blue.
Corps headquarters will be desig-
nated by a swallow-tail flag of yellow.
Division headquarters will be de-
sicnated by a flag four feet on the
staff and six feet fly, with tie corps
symbol in the centre, as follows:
First Division— A white flag.
Second Division-—A blue flag
Third Division—A red flag.
Brigade headquarters will be dis-
tinguished by triangular pennants
four feet on the staff, as follows:
First brigade, red; second brigade;
white; third brigade, blue.
(lolors of the pennants to be as fol-
lows, reading from the staff to the
point,
JOTPS,
Division.
First brigade— Red, white and blue;
corps symbol in red.
Second brizade—White,
red; corps svmbol in red.
Third brigade-—DBlue,
red; corps symbol in red.
Second Division,
First brigade—Red, white and blue;
corps symbol in white.
Second brizade.- White,
red; corps symbol in white.
Third brigade — Blue, red and white;
corps symbol in white.
Third Division.
rst brigade—Red, white
corps symbol in blue.
Second brizade—White,
blue; corps symbol in blue.
Third brigade—Blue, white
red; corps symbol in blue.
First
blue and
white anid
blue and
Fi » and blue;
and
red
and
Meaning of Flags,
The corps of engineers will be des-
ignated by aswallow-tail flag 5 feet on
the stalt and 5 feet fly, with swallow
tail 1 foot deep; flag to be: divided in
two horizontal stripes of equal width,
the lower stripe to be of blue, bearing
the castle symbolical of the engineers
in white, occupying a space 2x3 feet;
the upper stripe to be white, bearing
the corps symbol in red, bordered in
white 2 inches; and edged in blue
1 1-2 inches, 2 feet high, or ocenpying
a space 2 feet square.
The divisional engineers will be
designated by a swallow-tail flag 4 feet
on the staff and 4 feet fly, with swal-
low tail 9 inches deep; the flag to be
divided in two horizontal stripes of
equal width, the lower stripe blue, the
upper stripe white (with exception of
that for the second division, which
will be red), bearing the corps symbol,
18 inches square, in the color of the
division to which the command be-
longs.
The corps cavalry will be designated
by a swallow-tail flag 5 feet on the
staff and 5 feet fly, with swallow tail
1 foot deep; tla to be divided in two
horizontal stripes of equal width, the
lower stripe to be of yellow, bearing
crossed sabers in blue, occupying a
space 2x3 feet; the upper stripe to be
of white, bearing the corps symbol in
red, bordered in with 2 inches and
edged in blue 1 inch, 2 feet high or
occupying a space 2 feet square,
The divisional cavalry will be desig-
nated by a swallow-tail flag 4 feet on
the staff and 4 feet fly, with swallow
tail 9 inches deep; flag to Laz divided
“will be blue),
shock.
complicated
| result few people
| the
| of
| nearer
| tries,
{oa 4
laid upon them,
{ and Dr
{ of the Navy Records Socieis, Great
in two horizontal stripes of equal
width, the lower stripe yellow and
the upper white (with the exception of
that for the second division, which
bearing the corps sym-
bol 18 inches high, or occupying a
space 18 inches square, in the color
designating the division to which the
commands belong.
The corps artillery will be desig-
nated by a swallow-tail flag 5 feet on
the staft and 5 feet fly, with swallcw-
tail 1 foot deep; flag to be divided
in two horizontal stripes of equal
width, the lower stripe to be of red,
bearing crossed cannon in yellow, oc-
cupying a space 2x3 feet; the upper
stripe to be white, bearing the corps
symbol in red, bordered in white 2
inches and edged in blue, 1 inch; 2
feet high, or occupying a space 2 feet
square.
The divisional artillery will be des-
ignated by a swallow-tail flag 4 feet
on the stat and 4 feet fly, with a
swallow tail 9 inches deep; flag to be
divided in two horizonal stripes of
equal width, the lower stripe to be of
red and the upper white (with the ex-
ception of that of the second division,
which will be blue), bearing the corps
symbol 18 inches high, oroccupying a
space 18 inches square, in the color
designating the division to which the
command belongs.
Members of the provost guard, when
on duty, may wear upon the left
breast, as a badge of authority, the
corps symbol in tin or white metal.
WHEN A BIG GUN | GOES OFF.
Seientific Men Do Not
Takes Place—Avoiding the
Not one mz:
All That
Shock,
i in ten thousand has a
lear idea of just what happens when
a big cannon is fired. The physical
manifestations are numerous.
professors of chemistry and physies are
Know
Even
stumped when they want to differenti-
ate all the gases set loose and the pe-
culiar effects they induce. The puff
of whitish smoke, the flash of fire.the
dim image of the flying projectile,
roar and the recoil are all familia¢, but
back of these is a complex mass of
phenomena most bewildering to the
mind of any but an artillery expert.
First, the cubes, disks, hexagons or
irregular lumps of powder are chemi-
ly transformed into a powerful, ex-
panding gas the instant firing takes
place. Then there are innumerable
by-products that even chemists do not
understand.
The explosion of gunpowder is
divided into three distinct stages,
called the ignition, inflammation, and
combustion. The ignition is the set-
ting on fire of the first grain, while
the inflammation is the spreading of
the flame over the surface of the pow-
der from tlie point of ignition. Com-
bustion is the burning up of each
grain. The value of gunpowder is
due to the fact that when subjected to
sufficient heat it becomes a gas which
expands with frightful rapidity. The
so-called explosion that takes place
when a match is touched to gunpow-
der is merely a chemical change, dur-
ing which there is a sudden evolution
of gases from the original solid.
It has been calculated that ordinary
gunpowder on exploding expands
about 9009 times or fills a space this
much larger as a gas than when in a
solid form. When this chemical change
takes place in a closed vessel the ex-
pansion may be made to do a work
like that of forcing a projectile along
the bore of the great gun or test tube
in the line of least resistance.
The hardest work a gunner is called
upon to do is to stand the tremendous
The forces exerted by these
cases in expanding seem to radiate in
the
| all directions from the cannon, as rip-
ples are cansed by dropping a pebble
in a pool of still water. As a matter
of fact, it has been discovered that
these lines of forces are exceedingly
affairs, and play very
queer pranks about the cannon. As a
know just which is
t or the most dangerous posi-
tion for a gunner take Dbesid: his
cnn. In the case of the great 13-inch
safe
to
| guns on our monitors, a position back
the cun is much easier than oue
the muzzle.
A Spanish Trieck—1585.
The relations between the two coun-
which Drake’s raid the
Sont had for a time threatened
with open rupture, had greatly ium-
proved, atleast in ontward appearance,
and in 1585, nnder special promises of
immunity from ul age ion on reli-
gious or other grounds, Philip had in-
vited to his ports a fleet of English
corn ships, in order to supply the de-
ficieney of his own harve 2sts, No
sooner, however, had the Inglish
ships arrived than an embargo was
and their crews ar-
1: $
1110
h sea
rested.
One ship, the famous Primrose of
London, managed to escape. While
lying off Bilbao quietly discharging
her cargo she had been visited by the
corregidor of Biscay and his guard
disguised as merchants. Suddenly
alled upon to surrender, the crew
flung themselves upon the Spaniards,
drove them all overboard, and made
sail. Some of the discomfited Span-
iards, as the shore boats fled, were
seen clinging to the English vessel
These were humanely rescued and
carried in triumph back to England,
and among them was the corregidor
himself. Upon him were found his
cificial instructions, setting forth ex-
pressly that the embargo was ordered
for the purposes of the expedition
which Philip was preparing against
the English. This was enocuch for
the Queen and the powerful public
opinion of commercial circles in Lon-
don, which had obstinately clung to
pacific relations with Spain. A retal-
intory embargo was proclaimed, let-
ters of general reprisal were issued,
ake was let loose.—Publication
Briain,
OR. TALMAGE'S SUNDAY SERMON.
A GOSPEL MESSAGE.
“Silence in Ieaven,” the
Mighty Import of the Cessation De
scribed in Reveélations—Half Hours
Which Have Determined Destinies,
Text: “There was silence in heaven
about the space of half an hour.”—Reve-
lations, viii., 1.
“Take this watch and keep it,” said a
dying Christian as he picked it up from
the stand at his pillow, “I have no more
need of it. I am going where time shall
be no longer.” But it seems from my text
that heaven was at least once measured
by an earthly time-piece.
The busiest place in the universs
heaven, It is the center from which all
good ‘influences start; it is the goal at
which all good results arrive. ‘The Bible
represents it as active, with wheels and
wings and orchestras and processions,
mounted or charioted. Dut my text de-
scribes a space when the wheels ceased to
roll and the trumpets to sound and the
voices to chant. The riders on the white
horses reined in their chargers. The dox-
ologies were hushed and the processions
halted. The hand of arrest was put upon
all the splendors. ‘Stop, Heaven!" cried
an omnipotent voice, and it stopped. For
thirty minutes everything celestial stood
still. “There was silence in heaven for
the space of half an hour.”
From all we can learn it is the only time
heaven ever stopped. It does not stop, as
other cities, for the night, for there is no
night there. It does not stop fora plague,
for the inhabitant never says, “I am
sick.” It does not stop for bankruptcies,
for its inhabitants never fail. It does not
stop for impassable streets, for there are
no fallen snows or sweeping f{reshets.
What, then, stopped it for thirty minutes?
Grotius and Professor Stuart think it was
at the time of the destruction of Jerusa-
Jem. Mr. Lord thinks it was in the year
311. near the close ot the Diocletian perse-
cution and the beginning of
which Constantine gaine a the
that was all a gu
brilliant guess. 1
was, and I do not
the fact thas
took place 1
silence in et
ho
Subjecr=1ne
is
throne. But
Teitoa
do hot now when it
enre when it was,
uch an TR regnum of sound
am certain. ‘There was
ven for the space of
first of all, we may learn that God
an id ail heaven then honored silence,
full power of silence many of us have
to learn. We are told that when Christ
was arraigned “He answered not a word.”
That silence wag louder than any thunder
that ever shook the world. Ofttimes, when
we are assailed and misrepresented, the
mightiest thing to say is to say nothing,
and the mightiest thing to do is todonoth-
ing. Those people who are always rush-
ing into print to get themselves set right,
accomplish nothing but their own chagrin.
Silence! Do right and leave the results
with God. Among the grandest S0NS
the world has ever learned are the lessons
of patience taught by those who endured
uncomplainingly personal or domestic or
political injustice. = Ob, the power of
patient silence! Eschylus, the immortal
poet, was condemned to death for writing
something that offended the people. All
the pleas in his behalf were of no avail, un-
til his brother uncovered the arm of the
prisoner and showed that his wrist had
been sacrificed for his country at the battle
of Salamis. That cilent plea liberated
him. The loudest thing on earth is silence
if it be of the right kind and at the right
time. There was a quaint old hymn,
spelled in the old style, once sung in the
churches:
The race is not forever get
By him who fastest runs,
Nor the Battel by those peopell
That shoot with the longest gun.
My friends, the tossing sea of Galilee
seemed more to offend Christ by the amount
of noise it made, for He said to it: “Be
still”? Heaven has been crowning Kings
and Queens unto God for many centuries,
yet heaven never stopped a moment for
any such occurrence, but it stopped thirty
minutes for the coronation of Silence.
‘“There was silence in heaven for the space
of half an hour.”
Learn also from my text that heaven
must be an eventful and active place, from
the facet that it could afford only thirty
minutes of recess. There have been events
on earth and in heaven that seemed to de-
mand a whole day or whole week or wholé
year for celestial consideration. If Grotius
was right and this silence occurred at the
time of the destructicn of Jerusalem,
seene was so awful and so prolonged that
the inhabitants of heaven could
done justice to it in many weeks.
Jerusalem — Antonio and Hippicus-— had
been going on for a long while, a Roman
goldier mounted on the shoulder of another
soldier hurled into the window of the tem-
ple a ‘firchrand, and the temple was all
aflame, and after covering many sacrifices
to the holiness of God, the building itself
became a sacrifice to the rage of man. The
hunger of the peeplo in that city duri
the Jeciegement © was great that
some outlaws were passing a doorway
inhaled the odors of fcod they burst
the door, threatening the mother o
household with death unless she
them some food, and she took them
and showed them that it was her owne
she was cooking for the ghastly repast. Six
hundred priests were destroyed on Mo
Zion because, the temple being gone, tl
was nothing for them to do. Six thous
people in one cloister were
There were 1,160,000 dead. uaccordir
Josephus. Grotius thinks that this was the
cause of silence in heaven. for half an ho
If Mr. Lord was right, and this silence w
during the Diocletian persecutions,
which 814.600 Christians suffered
ay sword and fire; and banishment and
exposure, why did not heaven listen
throughout at least one of those awlul
vears? No! Thirty minutes! The factis
that the celestial programme is so crowded
with spectacle that it can afford only ono
recess in all eternity, and that for a
spa While there are great chorouses in
which all heaven ean joiu, each soul there
has a story of divine mercy peculiar to it
self, and it must be a solo. How eanheaven
get through with all its solos, as well as
all its recitatives, with all 1ts cantatas,
with all its grand marches, with all its vic
tories? Eternity is too short to utter all
the praise.
Not only are all the triumphs of the past
to be commemorated, but all the trinmphs
to come. Not only what we now know of
God, but what we will know of Him after
everlasting study of the Deitle. If my text
had said there was silence in heaven for
thirty days, I would not have been startled
at the announcement, but it indicates thir-
ty minutes. Why, there will be so mt any
friends to hunt up; co many of the gre: ily
good and useful that we will want to see;
80 many of the unserutable things of earth
we will need explained; 80 many exeiting
earthly experiences we will want to talk
over, and all the other spirits and the ages
will want the same,
opportunity for cessation.
will be keptin having
SO us
and
CONE
Liv
short
How busy we
the wars by |
that |
over
deat |
i and the west, and sit down in the temple
it wounded hand and once wounded foot
the grandest sight that hag ever been wit-
that there will be | no |
pointed out to us the |
heroes i heroines that the world Hever |
fnhy appreciated—the yellow fever and
cholera doctors, who died not fiying from
their posts; the female
pestilence in the lazarettoes; the
engineers who stayed at their places iu or-
der to save the train, though they them-
selves perished and went down through
the open drawbridge.
Hubert Goflin, the
lan.
the mine, just as he heard the waters rush
in, and when one jerk of the rope wonid
have lifted him to safety, put a blind
miner who wanted to go to his sick child
in the bucket, and jerked the rope for him
to be pied up, erying: ‘Tell them the
water has burst in and we are probably
lost; but we will seek refuge at the other
master miner, who,
nurses who faced |
railroad |
ling from the bueket at the bottom of |
|
{ your
| story
hough a learned and |
bus of |
half an |
i made
™ |
L1G}
yet |
; the Christian philosopher; the
| ail the royal
not hava
After |
fearful besiegement of the two fortresses of |
ad of the gailery.” and
command to the other miners till they
digged themselves so near out that the
people from the outside could come to their
rescue. Tho multitudes of men and wom-
en who gct no crown on earth, we will
want to see when’ they got their crown in
heaven, I tell you heaven will have no
nove half hours to snare.
Josides that, heaven is fall of children.
They are in the vast majority. No child on
earth who amountsto anythingean be kept
quiet half an hour. and how are you going
to keep 500,000,000 of them quiet half an
hour. You know heaven is much more of a
place than it was when that recess of thir-
ty minutes occurred. Its population has
quadrupled, sextupled, centupled. Heavens
has more on hand, more of rapture, more
of knowledge, more of intercommunica-
tion, more of worship. There is not so
much difference between Washington, a
mudhole seventy years ago, and Washing-
ton now, the most beuatiful city on earth;
not so much difference between New York
when Canal street was far uptown, and
when Canal street is far downtown, as
there iz difference between what heaven
was when my text was written and what
heaven is now. The most thrilling place
we have ever been in is stupid compared
with that, and if we now have no time to
spare, we will then have no eternity to
spare. Silence in heayen only half an hour!
My subject also impresses me with the
immortality of a half hour. That half
hour mentioned in my text is more widely
known than any other period in the cal-
endar of heaven. None of the whole
hours of heaven are measured off, none
of the years, none of the centuries. Ofthe
millions ‘of ages past, and the millions of
ages to come, not one 18 especially
measured off inthe Bible. The half hour
of my text is made immortal. The only
part of eternity that was ever measured by
carthly timepiece was measured by the |
minute hand of my text. Oh, the half
hours! They decide everything. I am
not asking what you will do with the years
or months or days of vour life, but what
of tho half hours. Tell me the history of
half hours; and I will tell you the
of your whole life on earth and
the story of vour whole life in eternity.
The right or wrong things you ean think
in thirty tninutes, the right or wrong things
vou ean fay in thirty minutes, the right or
ong things you do in thirty minutes
arc zloripus or baleful, inspiring or desper-
ate,
Look
They
hal
then giving the
fragments of time.
ity. It was the
hou een shoeing sharses that
Fiihu Burritt the learned -black-
the half hours between professional
that made Abercrombie
half hours
master that
out
are
{for the
mit;
calls us a physicial
between his duties as sehool
made Salmon P. Chase Chief Justice; the
half hours between shoe lasts that made
Henry Wilson Vice-President of the United
States; the half hours between canal boats
that made James A. Garfleld President.
The half hour a day for good hooks or bad
books; the half hour a day for prayer or
indolence; the half hour a day for helping
others or blasting others; the half hour
before you go to business, and the half
hour after your return from business; that
makes the difference between the scholar
and the ignoramus. between the Christian
and the infidel, between the saint and the
demon, between triumph and catastrophe,
THE: SABBATH-SCHOOL LESSON.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS
FOR AUGUST 14.
Lesson Text: “The Shunammite’s Son"==
, II Kings iv., 23-37=Golden Text: Ps.
lv.,, 22%2—=Commentary on the Lesson
by the Rev. D, M. Stearns.
25. ‘‘Soshe went and came unto the man
of God to Mount Carmel.” Inthe town of
Shunem there was a great woman who,
withthe consent of her husband, prepared
a chamber for Elisha and furnished it with
a bed, table, stool and -ecandlestick and
constrained him to turn in thither when=
ever he passed that way (verses 8-10). They
had no children, and Elisha in gratitude
for their kindness to him asked God, and
He gave them a son. One day when the
lad was grown he was in the fleld with the
reapers and his father. He was suddenly
taken with pain in his head, wad carried
home and in a very short time died on hig
mother’s knees. She laid him on the bed
of the man of God, shut the door, called
for a servant and an ass and hastened to
Carmel to Elisha.
26, ‘‘Run now, I pray thee, to meet her
and say unto her, Is it well with thee? Is
ft well with thy husband? Is it well with
the child? And she answered, It is well.’
Even though our grief be very great and
our heart be breaking, with confidence in
God we can say, “It is well.” We can say
with Eli, “It is the Lord; let Him do what
seemeth Him good” (I Sam. iii., 18), or
with Job, “The Lord gave, and the Lord
hath taken away; blessed be the name of
the Lord” (Job i., 21).
27. ““And the man of God said, Let her
alone, for her soul is vexed within her, and
the Lord hath hid it from me and hath not
told me. Gehazi would bave driven her
away, as the disciptes would have sent
away the mothers with the children, and
perhaps in something of the same spirit in
which they also found fault with Mary of
Jethany when she with the precious oint-
ment anointed our Lord and to their fault
finding He said, “Let her alone.” There
are still those who find fault with others for
clinging too closely to our Lord, but happy
are all 1s hom Ie approves.
on ans sai, bid Td
Did I not say, Do
t suppose she thoughtit b
ueh a gift than
ud then when he
r heart thus to lose but she
did not know all God’s plan far her. We
must not judge of god 8 Ways till we have
seen the end (Jas, v.11; Ezek, £23):
29. “Then he sai to ant. Gir a up thy
loins, and take my staff in thins hand, and
go thy way. and lay my staff upon the face
of the einld.” This seems a littio perplex-
ing: it looks like making light of the case
on the part of the prophet, though we do
not so judge. DBettertd have dat once done
as Elijah did (I Kings xvii., 21), and as he
aftyrward did. When Joshua made light
of Ai and sent only a few men to take it,
they were defeated. Contrast Joshua vii.,
8, 4 and viii., 1.
30. ‘*As the Lord Jiveth and as thy soul
liveth I will not leave thee.” She did not
gee God in Gehazi, pot in Elisha’s staff, but
‘sire a son of
deceive +
ter never
to, have re=
fad taken
nok
noc
between heaven and hell, The most tre-
mendous things of your life and mine were
certain half hours.
lemember, we are mortal yet, and ecan-
not endure the full roll of heavenly har-
monies, and cannot endure even the silent
heaven for more than half an hour. Hark!
the clock in the tower of heaven begins to
strike. and the half hour is ended. De-
scend! Come back! Come down! till your
work is done. Shouldera littlelonger your :
hattles. Weep a little longer your griefs.
And then take heaven not in its fullest half
hour, but in its mightiest pomp and instead
of taking 1t for thirty minutes, tuke it world
without end.
- But how will you spend the first half hour
of your heavenly citizenship after you have
gone in to stay? After your prostration
before the throne in worship of Him who
made it possible for you to get there at all,
I think the rest of your first halt hour in
heaven will be passed in receiving your re-
ward if you have been faithful. I havea
strangely beautiful book, containing the
pictures of the medals struck by the Eng-
lish Government in honor of great battles;
these medals pinned over the heart of the
returned heroes of the army, on great oc-
casions, the royal family present, and
i royal bands playing—the Crimean
dal, the Legion of Houor, the Victoria
Cross, the Waterloo medal. In your first
halt hour in heaven in some way you will
ho honored for the earthly struggles in
which you won the day. Stand up before
house of heaven and receive
the insignia while vou are announced
victor over political misfortune, as victor
over the droughts and freshets of the farm
field, vietor over the temptations of the
st exchange, victor over domestic in-
felicities, vietor over mechanic's shop, vie-
tor over professional allurements, victor
over the storehouse, victor over ‘home j
worriments, victor over physical distress,
victor over herdditary depressions, vietor
sin and death aad hell. Take the
za that celebrates those victories
irouely our Lord Jesus Christ. Take it in
y presence of all the galleries; saint ly,
ie, and divine, while all heaven
8: “These are they who eame out of
tribulation and had their ro!
ed and made white in the blood of thy
mao
is
r saints in all this glorions war
1 conquer though they die
the triumph from afar,
d seize it with “thei eye.
aven is all this while halted, what
will it be when on the march? If heaven
is all this while s what svill it be when
in full triumph? - yeu at the
Crystat Palace, in N sw York, Julian gave a
2000 voices and 3000 players,
$ He controiled that
at harmony, b ating time with hand and
foot, and to myself, who had never before
he ard music on a grand scale, it was over-
powering. But oh, when they shall come
from the north and the south, and the cast
of God and the Lamb, and Christ shall
rise, and all heaven shall rise with Him, He
«hall eontrol that Pkarmony with once
and
it will be like the voice of many waters:
the voice of mighty thunderings. Worthy
is the Lamb that was slain to receive bless
ing and riches and houor and glory
power. Amen and amen!
A NORWEGIAN'S PRAISE OF US.
and
Captain Gade, of the Royal Navy, Com-
pliments the American Gunners,
Captain Gustav Gade, of the Royal Nor-
wegian Navy, has returned to WV ashington
from Santiago, where he witnessed the de-
struction of Cervera’s fleet. He was sent
by lis Government to study the war. He
sinid: “I think the battle at Santiago was
pessed. Your gunners are wonderful
warksmen, and the work of your navy has
«ct at rest forever any doubt in the mine Is
of such nations who may have been so ded
‘nded that Americans do not know how to
fight.
“Your army i3 a fine body of men.
regulars are without a doubt as well
drilled as any European army, and they ap-
par to me p thvsically and intellectually far
above the average of European soldiers.”
Your
Pensions For Our New War.
Owing to the number of applications for
pensions} oing received as a result of the
war with Spain, Commissioner H. Clay
Byvans, of tho Pension Bureau, Washington,
has established the “Division of 93.” To
this all applications originating through
service in the present war will be referred.
Medical o4icers of the Pension Bureau esti-
rate that at least two-thirds of the men
who have been sent to Cuba and Porto
Rico will eventually become pensioners,
she had recognized God in Elisha. It is
our Lord’s desire that He should be soseen
in us that people may be drawn to Him
through us (Gal. i., 16, 24). Take the cases
of Ruth, Ittai and Elisha himself as paral-
lels in clinging (Ruth i., 16; II Sam. xXv.,
21: II Kings ii., 2).
31. ‘And Gehazi passed on before them
and laid the staff upon the face of the
child, but there was neither voice nor
hearing.” One has said, “Deliver us from
Gehazis who ouly es try a staff.” Those
who would lead others to life must have
life themselves. The truth we uSe must be
a part of us, not something we hold as a
staff in our hand.
32. “And when Elisha was come into the
house behold the child was dead and laid
upon his bed.” When the woman pre-
pared the bed for the prophet, she little
dreamed that she would ever use it for
such a purpose. In doing good to others
we are often making a resting place for
our own sorrows and also a place of de-
liverance from them. In de saling with the
children for their souls’ tion we must
remember that they are de ad in sin (Eph.
li., 4, 5) and must be placed in the warmest
symp athies of our hearts.
33. “He went in therefore and
door upon them twain, and prayed
the Lord.” Henow does as giijah did. It
is ood to take the children by one
alone with God, It is well sometimes to
have thoso with us in prayer who are in
Syr mp ithy, as when Jesus took Peter, James
and John, "and the father and mother of the
little girl Whom He would restore to life.
It is at other times wiser to be alone ‘with
God,
34. “And he went up and lay upon the
child.” Tho verses go on totell just how
he did it, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes,
hands to hands,’ The late C. HH. Spurgeon,
to whom I am indebted for ny thoughts
on this lesson, said that to ch oneself
down to a chiid was the Ik kind of
stretching, but unless wee 0 to
put oursclves-as faras pos=ibl place
of the children whom we seek reach,
seein and thinking as.they d wo may
pe to reach thom,
“Then he returned
house to and fro and wen
himself upon him, and the
nd the ehild opened
1 waxed warm, then followed
ndt fun thes aed eyes. The
in theo
»w's son or
it often do
t way any
or two
the
unto
hut
33. shut
one
an
ked in the
dstretehed
sneezed
seventimes, o his eyes.
First the |
a NS
our hoe does
in the same e3
es. tivo loaves
1 said, Call
her. And
he said,
ved him
to r than ever
Ite} 5 Lene eforth
slings from formerly.
t piace, ha was, HA Isaac, a su-
per natural child (verse 14), and now he
was a child actually given back from the
dead, so that this great woman of Shunem
was made to see the great power ol the
God of Israel in a twofold way.
37 “Then she went in and feil at his feet
and bowed herself to the ground, and took
up her son and went out.” Let some
mother who has lost an only son describe
this mother’s joy at such a time and under
guch circumstances. Wo may imagine her
bowing before God with him and saying
like Hannah, “He shall be given to the
Lord as long as he lives.” Let all our
hearts turn more fully to the Only Begot-
ten Son of God whom God sparsd ‘not, but
delivered Him up for us all, and let us re-
member that with Him He I a8 freely giv-
en us all things (Rom. viii., 32). May no
one and no thing come between our hearts
and Him.— Lesson Helper.
;alled Gehe
So he ]
1 1 in u 1
Take up thy son.” Now
alive fromthe dead, more
before, yet doubtle
i r different foe
me
Many
birds.
insects can fly fas
The common house-
dina r fly 25 feet a second.
it is alarmed, it has been found that
it can increase its rate of speed to over
160 feet per second. If it could con-
tinue such rapid flight for a mile in a
straight line, it would cover the dis-
tance in exactly 33 seconds.
corrupt
There
Japanese officials
than any. other in WM
sptions, but these aston-
In strict attention to
anese otlicials of all ranks
al the Germans, but while the latter
somewhat stiff and overbe 1g in
vr, the Japanese are polite.
are 1
the .
are
Last year © pe nalties
cases, amounting to
curred by construct: British
Navy, owing to delays: ere en-
Ioreed in two cases only to th e extent
£ $300.
ren
in-