COLDENROD.
Spring Is the morning of the year,
And Summer is the noontide bright ;
The Autumn is the evening clear
That comes before the Winter's night.
And in the evening, everywhere
Along the roadside, up and down,
I see the golden torches flare
Like lighted street-lamps in the town.
I think the butterfly and bee,
From distant meadows coming buck,
Are quite contented when they see
These lamps along the homeward track.
But those who stay too late get lost ;
For when the darkness falls about,
Down every lighted street the Frost
Will go and put the torches out!
—Frank Dempster Sherman.
SR
4 OCHE, THE CHICKASAW.
NE
The colonel was in command. and
it was our business to obey orders.
His mouth was straight and firm, and
his small,gray eyes were set unusually
close together. His chin was clean
shaven, and on either cheek he wore
a thin and formal whisker. Perhaps
it was to this severe exterior that
Colonel Bailey owed his appointment
as deputy sheriff of Guthrie district;
but be this as it may, everybody knew
him to be capable and fearless, and
80 when an elusive young Chickasaw
bandit was seen in the vicinity of Le-
high it was the colonel who was chosen
to run him down.
Colonel Bailey selected me as one
of his associates. For the other he
picked out an unsociable fellow,
known in the community as ‘‘Frozen
Pete.” I suspect that he had no
great confidence in our ability to catch
the thief. For when we reached Le-
high and found the outlaw under lock
and key, he seemed very well satisfied.
It merely remained for us to bring the
prisoner safely to Guthrie and lodge
him in the county jail.
After a short delay, we started
on our return journey, and so it
happened that one breezy autumn
evening we four encamped in a
hollow of the Washita Hills, Okla:
homa, with more than half our ride
behind us.
Our prisoner's name was Oche—a
Chickasaw word meaning ‘‘all right.”
Never was name less appropriate. Ex-
cept in his youth, his vigor and the
marvellous quickness of his motions,
Oche was anything but ‘‘all right.”
Though he stood five feet ten in his
moccasins, his extraordinary leanness
left his weight scarcely a hundred
pounds. He spoke little English and
was wholly without education, but his
high reputation for cunning had been
thoroughly earned. © A pair of frayed
buckskin trousersand a dingy blanket
made up- his simple costume. He
looked a typical Indian outlaw, but
his face was kind, and there were
men who said his gratitude for a favor
was keen and lasting.
As a professional
dad small ¢'aim upon the kindness of
honest mén, and He must have ex-
pected the severest justice at official
hands. But at the outset, the Indian
had reason to be surprised, for con-
trary to his appearance Colonel Bailey
was generous to a fault, and his kind
consideration for a prisoner was in-
variable. Frozen Pete anil I followed
his example. We had no wish to be
discourteous, and it seemed only nat-
ural and right to offer Oche such little
attentions as were within our power
to bestow. I remember in particular
that last night when the Indian was
shivering beneath his scanty blanket
how the colone] drew off his heavy
weather-coat and spread it carefully
over him. Oche merely raised hig
head and stared hard into the rugged
face of the sheriff.
The hollow in which we had halted
was a natgral basin, situated on the
west bank of a branch of the Washita
river. Eastward between us and the
stream a very narrow wall of shaly
“earth rose precipitously to the height
of full 30 feet. To the north and
west the low hills were almost perpen-
dicular. Thus on three sides the
basin was entirely shut in by cliffs.
On the fourth alone to the southwest
the view wa8 open, and through the
gap we could see stretches of the il-
limitable prairie.
The tall prairie grass grew abnan-
dantly on the floor of our camping-
ground, and here and there along the
hard, dry walls clung an occasional
patch of stubbly buffalo grass or a
sickly cluster of yellow cacti. Cer-
tainly it was not a pretty spot, but the
tall banks were a rampart against the
chill breezes of the northwest, “and
the basin had long since been a favor-
ite halting-ground for travelers.
On this night, however, the wind
had veered round until it swept unre-
sisted through the mouth of our three-
walled flat. All night long its vio-
lence steadily increased, and when
the colonel wakened us by loud shouts
of ‘‘Rouse! Rouse!” it was blowing a
gale.
I started up and began to draw on
my heavy boots. The colonel was al-
ready making coffee over a glowing
heap of brush sticks. By chance my
eyes wandered to the opposite side of
the basin, where we had picketed our
four broncos. They were gone.
In blank amazement I pointed to
the spot. The colonel followed the
direetion of my gaze and understood.
Then by a common impulse we ran to
where his overcoat lay. He snatched
it from the ground. Beneath were a
blanket, a piece of heavy rope and a
pair, of locked handcuffs. Oche had
gone, too. :
Had the blow been less severe, the
colonel might have given expressive
vent to his feelings, but as it was, he
merely dropped upon the blanket and
began to examine the discarded man-
acles.
“There are times,” he muttered,
weakly, ‘‘when a man who calls him-
self a man insists upon being a mule.
This is one of the times, and I’m the
man.” :
“How was it done?” I asked, kneel-
ing oprosite him on Oche’s blanket.
““T’one,” he replied; ‘‘there wasn’t
anything to be done about it. All he
horse-thief Oche |
[ boy,” cried the
WOT
had to do was to getup and walk.
You know how slim he was? Well,
he’s turned out to be one of those fel-
lows whose hands aren’t a
broader than their wrists. What do
you suppose they care about things |
like these?’ he added,
handcuffs viciously. ‘‘While we were
sleeping here, like the gentle lambs
we are, he slipped his hands out, un-
tied the rope from his ankles and left,
taking the broncos along as mementos
of a pleasant trip with fools.”
“Then let’s follow him!” I exclaimed,
leaping up; but the sheriff gripped me
by the trousers.
" “I'm thankful,” he said, earnestly,
“that I’m not the only idiot in this
camp. Why, you dummy,
you comprehend the difference be-
tween people on horses and people on
foot, and don’t 2
Frozen Pete had been quietly but
rapidly pulling on his boots, button-
ing his jacket and tightening his belt.
His manner was generally so deliber-
ate that now we both stared at him in
surprise. My view embraced the
wouth of our camping-ground, and
between the black walls I saw, with
horror, a long, unbroken line of leap-
ing flame. Extending the entire
width of the bottom, its dancing vel-
low crest was just visible as it rose
over a long knoll lying in its path.
rattling the
How the fire started I do not know to !
' has passed a bend in the
this day. Perhaps campers on the
prairie had set it going accidentally.
It could not have been burning
long, for else we should have noticed
the glare in the night sky. Complete-
ly hidden by our walls until within
the last few moments, the terrible
danger had crept upon us unobserved.
_ The fire was already within 300
yards of us, and the rough wind was
sweeping it nearer with frightful ra-
pidity.
sides of us blocked our retreat. A death
of torture was rushing straight at us.
Pete and I stared at Colonel Bailey,
while in that awful moment the sheriff
g:ood, with beat head, thinking how
to save us.
“This way, boys,” he cried,sudden-
toward the creek. We followed and
quickly reached the narrow bluff op-
posite. : The
along its base. He had seen such
formations before and hoped to find a
hole through the wall.
I was by his side when we reached
a spot where the tall grass had
worn down. He stopped, dropped on
one knee and then pulled me bodily
to the ground. To my astonishment
I found myself
burrow, perhaps 1S inches in diam-
eter. At its other end, scarcely 15
feet away, I could see light. Some
enterprising coyote had dug a passage
through the narrow wall to the creek
beyond.
“See if it’s wide enough for you,
colonel; ¢¢
maybe not. If
can get through, we
can’t ——"’
I lost the rest of the sentence as | size
ofp ay
and shoulders |
into the opening, and digging my toes |
the ground I shoved |
| physically.
with both arms extended in front
me I thrust my head
violently into
myself forward almost my
There I stuck fast. With no room
bend my arms or use my knees, I was
helpless. ~ Writhe and squirm as 1
would, I could make no progress. In
despair I° struggled back into the
basiu. .
“I feared it,” said the sheriff, husk-
ily. “If we could use our elbows we
could make it, but as it is, God help
us,
length.
For some seconds we stood motion-
less. The fire had advanced full 50
vards,and the infernal roar was buzz-
ing in my ears when Pete suddenly
thrust out his hand toward the west.
Opposite us, on the verg of the bluff,
was the raseally bandit, Oche. We
could see him distinctly in the in-
creasing light. There he sat astride
the colonel’s pony, stolidly watching
us and apparently finding a ferocious
joy in our approaching destruction,
We had hardly time for thought,
however, before Oche dropped to the
ground. Holding the lariat coiled in
his hand, he cut it from the bronco’s
neck and sprang to the edge of the
bluff at a point where the wall was
slightly less steep. Instantly he
squatted down, lurched his weight for-
ward and slid down the bank into the
basin below. The descent was almost
as rapid as a fall, but Oche reached
the bottom unharmed, and springing
to his feet he came bounding toward
us, his lank, wiry body shooting far
through the air at every leap.
The act of the bandit in dropping
from safety to apparent death utterly
bewildered us. In the nature of
things it would not be to attack us.
The roaring of the flames grew louder,
we could hear the crackling of the
tall, crisp grass, yet we could only
stand and stare.
The Indian presently reached us.
“Throw away guns — hats!”
cried.
“Do it, Dboys,”
he
commanded the
colonel, and as Frozen Pete threw
down his belt, pistol and sombrero
Oche pushed him prostrate to the
earth. Pete fell just iu front of the
burrow, and Oche sliding past hin,
strung the lasso on the grass. Pete
i he stood on
{ the creek.
particle !
i against our faces.
| chivalrous deference.
| rope.
| side, and our united strength dragged
i Colonel Bailey rapidly through the
can’t. |
! emerged from under
There was no time to start a |
counter fire. The sheer walls on three !
been |
looking into a wolf- |
maybe we |
to |
understood and grasped the rope near
its centre, while Oche, dropping full
length upon the ground, wriggled his
naked body into the burrow. Thanks
to his extreme slenderness and to his
Indian blood he crawled through the
tunnel with all the dexterity of an
animal. Holding one end of the lariat
at his back he drew the slack rapidly
after him, and in less than a minute
the narrow strip beside
Pete crawled into the tunnel as far
as his own exertions would permit, and
now the Indian, drawing the rope
taut, pulled him along with all the
strength of Lis lithe body. Twisting
and turning, the cowboy scraped safely
, throuzh.
The.colonel grabbed the end of the
rope which had almost disappeared in
the burrow, and running back with it
15 feet he ordered me to go before
him. The fire was within 50 yards of
us. The wind drove sparks and smoke
It was no time for
Dropping to the earth I grasped the
lariat as Pete had done and was trying
to compress my bulk just a little
| when I felt myself jerked forward with
i a vigor which told me that Oche and
Pete were hauling together at the
In half a minute I was by their
tunnel. But just as the sheriff’s head
the bluff Oche
sprang from us and running along the
| bank of the stream stopped some five
rods away. It was
that neither Pete
hardly strange
nor I thought of
| him as a prisoner.
Colonel Bailey got on his feet and
took a step toward Oche. The out-
law stood motionless, The sheriff
made another step. The Indian shook
his -head, then turned and walked
slowly away, conscious of his perfect
security. He had seen us throw down
our holster pistols on the other side
of the hole, and as an Indian he did
not fear our pursuit on foot.
The sheriff watched Oche until he
ridge, then
turned and walked toward us in si-
lence. Halting at the wolf-burrow he
bent down and peeped through it. As
he did so his trousers were drawn
tight across his hips, and I perceived
the outline of a hard object in his rear
. pocket. It was the butt of a derringer
man to criti-
Tilford, in
pistol; but I am not the
cise the colonel. -— Til
Youth’s Companion.
QUAINT AND CURIOUS,
A map of Jerusalem in Mosaic, over
1500 years old, has been found in Pal-
estine.
A night-blooming leguminous plant
of Trinidad is pollinated by the agency
"of bats.
ly, and ran straight across the canon |
There are houses still standing in
Nuremberg, Bavaria, that were built
| in 1080.
sheriff glanced rapidly |
A pen carrying a small electric lamp
to prevent shadows when writing has
been patented in Ger.nany.
Prisoners when arrested in Morocco
are required to pay the policeman for
his trouble in taking them to jail.
The Roman bride, when being
dressed for the wedding, invariably
had her hair parted with the point of
a spear,
A pedestrian succeeded the other
day in setting foot, in the course of
{ five hours and forty minutes, in seven
German states.
Simla, India, is built on the side of
a steep hill, and the roof of one house
is often”on a level with the founda-
tion of one in the next tier.
Grasshoppers attain their greatest
in South America, where they
grow to a length of five inches, and
their wings spread out ten inches.
The Japanese are curiously alike
Recent measurements
taken of an infantry regiment showed
no vaviation except two inches in
height or 20 pounds in weight.
An early Anglo-Saxon custom, strictly
followed by newly married couples,
was that of drinking diluted honey
for thirty days after marriage. From
this custom comes the word honey-
moon, or honeymonth.
Safety for Miners.
A recently invented device for
miners will no doubt result in lessen-
ing the loss of life. It is designed to
render the miners immune from the
deadly effects of carbonic oxide in the
after damp which follows gas ex-
plosions in mines. It is a helmet
which will enable the wearer to live
for at least half an hour after such an
explosion takes place. It is worn over
the head and face, and is constructed
of a special asbestos tanned leather,
or cloth, rendering it proof against
fire, heat, steam, boiling water and all
poisonous fluids. It comes down close
over the shoulders, and is held firmly
in place by means of two straps pass-
ing under the arms. At the back of
the helmet is a metal reservoir, from
which the wearer is supplied with
fresh air at the natural air pressure
and twenty degrees cooler than the
outside atmosphere. The tank has a
capacity of 100 pounds’ pressure of
compressed air, and is always ready
for service, the same pressure of pure
air being retained for months. The
amount of air in store can be-seen on
the gauge attached to the reservoir,
which can be quickly changed by an
air pump. A lever on the top of the
reservoir forces the air through the
supply tubes to a point inside and di-
recty in front of the mouth and nos-
trils., The supply can be adjusted to
the comfort of the wegrer. The neck
gear has an outlet for the foul air,and
the two lookouts arc constructed of
double plates of clear mica, with re-
volving cleaners and protected by four
cross wires. The side or ear plated
have special diaphragms, or sounding
discs, which give perfectly- distinct
hearing. —Philadelphia Record.
REY. THLNAGE'S SUNDAY SERMON.
Subject: “People of Many Troubles —A
Certain Amount of Persecution and
Tribulation Arouses the Best That is
ina Man—Woman in a Crisis.
TexTt: “There was a sharp rock on the
one side. and a sharp rock on the other.”
I Sam. xiv., 4.
Tha cruel army of the Philistines must
be taken and scattered. There is just one
man, accompanied by his bodvguard, to
do that thing. Jonathan is the hero of the
scene. I know that David cracked the
skull of the giant with a few pebbles well
slung, and that three hundred Gideonites
scattered ten thousand Amalekites by the
crash of broken crockery: but here is a
more wonderful conflict. Yonder are the
Philistines on the rocks. Here is Jonathan
with his bodyguard in the valley. On the
one sideisarock called Bozez; on the other
side is a rock called Senelh. These two
were as famous in olden times as in modern
times are Plymonth Rock and Gibraltar.
They were precinitous, unscalable and
sharp. Between these two rocks Jonathan
must make his ascent. The day comes for
the scaling of the height. Jonathan, on
hia hands and feet,” begins the ascent.
With strain and slip and bruise, ‘I suppose,
but still on and up, first goes Jonathan,
and then goes his bodyguard. Bozez on
one side, Seneh on the other. After a sharp
tug. and push. and clinging, I see the head
of Jonathan above the hole in the moun-
tain, and there is a challenge and a fight,
and a supernatural consternation. These
two men. Jonathan and his bodveguard,
drive back and drive down the Philistines
over therocks, and open a campaign which
demolishes the enemies of Israel. I sun-
pose that the overhanging and overshad-
owing rocks on either side did not balk or
dishearten Jonathan or his bodvguard, but
only roused and fllled them with enthusi-
asm as they went un. “There was a sharp
rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on
the other side.”
My friends vou have been, or are now.
some of you, in this crisis of the text, Ifa
man meeta one trouble he can go through
with it. He gathers all his energies. con-
centrates them on one point, and in the
strength of God, or by his own natural de-
termination. goes throughit. Rut the man
who has trouble to the right of him, and
trouble to the left of him, is to be pitied.
Did either trouble come alone, he mighs
endure it, but two troubles, two disasters,
two overshadowing misfortunes, are Bozez
and Seneh. God pity him! ‘“There is a
sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp
rock on the other side.”
In this crisis of the text is that man
whose fortune and health fail him at
the same time. Nine-tenths of all our mer-
chants capgize in business before they come
to forty-five years of age. There is some
collision in commercial circles, and they
stop payment. It seems as if every man
must put his name on the back of a note
before he learns what a fool a man is who
risks all his own property on the prospect
that some man will tell the truth. It seems
ag if a man must have a larze amount of
unsalable goods on his own shelf before he
learns how much easier it is to buy than to
sell. It seems as if every man must be com-
pletely burned out before he learns the im-
portance of always keeping fully insured.
It seems as if every man must be wrecked
in financial tempest before he learns to
keep things snug in case of a sudden euro-
clydon.
‘When the calamity does come, it is
awful. The man goes home in despair,
and he tells his family, ‘“We’ll have to go
to the poor-house.” Heo takes a dolorous
view of everything. It seems as if he never
could rise. But a little time passes, and
he says, “Why, I am not -so badly off after
all; I have my family left.”
Before the Lord turned Adam out of
Paradise, Hs gave him Eve, so that when
he lost Paradise he could stand it. Per-
mit one who has never read but a few
novels in all his life, and who has not a
great deal of romance in his composition,
to say, that if, when a man’s fortunes fail,
he has a good wife—a good Christian wife
—he ought not to be despondent. “Oh,”
you say, ‘that only increases the embur-
rassment, since you have her also to take
care of.” = You are an ingrate, for the
woman as often supports the man as the
man supports the woman. The man may
bring all the dollars, but the woman gen-
erally brings the courage and the faith in
God.
Well, this man of whom I am speaking
looks around, and he finds his family is
left, and he rallies, and the light comes to
his eyes, and the smile to his face, and the
courage to his heart. In {wo years he is
quite over it. He makes his financial
calamity the first chapter in a new era of
prosperity. He met that one trouble —con-
quered it. He sat down for a little while
under the grim shadow of the rock DBozez;
yet he soon rose, and began, like
Jonathan, to climb. But how often
is it that physical ailment comes
with financial embarrassment! When
the fortune failed it broke the man’s spirit.
His nerves were shattered. His brain was
stunned. [ can show you hundreds of men
in our cities whose fortune and health
failed at the same time, They came
prematurely to the staff. Their hand
trembled with incipient paralysis. They
never saw a well day since the hour when
they called their creditors together for a
compromise. If such men are impatient,
and peculiar, and irritabie, excuse them.
They had two troubles; either one of which
they could have met successtully. If, when
the health went, the fortune had been re-
tained, it would not have been so bad. The
man could have bought the very best
medical adviee, and he could have had the
very best attendance, and long lines of
carriages would have stopped at the front
door to inquire as to his weltare. Bat
poverty on one side and sickness on the
other are Bozez and Seneh, and they inter-
lock their shadows, and drop them upon
the poor man’s way. (od help him!
‘There is a sharp rock on the one side,
and a sharp rock on the other side.”
Now, what is such a man to do? In the
name of Almighty God, I will tell him what
to do. Do as Jonathan did—climb; climb
up into the sunlight of God's favor and
consolation. I can gothrough the churches,
and show you men who lost fortune and
health at the sam2 time, and yet who sing
all day and dream of Heaven all night. If
you have any idea that sbund digestion,
and steady nerves, and clear eyesight, and
goad hearing, and plenty of friends, are
necessary to make a man happy, you have
miscalculated.
It is a difficult thing for a man to feel his
dependence upon God when he has ten
thousand dolinrs in the bank, and fifty
thousand dollars in Government securities,
and a block of stores and three ships.
“Well,” the man says to himself, *‘it is silly
for me to pray, ‘Give me this day my daily
bread,’ when my pantry is full, and the
canals from the West are crowded with
breadstuffs destined for my storehouses.”
Oh, my friends, if the combined misfor-
tunes and disasters of life have made you
climb up into the arms of a sympathetic
and compassionate God, through all eter-
nity you will bless Him that in this world
‘““there was a sharp rock on the one side,
and a sharp rock on the other side.”
Again, that man is in the crisis of the text
who has home troubles and outside perse-
cution at the same time. The world treats
a man well just as long as it pays to treat
him well. As long as it can manufacture
success out of his bone and brain and
muscle, it favors him. The world fattens
the horse it wants to drive. But let a man
see it is his duty to cross the track of the
world, then every bush is full of horns and
tusks thrust at him. They will belittle him.
They will earicature him. They will call
his generosity self-aggrandizement and his
piety sanctimoniousness. The very worst
persecution will sometimes come upon
him from those who profess to be Chiis-
tians.
’
1
lore hers are cut down.
John Miiton—great and good John Mil.
ton—s0 far forgot himself as to pray. in so
many words, that his enemies might be
eternally thrown down into the darkest and
deepest gulf of Hell, and be the undermost
and most dejected, and tho lowest down
vassals of perdition! And Martin Luther
ro far forgot himself as to say, in regard to
his theological opponents: “Put them in
whatever sauce you please, roasted, or
fried, or baked, or stewed, or boiled, or
hashed, they are nothing but asses!” Ah,
my friends, if John Milton or Martin Luther
could come down to such securrility, what
may you not expect from less elevated op-
ponents?
Now, a certain amount of persecution
rouses a man’s deflance, stirs his blood for
magnificent battle, and makes him fifty
times more a man than he would have been
without the persecution. So it was with
the great Reformer when he said, “I will
not be put down, I will be heard.” And so
it was wita Millard, the preacher. in the
time of Louis XI. When Louis XI. sent
word to him that unless he stopped preach-
ing in that style he would throw him into
the river, he replied, “Tell the king that I
will reach Heaven sooner by water than he
will reach it by fast horses.” A certain
amount of persecution is a tonic and in-
aspiration, but too much of it, and too long
continued, becomes the rock Bozez throw-
ing a dark shadow over a man’s life. What
is he to do then? Go home, you say. Good
advice that. That is just the place for a
man to go when the world abuses him.
There are many homes in which there is
no sympathy, and no happiness, and no
good cheer. The clamor of the battle
mav not have been heard outside; but
God knows, notwithstanding all the
playing of the “Wedding March,”
and all the odor of the orange blossoms,
and the benediction of the officiating pas-
tor, there has been no marriage. So
sometimes men have awakened to find on
ona side of them the rock of persecution,
and on the other side of them the rock of
domestic infelicity. What shall such a one
do? Doas Jonathan did—climb. Get up
the heights of God’s consolation,” from
which you may look downin triumph upon
outside persecution and home trouble.
While good and great John Wesley was be-
ing silenced by the magistrates, and hav-
ing his name written on the board
fences of London, in doggerel at that
very time his wife was making him as mis-
erable as she could—acting as though she
were possessed by the Devil, as IT suppose
she was: never doing him a Kindness until
the dav she ran awav, so that he wrote in
his diary these words: “I did not forsake
ner; I have not dismissed her; I will not re-
call her.” Planting one foot upon outside
persecution, and the other foot on home
trouble, John Weslev climbed up into the
heights of Christian joy, and after preach-
ing forty thousand sermons. and traveling
two hundred and seventy thousand miles,
reached the heights of Heaven, though in
this world he had it hard enough—-‘a sharp
rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on
the other.”
Again, that woman stands in the crisis of
the text who has bereavement and a strug-
gle for a livelihood at the same time. With-
out mentioning names, I speak from obser-
vation. Ah, it is a hard thing for a woman
to make an honest living, even when her
heart 18 not troubled, and she has a fair
cheek, and the magnetism of an exquisite
presence. But now the husband, or the
father, is dead. The expenses of the obse-
quies have absorbed all that was left in the
savings bank; and, wan and wasted with
weeping and watching, she goes forth—a
grave, a hearse, a coffin behind her—to
contend for her existence and the existence
of her children, When I see such a battle
as that open, I shudder at the ghastliness
of the spectacle. Men sit with embroidered
slippers and write heartless essays about
women's wages; but that question is made
up of tears and blood, and there is more
blood than tears. Oh, give woman free ac-
cess to all the realms where she oan get a
livelihood, from the telegraph office to the
pulpit! Let men’s wages he cut down be-
Men have iron in
their souls, and can stand it. Make the
way free to her of the broken heart. May
God put into my hand the cold, bitter cup
of privation, and give me nothing but a |
windowless hut for shelter for many years,
rather than that after I am dead there
should go out from my home into the piti-
less world a woman’s arm to fight the Get-
tysburg, the Austerlitz, the Waterloo of life
for bread! And yet, how many women
there are seated between the rock of be-
reavement on the one side and the rock of
destitution on the other! Bozez and Seneh
interlocking their shadows and dropping
them upon their miserable way. ‘‘There is
a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp
rock on tha other side.”
What are such to do? Somehow, let
them climb up into the heights of the
glorious promise: ‘Leave the fatherless
children, I will preserve them alive, and
let thy widows trust in Me.” Or get up
into the heights of that other glorious
promise: “The Tord preserveth the
stranger, and relieveth the widow and the
fatherless.” Oh, ye sewing women, on
starving wages! Oh, ye widows, turned
out from the once beautiful home! Oh,
female teachers, kept onniggardly stipend!
Oh, ye despairing womon, seeking in vain
for work, wandering along the docks, and
thinking to throw yourselves into the river
last night! Oh, ye women of weak nerves,
and aching sides, and short breath, and
broken heart, you need something more
than human sympathy; you need the sym-
pathy of God. Climb up into His arms.
Ie knows it all, and He loves you more
lian father, or mother, or husband ever
could or ever did; and, instead of sitting
down, wringing your hands in despair, you
had better begin to climb. There are
heizhts of consolation for you, though now
“there is a sharp rock on the one side, and
a sharp rock on the other side.”
Oh, then, accept the wholesale invitation
which I make this day to all the people!
Come up trom between your invalidism and
financial embarrassments. Come up from
between your bereavements ard your des-
titution. Come up from between a wasted
lite and an unillumined eternity. Like
Jonathan, elimb up with all your might,
instead of sitting down to wring your hands
in the shadow and in the darkness—‘‘a
sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp
rock on the other side.”
A NEW CONFEDERACY.
Central American States Organize *’The
United States of Central America.”
Delegates to the convention to form a
constitution for the States of Salvador,
Honduras and Nicaragua, at Managua,
Nicaragua, have discussed the first eleven
of the articles, numbering about fifty-five,
in the printed form of a constitution, and
have decided on the following principal
fentures:
First—The organization is to be a confed-
eracy instead of a central union of the
three States,
Second—The name of the confederation
is to be “The United States of Central
America.”
Third- -There is to be a Federal district,
composed of the civil departments of Chin-
andega, in Nicaragua; Choluteca, in Hon-
duras, and La Union, in Salvador, all bor-
dering on the Gult of Fonseca.
Fourth--The organizing capital is to be
Amapala, on Tiger Island, in the Depart-
ment of Choluteca, Honduras. The perma-
nent capital is to be determinea by the first
Congress, and will be located at either
Amapala, Choluteea or Chinandega.
Fifth— There is to be one President, in-
stead of a triple-headed tribune, as at first
proposed.
Itis thought probable that either Presi-
dent Bonilla, of Honduras. or President
Zelaya. of Nicaragua, will be chosen asthe
tirst President of the proposed confederacy.
Emperor William’s Invitation.
Emperor William of Germany has ex-
tended an invitation to representatives of
Evangelical churches in the United States
to attend the ceremony of dedicating the
Church of the Redeemer, at Jerusalem, on
October 31.
THE SUBBATH:SCHOOL LESSOR
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS
FOR AUGUST 28.
Lesson Text: “Elisha at Dothan,” II
Kings vi., 8-18-—Golden Text: Psalms
xxxlv,, T=Commentary on the Lesson
by the Rev. D. M, Stearns.
8. “Then the king of Syria warred
against Israel and took counsels with his
servants, saying, In such and such a place
shall be my camp.” From the story of
Cain and Abel onward all the characters
in the Bible are for God or are against
Him and are seen either leaning upon His
wisdom or upon their own. But the bor-
rowed ax at the bottom of the river tells
the condition of all men apart from God.
All are lost and helpless to recover them-
selves, and how can such think to do
aught for or effectually against God? The
stick that caused the iron to swim and be
recovered is. like the tree cast into the
waters of Mara, suggestive of Him who is
the Tree of Life, who only can recover
lost souls or make bitter waters sweet. :
9. ‘“And the man of God sent unto the
king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou
pass not such a place, for thither the Syr-
ians are come down.’”’ Surely the Lord
God will do nothing, but He revealeth His
secret unto His servants, the prophets
(Amos iii.,; 7). As He told Samuel about
Saul whom He would send to him to be
anointed king, and also told him what
would happen to him the day he left him,
adding, “Do as occasion servethee, for God
is with thee,”’ so He sees the end from the
beginning of every day for each of us, and
if we leave our way with Him He will
bring it'to pass and order our steps to His
glory and to our highest good.
10. ““And the king of Israel sent to the
place which the man of God told him and
warned him of and saved himself there, not
once nor twice.” Thus {illustrating II
Chron. xx., 20, “Believe in the Lord, your
God, so shall ye be established; believe His
prophets, so shall ye prosper.” There is
nothing on earth so sure as the Word of
God, for it is forever settled in heaven (Ps.
cxix., 89), and, though all else may fade
and fail, the Word or our God shall stand
forever (Isa. xl., 8).
11. “Therefore the heart of the king of
Syria was sore troubled for this thing, and
he called his servants and said unto them,
Will ye not shew me which of us is for the
king of Israel?’’ For unless there was a
traitor among his men, how else could his
pians be made known to his enemy? Thus
‘reasoned the king of Syria, for he knew
raught but human wisdom, and yet he
.asw that the incurable disease of leprosy
had been healed in Israel, and was it not
possible that one who had connection with
such power might also be able to reveal
secrets?
12, ‘‘And one of his servants said, None.
my lord, O king, but Elisha, the prophet,
that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel
the words that thou speaketh in thy bed-
chamber.” Can any hide himself in secret
places that I shall not see him? saith the
Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? said
the Lord (Jer. xxili., 24). Thou compassest
my path and my lying down aad art
acquainted with all my ways, for there is
not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord
Thou knowest it altogether, Yea, the dark-
ness hideth not from Thee, but the night
shineth as the day; the darkness and the
light are both alike to Thee (Ps. exxxix.,
3, 4, 12). It was one of the servants whe
told the king about Elisha, and it was the
servants who persuaded Naaman to wash
| and be clean.
13. ‘Aud he said, Go and spy where he
is, that I may send and fetch him. Aud it
was told him, saying, Behold, he is in
Dothan.” How blind and stupid people
are who know not God! Even the devil
himself seems at times to act like a perfect
fool. Might not the king ol Syria have
said, “Well, if this man somehow knows
my secret plans and tells his king. there is
no use inmy trying to get him, for he will
know that I am coming and can hide him-
self from me.” But he is blinded by his
master, the devil; and goes heedliessly on,
bent on his own purposes.
14. “Therefore sent he thither horses and
chariots and a great host, and they came by
night and compassed the city about.” He
must have felt that Elisha was more than an
ordinary man or he would not have thought
it necessary to send sucha host to take one
man. So he does the best he knows how to
get his man, and to be more sure of taking
him he does it secretly by night, so that no
human eyes can see what he is doing, for
he knows nothing of Him to whom the
darkness and the light are alika,
15. ‘‘And when the servant of the man of
God was risen early and gone forth, behold,
an host compassed theeity, both with horses
and chariots. And his int said unto
him, Alas, my master, how il we do?”
In two cases we have seen seryants wiser
than their masters, but this servant does
not seem to have profited as he mightby
having such a master. Evenonr Lord had
to say to one of His disciples, “Have I h:en
so long time with you and yet hast thou
not known me, Philip?” (John xiv., 9).
16. *‘‘And he answered, [Fear not, for
they that be with us are more than they
that be with them.” Here is faith seeing
the unseen. Moses endured asse2eing Him
who is invisible, The things seen are
temporal, but the things unseen are
eternal. Happy are those who have
learned to see the things that are invisible
to ordinary eyes, who, like Stephen, look
up steadfastly into heaven and the
glory of God and Jesus and tind comfort
in His words, “Because I live, ye shall live
also’? (John xiv., 19). God would’ have
His people without fear, and a prayerful
study of the ‘fear nots’ from the first one
in Gan. xv., onward would eatly tend
to this happy state of mind which would
be very much to God's glory.
17. ‘*‘And Elisha prayed and said, Lord,
I pray Thee, open his eyes that he may
And the Lord opened the eyes of the
young man, and he saw, and, behold. the
mountain was full of horses and chariots
of fire round about Elisha.” We read in
lev.. vi, 11, that the angels are -10,000
times 10,000 and thousands of thousands,
and a few of these would be sufficient to
take care of Elisha. Our Lord said that
His Father wouald give Him twelve legions
of them if He asked ‘for them, and we are
told that they are ministering spirits,
ministering unto the heirs of salvation
(Heb, i., 14).
18. ‘“‘And when they came dowa to him,
Elisha prayed unto the Lord and said,
Smite this people, I pray Thee, with blind-
ness. And He smote them wita blindness,
according to the word of Elisha.’ Notice
also Elisha’s third prayer and answer in
this incident in verse 20, and if you earn-
estly covet such intimate fellowship with
God, make John xiv., 13, 14 a very prayer-
ful study, understanding that *‘in His
Name’ means at least “on His business,”
and asking such things as He Himsell
would ask. We must not imagine Elisha
speaking anything but truth in verse 19,
for the man whom the king of Syria
wanted was really the king of Israel. —Les-
son Helper. .
Xow They Do Il in Tianitoba.
“They have a very effective way of put-
ting the brakes on inebriates up in Mani-
toba,” writes a correspondent. “When a
man has been convicted twice or thrice of
drut kenuness in the local police courts, he
is sentenced to wear a brass collar, which
is a plain tip to saloon-keepers that he is
a person to whom itis forbidden to sell any
intoxicating beverages. No man with this
badge of disgrace can get a drink any-
where, forthe law is strictly respected. The
resuit is that in many eases au entire cure
is effected in the individual. Whenever the
authorities think that the collar penalty
has been endured long enough the coliar
comes off, and the citizen is at liberty to
get a drink.”’— Scottish Reformer.
|e
Ree,
The Queen of Greece is the only wo-
man Admiral in the world. :