iy
1,
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE.
Subject: “Different Modes of Measuring
the Flight of Time’'—Life Should Not
Be Wholly a Span of Years-—The Carse
of Wealth—The True Gauge.
TExT: “How old art thou?’—Genesis
xlvii., 8.
The Egvptian capital was the focus of
the world’s wealth: In ships and barges
thers had been.brought to it from India
frankincensplnd cinnamon and ivory and
diamonds; ffom the north, marble and
iron; from Syria, purple and silk; from
Greece, some of the finest horses of the
world and some of the most brilliant char-
jots, and from all the earth that which
could best please the eye and charm the
ear and gratify the taste. There were tem-
ples aflame with red sandstone, entered by
Msthe gateways that were guarded by pillars
~
Ly
bewildering with hieroglyphics.and wound
with brazen serpents and adorned with
winged oreatures, their eyes and beaks
and pinions glittering with precious stones;
there were marble columns blooming into
white flower beds; there were stone pillars,
at the top bursting into the shape of the
lotus when in full bloom.
Along the avenues, lined with sphinx
and fane and obelisk, there were princes
who came in gorgeously . upholstered
palanquins, carried by servants in scar-
let or elsewhere drawn by vehicles, the
snow-white horses, golden-bitted and
six abreast, dashing at full run. On foors
of mosaic the glories of Pharaoh were
spelled out in letters of porphyry and
beryl and flame. There were ornaments
twisted from the wood of tamarisk, em-
bossed with silver breaking into foam.
here were footstools made out of a single
precious stone. There were beds fashioned
out of a crouched lion in bronze. There
were chairs spotted with the sleek hides of
leopards. There were sofas footed with
the claws of wild beasts and armed with
the beaks of birds. As you stand on the
level beach of the sea on a summer day
and look either way, and there are miles
of breakers, white with the ocean foam,
dashing shoreward, so it seemed as if the
sea of the world’s pomp and wealth in the
Egyptian capital for miles and miles flung
itself up into white breakers of marble
temple, mausoleum and obelisk.
It was to this capital and the palace of
Pharaoh that Jacob, the plain shepherd,
came to meet his son Joseph, who had be-
come prime minister in the royal apart-
ment. Pharaoh and Jacob met, dignity
and rusticity, the gracefnlness of the court
and the plain manners of the fleld. The
king, wanting to make the old country man
at ease and seeing how white his beard is
and how feeble his step, looks familiarly
into his face and .says to the aged man,
“‘How old art thou?”
On New Year’s night the gate of eternity
opened to let in amid the great throng of
departed centuries the soul of the dying
year. Under the tweifth stroke of the
brazen hammer of the city clock the
patriarch fell dead, and the stars of the
night were the funeral torches. It is most
fortunate that on this road of life there are
so many milestones, on which we can read
just how fast we are going toward the
Jjourney’s end. I feel that it is not an in-
appropriate question that I ask to-day
when I look into your faces and say, as
Pharaoh did to Jacob, the patriarch, “How
old art thou?”
People who are truthful on every other
subject lie about their ages, so that I do
not solicit from you any literal response to
tke question I have asked. I would put no
one under temptation, but I simply want
this morning to see by what rod it is we
are measuring our earthly existence. There
is a right way and a wrong way of measur-
ing a door, ora wall, or an arch, ora tower,
and so there is a right way and a wrong
way of measuring our earthly existence.
It is with reference to this higher meaning
that I confront you this morning with the
stupendous question of the text and ask,
“How old art thou?”
There are many who estimate their life
by mere worldly gratification. When Lord
Dundas was wished a Happy New Year, he
: sald, “‘It willhave to be a happier year than
.and the smoothest path its thorns,
the past, for I hadn't one happy moment
in all the twelve months that have gone.”
But that has not been the experience of
most of us. We have found that though
the world is blasted with sin itisa very
bright and beautiful place to reside in.
We have had joys innumerable. There is
no hostility between the gospel and the
merriments and the festivities of life. I do
not think that we fully enough appreciate
the worldly pleasures God gives us. When
you recount your enjoyments you do not
go back to the time when you were an in-
fant in your mother’s arms, looking up into
the heaven of her smile; tothose days when
you filled the house with the uproar of bois-
terous merriment; when yow shouted as
you pitched the ball on the playground;
when on the cold, sharp <rinter night,
muffled up, on skates you shot out over the
resounding ice of the pond? Have you for-
gotten all those good days that the Lord
gave you? Were.you never a bov? Were
you never a girl? Between those times and
this how many mercies the Lord has be-
stowed upon you! How many joys have
breathed up to you from the flowers and
shone down to you from the stars and
«chanted to you with the voice of soaring
bird and tumbling cascade and booming
sea and thunders that with bayonets of fire
charged down the mountainside! Joy! Joy!
Joy! If there is any one who Las a right to
the enjoyments of the world, it is the
Christian, for God has given him a lease of
everything in the promise, ‘“All are yours.”
But I have to tell you that a man who esti-
mates his life on earth by mere worldly
gratification is a most unwise man. Our
ite is not to be a game of chess. Itis not
dance in lighted hall, to quick musie. It
is not the froth of an ale pitcher. It is not
the settlings of a wine cup. Itisnota ban-
quet, with intoxication and roistering. It
is the first step on a ladder that mounts in-
to the skies or the first step on a road that
plunges into a horrible abyss. “How old
art thou?” Toward what destiny are you
tending and howr fast are you getting on
towsrd it?
Again, I remark that there are many who
estimate their life on earth by their sor-
rows and misfortunes. Through a great
many of your lives the plow-share hath
gone very deep, turning up a terrible fur-
row. You have been betrayed and mis-
represented, and set upon, and slapped of
impertinence, and pounded of misfortune.
The brightest life must have its shadows
On the
happiest brood the hawk pounces. No es-
cape from trouble of some kind. While
glorious John Milton was losing his eye-
:sight he heard that Salmasius was glad of
it. While Sheridan’s comedy was being en-
acted in Drury Lane theater, London,
his enemy sat growling at it in
the stage box. While Bishop Cooper
was surrounded by the favor of
learned men his wife took his lexicon man-
useript, the result of a long life of anxiety
.and toil, and threw it into the fire. Mis-
fortune, trial, vexation for almost every-
-one! Pope, applauded of all the world,
has a stoop in the shoulder that annoys
him so much that he has a tunnel dug, so
that-he may go unobserved from garden to
grotto and from grotto to garden. Cane,
the famous Spanish artist, is disgusted
with the crucifix that the priest holds be-
fore him because it is such a poor speci-
men of sculpture, and so, sometimes
through taste, and sometimes through
learned menace, and sometimes through
physical distresses—aye in 10,000 ways—
troubles come to harass and annoy.
Again, Iremark that thereare many peo-
ple who estimate their life on edrth by the
amount of money they have accumulated.
“They say, “The year 1866 or 1870 or 1898
was wasted.” Why? ‘Made no money.”
Now, it is all cant and insincerity to talk
. against money, as though it had no value.
It may represent refinement and education
a
nd ten Hioisand blessed surroundings. It
! of
children’s hunger. It is the lighting of the
furnace that keeps you warm. It is the
making of the bed on which you rest from
oare and anxiety, It is the carryingof you
out at last to decent sepulcher, and the
putting up of the slab on which is chiseled
the story of your Christian hope. It is
simply hypocrisy, this tirade in pulpit and
lecture hall against money.
But while all this is so, he who uses
money or thinks of money as anything but
a means to anend, will find out his mis-
take when the glittering treasures slip out
of his nerveless grasp, and he goes out of
this world without a shilling of money or a
certificate of stock, He might bet:er have
been the Christian porter that opened his
gate or the begrimed workman who last
night heaved the coal into ‘his cellar.
Bonds and mortgages and leases have their
use, but they make a poor yardstick with
which to measure life. ‘They that boast
themselves in their wealth and trust in the
multitude of their riches, none of them
can, by any means, redeem his brother or
give to God a ransom for him that he
should not see corruption.”
But I remark, there are many —I wish
there were more—who estimate their life
by their moral and spiritual development.
It is not sinful egotism for a Christian
man to say: ‘I am purer than I used to
be. I am more consecrated to Christ than
I used to be. I have got over a great
many of the bad habits in which I used to
indulge. I am a great deal better man
than I used to be.” There is no sinful
egotism in that. It is not base egotism for
a soldier to say, “I know more about mili-
tary tactics than I used to before I took a
musket in my hand and learned to ‘present
arms’ and was a pest to the drill officer.”
It is not base egotism for a sailor to say.‘‘I
know better how to clew down the mizzen
topsail than I used to before I had ever
seen a ship.” And there is no sinful
egotism when a Christian man, fighting the
battles of the Lord, or if you will have it,
voyaging toward a haven of eternal rest,
says, “I know more about spiritual tactics
and voyaging toward heaven than I used
0.
Now, I do not know what your advan-
tages or disadvantages are. ,I do not know
what your tact or talent is. I do not know
what may be the fascination of your man-
ners or the repulsiveness of them, put I
know this: There is for you, my hearer, a |
fleld to cultivate, a harvest to reap, a tear
to wipeaway, a soul to save. If you have
worldly means, consecrate them to Christ.
If you have eloquence, use it on the side
that Paul and Wilberforce used theirs. If
you have learning, put it all into the poor
box ot the world’s suffering. But if you
have none of these—neither wealth nor elo-
quence nor learning—you at any rate have
a smile with which you can encourage the
disheartened, a frown with which you may
blast Injustice, a voice with which you may
call the wanderer back to God. Oh,” you
say, “‘that is a very sanctimonious view of
lite!” 1t is not. It is the onlysbright
view of life, and it is the only bright
view of death. Contrast the death scene
of a man who has measured life by the
worldly standard with the death scene of
a man who bas measured life by the
Christian standard. Quin, the actor, in
his last moments said, ‘I hope this tragic
scene will soon be over, and I hope to keep
my dignity to the last.”” Malesherbes caid
in his last moments to the confessor:
‘“Hold your tongue! Your miserable style
puts me out of conceit with heaven.”
Lord Chesterfield in his last moments,
when he ought to have been praying for
his soul, bothered himself about the
proprieties of the sick room and said;
“Give Dayboles a chair.” Godfrey Kneller
spent his last hours on earth in drawing a
diagram of his own monument.
Compare the silly and horrible depar-
ture of such men with the seraphic glow
on the face of Edward Payson as he said in
his last moment: “The breezes of heaven
fan me. I float in a sea of glory.” Or
with Paul the apostle, who said in his last
hour: “I am now ready to be offered up,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought the good fight, I have kept
the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness which the
Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me.”
Or compare dt with the Christian deathbed
that you witnessed in your own household.
Oh, my friends, this world is a false god.
It will consume you with the blaze in
which it accepts your sacrifice, while the
rignteous shall be held in everlasting re-
membrance, and when the thrones have
fallen and the monuments have crumbled
and the world has perished they shall ban-
quet with the conquerors of earth and the
hierarchs of heaven.
This is a good day in which to begin a
new style of measurement. How old art
thou? You see the Christian way of
measuring life and the worldly way of
measuring it. I leave it to you to say
which is the wisest and best way. The
wheel of time has turned very swiftly,
and it has hurled us on. The old year
has gone. The new year has come. For
what you and I have been launched up-
on it God only knows, Now let me ask
you all, have you made any preparation
forthe future? You have made prepara-
tion for time, my dear brother. Have
you made any preparation for eternity?
Do you wonder that when that man on
the Hudson River in indignation tore up
the tract which was handed to him and
just one word landed on his coat sleeve,
the rest of the tract being pitched into the
river, that one word aroused his soul? It
was that one word. so long, so broad, so
high, so deep—‘‘Eternity.”” A dying wom-
an, in her last moments, said, “Call it
back.” They said, ‘What do you want?”
“Time,”” she said, ‘‘call it back.” Oh, it
cannot be called back, We might lose our
fortunes and call them back; we might lose
our health, and perhaps recover it;*we
might lose our good name and get that
back, but time gone is gone forever.
Now, when one can sooner get to the cen-
ter of things is he not to be congratulated?
Does not our common sense teach us
that it is better to be at the center than to
be clear out on the rim of the wheel, hold-
ing nervously fast to the tire lest we be
suddenly hurled into light and eternal
felicity? Through all kinds of optical in-
struments trying to peer in through the
cr:cks and the keyholes of henven—afraid
that both doors of the celestial mansion
will be swung wide open before our en-
tranced vision—rushing about among the
apothecary shops of this world wondering
if this is good for rheumatism and that is
good for neuralgia and something else is
good for a bad cough, lest we be suddenly
ushered into a land of everlasting health
wherethe inhabitant neversays, I am sick!
What fools we all are to prefer the cir-
cumference to the center! What a dread-
ful thing it would be if we should be sud-
denly ushered from this wintry world into
the May time orchards of heaven, and if
our pauperism of sin and sorrow should be
suddenly broken up by a presentation of
an emperor’s castle surrounded by parks
with springing fountains and paths, up
and down which angels of God walk two
and two! :
In 1835 the French resolved that at
Ghent they would have a kind of mu-
sical demonstration that had never’ been
heard of. It would be made up of thechimes
of bells and the discharge of cannon. The
experiment was a perfect success. What
with the ringing of the bells and the report
of the ordnance the city trembled and the
hills shook with the triumphal march that
was as strange as it was overwhelming.
With a most glorious accompaniment will
God’s dear children go into their high
residence when the.trumpets shall sound
and the last day has come. At the sig-
nal given the bells of the towers, and
of the lighthouses, and of the cities
will strike their sweetness into a last
chime that shall ring into the heavens and
float off upon the sea, joined by the boom
of bursting mine and magazine, augmented
by all the cathedral towers of heaven—the
harmonies of earth and the symphonies of
the celestial realm making up One great
triumphal march, fit to celebrate the as-
cent of the redeemed to where they shall
shine as the stars forever and ever.
table that feeds the |!
{
he
PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE.
Er House. rT ny
The Senate organized last Tuesday
by electing Senator Snyder, of Ches-
ter, president pro tem, He commend-
ed the administration of President
McKinley during the recent war, and
he praised the work of the charitable
institutions, saying they should re-
ceive appropriations from the Legis-
lature as large as the revenues of the
government will permit. Snyder said
it was not within his province to make
‘suggestions to the Senate, but he de-
sired to call the attention of the Sen-
ators to several questions of import-
ance. He recommended the increase,
if possible, of the public school appro-
priation; the enaction of the ballot
law so simple that the uneducated
voter can exercise his franchise with-
out fear of making mistakes; the
building of good roads, so much to the
benefit of the agricultural districts;
the revocation of the patent land lien
act; the carrying out of which, he de-
clared, would entail more cost than
the claims are worth, and the holding
of a brief session of the Legislature.
Chief Clerk Smiley, of Venango, and
John M. Rhey, of Carlisle, were re-
elected. J. Allen Leeds, of Philadel-
phia, was appointed Reading Clerk;
Captain J. S. Crago, of Waynesboro,
Message Clerk; R. M. Range, of Craw-
ford, Executive Clerk, and Dr. B. F.
Dimmick, of Harrisburg, Chaplain.
Herman Miller will be re-appointed
Senate Librarian.
In the House last Wednesday Mr.
Fow, of Philadelphia, moved to re-
consider the vote by which the House
non-conecurred in the Senate resolu-
tion fixing April 20 for final adjourn
ment. The motion was ruled out on a
point of order made by Mr. Bliss, of
Delaware. No bills will be introduced
until after the appointment of the
standing committees.
Speaker Farr appointed the follow-
ing committee on the part of the
House to arrange for the inaugura-
tion. of Governor Stone on January
17: Messrs. Stewart and Fow, of Phi-
ladelphia, Kreps, of Franklin, Harris,
of Clearfield, and McClain, of Lancas-
ter. Speaker Farr is working on the
committees, but will probably not be
ready to announce them until after
the inauguration. The House followed
the example of the Senate and ad-
journed until the 12th.
SOR
Senate,
The House was called to order by
Chief Clerk Rex last Tuesday. Prayer
was offered by Chaplain Sangree, af-
ter which Secretary of the Common-
wealth Martin delivered the certifi-
cates of the members. These were
read, the roll called and the solons ar-
rayed themselves before the bar of the
House, where they took the oath of
office administered by Judge Biddle,
of Carlisle. John R. Farr, of Lacka-
wanna, was nominated Speaker by
William T. Marshall, of Allegheny,
and William T..Creasy, of Columbia,
by George R. Dixon, of Elk. Farr
was elected by the full Republican
vote of 127 and escorted to the chair
by Messrs. Bliss, of Delaware; Ho-
sack, of Allegheny, and Mr. Creasy.
Owing totheabsence of a judge there
was nobody to administer the oath to
the Speaker. John Fow suggested that
this could be done by a member. Chief
Clerk Rex read the Constitution to
show that Fow was wrong, and arter
a long wait Judge Simonton, of Har-
risburg, was summoned and the new
Speaker took the oath. Farr made a
short speech of thanks, promising to
be fair and courteous to his members.
Jere B. Rex, of Huntingdon, was re-
elected chief clerk, and A. D. Fetter-
oll, of Montgomery, takes his old place
of resident clerk. The usual commit-
tees were appointed to wait on the
Governor and Senate to notify them
that the House had organized and was
ready to proceed to business. Clar-
ency, of Philadelphia, was appointed
a teller on the part of the House to
compute the vote on the 13th inst.
Senator Magee’'s resolution, fixing
April 20 for the final adjournment,
was concurred in.
Senator McCarrell, last Wednesday
rising to a question of personal privi-
lege, defended the capitol building
commission, of which he is a member,
against what he termed the unjust
criticism by the governor in his mes-
sage of the action of the commission
in connection with the construction of
the new capitol. He characterized the
governor's statements as = ‘‘without
foundation in fact and unjust.” The
commission has acted strictly under
the terms of the act creating it, which
was passed on the recommendation of
the governor.
He defended the plan of the present
building which provides for addition-
al buildings to be joined thereto. He
pointed to the fact that the commis-
sion had acted strictly under the law,
and has been sustained by the sup-
reme court in the litigation instigated
by certain disappointed bidders. The
commission carried out both the letter
and spirit of the promise made to the
court not to ccnstruct a building ex-
ceeding the limit of appropriation.
Senator McCarrell said that in view
of the circumstances it would be quite
fitting for governor Hastings to re-
main quiet, and he declared that in
absenting himself willfully from the
meetings of the commission, and then
criticising unjustly the acts of his fel-
low members of that body, the exe-
cutive has ‘acted with a pettiness
and childishness which would disgrace
a boy in Kknickerbockers.” He dis-
puted the governor's claim that the
building as it stands could have been
constructed for $225,000 instead of the
350,000 it has cost, and said that if
the builder quoted by the governor
could have done the work so econom-
ically he should have come forward
at the time bids were advertised for,
The senator closed by giving a pledge
to the General Assembly and to the
people of the State that when the
work of the contractor has been fully
completed the commission will justify
its acts and purge itself of the prepos-
terous and wholly unfounded charges
of the governor. The Senate then ad-
journed until Thursday, the 12th.
Lora Kelvin's Reprimand.
The eminent English scientist, Lord
Kelvin, who for many years has held
the chair of natural philosophy at
Glasgow University, is the subject of
an amusing story illustrative of the
singular force of habit. As a professor
of science, Lord Kelvin can use long
words in such formidable array as to
paralyze the average layman, but the
Glasgow student is made of sterner
stuff. During a course of lectures on
magnetism, he once defined an ideal
magnet as “an infinitely long, in-
fAnitely thin, uniform and uniformly
and longitudinally magnetized bar,”
and the misguided students vocifer-
ously cheered, which caused the ven-
erable professor to say: “Silence!”
The definition was made and cheered,
with the usual reprimand, frequently
during the lectures. Once, near the
conclusion, however, the students did
not cheer, but Lord Kelvin promptly’
rapped out “Silence!” as before.
There are now 20,000 Indians In
school outside the five civilized tribes.
t
1
REFSTONE STAT MENS CONDERSD
FIRE AT WASHINGTON.
The Hotel Main,
Burned— Other Buildings Destroye~
a Well-Known Hostelry
Property Valued at $140,0co.
Fire which broke out Saturday morn-
ing at Washington destroyed proparty
valued at $140,000, on which there was
about $115,000 of insurance. The build-
ings destroyed were the Hotel Main, a
four-story brick structure, and the Le-
vino building, a three-story brick. The
hotel, the oldest hostelry in the town,
formerly the Fulton rouse, was owned
by Dr. G. W. Roberts, who paid $41,0.0
for it several years ago. His insurance
is $23,500. D. H. Goodwin, proprietor,
loses a large amount of furniture,
Near Dunmore, Lackawanna Coun=-
ty, che body of Patrick Grady, an old
hermit. was found frozen in the snow
close to his hut.
The following pensions were grant-
ed last week: John C. Miller, Spring-
dale, $6; Thomas Murphy, Sewickley,
$10; Thomas Honiter, Clearfield
Bridge, Clearfield, $12; George 5
Rock, Schellsburg, Bedford, $16 to $30;
Jacob Neely, dead, Prospect, Butler,
$2 to $8; John Weaver, dead, Grant-
ville, Mifflin, $6 to $8; Joseph Rocken-
stein, Butler, $8 to $10; Thomas Ram-
age, Hopewell, Bedford, $8 to $10;
James W. Goodwin, East Charleston,
Tioga, $16 to $17; Cornelius Wright,
Grand Valley, Warren, $6 to $8; Solo-
mon Lucas, Flotz, Franklin, $8 to $10;
Jonathan Rice, Pine Ridge, Bedford,
$S to $10; Anne E. Cahill, Allegheny,
38; -Sarah J. Cole, Lincolnville, Craw-
ford, $12; Amanda Schaefnocker, New
Castle, 38; Maggie McBride, Williams-
port, $8; Ruth Guffey, Leechburg, $8;
Matilda Weaver, Granville, Mifflin, $8;
Eliza A. Neely, Prospect, Butler, $8;
Martha M. Rock, Schellsburg, Bed-
ford, $8; Elizabeth Strausbaugh, Bel-
sano, Cambria, $8; George Gray, West
Finley, Washington, $6; John Shank,
Pennsville, Fayette, $8; Philip Thom-
as, Brownsville, $6: Albert W. Tucker,
dead, Titusville, $12; Robert M. Black,
Fredericktown, Washington, $6 to $8;
Alfred Graham, Boston, Allegheny, $6
to $8; John: Mconey, Curllsville, Clar-
ion, $11.25 to $15; Josiah Lingerfelter,
Gallatin, $14 to $24; James Swinehart,
Dysart, Cambria, $12 to-$14; Charles
Tuxford, Freeport, $6 to $8; Charles P.
DeCorde, Confluence, $24; Elizabeth
H. Snyder, Glade, Somerset, $8; Mary
Miller, Lewisburg, $8; Jennie E. Ag-
new, Tionesta, $8; Mary Mosteller,
Friedens, Somerset, $8; Hattie M.
Tucker, Titusville, $12; Marcellius
Noss, Coraopolis, $6; Thomas Potts,
Johnstown, $8; John G. Spidle, Hum-
melstown, $8; John Allen, Fortune, $8;
John White, Meyersdale, $6; Michael
Roach, Girardville, $10; Elizabeth A.
‘Warren, East Charleston, ' Tioga, $8;
Cynthia Cornelius, Lewisburg, $8.
About a year ago Thomas Sherwood,
brother of Mrs. A. F. Groves, of Har-
lansburg, near New Castle, died in
South America, leaving a fortune of
over $1,000,000. Mrs. Groves was the
only heir, and took steps to obtain
possession of the estate. The war broke
out, and because of the sympathies of
the authorities of Argentine Republic,
where the estate exists, for the Span-
iards, progress in the matter was re-
tarded, but since peace was declared,
things have looked brighter. Mrs.
droves, who has been in Washington
for the past few days, has received
werd from her Baltimore attorney,
who is in the Argentine Republic look-
ing after her interests, assuring her
that arrangements have been made
whereby she will get the estate soon.
Mr. Sherwood left Baltimore whan
quite young, in 1855, for South America.
The boiler of an engine on the Phil-
adelphia & Reading railway blew up
near Bowers Station the other morn-
ing, killing Engineer William Weaver
instantly and probably fatally injur-
ing Conductor Joshua Robeson. The
engine was drawing an extra freight
at the time, and the unfortunate men,
together with two others, were on the
locomotive. None of the cars were
wrecked.
Mrs. Elizabeth Hare, of Johnstown,
died Sunday and it was arranged that
the funeral should be held Wednes-
day. When the mourners and the un-
dertaker arrived the husband forbade
the interment of the body. His wife
had been subject to fits and he does
not believe her dead. The efforts of
half a dozen physicians. to convince
him of the fact have been unsuccess-
ful.
After enduring horrible agonies for
weeks, Miss Alice V. Hager, a young
school teacher of Clay Hill, near Cham-
bersburg, died Wednesday night, slow-
ly strangling to death. In drawing
Miss Hager’s tooth last August the
dentist broke the soft palate, and a
bone formation scon grew in the young
woman's mouth. Leading specialists
could do nothing for her.
William P. Wolfe, a painter in the
employ of the Cumberland Valley
Railroad Company, fell 50 feet to the
floor of the round house at Chambers-
burg, where he was repainting the in-
side of the roof. His neck was brok-
en and he died instantly. He was the
son of Zadoc Wolfe, of Altoona, a
well known miller, and leaves a wife
and two children.
Aged Henry Miller, of Westville, was
brought to the Lancaster Hospital a
few days ago to be treated for a broken
neck, the result of a fall from a porch
on December 24. When he was picked
up after the accident his head fell back
loosely, but the nature of the injury
was not known for some time after-
ward. His case is considered by medi-
cal men as remarkable.
While Charles Freshcorn, .a black-
smith, employed at the stone quarries
north of Beaver Falls, was at work at
his forge a spark flew out and ignited
a keg of powder standing near. A ter-
rific_ explosion followed, almost demol-
ishing the shop and blowing Freshcorn
out into the road. He was seriously
burned about the head, face and hands,
but will recover.
It is authoritatively stated that the
life of O. Perry Jones, the cashler of
the Philipsburg First National Bank,
who committed suicide one week ago,
was insured for $106,000 for his wife's
benefit. Most of it has been carried
at least ten years, and all of it so long
that there can be no contest. So far
as has been developed his estate is en-
tirely solvent. -
Bert McManus, an Erie
conductor, was arrested recently at
Sharon, on a charge of breach ot
promise preferred by Harriet Thomas,
of Orangeville. McManus was married
recently to another young woman.
He was bound over to court.
The winter term of the Normal
school at Slippery Rock opened this
week with 400 students enrolled. This
is the largest attendance of any win-
ter term in the history of the school.
The Northampton County Court yes-
terday appointed Dr. Noah W. Reich-
ard, ‘Chief Burgess of Bangor, in
place of ‘B. ‘Frank Miller, who was
elected to the Legislature.
Mine Inspecter William Stein, of ths
Sixth anthracite district, residing at
Shenandoah, reports that there were
54 fatal accidents in the disirict during
the year 1898.
For the first time in the history of
Clearfield county the Court House is
railroad
filled with Republican officials.
.made
FIFTY-FIFTH CONGRESS.
: House.
THIRTY-FIRST DAY.
The House spent Wednesday cone
sidering the bill to define and punish
crimes in Alaska and provide a code
of criminal procedure for the terri-
tory.
Mr. Moody (Rep., Mass.) made a
bitter attack upon that section of the
bill which repealed all existing laws
relating to the sale of liquor in the
district of Alaska, and made it only
unlawful to sell liquor to Indians.
An amendment was adopted giving
a jury, in case a verdict of guilty of
murder in the first degree was re-
turned, discretionary power to inflict
capital punishment.
Chairman Loud of the House post-
office committee submitted to a favor-
able report on his bill to amend the
laws relating to second-class mail
matter. It provides that books or re-
prints of books in serial form shall
pay 1 cent for two ounces instead of 1
cent per pound. Publications of in-
stitutions of ‘learning are placed on
the same footing as other periodicals
instead of being privileged.
THIRTY-SECOND DAY.
The first bill called up was that to
create an additional circuit judge in
the Sixth judieial circuit. It is this
judgeship with which rumor has con-
nected the name of ex-secretary of
State William R. Day. Mr. Henderson
(Rep. Ia.),. chairman of the judiciary
committee, said that there were 7,108
cases pending in this district. It was
passed. 3
THIRTY-THIRD DAY.
The anti-civil service scored a viec-
tory in the House. The legislative, ex-
ecutive and judicial appropriation bill
was taken up, and when the appropri-
ation for the civil service ccmmission
was reached Mr. Evans (Rep. Ky.)
made a motion to strike it out. This
motion has been made annually for a
dozen years or more, but has invari-
ably failed. It carried by a narrow
majority, .67 to 61. This was in com-
mittee of the whole, where no record
is made of the vote.
Mr. Grosvenor (Rep., O.) the head
of the anti-civil service movement
during the last session, said that no
one could deny the civil service law
had overreached itself. It had throt-
tled the appointing power of the gov-
ernment. Men who supported it when
would be carried to the extent tc
itgbecame a law never dreamed it
which it has been carried.
Mr. Hepburn (Rep. Ia.) said when
the law was originally passed 10,000
offices covered the largest estimate
any of its supporters dreamed could
be brought under its operation. To-
day 72,000 clerks were within the
classified service. For 16 years, he
said, the friends cof the law had pre-
vented action in the House on a bill
to modify or repeal it. Mr. Henderson
(Rep., Ia.) said if the Republican par-
ty took up the cry of spoilsmen in-
stead of building up and strengthen-
ing civil service reform it would scal
its own death warrant.
A bill was: passed to grant volun-
teers, upon their muster out, two
months’ extra pay if they have served
beyond the limits of the United States,
and one month extra pay if they have
only served within the limits of the
United States.
Be
Senate.
THIRTY-FIRST DAY.
The first session of the senate after
the holiday recess occupied only 14
minutes, last Wednesday, although in
that brief time two open sessions and
an executive session were held. The
peace treaty was presented and re-
ferred to the foreign relations com-
mittee, Maj. Pruden, assistant sec-
retary to the president, presented the
message from the president, contain-
ing the treaty of Paris. The senate
then went into executive session in
order that the treaty might be re-
ferred to the committee on foreign re-
lations. It was not read, but the pres-
ident’s message accompanying it.
This was a simple letter of transmis-
sion, without any word of recom-
mendation or suggestion, and was on-
ly a few lines in length. On recon-
vening .n open session the death of
Senator Morrill was announced. The
usual resolutions were adopted, and
as a remark of respect the senate ad-
journed at 12,15 until to-morrow,
THIRTY-SECOND DAY.
In the senate a resolution, offered by
Mr. Hoar, directing the committee on
foreign relations to report to the sen-
ate whether the treaty of Paris makes
any provision for the claims of citizens
of the United States against Spain
which were in existence before th:
present war and the status of such
claims after . the ratification of the
treaty, was adopted.
Mr. Hoar introduced a resolution re-
questing the president, if in his judg-
ment not incompatible with public in-
terest, to communicate to the s“nat: all
instructicns given by him to the com-
missioners who negotiated the treaty
of Paris; all correspondence between
the executive and the state department
and the commissioners; and all reports
by the commissioners, made
either to the president or to the stat
department.
At the request of Mr. Davis, cne of
the peace commissioners, the resslu-
tion went over.
THIRTY-THIRD DAY.
Immediately after the Senate con-
vened the resolution offered by Mr.
Hoar, calling on the President for in-
formation as to the instructions of the
Commissioners who negotiated the
treaty of Paris, together with all
correspondence and reports relating to
their work, was laid before the Sen-
ate.
In the secret session the proceedings
continued on the same lines as in the
open session, Mr. Hoar making a brie.
speech on the subject. He was not in-
terrupted, and when he had finished
the Senate agreed to the resolution
calling for the instructions to the
Commissioners without a division.
Mr. Caffery then addressed the Sen-
ate on the joint resolution offered by
Mr. Vest declaring ‘that under the
Constitution of the United States no
power is given to acquire territory to
be held and governed permanently as
colonies. Mr. Caffrey’'s spezch was a
constitutional argument in support of
the declarations of the resolution.
“The history of the world,” said he,
“shows that God has set the bounds
where the different peoples of the
earth shall abide. When I look at the
conditions of the world, I am unalter-
ably convinced that no permanent
sway can be held by the white man
over the black man in the sub-tropics,
except by a strong, military and cruel
despotism.”
The One Bored.
A good story is told by Rudyard
Kipling at his own expense. During
his stay in Wiltshire one summer he
met little Dorothy Drew, Mr. Glad-
stone's granddaughter, and being very
fond of children, took her in the
grounds and told her stories. After a
time Mrs. Drew, fearing that Mr. Kip-
ling must be tired of the child, called
her and said, “Now, I hope, Dorothy,
you have not been wearying Mr. Kip-
ling.” “Oh, not a bit, mother,” re-
plied the small celebrity, ‘but he has
been wearying me.”
The average height of
rather over a mile.
clouds is
THE MARKETS.
PITTSBURG.
Grain, Flour and Feed.
WHEAT—No. 1red......... vo r®
No. 2 red
CORN—No. 2 yellow, ear.
No. 2 yellow, shelled
Mixed ear......c. is vueese
OATS8-—No. 2 white
No. 3 white
RYE—No, 1
FLOUR-—Winter patents. ......
Fancy straight winter
Rye flour
HAY—No. 1 timothy......... tH
Clover, No. 1
FEED—No. 1 white mid., ton..
Brown middlings
Timothy. prime. :............
Dairy Products
BUTTER—EIgin creamery..... 3
Ohio creamery
Fancy country roll
CHEESE—Ohio, new
New York, new
Fruits and Vegetables,
BEANS—Lima ? qt
POTATOES—Funcy White, 8 bu
CABBAGE—Per 100 heads ....
ONIONS—Choice yellow, @ bu
Poultry, Etc,
CHICKENS—Per pair, smail..3
TURKEYS—Per It
EGGS—Pa. and Ohio, fresh....
CINCINNATI,
PHILADELPHIA.
$ 350@ 3
75 76
OATS--No. 2 white
BUTTER—Creamery, extra....
EGGS—Pennsylvania firsts....
NEW YORK,
FLOUR—Patents............. .3360@ 38
WHEAT-—No. 2 red 80
OATS-—-White Western. .
BUTTER Creamery.
EGGS—State of Penn
# LIVE STOCK,
Central Stock Yards, East Liberty, Pa.
CATTLE.
Prime, 1300 to 1400 Ibs........8 5 00@ 5
Good, 1200 to 1300 ibs 470 00
Tidy, 1000 to 1150 tbs 4 50
Fair light steers, 200 to 1000 3 80
3
tbs
Common, 700 to 900 ths.... ... 40
Prime, 95 to 105 Ibs
Good, 85t0 90 ths. .....
Fair, 70 to 80 Ibs .
Springer, extra
Springer, good to choice
Common to fair
Extra yearlings, light. ........
Good to choice yearlings
Medium
Advance in the Price of Iron and Stee! Products.
Businsss Increasing.
R. G. Dun & Co.'s weekly review of
trade reports as follows for last week:
The year begins with the kind of busi-
ness demand that counts. For months
there has been a rising demand for
materials, but now the crowding de-
mand for finished products begins to
advance prices in the iron and steel
industry about 1 per cent., without
quotable changes in pig except at the
East. Beams have advanced $2 per
ton, angles $1, bars $1 and plates are
strong, with an Australian order for
32,000 tons refused at Chicago because
the works are already overcrowded.
Many thousand cars are covered by
orders at Pittsburg; 10,000 tong bars ~
are taken for agricultural works at
Chicago; 105,000 tons rails are taken
by the Pennsylvania Company; the
Midland Railway Company of Eng-
land has ordered 20 locomotives from
the Baldwin works, and many other
home and foreign orders are reported.
The demand has never been greater
at the beginning of the year than it iS.
now. = Bp
The woolen manufacture has a sim-
ilar embarrassment. While 100 quota-
tions of wdol by Coates Bras. of Phila-
delphia average ¥S G3 12a
20.71 cents a year ago
gradually yieldin
preciate the ma;
hand, which the
Bulletin reports
market is
ap-
oll
the
ause people
tude of stocks
Boston Commercial
at 291,000,000 pounds,
an increase in its account of 114,000,
000 pounds for the year. Obviously
this means a great movement from
the farms to millers’ stocks and east-
ern markets, but prices are not yet
low enough to encourage large buying
or consumption by the manufacturers.
The only heavyweight goods yet
opened are at reduced prices, as had
been expected, and it is still uncertain
how far the trade for the coming sea-
son may prove satisfactory.
The movement of cotton thus far
indicates a crop of over 300,000 bales
larger than that of last year in spite
of all natural disposition dnd concert-
ed efforts to hold it back. As produc
ers are not this year in unusual need
a movement sa heavy hinders any ‘ad-
vance in price, although takings of
spinners have been as large in 1898 as
in any other year, and exports larger
than before.
The wheat movement has to sustain
the largest foreign demand movement
ever known for wheat and corn to-
gether and Atlantic exports of 5,214,-
420 bushels, flour included, against 2,-
$40,318 last year, with Pacific exports
of 814,833 against 872,446 last year,
would give some reason to anticipate
higher prices were not the western
receipts 4,101,532 bushels against 2,876,-
072 for the same week last year. The
wonder is that the foreign demand for
corn continues so heavy, 3,572,412
bushels having been exported in this
week against 2,954,890 in the . same
weeck last year. :
The country-is on the upgrade and
the men who expect it to take the
downward road have yet some time to
wait. There are no indications of the
reaction which always follows a large
and rapid business recovery and ex-
isting conditions in the industries and
in foreign trade by no means forbid
the hope that the increase may con-
tinue, as it did after the revival of
1879, for several years. Exports com-
pared with imports continue to indi-
cate an enormous balance in cash due
this country and gold imports begin
again.
Failures for the week have been 243
in the United States. against 322 last
year, and 24 in Canada, against 32 last
year.
The Connecticut supreme court has
decided that the buildings of Yale col-
lege at New Haven cannot be taxed.