A Sr a her 800 ers- hia, for are ing -op- the ek. in tro- the ver has cad- ack- the = re T rt. | ver bur- n€ex- eriff sold and the 0. Mrs. him- rove es. ure, exy, was 1 of but his t on nity uar- 5 of mild urer an was are i Ta — i —————— EE ————————— smsim———— ST. PETERSBURG A SERMON FOR SUNDAY or md sd entoncer, Woat orld bia young charse, and the othr going WORKING CLASSES Various Pursuits in Which They Are Employed ==2Bad Conditions of Life Ftom Which the Industrial Population Suffers =«= A Typical Russian Ractory === Labor Enactments in a Very Backward State. = = - - - EE TREATISE. SOM. HE conditions of the work- A ing classes in Russia are 1] T the outcome of certain pe- o R culiar features of national RX . economy which existed in no other - country, at all events, in mod- ern’ times. Russian industries were originally either the result of State action (the so-called “possession Tacto- ries”), or that of the enterprise of land- owners who. used a: part of their serfs to work their mills (the ‘proprietary factories”). In most cases the enor- mous majority of the workmen em- ployed were occupied in industrial pur- suits only during the winter, returning in the summer to their villages to at- tend to agricultural labors. This state of affairs was in part due to the serf system, which tied the peasant to the soil and only allowed him to leave it temporarily; but it has outlasted serf- age, and obtains to some extent even to this day. Wages are 10 to 20 per cent. higher in summer than in winter, and there is usually a shifting of hands at Easter and in November, so that in many factories the majority of the men are changed every six months. But a permanent factory class has gradually been growing up in Russia, and -now there are few important factories where the number of men employed during the summer is appre- ciably less than in the winter. This is particularly the case in St. Petersburg, where the ‘large factories are worked on modern industrial lines, ‘and the working-class population is’ beginning to resemble that of other countries. : Labor : legislation, however, is *still in a very backward state, as the au- thorities are always extraordinarily nervous lest anything done in favor of the working classes might forment a desire for liberties of a political char- acter, Hours of labor, which were formerly unlimited have now been fixed at eleven and a half, but in some estab- lishments they are voluntarily reduced to tenandahalf or eleven, and in many cases no night work 1s done at all. But it is in the conditions of life that the Russian industrial population is par- ticularly badly oft. The typical Russian factory was a vast establishment, usually in a rural district at some distance from a town, but forming a large village ror small town in itself. Here the workmen were lodged, fed, clothed, educated, amused, and policed by the factory owners and formed alittle world to themselves, But with the growth of the industrial movement in the towns these conditions have to a great ex- tent ceased to be. At the. same time, while agriculture no longer supports anything like the ‘whole population, the industrial development is not yet suf- ficient to deal with the surplus, and the supply. of labor is always far in ex- cess of the demand. The conditions of life for working men are exception- ally hard in the large towns, especially “in St. Petersburg, where the rents are “wery high. The squalor of working men’s dwellings is’such as would not be tolerated in other countries. The Government has dene nothing to bring about an improvement in this connec- tion. © It ‘regards ordinary artisans with suspicion, and “actually places difficulties in the Way of their settling down, in oreey numbers in any particu- lar quai town most con ‘to kK, as it fears ‘that uu : nerate eens political movements: ‘facilitate rev- olutionary * ‘propoganda. Eyerything that has been done to improve their lot is: due to the philanthropic initiative of certain firms, The ordinary lodging houses of the Russian workmen are simply unspeakable. To find seven- teen or eighteen persons of four or five ‘different families is by no means un- common, and, in fact, it is quite a com- mon occurrence, to find corners of rooms are let separately. ' Working men’s wages range in .St. Petersburg from sixty kopecks a day to three rubles-for the foreman (37 cents to $1.60), but in many instances they are even lower. ‘Rents, on the other hand, are propor- 'tionately very high. In one large factory in St. Petersburg, in which " soine 7000 hands are employed, a good deal has been done for the benefit of the workmen, somewhat on the ‘lines ‘the old Russian factories. Large tene- ments Lave been built, sheltering 1500 out of the 7000 persons employed; a certain number - of the employes whose continual presence on the prem- ijses is desirable are lodged free, and in ‘these cases there is no limit as to over- “erowding. The rest are lodged at ‘the rate of nine rubles a month ($4. 75) for one room, and here the company has ‘fived a limit of six persofis per room. The law. has established, no limita- tion. The management of this firm is trying to instil the necessity for clean- liness into the workmen, but as a rule their conditions ‘are ‘of the filthiest. There is a difference, however, in fa- vor of the workmen of non-Russian ex- traction—Germans, Finns, etc.—who seem to be better in every way. The Russian workman works hard and steadily, and learns easily, but he has absolutely no ideas of his own or ini- tiative. He will do what he is told, but does not care to‘know why he is doing it. Another philanthrepie taken by the same firm is the estab- lishment. of schools for the children of the employes. x! ‘Another factory which I visited was - & work under- own ways of doing things. ‘day a party of four persons, arrived at a large. cotton mill belonging to 8° Kus- sian company, but worked largely un- der English management. It ‘employs some 600 or 700 men and women (no children). The . English overseers seemed to be satisfied with the Rus- sian workmen as a whole, ‘and were of opinion that if they were better paid, lived in better lodgings, and had better food they would he equal to the work- men of most other countries; but in the conditions in which they exist no real improvement is possible. The average wage being twenty to twenty- tvro rubles or $10.50 to $11.50 a month (In many cases it, is even less), a large part of which goes in house rent, they cannot grow up healthy or with highly developed intelligence, In his ten or eleven hours a day he does less work and less good work than an English or American workman in eight or nine. Nor can education mend matters to any great extent, as the Govern- ment purposely discourages it, again for political reasons. ; Another system which tends to de- press the Russian working classes is the credit system which obtains in the provision shops and eating-houses.. Each workman has a credit book at the eating house which he frequents,’ and his debt is allowed to, mount up until pay day (which is usually once a fortnight or once a month). Then he pays if he can, and if not the credit is’ but one-quarter of his seized by the shopman. carried on, wages can be ‘If the artisan loses his émployment supplies are cut off until he gets anoth- er job. Thus theione possible-advan- tage of the system --that of giving | credit during bad -times—is done away’ with. If he obtains another joh the shopman is down on him at once, and, agains retains a. quarter of his wages from his new employer. Owing to the passport system dll escape is Smposki- ble. In some cases the shop belongs to the employer, and thus we have the truck system in its worst form. If on the other hand, the debt is paid and anything remains over, it is all spent in vodka. The Russian is naturally in- clined to drunkenness—even in the highest circles of society it is by no! means uncommon for men to get drunk every night after dinner—and for the poor it is the only pieaosure in life. At- tempts have been made in St. Peters- burg by the Temperance Society to in- stil a taste for rational amusements unaccompanied by alcohol among the lower classes, and the handsome and well-managed Narodny Dom (People’s House) was started for this object. There one can enjoy musie, light, warmth, and cheerful surroundings for ten copecks, while at the same time good refreshments are supplied, at moderate prices. But the place has be- come chiefly the resort of the lower bourgeoisie. The working .man does not go there, for he can seldom afford the ten copecks entrance, and even the. cheap prices of the food are not cheap enough for him. If he has a, little money to spare he prefers to spend it on drink, and although the total qyan- tity which he consumes in a year is not large, he takes enough each time’ to make himself thorotighly drunk. It may be said that the wretched condi- tions of the industrial ‘classes are no worse than those in which their peas- ant fathers and mothers lived. 'But, apart from the fact that the food, in the latter case was often really: better than in tHe former and the overerowd- | ing’ less great, the country air’ and the, country life tended to make up for otherwise unsatisfactory conditions, whereas Russian workmen in - the factories suffer all the disadvantages of industrial civilization without its compensations.—London Times Corre- spondence. ; No Porter Needed to Guard, “Some people,’ remarked an employe at Broad Street Station, “have.thelr: The’other this station from one of the summer resorts. They were laden with 4 mis- cellaneous assortment of luggage, and the head of the family had an immense white bulldog. heavy that they were compelled to call upon the porters for: help. “When they reached the ‘cafe door they directed the porters to .pile the luggage in ‘a heap on the floor. Then, their request being complied with, they placed the bulldog on the .top of the heap and went into the restaurant and dined, failing to appear for two hours. . “In the meanwhile the dog was ‘mon- arch of all he surveyed’ for none dared go nearer than ten feet of him. “The party finally toek a train to. one .of the suburbs. *_Philadelphia Press. ; x \ Natural Ignerance. Miss Marie Manning, the author of “Judith of the Plains,” tells this inci- dent of her recent European trip. The novelist was seeing’ Rome for the first time, and in the course of her sight-seeing was anxious to include a! Meeting | visit to the tomb of Caosas. a citizen on the street she inquired, in her best Itaiian, the location of the temb. ’ The. man leoked greatly. embar- rassed. : “lL am desolated, Signorina,?. he apologized, si » in excellent Eng- lish, “I. do ow, Caesar has been dead so long!"'— The luggage was so. Harper's Weekly. | AN ELOQUENT | ‘DISCQURSE ay’ THE REV. HUGH BLACK, M. A. Subject: “Jesus His Own Sign and Mir- acle’’—Mere Wonder Wozking is No ¥vidence of the Things. Christ Came ‘to Teach the World. New York Crry.—Fifth Aventis Prés- byterian Church, which is a very large building, was filled in evéry part: Sanday morning to hear the Rev. Hugh Black, M.A. associate of Dr. White in the Fieo St. George’s Church, Edinburgh, Scotlénd: Mr. Black had.for his subject “Jesus His Own Sign and Miracle.” The text was from Matthew xii:38: “Then certain of the seribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying: Master, we would see a sign from Thee. But He answered and said: unto them, An evil and adulterous generation setketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the pro- phet Jonas.” : Mr. Black said: . -We gather from its source, as ‘coming from the Pharisees, that this question ha a malicious purpose to undeérmine the au- gority of the new Teacher with- the peo- ple by asking from Him ‘what He could not’ or would not: ‘perform, but from the I" historjeal connection in which «the evan- gelists place it the purpose was not only malicious, but almost insulting. Our Lord. had been in the pursuit of 18 beneficent: healing ministry, had cured many: suffering men and women, and the Pharisees’ expla- nation was that He had power from an evil source; He did it, ‘they asserted; by virtue of His connection with Beelzebub, the prince of devils. And now, after this explanation of ‘the signs and * wonders Jesus did among men, they came with the insulting question, “Master, we .would. see: a sign from Thee.” at sort of 4 sign’ did they want, and what sort of evidence could convince them if they could, attrib-’ ute His healing ministry to diabolic art? The veiled insult of the demand“ is the ‘supercilious Tassing over of all He bad been and of all He had done; as if it did not count and as if He must now, begin to do something of sufficient magnithde to convince them that His pretensions were trustworthy. Now there is a Himbod for evidence which ids legitimate, evitlence which is, necessary for the highest faith, but: im this, case, ee from the hypagrisy. of..the .ques-* tion, there underlay a wrong conception of] revelation and a wrong conception of the! nature and the place of miracles. » They; ‘wanted Christ te perform some prodigy, as’ if a piece of.wonder-working could be real; evidence of spiritual things}, hence, our: ' Lord’s rebule. : It, is ‘a religious rebuke. God should he. recognized for what He is, and the recognition of Hirh should -#1ot he dependent upon’ external signs, .which in themselves after all, have no spiritual sig-- nificance. "Christ's feeling as:regards this is sgn {hrough a graphic touch recorded, Nx Mark, who writes that sghen the Pharisees. came seeking a sign from Hit! Jesus sjghed deeply. in His" spirit. ¢ Its showed ‘to’ Him ar lamentable dullness of soul, to think that the recognition of the spiritual should be made’ to hang on prodi- es.and on miracle-mongering of any;kind. “There shall no sign be given unto this generation.” This attitude of our Lord, notice, is not’ contradictory to the value He elsewhere placed don miracles as evi- dence. He pointed, you remember, to His deeds of mercy to Authenticate His ‘claims when, as in the case of John the Baptist, there was a sincere desire to knpw the marks of the Messiah, but His miracles were moral acts to educate and to rev cal, not to surprise and to astonish. (He new from sad experience that it was possible for men to believe in the reality of miracles and at the same time lose all its true evi- dential force, even to ascribe it to evil powers as the Pharisees did. “There shall be no sign given to curios- ity mongers.” There can be no sign given, to those who imagine that the spiritual can be proved by the material. Mere won- der working is no evidence of the things whica Jesus came to teach the world. Men are not to be led to God, then or now—: men-are not to be led to God, in the sense that Jesus medant—by displays and conjur-- ing tricks. The demand of the Pharjsees’ showed a radically false idea of the whole! nature, and place of the miracle and: the same mistake is ‘possible. to us, and possi- le ‘to us in ‘many ways and forms: We make the same mistake, for example, when we think that faith’in God would be easier to us if only some portent were vouch- safed to us; if ‘only we could see some phy- | sical evidence, especially sdesigned sto con- vinee us. We fall into the Pharisees’ error and merit. their rebuke when ‘we sigh for the . certitude which we 1imagine: would’ come: from a celestial appearance or from a: voice from heaven, or if we could put our: finger into the print of the nails. , To understand Christ’s. attitude on ol question, we need to have our minds dis- abused of the idea that a. mere miracle in the serie of prodigy is ever évidence of Rinitel, phi Some: miracles arg signs ‘only when there’ is spiritual’ a in them; that is, wlfen they ark’ ,more, than ,mere ‘Wondey:working, ; svhieh : ‘the Pharisees here desired. For example,’ our Lord’s healing ministry *was ‘a great and constant sign: .of the love of God; gar- rying a revelation with:as truly, as any lov- ing word of €he: Master. ever did. This lets light in upon’ the true way‘in which! to view the whole question. Our Lord's mir- acles cannot be separated, from the great Prelajiom of] His whole’ life ahd teach- ing. ; words dnd His works. are co-re- lated; He miracles’ dre not to be looked on as. isolated exhibitions of power, but as themselyes conttibuting ‘to the revelation. They werg not signs, but vehicles. of feach- ing. ey dre not signs externally ‘at- ‘tached to. the teaching to give it weight, and therefore to.make it. creditable; mot, unexplained occurrences testifying in a’ mysterious fashion to the possession of di-: vine power; they did not. eviden®e the teaching, they themselves, are the teach- ing.” They are 6fin words, moral®and ‘spiritual in their: effect, not evidential at all, except by the: way. . They are an integral part of the rev- elation of oh love of God in Christ Jesus .our Lord. - They have an essential‘ place in ‘the. yhole id, of the Christian -revela- tion “as fruits—fruits of the pity of God, as manifestations of the divine” love and swvisdom; they. are part of the manifesta- tion of Christ: they are not guarantees of His message as. the Pharisees here meant them, but part of the Ines sage itself, as much evidences of God’s love as His gra- cious, tender words are or ever could be, therefore Christ's miracles are never to be conceived of as mere displays - -of Wer. e persistently refused from’ first £8 lust to work wonders to make men Believe. It is not that the demand for evidence is wrong, it is a natural demand that proof. should be given of all claims, hut we must make sure what really is evidence. A mir-' acle is in itself no proof of a moral truth, and a miracle can never in itself engender spiritual ,faith—not if one rose from the dead would it.necessarily imply the exist- ence of God and the soul’s immortality. Of course, it is true that every miracle was a sign—a sign designed to induce to spizit- ual res to lead men to God, but, like tho teaching itself, they could find no ’foot- th ing in the soul of man except th spiritual su sceptibility the man hir L We rig v ask for evidence, but evidence, and evidence of what? We sav we would bel lieve in Christ if ond y we be convince ut convinced how, and be- lieve what al hy Men have some- times asked, air, why they eonid not he C 1 gn f1 P01 be wi Dy ‘na belief and 4 heart? If.€od asks for tighteoysness. or tous. arables in ‘action instead | mere. sensuous or intellectual gratification whi t‘come froma sign from’ heav- en would be quite outside the purpose suadé the carnal mind fof the: spiritual, what? not the carnal, surely.> Not %if one rose fro’ mthe dead. - Christ: was accred- sign er won er sorkins, but’ b ministry, by. Himself, “by teac, 2 I i self was the sign. If 1S Fon not. be to Jerusalem nah wast. Nineveh; “of astonishment at some. wonder working > ritual. certitude?. If the sign of Christ Tut now convince: man of the eternal love of God, what sign from heaven will2~* : f In asking to be.eonvinced of the Bpirit: ual by som€ ini Tessin of ‘the senses we ask impossibl A. sign, to preye the spirii must itself. be spiritual, If God asks from’ man love, will some, celestial ap- pearance~create love? If God asks from'| man free allegiance of the;will, could a voice. from heaven or a succession of voices ‘subdue ‘the mindrand capture” the loyal obediefice of the life ta, the law, ef life could“anything material generaté ‘the ‘ mo#al? There’ an bh no sign given to men who cannot ° i se the sign i Jess is Himself, Aifhenticates thé. .spiritual Soria im’ we must believe in’ God; or if not “how could we bé made nrore sure of God? Christ is the revealer of the Father. He is the sign:and symbol and evidence of God. He is Immanuel, the Sign and Seal of God. with us and God for us, the proof of the ‘divine in our midst. There shall be no sign given to: this gener- ation other than that; there can be no other.” He is the highest sign, and if the greater: fails how ean the lesser convince, and as a matter of fact Jesus has con- vinced the world of God, and is convincing. the world. . Through: “Him we, to, know God. By Him we have access t6 God. In Him we recognize God. For His sake we love God. The vision of Him is the vision of God. This generation. thirsteth-for-a sign. We think it an evidence of our spirituality that we do so thirst, and so we 7) many modern versions, of the demand :of the Pharisees. Sometimes in the mame of science, sometimes in the name of religion. We, can even jnanufacture signs when Rhy seem to be lacking. Sometimes by emulat- ing the methods of medievalism, ia which the so-called lives of the saints are floyted before us, and asking us to believe in the great realities of spiritual life because of ‘some ‘material, sign. Answers to prayer, it may “bessprovidences which, .however co- gent to the individual concerned, have lit- ‘tle’ meaning to others, or sometimes we haxe a recrudescence of the crudest spirit- ‘ualism, ‘dpirit rapping, table- turning, teg- cup manipulating, after which the devo- tees go-home- feeling that they themselves: -have been assisting at some act of pro- found worship, as if the melodramatic vul- garisms of spiritualism could prove any- thing but the folly of the race. Or again, we have the same claims appear in a more pretentious garb im Theosophy, or Chris: dian Science;” of whateverhappens to bethe’ fashionable iform. of it at the time, where esoteric eries of some kind aré prac- ticed. The<root of all such things is this same unspiritual: “thirst for a sign, after thaumaturgical wonders, faith healing ‘and other things pretty much on the level of conjuring tricks. Ah, me.i All this is a sig n in itself, a sign of the weariness and despair and breakdown of the black materialism of our day to satisfy the heart of man, but it has the terrible "danger of inducing a worse form of materialism still, deceiving the carnal heart by wearing the dress of spirit. ual religion.. How unstable it is we see from ‘the constant swing of the pendulum now from atheism and materialism to the most outrageous supernaturalism as in the case of Mrs. Besant and others, and now in the opposite direction from ultra- -mysti- cism to’ ultra- rationalism. The cause of" these seemingly contradictory changes it is not far to seek, as both are really based on the same foundation—a wrong -conception of what the spiritual is and therefore of what is true evidence of the spiritual. This generation thirsteth for a si There shall be no sign, given.to it. o sign can _be given to an unspiritual generation which would judge all. things by material stand- ards, a’ ‘generation’ that is blind fo the spir- itual signs of which life is already -full. Thére{gan: be no: voice from heaven to men who are; deaf to’ the heavenly. voice of whig] whole world is already full; if the spiritual does not evidence itself; if man will: not see God in Christ reconciling the world to’ Himself; if the sign of the cross cannot convince the stubborn heart and bend it to acknowledge its-divine pow- er.” Bf Jesus Himself 1§ not seen, to be, His own ‘sign’ and miracle, His pi evidenge and proof; there shall" be no sign ‘givens: there can be:no. sign giver § hw TED “There sha ‘be. nb si iven unto Shia on “r Is that the, last word? . that the clang of the oid door in Ye face of a'seeking soul? “Master, we! would see a sign from- Thee.” - That pitiful ‘ery if truly asked, not’ as by, those Pharisees but craving: for . spiritual enlightenment, and spiritual' communion, that pitiful ery hags.ever, been answered. Never turned He ay from ‘earnest, sincere, honest inquiry after light and truth. He condescenc d to opr weakness when we cry, +:Oh, that I ktiew w ete Lmight find Him.” He meets us Ab way. He makesiour hearts: to burn Within us as we walk with Him, con- vincifig us. of: His love; convincin us. of the phth, Showing: us the path, and it suf- ficeth ug. hen the heart thirsts with a deeper ‘thirst than for ‘a sign, when it thirstd after the love of God, when the: heart, and Hesh cry out, He shows us the signs of: ‘passion, as with Thomas, “Be- hold My ands and My feet.” He rom- forts us. "He ‘comforts us with the sign’ of the cross; and before that wondrous mani- festation of the eternal love, before that revelation of the Father’s heart, we be- lieve and worship, and adore and love; and we say in penitence and in faith. “My Lord and my God. » Do we believe? ih “God's. Veils.” Tittle Mary had just.come from. the wine dow with evident pleasure,. and sat dewn on.her little stool at her papa’s feet. It was just, abisiinset, and a mest glorious sunset it was, The ‘Western sky was man- tled with clouds of the most gorgeous hues, upon “which the little girl gazed with thoughtful pleasure. “Papa,” she said-at length, “do you know w hat I think when I see those pretty ouds?” “Nos What do you think of them, Mary?” “I always think they are God's veils. Doesn't He ‘have beautiful veils, papa, to, hide Him ffom us?’ “True éndugh, my little one, thought I.’ Thejklouds that veil Him from our sight ar@ now beautiful. There is a rain- bow on Phem if we will see it. They shine with mercyeand truth.” ‘Was that not a pretty thought of little Mary's? Bes it not remind you of the time when" the veils shall be parted, and He shall come without clouds and every cye shall see Him? > Think I Sore of Others. The surest criterion of our advanci ing in real excellence and perfection of cha: aeter, is our acquired disposition to thi less of ourselves ar ainied at by our Lord: What would per-} ited" fo His generation, not by this or fast is whole life and | fof a man v \ Lah Test the Cows. The dairyman. .who does not test every cow..in ‘his herd; and inform i himself regarding her value as a milk ‘and. butter: producer, “works in the dark, and iS unablé to. “determine. which of the’dows give a profit. There: ‘is. no implerffent more" serviceable in “dairy management thah the scdles. ‘When all food: is weighed - for each ;animal, and #lso the milk and butter, not only for;a day or a week, but: ‘for a year, the ‘unprofitable- “COWS will be 'disposed of and better ones take their places. Daily. tests of the animals will lead to improvement every. year. tis Bestles on Melon Vines. Relative ‘to the striped cucumber beetle on melon” vines, a ‘bulletin of the Oklahoma station: says: In addi- tion to the preventive measures of cleaning up rubbish and a thoreugh cultivation of the melon - ground, the ‘use of Bordeaux mixture as a repel lent, apd squash’ as a’tfap crop are among the most promising of the rem- edies recommended by those who have successfully * dealt with this. -insect: Squashes are “planted ‘about four days before’ thé melons. One or’ {more rows of squashes’ should be ‘planted, ‘ac- cording to the size of the field. Some of the trap plants may be dusted with Paris green 'when the beetles: gather on them. Others should. be left to attract the beetles through the sum- mer. It seems that spraying the young melon vines with Bordeaux mixture not only repels the cucumber beetle, but also poisons some of the insects which feed on the: sprayed leaves. The Market Fowl. © The market fowl is an insignificant object. with thofe “who advocate the standard, , and they boldly proclaim their detestation of any mongrel grade, or:rbreed that is: not recognized by what they term the “infallible guide” to success with poultry. -Our stand-, ard friends may be sound enough on the standard requirements, but we will say to them that -when they begin to: puild up the ‘breeds according to the ‘standard by pulling, out the pillars that support the poultry structure the falling ruins ‘will'"erush them as well as those whom they despise. Like Samson, they will die with the Philis- tines, for the foundation of the stand- ard breeds is the market poultry. But for those who “keep chickens” the fancy breeders would have no mar- kets for their productions, and admit- ting that they displace the scrub al- together they ‘must create newer kinds or find the markets all supplied. The question as to the profitableness of a breed and its use as a “thing of beau- | ty” must, be discussed in-its plainest sense. To retain ‘the standard and keep up the purity.of the breeds it must. be demonstrated that profit is sure to result, and unless that is done the labor .will be but thrown away.— Poultry News. Economical Handling of Manure. The farmer who is:a wise man will try fo save all manure made on his farm and apply. it;to his land with one handling. He will keep. ‘all the live stodk his land’ will carry and in order to increase his manure -heap will pro- vide ja ‘quantity of bedding. A good time to*do this, is immediately after threshing; straw is thus saved that is . .Toose | ‘around the stack ‘and the stack. thereby shaped up. befter. By bedding stock carefully, the quantity of inanure is inereased and the stock kept warmer, and .cleaner. When the straw stack is adjacent to the barn they should be allowed to run to it in day "time. They. will eat a portion, tramp down some, and more or less droppings will be: mixed with it.. All this. should. be hauyled--and scattered ‘on -plowed. land. = Of - course, a manure spreader. is the thing, but many a farmer cannot own one, so must de- pend on -wagon or sled, If the haul is short and you are hauling old straw I would use a good sled, or.if,depend- ing on a wagon by all means Have a low one. dn hauling out manure the volatile gases are best placing’ it. in piles, say five or six to the Toad, ‘and then seattering it just before’ the plow reaches it, thus turn- ing under the manure fresh before the wind has carried off valuable gases. This ‘makes extra work,. soto save labor it will have, to be scattered di- rect! from wagon; ‘again to save labor in hauling manure, I would load direct from’ stable and not throw out unless unavoidable. : Of course, a cow stable must be cleaned out daily, but for horses I would usé roomy box stalls, keep them well-bedded and clean out and haul when I had a load direct to fields. Some will say it is a slovenly way, but by using good bedding your horse will be kept quite comfortable. and it saves one handling; at best, it is a hard, heavy job, so let ong effort put it on ‘the field.—Hodsier, in The Epito- mist. Neglect of the Colt’s Feet. A writer in the Horseshqers' Jour- | nal, in speaking of the effects which | neglect of the weanling foal’s feet may have, says? x We will take, for instance, two colts, weanlings, they are running together on the and they-are eared for m same. We will ‘st that 1 > alike, maintai about the increase in we and -at .abeut manths old they ) separated, one falling into the hands ho will take good care of same soil, preserved by! | the rich man’s to a careless, indifferent owner. first, we will suppose, is-looked over, and it may be noticed by the ‘owner that he has the tendency, so common to all colts, of an overgrown hoof and the limb inclined, inward, which;; of course, carries the foot to the outward direction. Turning to the case of the other colt, the owner ig indifferent about the formation of his hoof and limb; he keeps on developing just as he is ‘inclined, and so we may expect in - the one case to find any cFass of bad conformation purely through the fact that -he-has never +been watched. But it is altogether different with the case ¢ of the first colt, for the owner, the moment he realizes the tendency of the little fellow’s growth, what does he do? The first thing that a careful owner will do is to reduce the hoof as much as necessity will demand, "and in case conditions will allow, and if he ‘can do so, he will.produce from ‘pressure, let it be ever so slight. Now this trouble remedied will be quite enough in itself to enable the foot to thrive in health and strength.” = « But to the limb. Many colts take the limb formation through the same neglect that the feet take theirs. Ev- erybody knows that there are cases of toe-in, and many more of toe-out. The intelligent man knows tha, a little earlier care of.the colt will stop this and produce a perfect shape to the limb and foot. When grazing, the colt throws hig weight on the front limbs, which cakries the foot outward; he sustains himself by taking this po- sition, and as it will be seen at a glance, the heels. are peinting inward and the toes out. And as the limb is thus shaped the hoof takes on (its growth on the outside, which adds ad- ditional weight to the interior of the ° limb. Continual strain of this kind finally results in the foot growing just as it is allowed, and In the limb taking the for mthat it must because of the constant strain thrown upon it. The careful owner, reéogniizng the shape which the foot or limb has tak- en will at once set about to remoéve the cause by both care of feet and giv- ing the young muscles and joints that care which will remove the possibil- ~ ity ‘of their becoming mal-formed. Some “men wonder why there are so many of the toe-out class of horses. The above explains the reason why.. Eyen the colt which might inherit mal- conformation can be straightened up and be made to wear a perfect limb and foot if he is carefully watched in babyhood, for once the limbs are set in their position, which is after the colt passes about his ninth month, it is useless to try and effect any change for the better, at least it is seldom: that any improvement can be made after this period of age arrives, but very much is possible before this time.—Massachusetts Ploughman. From a Shepherd's Note-Book. Breed the best ewes to the best rams. » Sheep are always improving or they are deteriorating. The way to keep ideal sheep is- by trying to improve them. An upeven lot of good" sheep are bet- ter than an even lot of poor ones. ] : Stationary troughs and .racks are not desirable in the sheep stable. In fattening sheep, especially, pnne- tuality in feeding should be strictly ohserved. son . ‘Tt it well to place.the ewes on short pasture fora week or more item the lambs are: “weaned. : At weaning, if ‘possible, tHe" ewes should--be-- placed in a field , out ‘of hearing of the lambs., In many cases, after the corn is laid by, the sheep may be turned into the, corn fields to a good’ advantage. If a radical change in the rations is made too suddenly, growth of both body and fiéece is liable ® suffer a check. Sheep are easily Bateeor are first- class fertilizing machines, good farm scavengers, and ‘yield two harvests annually. In some localities, at least, sheep should be looked upon as auxiliaries in keeping up the fertility of the land rather .than a means of profit. Sheep, independent of wool, are worth more than their cost in what they do for the farm and in the meat they furnish.—Massachusetts Plough- man. The Duties of Friendship. “When acquaintanceship ripens into friendship, something sérious has come into one’s life,” writes Mrs. Henry Graham, in The Onlooker. “I don’t think that any one can or ought to afford to. have more than one or two really intimate friends: If love has gone with friendship—that- is, if the gates of Paradise have been opéned to you, and the Guardian An- gel has sheathed his flaming sword, and admitted you through the portals, then you'must have given everything, and you have very little left to give. A man can have a man friend, and a woman .a woman, because they are places where men meet men and wo- men meet women alone, neutral ground where the other sex cannot én. ter because of its limitations, and there real friendship may live and thrive on the crumbs which fall from table. “For friendship. implies serious. , You must give yours real selfy and:once given it can: taken baek. One has no*r 1p a friendship unless t ne
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers