Fashion Tyranny. What an insiduocus tyrant fashion is! It makes a 4ive man or woman SO ridiculous and often so contemptible; dictating everything, from the cut of a mantle to the expression of a thought—from the etiquette of "a call” to the propriety of an experi- ment, and as silly as it is humiliating; and, unpleasant and uninviting as the task may be, it is our duty to good naturedly affront it and protest that the first duty and right of a live man or woman is the duty and the right of self-possession.—l.ondon Light. Empress of Russia. Mrs. Amalia Kussner Coudert, the American miniature painter, says in an article in “The Century” that she never heard th? words Czar and Czarina used by any member of the Russain royal family. They say Em- peror and Empress, and in their pri- vate life they all speak English. The Grand Duchess Helene, daughter of the Grand Duke Vladimir and now Princess Nicholas cf Greece, told Mrs. Coudert that she could not remember ever speaking anything but English to her father—New York Tribune. Mrs. Swancon’s Striking Riding Habit. One of the prettiest women in the whole State of Virginia, able critics assert, is the wife of the Chief Execu- tive of the Old Dominion, Mrs. Claude Swanscn. Hundreds hundreds of ographs have appeared in pers and magazines, for she is of a rare type, having golden hair and dark brown eyes and lashes. Mrs. Swanson spends muuch of her time in Washington, in spite of her duties in Richmond, and is entertained fre- quently. In her ck cloth riding habit, with a big soft hat with drooping plum best. Mrs. Swa z bit, the jacket of which is made entirely of fine yo leati She the very short 1 yellow. b al as the ket, and a ¢ samc i j especi horse aL trimming and felt elrects ie of the same materi- ip. of the appearance, would be more ners if their feet didn’t of a working izht be said of mother— polite (to ¢ ache so,” girl. And & snappy, na ; she would be more amiable if her feet did not hurt. Fer a weman who has to stand many hours a day there is rest in simply changing from one pair of boots to another. It is easy to keep a second pair of slippers behind the counter or in a convenient corner of the sitting room or kitchen, out of sight, and to put them on when one’s feet begin to feel tired and drawn. There is economy in buying good stockings, and in darning them care- fully with fine thread when they be- gin to give way. There is also econ- omy in buying good shoes, for cheap shoes have a desperate way of pinch- ing or grazing in some unexpected place, and they hardly: ever: keep their shape like a good article. Money on the feet is never wasted. — Yori Tribune. aicium spen New Dinner. profound as the Sphinx’s, “how {to live without a cook,” has been solved, a Brooklyn caterer believes, by his own scheme, which is beginning to bud and blos- som into fact, says the New York Evening Sun. He has already open- ed in the heart of one of the restricted resident sections a place that he is pleased to call, unofficially, a ‘“neigh- borhood supply station.” A family can eat its three meals a day in the cozy, home-like dining-room, or a represen- tative may i+ epvo The Ccokless The ridde as call with a ant or basket or box stocked with dishes and carry it steatiiug comestibles, to be eaten under the home roof-tree. If company comes unexpectedly, if a luncreon or dinner party is to be given, whatever the exigency of do- mestic complicity—the cook’s goings and comings cease to be of interest to the housekeeper. The caterer promises not to ‘‘glve warning,” nor Back his trunk and start off, whatever his grievance. He says he has come to stay, and that the new establish- ment is only the first of many to fol- low it in other tocalities. Walaa Davuay Bad Taste In Overdressing. There are a few things that are ap- plicable to so many women, one cannot err in discussing them. One of them, a great one, is the tawdriness of finery after. its first freshness is gone, says Elizabeth Anstruther in “The Com- plete Beauty Book.” Let us take for granted that no one presuming ever so faintly to the title of a gentle- woman. would be guilty of wearing dirty or mussy finery on any occasion, either where finery is in order or where it isn’t. : But renovated finery isn’t much bet- ter. JYou may read reams of stuff ghout washed and ironed silks and ribbons and gasoline cleaned chifions ing “equal to new,” but you know s¢il «5 1 do that they're not, and there is always something unsat- isfaciory about them. For that reason women of taste buy fripperies with nice discrimination. Women =~ who in- vest heavily in proportion to their means in perishable apparel or apparel suitable only to a few bound to be caught often in the pre dicament of having to wear bighly in- appropriate and ill-looking clothes. Probably more women look ill be cause they are trying to “get the good out of” finery that is no longer fine, than for any other reason. Separation Good For Love. The happiest marriages are undoubt- edly those where a certain amount ot daily separation takes place between husband and wife. He and she both mix with outsiders; their ideas are en- larged and freshened: they have a chance of missing each other, which is one of the truest secrets of preserving affection. and when they meet again it is with renewed pleasure, and a cer- tain restored sense of novelty, which lasts till it is time to part again. And when there are little absences, what a renewal of charm succeeds! We never value a thing till we lose it; and even the temporary loss of an- other’s society makes us think it more attractive than if it were always with us. So let the married resolve to spend at least a little: portion of each day apart. Do not understand by this that I mean to advise such an amount of separation as shall produce in them a difference of tastes, pursuits or friends. But it is wise to lead just so much daily life apart as shall lend a new zest to the time spent together, says Wceman's Life. One grave drawback in seeing to much of each other is the tendency in human nature to treat with slight re- spect the thing with which we are too familiar. A husband and a wife are apt to lose that courtesy in their mutu- al intercourse which is the very salt of happy family life. : Keeping Well. Doctors tell us that if we would spend the greater part of our lives out of doors, taking a reasonable amount of es could scarcely find a place to take hold on us. has long been consid- incurable discase; but now we livihg in the open air light, digestible food, three- fourths those who have consump- tion recover. Isn’t that a strong proof that fresh air is a ‘wonderful medicine? Ana even the poorest ean afford this med- icine! Mothers who insist on their children going out into the fresh air each day, often forget that they themselves need this air much as the children do. You say you. cannot find. time to go out. Think for a moment! When an ¢rrand has taken you out of doors for a little while, have you. not work- ed all the faster when you came back? Were not your thoughts fresher and better? If only for a little while, mothers should be sure to go out each day. Leave your work behind you and go out. Take a long walk if you can; if you can’t, take the longest that is pos- sible. ‘In summer take your sewing and sit out of doers, pare the potatoes out of doors, do cverything that you can out of doors. If you live in a town, try to go to the parks or squares cach afternoon. When you are in the house and must stay there, keep the windows open wide as you can and let in as much fresh air as possible. Summer and winter, alt the windows should be thrown wide open several times a day, that the air may change. It makes one dull and heavy to breathe the same air over and over again; we become pee- vish and irritable, and are not pleas- ant companions or good examples for atwtrszesostetjCa aiu door,nfut our children. God gave us the sweet, that we might be strengthened and made better by it. Let us all try to benefit by it, then as much as possi- ble.—Elizabeth Roberts Burton in the Mothers Magazine. excerise, disea Consumption as fresh air Fashion Notes. White is oftenest chosen to soften the somewhat trying stone and mouse grays. : Small gilk crochet buttons and simu- lated buttonholes border both sides of ‘thre front or side panels on some new gkirts. Fanciful ornaments for dressy gowns are wide-open ribbon roses with tiny silver tassels dangling from their centers. Wood brown velvet and creamy tea roses’ with fluff of brown maline com: bine to make a dainty hat foi a rosy cheeked girl. . Many of the newest skirts are al- most severely plain but with long slop- ing, lines, graceful curves and decided flare toward the bettom. If you want to make your velvet walking suit very smart, line the short skirt around its flaring lower edge with scveral rows of silk frills. A hint of pink'in the huge satin ro- cette upon ‘the side of the brown hat worn with a brown velvet street cos- tume lends a becoming color note. The caracul coat is one of the favor- ites of the season with handsome _dressers, and there are the usual num- ber of chinchilla wraps, especially in the evening. Instead of passing entirely around the arm, the wide lace cuff on one of the stunning evening wraps runs up the full sleeve toward the shoulder \ frill cf lace. and is edged all around with a tiny’) THE PULPIT. A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY THE REV. C.-L. PALMER, Subject: God's Unspeakabie Gift. Kingston, N. Y.—The following impressive discourse, appropriate to the scason, was delivered here Sun- day in the Reformed Church of the Comforter, by the Rev. C. L, Palmer. The subject of his sermcn was “God’s Unspeakable Gift,” preached from the text. 2 Cor. 9:15, “Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.” gaid: It would increase our gratitude to recount the blessings we have re- ceived during the past year. God has been very good to us as families, communities and states. Even the distant lands have not escaped His Fatiherly consideration. Our senti- ment for Providential care finds ex- pression in the words of the Psalm- ist, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me; bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits toward me.” : But God has bestowed upon us another blessing which is not tem- poral or material. He has given us His Son, the Lord of Glory, to be our greatest treasure. While we should not cease to mention Ilife’s daily comforts, and constantly thank the Giver for them! nothing should make us silent respecting the great- est of gifts in the person of the beloved Son. And if recalling the material blessings which have come to us from the hand of God has the effect of making us more thankful for them, surely a short study of the text will have the tendency to make us more grateful to our Father in heaven for the incarnation of the Eternal Son. It is to Him that Paul refers in this text, “Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.” It will not be a breach of homiletic law to intentionally disfegard the context, because the text bears but a general connection with it, since this passage is an abrupt expression of thanksgiving which is not unusual with the apostle. For example, in Romans 2:33-36, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God; how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past tracing out; for who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His cou s1lor? or who hath first given to Him? and it shall be recompenscd to Him again. For of Him, and through Him and unto Him are all things. To whom be the glory forever and ever.” 1 Cor. 1 57, “Thanks be unto God which giv- eth us the victory through cur Lord Jesus Christ”? Gal. 1:5, To whom be the glory forever and ever.” Eph. 3:20, “Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think, accord- ing to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be the glory in the chur and in Christ Jesus unto all genera- tions forever and ever.” An examination of the immediate Scripture in which each of the above examples are located, confirm the assertion that it is the habit of the apostle to introduce praise-songs into his writings without logical ref- erence to the context. If we are as thankful for the material and spirit- ual blessings of life as we ought to be, like the sacred writer, we, too, will break forth in dozologies of grat- itude to the source of every good. And the one gift to which most fre- quent reference will be made is the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. I. In What Respects May Christ De Considered a Gift. The term ‘‘gift” is employed by Paul to teach that. Jesus was given to be our Redeemer, and to invalid- ate the excuse that salvation is too expensive. The Savior being a gift, makes it possible for every one to obtain His beneflts, and impossible for the sinner to blame any one ¢x- cept himself for being unsaved. A gift is presented “voluntarily. Jesus is, therefore, such, because He is given to us as our friend and de- liverer without the intervention of man. © It was an act of the divine volition alone, tnat the Son should become man, that He should reside on the earth for a season, that His time be occupied in teaching the fun- damental principles of His Kingdom, and that the cross should satisfy the justice of the Almighty. The most acute human intellact could not have thought of such a means of making our salvation possible, and even if it had flashed in some mind its own ap- parent impossibility would have smothered the spark. We can claim no credit. for this gift. Divine voli- tion deserves all the praise. A gift is often presented unde- servingly. It often occurs in the re- ception of a gift that one feels too unworthy to receive it, but on ac- count of circumstances is indisposed. to decline it. Christians constantly realize that the daily return of God's goodness is more proluse than they deserve. Absence of this feeling in- dicates a lack of appreciation. But If consistent disciples feel unworthy to receive the material blessings of life, because of their disinclination to honor God as they should, how much more undeserving we should ‘feel of the great gift of the Son of God. This is not mere langunge; it is fact. : A gift is gratuitous. It is free. This is true of Jesus; He cost us nothing. His coming to earth has encumbered us with no financial ob- ligation, but has made possible the liquidation of a debt we owe God which otherwise could not he can- celed. “God so loved-the world that He gave.” ‘Herein is love, not that we first loved Him, but that He first loved us, and gave His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” The best of gifts cost us the least. The in- vitation of*both the Old Testament and New is ‘to come every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price,” The Son of God was given lovingly. The only reason why the Lord Jesus vacated for a season His omnipotent throne and lived for a little more than thirty years among us, was that He and His Father loved humanity and ‘would leave nothing undone te save lost souls. - ‘Greater love hall no man than this. that a man lay He | down his life for his friends.” “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” “God commend- ecth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ -died for IT - our Creator had possessed no love for fallen nature, Ie would not have sent His Son to die for tha sins of the world, II. Paul Pivects Our Attention to the Gne by Whom fe Was Given. “Thanks be to God.” Not the text alone but other sections of the Bible contain the same {ruth that it was God who gave the Lord Jesus Christ. “God so loved the world.” “Gon commendeth Ifis love.” Christ said to Samaritan woman, “If thou knewest the gift of God.” Jesus is like eternal’ life, ‘the gift of God.” God alone knew our condition and need. Many centuries have elapsed since the fall of man. Xach period has revealed some new phase of the corrupt character of the unsaved heart. Still we are unable to fully appreciate the horrors of an un- washed soul. And even if man had acquired a full conception of: his natural staie, he could have devised no way of escapé. But God, wno not only knew just what we were; but what we should become in gin, devised a by which we might avoid the loss of our souls. Our condition sinful, our need a Savior. Even if it had been the strange fortune for some one to procure full information concerning our state and requirements, it would have availed nothing, for only God could have sent His Son. It is one thing to know what we need, and quite an- other to supply it. In the order of things it occurs that to our ears comes the information that a certain thing is needed.” We would be only too glad to furnish it if it were with- in our power so to do, but how often it is not. Our conception of our ac- tual condition must ever remain the same incomplete and imperfect no- tion, and even if it should dawn up- on us just what we are and need, all we. eould do would be to appeal to Divine grace in prayer. We cannot ascend to heaven and bring Christ down. Only God would be willing to make such. a sacrifice for sinners. If we were controlled entirely by hu- man nature, we woultt*tet sinners live and die sinners.-- What difference does it make to us? we would say. And if their redemption could be ob- tained at a nominal pric many would be unwilling to gi their means to satisfy Divine ju Rare are the instances in which even the people of Cod are to make sacrifi er iships the kingdom's s there who would be wiiling to allow a to hecome what Chris live and labor life us. the a Vay as H on the y Another with the heav thet not only counid God but that He would. ‘It the reascn Paul called the one wno sented Glory, was that v ht not obtain the notion that it was an act inde- pendent of the Lord Almighty, but that the Fath ve His Son to buy us back to Himsell. III. The Value the Apostle Attaches to This Gift. “Thanks be to God for. His un- speakable gift.” which: Paul means that its full value is so great that it cannot be either estimated or expressed. The gift of God is unspeakable because of the source from which it has come. Belfore His incarnation He resided in heaven, where He is to-day. In different ways and at sev- eral times He appeared to chosen ones during the old dispensation, but the centre from which He radiated was the city of God. Coming from the New Jerusalem we prize Him the more, since we are striving to enter the golden gate. Sometimes a gift which in itself is of but little value, becomes of inestimable worth on account of its source: Vithout un- aluing tne intrinsic worth of the Jesus Christ, we cannot but feel the very ' His coming from may be atiention to the Son of Yr 3¥ n more dear to us. o value of a gift is controlled its nature. If it i structed out of material tha little worth, we esteem it less highly than we would if made out of fine gold. The nature of the gift to which Paul alludes is divine. The body.of the Lord was h n- like but it was simply the heavenly character in which He ernacled during His short earthly stay. The perfection of His person- ality was a living demonstration of His divine nature. The purpose for which a gift is intended has considerable to do with its value. The Son of God came to us from the mansion in the skies for the sole purpose of teaching us what we must do to be saved, and to make atonement on the cross for us. IV. Paul's Expression of Gratitude. “Thanks.” He was thankful to God for this gift because it was by means of the Lord Jesus Christ that he was saved and made an apostle. At one time he was lost but now is saved. And the same effect was realized in the oxperiences of others. Like Paul, they were lost, but through Jesus were saved. And we can join with the apostle in the same praise, for those. who are saved, are sayed be- cause of the gift ‘of Jesus to be our Savior. + The Progress of the Church. The progress of the Church of Jesus Christ is strikingly depicted by the pen of John, the disciple of love. I call you to follow the progress of the growth of the Christian Church in John's writings. First there was only. one man wan believed in Jesus —John the Bapiist.: Then we read of two, ihen of three, then of five, then of twelve, then of seventy, then of 120, then of a graat multitude which no man can number, ail sing ing, “Wortny is the L.amb that slain to reezive power and riches, strength and honor, and glory blessing.” Winsomeness. He who would win a soul must have a winsome spirit. It is not enough to be a good man. Some men seem to be good, but they are not at- iractive. They have long faces and sad countenances, and are cold as! ice. The Spirit of God will make the ; heart warm and the countenance, cheerful and bright. CHIEF WILLIE SITTING BULL. Said to be the only son of the great head of the Sitting Bull, Sioux Nation. now dead, and future EARLY SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. Many of Them Flourished a Thou- sand Years Ago. Quite small children were sent to school in ancient Ireland, and, writes Jane Barlow in Youth's Companion, like children of to-day, began their studies with the alphabet. The let- ters were sometimes stamped on bread or cakes, which the youthful scholars might eat when their lesson was learned—a sort of kindergarten device. The chief school-founding period in Ireland was in the seventh cen- tury. We learn from the chronicles Early Christian Scheol in Ireland. of the Venerable Bede that about the middle of it great crowds of Saxons, among them Saint. Chad, came over to Ireland, and were kindly welcomed by the Irish, who provided them. gratuitous- ly with “food, books and teachers.” During the same century two for- eign kings were educated in Ireland —Dagobert 11. of France and Aldfrid of Northumbria; "who has left an Irish poem in praise of the country. Irish geometers, geographers and as- tronomers were then far in advance of their age, and the study of Greek, which had all but died out in the countries farther east, was common in Ireland. “At one time,” says M. Darmesteter, “Armagh, the religious capital of Christian Ireland, was the metropolis of civilization.” The earliest of celebrated Irish schools was founded more than 1400 years ago by Saint Enda, the son of a King of Oriel, on the wild, rocky island of Aran More, off the coast of Galway, whither “‘flectsful’” of schol- ars came from all quarters. Other schools as famous and nearly as ancient were Clonard, close to the River Boyne, and Clonfert on the Shannon; but greater than either of them was Clonmaenoise, founded by Saint Ciaran beside a wide curve in the Shannon not far from Athlone, almost in the centre of Ireland. Although many beautiful works still bear witness to Irish achieve- ments in art and letters, testimony ever stronger to the nation’s constant love for such things abides in the Anglo- Egbert. and fact that it never was quenched by all the water of affliction through which it passed. Wars, massacres, pestilence and famine swept in wide waves over the land. A time came, and lasted for gener- ation after generation, when it was a felony for the greater part of the people either to teach or to be taught, or even to own a book or a manu- script; a time when children might be seen furtively learning their.alpha- bet from letters chalked on their father's tombstone. Yet in the worst days schools con- tinued to exist, however secretly and perilously, and a scholar was-always an object of respect and admiration. This Little Pig Stayed at Home. It was formerly the custom of the country folk work: out their taxes by boarding the teacher, which m that from time was plicd from various - quarters foc. One day head to time to wit Tim Moore- sought the teacher, brea iming: 5 teacher, my know if you like 1 POrx. “Indeed I do, Tim,” pa wants tuo was the reply. father. that there is nothing ‘in the way of meat that 1 like better than pork.’ Some time passed, and there was no pork from Tim's father, a fact that in no way surprised the teacher, for the old man was known throughout the county as a tight proposition. Nevertheless, one : afterncon the teacher took the boy aside and asked: “How about that pork, Tim, that your father promised me?” “Oh,” answered Tim, ‘the pig got well.”’—Harper's Weekly. ‘Say to your The Passing of Courtrouvm Oratory. is a lost art in the courtroom. Nowadays no true law- adv prepares documents or tries a case without a careful prepar- ation. Forensic oratory has passed away. No longer does crowd gather in the county courthouse to listen to and be moved by the wit, pathos and eloquence of the advocate as for hours or days he addresses the jury. The courtroom may be filled, but it is largely with the ubiquitous reporters, many of whom are as des- titute of tears as Sahara of water and as callous to emotion. as the mum- mied sleepers of Egypt. No longer is it true that weeping men and women with handkerchiefs to their eyes are moved by the eloquence of counsel. Time is a pressing factor. Facts rather than eloquence is the demand.—D. C. Brewer, in Atlantic. Inspiration yer 08, the
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers