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