Decatur Democrat, Volume 37, Number 4, Decatur, Adams County, 14 April 1893 — Page 2

®he |ientoixat u U. BLACKBURN. - • - PußLtsnEß. f ItiGHTY-FivE tons of tobacoo worn chewed in this country last year. The 'American man is a powerful animal With his Jaw. Deference often shrinks and withers as much upon the approach of intimacy as the sensitive plant does upon the touch of one's finger. 1 A passport costs only a dollar, and Is good for ten years without renewal. Unfortunately there are other expenses Connected with a trip abroad. ____________ New York firemen have been bothered a good deal of late by the ringing in of false alarms. Boston firemen have been bothered a good deal by the ringing in of real ones. When' the Shah of Persia needs rest, comfort, and consolation he doesn’t seek it in the family circle. Four hundred wives arc too much to lean upon when the heart's bowed down. It is alleged that there are many errors in schoolbooks. We all used to be certain of the, same thing when we couldn’t get the same answers to the “sums” in our arithmetic which .given in the books. The people of Hawaii should understand that admission to the Union means dirty streets, the garbage > nuisance, the trolley issue, and the grade-crossing question. Knowing Uthis, is she still willing? The statement of ex-Secretary Thompson that not a cent of the Pan-ama-American fund was spent in subsidizing American newspapers will perhaps occasion as much regret in some quarters as it will pride in others. Connecticut is boasting over the production of two pairs of triplets in a single week. Connecticut is known as the land of steady habits; It will be unfortunate for some people if this triplet habit is going to be one of them. Three Arkansans were killed the other day by the accidental discharge of a gun. A good many people are killed in that State in the course of a year through the discharges of guns, but accident doesn’t usually have, any part in their taking off. James Whitcomb Riley was intended by his father for a lawyer, but by a merciful interposition of providence was saved from such a fate, and grew up to be a poet whose mission was to brighten and delight a world instead of trying to skin it. Over in Colorado the other day a cowboy requested a stranger to dance. The stranger declined and the cowboy killed him. Colorado has just abolished the death penalty, which, however, might be termed—the expression being borrowed—another story. An Ogden paper made a rule that •liquor of all kinds” would not be allowed in the building, and the struck; Compositors down that way must have an exalted idea of the necessities of irrigation. Two or three varieties of liquor would seem to be adequate for men of only normal appetite. “Deacon” White, of New York, has just succeeded in skinning his associates in a pool having for its ostensible purpose the skinning of outsiders. Any reference to a lack of honor among thieves would be hasty and irrelevant. Jlonesty is Deacon White’s specialty, a fact that he frankly admits himself. There was no occasion for that silly sneer in a London society paper at Mr. W. W. Astor because it is rumored that he is to “personally conduct” a party of English Dukes to the Chicago Fair. The idea is excellent, for it will give the American people a chance to compare its own millionaires with the foreign article. Oakland, Cal., ladies have begun riding horseback astride, an innovation at which persons painfully and Irrationally modest are prone to protest. There is, to be sure, no possible reason why any one should object to the new styl®. It is sensible and seemly, and there is nothing to be set up against it but a prejudice that has no valid excuse for existing.

Blinders which prevent horses from seeing distinctly have probably , caused more than most drivers would care to acknowledge, ; and it has rehiained for a German ' Inventor to treat the matter on homoeopathic principles and make like cure like. He has added to tlie bar ness a line which instantly closes the blinders in front so that fractious animals cannot see at all. There is a sort of impulsiveness which often gets people into serious trouble. We are fretted and vexed at the acts of somebody else, and we do not wait to think, but say out our irritation, and wound deeply some aensltive spirit. We are angry, and we let passion rule us instead of reflection. The impulsive person who cannot control his temper is like one Who carries Are near gunpowder. It is said that the sum of $250,000 Cn gold was received at Washington 4

from Han Francisco a few days ago and found to be 9 cents short in weight. But the bags containing it were burned and the ashes assayed, when the missing sum was made up. It cost a hundred times 9 cents to burn the bags, assay the gold, and balance the accounts. Some one I might have “chipped in” to pay the 9 cents, but, of course, that would not have been the regulation redtape way of doing business. The Maine Legislature has wisely amended the game law by eliminating the provision prohibiting the killing of cow moose. As long as the law didn’t provide that cow moose should carry a placard around their necks in the daytime and a red lantern nights to distinguish them from hornless bulls, excited sportsmen seldom waited before shooting to see whether they were offending legally or not. Ex-Lieutenant Totten, the crack o' loom expert whose breast is torn ever and anon by prophetic throes, ’says that the end of the world is not coming now, but that a better dispensation is at hand. The people are ready for a change. If so be that the change should mean that the Totten tongue, weary and wagless, had lulled itself into permanent repose, they would even be ready sot that. _____________ A Russian preacher killed a girl so that he might have the benign and glorious privilege of raising her from the dead. She refused to be raised, and at the end of two hours her parents, who had been present all the time, felt their faith begin to waver, and sent for the police. Such parental solicitude is indeed touching The father and mother merit, recognition at least to the extent of being hanged. Reviewing the post-official career of the Presidents of the United States, a Washington writer notes that six men—Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Jackson, Johnson, and Hayes—became planters or farmers upon retiring from public life; that five—Van Buren, Fillmore, Tyler, Grant and Cleveland —openly tried to get another term; that five—Van Buren, Polk, Fillmore, Pierce and Grant—traveled extensively at the close of their official career; and that four—Adams, Pierce, Buchanan and Hayes—sooner or later became recluses. Every month or so the world is convulsed by a rumor that some startling change is to be made in woman’s dress. It is very significant that these reports vary widely, some indicating a desire for reform in the direction of comfort and practicability, others presaging a relapse into the barbarism of bygone ages. Mankind has hardly recovered from the shock experienced at the announcement that crinoline was likely again to become fashionable, yet here we have the report of the national council of women on the subject of dress reform. In this document' business females are advised to adopt any one of several grotesque and outlandish costumes, the main feature of all being that they are “dual at the bottom.” Between the two extremes it looks as though feminine dress would remain about where it is at present. Whatever real reform has been effected in this matter has been in the, direction of relinquishing the tight corset. With that, abomination entirely done away with woman’s dress would be healthful and comfortable, and it is quite attractive enough now to make her the greatest influence for good or evil on the earth.

Age, of Men Before the Flood. It may safely be said that a very slight error in the translation of Hebrew numerals has led to all the apparent disparity, and on the authority of Genesis vi. 3, it may be acceptedthat the age of the antediluvian was not to exceed 120 years. That passage reads: “And the Lord said, my spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. ” As aireddy remarked, the errors in the ages of the patriarchs as given in tbe Bible may be ascribed to the improper rendering of concrete numerals by the translators. The verse Genesis v. 3, is properly rendered, and reads thus: “Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son,” etc., but if that verse had been translated in the same way as the fifth verse is, in. the authorized version, it would read thus: “Adam lived thirty hundred years, and begat,a son!” This shocked the consciousness of the Christian translator, and he was driven to the true rule of the Hebrew use in cases of concrete numerals. In the fifth verse the authorized version reads: “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.” The true reading by the Hebrew rule would be: “And . all the days of Adam which he lived i were a hundred and thirty and nine I years, and he died," making the entire age of Adam 139 years instead of I 930 years. ■ Further, so primitive was the sysj tern of enumeration at the date of j the writing of Genesis that the Hebrews had, no means of writing nine I hundred, or any number of hundreds i above one, without repetition or cirI cumlocution. - ) The following are put forward as , the ages of the patriarchs before the I Deluge, with the remark that they are subject to a few uncertainties in the numbers below one" hundred: .. Correct Age as given Aarne. Age. In the Bible. 1- Adam « ~.139 930 I ?, cth a 121 . 912 •I 1U 905 I 5. MahaUUel 122 . 895 1 s. Methuselah....;:..;::;; ™ 9. Lameeli 777 I 10. Noah 159 «- jjy ! By this the time-honored proverb, , “as old as Methuselah,” is robbed of it. ipoint.

DR. TALMAGE’S SERMON. THE DARK FEATURES OF LIFE IN THE -CITY. The Vicious and Criminal Flock, to the City from All Sootlons-They Are Awake When Other People .Sleep- Street Scene* at Midnight. J?lj At the Taberfqtcle, •)» Rev. Dr. Talmage ehwfij ton his sermon Sunday a theme of universal interest—the dark side of social life in our great cities. The text chosen as the basis of a most graphic discourse was Genesis 1,5, “And the darkness He called night.” Two grand divisions of time. The one of sunlight, the other of shadow; the one for work, the other for rest; the one a typo of everything glad and beautiful, the other used in all languages as a tvpe of sadness and affiiction and sin. These two divisions were made bv the Lord Himself. Other divisions of time may have nomenclature of human invention, but the darkness held up its dusky brow to the Lord, and He baptized it, the dew dripping from his fingers as he gave it a name, “And the darkness He called night.” My subject is midnight in town. The thunder of the city has rolled out of the air. The slightest sounds cut the night wiQi such distinctness as to attract vour attention. The tinkling of the bell of the street car in the distance and the baying of the dog. The stamp of a horse in the next street. The slamming of a saloon door. The hiccough of the drunkard. The shrieks of the steam whistle five miles away. Oh! how suggestive, my friends; midnight in town. There are honest men passing up and down the street. Here is a city missionary who has been carrying a scuttle of coal to that poor, family in that dark place. Here is an undertaker going up the steps of a building from which there comes a bitter cry, which indicates that the destroying angel has smitten the firstborn. Here is a minister of religion who has been giving the sacrament to a dying Christian. Here is a physician passing along in great haste, the messenger a few steps ahead hurrying on to the household. Nearly all the lights have gone out in the dwellings. That light in the window is the light of the watcher, tor the medicinesjmust be administered, and the fever must be watched, and the restless tossing off of the coverlid must be resisted, and the ice must be kept on the hot temples, and the perpetual prayer must go up from hearts soon to be broken. Oh, the midnight in town! What a stupendous thought—a whole city at rest! Sleep of the Honest and Weary. Weary arm preparing for to-morrow’s toil. Hot brain being cooled off. Rigid muscles relaxed. Excited nerves soothed. The white hair of the octogenarian in thin drifts across the pillow, fresh fall of flakes on snow already fallen. Childhood with its dimpled hands thrown out on the pillow and with every breath taking in a new store of fin and frolic. God’s slumbcriess eye will look. Let one great wave of refreshing slumber roll over the heart of the great town, submerging care and anxiety an.d worriment and pain. Let the citv sleep. But, my fronds, be not deceived. There will be .thousands to-night who will not Bleep at all. Go up that dark alley and be cautious where you tread, lest you fall over the prostrate form of a drunkard on his own doorstep. Look about yoy, lest you feel the garroter's hug. /.Look through the broken window pane and see what you can sec. You say,.-..“Noth-ing.” Then listen. What is it? “God help us!” No footlights, but, tragedy ghastlier and mightier than Rietori or Edwin Booth ever enacted. No ..light, no fire, no bread, no ’ hope. Styiyering in the cold, tfaey have had no lood for twenty-four Hours. Yon say, VWhy don’t they beg?” They do, but they get nothing. You say, “Why don’t they deliver themselves over to the alms-house?” Ah, you would not ask that if you ever heard the bitter cry of a man or child when told he must go to the alms-house. “Oh,” you say, “they are the vicious poor, and therefore they do not demand our sympathy.” Are they vicious 9 So much more need they your pity. The Christian poor, God helps them. Through their night there twinkles the round, merry star of hooe, and through the star of hope, and through the broken window pane they see the crystals of heaven, but the vicious poor, they are more to be pitied. Their last light has gone out You excuse yourself from helping them by saying they are so bad they brought this trouble on themselves. I reply, where I give ten prayers for the innocent who are suffering I will give twenty prayers for the guilty who are suffering. The fisherman, when he sees a vessel dashing into the breakers, comes out from his hut and wraps the warmest flannels around those who are most chilled and most bruised and most battened in the wreck, and I want yon to know that these vicious poor have had two shipwrecks—shipwreck of the body, shipwreck of the soul—shipwreck for time, shipwreck for eternity. Pity, by all means, the innocent who are suffering, but pity more the guilty. » Pass on through the alley. Open the door. “Oh,” you say, “it is locked.” No, it is not locked; it has never been locked. No burglar would be tempted to go in there to steal anything. The door is never locked. Only a (broken chair stands against the door. Shove it back. Go in. Strike a match. Now look. Beastliness and rags. Seo those glaring eyeballs. Be careful now what you say Do not utter any insult, do not utter any suspicion, it you value your life. What is that red mark on the wall? It is the mark of a murderer’s hand! Look at those two eyes rising out of the darkness and from the straw in the Corner, coming toward you, and as they come near you your light goes out. Strike another match. Ah! this is a babe; not like the beautiful children of yourhousehold or the beautiful children smiling around these altars on baptismal day. This little one never smiled; it never will smile. A flower flung on an awfully barren beach. O Heavenly Shepherd, fold that little one in thy j arms. Wrap around you your shawl or your coat tighter, for the cool night wind sweeps through. Strike another match. Ah! is it possible that that young woman’s scarred and bruised face was ever looked into by maternal tenderness? Utter no scorn. Utter no harsh word. No ray of Jxope has dawned on that brow for many a year. No ray of hope will ever dawn on that brown. But the light has gone out Do not strike another' light. It would be a mockery to kindle, another light In such a place as that Pass out and pass down the street Our cities of Brooklyn and New York and all bur great cities are full of such homes, and the worst time the midnight. Do you know it is In the midnight that criminals do their worst work? ! A ' The Burglar’s Hours. At half-past 8 o clock you will find them in the drinking saloon, but toward 12 o'clock they go to their garrets, they get out their tools, then they start on the street. Watching on either side for the police, they go to their work of darkness. This is a burglar, and the false key will soon touch the store lock. This is an incendiary, and before morning there will be a light on the sky and cry of “Fire! fire!” This is an assassin, and

to morrow marnlng there will be a dead ‘ body in one Os the vacant lota During the daytime these villains In our cities t lounge about, soma asleep and some awake, but when the third watch of the night arrives, their eye keen, their brain cool, their arm strong, their foot fleet to » fly or pursue, they are ready. , '’Many of these poor creatures were brought up in that way- They were born In a thieves' garret. Their childish . toy was a burglar’s dark lantern. The ! first thing thev remember was their mother bandaging the brow of their father, struck by the police club. They began by robbing boys' pockets, and now they have come to dig the underground passage to tho collar of the bank, 1 and are preparing to blast the gold zault. Just bo long as there are neglected cbtdren of the street, Just so long wo will have these desperadoes. Some one, wishing tb make a good Christian point and to quote a passage of Scripture, expecting to got a Scriptural passage in answer, said to one of these poor lads, cast out and wretched, “When your father and your mother forsake you, who then will take you up?" and the boy said, “The perlice, the porlice!" In the midnight, gambling doos Its worst work. What though thehbursbe slipping away, and though the wife be waiting in the cheerless home? Stir up , the fire. Bring on more drinks. Put up more stakes. That commercial house that only a little while ago put out sign of copartnership will this season be wrecked on a gambler's table. There will be many a money till that will spring a leak. A member of Congress gambled with a member elect and won 8120,000. The old way of getting a living is so slow. The old way of getting a fortune is so stupid. Come, let us toss up and see who shall have IL And so the work goes on, from the wheezing wretches pitching pennies to a rum grocery up to tho millionaire gambler in the stock market. The Gambler’s Hours. In the midnight hour, pass down tho streets of our American cities, and you hear the click of tho dice and the sharp, keen tap of the poolroom ticker. At these places merchant princes dismount, and legislators tired of making laws, take a respite in breaking them. All classes of people are robbed by this crime, the importer of foreign silks and the dealer of Chathan street pocket handkerchiefs. The clerks of the store take a hand after the shutters are put up, and the officers of the court while away their time while the Jury is out. In Baden-Baden, when that city was the greatest of all gambling places on earth, it was no unusual thing the next morning in the woods around that city to find the suspended bodies of suicides, j Whatever be the splendor of the surroundings there is no excuse for this crime. The thunders of eternal destruction roll in the deep rumble of that gambling tenpin alley, and as men come out to join the long procession of sin all the drums of woe beat the dead march of a thousand souls. In one vear in the city of New York there were 37,000,000 sacrificed at the gaming table. Perhaps some of your friends have been smitten of this sin. Perhaps some of you have been smitten by it Perhaps there may be a stranger in the house this morning come from some of the hotels. Look out for those agents of iniquity who tarry around about the hotels and ask you, “Would you like to see the city?” Yes. “Have you ever seen that splendid building uptown?” No. Then the villain will undertake to show you what he calls the “lions” and the “elephants,” and after a young man, through morbid curiosity or through badness of soul, has seen the “lions” and the “elephants” he will be on enchanted ground. Look out for these men who move around the hotels with sleek’hats —always sleek hats—and patronizing air, and unaccountable Interest about vour welfare -and entertainment. You are a fool if you cannot see through it. They want your money. In Chestnut street, Philadelphia, while I was living in that city, an incident occurred which was iamillar to us there. In Chestnut street a young man went into a gambling saloon, lost all his property, then blew his brains out, and before the blood was washed from tho floor by the maid the comrades were shuffling cards again. You see, there is more mercy in the highwayman for the belated traveler on whose body he heaps the stones, there is more mercy In the frost for the flower it kills, there is more mercy in the hurricane that shivers the steambr on the Long Island coast than there is mercy in the heart of a gambler for his victim. Drunkenness in High Places. In the midnight hour, drunkenness does its worst. The drinking will be respectable at 8 o’clock ih the evening, a little flushed at 9, talkative and garrulous at 10, at 11 blasphemous,at 12 the hat falls off and the man falls to the floor asking for more drink. Strewn through the drinking saloons of the city, fathers, brothers, husbands, sons, as good as you are by nature, perhaps better. In the high-circles of society it is hushed up. A merchant prince, if he gets noisy and uncontroiabie, is taken by his fellow revelers, who try to get him to bed, or take him home, where he/ falls flat in the entry. Do not wake up the children. They have had disgrace enough. Do not let them know it. Hush it up. But sometimes it cannot be hushed up—when the rum touches the brain and the man becomes thoroughly frenzied. Oh, if the rum touches the brain, you cannot bush it up. You do not see the worst. In the midnight meetings a great multitude have been saved. We want a few hundred Christian men and women to come down from the highest circles of society to toil amid the wandering and destitute ones, and kindle up a light in the dark alley, even the gladness of Heaven. Do not go from your well filled tables with the idea that pious talk is going to stop the gnawing of an empty stomach ortowarmstoekinglessfeet. Take bread, take raiment, take medicine as well as take prayer. There is a great deal of common sense in what the poor woman said to the city missionary when he was telling her how she ought to love God and 1 serve Him. “Oh,*” she said, “if you wtere as poor and cold as I am and as hungry, you could think of nothing else!” A great deal of what is called Christian ' work goes for nothing for the simple reason it is not practical, as after the battle of Antietam a man got out of an ambu- ■ lance with a bag of tracts, and he went distributing the tracts, and George Stuart, one of the best Christian men in this country, said to him: “What are i you distributing tracts for now? There i are 3,000 men bleeding to death. Bind up their woundsjand then distribute the ■ tracts.” i Common Sense Christian Work. We want more common sense to Chrls- ; tian work, taking the bread of .‘this life in one band and the bread of thej next life in the other hand—no such inapt work as that done by the Christian man who during the last war went Into a 1 hospital with tracts, and coming to the bed of a man whose legs had been amputated gave him a tract on tho sin I of dancing! I rejoice before God that I neven are ’sympathetic words uttered, never a prayer offered, never a Christian i almsgiving indulged in but Riis blessed. ' There is a place in Switzerland, I have • been t Did. where the utterance of one i word will bring back a score of echoes, i and I have to tell you this morning that ; a sympathetic word, a kind word, a gen- ’ erous word, a helpful word, uttered In 1 the dark places of the town, will bring

bacg ten thousand echoes from alt the thrones of Heaven. Are there In this assemblage this morning those who know by experience the tragedies of.’( midnight in town? lam not here to thrust you back with one hard word. Take the bandage from your bruised soql and put on it the, soothing salve of Christ's gospel and of Goa's compassion. Many have come. I see others coming to God this morning tired of the sinful life. Cry up tho news to Heaven. Set all tho bells ringing Spread the banquet under the arches. Let the crowned heads come down aud sit at the jubileq. I tell you there is more delight In Heaven over one man that gets reformed by the grace of God than over ninety and nine that never got off the track. I could give you the history in a minute of one of tho best friends I over had. Outside of iny own family, I never had a better friend. He welcomed mo to my home at the West. He was of splendid personal appearance, and ho had an ardor of soul and a warmth of affection that made mo love him like a brother. I saw men coming out of the saloons and gambling hells, and they surrounded my friond, and they took him at tho weak point, his social nature, and I saw him going down, and I had a lair talk with him—for I never yet saw a man you , could not talk with on tho subject of his habits if you talked with him in tho right way. I said to him. “Why don't yjuu give np your bad habits and become a Christian?” I remember now (ust how he looked, leaning over his counter, as he replied: “I wish I conld. Oh. sir, I should like to be a Christian, but I have gone so far astrav I can't got back.” Hl* Mot tier’* Mission. So the time went on. After awhile the day of sickness camo. I was summoned to his sick bed. I hastened. It took me but a very few moments to get there. I was surprised as I went in. I saw him In his ordinary olotbes, fully dressed, lying on the top of the bed. I gave him my hand, and ho seized it convulsively and said: "Ch, how glad lam to see you. Sit down there." I sat down, and he said; “Mr. Talmage. Just where you sit «iow my mother sat last night She has been dead twenty years. Now, I don’t want you to think I am out” of mv mind, or that lam superstitious; but sir, she sat there last night just as certainly as you sit there now—the same cap and apron and spectacles—it was iny old mother—she sat there.” Then he turned to his wife and said: “I wish you would lake these strings off the bed. Somebody is wrapping strings around me all the time. I wish you would stop that annoyance.” She said, "There is nothing here.” Then I saw it was delirium. He said: “Just where you I sit now my mother sat. and she said, ‘Roswell, I wish you would do better —1 wish you would do better.’ I said; ‘Mothdr, I wish 1 could do better. I try to do better, but I can't. Mother, you used to help me; why can’t you help me now?’ And, sir, I got out of bed, for it was reality, and I went to her and threw my arms around her neck, and I said, ‘Mother, I will do better, but you must help—l can't do this alone!’” I knelt down and prayed. That night his soul went to the Lord that made it. Arrangements were made for the obsequies. The question was raised whether they should bring him to church. Somebody said, "You can't bring such a dissolute man as that into the church.” I said, “You will bring him in the church; he stood by me when he was alive, and I witi stand by him when he is dead; bring him.” A* I stood in the pulpit and saw them carrying the body up the aisle, I toll as if I could weep tears of blood. On one side of the pulpit sat his little child of 8 years, a sweet, beautiful little girl that 1 had seen him hug convulsively in his batter moments. He puton her all jewels, all diamonds, and gave her all pictures and toys, and then he would go sway, as if hounded by an evil spirit, to his cups and house of shame, a fool to the correction of the stocks. She looked up wonderlngly. She knew not what it ail meant. She was not old enough to understand the sorrow of an orphan child. On the other side the pulpit sat the men who had ruined him; they were the men who had poured wormwood into the orphan's cup; they were the men who had bound him hand and foot I knew them. How did they seam to feel? Did they weep? No. Did they say, “What a pity that such a generous man should be destroyed!” No. Did they sigh repentingly over what they had done? No. They sat there, looking as vultures look at the carcass of the lamb whose lieart they have ripped out. So they sat and looked at the coffin lid, and I told them the judgment of God upon those who bad destroyed their fellows. Did they’ reform? I was told they were in the places of iniquity that night after my friend was laid in Oakwood cemetery, and they blasphemed, and they drank. Ob, how merciless men are, especially after they have destroyed you! Do not look to men for comfort or help, Look to God. An Awful Tragedy. But there is a man who will not return. He says, “I won't reform.” Wei), then, how many acts are there to a tragedy? I believe five. Act the First of the Tragedy—A young man starting off from home. Parents and sisters weeping to have him go. Wagon rising over the hill. Farewell kiss flung back. Ring tho tell and let tho curtain fall. Act the Second—The marriage altar. Full organ. Bright lights. Long white veil trailing through the aisle. Prayer and congratulation and exclamation of “How well she looks!” Act the Third—A woman waiting for staggering steps. Old garments stuck into tho broken window pane. Marks of hardship on the face. The biting of the nails of bloodless fingers. Neglect and cruelty aud despair. Ring the bell and let the curtain drop. Act the Fourth —Three graves in a dark place—grave of the child that died for lack of medicine, grave of the wife that died of a broken heart, grave of the man that died of dissipation. Oh, what a blasting heath of three graves! Plenty of weeds, but no flowers. Ring the boil and let the curtain drop. Act the Fisth —A destroyed soul’s eternity. N“ light. No music. No hope. Anguish colling its serpents around the heart. Blackness of darkness forever. But I cannot look any longer. Woe! woe! I close my eyes to this last act of the tragedy. Quick! Quick! Ring the bell and let the curtain drop. “Rejoice, O young man, in the days of thy youth, but know thou that for all these things God will bring you into “There is away that seeineth right to a man, but the end therefore is death.” Children’s Compositions. ’’’t The. latest revelations of infant genius brought forth in the composition class are found in the small American citizen oi African descent, who, on being required to write a slate “pencil-talk* on “Winter Sports,” brought forth: “We see the Sports walking down Baltimore street every pleasant day in winter.” A young candidate for Congress, of the superior race, down in Virginia, tried his hand at the subject given to the higher class—“ Enterprise,” and read , aloud the following: “Enterprise is a good thing. Columbus enterprised America. If Columbus hadn’t done it , we should be nowhere, for nobody knew anything about America but the Indians, and they wouldn’t telL”— Crete ■ (Neb.) Literary Notet.

PROPOSED TARIFF BLLL DRAWN IN THE INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE. Th* Commltto* Make* Public the Proposed Meaauro and Explain* It* Principal Feature*— Protectionist* Getting Desperate— Copies of the Bill Can Be Had Free. The New BUI. The special committee of the Reform Club, api olnted immediately after tho election of Cleveland to prepare a draft for a tariff bill which the club will urge as a substitute for the McKinley bill, has made public Its proposed measure. It is drawn In strict accordance with the Democratic platform, and in the interests of the people. It contains only ad valorem duties; makes raw materials free; places much lower or no duties upon the necessaries of life than upon luxuries; and lays revenue duties upon the bulk of manufactured goods—iron, steel, woolens, cottons, silks, linens, gloves, etc. The following abstracts from the memorandum accompanying tables, and schedules of rates, explain some of the principal features of the bills: 1. Crude material*, to be u*ed in the process of manufacture, are In general made tree of duty. In taxing other articles, the general object ha* been to tlx such rates as would produce tho largest amount of revenue, in a serie* of years, consistent with large importations. The purpose of obtaining the largest revenue has, however, been limited by consideration of the welfare and necessities of the people at large, and especially tho poorer classes. Taxes upon necessaries of life have been kept down to the lowest point which the needs ot revenue permit. It hae not been thought necessary, and hardly proper, to reduce rates merely for the purpose of avoiding some incidental protection to domestic producers. All duties have been made strictly ad valorem, except some of those which are levied as compensatory -for internal revenue taxes upon similar articles produced at home. Everybody must admit that in theory the ad valorem system is the only correct ona. It is the only system which is not oppressive to the poor, or which does not require continual revision in order to prevent the tariff from becoming an Instrument of private gain more and more every year. A complete system ot specific duties, to be at all just, would require the enumeration of fully 10,000 different articles. Under the present law, articles worth from Un cents to *2W per pound are Included under a common duty of to cents per pound. This is absurd and inlqnltons. 1 All foreign articles which, if made here, would be subject to Internal revenue taxes, must, ot course, be subjected to at least an equal tax. Whatever ad valorem duty, therefore, Is Imposed upon spirits, ale, and beer, mast be in addition to a tax equivalent to that levied upon the domestic article. a. Luxuries. The theory of imposing a heavy tax upon luxuries is plausible, but needs to be applied with great caution. The theory itself is often Incorrectly stated. The object which should be aimed at is the collection ot the largest possible amount ot revenue from luxuries; not the mere imposition ot the highest possible rate ot taxes. The present duty of 45 per cent, upon manufactures of gold and silver is almost prohibitory; and a duty of only 10 per cent, on precious stones, out but not set, produces twelve times as much revenue as a duty of 50 per cent, on the same things in the form of jewelry. Even a duty of 10 per cent, unon precious stones is so high as to lead to much smuggling; and anv increase in this rate would ultimately lead to a reduction of revenue. Yielding in part to the popular opinion that silk is a luxury, we have placed silk manufactures generally in Schedule C, at ao per cent., Instead of with cottons and woolens. Silk yarns, silk thread, sewing silk aud spun and thrown silk are placed in Schedule F at 10 per cent., leaving raw silk, of course, free. 4. The 26 per cent, schedule is the most important of any, and is purposely made the most sweeping. Long experience has shown that this rate of duty is, upon the whole, the most productive of revenue. It has been assn, ert that the presumption was in favor of this rate upon almost everything; and, wherever these schedules impose a higher or a lower rate, there la a special reason for so doing. 5. in placing a large list of articles in the 25 per cent, schedule, it is not forgotten that manv ot these articles are really materials for further manufacture. One b«auty of a strictly ad valorem system is that one uniform rate or duty can be imposed upon such manufactures without doing serious injustice. Manufactures of earthenware, glass and fur have been left subject to the uniform rate of 25 per cent. • 'S r U. Metals. All forms of ernde metal, not merely in ores bnt in pigs, ipgots and bars, with the exception of iron and steel, have been made free of duty. . . Iron and steel, in the form of pigs and ingot*, have been left pt a duty of ao per cent., while in bars, rods, etc., they are left subject to the general duty of 25 per cent. I. Cotton. All manufactured cotton is pnt in the 25 per cent, schedule, except yarns and thread, which are put at 16 per cent. The reason for making a lower rate upon yarns is obvious enough. Yarns are clearly material tised excluslvely for purposes of manufacture. Thread is also used for manufacturing purposes only, and is in no proper sense a finished 'product. . ' a. r lax, hemp and jute manufactures are divided into three classes, for speci»l reasons. It being settled that all the crude materials are to be free, it is obvious that finished manufactures ot thia kind, literally “ready for consumption," should not be taxed more than 25 per cent. The House of Representatives has voted, with substantial unanimity among the Democratic members, to repeal all duties upon binding twine and cotton bagging; the first in the interest of Northern farmers, and the second in the interest of Southern planters. Burlaps and bagging are articles, the cost of which is largely a tax upon farmers, and upon these the duties should be made very light. A tax upon cables and cordage is a tax upon American shipping: and in view of the contemplated changes in the navigation laws the duty upon these articles should certainly be light. Linen should be subjected to the lowest duty consistent with revenue requirements. It is here placed in the 'MI per cent, schedule. A. Woolens. The duty upon woolen and worsted manufactures of every description except yarns is placed at twenty-five per cent. This is certainly large enough, because this was all which was asked by the woolen manufacturers in 1867, when the supposed ideal woolen tariff was adopted. The manufacturers then stated that twenty-five per cent, net protection was all which they asked. After the internal revenue was abolished, the woolen manufacturers retained and even increased the amount of the protection which had been granted as compensation for that tax. It is believed that yarns should be admitted at a lower ad valorem rate than the other manufactures of wool, and they are put in the fifteen per cent, schedule. io. Gloves. Leather gloves and all other gloves, except of silk, are placedin the twentyfive per cent, schedule. Gloves are not a luxury; they are a necessity. 11. The 20 per cent, schedule includes, in addition to the articles already mentioned, several others which should be briefly commented upon. Manufactures of wood in the most finished forms are placed here, because the present tax on them le 35 per cent,, ana this seems a reduction proportionate to other reductions. Such provisions as are taxed at all are also placed in this schedule. Buttons, except of metal or glass, are placed here, because all other button materials, including silk, have long been admitted under 10 per cent, duty; and 25 per cent, for the manufactured article has been found highly protective, proving that a duty of 20 per cent, would produce most revenue. Glass and metal buttons are left practically in the 25 per cent, schedule as branches of those manufactures. 12. Provisions. Most provisions are made free of duty; but some, which partake in a mild degree of the nature of luxuries, are put in the 20 per cent, schedule, while breadstuffs are mostly made free. Barley is made an exception, because it is used but little for bread, and is mostly purchased for the purpose of manufacturing beer. A tax of 10 per cent upon this is only a beer tax in another form. Po - tatoes are also subject to a duty of lu per cent., because those which are imported are, in four, years out of five, chiefly of a superior kind, used as a comparative luxury. 13. Books. Since the enactment of the International copyright law,a very strong argument may be made for the admission of all books free of duty, since practically none conld be admitted which would come into direct competition with any lawful book trade in the United States. Domestic books conld not be admitted without the" consent of the domestic publishers; and foreign books, copyrighted here, could not be admitted at all. On the other hand, so long ae paper, binding materials and machinery are taxed, it is not just to make competing books free. The demand for revenue may well turn the scale, and 10 per cent, is probably the best revenue duty. Tho free list is extended to books more than five years old, and books received through the mail, not more than two copies to one address. All articles upon which the revenue collected is too small to pay for collection, and upon which it is not probfujle that Any mere reduction of rates would -produce substantial revenue. have been placed npon the free list. Annexed to tho proposed bill are tables containing the actual imports and rates for 1892, the proposed new rates, the receipts on the basis or the importations of 1892, estimated Imports for 18M4 and estimated receipts for 18U4. computed on tho proposed new rates. We are satisfied that the proposed tariff would Breduce8 reduce an immediate revenue of $>40,000,000, ' not more. The ordinary expenditures of tho Government, including postal expense* and sinking fund requirements, for the next fiscal year are eHtlmßted at * ..$370,000/100 Receipts from internal revenne and other sources, except the tariff. <.. 192,w0.0<» Balance required.............*173,W>,9W . ” i“ '■ ■J. ’■ ’..ASsU'.."" .-’A-,

i Estimated arroar* of pensions payable within the year 43.000.000 Balance required for permanent current expenses .tISO.OOii.OOO To meet this demand the tariff here proposed will provide an income of »r»,o<io,ooo for the firat vear, which will steadily lucre***, h■and, in our opinion, will produce an avenge..y : annual income of *105,000,000 during th* firat five year* of its existence. The tariff here proposed would leave a deficiency of revenue tor the first year of *58,000,000, or, excluding arrears of pension*, *13,000,000. The question arises, how this deficiency 1* to be met. It may be done in »ny of three 17 By ihort-date Government bill*, to be paid out of the revenue of the next five years, which k will certainly he sufficient tor that purpose. ' because three-fourths of the deficiency will cease within two years. 2. By a duty on sugar, and perhaps on tea and coffee. 3. By an Income tax upon natural and artificial monopolies, such a* railroads, telegriiphs, telephones, gasworks, and rent*. The Reform Club proposed tariff bill Is now ready for Iree distribution at the office,s9 William street, New York City. Send In your address and secure a copy. If you are a farmer, mechanic, clerk, professional man or common laborer. It will pay you to study this bill and to ask your Congressmen to support it, or a similar one. Who Made tho Bill. The committee appointed by the Reform Club to draft a proposed tariff bill consists ot E. Ellery Anderson, Hon. Charles 8. Fairchild, Thomas G. Shearman, Prof. David A. Wells. Hon. John Dewitt Warner, Everett P. Wheeler, and Jacob Schoenhof. Mr. Anderson, the chairman, is an ezpresldent of and a big contributor to the Reform Club Mr. Fairchild was Secretary of the Treasury during Cleveland’s first administration, and Is now President of the Reform Club. Mr. Shearman has for a third of a century been one of the most successful of customs attorneys in New York. He was Beecher's attorney during the fatflous Beech-er-Tilton trial. He Is eminent as a lawyer, statistician, and philanthropist Prof. Wells has written more books and pamphlets on the tariff question than any other American. His “Recent Economic Changes'* is regarded as one of the two or three great books of this generation. Congressman Warner is widely known as a writer and speaker on tariff and financial questions. He is the author of many of the Reform Club's most telling pamphlets and, more than any other man, has bean the backbone of the Reform Club since its origin in 1887. Mr. Wheeler, is well known as a lawyer, writer and speaker on economic questions. He is also an ex-president of the Reform Club. Mr. Sehoenhof was Consul to Tunstal, England, under Cleveland, and is the author of several works on the tariff and wage question. It would be difficult to get together seven men better qualified to frame a tariff bill than these gentlemen. They , are all successful business men; ail have studied the needs of the people for many years; from their intimacy with different industries they know about what reductions are necessary and sate. They owe nothing politically to any protected manufacturers, and are in league with no clique ot office-holders or spoilsmen; they have demonstrated their unsellisnness tyid devotion to’ principle by giving their money, time an I thought to the tariff and other reforms; they have no ax to grind In proposing a new tariff bill, and do so only' to educate the people, keep the Democratic party in line, and see that the promises made to the people are carried out in good faith. But little impression can be made upon such a committee by calling its members “theorists,” “cranks," "hobbyriders” or “imbeciles,", and yet protectionists are compelled to put up some kind of opposition to a bill that would actually stop the greater part of tho tariff robbery. Their case is certainly desperate. The Halford Scandal. Secretary Gresham has made a discovery in the State Department which reflects as riiuch credit upon his own sagacity as it reflects discredit upon his predecessor in office. The facts as given in a Washington dispatch are briefly these: John W. Foster, while Secretary of State, ordered the payment ot sls a day to Major Elijah w. Halford for his services as disbursing officer of the Behring Sea Commission. This was in addition to his salary of $3,600 a year as paymaster of the army, making his total pay about $8,675 a year. Mr. Foster was equally generous with J. Stanley Brown, the husband of Mollie Garfield. Notwithstanding the fact that he was already drawing $lO a day as an officer of the Treasury Department, he was allowed sls a day additional as a member of the staff of the Behring Sea Commission. Seven or eight other officials were likewise allowed double salaries. These disclosures are astounding. While it was known that Secretary Foster was by profession u sort of lobbyist for foreign interests, it was not supposed that he would be guilty of any such scandalous work as this. Neither was it supposed that Maj. Halford was the kind of a man who would consent to profit by an imposition of this sort. Both men were thought «to be above doing anything dishonorable. Secretaries Gresham and Carlisle are entitled to the thanks of the public for bringing ■ to light this fraud —this looting ot the treasury by men in high places. They will be entitled to still moije gratitude if they shall promptly put a stop to the whole disgraceful double-salary system. —Chicago Record. Why You Should Support It. The Reform Club bill is the first bill ever framed entirely in the interests of the people and without dictation from manufacturers or those with “vested rights.” The makers of it are all eminent as scholars, and several of them as philanthropists. They are all recognized as authorities on the tariff question. With due consideration for past and present conditions, they have made a bill too good to be fairly appreciated at once; hence they have published it six months before Congress meets, in order that proper time may be had for general discussion. Speakers will also bo sent out to discuss its merits, and perhaps to aid in securing petitions to Congress in favor of this or a similar bill. It will not do for the people to trust entirely to their Representatives in Congress. Popular sentiment must express Itself. Many Representatives did not understand the full import of the last election; others have weak backs or elastic consciences which would bend and stretch before the millions and billions of dollars that will be represented in Washington in opposition to such a measure. “Vested interests" are quick to begin work along effective lines. They have already cried out against this bill, and will leave no stone unturned to prevent its passage. They wish to continue their robbery of the people, and will bribe and corrupt Conif possible, in the future as in the past. The only antidote for the poison is the strong assertion of public sentiment in editorials, speeches, and petitions. Let it bo manifest in away that shall leave no doubt in the minds of our Representatives of what is expected of them. The Queen's English. Lord Palmerston’s reply to the illiterate member who asked him, “Are there two hens In ’Onlton?” Is a specimen of his rather boisterous chaff. “No, only one; that’s why heggs are so scarce i there.” Mr. Disraeli’s comment upon a portrait of himself, “Is It not hideous? ' and so like," exhibited a discernment i not common with unflattered’sitters.