Decatur Democrat, Volume 39, Number 9, Decatur, Adams County, 17 May 1895 — Page 4

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Jf OT'iwP W® • A 1 J£/ CHAPTER V.—(Continued.) “I am glad I am not your maid, to have the care of such precious gems," said Nora smiling. “My dear Miss L’Estrange! What an idea! When you marry and have jewels of your own, you will know how to take care of them. Bring tea, Virginie; bring it quickly." And Mrs. Ruthven applied herself to put the papers and letters lying on the table together with considerable method. “■What a charming view!" said Nora, strolling to the window. “Do you know I never was in these rooms before. They were Mrs. Marsden’s, and used not to be opened, at least, when I was here as a child.” Mrs. Ruthven looked down thoughtfully. “These rooms are over the library, are they not?” she asked, “on the same side as the conservatory? I would rather look out in any other direction. I shall not soon get over the impression of last night’s terror.” Here Virginie brought in the tea. and Mrs. Ruthven, settling herself in a large arm chair, asked Nora to pour it out. “None of them will tell me any particulars about how I was found, or what happened,” resumed Mrs. Ruthven. “I fancy that gruff old doctor ordered me to be kept from speaking of it. = But you will not be so unkind! Besides, lam not to be kept from thinking of my misadventure by his dictum. Tell me, dear Miss L’Estrange, were you there when Mr. Marsden first found me?" “Yes! I was in the breakfast-room when he was trying to break away from an old gentleman who would keep talking to him, and I heard him say he wanted to take you an ice.” “And then?” “Oh! then Mr. Winton proposed we should go and look at the tent; but when we came to the conservatory, the door was shut and locked. Mr. Marsden was looking angry and bewildered. Then he suddenly remembered the way by the corridor, and we saw him go past and return imediately to call for help. So Helen, Mrs. L’Estrange and I went in. She raised your arm, you were lying like a dead creature, and began to fan you.” “And who lifted me from the divan?” looking hard at Nora. “No one; at least, not while I was there.” “Not Mr. Marsden?” “Oh, no! He looked so white, sd dreadfully distressed. He stood behind Helen, and kept begging her to see if you were hurt. Then the doctor camo and sent every one away except the Squire and Lady Dorrington.” “Yes! Hers was the first face I recognized, and then Lady Dorrington and the doctor helped me upstairs? It is strange, I cannot quite account for it.” “For what, Mrs. Ruthven?” “Oh, nothing; only a curious impression that somg one had lifted me up — some effect of returning consciousness, I suppose!” She fell into a fit of musing. From this she roused to ask a good many questions about Winton and his old friendship with Mrs. L’Estrange, giving Nora a sensation of being gently but thoroughly sifted. Moreover, one or two significant looks and words conveyed the alarming idea that the clear-sighted widow suspected Winton of admiring Nora, or Nora of admiring Winton, which made that saucy young lady vexed and uneasy. “Well, I suppose I must let her go,” said Mrs. Ruthven, as Nora rose to escape further cross-examination. “It is so good of you to come and sit with me. In truth, I was glad to get rid even Os dear Lady Dorrington, as no one would talk naturally, or let me speak of what is uppermost in my mind.” k “1 shall come and say good-by to you to-morrow,” returned Nora. “J earnestly hope you will soon shake off your nervousness, though you are wonderfully brave and composed.” Mrs. Ruthven went with her to the door, and then again sunk into the fauteuil, where she remained for some time ' in deepest thought. Nora L’Estrange attracted her curiosi- • ty, her evident admiration and liking -soothed the little lady’s inordinate vanity, while it overpassed her comprehension ; she was too keen an observer to bei lieve it was altogether put on, still she : occasionally doubted her sincerity, so ; contrary was a woman’s honest apprecia- | tion of another woman, to all her pre- ‘ vious experience. Nora’s pleasant, varying voice and frank looks had a certain charm for her, I even while she feared their effect oil I Marsden. They gave the hard, selfish, | fiery, material creature glimpses of possiI ble sweetness that would never cloy, of I restful affection free from all dross of I passion or self-interest. But, perhaps, I the strangest sensation excited by -Nora, I was resentful envy, not of the girl’s fresh, ■ youthful good looks, but" of her free, uitI trammeled spirit; every word, every attiI tude, was unstudied, spontaneous; she | wanted so little, her simple, povertyB'jrtricken life, as Mrs. Ruthven considered ■ it, seemed so joyous and satisfying, she ■ appeared to have no craving for rank or ■ riches or jewels. Life, pure, healthy ■existence, was enough; she had nothing ■to jitrive after, or scheme for, or want ■frolUother.’ at least, so she seemed—ay, ■seemed —but who could tell what lurked Bunder the seeming? She must have her ■n-aiings, her hidden passions, which she ■'d’r.red not show the world. What was Khe? What difference whs there between Ker human flesh and that of other women ? Hfo, she was as yet but half developed, Knd how often childish simplicity was but H.he outer garb of cunning? There w** something in Nora K/Estrange that puzzled and disturbed Ruthven. If she could have found guilty of any vicious folly, She might have liked her better than she |Hver liked anything except a lover. As K was. the balance trembled between likKll and hatred. |K “She does not care for Marsden,” |K IOU S^ t Mrs. Ruthven, her supple form Kouched together her chin resting in one |Klm, her elbow on her knee, “she has MKme unacouutable fancy for that cold, Bfcoruful, insolent Winton, But Mars-

I kj ~ s • fl, den himself? I am not so sure about him. He has not often encountered indifference. It may be attractive. However, if she enres for Winton—ah! my difficulties are growing complicated. I must think. If the faint, vile suspicions that have come to me prove correct, how shall I act? Oh, I will punish, punish bitterly! But I will secure my object, too!” Then she sprung up and rang for her maid. “Take away the tea things. Ask if Captain Shirley is in the house; if so, ask him to come to me.” “Captain Shirley has not returned, madame. Mr. Marsden had just asked to see you, but Miss L’Estrange was going out and he went out with her.” “Mr. Marsden asked for me?” “Yes, madame; he said he would be back directly.” “Take away those things, then,” returned her mistress in a sharp voice. “And I will dress; I shall go down to dinner. It does me no good to be shut up here.” Half an hour after the lamps in the boudoir were lighted, and Mrs. Ruthven, in black silk and jet, wrapped in a soft Indian mantle of blue and gold, beneath which she shivered occasionally, was sitting by the fire. She had scarce taken her place when Yirginie ushered in Captain Shirley. “Excuse my dusty boots,” he said coming quickly to her. “Hearing you wished to see me I came at once. lam glad to see you are looking better than I expected.” “Yes; I am nearly myself,” she returned, smiling graciously, and motioning him to sit down. “When do you return to town?” “By an early train to-morrow.” “And I, in the afternoon. Shall I see you on my arrival?” “If you need my services, yes; but I had intended running over to Ostend to see my sister, who has been seriously ill. I ought to have gone before.” “To Ostend?” repeated Mrs. Ruthven, as if to herself. “But if I can be of any use ” . “Yes, you can,” she interruptd abruptly. “Do you remember a wonderful detective who was employed by Lady Dartrey to obtain evidence against her husband in that famous case?” “I do, at least I recollect hearing of him.” Shirley rose as he spoke, and rested his arm on the mantel piece, his face deep in shadow, as the lamp was behind him. “If you will get me this man’s address, I should be glad.” “I have not the faintest idea where to find him.” “Lady Dartrey’s solicitors would tell you. He is a private detective, you know, and I do not want any creature to know that I am employing one on my own account. You must undertake this for me, Shirley.” “I will, if you are so anxious for it. But I must warn you that he will be a costly machine, and, unfortunately, you have not the faintest clew to guide him; wait until ” “Until all chance of discovery has passed by? No, Captain Shirley, I have too much common sense. Find me this man, or I shall do it myself.” “I will look for him and bring him to you, Mrs. Ruthven.” “I shall be quite content with his address.’ “You will hear what the police detective Marsden has sent for has to say?” “I shall follow my own line. No matter! But hush, I will speak to you later.” The door opened to admit Lady Dorrington and her brother. “I have sent for one of the best detectives in their employment to Scotland Yard,” said Marsden to Mrs. Ruthven, after they had exchanged a few words. “And I must beg you not to leave until you have given him your own version of the story and show him the position in which the thief surprised you. The tent remains as it is until he comes! we will keep his coming dark, as the thief, or thieves, will be less on their guard, if they think the local Dogberries only are concerned.” “But, Mr. Marsden, I really do not think I could bear to enter that horrible tent again! You do not know ” “I can well imagine your condition of mind. Yet, my dear Mrs. Ruthven, you must not shrink from anything which may tend to discover the scoundrel who not only robbed you, but endangered j - our life. Let me entreat you to stay a couple of days longer. I expect the detective officer to-night. I ought to tell you, that in the-road outside the Oldbridge gate—you Itaow it?”—to Lady Dorrington—“there was a slight mark, as if a twowheeled conveyance had turned sharply round; but on such a night when vehicles of all kinds were coming and going, it proves nothing.” “You really must not go, Mrs. Ruthven!” said Lady Dorrington, impressively. “I will not oppose you, then,” said the fair widow, “though' I begin to fear it is but lost labor, the search for my jewels.” “No, no. I do not give up hope yet,” cried Shirley. “Detectives do wonderful things.” “There goes the gong. I must run away and dress. You will join us at din-, ner, will you not, Mrs. Ruthven?” “Thank you, I will.” Lady Dorrington and Shirley went off to their respective rooms, and Marsden, pushing a low ottoman close to Mrs. Ruthven, sat down, almost at her feet. “You are a shade less pallid than you were,” he said, taking her hand. “Let me see if your pulse is steadier,” and he proceeded deliberately to manipulate her wrist. “I cannot say how awfully cut up I am about this-frightful business! -If' I were a millionaire, and could replace the gems you have lost!” “Even if you were', you could not,” in- , "termpted Mrs. Ruthven, leaving her hand in his. “There are associations ” she ' paused. “I know,” said Marsden —“Poor Chari lie — s “Charlie!” she repeated, in a peculiar i tone. “At any rate you will not leave until I, can accompany you,” he continued. “I must stay and see this detective myself.” i “Very well,” and she tried to withdraw s her hand; ft and let it go. i “Did you see Miss L’Estrange safely , home?” she asked. “Nora? No, Fortunately Winton

turned up, and I gave her over to him;, it was too dark to let her go alone." There was a pause, then Mrs. Ruthven asked, dreamily, as if speaking out of her thoughts: “What did the jeweler in Paris sny that man who was collecting rubies for a Russian princo was willing to give for mine? - “I don’t remember,’* said Marsden. “When? When you were last in Paris?’* “Yes. Don’t you remember the clasp of the necklace did not seem secure, and I gave it to the jeweler that Count Henri de Meudon recommended? Or, was it before you met me there in June?” “Before, I think.< I should not have forgotten, had I heard, though my mind was full of different matter.” An expressive glance gave point to his words. Mrs. Ruthven looked down with a thoughtful smile. “Well, believe this agent, or jewel merchant, offered something like 1,500,000 francs!” “That was a large„sum! I suppose it is worth it?” “I have always been told so. It is too much to lose!” “It certainly is! I must bestir myself, and find some good investment for that money of yours, which is lying fallow in the Three Per Cents.” “I shall not invest in jewels, nt all events! The sense of insecurity will never leave me.” And she shivered. “You ought ne>er to be alone again,” said Marsden, in a low voice. “Well, you will endure this ill-omened house till Monday, at least, then I will escort you to town. Is that understood?” “So be if,” she returned. “And you will come down to dinner? You must not allow yourself to despair! These detectives do wonders, sometimes.” “No doubt. But I see the difficulty of recovering my rubies is enormous. Once out of their setting (and Mr. Winton says thieves always take them out), how can I swear to them ? How can I identify them?” “Let us hope for the best. Now, I have barely left myself ten minutes to dress. I shall find you in the drawingroom, shall I not?” He took and pressed her hand once more before he went hastily away. Mrs. Ruthven looked after him with anxious eyes, then she clasped her hands together and walked once to and fro. Finally she went down to her toilet table and touched her lower eyelids with Khol, delicately, artistically; took up a shell containing rose-colored powder; but laid it aside again, divided the thick, curly fringe on her forehead to show her fine eyebrows, and fastening a bouquet of deep red geraniums among the black lace of her corsage, wrapped her cloak closer round her, and descended to the draw-ing-room. » ♦ • ♦ » » * The well-known astute London detective, however, had no more success than the less experienced rural police. He made a careful search through the rooms, insisted on Mrk. Ruthven’s reproducing her position in the tent and minutely describing the circumstances of the robbery-, and inquired the length of time Marsden was Absent. Finally he hinted darkly that he had an idea as to the guilty party. “I don’t say it’s more than a suspicion," he said to Mrs. Ruthven and Marsden; “but it seems to me it’s not impossible that some trained hand might have got in among the confectioner’s men, and watched his opportunity. You see, if he had the pluck to go straight back to his post, with the jewels in his pocket, and just kept at his work, he'd be as safe as a church. There is no tracing the cloak and hat to any one, I have spoken with the men who were here, and they seem* all right; but two have gone away. I’ll find out all about them when I go back to town. If one or other is a stranger taken on a job, I’ll have to track hiin.” “It seems impossible that any man would have the faring to do such a deed and then return to his duties in the sup-per-room!” cried Mrs. Ruthven. “You can have no notion, ma’am, what a high-class swell mobsman would dare and do. It’s possible the jewels have gone that way. We must hunt up the thief in London, and especially in tho big Dutch towns. There are a lot of Jew would give a long price for such gems and no questions asked. Os course, if they had a clear idea the goods were stolen, they would give notice fast enough, but they would not be too keen to act even on a shrewd suspicion.” “You will give notice to all the principal jewelers at home and abroad, and in the colonies, in case the lost gems are offered for sale?” cried Marsden. “Yes, of course; but there comes in the difficulty of identification. Any way, I’ll do my best for my own character’s sake, and the lady’s sake; but we’ll say nothing of the handsome reward you mentioned, sir; that is against my principles; but if, when I have done my ‘dooty’ you like to make me a compliment, that’s another pair of shoes.” “You may trust me,” said Marsden. “And me, too,” added Mrs. Ruthven, with a sweet smile, whereupon, after enjoining the strictest secrecy on his hearers regarding his suggestions as to the possible thief, the highly intelligent officer departed. (To be continued.) How Turks Pray for the Infidels. The following Is an exact translation from the Arabic of the official prayer of Islam, which is used throughout Turkey and daily repeated in the Cairo “Azhar” University by 10,000 Mohammedan students from all lands: “I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, ’ the accursed. In the name of Allah the Compassionate, the Merciful! O Lord of all Creatures! O Allah! Destroy the Infidels and polytheists, thine enemies and the enemies of the religion! O Allah! Make their Children orphans, and defile their abodes, and cause their feet to slip, and give them, and their families, and their households, and their women, and their children, and their relatives by marriage, and their brothers, and their friends, and their possessions, and their race, and their wealth, and their lands, as booty to the Moslems, O Lord of all Creatures!” In all the other religions of even the semi-civilized nations of the globe there can be no prayer found to>paral-, lei this cruel appeal of Islam to the spirit of inhumanity. Bulgaria, Damascus, Lebanon and Armenia may or may not be hotbeds Of*antl-Turkish intrigue; with such a national prayer Turkey stands self-condemned before, the world,—Philadelphia Record.

I TALMAGE’S SERMON. A KINDLY TALK TO BEGINNERS IN LIFE’S BATTLES. The Soul, the Body, the Intellect, the Aspiration, the Goal and a Glance Ahead—An Inspiring and Forceful Sermon to the Young. Words to Young Men. In his audiences nt the New York Academy of Music Dr. Talmage meets inany hundreds of young men from different parts of the Union and representing almost every calling and profession in life. To them he specially addressed his discourse Inst Sunday afternoon, the subject being “Words With Young Men.” Fayette, O. Reverend Sir—We, the undersigned, being earnest readers of your sermons, especially request that you use as a subject for some one of your future sermons “Advice to Young Men.” Yours respectfully, H. S. Millott, F. O. Millott, J. L. Sherwood, Charles T. Rubert, M. E. Elder, S. J. Altman. Thosa six young men, I suppose, represent innumerable young men who are about undertaking the buttle of life, and who have more interrogation points in their mind than any printer’s case ever contained, or printer’s fingers ever set up. But few people who have passed fifty years of age are capable of giving advice to young men. Too many begin their counsel by forgetting they ever were young men themselves. November snows do not understand May time blossom week. The east wind never did understand the south wind. Autumnal goldenrod makes a poor fist at lecturing about early violets. Generally after a man has rheumatism in his right foot he is not competent to discuss juvenile elasticity. Not one man out of a hundred can enlist and keep the attention of the young after there is a bald spot on the cranium. I attended a large meeting in Philadelphia, assembled to discuss how the Young Men’s Christian Association of that city might be made more attractive for young people, when a man arose and made some suggestions with such lugubrious tone of voice and a manner that seemed to deplore that everything was going to ruin, when an old friend of mine, at 75 years as young in feeling as any one at 20, arose and said: “That good brother who has just addressed you will excuse me for saying that a young man would no sooner go and spend an evening among such funereal tones of voice and funereal ideas of religion which that brother seems to have adopted than he would go and spend the evening in Laurel Hill Cemetery.” And yet these young men of Ohio, and all young men, have a right to ask those who have had many opportunities of studying* this world and the next world to give helpful suggestion as to what theories of life one ought to adopt, and what dangers he ought to shun. Attention, young men! The First StepFirst, get your soul right. You see, that is the most valuable part of you. It is the most important room in your house. It is the parlor of your entire nature. Put the best pictures on its walls. Put the best music under its arches. It is important to have the kitchen right, and the dining room right, and the cellar right, and all the other rooms of your nature right; but, oh, the parlor of the soul! Be particular about the guests who enter it. Shut its doors in the faces of those who would despoil and pollute it. There are princes and kings who would like to come into it, while there are assassins who would like to come out from behind its curtains, and with silent foot attempt the desperate and murderous. Let the King come in. He is now at the door. Let me be usher to announce his arrival and introduce the King of this world, the King of all worlds, the King eternal, immortal, invisible. Make room. Stand back. Clear the way. 13ow, kneel, worship the King. Have him once for your guest, and it does not make much difference who comes or goes. Would you have a warranty against moral disaster and surety of a noble career ? Read at least one chapter of the Bible on your knees every day of your life. The Second Step. Word the next: Have your body right. “How are you?” I often say when I meet a friend of mine in Brooklyn. He is over 70, and alert and vigorous, and very prominent in the law. His answer is, “I am living on the capital of a well-spent youth.” On the contrary, there are hundreds of thousands of good people who are suffering the results of early sins. The grace of God gives one a new heart, but not a new body. David, the Psalmist, had to cry out, “Remember not the sins of my youth.” Let a young man make his body a wine closet, or a rum jug, or a whisky cask, or a beer barrel, and smoke poisoned cigarettes until his hand trembles, and he is black under the eyes, and his cheeks, fall in, and then at some church seek and find religion. Yet all the praying he can do will not hinder tho physical consequences of natural law fractured. You six young men, take caro of your eyes, those windows of the soul.. Take care of your ears and listen to nothing that depraves. Take care of your lips and see that they utter no profanities. Take care of your nerves by enough sleep and avoiding unhealthy excitements, and by taking outdoor exercise, whether by ball or skate or horseback, lawn tennis or exhiliarating bicycle, if you sit upright and do not join that throng of several hundred thousands who by the wheel are cultivating crooked backs and cramped chests, and deformed bodies, rapidly coming down toward all fours and the attitude of the beasts that perish. Anything that bends body, mind or soul to the earth is unhealthy. Oh, it is a grand thipg to be well, but do not depend on pharmacy and the doctors to make you well. Stay. well. The Third Step. Word the next: Take care of your intellect. Here comes the flood of novelettes, 99 outbf 100 belittling to every one that opens them. Here come depraved newspapers, submerging good and elevated American journalism. Here comes a whole perdition of printed abomination, dumped on the breakfast table add tea table and parlor table. Take at least one good newspaper with able editorial and reporters’ columns mostly occupied with helpful intelligence, announcing marriages and deaths and reformatory and religious assemblages, and charities bestowed and the doings of good people, and giving but little place to nasty divorce cases and stories of crime, which, like cobras, sting those that touch them. Oh, for more newspapers that put.virtue in what is called great primer type and vice in noUMrell 91 agate t Xeu have «U »»*n

the photographer's negative. He took a picture from it ten or twenty years ago. You ask him now for a picture from that sarqe negative. He opens the great chest containing the black negative of 1885 or 1875, and he reproduces the picture. Young men, your memory is made up of the negatives of an immortal photography. , All that you see or hear goes into your soul to make pictures for the future. You will have with you till the judgment day the negatives of all the bad pictures you have ever looked at and of all the debauched scenes you have read about. Show mo the newspaper you take and the books you read, and I will tell you what are your prospects for well being in this life, and what will be your residence 1,000,000 years after the star on which we now live shall have dropped out of the constellation. I never travel on Sunday unless it be a case of necessity or mercy. But last autumn I was in India in a city plague struck. By the hundreds the people were down with fearful illness. We went to the apothecary’s to get some preventive of the fever, and the place was crowded with invalids, and we had no confidence in the preventive we purchased from the Hindoos. The mail train was to start Sabbath evening. I said, “Frank, I think the Lord will excuse us if.#e get out of this place with the first train,” and we took it, not feeling quite comfortable till We were hundreds of miles away. I felt we were right in flying from the plague. Well, the air in many of our cities is struck through with a worse plague —the plague of corrupt and damnable literature. Get away from it us soon as possible. It has, already ruined the bodies, minds and souls of a multitude which, if stood in solid column, would reach from New York Battery to Golden Horn. The plague! The plague! The Fourth Step. Word the next: Never go to any place where you would be ashamed to die. Adopt that plan, and you will never go to any evil amusement nor be found in compromising surroundings. *How many startling cases within the past few years of men called suddenly out of this world, and the newspapers surprised us when they mentioned the locality and the companionship. To put it on the least important ground, you ought not to go to any such forbidden place, because if you depart this life in such circumstances you put officiating ministers in great embarrassment. You know that some of the ministers believe that all who leave this life go straight to heaven, however they have acted in this world or whatever they have believed. " To get you through from such surroundings is an appalling theological undertaking. One of the most arduous and besweating efforts of that kind that I ever knew of was at the obsequies of a man who was found dead in a snowbank with his rum jug close beside him. But the minister did the work of happy transference as well as jmssible, although W did seem a little inappropriate when he read: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. They rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.” If you have no mercy upon yourself, have mercy upon the minister who may be called to officiate after your demise. Die at home, or in some place of honest business, or where the laughter is clean, or amid companionships pure and elevating. Remember that any place we go to may become our starting point for the next world. When we enter the harbor of heaven and the officer of light comes aboard, let us be able to show that our clearing papers were dated at the right port. The Fifth Step. Word the next: As soon as*you can, by industry and economy, have a home of your own. What do I mean by a home? I mean two rooms and the blessing of God on both of them—one room for slumber, one for food, its preparation and the partaking thereof. Mark you, I would like you to have a home with thirty rooms, all upholstered, pictured and statuetted, but lam putting it down at the minimum. A husband and wife who cannot be happy with a home made up of two rooms would not be happy in heaven if they got there. He who wins and keeps the affection of a good practical woman has done gloriously. What do I mean by a good woman? I mean one who loved God before she loved you. I mean one who can help you to earn a living, for a time comes in almost every man’s life when he is flung of hard misfortune, and you do not want a weakling going around the house whining and sniffling about how she had it before you married her. The simple reason why thousands of men never get on in the world is because they married nonentities and never got over it. The only thing that Job’s wife proposed for his boils was a warm poultice of . profanity, saying, “Cdfse God and die.” It adds to our admiration of John Wesley the manner in which he conquered domestic happiness. His wife had slandered him all over England until, standing in his pulpit in City Road chapel, he complained to the people, saying, “I have been charged with every crime in the catalogue except drunkenness,” when his wife arose in the back part of the church and said, “John, you know you were drunk last night.” Then Wesley exclaimed, “Thank God, the catalogue is complete.” When a man marries, he marries for heaven or hell, and it is more so when a woman marries. You six young men in Fayette, 0., had better look out. The Sixth Step. Word the next: Do not rate yourself too high. Better rate yourself too low. If you rate yourself too low, the world will say, “Come up." If you rate yourself too high, the world will say, “Come down.” It is a bad thing when a man gets so exaggerated an idea of himself as did Earl of Buchan, whose speech Ballantyne, the Edinburgh printer, could not set up for publication because he had not enough capital I’s among his type. Remember that the woilcUgot along without you nearly 6,(K0 years before you were born, and unless some meteor collides with us or some internal explosion occurs the world will probably last several thousand years after you are dead. The Seventh Step. Word the next: Do not postpone too long doing something decided for God, humanity and yourself. The greatest things have been done before 40 years of age. Pascal at 16 years of age, Grotius nt 17, Romulus at 20, Pitt at 22, Whitefield at 24, "Bonaparte at 27, Ignatius Loyola at 30, Raphael at 37, had made the world feel their virtue or their vice, and the biggest strokes you will probably make for.the truth or against the truth will be before you reach the meridian of life. Do not wait for something to turn up. Go to work and turn it up. There is no such thing as good luck. Nb man that ever lived haw had a better time than I have had. Yet I never had any good luck. But instead thereof a kipd Providence has crowded m? life with mercies. You Will XXSVCrt? &C£ODWli*h XfiUGu M Wt J

you go at your work on the minute you are expected and stop at the first minute it is lawful to quit. The greatly useful and successful men of the.next century, will be those who began half an hour before they wore required and worked at least half an hour after they might have quit. Unless you are willing sometimes to work twelve hours of the day you will remain on the low levels, and your life will be a prolonged humdrum. The Eighth Step. Word the next: Remember that It is only a small part of our life that we are to pass on earth. Less than your finger nail compared with your whole body Is the life on earth when compared with the next life. I suppose there are not more than half a dozen people in this world 100 years old. IJut n very few people in any country reach 80. The majority of human race expire before 30. Now, what / air equipoise in such a consideration. If things go wrong, it is only for a little while. Have you not enough moral pluck to stand the jostling, and the injustices, and the mishaps of the small parenthesis between the two eternities? It is a good thing to <et ready for the one mile this side the marblo slab, but more Important to get fixed up for the interminable miles which stretch out into the distances beyond the marble slab. The Ninth Btep. Word the next: Fill yourself with biographies of men who did gloriously in the business or occupation or profession you*are about to choose or have already chos- „ en. Instead of wasting your time on dry essays as to how to do great things, go to the biographical alcove of your village or city library and acquaint yourself with men who, in the sight of earth and heaven and hell, did the great things. Remember the greatest things are yet to be done. If the Bible be true, or as I had better put It, since the Bible is beyond all controversy true, the greatest battle Is yet to be fought, and compared with it Saragossa and Gettysburg and Sedan were child’s play with toy pistols. We even know the name of the battle, though wo are not certain as to where it will be fought. I refer to Armageddon. The greatest discoveries are yet to be made. A scientist has recently discovered in the air something which will yet rival electricity. The most of things have not yet been found out. An explorer has recently found in the valley of the Nile a whole fleet of ships buried ages ago where now there is no water. Only six out of the 800 grasses have been turned into food like the potato and the tomato. There are hundreds of other styles of food to be discovered. Aerial navigation will yet be made as safe as travel on the solid earth. Cancers and consumptions and leprosies are to be transferred from the catalogue of incurable disease to the curable. Medical men are now successfully experimenting with modes of transferring diseases from weak constitutions which cannot throw them off to stout constitutions which are able to throw them off. Worlds like Mars and the moon will be within hailing distance, and instead of confining our knowledge to their canals and their volcanoes they will signal all styles of intelligence to us, and we will signal all styles of intelligence to them. Coming times will class our boasted nine.teenth century with the dark ages. Under the power of gospelization the world is going to be so improved that the sword and the musket of our time will be kept in museums as now we look at thumb screws and ancient instruments of torture. Oh, what opportunities you are going to have, young men all the world over, under 30. How thankful you ought to be that you were not born any sooner! Blessed are the cradles,that are being rocked now. Blessed are the students in the freshman class. Blessed those who will yet be young men when the new century comes in in five or six years from now. This world was hardly fit to live in in the eighteenth century. I do not see how the old folks stood it. During this nineteenth century the world has by Christianizing and educational influences been fixed up until it does very well for tempo< rary residence. A Look Ahead. But the twentieth century! Ah, that will be the time to see great sights and do great deeds! Oh, young men, get ready for the rolling in of that mightiest and grandest and most glorious century that the world has ever seen! Only five summers more, five autumns more, five winters more, five springs more; and then the clock of time will strike the death of the old century and the birth of the new. The then more than 1,700,000,000 inhabitants .of the earth will hail its birth and pray for its prosperity. Its reign will be for 100 years, and the most of your life I think will be under the sway of its scepter. Get ready for it. Have your heart right; your nerves right; your brain right; your digestion right. We will hand over to you our commerce, our mechanism, our arts and sciences, our professions, our pulpits, our inheritance. We believe in you. We trust you. We pray for you. We bless you. And though by the time you get into the thickest of the fight for God and righteousness we may have disappeared from earthly scenes, we will not lose our interest in your struggle, and if the dear Lord will excuse us for a little ’ while from the temple service and the house of many mansions we will come out on the battlements of jasper and cheer you, and perhaps if that night of this world be very quiet you may hear our voices dropping from afar as we cry> “Be thou faithful unto death, and thou shalt have a crown!” , Proverbs. Practical wisdom avoids big words. It is easier to break silence than to mend it To-morrow’s advertising may be a day too late. Nature never hurries, never halts amd never fails. Folks are sometimes sorry to get what they pray for. Effeminate meh. are ridiculous, masculine women repulsive. " A title is something that can kick an American toady with impunity. The church cannot help you to trade - tenement houses for heavenly man< sions. There would be more murders If meh hated persons as ferociously #s they do opinions. The more laws the more pettifoggers. He that can reason with a child can argue with a sage. The new photograph of the heavens which is being prepared by London,