Decatur Democrat, Volume 39, Number 52, Decatur, Adams County, 13 March 1896 — Page 8
tawwssIWra WBd IliOßllr
■ CHAPTER ll.—(Continued.) “If it refers to my parents, I should 6 ike to hear it,” returned the girl. “All f have ever been told is that-my mother I grandma’s daughter, that my father I - was your uncle, your father’s elder H brpther. When I met you over at FrankH fort and you told me you were my cousin, ■ I could scarcely believe it. I had always H imagined that all my relations were dead. H Why is it that grandma never sees any H of my father’s family? Are they not I friends?’ ■ “I am afraid, Constance, she dislikes ■ them all, including my father and myI self.” ■ “And you know why it is?” H “Yes, she showed such bitter animosity H toward me and mine that I began to H speculate as to the cause. Well, there ■ was once a young girl, very much like you, ■ Connie, who lived with her mother in a ■ quaint country place, like Avondale Cas- ■ tie. The young girl being rich and very ■ beautiful, had two stepping stones to for- ■ tune. The mother was an ambitious worn- ■ an, and longed for one thing, which she ■ had never been able to obtain, an en- ■ trance into good society. She determined, B therefore, to buy a title for her daughter, B and under that daughter’s wing to obtain B her wish. The two spent their time belt tween London and Devonshire. The ■ young lady was presented at court, and l| for one short season her beauty made ■ Her the rage. At the end of it she received ■| a proposal of marriage from a man of B title—an earl. The gentleman came of a I proud, aristocratic family, which, howB ever, he had brought to the verge of ruin, s He proposed to the richest heiress in B England, although he did not love her.” “And the lady?” said Constance. “Did I, she marry him for his title, or did she ■ love him?” I “Unfortunately, my darling, she loved | him far too well. Well, the marriage I took place—one-half of the lady’s fortune, l| which was considerable, went to free the -mortgaged estates. Now, mark the sell quel; at t,he end of a year the young ■I countess returned to her girlhood’s home, B a child was born, and when the little thing I- was a few weeks old the mother died!” B “She was killed!” cried the girl, with B> flaming cheeks and tear-dimmed eyes—--1I “killed by the cruelty and neglect of the I man who had married her.” “Hush, my darlingP’ said Frank, tak- - 11 ing her trembling hand in his. “That man H was your father!” CHAPTER 111. Ira The London season began to flag; fewer | | horses and carriages were seen in the HI Row, fashionable squares began to look Hj deserted, and fashionable beauties, jaded |j| with ceaseless rounds of gayety, began |ji' to long for the refreshing breath of the ■ sea. . * | Frank Howarth, calling one afternoon ; at Portland place, found the whole house B in a state of the utmost commotion, the | ,r - satin upholstery of the drawing room had disappeared behind brown holland covers. | the great crystal chandeliers were envelB oped in linen bags, and the piano at which | Constance had sat so many nights play- ■ ing sweet music to her lover was hidden® ■ beneath folds of linen, too. RB “What is the meaning of it all, Con--8 nie?" asked the young man. ® “It means that we are going away. Now, don’t look dull, Frank; we are merely refij] turning to Avondale Castle, and grandma lffl| is going, to invite some people there, you M Amongst the number.” ’ f “Do you mean it?” h/f “Os course I do. And who do you think ,( vill be there, too? Why, Alice Greybrook—the tall, grave young lady who M was at school with me at Frankfort, and l| who used to deliver to me such long lec■K; tores whenever I stole out in secret to J ;( meet you! She has been for a short time .5 in a convent, and although she is quite O rich, and of very good family, she in11 tends to devote her life to nursing the L sick, and all that sort of thing. She is I.' coming over really to nurse poor grand--1 ma, but she will be such a companion for me. I love her so much more because | she knows you, and will be able to talk i about you.” This was the last day spent by Frank with his cousin in town. Shortly after- | wards Mrs. Meason started with her | f granddaughter to spend the autumn re- | c£ss at Avondale Castle. The secret of the betrothal which Mrs. T ? Meason had insisted upon had been so rigorously kept that when Lady Constance, with her grandmother, arrived at Avondale, not a soul knew of that young '**■ ■ lady’s engagement to her cousin. The sunlight was admitted into the dreary rooms; the faded hangings and tapestries were shaken out. it was as if the spirit of the young countess had returned from the grave to live once again that joyous life which had been hers in those early days in Avondale before the earl came to 4 woo her for his wife. was a bright morning several Bays Lj after Lady Constance’s arrival. With HI her arm linked in that of her school-fel-ffc low she was standing at the window of i F hest boudoir looking at the prospect which Ik' surrounded the Castle. |S> “The world is very beautiful,” she exM claimed. M “Yes,” said her companion, dreamily, “it | is beautiful to those who are happy, but [ I when the heart is not glad how soon the || world changes, Constance!'’ | The speaker was a girl of twenty, with H a singularly pale face and dreamy eyes. || The singularity of her appearance was | heightened by her dress, which was of | | black cashmere, quaintly cut, and orna- | mented merely by a large ivory cross, ■ jyhich she wore upojj ter breast. Sue
and Lady Constance, having met at school, had been drawn together by some subtle influence which neither could explain, and had since remained firm friends. “How grave you are, Alice,” said Constance; “you are an enigma to me. It seems so strange that one so young and pretty should deliberately devote her time to nursing the sick, and wish for nothing better than to end her days in a convent. Now, if 1 had shown predilections of that kind it would have been less surprising.” “Why?” “Because the life which I was compelled to lead during my childhood would have admirably qualified me for a nun.” Her companion looked at her in wonder. She had become very serious, and her eyes were filled with tears. “Constance,” said she, “were the days of your childhood so very unhappy that the memory of them makes you cry?” “They were not happy days,” said Constance, sadly; “I remember as vividly as if it were yesterday wandering about the park, and wondering why children were born, since the world was so solitary.” “Your mother died here, did she not, Constance? In Avondale Castle, I mean.” “I believe so, though grandma has never spoken of it to me. I was three weeks old when she died. Finally grandma took me to a school in Germany, and about a year ago I went to Frankfort and met you.”. “And we became friends, did we not? There was something in your face, Constance, which appealed to my heart, and drew me irresistibly toward you.” “You have always been so good to me,” said Constance, “and now I love you more than ever, because I was with you the first time I ever saw Frank. Do you remember that day?” continued the girl, dwelling lovingly upon every word, “when you and I, having lost ourselves in the .forest, came upon a young gentleman, who, in the most courtly manner possible, conducted us back to the seminary? He asked our names; you drew me toward you as if to protect me from his admiring glance, and replied with tremendous dignity, ‘We think you for your courtesy, sir, and wish you good-by.’ But it seemed to me that you were too reserved, so I replied, ‘I am Lady Constance Howarth,’ and then after a very few words we discovered that we were cousins. After that, I met him in secret every day, then you discovered this and lectured me; afterward, at your express entreaty, I wrote to grandma, telling her that I had met my cousin, that I loved him very dearly, and that he loved me.” “And on receipt of that letter she came over and took you from the school?” “Yes; but when we had been three days in London, Frank appeared and asked me to be his wife. Oh, the scenes whsh followed! Grandma was pitiless to us both. First she refused to listen to him; then she bade me swear that I would never see him again. But I could not do it. I had learned to love him too well. All that is passed,” concluded the girl. “I am now engaged to Frank with grandma’s consent, so for the future all will be well.” “Wo will hope so, dear,” said her friend, as she kissed her tenderly. CHAPTER IV. For-three days after the return of the family to Avondale Castle nothing of any moment occurred; life went on evenly and pleasantly enough to the young, while a burden of sorrow seemed to fall upon the shoulders of one woman alone —the mistress of the house. Since her return to Avondale Castle Mrs. Meason had been a changed woman: from no apparent .cause her strength gave way; she spent most of her time in her room alone, dispensing even with the society of Miss Greybrook. “Leave me to myself,” she said, wearily, to Constance; “if I husband my strength now, I shall be the better able to entertain my guests.” “Constance,” said Alice one morning, “I am going back to France.” “Alice!” “Your grandmother does not require me; in a few days the house will be full, and my presence can be easily dispensed with. There is an opening in the convent for a nursing sister; I am going to take it!” “And you can sacrifice yourself so! Oh, Alice, it is dreadful, and if you wished your life might be a happy one!” “And will it not be happy?” returned the girl. “Is it not the life I have longed so minister to the sick, to soothe the sorrowful, to give help to the needy? Constance, dear, I want you to promise me before I go that if ever you are in trouble or in need of help you will seek it at my hands? You saw awhile ago that I was sad. I was; but it was on your account; not mine.” “On my account?” “Yes; there is some trouble in store for you. I know it, for I have had such a strange dream! It haunts me, and all day I hear - a voice whisper io g in my ear, ‘Save her! save her!’ ” Iler face was growing deathly pale, and she trembled violently. She pressed her thin white hands upon hgr eyes, as if to shut out some terrible vision. , As Constance turned to answer her friend she was amazed to see that Alice was as pale as death; her eyes were fixed, not upon Constance, but beyond her, and Constance, turning quickly, 'started and turned pale, too, ... Close to them stood a short, powerfully built man, with a swarthy skin, piercing black eyes and bushy eyebrows. His figure, though powerful, was elegant, and his dress that qf a gentleman. He stood
smiling, his eyes fixerfwith an admiring look upon Constance. “1 fear, madam, I have alarmed you,** he said, speaking with a strong foreign accent and removing his hat. , “I was passing through the neighborhood, and curiosity led me toward the Castle, which I believed to be uutenanted. May I ask if I am addressing its mistress?” "No; it belongs to my grandmother, Mrs. Meason.” “And your name is—if 1 may make so bold?” “Lady Constance Howarth," was the cold reply. He drew out a card case, and handed her a card with another profound bow and a look of increased admiration. “Will you give Mrs. Meason that card? I have the pleasure of knowing her very slightly." So saying, he raised his hat, made a last profound obeisance to both ladies, and walked slowly away. Constance looked at the card, and read on it the stranger’s name: “THE DUKE D’AZZEGLIO.” In the corner was printed the address of the Spanish Embassy. At dinner that evening Lady Constance told her grandmother of her meeting with the Duke d’Azzeglio. “Da you know him, grandma?” she asked. Mrs. Meason answered in the affirmative, and seemed indeed not at all ill pleased at the knowledge of the duke’s presence in Avondale. “He is a Spaniard, but his nationality counts for nothing,” explained Mrs. Meason. “He is as much English as Spanish —as much French as either. He has been everywhere and knows everything. A most interesting man.” Two days later Alice Greybrook took her departure from Avondale, and returned to her convent home in France. Constance accompanied her friend as fat- as the station. On her return to the castle she was informed by the footman that her grandmother wished to see her in the drawing room; she went and found Mrs. Meason entertaining none other than the Duke d’Azzeglio. He was, as Mrs. Meason had said, a well-informed man. He had traveled widely, had seen much, and knew how to talk of what be had seen; he interested the girl so deeply in bis conversation that when he rose to go, and Mrs. Meason expressed a wish that he would come again, Constance cordially echoed her grandmother's words. The duke smiled. “I hope I may soon have the honor of receiving you as my guests,” he said, bowing to both ladies. “For the present I am a resident in Avondale. I have taken Lord Foley’s house.” This visit to the Castle was the prelude to many others. During the few days which followed, the duke found several opportunities of presenting himself at Avondale Castle. Its doors were thrown open to him. He was glad. Whenever he entered those doors he was pretty sure to find himself sooner or later in the company of Lady Constance. (To be continued.) Think of the Future. Despite all that has been urged In behalf of sensible forest supervision in this country, the ruthless destruction goes on almost unabated. Only about a quarter of the timber cut year by year has its place supplied by new growth. TZ this rate Is to continue it is easy to see how short a time will elapse before the land is bare and the streams dried up. Mr. Fernow, chief of the Forestry Division of the United States Department of Agriculture, estimates the value of our timber land at a thousand millions of dollars. Surely this is a property worth caring for. Two plans for helping to put things on a sound basis have lately been proposed. Mr. Fernow advocates a law establishing an American college of forestry. Professor Sargent of Harvard suggests the establishment of a chair of forestry at West Point with the view of ultimately using the army In part to preserve the forests. Perhaps both ideas might be carried out independently with good results. Certainly all possible educational means should be used to place our people on a level as to information with those of France and Germany. Forest fires alone are said to destroy ten million dollars’ worth qf timber annually. Intelligent forest wardens could prevent much of this. Waste — the greedy cutting of large and small trees at one sweep—destroys more than fires. If we are to have any forests left at all, the United States Government and the several States must push vigorously the policy 8f founding and maintaining forest preserves. Large Enough. A foot traveler through one of the hilly regions of Ireland came one day upon a curious little cabin, so small as to seem hardly large enough for a human habitation. While she was whimsically considering as to whether it might not be the abode of the famous “good people,” about whom so many loving superstitions cling, the figure of a short, stout old man emerged from the cabin, and stood confronting her in smiling silence. After salutations had been exchanged the traveler laughingly told the old man that she had half-fancied his dwelling the home of fairies. “No, indade, ma’am, but it’s a good warm place, God bless it,” replied the olu man. , “But surely you cannot stand up in it?” said the traveler, curiously. “An’ fwhat nade to shtand, ma’am?” returned the owner of the tiny house. “Share, an’ 01 can come outside to do that same, au’ whin Oi’m insolde, it’s mesilf that can either go to bed or sit down, ma’am!” There was such warmth in the smile with which this cheerful philosophy was propounded that the traveler was not disposed to pick flaws in it, and smiled acceptance of its truth. A good deal of interest is manifested just now in an old document on exhlbitioiTin Bucksport, Me. It is a commission signed by Thortias Pownall, Governor of Massachusetts, appointing Jonathan Buck first lieutenant of a company to invade Canada, and bears the date of March 13, 1758.
CHEERING THOUGHTS REV. DR. TALMAGE CONFIDENT THAT AMERICA IS FOR GOD. He Believes That This Continent Was Referred To in Revelation and Presents a Glowing Picture of Onr Future Possibilities and Prospects. Sermon at the Capital. This discourse presents a sublime theme and is of national importance, and coming from the capital of the nation must have a stirring effect throughout the land. Dr. Talmage chose for his text Revelation xiii., 11, “And I beheld another behst coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as n dragon.” Is America mentioned in the Bible? Learned and consecrated men who have studied the inspired books of Daniel and Revelation more than I have and understand them better agree in saying that the leopard mentioned in the Bible meant Grecia, and the bear meant Medo-Persia. and the lion meant Babylon, and the beast of the text coming up out of the earth' with two horns like a lamb and the voice of a dragon means our country, because among other reasons it seemed to come up out of the earth when Columbus discovered it, and it has been for the most-plKp at peace, like a lamb, unless assaulted by foreign foe, in which case it has had two horns strong and sharp, and the voice of a dragon loud enough to make all nations hear the roar of its indignation. Is it reasonable to suppose that God would leave out from the prophecies of his book this whole western hemisphere? No. no. “1 beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.” Germany for scholarship, England for manufactories, France foi manners, Egypt for antiquities, Italy for pictures, but America for God. America for God. I start with the cheering thought that the most popular book on earth to-day is the Bible, the most popular institution on earth to-day is the church, and the most popular name on earth to-day is Jesus. Right from this audience hundreds of men and women would, if need be, march out and die for him. Am I too confident'in saying "America for God?” If the Lord will help me, I will show the strength and extent of the long line of fortresses to be taken and give you my reasons for saying it erth be done And will be done. Let us decide in tliis battle for God whether we are at Bull Run or at Gettysburg. There is n Fourth of Julyish way of bragging about this country, and the most tired and plucked bird that ever flew through the heavens is the American eagle, so much so that Mr. Gladstone said to me facetiously at Hawarden, “I hear that the tish in your American lakes are so large rliat when one of them is taken out the entire lake is perceptibly lowered,” aud at a dinner given in Paris an American offered for a sentiment, “Here is to the United States —bounded on the north by the aurora borealis, on the south by the procession of the equinoxes, on the east by primeval chaos and on the west by the day of judgment.” The effect of such grandiloquence is to discredit the real facts, which are so tremendous they need no garnishing. The worst thing to do in any campaign, military or religious, is to underestimate an enemy, and I will have no part in such attempt at belittlement. This land to be taken for God, according to Hassel, the statistician, has 14,219,0G7 square miles, a width and a length that none but the Omniscient can appreciate. Four Europes put together, and capable of holding and feeding, as it will hold and feed, according to Atkinson, the statistician, if the world continues in existence and does not run afoul of some other world or get consumed by the fires already burning in the cellars of the planet—capable, I say, of folding and feeding more than 1,000,000,000 inhabitants. For you must remember it must be held for God as well as taken for God, and the last 500,000,000 inhabitants must not be allowed to swamp the religion of the first 500,000,000. Not much use in taking the fortress if we cannot hold it. It must be held until the archangel’s trumpet’ bids living and dead arise from this foundering planet. A Nation’s Mornin*. You must remember it is only about 7 o’clock in the morning of our nation’s life. Great cities are to flash and roar among what are called the “Bad Izinds” of the Dakotas and the great “Columbia Plains” of Washington State, and that on which we put our schoolboy fingers on the map, and spelled out as the “Great American desert,” is, through systematic and consummating irrigation, to bloom like Chatsworth park and be made more productive than those regions dependent upon uncertain and spasmodic rainfall. All those regions as well as those reginos already cultivated to be inhabited! That was a sublime thing said by Henry Clay while crossing the Allegheny Mountains and he was waiting for the stage horses to be rested, ns he stood on a rock, arms folded, looking off into the valley, and some one said to him, “Mr. Clay, what are you thinking about?” He replied, “I am listening to the oncoming tramp of the future generation of America." Have you laid our home missionary scheme on such an infinitude of scale? If the work of bringing one soul to God is so great, can 1,000,000,000 be captured? In this country, already planted and to be overcome, paganism has built its altar to Brahma, and the Chinese are already burning incense In their temples, and Mohammedanism, drunk in other days with the red wine of human blood at Lucknow and Cawnpur, and now fresh from the diabolism in Armenia, is trying to get a foothold here, and from the minarets of her mosques will yet mumble her blasphemies, snying, “God is great, and Mohammed is his prophet.” Then there are the vaster multitudes with no religion at all. They worship no God, they live with no consolation, and they die with no hope. No star of peace points down to the manger in which they are born, and no prayer is uttered over the grave into which they sink. Then there i» alcoholism, its piled up demijohns and beer barrels and hogsheads of fiery death, a barricade high and long as the Alleghanies and Rockies and Sierra Nevadas, pouring forth day and night their ammunition of wretchedness and woe. When a Gorman wants to take a (fi'ink, he takes beer. When an Englishman wants to take a drink, he takes ale. When :i Scotchman wants to take a drink, he takes whisky. But when an American wants to take a drink, he takes anything he can lay his hands on. Plenty of’ statistics to tell bow much
money Is epent In this country for mm and how many drunkards die! But who will give us the statistics of how many hearts are crushed under the heel of this worst demon of the centuries? How many hopes blasted? How many children turned out on the world, accursed with stigma of a debauched ancestry? Until the worm of tho distillery becomes the worm that never dies, and the smoko of the heated wine vats becomes the smoke of the torment that ascendeth up for ever and ever! Alcoholism, swearing—not with hand uplifted toward heaven, tor from that direction it can get no help, but with right hand stretched down toward the perdition from which it came up—swearing that it will not cease as long as there are any homesteads to despoil, any magnificent men and women to destroy, any immortal souls to damn, any more nations to balk, any more civilizations to extinguish. Wicked and Lazy. Then there is what in America we call socialism, in France communism, and in Russia nihilism—the three names for one and the same thing—and having but two doctrines in its creed: First, there is no God; second, there shall be no rights of property. One of their chief journals printed this sentiment, “Dynamite can bo made out of the dead bodies of capitalists as well as out of hogs.” One of the leaders of communism left inscribed on bls prison wall, where he had been justly incarcerated, these words: “\Vhen once you are dead, there is an end of everything. Therefore, ye scoundrels, grab whatever can, only don't let yourselves be grabbed. Amen!” There are in this country hundreds of thousands of these lazy scoundrels. Honest men deplore it when they cannot get work, but those of whom I speak will not do work when they can get it. I tried to employ one who asked me for money. I said, “Down in my cellar I have some wood to saw, and 1 will pay you for it." For a little while I heard the saw going, and then I heard it no more. I went down stairs and found the wood, but the workman had disap peared, taking for company both buck and saw. Socialism, communism and nihilism mean “too wicked to acknowledge God and too lazy to earn a living,” and among the mightiest obstacles to be overcome are thosh organized elements of domestic, social and political ruin. There also are the fastnesses of infidelity, and atheism, and fraud, and political corruption, and multiform hydra headed, million armed abominations all over the land. While the mightiest agencies for righteousness on earth are good and healthful newspapers and good and healthful books, and our chief dependence for intelligence and Christian achievement is upon them, what word among the more than 100,000 words in our vocabulary can describe the work of that archangel of mischief, a corrupt literature? What man, attempting anything for God and humanity, has escaped a stroke of its filthy wing? What good cause has escaped its hinderment? What other obstacle in all the land so appalling? But I canuot name more than one-half the battlements, the bastions, the intrenchments, the redoubts, the fortifications, to be stormed and overcome if this country is ever taken for God. The statistics are so awful that if we had nothing but the multiplication table and the arithmetic, the attempt to evangelize America would be an absurdity higher than the tower of Babe) before it dropped on the plain of Shinar. Where are the drilled troops to march against these fortifications as long as the continent? Where are the batteries that can be unlimbered against these walls? Where are the guns of large enough caliber to storm these gates? Well, let us look around and see, the first of all, who is our leader and will be our leader untif the work is done. A Great Leader. Garibaldi, with 1,000 Italians, could do more than another commander with 10,000 Italians. Gen. Sherman, on one side, and Stonewall Jackson on the other, each with 10,000 troops, could do more than some other generals with 20,000 troops. The rough boat in which Washington crossed the ley Delaware with a few halffrozen troops was mightier than the ship of war that, during the American revolution, came through the Narrows, a gun nt each porthole, and sank in Hell Gate. Our leader, like most great leaders, was born in an obscure place, and it was a humble home, about five miles from Jerusalem. Those who were out of doors that night aaid that there was stellar commotion and music that came out of the clouds, as though the front door of heaven had been set open, and that the camels heard his first infantile cry. Then he* came to the fairest boyhood thnt mother was ever proud of, and from 12 to 30 years of age was off in India, if dtrad'itlons there are accurate, and then Returned to his native land, and for three years had Ills pathway surrounded by blind eyes that ho illumined, and epileptic patients to whom he gave rubicund health, nnd tongues that he loosed from silence into song, nnd those whose funerals he stopped that he might give back to bereaved mothers thenr only boys, and those whose fevered pulses he had restored into rhythmic throb, and whose paralytic limbs he had warmed into healthful circulation —pastor at Capernaum, but flaming evangelist everywhere, hushing cryiifg tempests and turning rolling seas into solid sapphire, and for the rescue of a race submitted to court room filled with howling miscreants, and to a martyrdom at th'e sight of which the sun fainted and fell back in the heavens, and then treading the clouds homeward, like snowy mountain peaks, till heaven took hlim back again, more a favorite than he had ever been; but, coming again, he is on earth now, and the nations are gathering to his standard. Following him were the Scotch covenanters, the Theban legion, the victims of the London Haymarket, the Piedmontese sufferers, the pilgrim fathers, the Huguenots and uncounted multitudes of the past, joined by about 400,000,000 of the present, and with the certainty that all nations shall huzza nt his chariot wheel, he goes forth, the moon under his feet and the stars of heaven for his tiara-—the mighty leader, he of Drumclog, and Bothwell Bridge, and Bannockburn, and the” one who whelmed Spanish armada, “Coming up frqm Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, traveling in the greatness! of his strength, mighty to save,” and behind whom we fall into line to-day and march in the campaign that ie to take America for God. Hosanna! Hosanna! Wave all the palm branches! At bis feet put down your silver and your gold, as in heaven you will cast befomhim your coronets. A Stupendous Issue. With such a leader do'you not think we can do it? Say, do you think we can? Why, many ramparts have already been taken. Where is American slavery? Gone, and the South, as heartily as the North, prays, “Peace to its ashes." Where is bes-
tial polygamy? Gone, by the flat of tha United States Government, urged on by Christian sentiment, and Mormonism, having retreated in 1830 from Fayette, N, Y., to Kirkland, 0., and in 1838 retreated to Missouri, and in 1840 retreated to Salt Lake City, now divorced from Its superfluity of wives, will soon retreat into the Pacific, and no basin smaller than an ocean could wash out its pollutions. Illiteracy going down under the work of Slater nnd Peabody funds and Sabbath schools of all the churches of nil denomination's! Pugilism now made unlawful by congressional enactment, tho brutal custom knocked out in- the first round! Corruption at the ballot box, by law of registration and other safeguards, made almost impossible! Churches twice aS large as the old ones, the enlarged supply to meet the enlarged demand! Nihilism, getting a stunning stroke by the summary execution of its exponents after they had murdered the policemen in Chicago, received its death blow from the recent treaty which sends back to Russia the blatant criminals who had been regurgitated on our American shore. The very things that have been quoted as perils to this nation are going to help its salvation. Great cities, so often mentioned as great obstacles —the center of crime and the reservoirs of all iniquities—are to lead in the work of gospelizatkm. Who give most to home missions, to asylums, to religious education, to all styles of humanitarian and Christian institutions? The cities. From what places did the most relief go at the time of Johnstowh flood, and Michigan fires, and Charleston earthquake, and Ohio freshets? From the cities. From what place did Christ send out his twelve apostles to gospellze the world? From a city. What place will do more than any other place, by its contribution of Christian men and women and means, in this work of taking America for God? New York city. The way Paris goes, goes France. The way Berlin goes, goes Germany. The way Edinburgh goes, goes Scotland. The way London goes, goes England. The way New York and a couple other cities go, goes America. May the eternal God wake us up to the stupendous issue! Another thing quoted pessimistically id the vast and overtopping fortunes in thW country, and they say it means concentrated wealth, and luxuriousness, and display and moral ruin. It is my observation that it is people who have but limited re-* sources who make the most splurge, and I ask you, Who are endowing colleges and theological seminaries? Did you ever hear of Peter Cooper, and James Lenox, and sainted William E. Dodge, and the Law- 1 rences, Amos and Abbott, while I refrain from mentioning living benefactors who, quite as generous and Christian, are iff this assembly st this moment planning what they can do in these days, nnd in their last will and testament in this campaign that proposes taking America for God? The widow’s mite, honored of the Lord, is to have its part in this continental capture; but we must have more than that, and more right away. Many of the men that expect to get the blessing for bestowing the widow’s mite will not get the blessing. In the first place, they are not widows, and in the next place, they have no “might." A Grand Assimilation. The time is coming—hasten it, Lordand I think you and I will see it, when, as Joseph, the wealthy Arimathaean, gave for the dead Christ a costly mausoleum, the affluent men and women of this country wilt ’rise In their strength and build for our King, one Jesus, the throhe of this American continent. Another thing quoted for-discourage-ment, but which I quote for encouragement, is foreign immigration—now that from Castle Garden we turn back by the first poor ship the foreign vagabondism—we are getting people the vast majority of whom come to make an honest living, among them some of the bravest and tiha best. If you should turn back from this land to Europe the foreign ministers ol* the gospel, and the foreign attorneys, and the foreign merchants, and, the foreign! philanthropists, what a robbery of ouil pulpits, our court rooms, our and our beneficent institutions, and what a putting back of every monetary, merci-] ful, moral and religious interest of the land! This commingling here of all nat tionalities under the blessing of God will produce in 75 or 100 years the most magnificent style of man and woman the world ever saw. They will have the wit of one race, the eloquence of another race, the kindness of another, the generosity of another, the aesthetic taste of another, the high moral character of another, and when that man and woman step forth, thoir brain and nerve and mnscle an intertwining of the fibers of all nationalities, nothing but the new electric photographic apparatus, that can see clear through body, mind and soul, can take of them an adequate picture. But the foreign population of America is less than one-eleventh of all our population, and why all this fuss about foreign immigration? Eighty-nine Americans to eleven foreigners! If eigh* ty-nine of us New Jerseymen, or eightynine of us New Yorkers, or eighty-nine of us Ohioans, or eighty-nine of us Georgians, or eighty-nine of ifs Yankees, are not equal to eleven foreigners, then we are a starving, lilliputian group.of humunculi that ought to be wiped out of existence. Useful Weapons. But now what are the weapons by which, under our omnipotent leader, the real obstacles in the way of out conntry’a evangelization, the 10,000 mile Sevastopol, are to be leveled? The first columbiad, with range enough to sweep from eternity to eternity, is the Bible, millions of its copies going out, millions on millthe monarch of books, that has » made all the difference between China and the United States, between Africa and America; a book declaring in every style of phraseology that all nations are to be converted, and does not that Include our nation? The thunder of the bombardment is already in the air, and when the last bridge of opposition is taken, and the last portcullis of satan is lifted, and the Last gun spiked, and the last tower dismantled, and the last charge of iniquity shall have been hurled back upon its haunches, what a time of rejoicing! Capt. Kidd’s quadrant, or one of bls quadrants, or at least an iinclent quadrant bearing bls name, Is In the posses-' «lon of a family at Rockland, Me. It is more than 200 years old, and bears the name and address of t'ie London, maker. Part of it is of ivory, now dark brown with age. Tho name, “Captain Kidd” Is engraved on the metal part of the Instrument. There Is title difference between happiness and wisdom; he that thinks himself the happiest man, really Is so; but he who thinks himself the wisest man, Is generally the greatest fool ,Ift
