Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 August 1896 — Page 6

TALMAGE’S SERMON.

THE PREACHER DISCUSSES A GREAT LAWSUIT. jthe Indictment, the Testimony, the Summing Up and the Judgment— Graphic Report of a Trial for the *.*te of a Soul. In the Courtroom. The illustrations of this sermon are drawn from the scenes in a court room, with which Dr. Ta image became familiar when he was studying law. before he studied for the ministry. The text' is 1. John, ii., 1, “We hare an advocate with the Father, .Tesus Christ, the righteous/’ Standing in a court room you say to jourself, “At this bar crime has often , teen arraigned; at this witness stand the •ath has often been taken; at this jurors’ fbench the verdict has been rendered; at •his judge's desk sentence has been pronounced.'’ But I have to tell you to-day of a trial higher than any oyer and terminer or circuit or supreme or chancery. It » the trial of every Christian man for the life of his soul. This trial is different from any other in the fact that it is both civil and criminal. The issues at stake are tremendous, and T Khali in my sermon show you first what are the grounds of complaint, then who arc the witnesses in the cause and lastly Vho are the advocates. When a trial is called on, the first thing %to have the indictment read. Stand up then, O Christian man, and hoar the indictment of the court of high heaven against thy soul. It is an indictment of ten counts, for thou hast directly or indirectly broken all the Ten Commandments. You know how it thundered on Sinai, and when God came down how the mountain rocked, and the smoke ascended as front a smoldering furnace, and the darkness gathered thick, and the loud, deep trumpet urterisl the words, “The soul that •inneth. it shall die!” Are or not guilty? Do not put in a negative plea too quick, for I have to announce that “all have sinned and come short of the glory o? God. There is none that docth good. No. not one. Whosoever shall keep the whole law, yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” Do not therefore be too hasty in pronouncing yourself aot guilty. The Lawsuit. This lawsuit before us also charges you with the breaking of a solemn contract. Many a time did we promise to bo the Lord's. We got down on our knees and •aid, “O Lord, I am thine now and forever.” Did you keep the promise? Have you stood up to the contract? I go back to your first communion. You remember it as well as if it were yesterday. You know how the vision of the cross rose before you. You remember how from the head, and the hands, and the side, and the feet there came bleeding forth two .words, “Remember me." You recall how I'be cup of communion trembled in your hand when jou first took it, and as in a Koashol! you may hear, or think you hear, the roaring of the surf even after the shell has l>een taken from the beach, so you lifted the cup of communion and you heard in it the surging of the great ocean of a Saviour’s.agony, and' you came forth from that communion service with face shining as though you had been on the mount of Transfiguration, and the very air seemed tremulous with the love of Jesus, and the woods and the leaves and tiie grass and the birds were brighter and sweeter voiced than ever before, and you •aid down iu the very depths of your •on!, “Lord; thou. knowest all things; ■thou knowest that I love thee.” Have you kept the bnrgnin, O Christian man? 'Have you not sometimes faltered when yon ought to have been trite? ' Have you not been proud when you ought to have ■been humhlg? .Have yoq not playpd .the coward when ybn ought to have been the hero? I charge it upon you and I charge it upon myself— We have broken the contract. . ‘

Still further. This lawsuit claims damages at your hands. The greatest slander on the Christian religion is an inconsistent professor. The Bible says religion is one thing. We, by our inconsistency, sayreligion is some other thing, and what is more deplorable about it is that people oan see faults in others while thCy cannot see any in themselves: 'lf ydii shall at any time find some miserable old gossip, with froift the crown of her head to the .sole, 6f her foot, a perfect blotch of sin'ligpwjlf, she will go tattling, tattling, tafj.l£ng t aH 'tdie years of her life about the iucpnsi%tepcics of others; having no idea that she is inconsistent herself. God save the worlu from the gossip, female and male! 1 think the male* ore the worst. Now the chariot of Christ's salvation goes on through the world, bur it is our inconsistencies, my brethren, that .olock up the wheels', while all along the fine there ought to-have been cast nothing but palm brafiOhes, and the shout shouVl have been lifted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”'" ‘ 1 ‘ ' v 1 sow you havp heard the indictment' read. Ate you ready to plead guilty or *ot guilty? Perhaps you are not ready yejt to plead. Then the trial will go on. The witnesses will be Called, and' we shall have the matter decided. In the name of God I now make proclamation: Oycz, *»yez, oyez, whosoever, hath .anything to offer in this trial, in 'which God is the plaintiff and the Christian soul the defendant. let-him *gw step forth and give testimony injhi9 solemn trial.

The Testimony. The first? witness I call iipon the stand §n behalf of the prosecution is the world, «11 critical and- observant. qf, Christian character. 1 You know that there are people around you who perpetually .banquet on the frailties of God s, children. You t may know, if you have lived in the coun ’ fry, that a crow cares for nothing so much as carrion. Thqre arc those who imagine that out of .the Christiana they can make a bridge of boats across the •tream of death, and they ate gftlng f» tey it; but iihuefor the mistake! When they get midstream, .away will go the bridge, andi down will go. their ‘sbuls to peyditioo.' ©"fl-orld of rhC greedy eye an J the hard heart.-comc on the stand now and testify’hi Behalf of the prosecution against this-Christian soul on trial. What *0 yon know about this .Christian man? '•“Oh,” says- the world, :‘T knows* great deal about him. He talks about putting : his.-trcaslirfi* heaven, he is the •lwrpest man fn a.trade I Srer knew. He •eeuiS to Want'llthat be is a ehiid of Gpd, bftt'tleis'just full of imperfections. J do not know «tn a gi-ea: deal bettet -than be is now.- ■ Oftentimes' bo » very earthly, and he talks so little •bout Christ so ihifcli aboWjnmself. 1 am very glad to testify that this is t bad mam” .. A.e- 1TU...... Stop. O world, with the greedy eye and bard heao-t ( I fpi-r you are too much interested in trial to'gfve impartial evidence. Let all those who hear the testimony of this witness know that there is parties. There always has been a variance between the world and the church, and, whilpjhe world on she witness stand bo-day hat told a great deal of truth about dtiis Christian man. rou mast take it all with much allowance, remembering that % they still keep the old grudge good. O world of the greedy eye and the hard heart, that will do. You may sit down. Tbs nsoßod witness I call in this case is

conscience. Who art thou, 0 conscience? What is your business? Where were you born? What are you doing here? “Oh,” •ays conscience, “I was born in heaven. 1 came down to befriend this man. I have lived with him. I have instructed him. I have warned him. I shpv.ed him the right and the wrong, advised him to take the one and eschew the other. I have kindled a great light In his soul. With a whip of scorpions I have scourged his wickedness, and I have tried to cheer him when doing right, and yet I am compelled to testify on the stand to-tlay that he has sometimes rejected my mission. Oh, how many cups of life have I pressed to his lips that he dashed down, and how often has he stood with his hard heel on the. bleeding heart of the Son of God. It pains mo very much that 1 have to testify against this Christian man, and yet I must in behalf of him who will in no wise clear the guilty say that this Christian man has done wrong. He lias been worldly. He has been neglectful. He has done a thousand things he ought not to have done, aiid loft uiidone a thousand things he ought to hare done.” That will do, conscience. You can sit down. The third witness 1 call in the case is an angel of Goil. Bright and shining one, what doest thou here? What mist thou to say against this man on trial? “Ob,” says the angel, “I have been a messenger to him. I have guarded him. I watched him. With this wing I have defended him, and oftentimes, when he knew it not, I led him into green pastures and beside the still waters. 1 snatched from him the poisoned chalices. When bad spirits came upon him to destroy him, I'Tought them back with infinite fierceness, and yet I have to testify to-day that no has rejected-iny mission. lie has not done as he ought to have done. Though I came from the sky, he drove me back. Though with this wing I defended him, and though with this voice I wooed him, 1 have to announce his multiplied imperfections. I dare not keep back the testimony, for then I should not dare to appear again among the sinl?ss ones before the great white throne.” » There is only one more witness to be called on behalf of the prosecution, and that is the great, the holy, the august, the omnipotent Spirit of God. We bow down before him. Holy Spirit, knowest thou this man? “Oh, yes,” says the Holy One, “I know him. I have striven with him ten thousand times, and though sometimes lie did»seoin to repent be fell back again as often from his first estate. Ten thousand times ten thousand has he grieved me. although the Bible warned him. saying: ‘Grieve not the Holy Ghost. Quench not the Spirit.’ Y’es, he has driven me back. Though I am the Third Person of the Trinity, he lias trampled on my mission, and the blood of the atonement that I brought with which to cleanse his sold he sometimes despised. I came from the throne of God to convert and comfort and sanctify, and yet look at that man and see what he is compared with what, unresisted, I would have made him.”

The Rebuttal. The evidence on the part of the prosecution has closed. Now let the defense bring on the rebuttal testimony. What have you. O Christian soul, to bring in reply to this evidence of the world, of the conscience, of the angel and of the Holy Ghost? No evidence? Are all these things true? “Yes. Unclean, unclean.” says every Christian soul. What? Do you not begin to tremble at the thought of condemnation? We have comb now to the most interesting part of this great trial. The evidence all in, the advocates speak. The profession of nn advocate is full of responsibility. In England and the United States there have arisen men who in this calling have been honored by their race and thrown contempt upon those who’ in the profession have been guilty of a great many meannesses. That profession will be honorable as long as it has attached to Tt jmch names as Mansfield and Marshall and Story and Kent and Southard and William Wirt. The court room has sometimes been the scene of very marvelous and thrilling things. Some of you remember the famous Girard will case, where one of our advocates pleaded the cause of the Bible and Christianity in masterly Anglo-Saxon, every paragraph a thunderbolt.

Some of you hnve read of the famous trial in Westminster hall of Warren Hastings, the despoiler of India by splendid tnlorifs, by courage, by bribes, by gigantic ‘dishonesty. The whole world had rung with applause or condemnation. Gathered in Westminster hall, a place in which thirty kings had beeu inaugurated, was on ) of the most famous audiences ever gathered. ministers and princes sat there, i Peers marched in, clad in ermine and gp]d. -'Mighty men and women from alb -lands looked down upon tho scene. Amid all that pomp and spleiiflbr, and amid an excitement suc-h as has seldom been seen ,in any coArt room, Edmund Burke advanced in a speech which will last as long as the English language, concluding with this burning charge, which made Warren. Hastings cringe and cower: ‘1 impeach him In th’e name of Ihe commons house of parliament, whose trust he has betrayed. I impeach him ifi'the name of the English nation, whose, ancient honor lie has sallied. I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose rights he has. trampled on and whose country lie has turned into d desert. And lastly, .in the name of human nature, in the name of both sexes, in the name of every age and rank, I impeach him as the common enemy and oppressor of all.”

But I'turn from the recital ■ of these memorable occasions a grander trial, and I hare to tell yon that in this trial of the Christian for 'the life of'his soul the advocates are mightier, wiser and more eloquent. The evidence all being in, severe and stern justice rises on behalf of the prosecution to make his plea. With the Bible open in his hand, he reads the law. stern and inflexible, and the penalty, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Then He says: “O thou Judge and Lawgiver his is thine own stntute, and all the evidence in earth and heaven agrees that thb man has sinned against these enactments! Now let the sword leap from its scabbard. Shall a man go .through the ! -.cry flames of Sinai unsinged? Let the law lx* executed. Let judgment be pro- 1 nouneed. Let him die. I demand that he die!”

O Christian, does it not vary dark for thee? .Who will plead on thy ’side -in so forlorn a cause? Sometimes a man will he brought-, into a court of law, and he will have no friends and no money, and the judge will look over {he bar and say, “Is there any one wjio trill volunteer to take this man’s,case and defend him?” And some young man rises up and says, “I wHl‘ be his counsel,” perhaps on from that very point to a great and brilliant career. Now, in this matter of the soul, as you have nothing to pay for counsel, do you think that any one will volunteer? .Yes, yes; I see one rising. He is a young man, only 33 years of age. I see his countenance suffused with tears and covered with blood, and all, the galleries of’heaven are thrilled' with the spectacle. Thanks be unto God, “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” \£S f O Christian soul, your'case begins to. look better. I think,-perhaps, after all, you may not have to die. The best advocate in the universe has taken yobr side. No one was ever so qualified to defend you. He knows all the law, all its demandat all its penalties. He is always

ready. No sew turn of tti<» tase ran surprise him, and he will plead for you for nothing as earnestly as though you brought a world of treasure to. bis feet. Besides that, he has undertaken the case of thousands who were as forlorn as yon, and he has never lost a case. Courage, O Christian soul! I think that, after all, there riiaj’ 6e some chance for you, for the great advocate rises to make his plea. He says: “I admit all that his been proved against my client I admit all these sins —aye, more—but look at that wounded hand of mine and look at that other wounded hand and at my right foot and at my left foot. By all these wounds I plead for his clearance. Count nil the drops of my blood. By the lmmilitAion of Bethlehem, by the sweat of Gethsemane. by the sufferings of the cross, I demand that he go free. On this arm he hath leaned, to this heart he hath flown, in my tears he hath washed, on my righteousness he hath depended. Let him go free; I am the ransom. Let him escape the lash; I took the scourging*. Let the cup pass frpm him; I drank it to the dregs. Put on him the crown of life, for I have worn the crown of thorns. Over against my throne of shame set his throne of tri uinph.

Judgment. Well, the counsel on both sides have spoken, and there is only,one more thing now remaining, and that is the awarding of the judgment. If you have ever been in a court room, you know the stlence and solemnity when the verdict is about to be rendered or the judgment about to be given. About this soul on trial—shall it be saved or shall it be lost? Attention, above, around, beneath! All the universe cries, “Hear, hear!” The judge rises and gives his decision, never to be changed, never to be revoked, “There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.” The soul that ou Jesus hath leaned for repose I will not, I will not, desert to his foes. That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never; no. never; no, never, forsake. But. my friends, there is coming a day of trial in which not only the saint, but the sinuer must appear. That day of trial will come very suddenly. The farmer will be at the plow, the merchant will be in the counting room, the woodman will be ringing his ax on the hickories, the weaver will have his foot ou the treadle, the manufacturer will be walking amid the buzz of looms and the clack of flying machinery, the counsel may be at the bar pleading the law, the minister may be in the pulpit pleading the gospel, the drunkard may be reeling amid his cups, and the blasphemer with the oath caught between his teeth. Lo, the sun hides! Night comes down at midnoon. The stars appear at noon today. The earth shudders and throbs. There an earthquake opens and a city sinks as a crocodile would crunch a child. Mountains roll in their sockets and send down their granite cliffs in avalanche of rock. Rivers pause in their chase for the sea, and ocean uprearing cries to flying Alps and Himalaya. Beasts bellow und moan and snuff up the darkness. Clouds fly like flocks of swift eagles. Great thunders beat and boom and burst. Stars shoot and fall. The Almighty, rising on Ins throne, declares that time shall be no longer, and the archangel’s trump repeats it till all the living hoar and the continents of dead spring to their feet, crying, “Time shall be no longer!” Oh, on that day will you be ready? I have shown you how well the Christian will get off in his trial. Will you get off as well in your trial? Will Christ plead on your side or against you ? Oh, what will you do in the last great assize if your conscience is against you, and the world is against you, and tiie angels of heaven are against you, and the Holy Spirit is against you, and the Lord God Almighty is against you? Belter this day secure an Advocate.

Short Sermons.

Plagiarism.—l have much sympathy with the poor fellow who steals a loaf of bread to keep Ms wife and babies from hunger. But the preposterous individual reputation for learning, piety and honesty, admired by a great congregation, who goos on a false reputation and steals other men’s brainwork -to keep up his humbug, is so detestable an animal that there is no known punishment adequate to Ills case. The ordinry pickpocket is a saint in comparison.—Rev. Dr. Thompson, Episeopalial, Natchez, Miss.

Religion and Science.—Religion is the knowledge of life, science is systematic knowledge. Religion is separated from science only in the sense that you can speak of religion and sculpture or religion and history being distinct. Religion includes ail knowledge in the world, so far as that knowledge is necessary for the worship of God or the betterment of humanity. Religion is not morality, although it includes it. Religion is not science, but it does not deny the usefulness of science.—Rev. A. W. Bostwick, Episcopalian, Dansville, N. Y. Sympathy.—What tens of thousands of our fellow-creatures need is helphelp to fornl new principles; help to extricate themselves from their present environment; help to climb to higher and purer moral altitudes. Sympathy is the great desideratum—not sympathy at arm’s length, but hand to hand sympathy; not sympathy that exhausts Itself in sigh£ and groans and tears, but sympathy that meaus work for the unemployed, medicine for the sick, or places of refuge for the devil-pursued, and lifts In place of knocks for the fallen and the falling.—Rev. William Fielder, Methodist, Minneapolis. . Wealth Our Peril—The peril of America to-day Is its enormous wealth. We are becoming so absorbed in the pursuit after the material prosperity that we are neglecting our inheritance and allowing the country to become a hotbed of secular license and lawlessness. God Is drummed out of politics; the Bibleiis out of the schools from which must come, our fpture citizens. We are so ffl.jhfrpn» beiiig good Christians that we are not even,good Jews. The social and political regulations of to-day are not even an approach, to the Ten Commandments, which are-the fundamental laws of the economy.—Rer. Dr. Magruder, Methodist, Cihcinnati.

'Peace,War.—Our defense as a nation should not be what many think, Strong fortifications and long range guns, but righteousness. We must set the uations of the earth an example worthy of being followed. We must let them see that the true God of heaver, and earth is not a God of war, but of peace. The day for slaughtering men on the field of battle is past among Christian nations. Our differences must be adjusted henceforth by arbitration. We must defend the institutions Inherited from our fathers, not with powdqr end ball, but with the omnipotent weapon, the voice of the people—the American ballot.—Rev. Dr. Haroourt, Methodist, Philadelphia.

MARVEL OF THE AGE.

THE LINOTYPE ECLIPSES ALL MODERN INVENTIONS. How It Has Revolutionized the Old Art of Printing:—Notes a New Era in the Newspaper World— Description of the Machine. Useful and Popular. The art of printing has been a wonderful, instrumentality in the dissemination of knowledge, the progress, of good government, the defense of civil rights and as a general aid ( to liberal progress, but It has always been at the cost of a slow and painful process, the selection and placing by hand of each letter and character and space of the words and language. An ordinary col-

unit of reading matter uses about 8.000 pieces of type. Each piece must be chosen from its classified box, or flat pigeon hole, and after being used in print must be returned to its place again. The tedious work which attends this art employs the most intelligent large body of skilled

THE MATRIX.

men in the world, and their daily labor Is performed av an enormous draft on their nervous and. mental energy. In this painful way the handicraft harf been conducted from the days of Faust and Gutenberg. For four centurles and a half there has been little advance In this respect till now. The attempts to set type by machinery have been many, and generally unsuccessful. The London Times was fitted up a few years ago with apparatus that would set type, but the losses by breakage of type and the expense of its operations were too great. It was not till four or five years ago that the confidence of publishers in the success of machinery to take the place of ordinary hand composition was won. The improvements steadily in progress since the inception of the most successful machine were finally victorious over all obstacles. They completely changed the old trade of printing, and gave, especially to the work of the daily paper, facilities which

THE LINE OF TYPE OR “LINOTYPE.”

till lately were only a dream. The machine which brought this revolution to pass is the Linotype, and the story of its invention and that of its capabilities read like a romance. Twenty years’ companionship with one idea, the expenditure of over a million dollars, and the successful survival of many bitter disappointments Is the brief story of Ottmar Mergenthaler, the German watchmaker, in bringing his invention up to Its present standard of perfection. During tl.is time it kept Mr. Mergentlialer a poor man, and, as failure after failure was made, it nearly broke the inventor's heart. He is still alive, however, and is a young-looking, almost boyish, man. He lives in New York and spends his

MAIN PORTION'S OF A LINOTYPE.

A—Matrix magazine. R—Escapement which holds matrices In magazine. C—Escapement rods connecting with keyboard. I). E—Alleys to convey matrices: T—Endless (ape for same purpose. U—Stick for holding matrices as setup, t—Space blanks. H—Space delivery system. K—Mold wjieel. M—Melting pot. R—Matrices paltKM. to distributer, the route indicated by curved dotted linos to distributer. T, U- Spirab-tb carry mattkfes along distributer.

summers in the Adirondack Mountains, for his health is not good. When he started to carry out his Idea, Mr. Mergenthaler built a workshop In the loft of his stable, and for years be and his invention were the objects of as much curiosity as the famed “Darius Green and his flying machine.” He first tried tu create a machine that would make a matrix from which a column or page, might be cast. Then he produced oue wlijch would punch the Letters into sheet lead or paper from which a column or page might be cast. These failed .to meet approvp.l and several more machines were invented in which the papier mache matrix played the prominent part, but they were also declared impracticable. It was while working aloug these lines that the idea of the “linotype” wa3 hit upon. The Idea of setting up lines of metal was adopted as the basis of operation, and upon this idea the present linotype has been worked out. The development after that was very rapid. The casting of the lino of type by the machine and the operation of the whole by a keyboard like that of a typewriter were added, and finally the distribution of the pieces to their proper compartments was made automatic and the linotype was complete. , la the composing rooms of big newspapers, a minute’s tiniie after sunset is worth as much as an hour in the day. Speed is everything. Within five hours the history of a day must be intelll-

gently compiled and set in type. The rapidity with which the linotype is worked made it a necessity. It can cast four lines of type while a compositor Is setting one, and as there is no distribution of type, there are relatively few mistakes to be corrected, and consequently little or no delay in getting the matter into the forms. The men who have stood at the case for

years are now seated at a keyboard, and all that the “typo” had to do was to learn the keyboard of the machine just as any stenographer learns the keyboard cf a typewriter. The machine is automatic and does the rest. A true description of the linotype would necessarily be a technical one, for many of the most complex automatic movements known to the mechanic are involved in its operation. To describe what it does, can be done in a sentence. In answer to the operator's touch on the lettered keys, it assembles lettered brass matrices into line, and then in response to a touch of the lever it'carries the line of matrices to a mold where the line of type is cast from molten metal, after, which it distributes the matrices in their proper places in the magazine from which they were taken. The cast line is ready for printing without further labor. The almost, human action of the machine may be understood, when it is said that the brass matrices, from which the linotype slug is cast, are handled automatically by the machine, seven times after they leave the magazine before they find their way into the magazine again. This is done month after month, thousands of times a day, with never a deviation or error in the assembling or replacing of the ninety characters that are at the command of the operator. All the parts of the machinery are adjusted in their turn, to meet the matrices in their travels, and to perform their duty in setting them in line, casting the slug from them and returning them to the magazine. There

are three distinct operations gone through by the linotype—setting the matrices* casting the line of type and distributing the matrices. All three go on at once, and one does not interfere with the other. While one line is being distributed, another is being cast and a third set. The lines of type once

ASSEMBLED MATRICES AND WEDGE SPACES.

cast are handled in exactly the same manner as regular type, only they are much more easily shifted about These lines of type can be either printed from directly or can be stereotyped' for use on big newspaper perfecting presses. Once used, the lines of type are ro-

turned to the melting pot and are ra> melted, to be cast over again. A comparison of what can be done on the linotype and what can be done by hand will show 4he difference. One man can set by hand from 1,000 ems of matter per hour to 1,500. On a machine it is a poor operator that cannot sot 4 000 ems of matter per hour, and records of nearly 8,000 ems per hour

THE LINOTYPE MACHINE.

have been made on regular newspaper work. A perfect proof from' a linotype is very common. The linotype is guaranteed to produce over 7,500 ems per hour and good operators constantly set from 4,000 to 5,000 emu per hour. Records of 8,700, 10,000 and 13,000 have already been made. All the large dallies in the country, over 300 small dailies, and a large number of book and job printing offices now<-have the machine® in use. Over 3,000 have been sold in the United States within the past six years. Since perfecting the machine the inventor has devoted his time to improvements, in malMng it meet the needs of every branch of the printing trade. It is now possible to clnuige the face of the typo on a machine in and substitute any of the smaller or reading type, such as “agate,” “nonpareil,” "minion,” “brevier,” “long 'primer,” “small pica,” and italics. Every machine can be fitted with two molds, a “solid” and a “leaded” body, which can be interchanged in a moment and with a supply of molds and magazines on hand, one machine can be made to turn out any of the faces above mentioned on any length of mold. It will be a surprise to learn that the machine occupies a space of only five feet square, weighs less than 2,000 pounds, and requires only one-fourth horse-power— steam or electricity—to operate it. The gas jets used to keep the type metal in a molten state consume less than fifteen feet an hour, .and after an operator has become acquainted with his machine, the services of a machinist are not required. In large offices, of course, where speed and time are the great ..consideration, machinists are required to care for the machines. Though twenty years were spent in creating the linotype, it was only a few years ago considered perfect. It is, therefore, in its infancy. The inventor has but begun to produce a radical change in the printing world which the superiority of his inventlbn will complete, in a few years.

HOUSES IN THE TREE-TOPS.

Tfac Indians of Guiana Build Beyond the Reach of Floods. Interest in the Guiana country naturally centers about the most j fertile region, that which commands the mouth of its great waterway. As you approach the Orinoco from the gulf of Para you will see that picturesque sight to which Humboldt refers in his travels, “innumerable fires in the tall palm'trees”—the dwelling-places of the peaceful Guaraunos. The legend that this strange tribe of Indians, once the masters of the Orinoco, live in trees the entire year, results from thg great annual rise of the Orinoco. At fihudad Bolivar, three hundred miles up, this amounts sometimes, in a contracted .place, to ninety feet. On The .broader delta it is always suflicient to .cover islands and ,low ground; therefore the inhabitants very wisely build their houses well abjqve the ground. For this purpose four .fall palm trees are selected, and the crosspieces which form the foundation for the houses are lashed to the main support by pieces of a tough vine indigenous to the delta. Upon these is laid the flooring, and then the sides and roof are thatched with large palm leaves, to tvliich the Indians have given the poetic name of “featiier-of-tbe-suu.” Ttere are many advantages which this particular palm leaf possesses over others of the same family, the principal one being its similarity to asbestos in the quality of resisting fire. In the location of his housq the Guarnuno takes another wise precaution in 'building, and it is one that carries with it a lesson for the government under whost sovereignty he lives.—Century.

The Exhaustion of the Coal Supply, The exhaustion of the supply 0 1 anthracite coal veins is a subject thal is now receiving much attention. William Griffith, of Scranton, Pa„ who has l»en studying the matter, gives it as his opinion in the Bond Record that the supply of coal still available does not ntnount to more than 5,073,786,750 tons. The largest estimate made is that of the .Pennsylvania coal waste commission, which places the supply at 6,898,000,000 tons. It Is estimated that at tha present annual rate of consumption the coal will be Exhausted in from eightyfou™ to 109 years. Blodds—Here’s a rather clever llttla book, “Don’ts for Club Men." Slobbs— It Isn’t-tbe don’ts that worry me; it’j th» dues.- -Philadelphia Racard.

The Cream of Current

We’ll have no comic valentines; ’Tis cheering, you’ll allow. To see the skill spent in those line* AH turned to posters now, , „ Star. She-rAm I the first girl you ever kissed? He (surprised)—Why, no! I have three sisters, —Somerville Journal. your business? He— Looking for a wife. “You’ve got a steady job, haven’t you?”—Life. Binks—Your nephfrfv Is qutte a promising young man, isn’i he? Jinks—Well, he has never done anything else as yet. —Somerville Journal. .*-* “That was a had runaway yon had the other night, Mrs. Dash.” “Yes, but it was very stylish; we had four ho;*ses.”—Chicago Record. Mrs. Brown—Mrs.JSpnth is a woman of remarkable strensMi of mind. Mrs. Jones—ls she? “Yes. She never hays anything she doesn’t want.”—Life. Time works a strange distraction In the object of her zeal; ;>! She’s forgot to want the ballot Since she learned to ride the wheel —Washington Star. Johnny—Pa, what is the difference between a tonsorial artist and a barber? Mr. Wiggles—The tonsqrigl artist uses longer words. —Somerville Joure ®®l - .-9 r ..uotj “He lives in a brick house now, does he?” sneered the rural cynic. “I used to wipe the clay off my boots that the bricks in that house are made of.”— Truth. Her Dearest Friend: Cholly—How old do you suppose Miss Furbish is? Gertrude—You might ask mamma. Perhaps she'll remember.—Cleveland Leader. The man who thinks that women have No lively.gift of wit, Has never asked a girl to wed, And heard her answer “nit.” —lndianapolis Journal. Mrs. Gazzam—Why is the ringing of a made obligatory upon bicycle riders? Mr. Gazzam—lt gives their victims time to make an ejaculatory prayer.—Truth. Waiter (at club restaurant)—Ready with your order, sah? City Sportsman ■ back from a week’s fishing)—Give me some fish; I’m tired to death of other things.—New York Weekly. Laura —Is it a fact that your engagement with Willie is broken off? Flora —' Why, no; not broken off, exactly. It sort of tapered off, one might say,—lndianapolis Journal. Johnny—Papa, what is meant by person of sanguine temperament?” Papa—lt means—a—it means a person who expects a good many things thirt do not happen.—Puck, Dah’s lots o’ folks puts in dah time (I liahdiy kin endnre -’em) A-talkin’ ’bout dah troubles ’stid O’ hustlin’ roun’ ter cure ’em. —Washington Star. Ballinger—lt will be a sweltering summer at the shore. How will you manage to keep cool? Manhattan—l shall limit my engagements to Boston girls exclusively.—Town Topics. Osgood—l guess Matthews Intends to run for office this year.—Wawmam— What makes you think so? Osgood— He's removed the fence from around his beautiful lawn.—Cleveland Leader. Hungry Higgins—What do you think of this here eight-hour movement, anyway? Weary Watkins—Es 4 it means not movin’ moren once every eight hours I guess it's all right.—lndianapolis Journal.

Mrs. Buzbey—What’s all this talk the papers are full of about 16 to 1? Mrs. Buzbuz —Oh, it’s the score of some great baseball game, I suppose. ■ You know how crazy men ard' on that subject.— Roxbury Gazette. How strangely do life’s prizes go, , Awarded by the crowd; Some triumph by the things they know, And some by talking loud. —'Washington Evening Star. Mrs. Motherby—How are you getting on with your singing lessons, Kate? Miss Screecher—Weiijil think I.must be improving. I nofH?e, anyway, that when I practice now the neighbors don’t come and ring the doorbell to protest.—Somerville Journal. She (on the way over)—Just to think that this big ship is absolutely under the control of the man at the wheel. He—Oh, that’s nothing. The man on the wheel at home claims to hava-pow-er enough to control the whole-nation. —Philadelphia North AmerijyjUj When for a lengthy", Vacationists prepare,”' *f l p . The first inquiry ought to be As to the railroad —Washington Star. -I ” Flowery Fields—la dere any demand fer farm laborers between There an’ Squedunk? Fanner Jones— Naw; I reckon th’ faraaers*hev hired all'th’ help they need by this time. Flowery Fields (shaking his partner)—Wake up. Weary! We’ve struck de right road at last.—Judge. Mother—“ Mary, that young Spinners has been paying a great deal of attention to you of late. Do you think he means business?” Mary (with a faraway look)—“I am afraid lie does, mother. He Is the agent for a bicycle firm, and he hasidone nothing but try to sell me a cyele ever since he has been coming here.”—Puck.

Tramp’s Expression of Gratitude.

“It is very kind of you, madam,” said the tramp, “to give me such a fine dinner.” “Don’t mention it, you poor man,” said the kind-hearted-woman. “But I will repay you,” said the tramp, gratefully. “I’ll tell all my pals you are a flinty-hearted termagant that ain’t never known how to cook nothin’ decent, so’s they’ll give your house the go’by and won’t never bottler you.” Every summer we wish we were u eold-blooded as people say we are.