Indiana State Sentinel, Volume 35, Number 22, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 July 1889 — Page 3

THE INDIANA STATE SENTINEL WEDNESDAY, JULY 17. 18S9.

"OUIt HOUSE OX THE HILLS1

DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON ON HEAVEN. Th PrtMhor Describes tho at boring of Triends Aod ttelatlrea In the Eternal Home There I Room For All IV ho "Will Com. The Eer. T. De AVitt Tal mage, P. P., preached at Hampton, X. Y., last Sunday, on the subject: "Our house on the Hills." His text was John, xiv.2 "In my father's house are many rooms." lie said: Here is a bottle of medicine that is a cure-alL The disciples were Bad and Christ offered heaven as an alternative, a stimulant and a tonic. He shows them that their sorrows are only a dark background of a bright picture of coming felicity. He lets them know that though now they live on the lowlands, they shall yet have a house on the uplands. Nearly all the bible descriptions of heaven may be figurative. I am not positive that in all heaven there is a literal crown or harp or pearly gate or throne or chariot They may bo only used to illustrate the glories of the place, but how. well they do it! The favorite symbol by which the bible presents celestial happiness is a house. Faul, who never owned a house, although he hireu f one for two years in Italy, speaks of heaven as a "house not made with hands,'' and Christ in oar text, the translation of which is a little chanced so as to give the more accurate meaning, says: "In my Father's house are many rooms." This divinely authorized comparison of heaven to a great homestead of largo accommodations I propose to carry out In Rome healthy neighborhood a man builds a very commodious habitation. He must Lave room for all his children. The rooms com to be called after the different members of the family. That is mother's room. That is George's room. That is Henry's room. That is Flora's room. That is Mary's room. And the house is all occupied. But the time goes by and the sons go out into the world and build their own homes and the dauehters are married or have talents enough to go out and do a good work in the world. After awhile the father and mother are almost alone in the big house and, seated "by tho evening stand, they say: "Well, cur family is "no larger than when we started together iorty years ago." But time goes still further by and some of the children are unfortunate and return to the old homestead to live, and the grandchildren come with them, and perhaps p-eat grandchildren, and again the house is full. Many millenia ago God built on the hills oi heaven a great homestead for a family innumerable yet to be. At first he. lived alone in that great house, but after awhile it was occupied by a very larsre family, cherubic, seraphic," ansehe. The eternities passed on and many of the inhabitants became wayward and left, never to return. And many of the apartment? were vacated. I refer to the fallen angels. Now these apartments are filling tip again. There are arrivals at the old homestead ci God's children every day, and the day will come when there will be no unoccupied room in all the house. As you and I expect to enter it and make there eternal residence, I thought you would like to get some more particulars about that many-roomed homestead. "In my Father's house are many rooms." You see the place is to be apportioned off into apartments. We shall love all who are in heaven, but there are eome very good people whom we would not want to live with in the same room. They may be better than we are, but they are of a divergent temperament. We would like to meet with them on the golden streets and worship with the a in the temple and walk with them on the river banki, but I ara glad to say that we will live in different apartments. "In my Father's house are many rooms." You see heaven will be so large that if one want an entire room to himself or herself it can be afforded. An ingenious statistician, taking the statement made in Revelations, xxi, that the heavenly Jerusalem was measured and found to be 12,000 furlongs, and that the length and hight and breadth of it are equal, says that would make heaven in eize Ö4? sextillion PS-S quintillion cubic feet, and then, reserving a certain portion for the court of heaven and the streets, and estimating that the world may la,-t 100,000 years, he ciphers out that there are over five trillion rooms, each room seventeen feet lone, sixteen feet wide, fifteen feet high. But I have no faith in the accuracy of ihatcalculation. He makes the rooms too small. From all I can read the rooms will be palatial, and thoe who have not had enough room in this world will have plenty of room at the last The fact is that most people in this world are crowded, and though out on a vast prairie or in a mountain district people may have more room than they want in most rases, it is !house built close to house, and the streets are crowded and the cradle is crowded by other cradles, and the graves crowded in the cemetery by other graves, and one of the richest luxuries of many people in getting out of this world will be the gainine of unhindered and uncramped room, .'and I should not wonder if instead of the room that the statistician ciphered out as only seventeen feet by sixteen, it should he larger than any of the imperial rooms at Berlin, St. James or Winter palace. "In my Father's house are many rooms." Carrvingout stid further the symbolism of th text, let us join hands and go up to this majestic homestead and see for ourselves. As we ascend the golden steps an invisible guardsman swings open the frontdoor and we are ushered to the right into the receotion-roomof the old homestead. This is the place where we first meet the welcome of heaven. There innst be a place where the departed spirit enters, and a place in which it confronts the inhabitants celestial. The reception-rooin of the newly arrived from this world what cf-aes it mujt have witnessed since the first gueet arrived, the victim of the first fratricide, the pious Abel. la that room Christ lovingly greeted all new comers. He redeemed them, and He has the right to the first embrace on their arrival. What a minute when the ascended spirit first fees the Lord: Better than all we e?er read about Him or talked about Him or sang about Him in ail the churches and through all our earthly lifetime will it be, just tor one second, to see Hiru. The most rapturous idea we ever had of Him on sacramental davs or at the bight of some ereat revival or under the uplifted baton of an oratorio are a bankruptcy of thought compared with the first flash of His appearance in that reception-room. At that moment when you confront each other, Christ looking npon you and you looking upon Christ, there will bean ecstatic thrill and surging of emotion that bfgjars all de e-diction. Look! They need no intro duction. Lou? ago Christ chose that re pentant sinner and that repentant sinner chose Christ Mightiest moment of an immortal history the first kisa of heaven! Jesus and the soul. The soul nd Jesus. Bat now into that reception-room ponr the glorified kinsfolk. Enough of earthly .retention to let you know them, and with

out their wounds, or their sicknesses, or their troubles. Pee what heaven has done for them. So radiant, bo gleeful, bo transportingly lovely. They call you by name. They greet you with an ardor proportioned to tho anguish of your parting and the length of your separation. Father! Mother! There is vour child. Sisters! Brothers! Friends! 1 wish you joy. For years apart, together again in the reception-room of the old homestead. You see they will know you aro coming. There aro so many immortals filling all the space tetween here and heaven that news like that flies like lightning. They will be there in an instant; though they were in some other world on errand from (od a signal would be thrown that would fetch them. Though you might at first feel dazed and overawed at their supernal splendor, all that feeling will be gone at their first touch of heavenly salutation and we will say: "Oh, my lost boy!" "Oh, my lost companion!" "Oh, mv lost friend, are we here together?" What scenes have been witnessed in that reception-room of the old homestead! There met Joseph and Jacob, finding it a brighter room than anything they saw in l'haraoh's palace; David and the little "child for whom he once fasted and wept; Mary and Lazarus after the heartbreak of Bethany ; Timothy and Grandmother Lois ; Isabella Graham and her sailor son, Alfred and George Cookman, tho mystery of the sea at last made manifest; Luther and Magdalene, the daughter he bemoaned; John Howard and the prisoners whom he eospelized. and multitudes without num

ber who, once so weary and so sad, parted on earth but gloriously met in heaven. Among all the rooms of "that house there is no one that more enraptures my soul than that reception-room. "In my Father's house are many rooms." Another room in our Father's house is the throne-room. We belong to the royal family. The blood of King Jesus Hows in our veius, so.we have a right to enter the throne-room. It is no easy thing on earth to get through even the outside door of a king's residence. Puring the FrancoGerman war one eventide in the summer of 1S70 I stood studying the exouisite sculpturing of the gate of the Tulleries, Baris. Lost in admiration of the wonderful art of that gate I knew not that I was exciting suspicion. Lowering my eyes -to the crowds of people I found myself being closely inspected by government, officials, who from my "complexion, judged me to be a German, and thai for some belligerent purpose I might be examining the gates of the palace. My explanation in very poor French did not satisfy them, and they followed me long distances until I reached my hotel, and were not satisfied until from my landlord they learned that I was only an inoffensive American. The gates of earthly palaces are carefully guarded, and, if so, how much more severely the throne-room. A dazzling place it is for mirrors and all costly art No one who ever saw the throne-room of the first and only Napoleon will ever forget the letter "N" embroidered in purple and cold on tho upholstery of chair and window, the letter "N gilded on the wall, the letter 'N" flaming from the ceiling. W hat a conflagration of brilliance the throne-room of Charles Immanuel of Sardinia, of Ferdinand of Spain, of Elizabeth of England, of Bonifaca of Italy! But the throne-room of our Father's house hath a glory eclipsing all the thronerooms that ever saw scepter wave or crown glitter, or foreign embassador bow, for our Father's throne is a throne of grace, a throne of mercy, a throne of holiness, a throne of justice, a throne of universal do minion. H e need not stand shivering and cowering lcfore it, tor our Father savs we mav vet one dav come up and sit on it be side Him. "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne." You see we are princes and princesses. Perhaps now we move about incognito, as Peter the Great in the garb of a ship carpenter at Amsterdam or as Queen Tirzah in the dress of a peasant woman seeking the prophet for her child's cure; but it will be found out alter awhile whom we are, after wo get into the throne room. Aye! we need not wait until then. e may by prayer and song and spiritual uplifting this moment enter the throne room. O king, live forever! We touch the forgiving scepter and prostrate ourselves at thv feet! The crowns of the royal families of this world are tossed about from generation to generation and from family to family. There are children four years old in Berlin who have seen tho crown on three emperors. But wherever tne coronets of this world rise or fall they are destined to meet in one place. And I look and see them coming from north and south, and east and west, the Spanish crown, the Italian crown, the English the Turkish crown, the Kussian crown, the Persian crown aye. all the crowns from under the archivolt heaven; and while I watch and wonder they are all flung in rain of diamonds around the pierced feet. "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun Ioes his successive journeys run, His kingdom stretch from shore to shore Till s iu shall rise and set no more.'' Oh, that throne-room of Christ! "In mv Father's house are manv rooms." Another room in our Father's house is the music-room. St. John and other bible writers talk bo much about the mu0 SJ . . sicoi neaven mar. mere must , dc music there, perhaps not such as on earth was thrummed from trembling string or evoked by touch of ivory key, but if not that then something better. There are so many Christian harpists and Christian composers and Christian organi.sta and Christian choristers and Christian hymn ologists that have gone up from earth there must be for them some place of especial delectation. Shall we have music in this world of discord and no music in the land of complete harmony? I can not give you the notes of tho first bar of the new song that is sung in heaven. can not imagine either tho solo or the doxology. But heaven means music and can mean nothing else. Occasionally that music has escaped the gate. Dr. Fuller dying at Beaufort, S. C, said: "Do you not hear?" "Hear what?" exclaimed tho bystanders. "The music! Lift me up! Open the window!" In that music-room of our Father's house you will some day meet the old Christian masters, Mozart and Handel and Men delssohn and Beethoven and Doddridge. whose sacred poetry was as remarkable as his eacred prose ; and James Montgomery and Wiliiani Cow per, at last pot rid of his spiritual melancholy ; and Bishon Heber. who sang of "Greenland's icv mountains and India s coral strand: and Dr. Kaflles. whoVrote of "High in yonder realms of light;" and Is;ac Watts, who went to visit Sir Ihomas Abnev and wife for a week, but proved himself so agreeable a iruest. that they made him stay thirty-six vears; and 6ide by side, Augustus Toplady, Mho nas got over his dislike for methodists. and Charles Wesley, freed from his dislike for Calvinists; and George .Bethune, as sweet as a song-maker as he was great aa a preacher, and the author of "The v lllage Hymns, and many who wrote in verse and song, in church or by eventide cradle, and many who were passionately fond oi music, but could make none them selves. The poorest singer there more than any earthly prima donna, and the poorest player there more than any eartniy uottscnait. un: mat music room, the headquarters of cadence and rhythm, symphony and chant, psalm and antiphon! May we be there tome hour when Haydn sits at the keys of one of his own oratorios, and David the psalmist fingers the harp, and Miriam of the Kd sea banks claps the cymbals, and Gabriel puts his lips to the trumpet nd , the four and twenty soldiers chant, and

Lind and Parepa render matchless duet in the music-room of the old heavenly homestead. "In my Father's house are many rooms."

Another room in our Father's house will b the family room. It may correspond somewhat with the family room on earth. t morning and evening, vou know, that is the place we now meet. Though every member of the household have a separate room, in the family room they all gather, and joys and sorrows and experiences of all styles are there rehearsed. Sacred room in all our dwellings. Whether it be luxurious with ottomans and divans and books in BussUn lids standing in mahogany case or there be only a few plain chairs and a cradle. So the family room on high will bo the place where the kinsfolk assemble and talk over the lain ily experiences of earth, the weddings the births, the burials, the festal days of Christmas and Thanksgiving reunion. Will the children departed remain chil dren there? Will the nged remain aged there? Oh.no; everything is perfect there. The child will go ahead to glorified maturity and the aged will go back to glorified maturity. The rising sun of the one will rise to meridian and the descending Fun of the other will return to meridian. However much we love our children on earth we would consider it a domestic disaster if they stayed children, and so we rejoice at their growth here. And when we meet in the family room of our Fathers house we will be glad that they have grandly and gloriously matured ; while our parents who were aged and intirm here we snail 1 glad to find restored to the most agile and vigorous immortality there. If forty or forty-five or fifty years bo the apex of physical and mental life on earth, then the heavenly childhood will advance to that and the heavenly old ago will retreat to that When we join them in that familv-roora we shall have much to tell them. We shall want to know of them right away such things as these: Did vou vou see us m this or that or the other struggle? Did yon know when we lost our property and and sypathize with us? Did vou know we had that awful sickness ere you hovering anywhere around when we plunged into that memorable accident". Did you know of our backsliding? Did you know of that moral victory? ere you pleased when we started for heaven? Did j-ou celebrate the hour of our conversion? And then, whether they know it or not, we will tell them all. But they will have more to teil us than we to tell them. Ten years on earth may be very eventful, but what must be the biography of ten years m heaven? Thev will have to tell us the 6tory of coronations, story of news from all immensity, story of conquerors and hierarchs, story of wicked or ransomed planets, story of angelic victory over dia bolical revolts, of extinguished suns of obliterated constellations, of new galaxies kindled and swung, of stranded comets, of worlds on fire, and story of Jehovah's majestic reign. If in that familv-room of our Father's house we have so much to tell them of what we have passed through since we parted, how much more thrilling and arousing that which they have to tell us of what thev have passed through since we parted. Surely that familv-room will be one of the most favored rooms in all our Father's house. What long lingering there, for we shall never again be in a hurrv. "Let me open a window," said a humble Christian servant to Lady Rallies, who, because of tho death of her child, had shut herself up in a dark, room and refused to see any one. "You have been many days in this dark room. Are you not ashamed to grieve in this manner when vou ought to be thanking God for having given vou the most beautiful child that ever was seen, and instead of leaving him in this world till he should be worn with trouble has not God taken him to heaven in all his beauty? Leave off weeping and let me open a window." So to day I am trying to open upon the dark ness of oarthlv separation the windows and doors and rooms of the heavenly homestead. "In my Father's house are many rooms." How would it do for mv sermon to leave you in that family-room to-night? Iam sure there is no room in which you had rather stay than in the enraptured circle of your ascended and clorined kin folk. We might visit other rooms in our Father's house. There may be picture galleries penciled not with earthly art but by some process unknown in this world, preserving for the next world the brightest and most stupendous scenes of human history. And there may be lines and forms of earlhly beauty preserved for heavenly in spection in something whiter and chaster and richer than enetian sculpture, ever wrought Rooms beside rooms. Rooms over rooms. Large rooms. Majestic rooms, opalescent rooms, amethystine rooms. "In mv Father's house are many rooms." I hope none of us will be disappointed about getting there, lhere is a room for us if we will go and take it, but in order to reach it it is absolutely necessary that we take the right way, and Christ is the way; and we must enter at tho right door, and Christ is the door; and we must start in time, and the only hour you are sure of is the hour the clock now strises ana tne oniv Eecond the ono vour watch is now ticking. I hold in my hand a roll of letters inviting you all to make that your home forever. The new tentament is only a roll of letters inviting you, as the spirit or them practically says "Mv dving et immortal child in earthlv neighborhood, I have built for you a great residence. Jt is full of rooms. I havo furnished them as no palace was ever fur ni.-died. Pearls are nothing, emeralds are nothing, chrysophrasus is nothing; illu mined paneis of sunrise and sunset, noth ing compared with the splendor with which I have garnitured them. But you must bo clean betöre you can enter there. and so I have opened a fountain where vou mav wash all vour sins awav. Com now! Put your weary but cleansed feet on the upward pathway. Do you not see amid the thick foilage on tho heavenly hiil-tops the old family homestead?" "In my rather s house are many rooms. MIST AKES OF THE CHURCH. Why It it Growing Away From the I'eople and Losing Ita Influence. In the city of Indianapolis the clerrrv have been engaged in discussing the evils of base ball, savs the hvansville Courier, It is a curious thing that the church meddles with everybody else's business to tho total neglect of its "own. The mistake it makes is in assuming that the mere fact o a person belonging to the church that is partaking of its solemn sacraments re lieves the pastor of all concern for tho spiritual welfare of that person. People outside of the church see nothinc of the members of the flock except as thev meet them in the avenues of business activity and the general experience is that the mere fact of being a church member does not in any respect change the nature ot the individual in business transactions. To put it in a few words, the business man who belongs to the church is found to be just as sharp and creed v and quick to take advantage as the business man who is not a member of the church. As there is no apparent distinction be tween the lust and the unjust each meas ures the other by his own standard, and each is certain to indulee In more or less unjust criticism of the other. There are exceptional instances of charitable judgment in which the general idea that, after all, the human family, under any given civilization, is about the same in all of its motives and impulses, influences the con elusion. An instance of this kind is af forded by the Rev. Dr. A. II. Cleveland o the Meridian-st church, Indianapolis, who

eads the defense of base ball in a contro

versy poind on among the clerjry of that city. In his sermon Minday morning last ie said "people by the hundred aro inuring their health and impairing their vitality by the confinement and strain e mi a I caused by business cares. j.ney must nave some recreation. Base ball takes them nto the open air and relieves their minds. It is an innocent amusement The game must not be condemned . because people gamble on it People gamble in wheat and meat and flour, but nobody advocates doing without them Wcause of it The religion that is so narrow and conven tional that it cannot leave the rut which it ias worn to meet the demands of new ideas and broader int 'Uigence, loses its power and attractiveness." This is sound doctrine and common sense. The church has grown away from the people because it has quarreled too much with their innocent pleasures while failing to correct the evils incident to hu man weakness among- its own llock. Did it ever occur to the clergy that the new ideas of economy and social science which are pervading all recent literature upon social questions are but tho ideas preached by Jesus and revived by writers outside of the church? Did it ever occur to the clergy that the divine doctrines of brotherly love, of charity, of benevolence, of equal and exact justice between man and man are preached in every labor union, in every organization whose very objects are to ameliorate man's hard lot in this life, and that they are practiced, too? Are they either preached or practiced in the church of to-day? Are the power and inlluence of the church exerted in behalf of the people, the great mass of society, among whom Jesus found His followers nt His first appearance, or are thev used to shield and strengthen the money-changing c'as, Mho, in revenge for being driven from the tempio which their greed had polluted, became the chief instruments in the crucifixion of our Lord? If these questions are being asked every where with cumulative emphasis, as they are by earnest and able men who believe in the teachings of Christ, and strive to practice them in their own lives, whose fault is it? The people sees the church ir ritably quarreling with pleasures enjoved by them, which, if sins at all, are but venial sins ; on the other hand they see the heart of the church coldly turned away from the appeals of starving miners for no other apparent reason than that the miners are struggling for the right of man to a just share of tho fruits of his labor against a powerful trust which denies them this right, and whose members are members of the church contributing liberally of the money they have robbed from their employes to the church cotlers. It is a part of the prophecy of the new testament that Christ is to reappear upon earth to reign for a thousand years. If I Ie were to come now would the church or the people outside of the church bo best prepared to receive him? Religions Thought and Note. The true worth of the biblo is to furnish wings of religious aspiration, not fetten for Ihe reason or blinders for the eyes. Lhristtan Legitcr. ' The baptist work in Cuba continues, under the supervision of Diaz, to prosper. There are now tw enty missionaries, twenty-seven churches and Station!, with a membership of 1.4M. ihe nnmher of baptisms the past year was 30O. Ihe Independent. The Rev. Wni. T. F.lsiDg, pastor of the DeWit memorial chapel, New ork City, has for several years been devoting his energies in the line of establishing larce swimming paths in the tenement portion of New York for the use of the working classes. ' There is no necessity for a conflict between the Protestant and Roman catholic churches in this country. Protestants are willing to concede every right to Rouian catholics enjoyed by themselves, but nothing more anything more should not be asked er even desired. IlieJtanntr. Sav what men will in depreciation of theo ogy, every man has a theology, and from the nature of the eao must have one. The only question is whether his theology shall be rieht or wrong, systematic or tragmtntary, intelligently thought out or reached by haphazard processes. ihe Lxo.mxn.rr. There are now eighty-two medical mission aries in China, the majority of whom are from the United States; sixteen of them are female physicians. There are large mission hospitals and dispensaries in Peking, Tientsin, Shanghai, and Canton, and smaller ones at various other cities. the LhurrA of lo-lJay. Let the newspaper writers for one day omit the list of crimes, and devote their undoubted energy to gathering occurrences creditable to human nature. 1 he result might show that we of this generation are not so destitute of the homely virtues of the fathers as we are made to appear. Ihe (.ongregntwnalm. The bible Christ is "a whole Savior," making th child of (iod "complete" in iiiin, and neediiij; no supplement of any sort to perfect His "unishfd'' work of salvation. If we are "in Christ," then the whole power of Ilia trrace is pledged in our behalf. Christians should al ways keep this thought in mind. It will greatly aid them in their hopes. If the importance of perretuatinar one day's rest in seven is conceded, and to save this rest to the industrial masses it is necessary to lezal ize a day. the fact that such law would occasion inconvenience to a minority does not necessarily imply injustice to the latter. Such concessions are in harmony with a principle that is essential to the existence of 60ciety. Denver Arfcff. There is not a power on earth to be compared to the simple and unadorned preaching of the gospel. Sermons on Jesus and affectionate expositions of Lis mysteries will make men perform their ordinary actions and relative duties more perfectly than direct Instructions on those very things. All the attraction of the church in in Jesus, and Wis chief attraction is tho blessed sacrament. L'vtholic Week' v. We have never heard of a Jewish anarchist or of one being enpaed in a mob. It is rarely the case that a Jew is arrested for beini a tramp, a wife-heater, a drunkard, or a pickpocket. Christians have no reason for hatred of the Jews. Jesus and Iii apostles were Jews. Paul was a Jew, and many of the greatest ministers and scholars of the Christian church in the early ups were Jews. We call to mind Sir Moses Montifiore, the -great philanthropist; Benjamin Disraeli, earl of lieaconsfield; Sir (ieorge Jassel, one of England's most eminent judges; and others of great worth and great prominence. What Christian can ever forget our debt of gratitude to such men as Neander, Ldersheim, Delitsch, and Jacoby, the apostle of German methodisut. The Sun Francisco Christian Advocate. lb (Quickest Divorce on Kecord. Lewiston Journal. The quickest divorce ever granted in York county was decreed byJudze Haskell at Alfred last week. Mrs. Edward W. Kelly of Saco had applied for a divorce, and ehe appeared before the court to plead her reasons. Her hu.-hiind had spent most of his time since their marriage in jail, and had just been brought up on a charge of stealing hens. "Is that man your husband?" asked the judsre. The woman replied in the afiirraative. "Von are divorced," sai4 the court, with a celerity of action equal to that of the hustling New Hampshire parson who married his patrons in this fashion: "Yon take this woman for a wife? You take this man for a husband? Married. Two dollars." A Palp bio Plot. IN. Y. Weekly. J Mrs. Pu Ille "John, my dressmaker arrived to-day, and I mast have the material to-mor-rMr. Du Ille "Eh? What? You said you had written to her cot to come until next month." Mrs. Da Ille "Yea, I did, but the never got the letter." , - Mr. Du III felupinr his hand to his breastFocket) " Woman 1 This is a plot a vile plot! f you had really wanted her to stay away you would have handed that letter to the postman yourself; you wouldn't have given it to me to mail." . . .. lie Was Sore. Mercbsot Traveler 1 "Did you Intend to hit this man when you hot at him?" asked the judge. "Did I tea' to hit 'im?' Tea." "No sah : if I had "tended to hit 'im I would J 'er tuck a club."

CHILDREN'S ROUND TABLE.

AN INVALID GIRL'S ATTAINMENT. How She rtecamo An Expert In Ferns ltetrlbutton AH Aronnd Too Good What tho Price Brought Among tho Kids Knotty Problems. Ktc. A pretty maidenhair fern, growing in a flower-pot, was given to a young girl hopelessly ill with spinal disease. It proved a thing of beauty and of inexhaustible interest, as the delicate, graceful fronds came up, one by one, and slowly uncurled. There was a littlo pot beside the fern and under its spreading fronds, in which grew an aloe. By-and-by the sick girl noticed in the little pot some tiny ferns, scarco an inch high, quite unlike tho maidenhair. "Whence came they? Her interest was aroused. She was no botanint. but she wanted to learn something about ferns. She could use her eyes for reading but five minutes at a time, and not more than twice a day. A book on ferns came to her, and another and another. Friends, knowing her interest in ferns, brought them to her fresh and green from the woods, or sent her pressed specimens of rare varieties gath ered in distant lands. Sometimes a visitor would read to her from one of her precious books, but only for four or five minutes. 'T cannot lemember more at a time," she would say, "and you have read enough for me to think about for a long time." It is now some years since the maidenhair fern was given to her, and she has become an authority as to the species and culture of ierns, and is an enthusiast in regard to them. It is true that she become educated in one direction only, and not particularly well informed in other respects. But is it not a great gain that she should talk about her ferns and her wonderful method of reproduction, awakening her listeners interest and teaching them many things worth remembering, rather than to dwell chiefly on her pains and troubles? Retribution All Round Brooklyn Ea?l?. "Father," said Rollo, affirmatively, "Tom Ochiltree and I broke a window in the school-house to-day." "Well?" said Mr. Ilolliday, inquiringly. "Well, Tom said he didn't know anything about it and the teacher licked him for lying, and I owned up and said I did it and then he licked me for breaking the window." "That seems hard. said Hollo's father, "but Tom's punishment was greater than yours, for his conscience upbraided him. I don t think he has any," said Kollo sadly, "and besides I got the worst of it anyhow, for Tom licked mo after school for owning up." "I know, my son, but remember the wicked are exalted for a little while, but are soon found out and brought low. "I guess that's so," said Rollo, greatly comforted, "for just as he was climbing over the fence I caught him on tho head with a brick that sent his leit ear two inches ahead." What the Pri:o lironght, rVa-hincton Fot,l A western paper recently offered a prize lor tne best story to be written dv a pupil of the public school. Here are a few pas sages from the contributions. "Cora Brown was fortunately the possessor of a birthday, for she was the daughter of rich friends." "But all this time a cloud was Catherine of r Mrs. Delanev. which crew large as years went by, and that cloud was full of crasshopners." "Mv father desired in to marrv a bank nresident. a handsome. rfflrlp man. fond of naiiL'ht save the gambling table." "Vat I dell you, vat I 1 . W 1 it A dell vou. snouted the jnsnman. -as she entered the room a cold, damp emel met tier cross-eyed signt. Too Good Altogether, Youth's Companion. Some people begin very early in life to hate Aristides because they are " tired o hearing him called 'Ihe Just. hy don't vou walk home from school with Minnie" Spring?" a mother one day asked her little daughter; 1 never see you together now. we're not together very "So'm much," said the little 2irl. demurely. i ou are in the same classes, aren't vou ?" " Yes'm.' "And you live in tho same street. It must be that vou don t think her a nice little girl." "Mamma," burst forth the child, with a gush of confidence, "ehe is so good that I hate her. KNOTTY PROBLEMS. 'Our readers are initd to furnish original eniRma, charades, riddles, rebuws, an! other "Knotty Problem," adirefsin? all communications relative to thia depart tarnt to E. K. Chadbourn, lewiston, Ala. No. 2811 Rebus. A notice often setn in Indianapolis on houses to let. No. 2812 Girls. Who's tho t;irl lorn for warfare? Tbeirrl that's a same? The pirl for a sportsman, This known by her name? Tbo trirl pood for fetching? The one mado for court? Who'll call folVsto dinner? Who'a jaunty for Krt? Who's mad fora milliner? Who can write books? Who's a treat foreign city? And ho grows in brooks? Who's flavorfd with pepper? Who covers the floor? Who's charniint; in summer? Who's cram-full of lore ' (J. A. No. 2813 Numerical Mind Reading. "I say, Jones," said Terklns, I understand that yon are bloonilmr out In tho mind-rea iinif line?" "Well," replied Jones, modestly, "I am tloin something in numerical mind-reading." "Numerical miud-rcadind, eh? Koad a number a fellow's thinkin? about, I suppose?" "That's about th ize of it" answered Jones; 'for instance, think of a number." 1'erkins did as h was told. "Multiply it by 121." Perkins borrowed Jones pencil and performed the Operation suggested. '.'Now, erase the first fienre of tho answer, and tell me the balance of the answer." "The balance of the answer is 4 5 6 3," said Perkins, after he had drawn his pencil through the first figure. Jones thought for a minute, and then gave the erased figure correctly. What was it? And how did he find it? J. H. FEZASDIK. No. 2814 A Matrvelloaa Transposition. With anythir g you choose to take, Or any ptrt of anything. You'll deft j make. With proper shake, A flight of stairs, which will you bring, If right, I think, to the river's brink. Or, greater Will, . If you've the skill, 'Twill bo a mountain chain or raage. And lo! be- old A pass untold Tbsi leads you through thee mountains strange. Had wlrard e'er such power? To make of anything be chose to take, Such wondrous things with elmple shake? IPjomio. No. 815 Compound Diamond. Upper Vicimtmdt 1, a letter; 2, te clear: 8, s-alusd 4, an inflammable MfcaUnoa; S, an aril spirit; 6, a cTrn ; 7, a letter. r.thiJJiamoni: 1. autter; 2, to teu; 8, owerrexl

closely: 4, a fool; 5, a small fruit; i, tranty-foar hour; 7, a letwr.

Isnrrr iamoiut: 1. a ltr; 2, a preflT, S, com puted; 4, etpressinc number; 5. a smail pulpy fruit; 6, time from sunrise to unt; 7, a letwr. Jyft DwnnHd: I, a lettr; 2, to lay io ordw: 8, founded ; 4, to a?ot : 5, traded ; 6, prelia ; 7, a letter. itomingPDurg, ina. vouüt less. 'o. 2816 Aphere'sta. A fellow, who, (otiJ, was dumb, Mt a man with a Ix.ttleof rutnb; He tycd it in duult. For a moment without A word, then said: ailre me fimb." This mau, who two hundred did wcih, Iplird: "lht you think I'm a jeiph? This chap you rai,'t riii hiv, If you nnf th" Itiahre, You 11 go without cane-juice to-dcln." ' IJKOVIO. No. 2817 Diamond. 1. A letter. 2 Mother, words nvd br rhildren. X Alloys oi copper, tin. etc., usually ral!d whitfl mem I. -i. ji comp riw sr period. 5. 1 ho tub-stain-es or mattr frvtu which t h i n trs are tnndo, or to be luudo. 6. Hiotousiy uiTry. 7. Marking with proove or Channel. 8. roDtirmiiifr. !. A troke. 10. To bworae displaced by gravity, especially lu a vertical direction. 11. A U"tur. Iii Ando. No. 2818 Churado of Summer. 1 was paying -.' to Annie, An.l at eve did rllde night araoTii; the watr-U!es, drifting with tho tide. But it happened that we quarreled On the other Mde; "Cnrso the ln..tr' I muttered, pulling Hard against the tide. Yes, in All are stormy break ers, Born of woman's pri Ie; 'Tisn't always pleasant mailing, Drilling with the tide! JokAmoby. The Purzle Malt inc. Winners of the prizes offered f.r the best iot of puzzles contributed duriug the first half of l4"1.: (1) W. WiNnn. Montreal, Oar ad a; (21 M. C. Woodford, Avon, Conn. : CJ) ."h-3, KirhtU-ld, .Minn.; i-T Art'h'is Laurentius, Webster, Dak. ; A idyl, Waite, M".; () Oal Atido, Philadelphia. Pa. ; f?i Drornio, vraiise, X. Y. ; (Si Odell Cyclone, Odell, 111. ; -9; Pat Kiot, Bellcvyria, Pak. Unfortunately thT are no more pri.rs this time, and for the excellent work ol Cunt Lps, Joe Aiuory, P. Arty, Jennie, M. C S.. Syzygy and many others only thanks can be returned. Another competition will be announced very soon, ano: tho new oners will embrace some twenty-five prizes. Lt the puzzle-makers be preparing. Answers. 2,804 The cadi loaned a camel to tho brothe.rs, and bade tbem then divide the twenty; ten to llamet, five to Se:im, and four to Mnrad. By so doing they found they had the borrowed one kit, which they returned to the lender. 2.S05 A C TT B C A T E S CA LORlf AUTOMATON BE BATED SITES C O It N 3,o?fi Guard-ship. 2.W'The man rhat hath no music in hiTT3olf. Nor Is not mov'd with con-ord of sweet founds, Ts fit for treasons. stratasÄsand spoils: The motions of his spirit Ze dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus." Merchant of Venice, Act V. 2,W Ho (rat) io, Ohio. 2,b00 ChehcB O jf T C It A V co i L X E B l L A T A RTA N V. X O T I C U I M o s E 2,S10 Dromedaries. Among the Kids. "I never saw my hands so dirty as yours," said a mother to a little irl. "Well, I guess grandma has." "How did you pet along at school to-day, Tom?" asked the old man at supper. 'Tapa, our physiology says that conversation at meals should be of a pleasant character. Let's talk of the minstrels." A youthful Chicaeo Etory-teller offered the followinc unique prize story: "The minister's wife had nine small children, each of which was one year yountrer than the other. Though poor, she Whi a diligent woman." Little Enid was discussing what she should do when she crew "a bic: woman," and Iannting that she was not talented. "Even so." remarked her auntie, "you can do Komethin. What do you think you will do?" "Oh, I don't know," said the child, ploomily, "I suppose I'll be the wife of some man." -V. j; World. A local society woman sendsthis story: "One night at the tea-table the conversation turned on the seven brothers mentioned in the bible who one after the other married the same woman, as each one died the brother next younger marrying the widow. Tor pity's sake!' cried our eight-year-old bov, 'how Ion? did the widow &st?' Cleveland Plain Dri er. Grandmamma has been explainin? to the little girl how our earth is kept from flying oJ into infinite space by the attraction of the sun, which is constantly trying to draw the earth toward itself, while the latter always keeps its distance. "Grandmamma," said the little trirl, ""I should think the sun would pet discouraged after awhile, and, like Mr. Gallagher, 'let it so'." Little four-year-old Sallie was astonished to see the dog eating grass, but her mother exElained to her that it was his instinct that told im it was good for him. Next day i?allie coolly announced the fact that she had teen Neptune, the dog, running offwitn two pounds of sausages from tne larder. "Why didn't you stop him," said mamma. "Oh, his instinct said it was good for him." Here is a practical "kid's" essay on "the good girl:" "Once upon a time there was a very good little girl, and everybody loved her. ihe had lovely blue eyes and long liht curls. She lived with a lame aunt. She was goody good, and was too cute for nothing. If ahe got hurt she smiled. She uever told a lie, not even a fib. Her name was Elsie, and she liked castoroil and cried for bitter medicine. Elsie picked poseya and died." One boy waa in knickerbockers and not over six years old. The other wore panties about eicht inches long and bagged at the knees. They were the center of a group on Main-st, Saturday morning. Both wore base ball cups. They were the captains of baseball nines. "We walloped yer fair and yer know it," said the Mx-year-old. "Naw yer didn't," was the response of ths boy with the ei?ht-inch trousers. "YerVe been weak in the box all the season and yer knows it." That settled it. Even a Btroug man smiled and passed on. Leu ion (Jle.) Journal. From Memory' Drawer. 'Tis mine, this little faded fiower, A rose, with sweetest perfume yet, Mote witness of a by gone hour My inmost sol would ne'er fortrel. An hour, so CUM with love's sweet rest That all my world see n'd urangely bright, And thought my lip was doubly blest Nordream'd my joys could ever büghw Alas! Why should clysiau steep Our every tense In love divine. If kindred souls, we cannot keepTo love and cherish for all time. The hand that pluek'd this treasured flower, She. whose purest love did plight, That thrill'd tuy soul with magic powerHath long been buried from my si-hU And I was left to journey on Seeking auch rest as tiiue c uM bring, But niem'ry on her inmost throne Cannot efläce the parting sting. Though many years have intervened. And other loves have cluim'd their place, The h' art whereon her spirit leaned Still holds the iaiage of her face. I prize thee, little faded flower, Thou art Indeed, a treasure-trove, Mut witness of that by-gone Lour, Sweet mem'ry of my earliest Iura. A loving father heeds our grief. Binds up the wounds dread death hath given. And pointa to where, awilt relief Be-union with our loved, la h aveo. Be shows as, though each dark'nlng clood That hover o'er, wher'er we morn. Be charged wiih thunders, deep and loud His love is there, for, "God is Love." Indianapolis, July 10, ls9. w. D. Kerr. Maine's Tory Meanest Man. Burlington Free Press. Nothing seems to be too mean for some men. There is an old fellow in Maine who ia imposing on his hens most shamefully. He has put an electric light in the hen house and the hens lay day and night, Jfothlnt; To Fear. . Y, Weekly! . . Lady "Little- boy, Isn't that your mothe ealiingyonr Little Boy 'TaVm." "Why don't you answer her, then." ,"PopiT."

THE HORRIFIED MOTHER.

HER BABE AND A DEADLY SERPENT,, Efforts to Dislodge the Reptile Tall and Only Servo to Increase the Infant" a Teril Th Father'a Timely Appearance) Saves It. For tho truth of what follows I can vouch, eays a writnr in Chnrnttert Journif as all the collateral and corroVorative circumstances, though not the main incident, came directly under my personal notice. The wife of one of the ove rseers on tha Fxiniore estate in Jemenira had one morn in laid her brhy aVep in ita cradle wbilo sho performed certain household duties. Kninore is or was at the time of which I write the largest supar plantation in that county, for o aro the three provinces ca'led which together rnako up Uritirb, Guiana namely, Dcmerara, Berbice and Eesequibo. The estate has a station on the littl line which runs through several email towns, Ftill Ix anuk; their quaint old Dutch names, a. far as Mahaica. The baby aforesaid was carefully (screened from tne blazinz heat of the day within a cool, precn-jaiou.-ied veranda, and was liehtly covered with a musliu nt to puard it plumbers against the disturbing influence of Iii", Hjarabundas, scorpions, ppiders and other email hut unpleasant deer of which this favored land is the happr hunting-ground. It was three months old, was No. 1, and was the pivot on which the daily life and love of both its parents revolved. I regret to say that I have forgotten whether it was a boy or 4 girl. Picture to yourself, then, if you can, th horror of the young mother when, on stealing into the veranda to refresh herself w ith a pe"-p at her unconscious darling, ehe beheld on the muslin cover a livesprpent! bhe had not been long ia the colony, but had already had sufficient experience of its teerxing reptilian fauna to recognize the blood-red, blunt-headed ' creature which lay on her child as a coral snake, reputed to be po deadly as to elay a man or horse with its bite in twenty minutes. It had apparently fallen into the cradle from the edge of the Venetian shutter above, and, its weight causing tho muslin to bag down, it was unable to raise its body hich enough to get over the edg of the wicker-work and escape, as it seemed to be endeavoring to do. Terror-stricken as t-he was the poor pirl by a desperate etiort summoned up all her self-control and regained stiil, knowing that if the baby was disturbed it miht by its movement provoke the snake to strike J After watching the inenVctual efforts of the latter to climb the side of the cradlo for a few moments which seemed like hours, an idea flew over her half-numbed brain. She crept gently forward, inch by inch, until by rtretching forth one foot ehe could touch the rocker. Getting her toe underneath this ehe slowly raised it until the basket was tilted considerably away from her and was consequently lowered on the side toward which the intruder was directing its at tempts at ascent. T be plan succeeded admirably. The unsuspicious serpent wriggled its way up the now moderately inclined planV of the net. retarded in its , progress only by the unstable hold afforded by the latter. "Its head was already over the edpe atid in another quarter of a minute it would have been upon the f.oor, when the treacherous rocker slipped from her foot, the snake rolled back lower than before, carrying the edge of the narrow curtain down in it? fall, and the mother stumbled w ildly to recover her nearly lost balanceIt was too much for her ; the awful tension snapped, and she called her husband's name with a hoarse crv. "Well that she did. lie was nearing th hou.se at the time on hi homeward way to midday breakfast, and just caught sound of that agonized whisper as be crossed the muddy canal. A few seconds later he was in the veranda reading his wife's bloodless face with wild, questioning eyes. Xo speech could she force through her hot lips; no word spoke be, but ht followed her outstretched linger es the pointed to t the still swaying cradle. With one dash he seized the muslin and , tore it oil". Had this been done at tirst no 1 doubt all would have been well, but, the J free border being within the side, the lizht net slipped from under the weight of the snake and the reptile fell hissmjr and writhing upon the naked body of the child, now crying and lifting up its hands toward its mother. There was no moment for thought. Like lightning he gripped the infant by the shoulder and. threw it out on the floor, where it fell' with a broken collar-bone, but saved 1 i And it was through being called upon; to administer restoratives to the wife and to treat this injury which may have been caused by the fall, or more probably by the frenzied grasp of his powerful band that I, in the absence of my friend, Dr. Ü , whose puest 1 wa.s, learned the foregoing particulars within ten minutes OI ILleir OCCU ri eiu ". auo cuu.o was already dispatched and lay on the verands boards with its bead smashed flat by an unnecessary tremendous stamp of thepatermü heel. 1 may just say th.it youth and a good constitution, in which the Morayshir breezes were not yet dissipated by feve and ague, enabled the mother to throw o3" the nervous illness with which the was threatened, and that, although the condition of the child's thoulder and the pain attending it naturally caused the parents great grief, it recovered perfectly without an impamnent of the u-e of the arm. the fragments of the snake were gathered up and preserved in a class jar of white rum from the factory 'vtill," and long afterward, a.s he told the tale, the big. black-bearded Scotchman's lips would grow white with anger and his forehead bead as he shook his fist at "you devil" in the bottle. And I dare say it moves him so to this day. To Tell Them Apart. Ixwi-t'in Journal. "Speakin' of twin?," said old man Churapici; "there was two hoys rtised in our neighborhood that looked just alike to their dj-in taj". i-m di'ln't have any teeth and his brother Iiave did, but they looked pree-eisely alike all the same. The only way to tell 'era apart to put your finger in Lom'a mouth and if ha bit yer 'twas Iave." It Won't He Too Largo Then. Tuck. J Onstomer "I want to pet a nnifonn made; and, say! I want you to make it about thre inches bitrirer, every way, than I measure." Tailor "That's a queer order. Want it for aome theatrical buines I suppose? " Customer "No, sir; I'm a drum-major, itsd I want it to wear oa parade days." 'When II Holds tho It any. LawTne Ame ican. Mrs. Krawler "Does yonr husband rr condescend to hold the baby?" "Mrs. Stayathome "Oh, yes! ETery Wednev day and Saturday evening, while I run tb lawn-mower." Ileredity. Puck. "What is the matter, Benny?" asked tbs) president. "You look blue." , "I was wishing I waa a man." returned tb baby, "so I eonld hold office, like the rest f the family." j Even fincham dresses hare paTeola made up. the material of the gown. t J