Ligonier Banner., Volume 25, Number 39, Ligonier, Noble County, 8 January 1891 — Page 7

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CHAPTER L ; S ) NE breezy May v P day, such a lit‘\J‘ //y ; tle. while ago wr Wk of . that itis harde 2 RS ly safe to name B ;\’,’l7] PR the year, a Jer- ‘ /\\\%' 88 sey ferry “‘carg ey ¥ boat’’ was 8o :5' S\ o far behind her D time that the 2 ;y{’,' 12:30 train for N 2 ’ Fairhill left T ‘a without wait- % ,/// A 7-(s'/’ ing for her. : s N~ ) Ignorant, or : I“ NASSPR’ ) incredulous of Sp e EJgmY the untoward ,q-_____’ happening, the passengers rushed for and through the station to find egress, discouraged by the impassive official whose stentorian tones were roaring through the build‘ing the name and stopping places of the next train. Among the foremost in the run was a hazel-eyed young man with a grip sack in his hand,and the olive-bronze of a sea voyage upon a very good-look-ing face. e was always persuaded that he could have eluded the great-voiced door-keeper and boarded the fast plat-‘; form of the moving cars, had he not run a-foul of a wheeled chair midway between the seats and inconveniently-set radiators in the waiting-room, and narrowly eseaped a ‘‘header.” He did not actually fall; neither did he overset the vehicle. Avoeiding both calamities by vaulting the dash-board and front wheels, he yet dropped his hat and valise in different directions, and brought up at an obtuse angle by catching atone -of the marble-topped radiators. The first use he made of his hat, which was picked up by a smiling bystander, was to lift it to a woman who was propelling what he had mistaken for a baby’s perambulator. . i "~ *] beg your pardon, I am sure!” he said, in manly fashion. *“I hope the—” he was about to say ‘‘baby,” but changed the phraseology just in time—‘‘that nobody was hurt!” A glimpse of the occupant of the - chair had showed him a wan face too -old for a child’s, too small for that of a grown person. DBefore the woman addressed could reply, elfish accents, husky and precise, said, “Not at all—thank you!” and there was a cackle of shrill, feeble laughter. The young fellow had lost the train hat should have returned him in forty minutes vo the family he had not seen in six meochs; he was just off ship-board and felt the need of a bath and _ toilette upon steady ground, with plenty of elbow-room. He had come near Waving a bad fall and had not missed making av‘ ludicrous spectacle of himself, for the entertainment of a gaping crowd. But he laughed in a jolly, gentlemanly way, and again raising his hat passed onwithout a second glance at the mute personage who had pushed the wagon directly across his track. ‘ Like the rest of the disappointed way-" tarers, he walked quite up to the outlet of the station, and peered anxiously through at the empty rails, still vibrat- ‘ ing from the wheels”of the vanishing train, yet he neither frowned nor swore. - He did not even ask: ‘“When does the next train go to Fairhill?” The timetable in his pocket and that upon the wall, set at 2 p. m.” told him all, and more than he wanted to know. 'The excitement and suspense over, his inner man became importunate. He had had an early breakfast onthe City of Rome, and was far hungrier now than then. Doubling upon his tracks, he repaired to the Keystone restaurant in the same“ building with the vast waiting-room and ‘ - offices. The place was clean, and full " of odors that, for a wonder, were fresh ‘ and savory, instead of hanging on the air and clinging to the walls like a view- | less *‘ln Memoriam” of an innumerable caravan of dead-and-gone feasts. The menu was promising to an unsated appetite, and having given his order to a waiter the even-tempered customer sat back in, his chair and surveyed the scene with& air of one whose mind was, as the hy¥anist aptly puts it—*at leisure - from itself.” : This lack of self-consciousness under- ~ lay much that made March Gilchrist popular in his set. He was a clever artist, and wrought hard and well at his profession, although he had a rich - father. His position in society was assured, his physique fine and education excellent—advantages fully appreciated by most of the men, and all the women - he knew. If he recognized their value ~ he was an adroit dissembler. Simple and frank in manner, he met his world with outstretched hand. When the hand was not taken he laughed in goodhumored astonishment, went about his business and forgot the churl. His Bchoolmates used to say that it did not pay to quarrel with him; his parents, that he and his sister May should exchange names. That his amiability was not the result of a phlegmatic temperament was apparent in the quick brightness of the eyes that roved about the «dining room, leaving out nothing, from the lunch-counter in the adjoining room, ‘set with loag ranks of salvers with globular glass covers that gave the array the expression of a chemist’s laboratory—to the whirligig fans that - revolved just below the ceiling with -the dual mission of cooling the atmos‘phere and chasing away flies. Our returned traveler seemed to find these harbingers of summer weather and ‘summer pests amusing. He was watching them interestedly when a voice ‘behind him accosted a hurrying waiter. “There is.a young girl over there who can not walk. Will you lift her out of ‘ner chair and bring her in? It is justat the door and she is very light.” | ~ ‘““Busy, now, Miss! Better ask some‘body else!” pushing past. o ~ 'The bafled applicant stood in the - middleot the floor, irresolutely seeming the more solitary and helpless because ~ young and a woman. Thus much, and - ot that. she was comely and & lady, "Bg Bardanl hut can.i'bo of usot Tt © will givefhre pleast eif you will sMow ,w':;zflfi" R ""~’ K,” SSR * fi ,&I~:¢£‘§(fi&&!#fi o'7 oS 7 wf‘

up his honest countenance—‘ to make amends for my awkwardness awhile ago.” ] :

He was a society mam, and might have been aware how unconventional was the offer. He palliated the solecism in describing the incident at home by saying that he saw in every elderly woman his mother, in a young one, his only sister.

“Thank you! if you will be so kind,” accepting the proposal as simply as it had been made. ‘I could bring her in myself, but she does not like to have me do it here.” 4

“Ishould think not, indeed! One of the best uses to which'a man’s muscles can be put is to help the weak;” rejoined March, heartily. i A gleam crossed the unchildish visage of the cripple when he stooped to lift her. She recognized him, but offered no verbal remark then, or when he deposited the.light burden in the chair set for her by a waiter more humane, or less driven than his testy comrade. ‘““You are very good, and we are much obliged to you,” the guardian said, with a little bow of acknowledgement which he took as dismissal alsp, withdrawing to his own place. ‘‘Set' the table for seven—please,” he heard her continue to the waiter, business-like and quiet, ‘“and reserve another spat at that table”—designating one remote from the larger—“for a gentlemhan who will come in by and by. There is a man,

7 7 o i 3 ‘}s.‘,;'; gt 4 hot: ",-';' B ) e 5B A R | | S ™ N Y TN | ‘k!i!"“\\\f"'- e i | P Mmfi.é‘w\\\«g;a v/ ( ¢/'N‘- il - -—/ Y W / e G L U N R { [ ;:4'ls4"!;}[( g g L e T / i f;}:"\!fi- | o L if [ Y 4&\ 4 flj" ‘\“ } 1 o el T, I 1 e 5 , “ 'L !-f{!_"n | 1] A GLEAM CROSSED THE UNCHILDISH VISAGE OF THE CRIPPLE. too, for whom I wish to order luncheon at the counter. in that room. He can get a good meal and' be comfortable there, I suppose?” ; ‘ “‘A traveling party of nine!” thought March, apparently intent upon the depths of his soup tureen. “With this girl as courier, yet shé mentioned two men!” i The family filed in while he speculated. Twin-boys of twelve or thirteen, dressed exactly alike in gray jackets and knickerbockers, except that the red-haired one wore a blue neck-tio and the brown-haired a scarlet; a pretty, blue-eyed girl of eight, and a toddler of two, led by a sweet-faced mother, with fair hair and faintly-tinted complexion ‘of the china sheperdess school. The } ‘‘courier,” assisted by the waiter, seated them all without bustle, before ad‘dressing an individual, who had followed at a respectful distance, and now hung aloof, chewing the brim of a brannew straw hat. : : “Homer!” said the young lady, gently and distinctly, as she might direct a child, “You will get your dinner in the next room. Come!” : By shifting his position slightly, ! March could see her pbint the man to a 'stool and give orders for his refreshment. He was undersized, lean and 'sandy-haired, small of feature and loutish in carriage. His eyes had red rims, and blinked incessantly, as if excessively weak or purblind. When he began operations upon .coffee and sandwiches, he gobbled voraciously, gnawing off mouthfuls like a greedy dog. His clothes were so distressingly readymade, and accentuated his .uncouthness so unmercifully as to leave no doubt that the wearing of coat and vest was a novelty and an equivoeal boon. - “An odd fish!” commented ' March, mentally. ‘“Why should a civilized fam- . fly haul him after them like a badlymade kite-tail? And they are not vulgarians, either!” His eyes strayed discreetly back to the table set for seven. The mistress of ceremonies sat at the head, and was studying the printed menu. It lay flat on the eloth that the crippled girl at her right might read it with her. Their heads were close together, and the gravity upon the countenance of the elder was reflected by the shrewd elfin face. Presently they began to ‘whisper, the bare, thin finger of the younger of the two tracing the lines to the extreme right of the carte. It was plainly a question of comparative expense, March perceived with a pang of his kind heart. For he had been a boy himself, and the children were hungry. . “Hurry up—won’t you, Hetty,” called . the red-headed twin, impatiently. “Give us the first thing you come to so long as it isn’t corned beef, pork and beans, or rice pudding. I'm starved/” ‘“Me, too!” echoed his fellow. *“You needn't make mince-meat of your English on that account!” piped the crippled sister, tartly. ‘lt is no little matter to order just the right things for such a host. Mamma, you must have a cup of tea, I suppose?” ; The young lady interposed, writing while she talked: “Of course. And all of us will be the better for some good, hot soup. This is luncheon, not dinner, recollect. We only need something to stay our appetites until six o'clock,” she added, putting the paper in the waiter’s hand. BShe did not look like one who did things for effect, yet there was meaning in her manner of saying it. If she was obliged to cut her coat according to ‘her cloth she would just now make the |scantiness of the pattern secem a matter ot choice and carry out the seeming gal11‘ptly" 621 8 G : . ““How much. further have we to go?” Q?m;ried eight-year-old, somewhat rueW o i f_'%in‘ o'clock was to her apprehension a - "We are within half an hour of home.

We ltnight have been there by now, but we thought it better to wait over a train to rest and get rid of the dust we brought off the cars.” “And to let A¢m get shaved and barbered and prinked up generally!” shrilled the cripple, malevolently. “Hester!” The mother’s voice was heard for the first time. ¢“Well, mamma!” ¢“That is not respectful, nry love. You are tired, I am afraid.” The shrewd face jerked fretfully, and the lips were opened for a retort, checked by a gloved hand laid upon the forward child’s. There was only a murmur, accompanied by a pettish shrug. " March was ashamed of the impulse that made him steal a look at the tray bearing the result of the whispered consultation. Threeé tureens, each containing two generous portions of excellent English gravy soup with barley in it, a tea-pot of tea, bread and milk for the baby and plenty of bread and butter were duly deposited upon the board. “I’ll tako the rest of youar order now,” said the waiter, civilly-suggestive. ‘““Thisis all. Thank you!” in a mat-ter-of-course tone that was not resentfully positive. - The courier understood herself, and having taken ground, how to hold it. This was luncheon. March caught himself speculating as to the dinner bill-of-fare. !

The spokeswoman may have been two-and-twenty. She was slightly above the middle height of healthy womanhood, had gray, serious eyes, with brown shadows in them when the lids drooped; well-formed lips that curled roguishly at the corners in smiling; a straight nose with mobile nostrils, and a firm chin. There was character in plenty in the face. Such free air and sunshine as falls into most girls’ lives might have made it beautiful. The pose of her head, the habitual gravity of eyes and mouth, the very carriage of the shoulders, and her gait testified to the untimely sense of responsibility borne by this one. She was slight and straight; her gown of fawn-colored cloth fitted well, and a toque of the same material with no trimming, except a knot of velvet ribbon, was becoming; yet March, who designed his sister’s costumes, was quite certain that gown and hat were home-made and the product of the wearers’ skill. Both ‘women were unmistakably gentle in breeding, and the children’s chatter, although sometimes pert, was not rude or boisterous. , A man entered by the side-door while the chatter was stilling under the supreme attraction of the savory luncheon, and, after a word to a waiter, took the chair which had been tilted, face downward, against the far table at the “‘courier’s” order. He was tall, and had an aquiline, intellectual cast of countenance. lis hands—the artist had an appreciative eye for hands and fingers—were a student’s; his linen was irreproachable; his chin and cheeks: were blue-shaven, and his black hair was cut straight across at the back, just clearing the collar of his coat, instead of being shingled. e “A clergyman!” deduced Gilchrist, from the latter peculiarity. That—not the white choker—is the trade-mark of the profession. - Did barber, or preacher, establish theifashion? After inspection of the menu, the new-comer ordered a repast which was sumptuous when compared with the frugal one course of the seven seated at the table built around a post in the middle of the room. He took no notice of them nor they of him. His mien wasstudiously abstracted. While waiting for his food he drew a small blotting-pad from his pocket and wrote upon it with a’ stylographic pen, his profile keener as his work went on. In pausing to collect thoughts or choose words the inclinatien of his eyes was’ upward. After his entrance profound silence settled upcn the central table. Not. even the baby prattled. This sin--gular taciturnity took on significance to the alert wits of the unsuspected observer when he saw a swift interchange of looks between thecripple and her left-hand néighbor, attended by a grimace of such bitter disdain directed. by the junior of the pair at the student, as fairly startled the artist. ; The unconscious object of the shaft put up paper and pen, and addressed bhimself with deliberate dignity, upon the arrival of his raw oysters, to the lower task of filling the material part of him. He was discussing a juicy square of porterhouse steak, as March bowed respectfully on his way out, to the girl at the head of the board, a smile in his pleasant eyes being especially intended for the dwarfed cripple beside her. ; .

Homer had bolted the last fragment of a huge segment of custard pie, washed down the crust with a-second jorum of coffee, and sat, satiate and sheepish, upon the tall stool, awaiting orders. -

‘“The most extraordinary combinery, taken in all its parts, it was ever my luck to behold,” declared March Gil-

* S g D ) LRATENE ) A S\ ]/ o B R B "o (/) AN Vl3B, © Y/ f ’fl’;’;fi“fl" / / / R W (1 A W |\ W T YoM B 4 I 0 - ST Nl A ‘\\,.'\h\“-‘a‘\i‘vl“.!;'i‘u i 7 7 l\ g Ifl‘*\\{fi?fi‘fii;‘\f ,“"\EY"' "\*\L\‘é“s\ \ el \lx‘!}’u}fil(\ L\ [ T SN \ SR et .\‘\\ L= \“’. i .“s‘. ‘)‘h;“fi‘f!-! \\ o '- MWI | \vf RS, ifiuml : VER . ? NSO . == =0 AFTER INSPECTION OF THE MENU, THE NEW-COMER ORDERED A REPAST. christ at his father’s. dinner-table that evening. “Intensely American, throughout, though.. I wish I knew whether or not the man who appropriated the reserved seat was a usurper. If he were, that spirited little economist of a courier was quite capable of dispossessing him, or, at least, of calling the waiter to account for neglect of duty. And what relation did blind Homer bear to the party?” ‘‘Dear old March!” said his sister, affectionately. ‘‘Story-weaving in the old fashion! How natural it sounds! What jolly times you and I have had over our amateur romances and make-believes. Which reminds me of a remarkable sermon preached Sunday before last by ous new pastor. (I told you we had one, didn’t I?) The text was: ‘Six waterpots of stone, containing two or three firkins apiece!’ . i “Absurdl” e ; “True; but listen! 'The text was only a hook from which be hung an eloguent discourse upon the power of faith ¢o

make wins~®li and mellow and flavor ous,’ %e oalled it—out of what to grosser souls seems insipid water. Itwasa plea for the pleasures of imagination—alias faith—and elevated our favorite amusement into a fine art, and the fine art into religion. I came home feelinglike a spiritual chameleon, fully convinced that rarified air is the rightful sustenance of an immortal being. According to our Mr. Wayt what you haven’t got is the only thing you ought to be sure of. Lifeis a sort of ‘Now you see.it and now you don’t see it’ business throughout. Only when you don’t see it youare richer and happier than when you do. Did you ever think to hear me babble metaphysics? Now, where are those portfolios?” ‘‘Make-believe that you have overhauled them, and be blest,” retorted her brother. ‘‘There’s a chance to practice your metaphysical cant. With a new, deep meaning in it, too, which you will detect when you inspect my daubs. I did some fairish things in Norway, however, which "way prove that yodr rule has an exception.” - The Gilchrists freely acknowledged themselves to be what the son and daughter styled ‘‘a mutual admiration square.” March’s portfolios were not the only engrossing subjects that drew them together in the library where coffee and cigars were served. [To BE CONTINUED.]

PRINCE AND SENTINEL.

A Scene Which Almost Dethroned a : . | Prussian Soldier’s Reason.

The Petite Presse tells a funny story about the young Prince Royal of Greece, when this young man was engaged to the Princess Imperial of Germany, and immediately set out on his sparking expedition. The young lady lived in the palace of Potsdam, and the Prince tised to go there frequently from Berlin. At first ‘he made stated visits, and was taken in a carriage from the railway station to the palace. But one day he took it into his head to pay an informal visit. Dressed in plain civilian clothes he boarded a train, and on arriving at the railway station took the first vehicle he could hire. When he reached the palace a sentinel was, of course, at the gate. ; -

‘“Wer da?” growled the big Prussian. ““’Tis I,” said the Prince, ‘““the Crown Prince of Greece and the flance of the Princess. Let me pass.” “You are a nice-looking Prince Royal, you are! And a Princess masher, eh? Get away!” | ' : The Princo insisted and got angry. The soldier thought he was a poor crank, and tried to bring him to his senses. ‘‘Now, my fine fellow,” said he, *‘don’t make a fuss. You can talk as much as you please, but I know my business. A Prince, my boy, always has fine uniform, with a cocked hat and feathers and a bushel of decorations. Oh, I saw our Fritz, and you can’t fool me. Now, go away!” Noticing a lackey the Prince beckoned to him, and after scribbling a few lines on the back of a card told him to vake it to the Empress. The lackey went off on his errand. The sentinel grinned. A crazy man might fool a lackey, but an old soldier wasn’t to be taken in.. But what was his astonishment when he saw the Princess coming to meet the poor crank and welcoming him in the most affectionate manner! Then she took him into the palace.

“Well, I'll be hanged!” exclaimed the sentinel, ‘‘if a beggar man comes up to me the next time I'm on guard and tells me he’s the Pope I’ll kneel down and get his blessing.”

A Word About Manners. I make it a point of morality never to find fault with another for his manners. They may 'be awkward or graceful, klunt or polite, polished or rustic, I care not what they are, if the man means well and acts from honest intentions, without eccentricity or affectation. All men have not the advantages of ‘good society,” as it is called, to school themselves in all its fantastic rules and ceremonies; and if there is any standard of manners, it is well founded on reason and good sense, and not upon these artificial regulations. Manners, like conversation, should be extemporaneous and not studied. I always suspect a man that meets me with the same per~ petual smile on his face, the same bending of the body and the same premeditated shake of the hand. Give me the hearty—it may be rough—grip of the hand, the careless nod of recognition, and, when occasion requires, the homely but welcome salutation: **How are you, my old friend?”—N. Y. Ledger.

The Diet of Old People.

As we increase in age—when we have spent, say, our first half century—less energy. and activity remain, and less expenditure can be made; less power to eliminate is possible at: fifty than at thirty, still less at sixty and upward. Less nutriment, therefore, says Sir Henry Thompson, must be taken in proportion as age advances, or rather as activity diminishes, or the individual will suffer. If he continue to consume the same abundant breakfast, substantial lunches and beavy dinners which at the summit of his power he uld dispose of almost with impunity, will in time certainly either accu%late fat, or become acquainted with gout or rheumatism, or show signs of unhealthy deposit of some kind in some part of the body—processes which must inevitably poison, undermine or shorten his remaining term of life. He must reduce his ‘‘intake,” because a small expenditure is an enforced condition of existence.—N. Y. Ledger. All on the Outside. - Mrs. Upjohn (meeting acquaintance at drug-store)—How do you do, Mrs. Keeway? How did you like the lecture last evening? Mrs. Keeway—l thought it was tiresome. How did it strike you? “It was the most superficial thing I ever heard. Nothing deep about it. Deliver me from these surface people.” (To clerk)—*‘‘A package of lily white. please.”—Chicago Tribune. ‘ Was All Right. : In the country. Farmer (yelling ata man whom he finds skulking about the premises)—What the deuce are you doing here? B ‘“To tell you the truth, sir, I am looking for something to steal.” . “Well, that’s all right. I didn’t know but you were one of them pesky census takers.”—Arkansaw Traveler. ' The Intention Was All Right. : “You didn’t treat Smithers very well after he resigned from the presidency of your club.” sl : “Why? What did we do?”’ ““You posted a notice thac ‘an elece tion would be held to fill the vacancy formerly occupied by Mr. Smithers.’”NooY. Evening Sus. - o

THE STAR OF HOPE, Sermon by Rev. T. De Witt Tal- _ - mage, D. D. New Lessons to Be Found in the Story of the Nativity—The Three Christmas ‘Presents, Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh—Two Censers. ’ For his fourteenth sermon in the Holy Land series Dr. Talmage took for his text a portion of the fifteenth verse of the second chapter of Luke: ‘Let us now go even unto Bethlehem.” The preacher said: Amid a thousand mercies we give each other holiday congratulations. By long-established custom we exhort each other to healthful merriment. By gift, by Christmas trees which blossom and fruit in one night, by early-morning surprise, by clusters of lighted candles, by children’s procession, by sound of instruments sometimes more blatant than musical, we wake up the night aad prolong the day. I wish you all, in the grandest, noblest and best sense, a merry Christmas. The event commemorated is the gladdest of the centuries. Christ’s cradle was as wonderful as His cross. Persuade me of the first and I am not surprised at the last. The door by which He entered was as tremendous as the door by which HE& went out. : 1 was last winter at the house where Jesus lived while He wasin Africa. It ‘was in Cairo, Egypt, the terminus of that terrible journey which He took when Joseph and Mary fled with Him | from Bethlehem to Egypt to escape the massacre of Herod. All tradition as well as all history points out this house in Cairo as the one in which these three fugitives lived while in Africa. The room is nine steps down from the level of the street. I measured theroom and found it twenty feetlong and seven and a half feet high. There are three shelvings of rock, one of which I think was the cradle of our Lord. There is no window and all the light must have come from lantern or candle. The three arrived here from Bethlehem, having crossed the awful desert.

On the Mediterranean steamer going from Athens to Alexandria I met the eminent scholar and theologian, Dr. Lansing, who for thirty-five years has been a resident of Cairo, and he told me that he had been all over the road that the three fugitives took from Bethlehem to Egypt. He says it is a desert way and that the forced journey of the infant Christ must have been a terrible journey. Going up from Egypt Dr. Lansing met people from Bethlehem, their tongues swollen ‘and hanging out from the inflammation of thirst, and although the party had but one goatskin of water left, and that was imf)’ortant for themselves, he was so moved with the spectacle of thirst in these poor pilgrims that, though it excited the indignation of his fellow-travelers, he gave water to the strangers. Over this dreadful route Joseph and Mary started for this land of Egypt. No time to make much preparation. Herod was after them. and what were these peasants before an irate King? Joseph, the husband and father, one night sprung up from his mattress in great alarm, the beads of sweat on his forehead and his whole frame quaking. He had dreamed of massacres of his wife and Dbabe. 'They must’ be off that night right away. Mary put up a few things hastily and Joseph brought to the door the beast of burden and helped his wife and child to mount. Why, those loaves of bread are not enough, those bottles of water will not last for such a long way. But there is no time to get any: thing more. Out and on. Goodbye to the dear home they expect never again to see. Their hearts break. It does not need that ours be a big house in order to make us sorry to leave it. Over the hills and down through the deep gorge they urge their way. By Hebron, by Gaza, through hot sand, under a blistering sun, the babe crying, the mother faint, the father exhausted. ‘ How slowly the days and weeks pass! Will the weary three ever reach the banks of the Nile? Will they ever see Cairo? Will the desert ‘never end? When at last they cross the line beyond which old Herod has no right to pursue their joy is unbounded. Free at last! Let them dismout and rest. Now they resume their way with less anxiety. They will find a place somewhere for shelter and the earning of bread. Here they are at Cairo, Egypt. They wind through the crooked streets, which are about ten feet wide, and enter the humble house where I have been to-day. But the terminus of the journey of these three fugitives was not as humble as their starting point at Bethlehem. If that journey across the desert ended in a cellar it started from a barn. In and around the barn in Bethlehem we tarry to-day. . , Every thing humble around the barn but every thing glorious overhead. Christ’s advent was in the hostelry called the house of Chim Ham; the night with diamond finger pointing down to the place; the door of Heaven set wide open to look out; from orchestral batons of light dripping the oratorios of the Messiah; on lowest doorstep of Heaven the minstrels of God discoursing of glory and good-will. Soon after the whitebearded. astrologists kneel, and from leathern pouch clink the shekels, and from open sacks exhale the frankincense and rustle out the bundles of myrrh. The loosened star; the escaped doxology of celestials; the chill December night aflush with May morn; our world a lost star, and another star rushing down the sky that night to beckon the wanderer home again, shall yet make all nations keep Christmas.

Are there no new lessons from the story not yet hackneyed by oft repeatal? Oh, yes. Know, in the first place, it was a sidereal appearance that led the way. Why not a black cloud in the shape of a hand or finger pointing down to the sacred birthplace? A cloud means trouble, and the world had had trouble enough. Why not a shaft of lightning quivering and flashing and striking down to the sacred birthplace? Lightning means destruction, a shattering and cousuming power, and the world wanted no more destruction. -

But it was a star, and that means joy, that means hope, that means good cheer, that means ascendancy. A star! That means creative power, for did not the morning stars sing together when the portfolio of the worlds was opened? A - star! That means defense, for did not the stars fight in their courses against Sisera and for the Lord’s people? A star! That means brilliant continuance, for are not the righteous to shine as the

stars forever and ever? A star! That means the opening of eternal joy. ‘The day star in the heart. The morning star of the Redeemer. ; ~ Not a black cloud of threat, but a gleaming star of hope, is our glorious Christianity. One glimpse of that stellar appearance kindled up the soul of the sick and dying college student until the words flashed from his pale fingers and the star seemed to pour its light from his white lips as Kirke White wrote these immortal words: e ‘ When marshaled on the nightly plain - The glittering hosts bestud the sky, - .One star alone of all the train ! _Can fix the sinner’s wandering eye. . : Hark, hark to God, the chorus breaks, From every host, from every gem, But one alone, the Saviour speaks, b It is the star of Bethlehem, bl “Once on the raging seas Irode, = The storm was loud, the night was dark, . - And rudely blew the wind . i That tossed my foundering bark; : Deep horror then my vitals froze, - Death struck, I ceased the tide to stem; When suddenly a star arose, : & It was the star of Bethelem.” Notice also in this scene that other ‘worlds seemed to honor our Lord and Master. Bright star of the night, wheel on in thine orbit. ‘No,” said the star, “I must come nearer and I must bend and I must watch and see what you do with my Jesus.” Another world that night joined our world in worship. That star made a bow of obeisance. I sometimes hear people talk of Christ’s dominion as though it were to be merely the few thousand miles of: the world’s circumference; but I believe the millions and the billions and the quadrillions of worlds are all inhabited —if not by such creatures as we are, still such creatures as God designed to } make, and that all these worlds are a part of Christ's dominion. Isaac Newton | and Kepler and Herschel only We_nt.on'l Columbus’ voyage to find these continents of our King’s domain. {

I think all worlds were loyal but this. The great organ of the universe, its pedals and its pipes and its keys, all one great harmony save one injured pedal, save one broken stop—the vox humana of the human race, the disloyal world. Now you know that however grand the instrument may be, if there be one key out of order it spoils the harmony. And Christ must mend this key. He must restore this broken stop. You know with what bleeding hand and with what pierced side ‘and with what crushed foot He did the work. But the world shall be attuned and all worlds will yet be agcordafit. Isle of Wight larger in comparison with the British empiré than our island of a world as compared with Christ’s vast domain? If fi)t, why . that celestial escort? If not, why that sentinel with blazing badge above the caravansery? If not, why that midnight watchman in the balcony of Heaven? Astronomy surrendered that night to Christ. This planet for Christ. The solar system for Christ. Worlds ablaze and worlds burned out—all worlds for Christ. Intensest microscope can mnot see the one side of that domain. Farthest-reach-ing telescope can not find the other side of that domain. But I will tell you how the universe is bounded. It is tounded on the north and south and east and west and above and beneath by God, and that God is Christ, and that Christ is God, and that God is ours. Oh, does it not enlarge your idea of a Saviour’s dominion when I tell you that all the worlds are. only sparks struck from His anvil? That all the worlds are only the fleecy flocks " following the omne Shepherd? That all the islands of light in immensity are one great archipelago belonging to our King? : . - But this scene also impresses me with the fact that the wise men of the East came to Christ. They were not fools, they were not imbeciles."i The record distinetly says that the wise men came to Christ. We say they were the magi, or 'they were the alchemists, or they. were the astrologists, and we say it with depreciating accentuation. Why, they were the most splendid and magnificent men of the century. They were the naturaliste and the scientists. They knew all that was known. You must remember that astrology was the mother of astromomy, and because children are brighter than the mother you do mot despise the mother. i : i

So it has always been—the wisest men come to Christ, the brainiest men come to the manger. Who was the greatest metaphysician 'this country ever has produced? Jonathan Edwards, the Christian. Who was the greatest astronomer of the world? Herschel, the Christian. Who was the greatest poet ever produced? John Milton, the Christian. @Who was the wisest writer on law? Blackstone, the Christian. Why is it that every college and university in the land has a chapel? They must have a place for the wise men to worship. Come, now, let us understand in ounces and by inches this whole matter. In post-mortem examis nation the brain of distinguished men has been exhumed, and I will find the largest, the heaviest, the mightiest brain ever produced in America and I will .ask what that brain thought of Christ. Here it is, the brain weighing sixty-three ounces, the largest brain ever produced in America. Now let me find out what that brain thought of Christ. In. the dying moment that man said: ‘“Lord I believe, help Thoumine unbelief. Whateverelse I do, Almighty God, receive me to Thyself for Christ’s sake. 'This night I ishall be in light and joy and blesseqess.” So Daniel Webster came to the anger. The wise men of the East followed by the wise men of the West. Know also in this scene that it was a inter month that God chose for His Son’s nativity. Had it been the month of May—that is the season of blossoms: Had He been born in the month of June —that is the season of roses. Had He been born in the month of July—that is the season of great harvests. Had He been born in the month of September—that is the season of ripe orchards. Had He been porn in the month of October—that is the season of upholstered forests. But|{He was born in a winter month. It|\was in closing December that He was born to show that this is a Christ for people in sharp blast, for people under clouded sky, for people with frosted hopes, for people with thermometer below zero. That is the reason He is so often found among the destitute. You <can find Him on any night coming off the moors. You ecan see Him any night coming through the dark lanes of the city! You can see Him putting his hand under the fainting head in the pauper’s cabin. He remembers how the wind whistled around the caravansery in Bethlehem that December night, and Heis in sympathy with all those who in their poverty hear the shutters clatter on a cold night.

It was this Dece,mblr Christ that Washington and his army worshiped at Valley Forge when without blankets they lay down in the December snow. It was this Christ that the Pilgrim fathers appealed to when the Mayflower wharfed at Plymouth rock, and in the years that went by the graves digged were more in number than the houses built. Oh, I tell you we want 4 December Christ; not a Christ for fair weather, but: a Christ for dark days clouded with sickness and chilling with disappointment and suffocating with bereavement and terrific with wide-open graves. Nota springtime Christ, not a summer Christ, not an autumnal Christ, but a winter Christ. Oh; this suffering and struggling world needs to be hushed and soothed and rocked and lullabied in the arms of sympathetic Omnipotence. No mother ever with more tenderness put her foot on the rocker on the cradle of a sick child than Christ comes down to us, to this invalid world, and He rocks it into placidity and quietness as He says: “My peace- I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.”

Notice also a fact whichno one seems to notice, that this Christ was born among the sheep and the cattle and the horses and the camels in order that He might be an alleviating influence to the whole animal = creation. It meant mercy for -overdriven, wunderfed, poorly = sheltered, galled and maltreated. animal :creation. Hath the Christ ~who = compared Himself | to a dove no care for the cruelties of ‘the pigeon shooting? Hath the Christ who compared Himself "to a lamb no care for.the sheep that are tied and contorted and with neck over the sharp edge of the butcher’s cart, or the cattle train in hot weather from Omaha to New York with no water—fifteen hundred miles of agony? Hath the Christ whose tax was paid by a fish, the coin taken from its mouth, ‘no care for the tossing fins in the fish market? Hath the Christ who strung with His own hand the nerves of dog and cat no indignation for the horrors of yivisection? Hath -the Christ who said “Go to the ant” no watchfulness for the transfixed insects? Hath the C€hrist who said ‘‘Behold the fowls of the air” Himself never beheld the outrages heaped upon the brute creation which can not artic-. ulate-its grief? This Christ came not only to lift the human race out of its trouble, but lift out of pang and hardship the animal creation. "In the glori--ous millennial time the child shall lead the lion anfid play with the cockatrice! only because brute and reptile shall ‘have no more wrongs to avenge. To alleviate the condition of the brute creation Christ was born in the cattle pen. The first bleat of the Lamb of God, heard amid the tired flocks of the Bethlehem shepherds. | Bat notice also in this account the| three Christmas presents that are brought to the manger—gold, frankin-, cense and myrrh. Gold to Christ—that! means all the affluence of the world surrendered to Him. ! But I notice that these wise men also shook out from their sacks the myrrh.! The cattle came and they snuffed at it. They did not eat it because it was bitter. 'Bhe pungent gum resin of Abys-, sinia called myrrh brought to the feet of Christ. That means Dbitter ness. Bitter -betrayal, bitter persecution, bitter days of suffering, bitter nights of woe. Myrrh. That is! what they put into His cup when He: was dying. Myrrh. That is what they: put under His head in the wildernesss. Myrrh. That was what they strewed His path with all the way from the cattle pen in Bethlehem to the-mausoleunz at Joseph’s country seat. Myrrh.. Yes, says the K Psalmist, ALY thy garments smell of - myrrh.” That is what the wise men wrapped in the swaddling clothes of the infant. That is what the' Marys twisted in the shroud of a crucified Christ. The myrrh. Oh, the height, the depth, the length, the breadth of the Saviour’s sorrow. Well might the wise men shake out the myrrh. ; "

But I notice also from another sack they shake out the frankinsence. Clear up to the rafters of the barn the air is filled with perfume and the host~ lers' and the camel drivers in the farthest part of the building inhale it, and it floats out upon the air until passers-by ~wonder who- in that rough place could have by aceident dropped a box of alabaster. Frankincense. That is what they burned in the censer in the ancient temple. Frankincense. That means worship. Frankincense. = That is to fill all the ‘homes, and all the churches, and all the nations, from cellar of stalactited cave clear up to the silvery rafters of the starlit dome. Frankincense. That is what we shake out from our hearts today, so that the nostrils of Christ once crimsoned with the hemovhage of the cross shall be flooded with the perfume of a world’s adoration. Frankincense. Frankincense in song;and sermon, and offertory, and handshaking, and decoration. Praise Him; mountains and hills, valleys and seas, and skies and earth and Heaven—cyclone with your trumpets, northern lights with. your flaming ensign, morning with your castles of cloud and evening with your billowing clouds of sunset. - So we have two censers to-day of Christmas frankincense. Here is the one censer of earthly frankincense. On that we put our thanks for the mercies of the last year, the mercies of all our past. lives, individual mercies, family mercies, social ~mercies, national mercies, and our hearts burning with gratitude send aloft the incense of praise toward the throne of Christ. Bring on more incense, and higher and- higher.let the columns of praise ascend. Let tgem wreathe all these pillars and hover amid all these arches and then soar to the thronme. But here is = the other censer of heavenly thanksgiving and worship. ~ Let them bring all their = frankincense—the cherubim bring theirs and the seraphim theirs, and the one hundred and forty and four thousand theirs, and all the eternities theirs, and ‘let them smoke with perfume on this heavenly censer until the cloud canopies the throne of God. Then I take d4hese two censers—the censer of earthly frankincense and the censer of = heavenly frankincense—and I swing them before the throne, and then I clash them together in one great hallelujah unto Humn to ‘whom the wise men of the East brought the gold and the myrrh and the frankincense. Blessed be His glorious name. fapeveßt .o oova Tl el

‘ —'f_ one paints a peasant woman one performs the act of a thinker; but if one paints a woman of society, one is held to perform an act of fashion. ka? A woman of society' has, nevertheless, - looked at she sky oftener than the peassnt woman.—Alfred Stevens. <