Marshall County Independent, Volume 5, Number 22, Plymouth, Marshall County, 12 May 1899 — Page 3
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T ALM AGE'S SERMON.
'REMINISCENCE S." SUBJECT FOR LAST SUNDAY. From th Text: "While I Was Mmlag, the Fire Uufncd" Psalm SO: 3. BneQt of an Occasional Look Backward The ather and Mother. Here is David, the psalmist, with the forefinger of his right hand against his temple, the door shut against the world, engaged in contemplation. And it would be well for us to take the same posture often, closing the door against the world, while we sit down In sweet solitude to contemplate. In a small island off the coast of Nova Scotia I once passed a Sabbath in delightful solitude, for I had resolved that I would have one day of entire quiet before I entered upon autumnal work. I thought to have spent the day in laying out plans for Christian work; but instead of that it became a day of tender reminiscence. 1 reviewed my pastorate; I shook hands with an old departed friend, whom I shall greet again when the curtains of life are lifted. The days of my boyhood came back, and I was ten years of age. and I was eight, and I was five. There was but one house on the island, and yet from Sabbath daybreak, when the bird-chant woke me, until the evening melted into the Bay of Fuudy, from shore to shore there were ten thousand memories, and the groves were ahum with voices that had long ago ceased. Youth is apt too much to spend all Its time in looking forward. Old age is apt too much to spend all its time in looking backward. People in mid life and on the apex look both ways. It would be well for us, I think, however, to spend more time in reminiscence. By the constitution of our nature we spend most of the time in looking forward. And the vast majority of this audience live not so much in the present as in the future. I find that you mean to make a reputation, you mean to establish yourself, and the advantages that you expect to achieve absorb a great deal of your time. But I see no harm in this, if it does not make you discontented with the present, or disqualify you for existing duties. Perhaps you were brought up in the country. You stand now today in memory under the old tree. You clubbed its fruit that was not quite ripe, because you "couldn't wait any longer. You hear the brook rumbling along over the pebbles. You step again into the furrow where your father in his shirt sleeves shouted to the lazy oxen. You frighten the swallows from the rafters of the barn, and take just one egg, and silence your conscience by saying they won't miss it. You take a drink again out of the very bucket that the eld well fetched up. You go for the cows at night, and find them wagging their heads through the bars. Ofttimes in the dusty and busy streets you wish you were home again on that cool grass, or in the wheat-carpeted hall of the farmhouse, through which there was the breath of new-mown hay or the blossom of buckwheat. You may have in your windows now T.eautiful plants and flowers brought from across the seas, but not one of them stirs in your soul so much charm and memory as the old ivy and the yellow sunflower that stood sentinel along the garden walk, and the forget-me-nots playing hide and seek 'mid the long grass. The father who used to come in sunburnt from the fields, and sit down on the door sill and wipe the sweat from his brow may have gone to his everlasting rest. The mother, who used to sit at the dcor a little bent over, cap and spectacles on, her face mellowing with the vicissitudes of many years, may have put down her gray head on the pillow in the valley; but forget that home you never will. Have you thanked God for it? Have you rehearsed all these blessed reminiscences? Oh, thank God for a Christian father; thank God for a Christian mother; thank God for an early Christian altar at which you were taught to kneel; thank God for an early Christian home. I find another point in your life history. You found one day you were in the wrong road; you couldn't sleep at night; there was just one word that seemed to sob through your bankinghouse, or through your office, or shop, or your bedroom, and that word was "Eternity." You said, "I'm not ready for it. O God, have mercy!" The Lord heard. Peace came to your heart. In the breath of the rill and the waterfall's dash you heard the voice of God's love; the clouds and the trees hailed you with gladness; you came into the house of God. You remember how your hand trembled as you took up the cup of the communion. You remember the old minister who consecrated it. and you remember the church officials who carried it through the aisle; you remember the old people who at the close of the service took your hand in theirs in congratulating sympathy, as much as to say, "Welcome home, you lost prodigal!" And though those hands be all withered away, that communion Sabbath is resurrected today; it Is resurrected with all its prayers, and songs, and tears, and sermons, and transfiguration. Have you kept those vows? Have you been a backslider? God help you! This day kneel at the foot of mercy and start again for heaven. Start today as you started then. I rouse your soul by that reminiscence. But I must not spend any more of my time in going over the advantages of your life. I Just put them all In one great sheaf, and I top them up in your Memory with one loud harvest song, uch a the reapers sing. Praise the
Ixrd. ye blood-bought immortals on earth! Praise the Lord, ye crowned spirits of heaven! But some of you have not always had a smooth life. Some of you are now in the shadow. Other3 had their troubles years ago. You are a mere wreck of what you once were. I must gather up the sorrows of your past life; but how shall I do it? You say that is impossible, as you have had so many troubles and adversities. Then I will take two. the first trouble and the last trouble. As when you are walking in the street, and there has been music in the distance, you unconsciously find yourselves keeping step to the music, so when you started life your very life was a musical timebeat. The air was full of joy and hilarity; with the bright, clear oar you made the boat skip; you went on, and life grew brighter, until, after a while, suddenly a voice from heaven said. "Halt!" and quick as the sunshine you halted; you grew pale, you confronted your first sorrow. You had no idea that the flush on your child's cheek was an unhealthy flush. You said it can't be anything serious. Death in slippered feet walked round about the cradle. You did not hear the tread; but after a while the truth flashed on you. You walked the floor. Oh, if you could, with your strong, stout hand, have wrenched that child from the destroyer. You went to your room, and you said. "God, save my child! God, save my child!" The world seemed going out in darkness. You said: "I can't bear it! I can't bear it!" You felt as if you could not put the long lashes over the bright eyes, never to see them again sparkle. Oh, if you could have taken that little one in your arms, and with it leaped the grave, how gladly you would have done it! Oh, if you could let your property go, your houses go, your land and your storehouse go, how gladly you would have allowed them to depart if you could only have kept that one treasure! But one day there arose from the heavens a chill blast that swept over the bedroom, and instantly all the light went out, and there was darkness thick, murky.Impenetrable.shuddering darkness. But God didn't leave you there. Mercy spoke. As you took up the cup, the adder tongue, horroring, flashing, rushed over the brim, and you were about to put that cup to your lips. God said, "Let it pass," and forthwith, as by the hand of angels, another cup was put into your hands. It was the cup of God's consolation. And as you have sometimes lifted the head of a wounded soldier, and poured wine into his lips, so God puts his left arm under your head, and with his right hand he pours into your lips the wine of his comfort and his consolation, and you looked at the empty cradle and looked at your broken heart, and you looked at the Lord's chastisement, and you said, "Even so. Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight." Ah, it is your first trouble. How did you get over it? God comforted you. You have been a better man ever since. In the jar of the closing gate of the sepulchre you heard the clanging of the opening gate of heaven and you felt an irresistible drawing heavenward. You have been purer and stouter of mind ever since that night when the little one for the last time put its arms around your neck and said. "Good-night, papa; good-night, mamma. Meet me in heaven." People look down and they see it was only a few feet deep and a few feet wide, but to you it was a cavern down which went all your hopes and all your expectations. But cheer up in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Comforter. He is not going to forsake you. Did the Lord take that child out of your arms? Why, he is going to shelter it better than you could. He is going to array it in a white robe, and palm branch, and rays of light, and have it all ready to greet you at your coming home. Blessed the broken heart that Jesus heals. Blessed the importunate cry that Jesus compassionates. Blessed the weeping eye from which the soft hand of Jesus wipes away the tear. Some months ago I was sailing down the St. John river, which if. the Rhine and the Hudson commingled in one scene of beauty and grandeur, and while I was on the deck of the steamer a gentleman pointed out to me the places of interest, and he said: "All this is interval land, and t is the rich
est land in all the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia." "What," said I. "do you mean by interval land?" "Well." said he. "this land is submerged for a part of the year; spring freshets come down, and all thesp plains are overflowed with the water, and the waters leave a rich deposit, and when the waters are gone the harvest springs up. and there i. the grandest harvest that ever was reaped." And I instantly thought: "it is not the heights of the church and it is not the heights of this world that is the scene of the greatest prosperity, but the soul over which the floods of sorrow have gene, the soul over which the freshets of tribulation have torn their way. that yield3 the greatest fruits of righteousness, and the largest harvest for time, and the richest harvest for eternity." Bless God that your soul Is interval land. But these reminiscences reach only to this morning. There is one more point of tremendous reminiscence, and that is the last hour of life, when we have to look over all our past existence. What a moment that will be! I place Napoleon's dying reminiscence on St. Helena beside Mrs. Judson's dying reminiscence In the harbor of St. Helena, the same Island, twenty years after. Napoleon's dying reminiscence I vas one of delirium "Tete d'armee" "Head of the army." Mrs. Judson's dying reminiscence, as she came home from her missionary toil and her life
of self-sacrifice for God. dying in the cabin of the ship in the harbor of St. Helena, was, "I always did love the Lord Jesus Christ." And then, the historian says, she ell into a sound sleep and woke amid the songs of angels. I place the dying reminiscence of Augustus Caesar against the dying reminiscence of the apostle Paul. The dying reminiscence of Augustus Caesar was, addressing his attendants, "Have I played my part well on the stage of life?" And they answered in (he affirmative, and he said, "Why, then, don't you applaud me?" The dying reminiscence of Paul the apostle was, "I have fought the good fight; I have kept the faith; henceforth there Is laid up fcr me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me in that day, and not to me only, but to all them that love his appearing." Augustus Caesar died amid pomp and great surroundings. Paul uttered his dying reminiscence looking up through the wall of a dungeon. God grant that our dying pillow may be the closing of a useful life, and the opening of a glo rious eternity!
IMPOSING ENTRANCE. Rullt by Germanic Dry Good Company at Canal and Main. The Germanic Dry Goods company, at Main and Canal streets, has just completed a decided improvement in the construction and arrangement of its stores. This is quite in line with the management of that progressive establishment, and also adds to the improvements in that neighborhood. The company has put in a whole new front at considerable expense, which adds greatly to the beauty of the stores. Instead of having several entrances to the place, as in the past, there will now be one general entrance, 25 feet wide, which will be much more convenient to the hundreds of purchasers who throng the store daily. This entrance has a tiled vestibule and presents an imposing entrance. On each side there are four immense show windows, each 23 feet long, and two small show windows. To make a display in these windows will alone take a much larger supply of material than most stores usually have in stock. The window dressers will be at work today, and it is their intention to make one of the prettiest displays ever seen in the city. By the arrangement and the addition of the show window considerable more sunlight is admitted to th store, at the same time giving more room to the ever-enlarging departments. All of the windows and the vestibule are to be illuminated by eletricity. CANNOT COUNT THREE. rrlmltive Teople ot the Murray Islands An expedition recently sent out from England to the Murray islands has brought some interesting information about the Islanders. These primitive people, it appears, cannot count higher than two. "Netat" is their word for one, and "nets" for two. When they want to say three they say "onetwo" (metal-nests) and when they want to say four "two-two- (netsnets). Higher figuring than these they express by means of their bodies. Thus they began to count from the little finger on the left hand, and, proceeding thence to the other fingers, they successfully reach the wrist, the arm. the right wrist :.nd finally the fingers on the right hand. In this way they can count as high as thirty-one. When they want to express a higher number than this they can only use the word "gaire" which signifies many. This ancient mthod of counting, however, is fast disappearing, thanks to the strenuous efforts which the English are making to teach the islanders the ordinary rules of arithmetic. Ethnologists, therefore, are especially glad that information about this ancient method of counting has come to them just as it was on the point of disappearing forever. Few Die In Tmrnanla. If the statement of Harry Benjafied, a health officer in Tasmania, is exact, that country must be conducive to long life, and its cities healthy to live in. He says that the population of Hobart and its suburbs is 40,000, and that in 1S93 the total number of deaths was 561, or about 14 in every 1,000. He says, further, that of the 561 persons who died, 383 were more than C3 years old. representing 9 per 1,000 of the deaths and leaving only 42 per 1,000 for deaths of children and all others under C5 years old. He believes he is justified in challenging any other city In the world to produce equally favorable figures, particularly the small figures for deaths under G5 years of age. Tasmania has been under British control for about one century, and a large proportion of its population is native-born of British partntage. r.lantod Hopes. "Mr. Schripps," said the head of the firm, "the firm is very much pleased with the work you have been doing." "Thank you, sir," he replied, and the vision of a raise grew more distinct. "Yes," continued the head of the firm, "we are very much pleased with your work, and well, we thought you would be glad to know that you are giving satisfaction." Philadelphia North American. Weyler'a Forecast. "I don't think," growled General Weyler, "that my ability as a prophet Is recognized as It should be." "What's the matter, general?" "Well, didn't I predict that Cuba would eventually be pacified?" pitta
burg Chronicle.
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Acknowledge the Sovereignty of the United States. cARLY PEACE IS PROBABLE. President McKinley Oat Instructed Ills Representatives la the Philippines to Impose No Unnecessary or Humiliating Conditions San Fernando Captured. President McKinley sent a message ia answer to the request of President Schurman for instructions regarding the course to be pursued toward the Filipinos. Mr. McKinley stated he was very anxious to have the peace negotiations concluded as early as possible and that no unnecessary or humiliating conditions should be imposed. The insurgents, it is said, admitted the sovereignty of the United States. The president is confident of early peace as a result of the concessions recommended. San Fernando Is Captured. Gen. MacArthur's troops are now in San Fernando. The insurgents left the village as the Americans entered. The total losses on the American side were two killed and fifteen wounded. In this number are included the officers who were struck by Filipino bullets. MacArtltnr Captures Sau Tomas. Maj.-Gen. MacArthur has carried San Tomas, after encountering a strong resistance. Col. Funston again distinguished himself. The Kansan was wounded in the hand, and several other officers and enlisted men were also wounded. Will Fight at Denver. Fitzsimmons and Jeffries have signed articles to fight in Denver for a purse of $25.000 on a date to be fixed at a meeting to be held in Chicago within the next two weeks. Herth for Kx-President Cleveland. It is said that ex-President Cleveland has accepted the presidency of a Xew York trust company, and that he Is anxious to secure employment for financial reasons. Germans Condemn Kximnslon Policy. A- the annual meeting of the Central Illinois Turn societies the delegates passed a resolution declaring the district opposed to the policy of national expansion. Rumored Encasement Is Dented. The statement that a marriage was contemplated between Mrs. George W. Childs and Gen. Joseph Wheeler is authoritatively denied. Ieper Favors Senator Hanna. Chauncey M. Depew says he favors the continuance of Senator M. A. Hanna as chairman of the republican national committee. Women's Clabs Filter Protest. The announcement that Mrs. Anna E. George will go on the lecture platform has resulted in a strong protest from women's clubs. FROM MANILA If ' ' " ' Gen. Thomas M. Anderson. II. S. A., who will soon arrive in Chicago to take command of the department of the lakes, has only recently returned from Manila, whither he accompanied Gen. Murritt. Gen. Anderson started out as a private in Company A of the Sixth Ohio volunteers in 1861, and he had rot been in the harness a month before he had won a commission as second lieutenant of cavalry in the regular army. Just five months after ha Dewey In Perfect Health. Dr. E. Page, surgeon on the flagship Olympia for the past year and a half, now in America, declares that Admiral Dewey is in perfect health. Money Appropriated by C'oncrwM. The third session of the Fifty-first congress directly appropriated a totc.1 cf $C74JS1,0L'L.L'9. Will Occupy !Snn Mun. Recent negotiations make it cert?.ii lhat Italy will occupy Sau Mun on
V 'flf Pig
May 13.
AN IMPORTANT DECISION. United States Court Has No .lurUdlctlon Over Homestead. Judge Speer of the Federal District court for the Southern district of Georgia rendered a decision to the effect that the United States courts have no jurisdiction over a homestead taken by a bankrupt; that the homestead belongs to the state courts and cannot be considered in the United States court as an asset of the bankrupt. BEL0IT ORATOR WINS. High Honor for the Kepresentatlve ol the Wisconsin College. In the twenty-sixth annual contest of the Northwestern Interstate Oratorical association, first-place honors were awarded to the Wisconsin orator. H. E. Lyman of Beloit. Second place went to George K. Farrar of De Pauw university. Indiana, and third to S. M. Holliday. Simpson college. Iowa.
BOERS EXPECT WAR. Hare Iteen Warned to He in Iteidlnesa for Trouble with Great Hritahi. The Boers throughout the Transvaal have been officially warned to hold themselves in readiness for serious eventualities. War with Great Britain is considered Inevitable. To Enforce Vaccination Law. The Iowa board of health, on account of the presence of smallpox in the state, has requested local boards to rigidly enforce the old rule calling for the vaccination of every person. Natural Can Gives Out. The test well drilled at Kokomo, Ind.. to demonstrate the truth or falsity of the theory of revivification of natural gus territory was a complete failure. No gas was found. Thirty-four Killed by Tornado. The death of Miss Lillie Cunningham makes the thirty-fourth death at Kirksville, Mo., resulting from the tornado of April 27. Others are still in a critical condition. To Aid German Subjects. The German government has telegraphed order sto its consul at Manila to give pecuniary aid to distressed German subjects in the Philippines. Spanlrth Crops Are Damaged. A five weeks' drought and the prevalence of unusual heat throughout the country have seriously damaged the prospects of all Spanish crops. Forest Fires In Mexico. Forest fires are raging in many parts of Mexico, and growing crops and valuable timber are being destroyed. Tha tires are of incendiary origin. Will Hrlnjj Volunteers Home. The government will return to the United States all ex-volunteers serving sentences in Cuba for misconduct in their terms of enlistment. Paul Lawrence Dunbar 111. Paul Iawrence Dunbar, the AfroAmerican poet and novelist, is ill with pneumonia at New York. TO CHICAGO. was given his lieutenant's commission, he was made a captain in the Twelfth regular infantry. In ISO! he was brevetted major for gallant conduct on the field in the battle cf the Wilderness. On the very same day ho was brevetted lieutenant colonel for bravery In the battle of Spottsylvania. The general is a native of Ohio, and before he took up fighting as a regular profession lie was a lawyer of ability and a thoughtful and cultured scholar. Hence his rapid rise from the ranks. Iiurtl-t Fleeted Grand Muster. F. J. Kurtis of Fast St. Louis was elected grand master workman of the Illinois Ancient Order of United Workmen. Danville was voted the next session cf the grand lodge in May, 1901. Spau?eh Officers In Trouble. High officers of the Spanish array f.re to be cashiered in consequence of the finding of Ihe court of lienor with regard to their conduct in the American war.
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As
Society Directory,
MASONIC PLYMOUTH KILWINNING LODGE, No. 149, F. and A. M. ; meets first and third Friday evenings of each month. Vm. H. Conger, V. M. John Corbaley, Sec. PLYMOUTH CHAPTER, No. 49 R. A. M.; meets second Friday evening of each month. J. C.Jilson, II . P. II. B. Reeve, Sec. PLYMOUTH COMMAND'RY, No. 26, K. T. ; meets fourth Friday of each mon4h. John C. Gordon, E. C. L. Tanner, Ree. PLYMOUTH CHAPTER, No. 26, O. E. S.; meets first and third Tuesdays of each month. Mrs. Bertha McDonald, W. M. Mrs. Lou Stansbury, Sec. ODD FELLOWS. AMERICUS LODGE, No. 91; meets every Thursday evening at their lodge rooms on Michigan 8treet. C. F. Schearer, N. G. Chas. Bushman, Sec. SILVER STAR LODGE, Daughters of Rebekah; meets every Friday evening at I. O. O. F. hall. Mrs. J. E. Ellis, N. G. Miss Emma Zurr.baugh, V. G. Miss N. Berkhold, Sec. KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS. HYPERION LODGE, No. 117; meets every Monday night in Castle Hall. Vm. F. Young, C. C. Cal Switzer, K. of R. and S. HYPERION TEMPLE, Rathbone Sisters; meets first and third Fridays of each month. Mrs. Chas. McLaughlin, E. C. FORESTERS. PLYMOUTH COURT, N0.1499; meets the second and fourth Friday evenings of each month in K. of P . hall . C. M. Slay ter, C. R. Ed Reynolds, Sec. K. O. T. M. PLYMOUTH TENT, No. 27; meets every Tuesday evening at K. O. T, M. hall. D. W. Jacoby, Com. Frank Wheeler, Record Keeper. WIDE AWAKE HIVE, No. 67, L. O. T. M.; meets every Monday night at K. O. T. M.'hall on. Michigan street. Mrs. Cora Hahn, Com. Bessie Wilkinson, Record Keeper. HIVE No. 28, L. O. T. M; meet3 eyery Wednesday evening in K. O. T. M. hall. Mrs. W. Burkett, Com. ROYAL ARCANUM. Meets first and third Wednesday evenings of each month in Simons hall. J. C. Jilson, Regent. B. J. Lauer, Sec. WOODMEN OF THE WORLD. Meets first and third Wednesday evenings of each month in K. of P. hall. J. O. Pomcroy, C. C, E. Rotzien, Clerk. WOODMEN CIRCLE. PLYMOUTH GROVE, No. 6; meets every Friday evening at Woodmen hall. Mrs. Lena Ulrich, Worthy Guardian. Mrs. Chas. Hammerei, Clerk. MODERN WOODMEN. Meets second and fourth Thursdays in K. of P. hall. J. A. Shunk, Venerable Consul. C. L. Switzer, Clerk. BEN HUR. Meets every Tuesday. W. H. Gove, Chief. Chas. Tibbetts, Scribe. G. A. R. MILES II. TIBBETTS POST, G. A. R., meets every first and third Tuesday evenings in Simons hall. W. Kellcy, Com. Charlc Wilcox, Adjt. COLUMBIAN LEAGUE. Meets Thursday evening, every other week, 7 .30 p. m., in Bissell hall. Wert A. Beldon, Commander. Alonzo Stevenson, Provost. MODERN SAMARITANS. Meets second and fourth Wednesday evening in W. O. W. hall. S. B. Fanning, Pies. J. A Shunk, Sec. MARSHALL COUNTY PHYSICIANS ASSOCIATION. Meets first Tuesday in each month. Jacob Kaszer, M. D., President. Novitas B. Aspinall. M. D., Sec
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