Marshall County Independent, Volume 6, Number 12, Plymouth, Marshall County, 2 March 1900 — Page 3

TALMAGE'S SERMON.

"PRODIGAL SONS." THE LATEST SUBJECT DISCUSSED. From Lake XV: 13 as Follows: "The Yonncr Son Gathered All Together and Took III Journey Into a Far "Today the old homestead Is turned upside down. One of the bov3, th3 younger, is about to leave the parental roof. The eaglet Is tired or being warmed by the wings of the old birds and with ruffled feather3 stands upon the edge of the eyrie ready to fly off. It' is a sad sight to see a home being broken up. When the children are about to say goodby the families laugh, talk and joke up to the last moment, but they are only trying to keep the courage up. Even the wedding bells weep &3 well as chime. The guests may congratulate you upon having gained a son or a daughter, but you know that it is a mockery, though you do smile through your tears. From now on the daughter will never be the came again. She has gone to make bei own, home, to build her own nest, rear her own young and live her own life. Instead of belonging to you she is another's. Instead of you being first, now yoa are last. "After the wedding of a very dear friend and the worn slipper and the rioe had been thrown, and the bride and bridegroom started, I followed the old gray-haired father down to the garden gate, and therewe stood alone in the moonlight. 'Yes. Frank.' he said, 'I know she has married a good man, but she wa.s my youngest, and it breaks the heart, it break3 the heart Children are born, trow up Jnto young manhood and womanhood, and Jost when it seems the parents cannot get along without them, off they go. Death knocks at the door and carries away some. Love hovers about the spring flowers and breathes through the orange blossoms and woes others. Business calls and duty beckons until the old nursery is silent and there are rooms to let in the homestead which once resounded with the young people's voices. Mother Who t; riete. "Such is the sense of my text. The mother did not sleep much last night. Though she tric3 to look cheerful her eyes are very red. Every little while the disappears into the pantry or goes upstairs. She makes an excuse as though looking for something, but we know it is only to have a good cry. The father is giving his last instructions and handing the young traveler some letters of introduction to a prominent merchant with whom the son will lodge in the next town. There is a noise at the gate. The servants are bringing out the horses and strapping the baggage upon the pack mules. They talk in subdued whispers. Even they feel sorry. The young 'massa was a happy, jolly, go-lucky boy, and always had a cheerful and kind word for the hostlers. The only creature who seems to be merry-making this morning i3 the yellow dog. He frisks about, barking and yelping, thinking he is to follow the sportsman on a week's hunt. Hut his hilarity is stopped when soma one shies a stone at the brute and shouts: 'Go back to the barn!" Slowly he crawls back with tail and head lowered in abject woe. He Etops now and then as if expecting to hear the familiar call. Perhaps he realizes for the first time he is taking a last farewell. I always did believe a bright dog was smarter than a stupid man. But the farewell words are now being said. The father has given his benediction. We must turn aside a little, while the mother has her last convulsive clasp. These are the snapping of heart strings. A mother can never realize the baby she once rocked in a cradle can grow to be a man. "People who have stood upon the wharf at Queenstown and heard the Irish peasant's moan when the young emigrant steps into the boat to take fcteamer for America know what 1 mean. There Is only one cry similar to Jt. That i3. when a family draped in heavy black push back the veils to take a last lingering look at the silent form, sleeping in the casket, when the undertaker stands impatiently behind. Youth Hides Away. "But suddenly the young man breaks away. He leaps Into the saddle. The spurs cut deep. The parents shout their affectionate adieux to the horseman dashing off. Then they wave and throw kisses. The old father now wipes his face vigorously with a handkerchief and scolds the servants and r;ends them off, because he doe3 not want them to see him cry. As the horse disappears over the last hill the old mother burle3 her head on her husband's neck and sobs as if her heart would break. He tenderly put3 his arm about her and draws her toward the house. Slowly they walk up the tree-arched path. They stop a moment on the first step to glance for the last time down the road. Slowly, with a sigh, the father opens the door. The men go back to the work, the women back to the kitchen; thedomestic machinery 13 started and the neighbors fay it Is merely the natural order of thing3 for 'the younger son to gather all together and take hi3 journey into a far country "Lesson the first: This Journey or the prodigal son into a far country Is a divine protest against making tin attractive. The far country was evidently the land of sin. By this Jesus does not mean every young man who starts away from home is bad. But if we carefully study the parable we can read between the lines how the younger son was restless. Like a bird he felt his wings clipped by the control of tho old folks. lie could not be out with his friends as late as he thought he ought to be. Some of the entertalnmenta he attended were questionable. He feared a meddlesome neighbor might report him. He was too old to bs punished and yet not old enough to take care of himself. He decided to leave his old-fashioned father and mother and the strict rules of the homestead. These are the reasons of the departure. "Christ does not enter Into a dlsjrnstlng description of what the young man did. He does not p'.cture him mon the gay aristocrats of the new

town, opening the best bottles of wine, driving the fastest horses, and living with evil companions whom he dare not Introduce to hi3 sisters. He doe3 not describe him in some lewd dance hall. Intoxicated with Cattery as much as with wine. He doe3 not have a palace of Circe filled with princes and princesses, the walls pictured, the floors of mosaic, tho banquet table groaning under the weight of gold and silver as well as fruits and viand3. I'ltnbl Omit Detail. "He does not trace him on and on, running into debt, having hl3 friends leaving him one by one, as humming birds v:ith their pretty wings will flutter away from a flower as soon as the honey is gone. He does not describe him at last so poor that he Is begging alongside of the beggars whom he once cursed in the street. No. Jesus covers up the months of wassail, libertinism, and conviviality with the simple sentence of my text 'The younger son gathered all together and took his Journey Into a far country In Christ's parable it i3 only one step from the father's house to a swine's trough. "The trouble with many so-cal!eJ Christian teachers is that we put a halo over sin and talk too much about water nymphs, fairies, seamaids, denizens of the air, sylphs, spirlt3 and flaxen-haired goddesses. Wo picture Temptation as a dream of beauty seated upon the rim of a cloud. She hold3 in one hand a pack of cards and in the other a chalice of wine. The colors of her cheek, the flower3 caught in the fclds of the garment clinging about her lithe form make her look so innocent one can't help loving her, even though she may be bad. "The great criticism against John Milton is that he Introduces hl3 Satan as a very respectable sort of a gentleman. Supposing tonight I should attack a certain Infidel book or a vile French novel and mention the book by name and the author, and tell you under no condition to read it; that if you did you would blast your soul for time and eternity. What would bo the result? Tomorrow morning fifty or one hundred of the young people sitting before me would arise early and tske the first car down town and hurry to the publishers and buy that very book, merely because the preacher told you not to read it. That is human nature. "What is the greatest damage a newspaper can do a man? Attack him? No! That always r:oes an innocent public man good. The harder the newspaper denounces, the more prominent the man becomes. The worst insult the newspapers can give is to simply ignore a man. Never mention his name. Treat him a3 if he was not worth noticing. The most awfal contempt you can hurl at an enemy Is silence, complete silence, nevcr-eaiing silence. Not $atun4 BnMetin lionrrf. "Refuse to allow your back to be Satan's bulletin board. Pose not before a community as a reformed drunkard, or an evangelized thief. If you once bad a diseased tongue, please do not tell it. If you were once bedaubed with social filth, we do not want to know it. Talk not about the gilded saloon and bacchanalian feasts and the good times you used to have before you joined the church and married and gave up all fun. Throw not the coat of many colors over licentiousness and somber black over virtue. Leave evil advertisements alone. With one plunge jump from the highest mountain of inspiration into the lowest depths of despair with the simple sentence, 'And he went into a far country "In the next place, learn that tha prodigal of my text went into the far country because the father was too lenient, and divided unto him his living. Of course, we all know the great teaching of this parable was to show God's mercy; how, as a broken-hearted parent he Is longing for the wayward child to come home. But there are many minor truths as well a3 the major one. All the sold taken from the mines is not poured into tho same mold. The chisel of Michael Angelo can cut a curly-headed shepherd boy as well as the long, flowing beard and swarthy muscle3 of the Jewish lawgiver. The wheel3 in a factory should not be despised because they do not revolve the one wav. "Mr. Moody said: 'This father ought to be censured. He could not have done a greater unkindness to the boy than to give the younger son his goods and money and let him go. A true father would have said to such a contemptible filial spirit. "Go and earn your own portion by the sweat of your brow" Yet hundreds of parents arc making the same mistake every day. Try a3 hard as the loving heart may, we are very apt to be partial to the babies. When the young couple stand at the marriage altar, hope and poverty generally clasp hands. The first children who sleep la the cradel have to take their share of struggle for daily bread. But when the youngest babies are born the parents often have a foothold. Servants now clean tho houso and run the errands and care for the shoes. To use a worn-out figure, ths younger son lies on a bed of rosea. Kelflalme of Children. "But tome one Fays this prodigal son Is the exception. Most children would not take selfish advantage of their parents in that way. Kindncsj always wooes kindness and love love. We fear you are in error. Most of the children are Just what tho. parents make them. Have you ever had a tester get ra u -ried? No sooner is she engaged than

she starts around th: house laying j claim to everything. If she hai pilntcu a piece or crockery or embroidered a pillow cushion or played upon a piano, they are all hers. She sayj, 'This Is mine and that U mine, and th? other thing is mine When the bride leaves the old homestead the stout expressmen have hard work to shov down the lid of the brldil trunk to make the key turn In the lock. livery child's marriage strip3 the father's house. "William Shakespeare was the most Inspired writer who ever lived outside of Holy Writ. He seemed to know everything. When he soliloquized over a skull you could see the awful grinning teeth and empty eye sockets and the gloomy graveyard, even though you do not watch the tragedy In a theater. 'The Taming of the Shrew

could teach many of our legislators that the whipping-post ought not to be obsolete In our treatment of social Irritants. In the sins of Lady Macbeth all the evll'deeds of life seem to mak9 the very fingers soak the blood. "When you think of the Injustice toward the Jew in 'The Merchant of Venice we hear poor Shylock turn upon his persecutors and demand a pound of Antonio's flesh In revenge for stealing his daughter. What i3 William Shakespeare's testimony in reference to children who have been brought up by too lenient parents? When King Lear as king had the two daughters at his feet; when the two daughters were queens the poor old man was driven from house to house. Adv'r to TATntn, "But sometimes the father's mistakes sharpen the poisonous fang. The best way to hold the affections of your children i3 to bo independent of them. Never let them finger the purso strings; divide not unto them tho living, not only for your own sake, but for theirs. The younger son will not find much fun in drinking a bottle of champagne at $2.50 per bottle If he earns a salary of only $7 a week. There is not much enjoyment in smoking 23-cent cigars if a poor clerk has to go without his dinner on account of the expense. There is not much poetry about 'the far country if a young man has to tend the swine as soon as he enters it If your children are bound to go to destruction, make them pay their own way. "Lastly, learn when the young prodigal gathered all together and took hl3 journey Into the far country he left hi3 mother as well as his father. Some preachers go so far as to suppose this boy did not have a mother. The parable mentions her not. Perhaps on account of the dissipations of the younger son the mother's hairs prematurely silvered. Then, like the blossoming of the almond tree, became as white a3 snow. The long, deep wrinkles grew deeper; the eye sadder; the Up more ready to quiver. The doctors said she was worrying about something. One day the old trouble came. There wa3 an awful cry, as the spasm of the heart clutched at her life, and she was dead. This Interpretation may be true, but we do not think so, and you and I have Just as much right to our opinion as others have to theirs. "In the first place, the man Is at the head of the house. By the eastern custom he alone Is mentioned. The Bible tells U3 that Christ wa3 to be born ol Mary the Virgin. Yet in the two distinct genealogical tables of the New Testament, the one in Matthew aud the other In Luke, only the genealogical table of Joseph is given; the one tracing the family history from God down to the manger, the other from the manger bark to God. Old Home Keoallecl. "Shall I describe a scene which happened last night? No, It was not in Chicago. Not in that low saloon or cheap theater where you were playing billiards and gambling away your life. The scene was way back in tha country. You remember the old farm, the white hou.-e, the pillared porch, the big barn in the rear, the wood pile to the left of the kitchen door. The hens are now running around begging for food because the earth is a frozen tomb in which the worms have gone to sleep for the winter. It is about evening, and an old woman, an old gray-haired woman, Is cooking over tho kitchen stove. She looks thinner than when you saw her last. The neighbors say she is ai;ing very rapidly and will not live long. An old man come in and stamps the snow off his great boots. The woman, this gray-haired woman, looks up and says, 'Pa, have you a letter? Have you been to the postoffice? Is It not strange he has not written? He has been gone five long years. Do you think God will lot mo live long enough to see him Just once before 1 go?' "The old man say? rc'hing, but goes to tin; door and looks dcw.i th road. He .shades his eyes as If he co':Id see a great way off. Then he tprrta and says, 'Mother, that is. a fine colt we have there in the barnyard. She 1 getting fatter each day. We must kill her soon. Perhaps we can have a big feast If our boy ever conies home "They sit by the fire a little while after the dishes are wiped. Their evening talk is soon ended. They are so tired they cannot stay up late. They are too tired to sleep. Then they take the old Bible and the mother says, 'Pa, won't you read that story of the prodigal son? Somehow I never can hear it enough. You read it last night. It i3 in the fifteenth chapter of Luke. About the younger son that went away and starved and was too proud to como home When home to a parental heart without the boy was even a more desolate place than the pig, pea was where her boy was starving. "Then they knelt. As they prayed the little candle-light began to flicker in sympathy. The tears trickled down through the four withered hands. Thus the two tottering old folks staid upon their knees pVa ling with GoJ until an angel In heaven could hear their grief no longer, and he fluttered away and whispered to tue the secret that I am now telling you. Poy, will you not go home? Before they are dead go home and leave this far country of sin, even this wicked, selfish city, where we now live."

t)lrnrerr of Men tu n a Motive Tower. la 1545 a nv:ct.anie. who for many ywrs puzslfi! and experimented on the subject, brought to the attention . of F.mperor Charles Fifth, of Austria, an invention by ine.m3 of Vvhich ships could be propelled by steam. Tho monarch was greatly Impressed and would no doubt have become the patron of this great Invention, but one of his prime ministers, evidently jealous of the attention the Inventor was receiving, so worked upon the mind of the emperor that his Interest in the invention was quite destroyed. In 1611 a man was put, into a mad houso because he perslstenly followed Rome of the great men of his country about, declaring that he had discovered a new motive pdwer that would revolutionize the machinery of the age. Many countries and people have claimed to be the discoverers of steam as a motive power, but these accounts, which ar well authenticated, seem to settle thft question finally.

WROTE "IN HIS STEPS"

AND GAVE REFORM MOVEMENT A START. Cer. Sheldon of Topeka Is On of the Most Original Freaclurs In the Conntry ItclleTei In Lets Trenching Had Mure I'ractit-c Rev. Charles M. Shekion of Topeka, Kan., is probably the most original and unique figure in the religious world today. He first attracted attention by his novel, "In His Steps." When people began to study him they found him remarkably interesting. He Is a man of marvelous resources and is simple and direct In his manner of doing things. He has applied these characteristics of simplicity and directness in hi3 Methods of conducting the Central Congregational church of Topska. of which he is pastor. A radical departure of Dr. Sheldon from accepted form is his method of conducting Sunday evening service. Instead of the conventional sermon he has for a long time given readings from original religious nov!s, bringing home to the congregation the truths and beauties of the better life in this way. These novels are published after the congregation has beard them, and tome of them have had a phenomenal sale. For some time after Dr. Sheldon in9 fcV&' k. mu. REV. CHARLES M. SHELDON, troduced his innovation of pulpit readings he was assailed with criticisms from many quarters. The most common judgment passed upon him was that ho sought notoriety and that he was eccentric. In Topeka Dr. Sheldon Is known to be sincere in his efforts to do good in all that he undertakes, and his admirable personality disarms any criticism on the score of eccentricity. To acquaint himself with the actual life of the classes with which he seldom had opportunity to come iu close contact Dr. Sheldon ha spent much ol his time in mixing with those of humble station. Not long ago he asked his congregation for a vacation of three months with tho exception of Sundays. It was not known what he was doing during that time, but It transpired that poorer classes, lie established a social settlement In "Tennessee-town," the he gave himself up to work among the negro quarter of the city .and has been doing much to raise the people to a respectability they had not dreamed of. He spent several days with each of the different classes of people of the city. One week he traveled through the state on freight and stock trains in the disguise of a railroad man. Another week he spent S3 a reporter on one of the dally papers that he might see the various phase3 of life from that view point. He mixed with lawyers, doctors, business men, street car men and the laboring classes. His latest move was to obtain absolute control for one week of a Topeka daily paper. A Thon h fil Wife. Alpharetut (t;.i.; ree rress: A man went home the other niht and found th house locked up. After infinite troublo he managed to gain an entrance through a back window, and the.t discovered on the parlor table a Lcte from his wife reading: "I Lave gone over to father's; you will find the key on the side of the steps." What a thoughtful woman! WHEN MANNA

limy Mrw ilP Ml!;!1 J1 Ai''t,,l' jT;i'v''V

Here is a most Interesting and remarkable photograph of Senator Mark Hanna, which was taken by Mr. A. I Newman of the Cleveland Plaindealer'i staff, from an old painting. This Is the first time that the public at large have been permitted to see how this well-known man looked under hlrsutt conditions.

FRENCH HATE FOR ENGLAND The Hitter Feeling Between tin Couutrles In Steadily Growing. There is no question about the bitter feeling between France and England is growing, says a writer. Whenever the English meet a set-back in South Africa the people in Pari3 are simply wild with delight, and the comments of the French press are, to say tho least, unkind. On the other hand, the English papers refer to the French in uncomplimentary and no uncertain terms, and in parody of Rudyard Kipling's latest poem, they now speak of French journalists as "Th3 AbsentMlnded Beggars." The troublo with the English, in a measure, seems to have been a swollen pride on the part of tho cabinet, or, at least, a portion of it, who apparently looked on this war as a sort of picnic which they could take care of without trouble and without apsistciuce. In pursuance of tlilij idea, they not only at first refused the offers of colonial assistance, but let it be known that thy held the colonial fortes cheapiy. and not at oil as in the same class with the regular "Tommy Atkinses" as fighting men. So far. according to the accounts, the colonial troops have done the better work. Another useless thing that has been done has been the frequent references to the organization known as the "Cape Mounted Rifles" as a non-combatant force. Every one connected with the C. M. R. 13 mad clear through, and Justly eo. as the C. M. R. is to South Africa much what the mounted polic? is to Canada, and to say that the latter body is not a fighting force would bo to betray a lack of knowledge of their history. Within our borders we have had analogous organizations as has, I presume, every country In its beginnings. Take the Texas Rangers, for Instance: that they fought and were organized particularly with that purpose in view, and as to how they fulfilled their mission, many a page In the history of the Lone Star State bears glorious witness.

A FOXY OLD FOX. lie Tooled the Hunter nul Ilnyed Taj wrtt I the !. "The longest chase I ever made aftr any fox," s:ld a Lewiston hunter, Thursday, "was for one that many people have tried to get, up at Sleeper's woods above I.cwiston. There is a hill up there, the sides of which are full cf fox burrows, and a fox could run into cne hole and out another, and perhaps out the other side of the hill. I had a good dog, and we started a fox early in the morn Ins:, and the dog chased him through Sleeper's bog hour after hour. Every time that they came out of the bog, and ran up to the hill to circle around to the upon I noticed that the dog would be cut up, torn and bleeding about the head as if he had been In a fight. I afterward found that he bad been running through blackberry bushoa for miles, tho foxy old reynard trying to kill him that way. Rut what puzzled me was that the fox would dodge in at a hole in the side of the hill, apparently tired to death, and then the next minute he would dodge out the next hole as fresh as It he had plunged into a spring of eternal youth. I couldn't understand it. And the dog couldn't; but I noticed that the dog was tired out, while the fox seemed as fresh as ever. Along toward night I got down by one of the holes just as tho fox was springing into it and shot him, filling him with buckshot and stretching him out there. A minute later, a second fox leaped out of a hole a little way off and ran, the dog after her, and then I understood it. It was a put-up job to tire out my dog. For when one fox came in tired out with a two-mile run, the second one would come bounding out and away, giving the first one time to rest. That night I got the second one just before sunset, and it was with a good deal of satisfaction that I trudged home with the two, my dog limping sorely afier me." Lewiston, Me., Journal. New Zealand' Gold Mine. The New Zealand gold output for the month of December amounted to ?J,673 ounces, valued at l3.f02. as compared -with 30,743 ounces, valued at 121. OOS, for December, 180S. Tho increase during the pat 12 months, as compared with the year 189S, was 1?0,410 ounces, valued at 432,531. WORE WHISKERS.

RUNNING MATE FOR BRYAN. TopalNt Favor Nomination of Jade Caldwell for Ylce-l'reftldent. If Senator Allen is correctly Informed, the running mate for Mr. Bryan on the Union ticket of the democrats, populists aud free silver republicans, will be Henry C. Caldwell of Little Rock, Ark., judge of the federal court for the eighth circuit. Judge Caldwell is a silver republican. His nomination is not only acceptable to the populists, but the national committee, which adjourned Tuesday afternoon, did so with the determination of doing all in its power to make him the nominee oC the national convention which is to be held in Sioux Falls S. D., May 9. GEN. JOHN M'NuLtX DEAD. Veteran I;i"tr Away Jmrtdfiily at a llutt'l In V. I'llMjtou. Gen. John MeXuU of Chicago died at the Hamilton bote!, in Washington, cbout 6 o'clock Thiiruday evening of acute angina pectoris. Gen. MeXuIta went to Washington Tuesday to attend to business iu connection with the Illinois National bank, for which he is the receiver.

Import and Kprt. The detailed tables of the January imports and exports have been issued by the treasury bureau of statistics. The total imports were $".". RSS.0S7, as against $58,239,771 for the month of January, The exports last month were $117,595,102. as against $115,591,4 tC in January. 1S99. The export statement for the seven months shows products of agriculture, $1&3,126.S75, a decrease of $ll,COO,Of0, compared with the corresponding mouths of the preceding fiscal year, and manufactures, $234.301,111. an increase of $52,000,003 over of the corresponding months of last year. Exports of manufactures form 2C.7G per cent of the total exports, and articles in a crude condition for manufacturing 34.79 per cent of the total imports, a larger percentage in each case than ever before. DivMeml for eltr' Creditor. A dividend of 10 p"r cent, has been arranged for by the assignee of tho estate of ex-State Senator Henry Seiter, the Libanon, (111.) banker who failed live years ago with li Utilities of $jQ9.100, includin;; a duo bill of $213,000 made to State Treasurer Rumsey and found in the vaults of the state treasury after Uainscy's death. Only one dividend (C per cent) has been previously made, and the third and final dividend to be made later will not exceed G per cent. Sreot I'rencli l'lot. The Cologne Gazette, in a pessimistic article entitled "French Scheming," declares that M. Dcichauel, the president of the chamber of deputie s, is the coming man in France. The Gazette asserts that JI. De.schanel is following up the idci of expelling Germany from tho triple alliance and effecting an understanding and dual alliance of England and Franco. It is alleged that when this has been accomplished every eifert will bo made to conquer Germany. In Kan.i City July !. Dy a vote of 49 to 2 the democratic national executive committee decided in .Washington Thursday to hold the national contention in Kansas City, Mo., July 4. The selection of Kansas City is said to have been due to the greater amount of money offered the committee by the representatives of that city as against Milwaukee, which was the only competitor. The date was Relpclfd largely through the influence of Senator Gorman. Malrott. Whlj thoynnkl. Joe Walcott treated the crowd gathered in the 13 road way athletic club Friday night to a genuine surprise by practically knocking out Joe Choynski, the well-known California heavyweight, who recently scored an impressive victory over big Peter Maher in a six-round bout at Chicago. Choynski was ?o badly punished that the referee stopped the bout in the seventh round. ftoieinment in f J rent IVrit. A dispatch dated Dogota, Feb. 22. received by the state department from Charles Burdrtt Hart, United States minister to the United States of Colombia, indicates that the Colombian government is in a precarious situation. It is evident from the tone of the message that the minister regards the insurrection as very serious and the government's position as critical. Make Attack on n Tram Car. Several French lunatic asylums report a curious mania is making headway among conscripts. Too much reading of war n-ws mentally unbalances them, and they start running amuck under the impression that they are Boers attacking the English. One today attacked a tramcar in the street, tinier the Impression it was an English armored train. Mach la Cone to l'uerto Hlro. Rear-Admiral Farquhar telegraphs the navy department from Colon that the gunboat Machias has gone to San Juan, Fuerto Rico. She left La Guayra on Monday for Puerto Cubello, where a revolutionary outbreak was supposed to be impending. Tho fatt that she has gone to San Juan indicates that everything at Puerto Cabello was quiet. Third C'uMo Konto Opened. The Eastern Extension Telegraph company has issued a notice that the third cable route between Europe and South Africa via Ascension island to St. Helena is open for business. With the opening of this route war dispatches from South Africa should reach England in two cr three hours afier they are filed. Horn n 111? Teune.o 'oil Well. A deal has just been consummated through which the Standard Oil company acquires the famous Hobs liar oil well in Pickett county, Tennessee, tho consideration being $10(,0ü0 cash. The company Is in the field for other Tennessee property. All on Hoard Tot. , The barge Gen. Wiley foundered Sunday night In Long Island sound, between Dearer Tail and Point Judith. Ono man and four children, aged 5 to 14 years, aboard the bargo, were lost

A NEWSPAPER FAMINE

SCARCITY OF PRINT PAPER MAY BRING IT ON. Great Shortage of the Material from Which It In Made Canadian Supply of Wood Pulp Jshot Off Entirely for th l'resent. (From the Chicago Daily Inter-Ocean.) A serious famine threatens the paper Industry cf the United Slates. Various causes have conspired to lessen tho product of the mills, while the demand for print paper ar d the ctfcer ordinary grades is unprecedented. The conditions lod to a secret meeting of the leading paper manufacturers of the Fniied States yesterday at ta Great Northern hottl, to consider what could be dene to avert the famine threatened by the shortage In wood pulp, which, if it is not relieved, will cause the vast paper miPs of the country to shut down and cripple serioruly every industry which depends upon tl: product r.f the mills. Nearly all cf the leading paper manufacturers of tb country were present, and xfc principal topic of interest was a now fiber for the manufacture of paper, to take the place of the wood fibre now In such universal vise. What the new fiber Is, the paper manufacturers would not say. They averred that at present the process by which it is manufactureied is In a crude stage, but they discussed It as the only visible solution of present difficulties. Creat Irk of Material. "Not for twenty years has such a serious condition confronted the manufacturers of paper, and there Is great danger that we may be forced to close our mills for lack of material," said A. D. Schaeffer of the Hartford City Paper company, who presided over the meeting. "Various causes are responsible for this condition. The principal one is that wood pulp, from which the lower grades of paper is manufactured, is so hard to get that there is a constant scramble for material. Recent inquiry of the pulp mills at Sault Ste. Marie, the largest pulp mills In th world, develops the fact that there Is not a pound for sale there, and other mills are as hard pressed. The rapid cutting of the forests of the Iastern and middle Western states, and the stopping of the supply from Canada is largely responsible for the threatened famine. Added to the scarcity of timber is the recent mild weather, which has made it impossible to bring the pulp wood which has be-cn cut to market. A large part of the season'3 cut of the forests of Wisconsin and Michigan, upon which the middle Western states depend for pulp wood, is now lying n the bare ground and cannot be moved until snow come. Another great dancer comes in tho possibility of a heavy fall of snow following this long dry season. A fall or eighteen inches of snow would cover up the pulp wood already cut st that it would be next to impossible to dig it out and float it down the river to tha mills. T.:tTtor Alo Spirtf. "A great seai city cf labor in the pineries has also made the movement of pulp wood to the mills slow. Companies cutting pulp wood have spent thousands of dollars importing men Into the pineries to cut pulp wood only to lose them when they got there. Boys of tighten and nineteen are being largely employed in the work. '"Canada has been the source of supply for many of the Eastern mill3. but that source of supply has been cut off as the cutting of timber on crown lands has been prohibited and tho province of Quebec makes the importer pay ?1.&0 per cord duty, which makes the material too expensive. The only solution we can see is to adopt a new fiber as a substitute for wood fiber. That is the subject of discussion. W have onr- in view, but I do not care to talk of that now. "Another difficulty which confronts Kastern manufacturers is a lack of water upon which they depend for power. That, too, is the result of the cutting away of the forests. The millä of the middle West are not embarrassed in this respect to the same extent as the Kastern mills. "We have rot come together to form any combination or to raise prices. The demand naturally governs prices. The sole object Is to avert a famine If possible, for a famine would hurt the producer as much as the consumer." J. C. Brockelbank, vice president and Western manager of the Manufacturers' Paper company cf New York, with office in the Itookery building, confirmed the statements made by William Schaeffer concerning the trade. Condition 1 Perlon. "If present conditions in the pineries continue, there will be a serious shortage of pulp wood In the West until next fall." he said. "It has been simply impossible to get the spruce, from which wood pulp is made, to market. It grows in the swamps of the pineries, nnd the winter has been so open that it has beeit impossible to haul It to the rivers, down which it is floated to the mills, as wagons would sink to the hubs in mud and water. Only continued cold weather can relieve the condition." The 6tock of paper now on hand 1 extremely fhort. The export trade, which was large, has been abandoned entirely, and the jobbers have very little free rapcr on hand. The mills have no free paper and will see that they are in condition to meet contracts already made before they sell to any one else. There is perlous danger that the mills may have to shut dowu entirely for lack of pulp wood. The greatest danger to the trade is likely to be during March and April, and May, but the famine will continue until next fall. IHvorre it I.mnrr. In the state of New Jersey divorce is a luxury. The New Jersey Legal Aid society says fo. It has Just given out this opinion in answer to numerous appeals for freedom from the tolls of matrimony. This opinion is the result of the growing practice of marrying and then separating. To all these applicants the society is now returning answer that divorce Is a luxury and not a necessity, and that the applicants must Bavo up enough to pay for their own divorces if they wish to escap the effect of too hasty matrimony.