Pike County Democrat, Volume 28, Number 52, Petersburg, Pike County, 6 May 1898 — Page 3

Shtgikf (Eountg Jmocrat M. MeCL STOOPS, Editor and Proprietor. PETERSBURG. • - INDIANA. ———■Ill— 11——III. ...of HER BEST. Have you noticed the change It sometimes makes In a woman's facepassive It may be, and dull and cold. Neutral-tinted, and commonplace— When the sun falls on it? How swift It takes Meaning and color and soft outlines? Bow strange new lights from the eyes will ■lip, And new tints blossom on cheek and lip? The whole face softens and warms and shines. And the hair, a miser grown overbold. Shows forth, of a sudden, undreamed-of gold. Oh, there's many a woman, east and we3t, Must be in the sunshine to look her best! Bave you ever noticed the change it makes In a woman's face And her heart and her life, that were cold and dull And slightly inclined to commonplace. When Love shines on them? How there breaks Over her nature a wave of gold. Bringing out beauty unknown before. Mellowing, widening more and more. Lifting her up till her eyes behold Ever new blooms for her hands to cull, 80 she and her life grow beautiful? Oh. there's never a woman, east or west. But must live in Love’s sunshine to live her best! —Clara W. Bronson, in Boston Watchman.

o TWO men were scrubbing the wooden effigy of Ceres above the wheelhouse of the Dudley lirown. Ceres sat in a very stiff and conventional attitude, gazing straight bpstream, jshe had a black spot painted in each eye. and the effect was to give her the appearance of staring with intense interest! If Ceres could have' seen from her wooden eyes she would have noticed that the big warehouses were warming In a cheerful sunshine, that there was some movement along the docks, that men in white suits were suspended like spiders along the sides of the gaunt Iron steamers and were covering the stains of a winter harboring with a new coat of paint; that decks were being scrubbed down and riggingset taut and servicecble. In fact, Ceres would have kuown that the season was arousing itself. Ceres wore a loose garment of fiery red. Her arms and face were white and rather scaly from repeated applications of white lead. The sheaf which she carried in her left arm was done fn brilliant yellow, and altogether she was i startling figure as she sat perched nw.iy above tile wheel house, where the crowds passing on the bridge might look and admire. Ceres held this place of distinction because the Dudley lirown was « graincarrying steamer plying between Chicago and Buffalo, and C« res is the godd : > corn ami tillage. The mariner could not pay a prettier compliment e husbandman, and tire cob was ali the more graceful because one do- s not fim| many such instances along the Chicago river. The two men who hud climbed to the tin roof of the wheelhouse to cleanse tr.r goddess were sailors not the Jack Tars of youthful invagination, but sailer- who had been reduced to deckhands through the changes in navigation and the gradual supremacy of steam. BE QUIT THE WATE1 By GEORGE ADE.

Dan (■ nsworn had been a real sailor, and (i ad all the tattoo marks to prove It. He could splice and knot and reef, and he knew the names of all the sails and sheets, but this knowledge counted for nothing on the Dudley Brown. In the opinion of Dan Griswold it was not u \essel at all—just a huge grain bin propelled by a screw. The sailor having lost his station, the pride and the clothes bad gone with it. These two men scrubbing at the goddess were in blue flannel shirts and a cheap quality of “store clothes.” Dan Griswold wore a crumpled cap, and the younger man had a faded derby hat l The younger man's name was Larry Pearson. “I think she*s clean, Larry,” said Dan, passing the bucket and brush to his companion and lowering himself, with . a few grunts and sighs, from the roof of the whc-elhouse. "She looks all right," said Larry. “We've got to keep her looking all right,” remarked Dun, as he picked up his bucket and walked aft. “She's the only woman we'll have aboard—and it's a good thing she can't hear what's bein' said.” Three men were perched along the rail on the sunny side of the boat warming their backs. One of them, Tony Baldwin, was reading aloud from a newspaper. He slopped reading as Dan came up aud said: “Here, Dan. you want to hear this.” “What is it ?" “They say the ice is out o' the straits, and they can get through now without a scratch. As soon as they can get insurance everything'll start. It’s goin’ to be the earliest season we’ve had for years.” “I’ll be glad o’ that,” growled Lnrrv, s bo had followed along. “It can't come any too soon for me.” “If I was on a real-boat I wouldn't caFe, either," said Dan. “I’m forgeltift’ what a sail looks like, and I never did like the smell o’ rainwater. That’s all that thing is (with a wave of the hand toward the lake;—a big pdddle o' rainwater.” “I know why Dan ain't so anxious to get away this spring,” said Tony, with a wink at the others, “lie’s stuck on the missus. - Why don’t you marry her, Dan, and settle down T*

“It’s only a dirty roustabout 'ad talk about a lady like that,” said Dsn, savagely. Tony was urprised. He had not intended an insult. But he was not to be called a “dirty roustabout." “Who are you talkin’ to?” he demanded. “I don’t allow no cheap deckhand to talk to me like that.” “You don’t, eh?” Immediately they closed in, striking at each other with great ferocity. They grappled and went to the deck, Dan Griswold falling on top. The three spectators did not interfere, bnt a young man who came running from forward grabbed Dan by the collar and ordered him, in most expressive profanity, t< “let go.” This young man was the mate Dan untangled himself and came tc his feet. He was breathing heavily and one eye had a bruised and watery appearance. Tony had been defeated by the rules of battle, but he bore no marks and was anxious to resume the fight. “Go on—get off the boat,’both of you,” said the mate. “I don’t want you around,” and he gave his opinion of the two in language which can be imagined but cannot be quoted. Dan jumped to the dock and sullenly made his way toward Mrs. Gunderson’s boarding house. By the feel of his eyt he knew that it would be discolored soon, and he felt ashamed of himsel; and wondered what Mrs. Gundersot would say to him. It was the "first timt

he had fought since going to her houst to live. Mrs. Gunderson's boarding place was several degrees better than the lowest grade of sailors* lodging house, foi she never sheltered drinking men, anc her prices excluded what is known as the “bum” element. She had mates anc engineers and even two or three captains among her customers. Dan had lived at the house for tw< winters, and during the second winter because he could not be idle and be cause Mrs. Gunderson came to have t growing confidence in ;him, he was t sort of business manager for the estab lishment. He brought in reliable customers. kept track of the account^, die -much of the purchasing amTadvise£Mrs. Gunderson in all emergencies. Fdi the first time in his wandering careei he had found a taste of real domestit life, for one can never know domestii life unless one feels a proprietary in terest. Dan had outlived the sailors' period of romance. He had tired of the life on the grain steamers, but he had never dreamed that he could mal^ea living or be useful in any way except on board a vessel. Here he was. preparing to begin another season of drudgery on the lakes, but he hated the prospect as he had never hated it before, and he began to realize that there was more dignify and comfort in managing a threV-diN'k-d boarding hous$ than in being ordered about as a common sailor, ik was out of the bitterness of his dai/v reflections that he had resented Tonyv* playful remark and invited the fighk on the Dudley Brown. Mrs. Gunderson met him as he entered the doorway at the boarding honsc. “There you are. Mr. Griswold!” she exclaimed. “I’ve been looking for you. Mr. Cleary wants his bill. Glory to Ireland. man! What’s the matter with your eye?”. It may be remarked that although Mrs. Gunderson’s husband (lost with a

I SUSPENDED LIKE SPIDERS. lumber schooner) had been a Norwegian. she was distinctly Scotch and. Irish. “I got into trouble with a fellow on the boat. It’s all right. I’ll make out Oleary's bill.” llj* went into his own room to work at the “books.” and presently Mrs. j Gunderson came in with a piece of i steak for his eye, which he refused with gentle scorn. "Mr. Cleary says the straits are open," remarked Mrs. 'Gunderson, as she ad- j mired Dan's work with the figures. “Yes; they'll be gettin' away most any day now.” “The Lord only knows what we’ll do when you're gone, Mr. Griswold. I’ve , come to depend on you so much—with ■ £0 men in the house.” • j “I hate to go, Mrs. Gunderson." “Why can't you stay? I can pay you a little something, or anyway your board—which you’ve been wantin’ to pay. I nehd a man—I do t hat.” “So the boys on the boat savs.” "They dor’ “Yes; I had my fight with a fellow that asked me why I didn’t marry you.” 'VBless you, the two girls have been askin' that for a month.” “Cleary owes you eleven fifty,” said Dan. handing the biil to her. As she received it, she gave him & glance which he seemed to understand. It was three days later that the mate, of the Dudley Brown met Dan on the State street bridge. Dan was smoking a cigar and surveying the river with the air of one who owned the stream and all abutting property. “Look here, Dan, why haven’t you been around?” he demanded. “I wouldn't be surprised if navigation opens by Saturday.? “Navigation can open and be blanked,” replied Dan. I’ve quit the water.”—Cki* cago Record.

IN THE LORD’S NAME. A Proclamation of Revolution in the Name of Jehovah. Christianity's Upheaval la the Family, la the Church, in Commercial Circles and Through All Walks of Ufe. In the following sermon Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage sets forth the tendency of religion to overthrow things that are wrong in every condition of life. The text is: These that have turned the world upside down are oome hither also. -Acts xvil, ft. There is a wild, bellowing mob around the house of Jason, in Thessalonica. What has the man done so greatly to offend the people? He haa been entertaining Patti aud his comrades. The mob surround the house and cry: "Bring out those turbulent preachers! They are interfering with our business. They are ruining our religion! They are actually turning the world upside down!” The charge was true; for there is nothing that so interferes with sin, there is nothing so ruinous to every form of established iniquity, there is nothing that has such tendency to turn | the world upside down, as our glorious Christianity. The fact is that the world now is wrong side up, and it needs to be turned upside down in order that it may be right side up. The time was when men wrote books entitling them''Apologies for Christianity.” I hope that day has passed. We want no

more apologies for Christianity. Let the apologies be on the part of those who do not believe in our religion. We do not wish to hide the fact that Christianity is revolutionary, and that its tendency is to turn the world upside down. Our religicin has often been mis represented as a'principle of tears, and mildness, and fastidiousness; .afraid of crossing people's prejudice; afraid of making somebody mad; with silken gloves, lifting the people up from the 'church pew into glory, as though they were Bohemian, glass, so very delicate that with one touch it may be demolished forever. Men speak of religion as though it were a spiritual chloroform. that the people were to take uu-; til the sharp cutting of life were over. The Bible, so far from this, represents the religion of Christ as robust and brawny—ransacking and upsetting 10.000 things that now 3eem to be settled on tirra foundations. 1 hear some man in this house say: ”1 thought religion was peace.’’ That is the final result. A man's arm is out of place. Two men corile, and with great effort put it back to the socket It goes'back with great pain. Then it gets well. Our world is horribly disordered and out of joint. It must come under an omnipotent surgery, beneath which there will be pain and anguish before there can come perfect health ami quiet. I pro^yfahu, therefore, in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ-'-llevolution! The religion of the Bible will make a revolution in the family: Those things that are wrong in the family circle will be overthrown by it, while justice and harmony will take the place. The husband will be the head of the household only when he is fit to be. i know a man who spends all the money he makes in drink, as well as ali the money that his wife makes; and sometimes sells the children's clothes for rum. Do you tell me that he is to be the head of that household? If the wife have more nobility, more courage, more consistency, more of all that is right, she shall have the supremacy. You say that the Bible says that the wife is to be the subject to the husband. I know it. But that is a husband, not a masculine caricature. There is no human or divine law that makes a woman subordinate to a man unworthy of her. When Christianity comes into a dome tic eircle. it will give the dominancy to that one who is the most worthy of it.

As reunion comas iu at the front door, mirth and laughter will not go out of the back door. It,.will not hopple the childrens feet. John will laugh just as loud, and George will jump higher that he ever did before. It will steal from the litti?e ones neither ball nor bat, nor hoop, nor kite. It will establish a family altar. Angels will hover over it. Ladders of light will reach down to it. The glory of Heaven will stream upon it. The books of remembrance will record it; and tides of every lasting blessedness will pour from it. Not such a family altar as you may have seen, where the prayer is long and a long chapter is read, with tedious explanations,, and the exercise keeps on until the children's knees are sore, and their backs ache, and their patience is lost and for the seventh time they have counted all the rungs in the chair, but 1 mean a family altar such as may have been in your father’s house. You may have wandered far off in the paths of sin and darkness; but you have never forgotten that family altar where father and mother knelt, importuning God for your soul. That is a memory that a man never gets over. There will be a hearty, joyful family altar in every domestic circle. You will not have to go far to find Hannah rearing her Samuel for the temple, or a grandmother Lois instructing her young Timothy in the knowledge of Christ, or a Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus gathered in fraternal and sisterly affection, or a table at which Jesus sits, as at that of Zaccheus, ora home in whichSIesus dwells, as in the house of Simon, the tanner. The religion of Jesus Christ, coming into the domestic circle, will overthrow all jealousies, all jangiings; and peace, and order, and holiness will take possession of the home. Again: Christianity wiU produce a revolution in commercial circles. Find me 50 merchants, and yon will find that they have 50 standards of what is right and wrong. You say to some one about a merchant: “Is he honestf’ “Oh. yes," the man says, “he is honest; but he grinds the faces of his clerks.

He is honest; but he exaggerates the value ol his goods. He is honest; but he loans monej on bond and mortgage, with the understanding that the mortgage can lie quiet for ten years, but as soon as he gets the mortgage he records it and begins a foreclosure suit, and the sheriffs writ comes down, and the day of sale arrives, and away goes the homestead, and creditor buys it in at half price. ” Honest? When he loaned the money he knew that lie would get the homestead at half price. Honest? But he goes to the insurance office to get a policy on his liie, anti tells the doctor that he is well, when he knows that for ten years he had had bat one lung. Honest? though he sells property by the map, forgetting to tell the purchaser that the ground is all under water; but it is generous in him to do that, for he throws the water into the bargain. Ah! my friends, there is but one standard of the everlasting right and of the everlasting wrong, and that is the Bible; and when that principle shall get its pry under our commercial houses, 1 believe that one-half of them

will go over. The rum will begin at one end of the street, and it will be crash! crash! crash! all the way down to the docks. ‘"What is the matter? Has there been a fall in gold?” “Oh, no.” “Has there been a new tariff?*’ “No.” “Has there been a failure in crops?” “No.” Has there been an unaccountable panic?” “No.” This is the secret: The Lord God has set up His throne of judgment in the exchange. He has summoned the righteous and the wicked to come before Him. What was 1S37? A day of judgment! What was 1857? A day of judgment! What was the extreme depression- of two years ago? A day of judgment! Do you think that God is going to wait until lie has burned the world up before He rights these wrongs? I tell you, nay! Every day | is a day of judgment. The fraudulent man piles up his gains, bond above bond. United States security above United States security, emolument above emolument, until his property has become a great pyramid; and as he stands looking at it, lie thinks it never can be destroyed, but the Lord God comes and with his little finger pushes it all over! You build a house, and you put into it a rotten beam. A mechanic standing by says: “It will never do to put that beam in; it will ruin your whole building.” But you put it in. The house is completed. Soon it begins to roek. You call in the mechanic and ask: “What is the matter with this door? What is the matter with this wall? Everything seems to be giving out.” Says the mechanic: “You put a rotten beam into that structure, and the whole thing has got to come down.” Here is an estate that seems to be all right now. it has been building a great many years. Hut 15 years ago there was a dishonest transaction in that commercial house. That one dishonest t ransaction will keep on working ruin in the whole structure, uutil down the estate will come in wreck and ruin about the possessor’s ears—one dishonest dollar in the es’tate demolishing all his possessions. I have seen it again and again; and so have you. Here is your money-safe. The manufacturer and yourself only know how it can be opened. You have the key. You touch the lock, and the ponderous door swings back. Hut let me tell you that, however firmly barred and bolted your money-safe may be. you can not keep God out. He will come, some day, into your eoxmting-room, ami He will demand: “Where did that note of hand come from? How do you account for this security? Where did yon get that mortgaged from? What does this mean?” If it is all right, God will say: “Well done,, good and faithful servant. Be prospered in this world. Be happy in the world to come.” If it is all wrong He will say: “Depart, ye cursed. Be miserable for your iniquities in this life, and then go down and spend your eternity with thieves, and horse joekeys and pickpockets.” You have an old photograph of the signs on your street. Why have those signs nearly all changed within the last 20 years? Does the passing away of a generation account for it? Oh. no. Does the fact that there are hundreds of honest men who go down every year account for it? Oh. no. This is the secret: The Lord God has been walking through the commercial streets of our great eities; aud He has been ad

justing things according to the principles of eternal rectitue. L_ The time will come when, through the revolutionary power of this Gospel, a falsehood, instead of being called exaggeration, equivocation, or evasion, will be branded a lie! And stealings, that now sometimes go under the head of percentages and commissions and bonuses, will be put into the catalogue of state prison ollenses. Societj' will be turned inside out and upside down, and ransacked of God's truth, until business dishonesties shall come to an end, and all double dealing; and God will overtnrn. and overturn, and overturn; and commercial men in all cities throw up their hands, crying out; “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither.” The religion of Jesus Christ will produce a revolution in our churches. The non-committal, do-nothing policy of the Church of God will give way to a spirit of bravest conquest. Piety in this day seems to me to be salted down just so as to keep. It seems as if the church were chiedy anxious to take care of itself, and if we hear of want, and squalor and heathenism ontside. we say: “What a pity!” and we put our hands in our pockets and we feel around for a two-cent piece, and with a great flourish we put it upon the plate and are amazed that the world is not converted in six weeks. Suppose there were a great war, and there were 300,000 soldiers, but of all those 300.000 soldiers, excepting ten men, were in their tents, or scouring their muskets, or cooking rations. You would say: “Of course, defeat must come in that case.” It is worse than that in the church. Millions of the orofessed

soldiers of Jesus Christ are cooking rations, or asleep in their tents, while only one man here and there goes out to do battle for the Lord. “But,” says some one, “we are establishing a great many missions, and I think they will save the masses.” No; they will not. Five hundreu thousand of them will not do it, They are doing a magnificent work; but every mission chapel is a confession of the disease and weakness of the church. It is saying to the rich and the well-conditioned; “If you can pay yoor pew rent come to the main audience room.” It is say* ing to the poor man: “Your coat is too bad, and your shoes- are not good enough. If you want to get to Heaven, you will have to go by way of the mission chapel.” The mission chapel has become the kitchen, where the church does its sloppy work. There are hundreds and thousands of churches in this country—gorgeously built and supported—that, even on bright and sunshiny days, are not half full of worshipers; and yet they are building mission chapels, because, by some expressed or implied regulation, the great masses of the people are kept out of the main audience room. Now, I say that any place of worship which is appropriate for one class is appropriate for all classes. Let the rich and the poor meet together, the Lord tne maker of them all. Mind you that I say that mission chapels are a necessity, the way churches are now conducted; but may God speed the time when they shall cease to be a necessity. God will rise up and break down the gate^ of the church that have kept back the masses; and woe be to those who stand in the way! They will be trampled under foot by the vast populations making a stampede for Heaven. I saw in some paper an account of a church in Boston in which, it is said, there were a great many plain people. The next week the trustees of that church came out in She paper, and said it was not so at all; “they were elegant people, and highly-conditioned people that went there.” Then I laughed outright; and when I laugh. I laugh j very loudly. “Those peoole,” T said.

“are afraid of the sickly sentimentality of the churches. ” Now, my ambition is not to preach to. 3-011 so much. It seems to me that y*ou must be faring sumptuously every day. and the marks of comfort are all about you. You do not need the Gospel half as much as do some who never come here. Rather than be priding myself on a church in front of which there shall halt 50 splendid equipages 011 the Sabbath day, I would have a church by whose gates there should come a long procession of the suffering, and the stricken, and the dying, begging for admittance. You do not need the Gospel so much as they. You have good things in this life. Whatever may be your future destiny, y-ou have had a pleasant time here. But those dying populations of which 1 speak, by reason of their want and suffering, whatever may be their future destiny, are in perdition now; aud if there be any eomfort in Christ's | Gospel, for God’s sake give it to them! Revolution! The pride of the church | must come down. The exclusiveness I of the church must come down! The financial boastingjs of the church must come down! If monetary* success were the chief idea in the church, then I say that the present mode of conducting finances is the best. If it is to see how | many dollars you can gain, then the 1 present mode is the best. But if it is ! the saving of souls from sin and death, 1 aud bringing the mighty' populations of our cities to the knowledge of God, then I erv: Revolution! It is coming j fast. 1 feel.it in the air. 1 hear the ! rumbling of an earthquake that shall I shake down, in one terrific crash, the arrogance of our modern Chri stiauity. The sea is covered with wreeks. and multitudes are drowning. We come out with the church lifeboat, and the people begin to clamber in, and we shout: “Stop! stop! You must think it costs nothing to keep a lifeboat. Those seats at the prow arc one dollar apiece, these seats in the middle 50 cents, and those seats in the stern two shillings. Please to pay up. or else flounder ou a little longer till the mission boat, whose work is to save you penniless wretches, shall come along and piek you up. We save only first-class sinners in this boat. *’ The talk is whether Protestant churehes or Roman Catholic ehurehes are coming out ahead. I tell you, Protestants, this truth plainly: That until your churches are as free as are the Roman Catholic cathedrals, they will beat you. In their cathedrals the millionaire and the beggar kneel side by side. And, until that time comes in our churches, we can not expect the favor of God. or permanent spiritual

prosperity. Revolution! It may be that, before the church learns its duty to the masses, God will scourge it. and come with the' whip of omnipotent indignation, and drive out the money changers. It may be that there is to be a great day of upsetting before that time shall come. Li it must come, 0 Lord God, let it come now! Archias. the magistrate of Thebias, was sitting with many mighty mc« drinking wine. A messenger came in bringing a letter informing him of a conspiracy to end his life and warning him io flee. Archias took the letter, but, instead of opening it, put it into his pocket, and said to the messenger Who brough^it: “Business to morrow." The next day hedied. Before he opened the letter the government was cap^ tured. When he read the letter it, was too late. To-day I put into the hand of every man and woman, who hears or reads these words, a message of life. It says: “Togsday, if you fear His voice, harden not ybur heart. ” Do not put away the message and say: ’“This business to-morrow.” This night thy soul may be required of thee! New Knowledge. Before the face of new knowlege t1 « old earth and the old heavfens are fleeing away, and there is found no place of rest for the man who thinks and who tries to beiievethe old theology.— Rev. A. J. Weils, Unitarian, San Fran* CaL

That was What Wednesday After* noon’s Demonstration at Mat&nzas Amounted T >. WE’LL CALL A6AIN A FEW DAYS HENCE. Matanva. Believed to Be the Po at Whcr* the First Landing of Unit id State* Troops WU1 bo Made, So Thi ; Aid Can bo Carried to the Roooi centradee Whoso SappUos Bare Boon f olsod. Washington, April 28.— L tense interest was shown <%z the na y depart* ment in the published report i from on board the flagship New Yorl and from Key West of the engage me its at Mstanzas Wednesday noon between the shore batteries and three ve.‘ sels of Admiral Sampson's fleet. Th 5 navy department itself had absolt iely no report from any of its agent 5 or any of the officers of the block ad ng fleet ot this affair. It, of course, c >uld not be expected that news could 1 e had from Havana, with a Spanish < ensor manning the end of the cable th ire. The fact that Admiral Simpson has not made any report to t! ie secretary as yet, notwithstanding he must have had the same opportunity t6 communicate with Key West as wa.‘ enjoyed by the press, leads the officia s of the department to believe that tb e affair was not of great consequence, indeed, they

•ay it is inconceivable th it any very extensive damage could b ave been inflicted upon properly plac ?d batteries at the distance reported, 1 ary in g from two and a half to four miles in the short space of 18 minates, c uring which it is said the engagement 1 as ted. A member of the strateg y board, who is, of course, thoroughly conversant with the plans of Admiral Sampson, so far as th.ey have been g« neralized, is authority for the statement that the admiral had no intention whatever at this time to bombard, t le Matanzas batteries. To do so now would be bad strategy and of little aval , for in the absence of any landing f >rce, the admiral would be unprepare l to take advantage of the victory ht might gain through a reduction of t le foyts, and the Spaniards might have ample opportunity over night to repair in a large measure the damage inflicted on their fortifications. It is stated positively that Admiral Sampton's purpose was simply^ to ascertain if any shore batteries existed at Matt nzas. and, if so, to draw their fire a jd ascertain their character, and then to retire beyond range. In other w >rds, it was simply a naval reeonuaisss nee. In the event that during his observations the admiral discovered that new defenses were under con struction on shore he world, it is said, >f course not lose the opportunity to «ripple them by throwing a few shells ii to the earthworks and endeavoring tc knock over a gun or two. lt° is the gt neral belief at the department, however, that Matanzas is ' tc be soon reduced aud made a base of operations in the campaign against Havana. It is also the president's purpose to kee;» in mind throughout the awful condition of the reconcentrados, v-ho are most nnmer"’Dus in and around Matai zas. Unless relief is extended to th dm they undoubtedly will perish during the progress of a long-dra' m-out war. The reported seizure by the Spanish military authorit es at Matanzas of stores contributed 1 y, Americans and held in trust there fc r the relief of these poor sufferers is r egarded as a .clear indication that eve t if the Red Cross steamer Texas is peri litted to land her cargoof supplies at Mf tanzas,under ■ existing conditions, the ood will not reach the reconcentrados, but will only go to support they Spanish garrison in their resistance. Therefore, it is believed that, the president contemplates the early capture of M stanzas, not only because of its impoi tance, but in order that he may fror l there hold out a helping hand to the starving peasantry. It is likely, therefore, that, while there was n>thingof tha nature of a general engagement in Admiral Sampson's recon laissance of Wednesday, be will soon take steps to begin a heavier and lively bombardment of Matanzas.

Bow it Is Reported I * Madrid. Madrid, April 28.—The version of the bombardment of Mr tanzas by tha United States fleet whi ;h has reached here sajs that ‘'after half an hour's fighting the Americans' rere obliged to retreat.” f Little credence is att* ched in Madrid to the dispatches from Sew York tell* ing of the bombardmen of Mantanzas as the latter ‘‘conflict v ith the official reports.” The latter, in additioa to saying tha Americans “were oblig ed to retreat,* admit that “several mei i were kiHed,* and that some damage • ras done to tha town,” also saying that the “American loss is not known.” ' ,-M Abuse of Diplomat • Privilege. | J London, April 28.—T he Spanish ambassador, having openid a fund here to increase the strength of the Spanish fleet, the matter is reg arded as a serious abuse of diplomatu privileges, and \ it will be brought up in the house of commons. j A Mendacious Denial In the Portuguese London*, April 28.—A dispatch re-fl jeived here from Lisbo i, in reiterating* the deni&l made in the Portuguese* house of peers that President Mo* Kinley had called upon Portugal to obtain the dep irture of tbjw Spanish squadron frc m St. Vincent, Cape Verde islands, a< Ida: “President McKinley’s notification is understood to have threatened, v nless the Spaq- - iards were ordered to leavf St. Vincent. that the United $ tates would regard Portugal as an ally of Spai^ and treat her accord: o*lvv" Boom of P sera.