Pike County Democrat, Volume 29, Number 5, Petersburg, Pike County, 10 June 1898 — Page 3

HANGING OF HAMAN. Dr. Talmage Draws Lessons from the Story of Hainan. p ^ The Punishment of Prlde-Wroags Prepared for Other* Eeters l pon Oniiilm In the following' sermon Rev. T. Do*Witt Talmage portrays the doom of tmrroganee and the reward of fidelity. The text is: So they hanged Hainan on the gallows that %e had prepared for Jtoideoat—lSether vU., 1ft T bo re is an oriental courtier, about 'the moat offensive man in Hebrew history, Hainan by name. He plotted for ’the destruction of the Israelitish nation, and I wonder not that in some of the Hebrew synagogues to this day when Hainan's name is mentioned the ■congregation clench their fists and stamp their feet and cry: “Let his name be blotted out!” Hainan was 'prime minister in the magnificent court •of Persia. Thoroughly appreciative of the honor conferred, he expects everybody that he passes to be obsequious. Coming in one day at the gate of the palace, the servants drop their heads in honor of his office; but a Hebrew, named Mordecai* gases upon the passing dignitary without bending his head or taking off his hat. He was a good man, and would not harp been negligent of the ordinary courtesies of , life, but he felt no respect for Haman or the nation from which he had come. So he eould not be hypocritical; and . while others made oriental salaam, getting clear down before this prime minister when he passed, Mordecai, the Hebrew, relaxed not a muscle of his neck, and kept his chin clear up. Be•cause of that affront Haman gets a de--crec from Ahaauerus, the dastardly king, for the massacre of all the Israelites, and that, of course, will include Mordecai.

to IIUKe B lODK swry %aeen Esther this whole plot was revealed to her husband. Ahasuerus. One niffht Ahasuerus, who was afflicted with insomnia, in his sleepless hours 'calls for his secretary to read him a few passages of Persian history, and so while away the night In the book sread that niffht to the king an account was given of a conspiracy, from which Mordecai. the Hebrew, had saved the ■king's life, and for which kindness Mordecai had never received any reward. Uaman, who had been taxing up a nice gallows to hang Mordecai on, was walking outside the door of the king's sleeping apartment, and was •called in. The king told him that he hail just had read to him the account of e some one who had saved his (the king's) life, and he asked what reward ought to be giveu to such a one. Self-con-ceited Uaman, supposing that he himself was to get the honor, and not imagining for a moment that the deliverer of the king’s life was Mordecai, says: “Why, your majesty ought to make a triumph for him, and put a crown on him, and set him on a splendid horse, high-stepping and fullblooded. and then have one of your princes lead the horse through the streets, crying: ‘Bow the knee; here comes a man who has saved the king's life!’ " Then said Ahasuerus in severe tones to Hainan: “I know all about your seoundrelism. Now you go out and make a triumph for Mordecai, the Hebrew, whom you hate Put the best saddle on the finest horse, and .you, the prince, hold the stirrup* while Mordecai gets on, and then lead his horse through the streets!” What a spectacle! A comedy and -tragedy at one and the same time. There they go! Mordecai. who had been despised, now starred and robed, in the stirrups. Uaman, the chancellor, afoot, holding the prancing. rearing, champing stallion. Mordecai bends his neck at last, but it is to look down at the degraded prime minister walking beneath him. liuzsa for Mordecai! Alas for Hainan! But what a pity to have the gal lows, recently built, entirely wasted! It ia 50 cubits high, and built with care. And Uaman bad erected it for Mordecai. by whose stirrups he now walks as groom. Stranger and more startling than any romance, there go up the steps of the scaffold- | ing. .side hr side, the hangman and ilamau, the ex-chancellor. “So they hanged Uaman on the gallows he had .prepared for Mordecai.” Although so many years have passed since cowardly Ahasuerus reigned, .and the beautiful Esther answered to his whims, and Persia perished, yet from the life and death of liaman we .may draw living lessons of warning and instruction. And, first, we come to the practical suggestion that, when the heart is wrong, things very insignificant will destroy our comfort. Who would have thought that a great prime minister, admired and applauded by millions of Persians, would have beeu so nettled aud harrassed by anything trivial? What more could the great djguitary have wanted than his chariots and attendants, and palaces and banquets? If affluence of circum

'Stance* can make a man cootenteu ana hmppj, surely Usman should have been contented and happy. No; Mor•decai's refusal of a bow takes the glitter from the gold, and the richness from the purple, and the speed from the chariots. With a heart puffed with -every inflation of vanity and revenge, it was impossible for him to be happy. 'The silence of Mordecai at the gate was louder than the braying of the ^trumpets in the palace. Thus shall it h always be if the heart is not right. P Circumstances the most trivial will disturb the sph it. It is not the great calamities of life 'that create the most worriment. 1 have .-seen men. felled by repeated blows of misfortune, arising from the dust, never desponding. But the most of the •disquiet which men suffer from is from '.insignificant causes; as a lion attacked by some beast of pray tarns easily mrouod slays him. yet runs roaring *the forests at the alighting on hia •brawny nadk of i tew insects. Yon

meet some mat loss in business with Ibwl mRMmMNJ pj* v*« iUOQ lift VIIOU*|WM *» **** ■ com pern tire composure, but you eaa think of petty trickeries inflicted upon you which arouse all your capacity for wrath and remain in your heart an unbearable annoyance. If you look back upon your life, you will find that the most of the vex Uions and disturbances of spirit which you felt were produced by circumstances that were not worthy of notioe. If you want to be bappy you must not care for trifles. Do not be too minute in your inspection of the treatment you receive from others. Who cares whether Mordecai bows when you pass, or stands erect ana stiff as a cedar? That woodman would not make much clearing in the forest who should stop to bind up every little bruise and scratch he received in the thicket, nor will that man accomplish much for the world or the church who is too2 watchful and appreciative of petty annoyanoes. There are multitudes of people in the world constantly harrowed because they pass their lives not in searching ont those things which are attractive and deserving. but in spying ont with all their powers of vision to see whether they cau not find a Mordecai. Again, I learn from the life of the man under our notice that worldly vanity and sin are very anxious to have piety bow before thorn. Haman was a fair emblem of entire woridiiness, and Mordecai the representative of unflinching godliness. Such were the usages of society in ancient times that, had this Israelite bowed to the prime minister, it would have been an acknowledgment of respect for his character and mation. Mordecai would, therefore, hare sinned against his religion had he made any obeisance or dropped his chin half an inch bcfo re Haman. Wheat, therefore, proud Haman attempted to compel an homage which was not felt, he only did what the world ever since has tried to do. when it would force our holy religion in any way to yield to its dictates. Daniel, if he had been a man of religious com

promises, would never have been thrown into the den of lions. He might have made some arrangements with King Darius whereby he could have retained part of his form of religion without making himself so completely obnoxious to the idolaters. Paul might have retained the favor of his rulers and eseaped martyrdom if he had only been wilting to mix up his Christian faith with a few errors. His unbending Christian character was taken as an insult. Fagot and rack and halter in all ages have been only the different ways iu which the world has demanded obeisauce. It was once, away up on the top of the temple, that Satan commanded the Holy One of Nazareth to kneel before him. But it is not now so much on the top of churches as down in the aisle and the pew and the pulpit that Satan tempts the espousers of the Christian faith to kneel before him. Why was it that the Platonic philosophers of early times, as well as Toland, Spinoza and Bolingbroke, of later days, were so madly opposed to Christianity? Certainly not because it favored immortalities, or arrested civilization or dwarfed the intellect. The genuine reason, whether admitted or not, was because the religion of Christ paid no respect to their intellectual vanities. Blount and Boyle, and the host of infidels hatched out by the vile reign of Charles IL, as reptiles crawl out of a marsh of slime, could not keep their patience, because, as they passed aloug, there were sitting in the gate of the church such men as Matthew, and Mark, aud Luke, and John, who would not bend an inch fn respect to their philosophies. Satan told our first parents that they would become as gods if they would only reach up And take a taste of the fruit. They tried it aud failed, but their desceudants are not yet satisfied with the experiment. We have now many desiring to be as gods, reaching up after yet another apple. Reason, scornful of God's word, may foam and strut with the proud wrath of a Hainan, aud attempt to compel the homage of the good, but in the presence of men and angels It shall be confounded. "God shall smite thee, thou whited wall.” When scienee began to make its brilliant discoveries there were great facts brought to light that seemed to overthrow the truth of the Bible. The archaeologist with his crowbar, and the geologist with his hammer, aud the chemist with his batteries, charged upon the Bible. Moses' account of the creation seemed denied by the very structureof the earth. The astronomer wheeled around his telescope until the heavenly bodies seemed to marshal, themselves against the Bible as the stars in tlieir courses fought against Sisera. Observatories aud universities rejoiced at what they considered the extinction of Christianity. They gathered new courage at what they considered past victory, and pressed oh their contest into the kingdom of nature, until, alas for them, they discovered too much. God's word had only been lying in ambush, that, in some ungarded moment, with a sudden bound, it might tear infidelity to pieces. ,

It was as when Joshua attacked the City of Ai. He selected 30,000 men," and concealed most of them; then with a few men he assailed the city, which poured out its numbers and strength upon Joshua’s little band. According to previous flan, they fell back in seeming defeat, but, after all the proud inhabitants of the city had been brought out of their homes, and had joined in the pursuit of Joshua,snddenly that brave man halted in his flight, and with his spear pointing toward the city, 130.000 men bounded from the thickets as panthers spring to their prey, and the pursuers were dashed to pieces, while the hosts of Joshua pressed up to the city, and with their lighted torches tossed it into flame. Thus it was that the discoveries of science seemed to give temporary victory against God and the Bible, and for awhile the chnrch acted as if she were on a retreat; but when all the opposers of God and truth had joined in the pursuit, and were

sure of the field, Christ gave (he signal to Bis church, and turning, (hoy drove bade (heir foes in shame. There was found to be no antagonism between nature and revelation. The universe and the Bible were found to be the work of the same hand, two strokes of the same pen, their authorship the same God. Again: Learn the lesson that pride goeth before a tell. Was any man ever so ter up as Human who tumbled so far down? Yes, on a smaller scale every day the world sees the same thing. Against their very advantages men trip into destruction. When God humbles proud men it is usually at the moment of their greatest arrogancy. If there be a man in your community greatly puffed upwith worldly suedfess. you have but to stand a little ?hile and you will see him come down. ou say, I wonder that God allows that man to go riding over others' heads and making great assumptions of power. There is no wonder about it. Haman has not yet got to the top. Pride is a commander, well plumed and caparisoned, but it leads forth a dark and frowning host. We have the best of authority for saying that “Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” The arrows from the Almighty's quiver are apt to strike a man when on the wing. Goliath shakes his great spear in defiance, but the small stone from the brook Eiah makes him stagger and fall like an ox under the butcher's bludgeon. He who is down can not fall. Vessels scudding under bare poles do not feel the force of the storm, but those with all sails set capsiae at the sudden descent of the tempest. ? Again: This oriental tale reminds us of the fact that wrongs we prepare for others return upon ourselves. The gallows that Haman built for Mordecai became the prime minister’s strangulation. Robespierre, who sent so many to the guillotine, has his own head cnopped off by the horrid instament. The evil you practice on others will recoil upon your own pate. Slanders come home. Oppressions come home. Cruelties come home.

itiiis uaiuau iiiawijr ua that outward possessions and circumstances can not make a man happy. While yet fully vested in authority and the chief adviser of the Persian monarch, and everythin; that equipage and pomp and splendor of residence could do were his, he is an object lesson of wretchedness. There are to-day more aching sorrows under crowns of royalty than under the ragged caps of the houseless. Much of the world's affluence and gayety is only misery in colors. Many a woman seated in the street at her apple stand is happiey than the great bankers. The mountains of worldly honor are covered with perpetual snow. Tamerlane conquered half the world, but could not subdue his own fears. Ahab goes to bed sick, because Naboth will not sell him bis vineyard. Herod is in agony because a little child is born down in Bethlehem. Great Felix trembles because a poor minister will preach righteousness, temperance and judgment to come. From the time ol Louis XIL to Louis XVIII. was there a straw bottomed chair in France that did not sit more solidly thau the great throne on which French kings reigned? The soul's happiness is too large a craft to sail up the stream of worldly pleasure. As ship-carpenters say, it draws too much water. This earth is a bubble, and it will burst. This life is a vision, and it will soon pass away. Time! It is |nly a ripple, and it breaketh against the throne of judgment. Our days' They fly swifter than a shuttle, weaving for us a robe of triumph or a garment pf shame. Begin your life with religion and for its greatest trial you will be ready. Eve^y day will be a triumph, and death will be only a king's servant calling you to a royal banquet. lu olden time the man who was to receive the honors of knighthood was required to spend the previous night fully armed, aud with shield and lance I to walk up aud down among the tombs of the dead. Through all the hours of that night, his steady step was heard, and wheu the morning dawned, amid grand parade and the sound of cornets, the honors of knighthood were bestowed. Thus it shall be with the good man's soul in the night before Heaven. Fully armed with shield and sword and helmet, he shall watch and wait until the darkness fly and the morning break, and amid the sound of celestial harpings the soul shall take the honors of Heaven amind the innumerable throng with rubes snowy white streaming over seas of sapphire. Mordecai will only have to wait for his day of triumph. It took all the preceding trials to make a proper background for his after successes. The scaffold built for him makes all the more imposing and picturesque the horse into wnose long white mane he twisted his fingers at the mounting. You want at least two misfor

tunes, hard as flint, to strike tire. Heavy and long-continued snows in the winter are signs of good crops next summer. So, many hare yielded wonderful harvests of benerolence and energy because they were for a long time snowed under. We must hare a good many hard falls before we learn to walk straight, it is on the black anvil of trouble that men hammer out their fortunes. Sorrows take up men on their shouldes and enthrone them. Tonics are nearly always bitter. Men, like fruit trees, are barren unless trimmed with sharp knives. They are like wheat, all the better for the dailing. It required the prison darkness and chill to make John Banyan dream. It took Delaware ice and cold feet at Valley Forge, and the whizz of bullets, to make a Washington. Paul, when he climbed up on the beach at Mclita, shivering in his wet clothes, was more of a Christian than when the ship struck the breakers. Prescott, the historian, saw better without his eyes than he could eve have seen with them. Mordecai, despised at the gate, is only predecessor of Mordecai grandly mounted.

TREASON OF REPUBLICANS. SMtaaees ta Wklek People witk Pant* Hava Back Pvt la Proolaeat Place*. Within a year Whitelaw Reid made aa authorised official visit to the court of St. James. His message was one of congratulation to the queen, that she had been spared through a long and eventful reign. The president of the United States did not particularly compliment Queen Victoria when he sent Whitelaw Reid upon this mission, for within a few years Whitelaw Reid has presented himself to the American people as a candidate for the vice presidency and had beep repudiated; still, with the quality for rich men’s sous, which with McKinley amounts to a mania, Reid, son-in-law of Millionaire Mills; was selected for a mission which could just as well have been performed by Son-in-law Hay, the duly accredited minister to St. James. Hay is another instance of the president’s fondness for people with a purse. Other instances have been multiplied almost without number in the recent appointment by McKinley of callow youth, inexperienced and therefore incapable, to staff appointments in the army, whereby trained soldiers, educated at the expense of the government, are now the subordinates of young gentlemen who look upon war as quite the thing, you know. They had no recommendation but the family pull. Whitelaw Reid, much impressed by his reception at Windsor castle, is talking glittering generalities about an alliance of this nation with Great Britain and pleading rather needlessly that no arrant selfishness on our part suggests the connection. No such suggestion has been formally or officially made, but Mr. Reid is endeavoring to give it form and body, echoing therein the remarks of Joe Chamberlain. An alliance with England would not be selfish on our part because in any such combination we would be the pack horse. England does not mean to help us in a war with

opatu kuu «r ucru uu u^ip laciriu. England has already proclaimed her neutrality. But when the Spanish war is over England would have something for us to do. She would direct our affairs in a certain sense. The very first of her directions to usr would be to increase our navy commensurately with her own, and to sail with her round the globe wherever her interests were threatened. It is marvelous that Whitelaw Reid, who is an arrant protectionist, has not learned from England that a useful policy for this country would be commercial freedom. He is not good enough to explain how a protection nation yoked for offensive operations with a free trade nation would have any particular benefit. England is the best customer we have for surplus cereals and breadstuffs. Why she takes so much of us is a simple problem. Under the accursed gold standard we must pay England $300,000,000 a year in interest. As we have not got the gold she takes the products of our soil at the rate of 50 per cent, their American value. England enjoys this state of things, immensely. She has mouths to feed and they must be fed. We have no use for her manufactured products, because we rely under our policy upon our home market, and we have no need for her warships unless we propose to become, like her, a footpad among nations, knocking down and robbing the weakest of thepa and in the name of Christianity establishing tyranny wherever we gain a foothold. WE MUST BEAR IT. Hhe Miserable Mots That Incompetent Mem Are Malclms of the War with Spala. Americans are ashamed of the way this little miserable war with a superannuated monarchy like Spain is being mismanaged. It rasps their sensibMi- ] ties to observe the grin that is overspreading the world's countenance. However, there is nothing to be done but bear it. The country is not at fault. : The people are more than willing to furnish all the men and means needed. We have the population, the qualities, the means to whip a dozen Spains. If one Spain gives us so much trouble, the , fault is not with the country, but with ; the incompetency at headquarters, a misfortune against which there is no guard, but one that a real war would quickly remedy. Though the world may grin, the world isn't going to be deceived about the fighting capacity of the United States. We are in the plightj of a giant being baited by an elusive enemy. It is surely an amusing sight— for everybody except the giant. Let Americans console themselves. Little men are making a mess of a little war. A big war would produce big men— compel the giving of supreme command to the Deweys. We are learning a lot that will be useful hereafter. And the world knows it.—N. Y. Journal.

BrpabKeu Candor. It has at last come to be.reatised that the foreign policy of the United Stated | ton'd not be made a party issue, subI ject to abrupt changes, as H has been In the past, by whichever party happens; to acquire power. It should not be a policy of aggression or of greed, or of unreasonable demands upon any other members of the family of nations, but * it should be a policy always demanding that America should be given what is her just due. that American opinions shall have just weight in ail matters that concern her. and that America’s rights shall never be ignored, trampled upon or contemptuously cast aside by any other power or combination of powers.—Cincinnati Commercial TribI* one (Rep.). -The war is now coating ns $2,000,000 a day. Cuba Is not yet free, though I It may be that the Maine has been | avenged. Everything except the price of labor Is tailing skyward. Wherefore, Mr. McKinley, give nf something for ‘ our money.—St. Lnnis RenubUe.

THE COUNTRY SHAMED. Mom?c4 IfuemtltlM An B«la« FavoreA la the Rank for Aroy Coonluleai. Even in aristocratic England, though you might be born a lord and worth millions, you can no longer purchase a commission in the army. Here is the United States commissions in the army are given away as free gifts to birth and wealth. This favoritism is adisgrace to the government which j|fyactice* it, demoralizing to the serviwfand a shame to the republic. What earthl/ reason is there for making Mr. Bradley Strong a lieutenant colonel, for glaring instance? His only claim to notice above millions of other young men is that he happens to be a son of ex-Mayor Strong, of New York. That is a distinction, certainly, but how does it fit blaster Bradley for soldiering? His sole military experience that attracted public notice was the organisation of a paper chase, wbich is an imitation fox bunt, at SeabrighU Consider the feelings of the army .officers who have served on the frontier until they are gray, and yet are now lieutenants or captains, at seeing rich men’s sons and young dandies given higher ranks than themselves, for no cause other than their parentage, their wealth, their social position or their political pull. Contrasted wrth these commission-seek-ing and oommission-getting nobodies, the behavior of Graig Wadsworth, Willie Tiffany (grandson of Commodore Perry), W. C. Eustis (nephew of the former ambassador to France), and other club ornaments of New York, is manly and admirable. They have been content to go to the war as privates. The army has a right to feel angry, the people have a right to feel indignant and ashamed of the president’s abuse of power by putting moneyed nonentities in places of responsible command. It is an outrage of magnitude that will j be paid for in the mismanaged battles and needlessly spilled blood—American blood.

M’KINLEY AND BRYAN. The President Tnkee Oeeaelon te Shew His Spite Apnlnst Hts Political Opponent. It is very singular and a mark of a small mind that President McKinley never even as much as acknowledged the receipt of a letter from W. J. Bryan j offering his services to the government for duty in the war. If the president had substantial reasons for declining the offer of Mr. Bryan—but he had no reasons—at least in common politeness and decency he should have acknowledged the receipt of the letterjand mentioned the tender that had been made.^ It is no excuse to say that Mr. Bryan could not presefiha record of military experience as a basis for the o ft'er of his services. Many civilian appointments to military offices have been made. The gilded youths whose fathers had contributed magnificent sums to Hanna’s campaign fund in 1896 received staff and other appointments without in;quiry as to their military ability or experience. > ! The position of Mr. Bryan before the country—the fact that he was a candidate for president against Mr. McKinley and received 6,500,000 votes— nearly ha2f of the total national vote— should have entitled him to a hijfh consideration. The only excuse that Mr. McKinley can make for neglecting to answer Mr. Bryan’sletter is that it was an oversight—and in such a case an oversight is as inexcusable as an intentional snub. To show that his offer of services to the country was not mere gr*nd-stand play, William Jennings Bryan has enlisted as a private and is serving in a company of Nebraska volunteers which will be mustered in as United States soldiers under the new call for troops. None of Mr. McKinley’s special friends who tendered their services have shown this evidence of sincere patriotism.— Chicago Chronicldt POINTS AND OPINIONS. -Poor Illinois! Its afflictions are many. Too much republicanism rev suits in Tanners and “Billy” Masons.-f Utica Observer. \ -‘The spoils system is bad enough* in the civil service, but when the military service is made a prey of the office hunting politicians it becomes a menace which ought not t.o be endured.—St. Louis Post Dispatch. -Of course, everybody ought to be willing “to let bygones be bygones,” in these war times, but let us hope that Messrs. McKinley and Dingley will be able to compel the blasted foreigners to pay the taxes necessary to carry on the war.—Cincinnati Enquirer. -Some great rulers have shaped the destinies of the nations over which they have presided, but the chnage in the drift of events which will make the present administration memorable for the spread of the political power of the country and probable commercial mastery has not been of the administration’s doing.—Nashville American.

-Tne rniiippines are airway doomed to the horrors of the Dingier deficit bill. It Is to be enforced there as in this country and the treasury department has already begun the formulation of regulations and a scheme of customs tariffs which will be collected by the military authorities and then Into the treasury of the United States as a military contribution.—Indianapolti. Sentinel. -At the municipal elections In In* diana since 1896 there has been a remarkable series of democratic rictoriet. At the recent town elections the denocrats literally swept the state. This was not on account of any local issues. It was the reaction from the movement of 1896—the rebound which always.fellows an extravagant movement in any direction. There is no donbt that the democratic revival in the towns and cities will be followed by a democratic rlo* tory in the state.—Chicago Chronicle.

RACK. low to Do Away- with the Possibility of CosTtfl ig Disease by Means nf Bottles. There has fceen considerable talk !m Philadelphia relative to the efforts at some to have the bottling of milk stopped and to return to the old dip* milk system of delivery^ The objections advanced were that, as the boUlesi ifo from house to house, and as disease and contaminating influences may surround the bottles in some of the many places where they are delivered, they might be the carriers of disease. This objection is by no means a'bad one, rnd everyone handling milk in bottles should see that proper precautions ar« taken to avoid trouble from this source. At least 90 per cent, of the milk haudled sin bottles to- Jay runs considerable risk in this direction, as the general custom

RACK FOR MILK BOTTLES. ts simply to collect the bottles promie. cuously, get them all into a tub of soaped water of some character, wash one bottle ifter another with the sam« brush, put them in a rinse water all to* get her, then into the cases, and put the dirty coveis down, leaving the bottles open end giving opportunity for the dust a id dirt from the covers or bot* toms of the old cases to drop into the bottles. With juit a little more trouble and with but a very slight expense the bot* ties can be so handled that there need be no trcuble whatever from any of the objections offered in the line of the bottles being possible carriers of die* ease genus. Every dairy, no matter how small, is incomplete without the use of steam, and when a dairy is equipped with this it is but a little more expense to have a sterilizer built. This need be only a simple wooden structure, and be made to suit the space at hand. It can be so arranged that, as the bottles are brought in, they can immediately be put in the sterilizer, care having been taken that the bottles have been carefully rinsed at the places where they have been collected, by the customers. After the bottles have been sterilized they can then be washed in the alkaline hot water and then rinsed in two ether wmters, great care being taken in the las\rinse water used; this should be frequently changed. After tbie bottles are rinsed they should a gain be placed in the sterilizes and subsequently aired and sunned just as milk :ans are treated. A system by which tie dust is kept out and the air allowed to circulate freely is by the use of a rack as shown in the cut. This bottle reck may be so made that it can be run right into the sterilizer; thence the bottles can be easily put in good circulating air and then brought to the most convenient place for filling. This rack may be made to hold 400 bottles, or less or more if necessary. With these precautions the possibility of conveying disease through the medium of the bottles is very slight, and the dairyman will find that the .increased confidence placed in him by his customers will help his trade materially.—Burn New Yorker.-, HORTICULTURAL HINTS. The English ivy does not harm a tree an which it grows. See if a little less water on irrigated land will not be better. Fruit when placed in cold storage should be firm and hard. Sprinkling plants with water,when frost to expected will protect them. Pears to be put in cold storage should be picked before they begin to ripen. Watermelons ought not to be grown on the same ground oftener than threa years. The grape vine trained to a single stake h is never done its best in our experiene;. «. Toma toes are so hardy that they may be trarsplanted even after the fruit begins o set. If grapes have been planted tooefosjely and become too thick, better taka out every other vine. \ The man who gives plants of all V kinds plenty of room and heroically ' thins his fruit, will get the best re pul to.—Western Plowman.

Art of mikla^Cows. In the first place, brush off the cow’s bag dr} and clean, but gently. Next see that your own hands are clean; use soap an 1 warm water. Do not wet the cow’s t ats, certainly not by dipping your fie jers in the milk as you proceed. H is * hod and intolerable habit. Do not conferee with anybody, especially another milker; it will hinder you, or both, a id it disturbs the cow. Never strike a cow; speak low and gently to her; sk: ia responsive to kindness. Never eed her just before milking; that is to say, while you are milking. Feed h< r before milking, and wait until she a done feeding; she will stand quieter One thing at a time. MQk her as inickly as possible and as clean as poss ble, but be careful not to hurt Kef tea s. Give her a name and alway* call he) by that name. These are small hints, ! ut it pays to heed them.—8k Louis I eoublic.