Pike County Democrat, Volume 31, Number 11, Petersburg, Pike County, 20 July 1900 — Page 7

THE STORY OF DORCAS Dr. Talmage Draws a Lesson from a Noble Woman's Life. Self-SaerlSciBff Work Auirei of a Rick Reword Hereafter—Helpfal Words for Those Who Alleviate Suffering. [Copyright, 1900, by Louis Klopsch.] Washington. July 15. Dr. Talmage, who is still traveling in northern Europe, has forwarded the following report of a sermon in which he utters helpful words to all who afe engaged in alleviating human distresses and shows how such work will be crowned at the last; text, Acts 9:39: “And all the widows stood by him weeping and shoeing him the coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them.” Joppa is a most absorbing city of the orient. Into her harbor once floated the rafts of Lebanon cedar from which the temples of Jerusalem were built. Solomon’s oxen drawing the logs through the town. Here Napoleon had 5C0 prisoners massacred. One of the most- magnificent charities o' the cenv turies was started ,in this se.port by Dorcas, a woman with her needle embroidering her name ineffaceably into th^ beneficence of the world. I see her sitting in yonder home. In the doorway and around about the building and

in the room where she sits are the pale faces of the poor. She listens to their plaint, she pities their woe, she makes garments for them, she adjusts the manufactured articles to stiit the bent form of this invalid woman and to the cripple that comes crawling on hU hands and knees. She gives a ^oat to this one, she gives sandals to that one. With the gifts she mingles prayers and tears and Christian encouragement. Then she goes out to be greeted on the street corners by those whom-she has blessed, and all through the street the , cry is heard: “Dorcas is coming!” The sick look up gratefully into her face as she puts her hand on the burning brow, and the lost and the abandoned start up with hope a^hey hear her gentle voice, as though an angel had addressed them, and as she goes out the lane eyes half put out with sin think they see a halo of light about her brow and a trail of glory in her pathway. That night a half paid shipwright climbs the hill and reaches home and sees his little boy well clad and says: “Where did these clothes come from?” And they tell him: “Dorcas has been here.” In another place a woman is trimming a lamp. Dorcas bought the oil. In another place a family that had not been at table for many weeks are gathered now, for Dorcas has brought bread. But there is a sudden pause in that woman’s history. They say: “Where is Dorcas? Why, we haven’t seen her for many a day. Where i,s Dorcas?” And one of these poor people goes up and knocks at the door and finds the mystery solved. All through the haunts of wretchedness the news comes: “Dorcas is sick!” No bulletin flashing from the palace gate telling the stages of a king’s disease is more anxiously waked for than the new* from this benefactress. Alas, for Joppa there is wailing, wailing! Thatvoice which has uttered so many cheer- ; ful words is hushed; that band which has made so many garments for the poor is cold and^still; the star which had poured light into the midnight of wretchedness is dimmed by the blinding mists that go up from the river of death. In every forsaken place in that , town, wherever there is a sick child and - no balm, wherever there is hunger and no bread, wherever there is guilt and no commiseration, whenever there is a broken heart and no comfort, there are despairing looks and streaming eyes and frantic gesticulations as they cry;

Dorcas is dead!” They send for the apostle Peter, who happens to be in the suburbs of the place, stopping with a tanner of the name of Simon. Peter urges his way through the crowd around the door and stands in the presence of the dead. What demonstration of grief all about him! Here stand some of the poor people, ■who show the garments which this pdnr woman had made for them. Their grief cannot be appeased. The apostle Peter ^ants to perform a \ miracle. He will not do it amid the excited crowd, so he orders that the whole room be cleared. The door is shut against the populace. The apostle stands now with the dead. Oil, it is a serious moment-, you know, when you are alone with a lifeless body! The apostle gets down on his knees and prays, and then he comes to the lifeless form of this one all ready for the sepulcher, and in the strength of Him who is the resurrection, he cries: “Tabitha, arise!” There is a stir in the fountains of life; the heart-flutters; the nerves thrill; the cheek flushes; the eye opens; she sits up! We see in this subject Dorcas the disciple, Dorcas the benefactress, Dorcas the lamented, Dorcas the resurrected. If I had not seen that word disciple in my text, I would have known this woman was a Christian. Such music as that never came from a heart which is not chorded and strung by Divine grace. Before I show you the neediest work of this woman I want to show you her regenerated heart, the source of a pure life* and of all Christian charities. I wish that the wives and mothers and daughters and sisters of all the earth would imitate Dorcas in her discipleship. Before you cross the threshold of the hospital, before you enter upon the temptations and trials of -to-rSorrow, I charge you, in the name of Qod and by the turmoil and tumult of the judgment day, O women, that you attend to the first, last and greatest duty of your life—the seeking for Qod and being at peace with Him. Further, we see Dorcas the benefactress. History has told the story of the .Ji*

crown; epic poet has sang of the •word; the pastoral poet, with his ▼arses fall of the redolence of clover tops and a-rustle with the silk of the corn, has sung the praises of the plow. I tell you the praises of the needle. From the fig leaf robe prepared in the garden of Eden to the!last stitch taken on the garment for the poor the needle has wrought wonders of kindness, generosity and benefaction. It adorned the girdle of the high priest, it fashioned the curtains in the ancient tabernacle, it cushioned thecharioteof King Solomon, it provided the robes of Queen Elizabeth, and in high places and in low places, by the fire of the pioneer’s back log and under the flash of the chandelier, every where, it has clothed nakedness, it has preached the Gospel, it has overcome hosts of penury and want with the war cry of “Stitch, stitch, stitch!” The operatives have found a livelihood by it, and through it- the mansions of the employer are constructed\ Amid the gr^test triumphs in all ages and lands. I set down the conquests of the needle. I admit its criines; I admit- its cruelties. It has had more martyrs than the nre; it has punctured the eye; it has pierced the side; it has struck weakness into the lungs; it has sent madr.°ss into the brain; it has filled the potter’s field; J it has pitched whole armies oi the suffering into crime and wretchedness and woe. But now that i am talk-1 ing of Dorcas and her ministries to the poor, I shall speak only of the charities of the needle. This woman was a representative of all those who make garments for the destitute, who knit socks for the barefooted, who prepare bandages for the lacerated, who fix up boxes of doming for missionaries. who iro into the asylums of

the suffering and destitute, bearing that Gospel which is sight for the blind and hearing for the deaf, and which makes the lame man leap like a hare and brings the, dead to life, Immortal health bounding in their pulses. What a contrast between the practical benevolence of this woman and a great deal of the charity of this day! This woman did not spend her time idly planning how the poor of the city of Joppa were to be relieved; she took her needle and relieved them. She was not like those persons who sympathize with imaginary sorrows, and go out in the street and laugh at the boy who has upset his basket of cold victuals, or like that charity which makes a rousing speech on the benevolent platform and goes out to kick the beggar from the step, crying: “Hush your miserable howling!” Sufferers of the world want not so much theory as practice; not 60 much tears as dollars; not so much kind wishes as loaves of bread; not so much smilef as shoes; not so much “God bless' yous!” as jackets and frocks. I will put one earnest Christian naan, hard working, against 5,000 mere theorists on the subject of charity. There are a great many who have fine ideas about church architecture who never in their life helped to build a church. There are men who can give you the history of Buddhism and Mohammedanism who never sent a farthing for evangelization. There are women who talk beautifully about the suffering of the world, who never had the courage, like Dorcas, to take the needle and assault it. I am glad that there is not a page of the world’s history which is not a record 01 female benevolence. God says to all lands and people: Come now and hear the widow’s mite rattle down into the poor box. The princess of Conti sold all her jewels that 6he might help the famine stricken. Queen Blanche, the wife of Louis VIII. of France, hearing that there were some persons unjustly incarcerated in the prisons, went out amid the rabble and took a stick and struck the door jas a signal that they might all strike it, and down went the prison dbor, and out came the prisoners. Queen Maud, the wife of Henry I, went down amid the poor and washed their sores and administered to them cordials. Mrs. Ketson, at Matagorda, appeared on the battlefield while the missiles of death were flying around and cared for the wounded. Is there a man or woman who has ever heard of the civil war in America who has not heard of the women of the sanitary and' Christion commissions or the fact that before the smoke had gone up from Get

tysburg and South Mountain the women of the north met the women of the south on the battlefield, forgetting all their animosities while they bound up the wounded and closed the eyes of the slain? Dorcas, the benefactress. I come now to speak of Dorcas, the lamented. When death struck down that good woman, oh, how much sorrow’ there was in the town of Joppa! I suppose there were women there with larger fortunes, women, perhaps, with handsomer faces, but there was no grief at their departure like this at the death of Dorcas. There was not more turmoil and upturning in the Mediterranean sea, dashing against the wharfs at that seaport, than there were surgings to and fro of grief because Dorcas was dead. There are a great many who go out of life and are unmissed. There may be a very large funeral, there may be a great many carriages and a plumed hearse, there may be high sounding eulogiums, the bell may toll at the cemetery gate, there may be a very fine marble 6haft reared over the resting place, but the whole thing may be a falsehood and a sham. The church of God has lost nothing. It is only a nuisance abated. It is only a grumbler ceasing to find fault. It is only an idler stopped yawning. It is only a dissipated fashionable parted from his wine cellar, while 6n the other hand no useful Christian leaves this world without being missed. The church of God cries out like the prophet: “Howl, fir tree, for the cedar has fallen 1“ Widowhood cornea and

•kows the garments which the depart ed had made. Orphans are lifted up to look into the calm face of the aleaping benefactress. Reclaimed vagrancy comes and kisses the cold brow of her who charmed it away from sin, and all through the streets of Joppa there is mourning—mourning because Dorcas is dead. When Josephine of France waa carried out to her grave, there were a great many men and women of pomp and pride and position that went out after her, but I am most affected by the story of history that on that day there were 10,000 of the poor of France who followed her coffin, weeping and wailing until the air rang again, because when they lost Josephine they lost their last earthly friend. Oh, who would not rather have such obsequies than all the tears that were ever poured in the laeh- ! rvmals that have been exhumed from ancient cities? There may be no mass for the dead; there may be no costly t sarcophagus; there may be no elab

orate mausoleum, but in the damp cew lars of the city and through the lonely huts of the mountain glen there will be mourning, mourning, mourning, because Dorcas is dead: “Blessed are the dead who die In the Lord; they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.” I speak to you of Dorcas the resurrected. The apostle came to where she was and said: “Arise, and she sat up!” Iit‘what a short compass the great writer put that “She sat up.” Oh, what a time there must have been around that town when the apostle brought her out among her old friends! How the tears of joy must have started! What a clapping of hands there must have been! What singing! What laughter! Sound it all through that lane! Shout it down that dark alley! Let all Joppa hear it! Dorcas is i-esurrected! You and I have seen the same thing many a time: not a dead body resuscitated. but the deceased coming up again after death in the good accomplished. If a man labors up to 50 years of age, serving God, and! then dies, we are apt to think that his earthly work is done. No. His influence on earth will continue till the world ceases. Services rendered for Christ never stop. A Christian woman toils for the upbuilding of a church through many anxieties, through many self-denials, with prayers and tears, and then she dies. It is 15 years since she went away. Now the spirit of God descends upon that church, hundreds of souls stand up and confjuss the faith of Christ. Has that Christian woman, who went away 15 years ago, nothing to db with these things? I see the flowering out of her noble heart. I hear the echo of her footsteps in all the songs over 6ins forgiven, in all the prosperity of the church. The good that seemed to he buried' has come up again. Dorcas is resurrected! . After awhile these womanly friends of Christ will put down their needle forever, j After making garments foi others, some one will make a garment for them; the last robe we ever wear— the robe for the grave. You will have heard the last cry of pain. You will have witnessed the last orphanage. You will have come in worn out from your last round of mercy. I do not know where you will sleep, nor what your epitaph will be, hut there will be

a lamp burning' at that tomb, and an angel of God guarding it, and through all the long night no rude foot will dis- I turb the dust. Sleep on. sleep on. \ Soft bed, pleasant shadows, undisturbed repose! Sleep on! Asleep In Jesus! Blessed sleep Prom which none ever wake to weep! Then one day there will be a shy rending and a whirr of wheels and the flash of a pageant, armies marching, chains clanking, banners waving, thunders booming, and that Christian woman will rise from the dust, apd she will be suddenly surrounded—surrounded • by the wanderers of the street whom ' she reclaimed, surrounded by the ! wounded souls to whom she had administered. Daughter of God, so strangely surrounded, what means this? It means that reward has come, that the victory is won, that the crown is ready, that the banquet is spread. Shout it through all the crumbling earth. Sing it through all the flying Heavens. Dorcas is resurrected. In ^855. when some of the' • soldiers came back from the Crimean war to London, the queen of England distributed among them beautiful medals called Crimean medals. Galleries were erected for the two houses of parliament and the royal family to sit in. There was a great audience to witness the distribution of the medals. A colonel who had lost both feet in the battle of Inkermann was pulled in on a wheel chair; others came in limping on their crutches. Then the queen of England arose before them in the name of her government and uttered words of commendation to the officers and men and distributed those medals, inscribed with the four great battlefields —Alma. Balaklava, Inkermann and Sevastopol. As the queen gave these to the wounded officers the bands of music struck up the national air, and the people, with streaming eyes, joined in the song— God save our gracious queen! Long live our noble queen! God save the queen! And then they shouted: “Huzza, huzza!” Oh, it was a proud day for those returned warriors! But a brighter, better- and gladder day will come when Christ shall gather those who have toiled in His service, good soldiers of Jesus Christ, He shall rise before them, and in the presence of all the glorified of Heaven he will say: “Well done, good and faithful servant,” and then He will distribute the medals of eternal victory, not inscribed with works of righteousness which we have done, but with those four great battlefields dear to earth and dear to Heaven —Bethlehem, Nazareth, Gethsewane, Calvary) .

FROM KANSAS CITY. Notes of the Democratic Convention by Our Washington Correspondent. Coatrut Between the Denocratle National Convention and the Be9«bUcu Performance—A Menage •t Hoge-Bathastaia Over Anti* Imperialism aad Brjraa. [Special Correspondence.] No sharper contrast could be imagined than that shown by the democratic national convention at Kansan City when compared with the republican performance at Philadelphia. The latter was boss-ridden from start to finish. In the democratic convention no man, nor even any set of men dictated the proceedings. In Philadelphia the reading of the platform was received witn apathy and indifference. At Kansas City the platform was received with unbounded enthusiasm. The plank naming “imperialism as the paramount issue” called forth a flag demonstration unequaled in the history of national conventions. Among the democrats there was no eut-and-drieu platform. The committee on resolutions held a fourteenhour session, listening to all shades of opinion on the vital issues. The platform itself was written only three hours before it was presented to the convention. It satisfied everybody. The republicans brought their

white-house-manufaetured platform to Philadelphia and then the leaders quarreled among themselves until the platform has become a public scandal. The democratic platform is anf application of the spirit of the Declaration of Independence and the letter of the constitution to the new and momentous issues which have arisen in the past three years. It is a message of hope art' encouragement to every citizen who wants good government and who knows that it never can be compassed under a second term of this administration. The temper and- atmosphere of the democratic convention was very significant. There were gathered not only delegates from widely separated sections of the country; but also men, united as to the necessity for governmental reform, but differing widely on many details of the campaign. It was a convention where dissension might easily have gained a foothold, unless repressed by some higher and stronger sentiment. There were no bosses to keep up an appearance of surface harmony, without regard to the real feeling, as at the republican convention. Everything was open, above board and spontaneous at the democratic convention. The Anti-Imperial tain Plank. Those who came to criticise admitted that all minor differences were shelved in the face of the serious issues to be met. It was the most enthusiastic political convention ever held in the country. It was at the same time the most earnest and sincere. r the anti-imperialist plank in the platform was entirely spontaneous. It ■was -30 minutes of flag waving, cheering. Tnarching. waving of banners and singing of patriotic songs. There was something awe-inspiring in the contemplation of that vast assemblage set wild by an enthusiasm as grim and earnest and irrepressible as that of the Crusaders of old. It was the protest of the flag itself against imperialism. Ealhulaiu Over Bryan. J The fact that the nomination of Bryan was expected did not lessen the enthusiasm. The demonstration at the mention of his name showed how thoroughly he has fixed his place in the hearts of the people as the leader who is as great as his opportunity. There was affection and admiration and trust and loyalty in the enthusiasm which marked the nomination of Bryan. At Philadelphia Mark Hanna hkd to and Harmony. The outburst of enthusiasm

iorce some snadow of enthusiasm for the name of McKinley. His puppets creaked when they clumsily obeyed his signals, and the hollowness of the whole faree was apparent to the most casual observer. | When Bryan was* nominated the cheering and waving of flags lasted so long that it seemed as if the convention could not bring itself back to the transaction of routine business. * Stevenson’s Nomination. The nomination of the rice presidential candidate showed how thoroughly democratic was the Kansas City convention. . An hour before Stevenson was nominated, no leader and no delegate could tell whether it would be he or Towne or Hill. It was simply a question of the best judgment of the convention. The nomination gives satisfaction all around. Stevenson adds strength to the ticket in the great middle westera states, where the battle is being fought and where the decisive vote is to be cast. He is a thorough democrat, loyal to the platform and devoted to Bryan. Mr. Towne, while deservedly popular, felt that his nomination would not be the most advisable one and will work as hard for party success as though he were Bryan’s running mate. Hill's declination, of course, put him out of the race, and it increased the chances of democratic success! in New York state. Had Hill been nominated New York would have been torn asunder with factional fights. The democratic national committee ■ is “preparing actively for the campaign. Along with the realization - ■ ’

that it Is to be a serious campaign against trust influences and repub* lican machine orgt nization, is the abiding certainty o:i a democratic victory next Norembe ADOI 2*11 PATTERSOH. WORDS OF W ARNING. Prop he Me tttcrsa. «• of WuklsttM and WeVatei Coseenlig lotper tallus.

In his farewell t Jdress Washintgon warned his peopk against the time when aggregated wealth should become arrogant an i tyrannical. His prophetic spirit f > re saw the day of ! McKinley ism and ’.rusts. Xo less clearly * .id. Lincoln foresee and foretell the v» ry times that have come upon the country. His words of warning were: “I see In the nea: future a crisis ap- , preaching that unn< rves me and causes me to tremble for tt a isafety of my country- As a result of he war. corporations have been enthrone* , and an era cf corruption in high plus es will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong t ;s reign by working upon the prejudices of; the people until all the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the republic destroyed. I feel at this moment mi ire anxiety fyr the* safety of my count rjy than ever before, j even in the midst of war. God grant that 1 my suspicions may i prove groundless.” His fears were n>t groundless. They have been realize d Ln more terrible ' form than ever h imagined possible., His anxiety for his country was wellfounded. There r- mains but one step in his prophecy 'Unfulfilled—the destruction of the republic. ' All this is not past believing, unless the people shall rise in their t ight and overthrow the tyrant wealth,| before it has subjected them to its: lower so completely that there is no r lief except through the frightful met]] id of war. There was. another great Americar in his day, now corned and scoffed and held in contempt as a little Amer ican by the Ham a-McKinity quality. His jname was 0,in tel Webster. He, too, with prophetic spirit divined the day of McKinley i ni and warned the peopjle against it The seeds of imperialism had bel n sown in his day. Though he wrought mightily to exterminate them, up to the last day of h|s life he coult not do so: “Arbitrary gover. ments may have ter ritories and distau possessions, becaus arbitrary governme nts may rule by dif

ierent laws and d ITerent systems. We can do no such thi igis. They must be oi I us. part of us, or t .sc- strangers. I think i I see a course adop ted which is likely tc turn the constituti >n of the land into a deformed monster, into a curse, .rathei than a blessing; in fancy, a frame o* an unequal government, not founded on pop- ) ular representation! hot founded on equality, but on the grossest inequality; and I think that this pro ess will go on, or tha | there is danger thjit it will go on, until . this union shall fa 1 to pieces. Resist it I to-day and always Whoever falters or whoever flies, I continue to contest!” I Either this int st become an arbi- ' trary governmeq/ or we must give up j colonial possessions,. The genius of the ! constitution and? law of the United to different forms * Stajes is oppose; __ of government fdi different peoples oi the nation. The constitution will become a deformed^monster if it is made to mean one thin'v for part of our people and another t. mg for others. And once it becomes a deformed monster it may turn and detouirits creators. Webster foresaw that McKinleyism would come, thc^fgh he never ceased resisting the tendency. He foresa^-. a§, Lincoln did. the ultimate destruction of the land of Ifoerty, the land both loved so well, unless there was a radical change in tb-- tendencies of their times. Both sawf the dire fate in store for our people, a c both had sufficient ground for predicting it. ^ oipes from th< past warn the voters of the United S ites to rouse themselves before it ?.\ too late. The accumulated dange s foreseen by Washington and Lincfiiri and. Webster are upon the people of the United States. —Helena Independent. PRESS COMMENTS. -If the republican party succeeds in fkstenii.jr the imperialistic doctrine up on jhe American people the Declaration bf Independence and the Fourth of £ ily will become a farce.—W. J. Brf an. -On the question of imperialism and the trusts tT : country iis against the republican pf . t r, and if the democrats do not so bar oblige their opponents as to p uh these problems into the backgrbund Mr. McKinley is likely to be b» ben.—Brooklyn Citizen. -The McKi: ley and Roosevelt ticket, amid the :b?ers which greeted it in Philadelphia. has witnessed its only day of enthusiasm. and from now on must fall int > that mediocrity of estimation which attaches to the insufficient and th .< bungling.—Atlanta Constitution. * -It is a remarkable circumstance that in the midst of all our boasted prosperity this 3 t ar so far has sown more strikes and shut-downs thhn for many correspon: ing periods past. McKinley prosperity is too hoggish— it won’t distribute itself enough.— Houston Post. -The republ i ran party demanded that the constitx ion be amended before the trust nest ion should be grappled with, .n the other hand the party made ;o scruples of violating the constitution for the benefit of the trusts in the Porto Ripo question.—Peoria Hei; il 3-Transcript. -The repub. cans are somewhat - alarmed over the political situation in Wisconsin, caus< I by what one. of their leading pj xrs calls “the ominous silence ai oag the Germans.” The imperialist 1 lunge of the administration does n t rest easily on the German mind. ’he “silence” of the Germans is dec!, red to Resemble the situation at the outset of the campaign over the I runett school law of some years ago, svhich drove the Germans in a body <; ?er to the democrat* and carried the tote against the re* onRBoans.—Pitts . mrcrh Post.

EDITORIAL OPINIOH, WhM OcMoeratle JoinaJUti Tktak Attest the Presidential Candidates. —-In this great conflict William J. Bryan goes forth to battle as thechampion of the people. We believe lie will triumph.—Pittsburgh Post. ——Bryan and Stevenson—anti-im-perialism and anti-trusts—compose a combination that will start Mark Hanna to walking the floor.—LouiiviUe Times. ——Whatever may be thought of Bryin’s views on the money question, he believesrin advocating them. He has the courage of his convictions.—Indianapolis Press (Ind.). -Undoubtedly the ticket as it stands has a better outlook for success than had the Cleveland ticket when it was nominated in 1892. — Louisville Courier-Journal. -Bryan's nomination will occasion i deep and1 earnest feeling of joy and satisfaction—an enthusiasm which will run higher and higher until election day.—Denver Neds. ?

--Mr. McKinley should not insert anything about “our plain duty*' in his letter of acceptance that the politicians and the, trusts are likely to reverse three months later.—Rochester Herald. —-^-Hryan and Stevenson have the appearance of a winning team. They are both strong men physically and mentally. They are both excellent speakers and both are fighters“of the first class —N. 0. Times-Democrat. -The good man for vice" president has been found. Mr. Stevenson is in thorough line with democratic principles. originally and present. He ie sound in faith. He is with the people >n ail questions.—Cincinnati Enquirer. -The platform is a strong ap'peat to the intelligence and patriotism of the American people. And with a candidate such as Mr. Bryan the democracy has every reason to confidently look forward to the judgment of the people. —Milwaukee News, . - ' —The ticket will be hailed with acclamation by lovers of freedom everywhere. The one the young tribune of the people, the other a veteran from scenes where democracy had to be tested. With sueh a ticket Illinois and Indiana will be democratic.—Atlanta Constitution.

—r-The platform is admirable in its anti-imperial and anti-trust declarations. but sadly, perhaps fatally, defective in Its advocacy of free silver coinage at 16 to 1. If Mr. Bryan is defeated ip November he will be held responsible for the disaster to his party. —Baltimore Sun. ——There is complete agreement between the candidate and the platform. Both are plainly and1 convincingly honest and sincere. It is this element of fearless straightforwardness that will tend to attract the independent, unmuzzled vote of the country to the democratic ticket this year.—Washington Times. , —-—There are thousands of men who voted against Mr. Bryan before who now feel that the country has departed frond right principles. As vice president Mr. Stevenson was an ideal officer. Many persons outside the democratic party will be glad to see so fit a man chosen, for the high office.-Mtadianap-olis Sentinel. ■ * -The two-day platform struggle »t: Kansas City is at least unique. The practice of “fooling the people” in party declaration dates from the dawn of politics. It was essayed from the Areopagus of Athens and in the Forum of; Rome. But to human knowledge it was never done in public before.—N. Y. Press (Rep.). •• -The democratic convention at Kansas City did. a good work by adopting a platform broad enough and strong enough to give firm footing to every democrat in the United States. It added, to and completed the good work by putting upon the platform5 an exceptionally strong democratic ticket.— Cleveland Plain Dealer. -Upon their platform, notwithstanding its many serious faults and w-^knesses. it is not to be doubted the democrats can mhke a strong campaign. Events that have carried the republican administration i»to a wide departure from , cherished American traditions have raised opposition where none existed before. — Philadelphia Times (Ind. Rep.). -Mr. Bryan has received from the democratic party a personal tribute which has no parallel in our political history. No one can doubt- that Mr. Bryan has an opportunity to make a more formidable campaign, here and in the eastern states at any rate, than in 1S96, when his personality was unknown and grossly misconceived, and when even his patriotism was challenged.—Bos ton Globe (Ind. Dem.). -We believe no stronger nomination for second place could have been made, and under existing circumstances it is to be preferred to that of either ex-Gov. Hill or Mr. Towne. It was not necessary to heal any convention sores. It represents no factional defeat or triumph—-It stands for no machine or political work. It was a spontaneous tribute to the worth of the man, his services for the democratic party and his eminent fitness for all the duties* and possibilities of the of-fice—-Pittsburgh Post. -Upon all phases of all the questions involved in the issue of imperialism the democratic platform is clear, straightforward, admirable. There is no evasion, no juggling. Upon the other great issue, monopoly, the platform is again clear, straightforward, admirable. These comments cover at least 90 per cent, of the platform. Bus n the remaining ten per cent, lies the rotten spot. And the fact that it has oeen removed from the surface to s joint near the center does noUmake it ess lot ten. Deep down through the soundness and sanity lies the free sil* >er clank.—N. Y. World/ ----- , - k