Pike County Democrat, Volume 31, Number 17, Petersburg, Pike County, 31 August 1900 — Page 3

SJw (Souttttjflrawttat X. McC. STOOPS, Editor and Proprietor. PETERSBURG. : • INDIANA. IT was a dreary, rainy Sunday alternoon, and the engineers’ readingroom, adjoining the roundhouse of the Q. & M., in Chicago, was filled with a greater number of loungers than usually found there on Sundays and holidays. This was accounted for partly by the state of the weather, but principally because Joe Hardin, one of the older engineers, had promised to reJ late that afternoon the story of a remarkatye experience he had down on the Arkansas line after he left the service bf the Q. & M., during the strike of' ’94. “Collins and I,” he began, “after hustlipg around for more than a month, managed to get in on the Arkansas— he as fireman and I as engineer. After pulling: freights for nearly a year we got a passenger run—hauling 39 and 40, the fast mails between St. Louis and Springfield. It was a 300-mile run, j- and the schedule was eight hours— mighty fast run when the condition or the track and5 the number o^ stops were taken into consideration. * “Through freight tralfic to the southwest became heavy along toward the latter part of May, and the operating department decided to put on a freight express to carry all gopds billed to points beyond Dallas. r “The freight express was timed to leave St. Louis thrlfe hours and ten minutes ahead of 40, and would take aiding at Roilla to allow us to pass. “All tail-ends on the Arkansas were protected^ night by a single red magnifying lens bull’s-eye, instead of the five red lights used on other lines. The greater the distance away from the light, the larger it seemed to be. Looking down a stretch of straight track for a distance of a quarter or half a mile the light looked “to be the size of a cartwheel, and at a range of several hundred yards it seemed to be the size of an ordinary pie-plate.

well,-to go on with the story, the freight express, as I’ve said, always took siding for us at Holla, and I had« become so accustomed to seeing the big red disk down the long stretch of track after passing Dillon that I hardly noticed it, except for a careless glahce to, see whether the train was on the usual siding. “From Cuba to Knobview the country is rough, hilly and heavily wooded, as it is about there that' the Ozark rains proper begin. The line is crooked between those two stations, amd I don’t ‘believe there’s 2,000 feet of straight track in the whole eight miles. “The night of the 18th of July was exceedingly hot and oppressive. The air in the big train-shed was stifling, so that Collins and I were mighty glad when we left St. Louis and got out into , the open country, where a refreshing ■^breeze blew in through the cab windows. “There’s a down grade beyond Cuba, and we thundered along at the rate of 50 miles an hour. Just this side of Knobview there is a double reverse curved and after striking the second reverse end with a heavy jar we fairly leaped around the brow of the densely wooded hill, and, it seemed to me, right bang into the big red tail-light of the freight express. “‘Great goodness!’ shrieked Collins across theboiler-head, ‘what was that?’ “If some ope had slapped me full in the face with the coal shovel, I don’t think I’d ’a’ been more dazed, and the lights of Knobview station flashed by befor^ I could answer. “The cold sweat was oozing from every pore of my body, and I felj weak and nervous. Trying to compose myself, I motioned Collins around to my ' side of the cab, and asked him what he had ’seen.

“ ‘Seel See!’ he replied in an agitated tone, ‘why, man alive! didn’t you think you saw the tail-end light of 91 (the freight express) right/on top of us? I was so scared I hadn’t strength enough to get to the gangway/ or I’d,’a’ jumped surd*! But it disappeared almost as soon as I saw it! What do you think it was?’ “ ‘Yes, I thought I saw the light, too,’ I admitted, ‘but J. guess we were both mistaken—some trick of the imagination, probably! You know these new lights have made both our nerves a bit shaky!’ “When we struck the straight track on the other side of Dillon, the tail-end light of 91 showed up clear and distinct on the regular siding at Holla. Neither of us said a word, but both of us did a heap of thinking. “On the north run the fast mail was known as 39, and when I had the up run, John King, an old-timer on the Arkansas, had the down run. The passing point for 39 and 40 was at Newburg, exactly midway between St. Louis and Springfield. “The night after my fri&ht at Knobview on the up run, King came in with 40, and as his tsain pulled slowly on to the siding he swung down from the engine cab steps, leaving his fireman to shut off the locomotive, and coming up to me inquired: “Joe Hardin, did you ever see, or ever hear of anyone seeing anything pe~ culiar at the reverse curve on the hill back of Knobview?’ 7 “ ‘No,* I replied evasively, ‘I ha*4 never heard any person say that they had heard of anyone seeing anything peculiar at that point. What makes yon ask such a question?’

“ *Oh. nothing—nothing at all! Just thought maybe you had.’ “And Ee climbed back into his cab. “You may better believe I was all eyes and ears when we crept slowly around the reverse curve that night. I saw nothing unusual, however, and after taking coal and water at Bourbon we sped on to St. Louis, arriving there on time without incident. “After passing Cuba on the nfxt run to Sprinfigeld, 1 held the train under perfect control, ready to stop instantly with a turn of the emergency air valve. “We were coming out of the cut at the north ^id of the reverse curve, when, like a flash, a big, red tailend light sprang out of the darkness in the center of the track about 150 yards ahead. I slowed down until we were barely moving, all the while whistling for signals, but got no answer. Just as we were coming to a full stop, the light wavered and faded qway. ‘“Puli out, Joe! ^ull out quick!’ yelled Collins, jerking his head in the cab window, ‘it may be a hold up! ( X thought I saw a man run along the edge of the cut on my side!’ “I yanked open the throttle valve, and we steamed on at our regular rate of speed, passing 91, as we always did, at Kolia. “ ‘This business is making me twisted in my brain bin,’ remarked Collins, ‘and, confound it, I’d like to know what it means!’ “ ‘Well,’ said I, ‘King evidently had a similar experience last night, from nvhathe said to me at Xewburg. When w-e pass him there to-night I’ll put the same question to him that he did to me, and see what he has to say.’ “On meeting King at Newburg I walked up to him, and asked, in a serious tone: ‘John King, did you ever see anything peculiar at reverse curve back of Knobview?’ “He looked at me steadily for a moment, and I saw the pupils of his piercing gray eyes expand and contract alternately, as the fitful flame from his torch danced before his face. “ ‘Yes, I did see something mighty queerat that point,’ he returned, slowly, ‘and I rather think you have, too.’ “I told him of my two experiences with the phantom light, and said that the reason I had evaded his question the night before was because I feared being laughed at, and that as Collins

anu x were comparatively new men on the line it was just possible some joke was being played on us. But now that he had seen, very likely, the same thing, and couldn’t understand it, why, I was convinced there must be a mystery about it, sure enough. “ ‘Well,’ King remarked, thoughtfully. ‘as you say that the first time you saw the light it was just around the hill on this end of the curve, and that to-night it was at the north end, while last night I saw it just back of the hill, I believe that there is a scientific reason for it. .\ow, I’ll tell my fireman to keep quiet about the matter, and you make Collins keep his jaw shut, and I’ll get a lay-off shortly and investigate the tiling. My fireman gets the next vacant engine, and whenever I lay off he takes my run, so he will be able to keep the matter quiet. I’ll tell him to arrange to have his fireman stoking when they strike the reverse curve, and with the furnace door open in his face he couldn’t see a town on fire, dead ahead. “ ‘Another thing, Hardin! No one else has reported seeing the light, and we’ve only seen it on <the down run. Now there isn’t a train of any kind on the whole division ahead of 40 as far south as oroeker, except 91, which hasn’t been laid out a minute since it has been put on, and which, if it was laid out, would be protected by torpedo signals, so we certainly know that the light is no tail-end signal. Until we can fathom the mystery I reckon we’d better call this jack-a-lantern the Phantom Freight Express, in view of the fact that botn of us at first thought we were plugging into 91.’ “One Sunday night King told me at Newburg that he had gotten a week 6iT, beginning the next day, and that he was going to start his investigation at once. He said he would make Newburg his headquarters, and would report to me as soon as he was able to find some tangible reason for the phenomenoh. r

j.iieiguowing i nursuay mgni wnen nearing .Itolla we were flagged by a white lantern swinging violently across the track, and when we came to a stop King mounted the cab steps. He settled himself behind me on the narrow seat, and, slapping me on the back, said: “ ‘Move on, old man, I can say all I’ve got to tell you before we reach Newburg. I was just coming back from an investigation tour when you came along, and thought I’d tell you I’ve about as good as caught the ghost; but I’m not going to tell you what it is until I’m absolutely sure that I’ve found it. ' ' “‘You say you first saw the light on the night of the ISth of July? Now, then, think a minute! The leaving time of 91 from St. Louis up until that night had been 8:40, but owing to the through freight on the Valley road being late so frequently the schedule of 91 was cut down a half hour. That fact, of course, you know, but the telegraph operator at Holla told me Tuesday night that; it kept 91 hustling to make the switch there on time, and that he had often heard 40 whistling for Knobview when the freight was pulling in on the north end of the siding. That was the first clew I‘found, but as it was in line with an idea thnt I had formed regarding the mystery I felt encouraged. “ ‘Do you see what I’m driving at? No? Oh, well! I hardly thought you’d catch on. I won’t say more now, except that if my experinfent works as I think it will you’ll see at the re

▼erse curve Saturday night instead of the red tail light, a headlight. ** ‘Now, don’t let yourself get star* tied, but go right at it, and be careful to notice just where y m first see it, and at what point it fades away. I’ll guarantee to have everything safe ahead of you.’ “He stepped from the slowly moving engine when we reached the upper end of the station platform at Newburg, and disappeared behind the freighthouse. “Saturday night when we entered the cut below Cuba I leaneu over the boiler head and yelled to Collins: ‘Look out for the headlight, Frank!’ “We came out of the cut, swung around the north end of the reverse curve, and saw nothing out of the ordinary. But as we thumped around the lower end of the curve on the brow of the hill the blinding rays of a headlight flashed in our face?. I took Kihg]s advice, and, pulling the throttle valve wide open, drove straight at it. “In a few seconds the headlight flickered and faded away, precisely as the red tail-end light had done. Several hundred yards further on we were stopped by a torpedo signal, and King came running along the side of the track. He stopped below my window and said, laughing: “ ‘It’s all right, Joe! I’ve cleared it up! Just what I thought it was, too! I’ll see you this afternoon—I’m coming down to Springfield on 16.’ “Shortly after two o’clock that afternoon King came to my lodging house, and, Tunning up the flight of steps to my-room, shook me out of a sound sleep. ■*' v “ ‘Wake up, there! Consarn you! don’t you want to hear about the ghost I’ve eaptured?’ he bawled in my ear. ‘I intended to ask you to guess a couple of times what it is I’ve discovered, but I see it s no use to do that now, for your sleepy brain couldn’t think a little bit! An’, besides, I don’t believe you know there’s such a thing as a zinc mine in the state of Missouri!’ “ ‘Say, quit your foolishness, and talk sense, can’t you?’ I retorted. “ ‘Talking sense, then, Joe, the explantation is this: When you had a daylight run, do you remember seeing that zinc mine on the side of the mountain across the ravine from Knobview? It don’t cut any figure whether you did or didn’t see it. it’s there just the same, an’ I caught the spook at that zinc mine!

“ ‘The mine, Joe. is higher up by about 40 feet than the elevation of Knobview. and a little to the right of that place. You know how sharply the road turns to the left on the lower end of the reverse curve, and then runs fairly straight to Dillon, from which point it is as straight as an arrow down toRolla. Now, if you go over to the mine and stand with your back against the southeast end of the shaft house you can look right down the stretch of track from Dillon to Kolia, and then looking toward Ivnobview you can see clear up to the cut above the reverse curve, but only the short, level portions of track in the curve will be in the line of vision. “ ‘The shaft house at the mine is built right up against the side of the mountain, and, as the light is shut off on all sides except from the southeast,, the company owning it has always been forced to have artificial light inside the building, the ordinary windows not letting in enough daylight to answer their purpose. Some months ago the windows were taken out and nearly the entire southeast part of the building was fitted up with a combination of prisms and lenses to catch the daylight and turn it from its original course into rhe *dark interior of the building. ‘“I knew this fact, and also knew the exact location.of the mine, and I reasoned that the light we had been seeing was caused by refraction, and was nothing more than the reflection of the tail-end light of 91 on the siding at Kolia. These prisms being in a direct line with the north end of the siding, kwould reflect the light between that point and the water tank, where the station buildings would intervene between the light and the prisms. So you can readily understand whj- we would see the light at different noints on the

curvip—it all depended upon the position of 91 on the siding. We never saw the phenomenon when 91 was running on the original schedule, because the train,was always down by the water tank, and, consequently, hidden from the prisms by the station house. But siuce the timfe had been shortened oh them the crew were usually about entering the switch when we struck the reverse curve, and we caught the reflection of the tail-light on every straight piece of track until rounding the hill below Knobview. “ ‘Last night I let the agent at Rolla into the secret, and we rigged up an old headlight, setting it up near the switchstand, right in line where the tail-light of 91 would be when on the switch at that point, and he promised to cover up the tail-light as the train got on the switch^ “ ‘I took the roadmaster’s track tricycle and eame up to the curve to see how the scheme would work. I guess you couldn’t see as well as I did, but it’ you noticed it the light didn’t show up until you turned the lower, curve below the Knobview semaphore. That proves that when we’d seen the taillight in the cut 91 was nearly at the water tank, and when we’d seen it where you did to-night the freight was just taking the switch. “ ‘We can tell hereafter exactly where to locate the real 91, and also the phantom freight express! Eh, Joe?”’— Philadelphia Press. One Man’s Wisdom. Dix—Did you ever get stuck on a. counterfeit bill? , I, 7 Hix—No. When I get hold of one I leave it in my pocket and my wifn appropriates it.—Chicago Evening News.

A (JLORIOUS FUTURE. Dr. Talmage Tells of the Heritage of God’s Children. Sternum' luKMt«4 l»y HI* Coataet with lartrUI Splendor* of Karope—1The Royal Hoaio of <Ie*m*. [[Copyright. 1900, by Louis Klopnch.] Washington, Aug. 26. I:a this discourse Dr. Talmage, who, during his journey homeward, has seen much of royal and imperial splendors in passing through the capitals of Europe, shows that there is no higher dignity nor more illustrious station than those which the Christian has as a child of God; text, Judges 8:IS: “Each one resembled the children of a king.” Zebah and Zalinunna had been off to battle, and when they came back they were asked whay kind of people they had seen. They answered that the people had a noyal resemblance. “Eash one resembled the children of a king.” That description of people is not extinct. There are still many who have this appearance. Indeed, they are the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. Though now in exile, they shall yet come to their thrones. There are family names that stand, for wealth or patriotism or intelligence. The name of Washington among tie will always represent patriotism. The family of the Medici stood as the representative of letters. The family of the Rothschilds is significant of wealth, th* loss of $40,000,000 in 1848 putting them to no inconvenience, and within a few years they have loaned Russia $1$,000,000, Naples *25,000,000, Austria $40,000,000 and Xfagtand $200,000,000, and the stroke of their pen on the counting-room desk shakes everything from the Irish sea to the Danube. They open their hand and there is war; they shut it and there is peace. The Romanoffs of Russia, the Hohenzollerns of Germany, the Bourbons of Prince, the Stuarts and Guelphs of Great Britain, are houses whose names are intertwined with the history of their respective nations symbolic of imperial authority.

jam l preucn uia laniuy mure potential, moxe rich and more extensive —the royal house of Jesus, of whom the whole family;in Heaven and on earth is named. We are blood relations by the relationship of the cross; all of us are children of the King. First, I spea^c of our family name. When we see a descendant of some one greatiy celebrated in the last century. we look at him with profound interest. To have had conquerors, kings or princes in the ancestral line gives luster to the family name. In our line was a King and a Conqueror. The Star of the East with baton of light woke up Hie eternal orchestra that made music fat His birth. From thence He started forth to conquer all nations, not by trampling them down, bat by lifting them up. St. John saw Him on a white horse. Wnen He returns, He will not bring the nations chained to His wheel or in iron cages, but I hear the strike of the hoofs of the snow white cavalcade that brings them to the gates in triumph. Our family name takes luster from the star that heralded Him and the spear that pierced Him and the crown that was given Him. It gathers fragrance from the frankincense brought 1:o His cradle and the lilies that flung their sweetness into His sermons and the box of alabaster that broke at His feet. The Comforter at Bethany. The Kesurrector at Nain. * The supernatural Oculist at Bethsaida. The Saviour of one world and the cnief joj' of another. ‘The storm His frown. The sunlight His smile. The spring morning His breath. The earthqTtake thc> atair.p o? His ♦jo«. The thunder the whisper of His voice. The ocean a drop on the tip of his finger. Heaven a sparkle on the bosom of His love. Eternity the twinkling of His eye. The universe the flying dust of His chariot wheels. Able to heal a heartbreak or hush a tempest or drown a world or flood immensity with His glory. What other family name could ever boast of such an illustrious personage?

Henceforth swing ont the coat of arms! Great families wear their coat of arms on the dress, or on the door of the coach, or on the helmet when they go out to battle, or on flags and ensigns. The heraldic sign is sometimes a lion or a dragon or an eagle. Our coat of arms, worn right over the heart, hereafter shall be a cross, a lamb standing against it and a dove flying over it. Grandest of all escutcheons! In every battle I must have it blazing on my flag—the dove, the cross, the lamhgand when I fall wrap me in that goojrold Christian flag, so that the family coat ,of arms shall be right over my breast, that all the world may see that I looked to the Dove of the Spirit and clung to the Cross and depended upon the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Ashamed of Jesus, that dear friend. On whom my hopes of life depend; No! Wlfen I blush, be this my shame— That I no more revere His name. Next, I speak of the family sorrows. If trouble come to one member of the family, all feel it. It is the custom, after the body is lowered into the grave, for all the relatives to come to the verge of the grave and look down into it. First those nearest the departed name, then, those next of )tin, until *hey have all looked into the grave. So, when trouole and grief go down through the heart of one member i*\ the family, they go down through them all. The sadness of one is the sadness of all. A company of persons join hands around an electric battery; the two persons at the ends of the line touch the battery, and all the circle reels the shock. Thus, by reason of the filial, maternal and pa

ternal relations of life, we stand so close together that when trouble seta its battery all feel the thrilf of distress. In the great Christian family the sorrow of one ought to be the sor- j row of all. Is one persecuted? All 1 are persecuted. Does one suffer loss? We all 6uifer loss. Is one bereaved?: We are all bereaved. Their streaming eyes together flow For human guilt and mortal woe. If you rejoice at another’s misfortune you are not one of the sheep, but one of the goats, and the vulture of sin hath alighted on your soul and not the Dove of the Spirit. ^ Nest, I notice the family property. After a man of large estate dies, the relatives assemble to hear the will read. So much of the property is willed to his sons and so much to his daughters, and so much Jto benevolent societies. Our Lord Jesus hath died, and we are assembled to-day to hear the will read. He says: “My peace I give nnto you.” Through His apostles He says: “AM things are yours.” What, everything? Yes, everything! This world and the next. In distin- ] guished families there are old pictures hanging on the wall. They are called the “heirlooms” of the estate. They are very old, and have come down from generation to generation. So 1 look upon all the beauties of the natural world as the heirlooms of our royal family. The morning breaks from the east. The mists travel up, hill above hill, mountain above mountain, until sky lost. The forests are full of chirp and buzz and song. Tree's leaf and bird’s wing flutter with gladness. Honey makers in the log and beak against the bark, and squirrels chattering on the rail, and the call of the hawk out of a clear sky mak^ you feel glad. The sun, which kindles conflagrations among the castles of cloud and sets minaret and dome aflame, stoops to paint the lily white and the buttercup yellow and the for-get-me-not blue. What can resist the sun? Light for the voyager over the deep! Light for the shepherd guarding the flocks afield! Light for the poor wlfo have no lamps to burn! Light for the downcast and lowly! Light for aching eyes and burning brain and wasted captive! Light for the smooth brow of childhood and for the dim vision of the octogenarian!

lur quctru 5 curunri uuu ltn ing girl’s needle! Let there be light! Whose morning is this? My morning. Your morning. Our Father gave ua the picture and hung it on the sky in loops of fire. It is the heirloom of our f|milj\ And so is the night. It is the full moon. The mfsts from shore to shore gleam like shattered mirrors, and the ocean, under her glance, comes up with great tides, panting upon the beach, mingling, as it were, foam and fire. The poor man blesses God for throwing such a cheap light through the broken window pane into his cabin, apd to the sick it seems a light from the other shore which bounds this great deep of human pain and \^oe. If the sun seem like a song full and poured from brazen instruments that fill Heaven and earth with great harmonies, the moon is plaintive and mild, standing beneath the throne of God, sending up her soft, sweet voice of praise, while the stars listen and the sea. No mother ever more sweetly guarded the sick cradle than all night long this pale watcher of the sky bends over the weary, heart sick, slumbering earth. Whose is this black framed, black tasseled picture pf the night? It is the heirloom of our family. Ours the grandeur of the spring, the crystals of the snow, the coral of the^beach, the odors" of the garden, the harmonies of the aftr. You cannot see a large estate in one morning. You must take several walks around it. The family property of this royal house of Jesus is so great that we must t*ke several walks to get,any idea of its extent. Let the first walk be around this earth. AH these valleys, the harvests that wave in them and the cattle that pasture then}—all these mountains and the previous things hidden beneath them and the crown of glacier they cast at the feet of the Alpine t hurricane—all these lakes, these islands, these continents, are* ours. In the second walk go among the street lamps of Heaven and see stretching off on every side a wilder

ness of worlds. For us they shine. For us they sang at a Saviour’s nativity. Fpr us they will wheel into line and with their flaming torches add to the splendor of our triumph on the day for which all other days were made. In the third walk go around the eternal city. As we come near it; hark to the rush of its chariots and the wedding peal of its great towers. The bell of Heaven has struck 12. It is high noon. We look off upon the chaplets which never fade, the eyes that never weep, the temple? that never close, the loved ones that never part, the procession that never halts, the trees that never wither, the walls that never can be captured, the sun that never set?, until we can no longer gaze, and we hide our eyes and exclaim: ‘‘Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him!” As these tides of glory rise we have to retreatj and hold fast lest we be Swept off and drownetj in the emotions of gladness and thanksgiving and triumph. What think you o? the family property? It is considered an honor to marry into a fahrily where there is great wealth. TheLord.the Bridegroom of earth and Heaven, offers you His heart and His hand, saying in the words of the Canticles: ‘‘Bise up, my love, my fair.one, and come away.” And once having put oh thy hand the signet ring of His love,, you will be endowed with all the wealth of earth and all the honors of Heaven. , Almost every family looks back to a homestead—some country place where you grew up. You sat on the doorsill. You heard the footsteps of the rain on the garret roof. You

swung on the gate. You ransacked th# barn. You waded into the brook. You thrashed the orchard for apples and the neighboring woods for nuts, and everything around the old home' stead is of interest to you. X tell you of the old homestead of eternity. “In my Father’s house art many mansions.” When we talk of mansions we think of Chatsworth and its park nine miles in circumference dind itsconservatory that astonishes the world, its galleries of art that contain the triumphs of Chantrey, Canova and Thorwaldsen, of the kings and queens who have walked its stately halls, or, flying over the heather, have hunted the grouse. But all the dwelling places of dukes and princes and queens are as nothing to the family mansion that is already awaitipg our arrival. The hand of the Lord Jesus lifted the pillars and swung the doors and planted the parks. Angels walk there and the^good of all ages. Th# poorest man in that house is a millionaire, and the lowest a king, and the tamest word he speaks is an anthem and the shortest life an eternity. It took a Paxton to build for Chatsworth a covering for the wonderful flower. Victoria Regia, five feetsdu diameter. But our lily of the valley shall need no shelter from the blast, and in the open gardens of God shall put forth-its full bloom, and alt Heaven shall come to look at it. and its aroma shall be as though the cherubim had swung1 before the throne a thousand censers. I have not seen it yet. I am in a foreign land. But my Father is waiting for m? to come home.' I have brothers and sisters there. In the Bible I have letters from there, telling me what a fine place it is. matters not much to me whether I am rich or poor, or whether the world hates me or loves me, or whether I go by land or by sea, if only I may lift my eyes at last on the family mansion. It is not a frail house, built in a month, soon to crumble, but an old mansion, which is as firm as the day it was built. Its walls are covered with the ivy of many ages, and the urns at the gateway are abloom with the century plants of eternity. The queen of Sheba hath walked its halls, and Esther and Marie Antoinette and Lady Huntingdon and Cecil and Jererav Taylor and Samuel Rutherford and John Milton and the widow who gave two mites and the poor men from the hospital—these Iasi two perhaps outshining all the kin£^ and queens of eternity.

a iamuy mansion means reunion. Some of your families are very much scattered. The children married and went off to St. Louis or Chicago or Charleston. But perhaps once a year you come together at the old place. How you wake up the old piano that has been silent for years. Father and mother do not play on it. How you bring out the old relic and rumtnage the garret and open old scrapbooks and shout and laugh and crj- and talk over old times, and though you may be 45 years of age, act as though you were 16. Yet soon it is good-by at the car window and good-by at the steamboat wharf. But how will we act at the reunion in the old family mansion of Heaven? It is a good while since you parted at the door of the grave. There will be Grace and Mary and Martha and Charlie and Lizzie and all the darlings of your household, not pale and siek and gasping for breath, as when you saw them last, but their eyes bright with the luster of Heavej| and their cheeks roseate with the flush of celestial summer. What clasping of hands! What embracings! What coming together of lip to lip! What tears of joy! Yby say: “I thought there were no tears in Heaven.” There must be. for the Bible says that “God shall wipe them away,” and if. there were no-tears there how could He wipe them away? They cannot be tears of gry?f or tears of disappointment, they must be tears of gladness. Christ will come and say: “What, child of Heaven, is it too much for thee? Dost thou break down under the gladness of this reunion? Then I will help thee.” And with His one arm around us and the other arm around our loved ones He shall hold us up in the eternal jubi

While I speak some of yon with broken hearts can hardly hold your peace. You feel as if you would speak out and say: ‘*Oh. hlessed day, speed on! Toward thee I press with blistered fee* over the desert way. My eyes fail for their weeping. I faint from listening for feet that will not eome and the sound of voices that will not speak. Speed on, oh day of reunion! And then. Lord Jesus, be not angry with ro£ if after I have kissed thy blessed feet I turn around to gather up the long lost treasures of my heart. Oh, be not- angry with me., One look at thee were Heaven. But all fhesse reunions are Heaven encircling Heaven, Heaven overtopping Heaven, Heaven commingling with Heaven!” v I was at Mount Vernon and went into the dining-room in which our first president entertained the prominent men of this and other lands. It was a very interesting spot. But, oh, the banquet hall of the family mansion of which | speak! Spread the fable, spread i it wide, for a great multitude are to sit at it. From the tree by the river gather the 12 manner of fruits for that table. Take the clusters from j the heavenly vineyards and press them into the golden tankards for that table. On baskets oarry in the -bread of which if man eat he shall never hun? ger. Take all the shot-torn flags of earthly conquest and intwine them among the arches. Let David come with his harp and Gabriel with hie trumpet and Miriam with the timbrel, for thfe prodigals are at home, and the captives are free, and. the-Father hath invited the mighty of Heaven and the redeemed of earth to come and dine! , Cowley county, Kansas, h&a a girl coroner. s