Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 January 1891 — Page 7

THE CHRISTMAS JUBILEE

BETHLEHEM'S STAR MARKS THE REDEEMER'S COMING. Meaning Hope, Good Cheer and Ascendancy in All Christendom—Dr. Talxnage's Sermon. 1 ftev. Dr.Talmage preached in Brooklyn and New York Sunday and Sun*day flight the following, sermon. Text, [Luke ii, 15. He said: | Amid a thousand mercleswe give each other holiday congratulations. By ioaj established (histOm we exhort each ’other to healthful merriment. By gift, ( by Christmas trees which blossom and fruit in one night, by early morning Surprise, by clusters of lighted can'? Mies, by children’s procession, by sound of instruments sometimes more blatant than musical, we wake up the night and prolong the day. I wish you all, in the grandest, noblest and best sense, a merry Christmas. The event com•memorated is the gladdest of the centuries. Christ’s cradle was as wonder-, ful as His cross. Persuade me of the first, and 1 am not surprised at the last. The door by which He entered was as tremendous as the door by which He went out. . I was last winter at the house where Jesus lived while He was in Africa. It' was in Cairo, Egypt, the terminus of that terrible journey which He took when Joseph and Mai-y fled with Him from Bethlehem to Egypt to escape the massacre of Herod. All tradition as well as all history points out this house in Cairo as the one in which these three fugitives lived while in Africa. The roam is nine steps down from the level of Ihe street I ured the room and found it twenty feet long and seven feet and a half high. There are three shelvlngs of rock, one of which I think was the cradle of our Lord.gJjfcThere is no window, and all the light must have come from lantern or Candle. The three arrived here from Bethlehem, having crossed the awful desert. On the Mediterranean steamer going from Athens to Alexandria I met the eminent scholar aiul theologian, Dr. Lansing, who for thirty-five years has been a resident of Cairo, and he told me that he had been all over the road that the three fugitives took from Bethlehem to Egypt. He says that it is a desert way, and that the forced journey of the infant Christ must have been a terrible journey. Going up from Egypt Dr. Lansing met people from Bethlehem, their tongues swollen and hanging out from the inflammation of thirst, and although his party had but one goatskin of water left, and that was important for themselves, he was So moved with the spectacle of thirst In these poor pilgrims that, although It excited the indignation of his fellowtravelers, he gave water to the strangers. Over this dreadful route Joseph and Mary started for this land of Egypt. No time to make much preparation. Herod was after them, and what were these peasants before an Irate king? Joseph, the husband and father, one night sprang up from his mattress in great alarm, the beads of sweat on his forehead and his whole frame quaking. He had dreamed of the massacre of his wife and babe. They must be oft’, that night, right away. Mary put up a few things hastily, and Joseph brought to the door the beast of burden and helped his wife and child to mount, Why, those loaves of bread are not enough, those bottles of water will not last for such % long way. But thoro is no time to jet anything more. Out and away. Good bye to the dear home they expect never again to see. Their hearts break. It does not need that ours be a big house in order to make us sorry to lonvo it. Over the hills and down through the deep gorgo thoy urge their way. By Hebron, by Gaza, through hot sand, under a blistering sun, the babe crying, the mother faint, the .father exhausted. How slowly the days and weeks pass. Will the weary three ever reach the banks of the Nile? Will they ever see CairoP Will the desert ever end? When at last they cross the line beyond which old Herod has no right to pursue, their joy is unbounded. Free at last! Let them dismount aud rest. Now they resume their why* with less anxiety. They will find a place somewhere for sheltea and the earning of their bread. Here they are at Cairo, Egypt. The wind through the crooked streets which are about ten feet wide, and enter the humble house where I have been to-day. But the terminus of the journey of these three fugitives was not as humble as their starting point at Bethlehem. If that journey across the desert ended in a cellar, it stated from a barn. In and around ftmt barn in Bethlehem we tarry today. Everything humble around the barn, but everything glorious overhead. Christ’s advent was in the hostelry called the house of Chim Ham; the' night with diamonded finger pointing down to the place; the door of heaven Bet wide open to look out; from orchestral baton of light .dripping the oratories of the Messiah; on lowest doorstep of heaven the minstrels of God discoursing of glory and good will. Soon after the white-headed astrologers kneel, and from leathern pouch chink the 'sheckels, and from open sacks exhale the frankincense and rustle out the bundles of myrrh. The loosened star, the escaped doxlogy of celestials, the chill December night aflush with May morn; our world a lost star, and another star rushing down the sky that night to beckon the wanderer home again, shall yet make all nations keep Christmas. Are there no new lessons from the Btory not yot hackneyed by oft repeats mI P Oh, yes. Know, in the first Jptace. It was a sidereal appearance jthat led the way. Why not a blae 1 cloud In the shape of a hand or flag

pointing down to the sacred birth, place? A cloud means trouble, and the world jfead had trouble enough. Why not a shaft of lightning, quivering and flashing and striking down to the sacred birthplace? Lightning means destruction, a shattering and consuming power, and the world wanted no more destruction. But it was a star, and that means joy. that means hope, that means* good cheer, that moans ascendency. A star! That means creative power, for did not, the morning starasing together when the portfolio of the worlds was opened? A star! That means defense, for did not the stars fight in their courses against Sisera and for the Lord’s people? A star! That means brilliant continuance, for are not the righteous to shine as the stars forever and ever? A star! That means the opening to eternal joy. The day star in the heart, The morning star of the Redeemer. The unusual appearance that night may have been a strange conjunction of worlds. As the transit of Venus in in our time was foretold many years ago by astronomers, and astronomers can tell what will be the conjunction of worlds a thousand years from now, so they can calculate backward; amd even infidel astronomers have been compelled to testify that about the year 1 there was a very unusual appearance in the heavens. The Chjnee3e record, of course entirely independent of the word of God, gives as a matter of history that about the year 1 there was a strange and unaccountable appearance in the heavens. But it may have been a meteor Buch as you and I have seen flash to the horizon. I saw a few years ago a star shoot and fall with such brilliancy and precision that if I had been on a hill as high as that, of Bethlehem on which the shepherds 6tood, I could have marked within a short distance the place of the alighting. The University of lowa and tho British Museum have specimens of meteoric stones picked up in the fields, fragments thrown off from other worlds, leaving a fiery trail on the sky. So that it is not to me at all improbable, the stellar or the me. teoric appearance on that night of which we speak. I only care to know that it was bright, that it was silvery, that it flashed and swayed and swung and halted with joy celestial, as though Christ, in haste to save our world, had rushed down without his coronet, and the angels of God had hurled it after him. Notice, also, in this scene, that other worlds seemed to honor our Lord and Master. Bright star of the night, j wheel on in thy orbit. ‘'No,” said the star, “I must come nearer and I must; bend and I must watch and see what' you do with—my-Jesus.” Another’ world joined our world that night in worship. That Btar made a bow of 1 obeisance. I sometimes hear people talk of Christ’s dominion as though it were to he merely the few thousand miles of the world’s circumference; but I believe the millions and the billions and the quadrillions of worlds are all inhabited—if not by such creatures as we are, still such creatures as God designed to make, and that all these worlds are a part of Christ’s dominion. Isaac Newton, and Kepler, and Herschel only went on Columbus’s voyage to find these continents of our King’s domain. 1 think all worlds were loyal but this. The great organ of the Universe, its pedals and its pipes and its keys, all one great harmony save one injured pedal, save one broken stop—tho vox humana of the human race, the disloyal world. Now you know, however grand the instrument may be, if there be one key out of order it spoils the harmony. And Christ must mend this key. He must restore this broken stop. You know with what bleeding hand, with what pierced side and with what crushed foot He did tho work. But the world shall be attuned, and all worlds shall yet be accordant. Isle of W ight is larger in comparison with the British Empire than our island Of a world as compared with Christ’s vast domain. If not, why that celestial escort? If not, why that sentinel with blazing badge above the caravansary? If not, why that midnight watchman in the balcony of heaven? Astronomy surrendered that night to Christ. This planet for Christ. This solar system for Christ. Worlds ablaze and worlds burnt out—all worlds for Christ. Intensest microscope can not see the one side of that domain. Farthest reaching telescope can not find the other side of that domain. But I will tell you how the universe is bounded. It is bounded on the north and south and east and west and above and beneath by God, and that God 1b Christ, and that Christ is God, and that God is ours. Ob, does it not enlarge your ideas of a Savior’s domain when I tell you that all the worlds are oqiy sparks struck from His anvil? That all the worlds are only the fleecy flocks following the one Shepherd? That all the islands of light in immensity are one great archipelago belonging to our King? But this Beene also impresses me with the fact that the wise men of the East came to Chrißt They were not fools, they were not imbeciles. The record distinctly says that the wise men came to Christ. We say they Were tho magi, or they were the alchemists, or they were the astrologists, and we say it with depredating accentuation. Why, they were the most splendid and magnificent men of the century. They wore the naturalists and scientists. Thoy knew all that was known. You must remember that astrology was the mother of astronomy, and that alchemy was the mother of chemistry, and because children are brighter than the mother you do not despise the mother. It was the lifelong business of these astrologers to study the stars. Twenty-two hundred and fifty years before Christ was born the wise men

knew the procession of the equinoxes and they had calculated the orbit and the return of j the comets. ' Professor Smith declares that he thinkß they understood the distance of the sun from the earth. We find in the Book of Job that the men of olden time did not suppose the world was flat as some have said, but that he knew, and the men of his time knew, the world was globular. The pyramids were built for astrological and astronomical study Then the alchemists spent their lives in tbostudy ot metals-and gases&edliquids and solids, and in filling the world’s library with their wonderful discoveries; They were vastly wise men who came from the East, and tradition says the three wisest came— Caspar, a young man; Balthazar, a mah >in mid life, and Melchior, an octogenarian. The three wisest men of all the century. They came to the manger. So it has alwas been—the wisest men come to Christ, the brainiest men come to the manger. Who was the greatest metaphysician this country has ever produced? Jonathan Edwards the Christian. Who was the greatest astronomer of the world? Herschel. the Christian. Who is the greatest poet ever produced? John Milton, Lhe Christian. Who was the wisest writer on law? Blackstone. the Christian. Why is it that every college and university in the land has a chapel? They must have a, place for the wise men to worship. Come now, let us understand in ounces and by inches this whole matter. In post-mortem examination the brain of distinguished men has been examined, and I will find the largest, the heaviest, the mightist brain ever produced in America, and I will ask what that brain thought of Christ. Here it is, the brain weighing sixty-three ounces the largest brain ever produced in America. Now let me find what that brain thought of Christ In the dying moment that man said: “Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief. Whatever else I do, Almighty God, receive me to Thyself for Christ’s sake. This night I shall be in tight and joy and blessedness." So Daniel Webster came to the manger. The wise men of the east followed the wise men of the west Know also in this scene that it was a winter month that God chose for His Son’s nativity. Had it been the month of May—that is the season of blossoms Had He been born in the month of June—that is the season of roses. Had He been born in the month of July—that is the season of great harvests. Had He been born in the month of September-—that is the season of ripe orchards. Had He been born in the month of October—that iff the season of upholstered forests. But He was born in a winter month. It was in closing December that He was born to show that this is a Christ for people in sharp blast, for people under clouded sky, for people with frosted hopes, for people with thermometer below zero. That is the reason He is bo often found among the destitute. You can find Him on any night coming off tho moors. You can see Him any night coming through the dark lanes of the city. You can see Him putting his hand under the fainting head in the pauper’s cabin. He remembers how tho wind whistled around the caravansery in Bethlehem that December night, and 11c is in sympathy with all those who in their poverty hear the shutters clatter on a cold night. It was this December Christ that Washington and his army worshiped at Valley Forge when withoutblankets they laydown in the December snow. It was this Christ that the Pilgrim Father appealed to when the Mayflower wbarfed at Plymouth Rock, and in years that went by the graves digged were more in number than the houses bu,ilt. Oh, I tell you, we want a December Christ, not a Christ for fair weather, but a Christ for dark days clouded with sickness, and chilling with dißsapointment, and suffocating wilh bereavement, and terrific with wide open graves. Not a Spring-time Christ, nor a summer Christ, nor a autumnal Christ, but a winter Christ. Notice also a fact which no one seems to notice, that this Christ has been among the 6heep, and the cattle, and the horses, and the camels, in order that He might be alleviating influence to the whole animal creation. It means mercy for overdriven, underfed poorly sheltered, galled and maltreated animal creation. Hath the Christ who compared Himself to ddove no care for the cruelities of the pigeon shooting? Hath the Christ who compared Himself to a lamb no care for the sheep that are tied and contorted, and with neck over the Bharp edge of the butcher’s cart, or the cattle train in hot weather from Otnaha to New York, with no wjvter—l,soo miles of agony? Hath the Christ whose tax was paid by a fish, the coin taken from its mouth, no care for the tossing fins In the fish market? Hath the Christ who strung with his own hand the nerves of dog and cat no indignation for the horrors of vivisection? Hath the Christ who said. • ‘Go to the ant, ” no watchfulness for the transfixed inBectsP Hath the Christ who said, “Behold the fowls of the air.” Himself ever beheld tho outrages heaped upon the brute creation which can not articulate its grief? This Christ came not only to lift the human race out of its trouble, but to lift the pang and hardship of the animal creation. In the glorious millennsal time tho child shall j lead the lion and play with the cocka- ' trice only because brute and reptile ' shall have no more wrongs to avenge. i To allelvate the condition of the brute creation Chrißt was born in the cattle pen, Tho first bleat of the lamb of God heard amid tho tired flooks of the j Bethlehem shepherds. The white horse of eternal victory stabled In a barn. But notice also In this account the > three Christmas presents that are

brought to the manger—gold, frankim Cense and myrrh. Gold to that means all the affluence of the world surrendered to him. For lack of money no more asylums limping on their way tike the cripples whom they helped, feeling their slow way like the blind people whom they sheltered. Millions of dollars for Christ where there are now thousands for Christ. Railroads owned by Christian stockholders and governed by Christian dirpctnra and carrying passengers and freight at Christian prices. ■ VBut I notice that these wise man also shook the myrrh Out from their sacks. The cattle came and they snuffed at it. They did not eat it because it was bitter. The pungent gum resin of Abyssinia called myrrh brougb to the feet of Christ. Thjtt means bitterness, Bitter betrayal, bitter per, secution, bitter days of suffering, bitter nights of woe. Myrrh, That is what they put into his cup when He was dying. Myrrh. That is what they put under His head in the wilderness. Myrrh. That is what they strewed His path with all the way from the cattle pen in Bethlehem to the mausoleum at Joseph’s country seat. Myrrh Well might the wise men shake out the myrrh. But I notice also from another sack they shake out the frankincense. Clear up to the rafters of the barn the air is filled with perfume, and the hostlers and the camel drivers in the furthest part of the building inhale it, and it floats out upon the air until passers-by wpnder who in that rough place could have by accident dropped a box of alabaster. Frankincense. That is what they burned in the censer in the ancient temple. Frankincense. That means worship. Frankincense. That is to fill all the homes, and all the churches,

and all the capitals, and all the nations, from cellar to stalactited cave clear up to the silvery rafters of the starlit dome. Frankincense. Bring on more incense, and higher and higher let the columns of praise ascend. Let them wreathe all these pillars and hover amid all theso arches, and then soar to the throne. But here is the other censer of heavenly thanksgiving and worship. Let them bring all their frankincense—the cherupim bring theirs, and the seraphim theirs, and the one hundred and forty and four thousand theirs, and ail the eternities theirs, and let them smoke with ' perfume on this heavenly censer until the cloud cauopies the throne of God. Then I take these two censers—the censer of earthly frankincense and the censer of heavenly frankincense—and I swim them before the throne, and then I clash them together in one great hallelujah unto Him to whom the wise men of the East brought the gold, and the myrrh and the frankincense. Blessed be his glorious name forevor! t

REMINISCENCE OF LINCOLN.

How an Old Preacher’s Prophesy of War Affected Him. At a harvest home celebration, held near Lewiston, 111., Kev, Dr. Haney, a pioneer Methodist minister, related 1 the following reminiscence of Abraham Lincoln. It has never been published, 1 and its accuracy is vouched for by one 1 or two pioneer Methodist ministers of Fulton county. At a county meeting not far from! Springfield, some years before the war, 1 it was known that Rev, Peter Akrees would preach. He was noted for the power and prodigious length of his sermons. He was the minister who dedicated the old Methodist Church in Lewiston in 1849, and his sermon wag just three hours long. A carriage-load of prominent Springfield lawyers wenj out to hear the great preacher. Lincoln was one of the party. His theme was “The Sin of Slavery.” He portrayed its horrors in vivid colors. He prophe-’ sied that God would wash away this crime of crimes in blood. Ho predicted the war, and with prophetic accuracy described its terrors. But he put off its date some years. It was a startling and thrilling sermon. Few hearers sympathized with the preacher’s views. They regarded them as the idle frothings of a harmless old Abolitionist As the lawyers drove home they chatted gayly about the absurd fears of the preacher. They expected to see a railway built to the moon before aay civil war would happen in this country. But j Lincoln Was silent and thoughtful. At last they rallied him. “What do you think about It Abo?” they asked. “Well,” he replied. “I confess that I have never before been so deeply impressed by human utter inee. I have never thought we should have war over slavery or any other question. But those utterances to-day seemod to come from far beyond the peacher. They came to me as a real ana awful prophecy. More astonishing than all—and you may laugh if you will—l seemed to be thrilled in my very soul with the conviction that lam in some way to have tremendous responsibility in that coming and awful war.” Mr. Lincoln’s solemn manner Impressed hla hearers, as usually he was the happiest in any company. It was only a few years until “Father” Akree’s prophecy and Mr. Lincoln’s remarkable impression were fully verified. A London statistician figures that SO,OOO Americans have tanned in England this summer, the expenses across averaging more than (100 each, and that upon the lowest calculation they have cLculated 131,000,000 in Europe on railways and at hotels, without counting the mon-v spent In purchases. Mrs. James Clark arrived a few days ago in Sham ok in, Pa, from England. She is Ukely one of the oldest persons wha evor creased the ooeao, being born In 1793.

PAM’S BOY PARD.

“Er feemale, blfffae it all!” whined' - Pandy Small, as he gazed across the \ creek at the woman moving about in | front of the cabin on the other side i “Now my bad luck has begun in plum 1 earnest Er woman alius wuz bad inedicitia for me, an’ the next thing I’ll hev wus3 nor a spraint ankii. Duz ye -say as she has bought Joe Punty’s cabin, lad?” • "That is what I heard when I went for the * flour,” replied the boy who stood by Paddy’s side. “Wuli, thin it’s most problikely so. She’ll l)e rite over thar whar I kin see her, most any time. I might jest as well gin up ever doing ennythin, w’ile she’s ’roun’.” ’ “Why is it that you dislike women so?”*asked the boy. Pandy looked startled for a moment. “Don’t ax me thet I’ll never tell the hull story. They’ve alius brought bad luck ter me, an’ I caii’t bear ter look at one ov. ’em. Frum ther very day thet I married one ov the critters I’ve jest had a tarnet hard row ter hoe.” Then he limped slowly toward the cabin and entered. The boy followed. He was a sharp-eyed .little fellow of sixteen, who had appeared at Cold Water Bar a few days before and had been the means of rescuing* Pandy Small from an old forsaken shaft, into which the man had accidentally fallen. Pandy’s ankle was sprained so badly that for two or three days ho was unable to touch his foot to the ground.. The boy had remained at Pandy’s cabin, cooking his food and taking care of him as if he were a relative, although

the strange, whining, peevish man was far from a pleasant companion. When asked his name, the boy replied that they might call him Frank. He utterly refused to tell his other name or give any explanation of his sudden appearance in Cold Water Bar. When questioned by Pandy, he would say: “Wait awhile; perhaps I will tell you by and bye.” The man, strange to say, took a liking to the boy. Pandy was an unsociable. peevish old chap, whom nobody liked, and many wondered at the friendship that sprung up between him and the boy. When Pandy was able to limp around on his foot, Frank spoke of going away, but the man would not hear to it. - “Yer a-goin’ ter stay right hyer an becum my pard, lad. Pandy Small’s got er leetle suthin’ laid away fur damp weather—more’n Hiost people think—an’ he knows whar there’s more. Thar hain’t no one as Pandy Small keers j fer, an’ ye might as well hev part o’ ther boodle as sumbody else. Ye’ve got ter stay.” And Frank stayed. About the time that the boy appear? ed iu the camp, a strange woman came in from Red Gap on tho stage. She wore a heavy veil that effectually concealed her face, and while she remained at Cold Water’s one hotel no man saw her face uncovered. Finally, she purchased Joe Punty's cabin, that stood opposite Pandy Small’s, some distance down the creek. Then she “set up housekeeping” on a limited scale. After Pandy had discovered what had happened he could think of nothing but the woman across the ereok. A hundred times a day he gazed over the water to see if he could catch a glimpse of the veiled woman. “Can’t get the.- pesky critter outen my head,” he whined. “I try ter think er suthin’ else, but ’tain’t much use. I’m all ther time expectin’ suthin’ onlucky ter happen." | Gradually Pandy’s ankle got better, , until at last, it was quite well. As his * ankle grew stronger, the man seemed ! to grow fonder of his Boy Pard. “I’d had er boy ’bout yer age, es he’d lived,” he said, one day, “Is your boy dead"" asked Frank. “Wull, there, lad; you see I don’t ; jest know as ter that” j “Don’t know? That is strange. Why ' don’t you know?” “Now don’t ye go fur ter axin’ questions, fur I shan’t answer ’em,” | was the reply. And that was all that Tandy would say about it Frank soerned to pay no need- to the woman across the creek, but at timos, when Pandy was not looking, covert and guarded signals passed between the two. It would have been evideirtr to an observer that they were not strangers. One day, while on a ramble not far from camp, Pandy paused on the edge of a shallow ravine. He had heard voices below, and as he peered cautiously down, he saw a sight which filled him with amazement , A short distance away stood tho strange veiled woman talking earnestly with Pandy’s Boy Pard. To Pandy, the woman’s voice seemed strangely natural, although he did not catch tho drift of her words. Suddenly the woman lifted her veil, and, stooping a trifle, kissed the boy. v or an instant the man caught a fair view of her face. Then he uttered a cry of mingled amazement and ter ror, and losing his balance, fell downward into the ravine. He struck heavily on tho rocks below. A sharp pain shot through his body, then ho beeame unconsciqus. ■ * • * ■*» • • * • One day, Pandy opened his eyes after a refreshing slumber, and found his Boy Pard, by tho bedside. He gazed around and saw, with some wonder, that he was in his owu rudo cabin.

“What has happened?” he asked- . “You have been very sick,"’replied Frank. “You fell and were badly injured.” “Ye.=»; I remember,” cried Pandy, starting up. “That woman!—who was she? She looked just like my dead wife!” “Be ealn' and I will explain every thing, Lorenzo Hatch." “Lorenzo Hatch!' shouted the man. “You know me!” 1 her. he smluenly became calm, and down,-said quietly; “I am listening.'’ “It has been more than a week sines you were injured by that fall,” said th# boy. “You have been delirious most of the time since then, and from youl ravings I have learned your past life. You told how you were married year* ago to Lizzie Marten; how a tittle son came to you," and how, finally, your wife and yourself quarrelled. Theq your wife left you, carrying her child in her arms. You came west to seek—your fortune, but ill-luck followed iq your footsteps. For a year or two yon! knocked around in different parts of the country. Finally, in a fit of desperation, you attempted, singlehanded, 1 to rob a stage. One of the mala passengers resisted, and a scuffle ensued, during which your revolver was discharged and a female passenger wits struck by the bullet. She uttered a cry and sank down. Then, to your horror, you saw that she was your wife. Thinking her dead, you fled, evaded pursuers, changed your name, and have lived since then with the belief that her blood was on your hands. , “But your wife did not die! She had left her son in safe keeping, while she sought for her husband, hoping to find him and obtain his forgiveness, for she jthought herself to blame for the quarrel that had separated them. She finally recovered from the bullet wound, but she did not again take up the search till her boy was large enough to aid and accompany her. I

jtm her son and yours, and at last we have found you, father." “I thank God that she lives and I ana not a murderer!” exclaimed Lorenzo Hatch. “Where is she—my darling wife?" “Here, Loren!” The strange woman, who had purchased Joe Punty’s cabin, glided into the room. In a moment, husband and wife were clasped in each other’s arms—reunited! After the first joy of the reunion was over, the man asked: *‘My dear wife, why did you not come directly to me when you first found me?'’ '1 *T did not know how I would be received,” she replied. “You appeared very strange, and some said you were crazy.” * ‘lt is a wonder that I am not If sorrow and. happiness can wreck a man’s reason, it is a miracle that l am not a maniac today. But, thank God! I am in my own mind, and once more my true self. Pandy Small is dead forever.” As soon as he was strong enough to endure the journey, the reunited family started for the east where they were to begin life anew with the small fortune that Lorenzo Hatch had saved while he was known as “Pandy Small.”—Yankee Blade. A Startling Coincidence. In the year 1664, on the sth day ot December, the English ship Menai was crossing the straits and capsized in a gale. Of the 81 passengers on board but one was saved; hie name was Hugh ■ Williams. On the same day, in the year 1785, a pleasure schooner was wrecked on tho Isle of Man. Thera were 60 persons on the boat, among them one Hugh Williams and hit family. Of the three score none but old Hugh Williams survived the shock. On the sth day of August, 1820, a' picnicking party of the Thames was run down by a coal barge. There were 25 of the picnickers, most children under 12 years of age. Little Hugh Williams, a visitor from Liverpool, only 5 years old, was the only one that returned to tell the tale. Now come* the most singular part of this singular story: On the 19th day of August, in the year of our Lord, 1889, a Leeds coal barge, with nine men, foundered; two of them, both Hugh Williams, aa uncle and nephew, were rescued by some fishermen, and were the only men of the crew who lived to tell of tho calamity. These are facts which can be substantiated, says the Leeds (England) Mercury. The latest, kind of thieves that New York has produced are men who make a business of stealing toothpicks. They lounge around tho cashier's desk in large hotels and restaurants, and. when no one else is loosing, press their hands on the toothpicks, whioh are standing-end up, and then withdraw their into -. convenient pocket Dainty but Dangerous. Her enchanting little boot From beneath her jaunty suit Ventured out. That she know its witching chant Without meaning any harm, » Who could doubt? So I wooed tne charming maid, First enchantsd, as I said, By her boot Now, alas! I’m well aware Boots and tempers seldom are Built to suit ■The Chicago Tribune advertises for tivelvo hoalthy boy babtos. It wants to rear them in absolute soolusiou and ignorance for a jury on the Cronin case. The Empire of Japan has 37»0 >,\o >"1 inhabitants who are slowly but surely adopting Western customs in dress as well as in civ Ulsatioo and methods of researoh.