Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 August 1891 — Page 3

A POOR INVESTMENT.

t ■ .. /Have You Sold Yourself for f Naught? \ n>«* World Itself Is a Cheat-Many Title \ Deeds Go to the Devil—Dr. Tal- * mage's Sermon. ( Rev. Dr. Talmage preached last { Sunday at- Topeka. Kari. Text, Isa- ( iah Hi. 2. He said: The Lord's people had gone headdong into sin, and as a punisment I they had been carried captive to ■ Babylon. They found that iniquity did not pay. Cyrus seized Babylon and felt so sorry- for those poor captives' that without a dollar of compensation helet them go home. So that, literally, my text was fulfilled: “Ye have sold yourselves for naught, and ye shall be redeemed without money/’ There is enough Gospel in this text for fifty sermons. There are persons here who have, like the people of my text, sold out. You do not seem to belong either to yourselves or to God. The title-deeds have passed over to “the- world, the flesh and the devil,” but the purchaser never paid up. ‘‘Ye have sold youri selves for naught.” ' When a man passes himself over to the world he expects to get some adequate compensation. He has heard the great things the world does for a man, and he believes it. He. wants $250,000. That will be horses and houses, and a summer resort, and jolly companionship. To get it he parts with his health by overwork. He parts with his conscience. He parts with much domestic enjoyment. / He parts with opportunities for literary culture. He parts with his , soul. And so he makes over bis entire nature to the world. He does it in four installments. He pays down the first installment and one-fourth of his nature is gone. He pays down the second installment and one-Hats of his nature is gone. He pays down the third installment and three-quar-ters of his nature are gone, and after many years have "one by he pays /down the fourth installment, ana lo! nis entire nature is gone. Then he comes up to the world and says: “Good morning. I have delivered to you the goods. I have passed over to you my body, my mind, my soul, and I have come now to collect the $250,000. “Twc hundred and fifty thousand dollars?” says the world. “What do you mean?” “Well,” say you, “I have come to collect the money you owe me and I expect you to fulfill your art of the contract.” “But,” says ' the world, “I have failed. lam bankrupt. I cannot possibly pay that debt. I have not for a Ion" time expected to pay it. ” “Well, you then “give me back the goods.” Oh, do.” says the world, “they are all gone. I cannot give them back to you. " And there you stand on the confines of eternity, your spiritual character gone, staggering under the consideration that “you have sold' yourself for naught. ” —I tell you the world is a liar; it does not keep its promises. It is a cheat and it fleeces everything it can buftts hands on; It is'a bogus world. It is a six-thousand-year-old swindle. Even if it vnys the $250,000 for which you contracted, it pays them in bonds which will not be worth anything in a little while, just as a man may pay down SIO,OOO cash and get for it worthless scrip. So the world passes over to you. The $250,000 in that shape which will not be worth a farthing to you a thousandth part of a second after you ate dead. “Oh,” you say, “it will help to bury me, anyhow.” Oh, my friend you need not worry about that. The world will bury you soon enough from sanitary considerations. Post-mortem emoluments are of no use to you. The treasures of this world will not pass current in the future word; and if all the wealth of the Bank of England were put in the pocket of your shroud, and you in the midst of the Jordan of death was asked to pay three cents for your ferriage you could not do it, There comes a moment in your existence beyond which all earthly values fail; aud many a man has wakened up in such a time to find that he has sold out for eternity and has nothing to show for it. I should as soon think of going to Chatham street to buy silk pocketliankerchiefs with no cotton in them as to go to this world expecting to find any permanent happiness. It has deceived and deluded every man who has over put his trust in it. History tells us of one who resolved that he would Lave all his senses gratified at one and the same time, and he expended thousands of dollars on each sense. He entered a room and there were the first musicians of the land pleasing his ear and there were fine pictures fascinating his eye, and there were costly aromatics regaling his nostril, and there were the richest meats and and wines and fruits’lLid confections pleasing the appetite, and there was soft couch of sinful indulgence on which he reclined; and the man declared after ./ard that he would gjvo ten times what he had gii'en if he could have one week of such enjoyment, even though he lost his soul by it! Ah! that was the rqb_. He did lose his soul by it! Cyrus the Conqueror thought for a little while that he .vas making a fine thing out of this world,and yet before he came to his grave he wrote out this pitiful epitrph for his monument: “I am Cyrus. I occupied the Persian Empire. -I was king over Asia. Begrudge me not this monument. *’ But the world,in after years, plowed up his sepulcher. , The world clapped its hands and

stamped its feet in honor of Charles Lamb; but what cfoes he say? “I walk up and down thinking I am happy, but feeling lam not.” Call . the roll,and be quick about it,Samuel Johnson, the learned! Happy? ' ‘No. lam afraid I shall some day get crazy.” William Hazlitt, the great essayist! Happy? “No, I have Deen for two hours and a half going up aud down Paternoster Row with a volcanaifi my breast. ” Smollet, the witty author! Happy? “No, lam sick of praise and blame, and I wish to God that I had such circumstances around me that I could throw my pen into oblivion.” Buchanan, the \vorld-renowned writer, exiled from his own country, appealing to Henry VIII, for protection! Happy? “No. Over mountains covered with snow, and through valleys flooded with rain, I corne a fugitive.” Moliere, the popular dramatic author! Happy? “No, That wretch of an actor just now recited four of my lines without the proper accent and gesture. To have the children of my brain so hung, drawn and quartered tortures me like a condemned spirit.” I went to see a worldling die. As I wont into the hall I saw its floor was tessellated, and its wall was a picture gallery. I found his death-chamber adorned with tapestry until it seemed as if the clouds of the setting sun had settled in the room. The man had given forty years to the wit, his time, his genius, his talent, his soul. Did the world come in to stand by his deathbed, and clearing off the vials of bitter medicine, put down any compensation? Oh, no! The world docs not like sick and dying people,* and leaves them in the lurch. It ruined this man and then left him. He had a magnificent funeral. All the minsters wore scarfs, and there were forty-three carriages in a row; but the departed man appreciated not the obsequies. ,1 want to persuade my audience that this world is a poor investment; that it does not pay 90 per cent, of satisfaction, nor 80 per cent., nor 20 per cent., nor 2 per cent., nor 1; that it gives no solace when a dead babe lies on your lap; that it gives no peace when conscience rings its alarm; that it gives no explanation in the day of dire trouble, and at the time of your decease it takes hold of the pillow-case and shakes out the feathers and then jolts down in the place thereof sighs, and groans and execrations, and then makes youjmt your head on it. Oh, ye who have tried this world, is a satisfactory portion? Would you advise your friends to make the investment? No. “Ye have sold yourselves for naguht.” Your conscience went. Your hope went. Your Bible went. Your heaven went. Your God went. When a sheriff under a writ sells a man out the officer generally leaves a few chairs and a bed, and a few cups and knives; but in this awful vendue in which you have been engaged the auctioneer’s mallet has come down upon body, mind and soul: Going! Gone! “Ye have sold yourselves for naught.” How could you do so? Did you think that your soul was a mere trinket, which for affew pennies you could buy in_ a toy shop? Did you think'thaf your" soul, if bnc6 'tost, might be found again if you went out with torches and lanterns? Did you think that your soul was short-lived, and that, panting, it would soon lie down for extinction? Or had you no idea what your soul was worth? Bid you ever put your forefinger on its eternal pulses? Have you not felt the quiver of its peerless wing? Have you not known that, after leaving the body, the first step of your soul reaches to the stars,, and the next step to the farthest outposts of jSods universe, and that it will not die ÜBtil -the day ..when the everlasting Jehovah expires? O, my brother, what possessed you that you should part with your soul so cheaply? “Ye have sold yourselves for naught.” „ But 1 have some good news to tell you. I want to engage in a litegation for the recovery of that soul of yours. I want to show that you have been cheated out of it. I want to prove, as I will, that you were crazy on that subject, and that the world, under such circumstances, had no right to take the title-deed from you; and if you will join me I shall get a decree from the High Chancery Oourt of Heaven reinstating you into the possession of your soul. “Oh,” you say, “I am afraid of lawsuits! They are so expensive, and I can not pay the cost.” Then have you forgotten the last half of my text? “Ye have sold yourselves for naught, and ye shall be redeemed without money.” Honey is good for a good many things but it cannot do anything in this niatter of the soul. ’ You can not buy your way through. Dollars and pound sterling mean nothing at the gate of mercy. If you could buy salvation heaven would be a great speculation, an extension of Wall street Bad men would go up and buy out the place and leave us to shift for ourselves. But as money is not a lawfql tender, what is? I will answer, Blood! Whose? Are we to go through the slaughter? Oh, no; it wants richer blood than ours. It wants a king’s blood. It must be poured from royal arteries. It must be a sinless torrent. But where is the king? I see a great many thrones and a great many occupants, yet none seem to be coming down to the rescue. But after i while the clock of night in Bethlehem strikes 12 afld the silver pendulum of a star awiags across the sky and I see the King of Heaven rising up, and He descends and steps down from star to alar, and from cloud to cloud, low* and lower until He touches the

sheep=cOvered hills, and then on to anbther hill, this last one skullshaped, and there at the sharp stroke of persecution a rillincardine trickle; down, and we who could not be re deemed by money are redeemed by precious and imperial blood. We have in this day professed Christian; who are so rarifled and etherealized that they do not want a religion ol blood. What do you want? You seem to want a religion of brains. The Bible says, “In the blood is the life.’’ No atonement without blood. Ought not the apostle to know? What did he say? “Ye are redeemed not with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but by the precious blood Christ. ” You put your lancet into the arm of our holy religion and withdraw the blood and you leave it a mere corpse, fit only for the grave. Why did God command the priests of old to strike the knife into the kid, and the goat, and the pigeon, and the bullock, and the lamb? It was so that when the blood rushed out from these animals on the floor of the ancient tabernacle the people should be compelled to think of the coming carnage of the Son of God. No blood no atonement. I think that God intended to impress us with a vividness of that color. The green of the grass, the blue of the sky, would not have startled and aroused us like this deep crimson. It is as if God had said: “Now, sinner, wake up and see what the Savior endured for you. This is not water. This is not wine. It is blood. It is the blood of my own Son. It is the blood of the Immaculate. It is the blood of God.” Without the shedding of blood is no remission. There has been many a man who in courts of law has pleaded “not guilty,” who nevertheless has been condemned because there was blood found on his hands, or blood found in Lis room; and what shall we do in the last day if it be found that we have recrucified the Lord of Glory and have never repented of it? You must believe in the blood or die. No escape. Unless you let the sacrifice of Jesus go in your stead, you yourself must suffer. It is either Christ’s blood or your blood. It seems to me as if all heaven were trying to bid in your soul. The first bid it makes is the tears of Christ at the tomb of Lazarus; but that is not a high enough price. The next bid heaven makes is the sweat of Gethsamane; but it is too cheap a price. The next bid heaven makes seems to be the whipped back of Pilate's Hall; but it is not a high enough price. Can it be possible that heaven -can not buy you in? Heaven tries once more. “I bid this time for that man's soul the tortures of Christ’s martyrdom, the blood on His temple,the blood on His check, the blood on'His chin, the blood on His hand, the blood on His side, the blood on His knee, the blood on His foot —the blood in drops, the blood in rilis, the blood in pools coagulated beneath the cross: the blood that wet the tips of the soldier's spears, the blood that splashed warm in the faces of his enemies. ” Glory to God, that bid wins it. The highest price that was ever paid for any thing was paid for your soul. Nothing could buy it but blood! The estranged property is brought back. Take it. “You have sold yourselves for naught: and ye shall be redeemed without money.” O atoning blood, cleansing blood, life-giving blood, sanctifying blood, glorifying blood of Jesus! Why not burst into tears at the thought that for thee He shed it —for thee the hard-hearted, for thee the lost? “No,” says some one, “I will have nothing to do ...with it except that, like the enemies of Christ, I put both my hands into that carnage and scoop up both palms full, and throw it on my head and cry; “His blooJ be on us and on our children!” Can you do such $ shocking thing as that? Just rub your handkerchief across your brow and look at it. It is the blood of the Son of God whom you have despised and driven back all these years. Oh. do not do that any longer! Come out boldly and frankly and honestly, and tell tlhrist you are sorry. You can not afford to so roughly treat Him upon whom everything depends. Ido not know how you will get away from this subject! You see that jou are sold out, and that Christ wants to buy you back. There are three persons who comfe after you to-day; God the Father. God the Son. and God the Holy Ghost. They unite their three omnipotences in one movement for your salvation. You will not take up arms against the Triune God, Will you? Is there enough muscle in your arm for such a-Gombat? By. the highest throne in Heaven, and by tho deepest chasm in hell, I beg you look out. Unless you allow Christ to carry away your sins, they will carry you away. Unless you allow Christ to lift up, they will drag you down. Thei eis only one hope for you, and that is the blood. Christ, the sin-offering, bearing your transgressions. Christ the surety, paying your debts. Christ, the devine Cyrus, loosening your Babylpnish captivity. ...1-....! Would you like to be free? Here is the price of your liberation—not money, but blood. I tremble fron: head to foot, not because 1 fear your presence, but because I feiir that yov will miss your chance for immortal rescue. This is the alternative divinely put: “He that believeth on the Son shall have everlasting life; and he that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” In the last day, if you now reject Christ, every drop of that sacrificial blood, instead of pleading for your release, as it would have pleaded had you repent ed, will plead against you.

THE BOYS IN BLUE.

Twenty-Fifth Annual Encampment at Detroit. Inspiring Military and Civic Displays— Grand Parade of Thousand* of Soldiers, Tuesday, the 4th inst., was the opening day of the twenty-fifth annual encamp* ment of the Grand Army of the Republic, at Detroit, and a gala day it waa. The city never before held such a concourse of people, and in the magnificence of pageantry and the beauty of decoration Tuesday’s parade is without precedent In the days that have gone. As the tried and trusty soldiers of ’6l were eager for the battle, so the veterans of ’9l were eager for the grand parade which was to recall so many reminiscenses of former days. THE PARADE. Slo.wly and majestically the procession started from Woodward and Adams avenues with Commander-ic-Chief Veasey and his staff in lead until the reviewing stand was reached. The stand from which the C m lander-in-Chief and his flittering stan reviewed the parade was situated on “Campus Martinus,” on the east side of Woodward avenue. On Illinois was conferred the honor of the right of march. Dr. B. F. Stephenson, the founder of the G. A. R., was born in Wayne county, Illinois, and died in Manard county, August 30, 1871, aged but 49 years. ; ■ His remains lie in the soldiers’ lot of Rose Hill cemetery, Petersburg, 111. He organized the G. A. R. in 1866, and a few months later J. N. Coltrin and Jos. Prior were joined with ten others in forming the first post, which was instituted at Deeatur, April 6,1866, under a charter granted by Dr. Stephenson. The survivors of Post No. 1 were a conspicuous little group in the Illinois delegation, and their appearance was the signal for a tribute of cheers. Department Commander Horace S. Clark led the command, an! 3,ooo.representatives of the loyal sons of the Sucker State were in line. Among the prominent ones were General Pavey, Col. Sexton and Col. Cochrane. An umbrella corps 300 st;ong was a feature of the Illinois division. In the corner a square of blue umbrellas repsented each State In stripes of red, white and blue in columns to represent the stripes of tho flag. As each division marched beneath the triumphal arch little girls, appropriately decked in the national colors, showered the veterans with boquets. The enthusiasm which greeted the second or Wiconsin division of seven hundred strong was unbounded. In the front rank and borne high in the air on the top of a flag-staff was perched “Old Abe,” the stuffed eagle, which became a part of Wisconsin history a quarter of a century ago. Cheer after cheer arose from the multitude, but the tribute was to the war bird and not to tho brave boys of the Badger State. Many a civilian could not divine the cause of all this enthusiasm, but to probably every G. A. R.man, in line the strange history of that bird is a fireside story to his children. In 1861, when the Eighth Wisconsin Regiment entered the war, a tame eagle, captured in the Wisconsin woods, accompanied the regiment South. Taught to perch upon a staff it was allotted to a color-bearer, and in a few months the bird became the emblem of the regiment. With a strange devotion which so partook of “the mysteriotis as to engender superstition in many minds, the eagle clung to his regiment with unwavering loyalty. Amid the roar of cannon and the shriek ofbattle, the eagle of the Eighth Wisconsin maintained his perch only at times to soar briefly above the heads of the bravo boys he led, shrieking shrill defiance to the enemy and then return to his perch. No ball ever attained “Old Abe,’ as he was christened, and in many bloody battles the soldiers of the Eigth seemed to share the good fortune of the noble bird.. In 1865 “Old Abe” was “mustered out” with the Eighth,and thenceforth made his home as a privileged bird in the public park at Madison. He survived the war twelve years, and at his death his funeral was conducted with milita.iy honors. But he was never buried. A skilled taxidermist perpetuated the form and shape of the glorious bird and the Eighth regiment still bears “Old Abe” in the front rank. In line with tho Wisconsin boys were Gen. Lucius Fairchild, ex-Governor of the State and ex-commander-in-chics of the G. A. R., and Col, A. G. Weisert, candidate for commander-in-cbicf, Department Commander W. 11. Upham was in command, and past Department Commander C6L Brayan and Col. Griffin, who was breveted brigadier general at the close of the war for gallantry, were among the familiar figures that tramped to the music. The Pennsylvania division came next 1,500 Btrqng. Department Commander Boyer rode at their head with Adjutant Town and Quartermastor-Gen. Abraham Levering, followed by tho aids. Pittsburg posts led the way. Tho Ohio delegation was a vast army of itself. No less than thirteen thousand veterans tramped to the music of the bands. New York, 3,500 strong came next, and was the recipient of an enthusiastic greeting. They were led by Dep. Com. C. H. Freeman, Adjt-Gen< W. W. Bennett and Quartermaster-Gen. A. R. Penfield. The Connecticut division came next, and following Connecticut was Massachusetts, 2,500 strong. Their grand display and soldierly appearance caused the greatest enthusiasm as soon as they hove in sight, headed by Dept-Com. A. A. Smith, Adjt-Gen. H. O. Moore, Senior Vice Commander J. K. Churchill. Forty New Jersey veterans were accompanied by J. R. Mulliken, commander, Past Department Commander H. H. Stevens and Past Department Commander Charles Burrows. One hundred ex-Union soldiers led >y Department Commander Samuel L. Miller represented the State of Maine. California showed up twenty-five strong, notwithstanding the distance they had to come. At their head, with other post commanders, marched W. R.Smodburg, whom the delegation is booming in such an enthusiastic manner for delegate. Following the little Rhode Island group was the New Hampshire division, twenty . J

.strong,headed by Department E. B. Huse. Vermont followed New, Hampshire, headed by Department Com-i mander W. L. Morgan, Adjutant General A. T. Woodward and Senior Vice Commander Doty. The department of the Potomac, under command of James M. Pipes, was five hundred strong, and ranks presented many faces familiar to the Nation. The strains of Virginia’s martial music was dying in the distance as Maryland, some three hundred strong, passed the stand. Nebraska G. A. R., five hundred strong, with Department Commander Teeter and Governor Thayer, passed the grand stand. Michigan, with its 15,0b® veterans, received the ovation of the day. The division was officered by Department Commander C. L. Eaton, Adjutant K. W. Noyes and Quartermaster-General Spicer. lowa came to the Wolverine State 300 strong. Department Commander C. L. Davidson, Adjutant-General Longley and Quartermaster-General Tamplin headed the column. Indiana’s 2,800 veterans moved in majestic columns past the reviewing stand. A 1 the head, and beside Department Commander I. N. Walker, marched Governor Alvin P. Hovey, and right loyally did the multitude greet Indiana’s chief executiveBut, though a Governor, he was a soldier still, and not even by a bow or glance did the hero of the battle of Champion Hills return the cheers of his admirers. Following in their order were the divisions of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Del* aware, Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon,West Virginia, South Dakota, Washington and Alaska, Arkansas, Montana, Texas, Idaho and Alabama. The naval veterans and the Sons of Veterans, five thousand strong, brought up the rear and closed the parade. , THE RACE PROBLEM. The “race problem” still looms up ominously in the G. A. R., and the question on every lip now is, can this dispute be settled by the encampment without a serious disruption in the southern divisions? The whites of the department of Louisiana and Mississippi still insist that the negro ex-soldier must not be admitted to membership with the whites, while the colored veterans vow they will reject the brotherhood of the G. A. R. rather than submit to conditions of ft Sf* ganization in each southern State for the colored members of the order. The col ored delegates from Louisiana will make a request to-morrow to present their side ol the case in an address to the encampment.

REFUSED TO UNITE.

Knights of Labor of Michigan Refuse to Fuse with the People's Party. The General State Assembly Knights o 1 Labor was in session at Lansing on the 4th. The one point of importance was action on the recent greeting sent by the geheral secretary and treasurer of the order at Philadelphia, by which the assembly was earnestly requested to take independent political action. There was to have been an effort made to induce the assembly to indorse the People’s party platform, but the forces were routed by the sudden appea*ance of John Devlin, of Detroit, member of the general executive committee of the order in the United States. It is doubtful if the effort would have been successful any way, as Master Workman Henry I. Allen, of Schoolcraft, was heartily adverse to such radical measures and had prepared to fight the move. In lieu of such action the assembly adopted a resolution indorsing the action of all industrial councils or conventions that have inaugurated work looking to a consolidation of all industrial people at the ballot-box, trusting that this great movement of industrial consolidation may culminate in the full emancij ation of the masses from industrial slavery. . Following this a greeting was extended to the Farmers’ Alliance, the Patrons of Husbandry and Industry, the Citizens’ Alliance and the National Citizens’ Industrial Alliance, promising support in all well-directed efforts for the advance of tbe cause of industrial reform. Theactof the Legislature in reducing the test of illuminating oils was heartily condemned as being in the interest of the monopolists. Master Workman Allen said the election of a general secretary and treasurer of the order was the first move toward a grand co-op-eration by all of the labor leaders throughout the country for strong and fuli efforts for an advance of industrial leform. He has great faith in tho efficacy of the move and its organization, lie says the time is not far distant when the people’s interests will triumph. He does not hope to place the industrial-movement presidential candidate in the white house until 1896. He reports Michigan as corning rapidly to the front within the past six months.

BOOKS WILL BE INVESTIGATED.

Controller Lacy Will Permit the State to Investigate Bardaley’s Books. Mr. Lacey, Controller of the Currency, has sent the following letter to Governor Pattison, of Pennsylvania: “I have the honor to inform you that tho Secretary of the Treasury has referred to mo for reply your communication. In accordance with the request therein contained I have this day authorized the receiver of the Keystone Bank to permit a committee of three or five citizens, to be designated by you.to examine the books, papers and accounts of said bank, with a view to ascertaining what deposits of public moneys in which the State of Pennsylvania had (St has any interest were made in said bank by John Bardsley, the late treasurer of the city and county of Philadelphia, and what became of the money thus deposited. In accordance with your suggestion the authorization is limited to an examination as to deposits of public funds passing through the hands of John Bardsley as treasurer of Philadelphia and agent of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and of such funds as the said Commonwealth may be direct' ly or indirectly interested in.” > Deputy United States Marshal ‘‘Jlm’« Yates, a notorious character, was killed by “Bob” Marshall in a brawl in a gam. blingden in McAloeter, Choctaw Nation, on the 3rd. Some forty shots were fired and great excitement prevailed. Marshal escaped.

LIVELY TURNS OF THOUGHT.

Los Angeles Is to Duild a sewer to thf ocean at a cost of 83,000,000. Eighty highway robbers were executed at Pekin on the 26th of April. The offers received at Johnstown to adopt orphans is far in excess of the supply. William Lincoln, who lives near Grafton, W. Va, has a cat that plays with rats bat is death to snakes. Cow’s hair is now used in making carpets. The process is described as a cherp one and-the product as ah improvement on the woolen article. The French Council of Hygiene has just forbidden the use of blue paper in the public schools, claiming that it was making France a near-sigHted nation. The people of Bonn have purchased tht house in which Beethoven was born, with the intention of converting itinto a museum of objects illustrating his life and works. Napoleon the Great’s favorite writing table, from Malmaison, has just been sold in Paris. It is rather an unwieldy piece of mahogany, with choice copper ornaments. At the top of the Eiffel Tower, for a fee, specially prepared note paper, dated from the summit of the tower, is provided, and the writer can have the letter posted on the spot. Bees settled in tho top of a house near Atlanta, Gx, eight years ago, and the other day, when the gable end was removed, the entire roof was found to he filled with honey. The “Monstuart” mansion of Lord Bate, near Rothesay, is said to have cost not less than $5,033,003, and is believed to be the largest and costliest private palace in existence. The scepter of an Egyptian king has been examined chemically by Professor Berthelot, and proves to be nearly pure copper, with only traces of lead. It is supposed to be about six thousand years old. A man in Coshocton has a safe that contains $123. It has been locked up three years, and he has forgotten the combination. Meanwhile he is awaiting the return if the agent of the safe company. Jerusalem seems to be a rapidly growing tity. This is due to the great number ol .Tews who are flocking there yearly. They now number 30,003 more than the moslem and Christian population combined. A Frenchman tried his flying machine in the suburbs of Paris the otlffer day. He flew off a barn, and it will be several nionths before his broken legs will allow him to canter around as blithely as before. The doctors of Cincinnati are divided in their opinions as to whether ice water is harmless or harmful, and meanwhile outsiders are doing as they please about it which is probably the best way to do. <a. Tulare Lake, in California, which was formerly twenty by thirty miles in extent, is now only fifteen by twenty. Although the water is strongly impregnated with borax and alkali, the lake is full of fish. The Royal Meteorological Society of England is making a collection of photographs of lightning flashes. On each pho tograph is noted the time of the flash ant the interval between it and the thunder. Strawberries as large as teacups grow wild in Africa, and when a boy wants tc knock a dog over he grabs for and hits him with a strawberry. But for this the boys and dogs of Africa couldn’t have any fun. A census of horses is being taken ir Paris in order tc give the authorities some idea of the animals available for military purposes should need arise. At the last census Paris contained 98,080 horses and 38 mules. It is expected that the grape crop in California this season will be the largest in the history of the state. The wine productioi is estimated at from 30,000;030 to 35,000,00( gallons. The raisin crop will be a very heav y one. A citizen in Virginia is seeking to have the sulphur springs of that state indicted as nuisances injurious to health. He has lived near one for three years, and he sayi that strawberries and dead hogs now smell alike to him. Farmer John Landis, of Franconia town ship, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, hanged himself to an applq tree a few days ago because his son would not heed the parents’ objection to the erection of an addition to the barn. There is a larger proportion of the boys ant girls of New Jersey than of any other state in the union who go to Sunday-school. Ii appears by statistics recently taken thal there are just about 283,030 children in the 1,997 Sunday-schools of New Jersey. Marion Stubler, who lives near Cincinnati, when he went to clean his teeth the other night, picked up a bottle filled with some kind ofacid, thinking it was a tooth wash and since then he has been going around town with a set of beautiful green teeth. News comes from Tounga, Burmah, that Koh Pal Sah, a timber merchant there, ha* founded a new religion, which is described as a sort of mixture of buddhism aud Christianity. The disciples, who number several thousand, keep the Christian Sunday and abstain from strong drink. A curious feature in ornithology is report ed from Eckmgton, Yorkshire, England, where a hen has hatched two chickens from one egg, both chichens being in a perfect state except that they are joined on one side of the membranes of the wing. Beyond this they walk about and feed in the usual manner. “Put a penny in and you will have a surprise,” says a legend on the latest form of automatic machine. When one has been unwise enough to comply with this Invitation, one receives a card on which is printed: “You trive me a penny and I give you nothing in return. You are surprised. Voila!” A cat in Falkirk, Scotland, ll bringing up a brood of chickens. But the prize cat is to be found in the hamlet or Trinity Gask, j Perthshire,Scotland. It is seriously relatec of her that, having been dopri ved of her kittens, she caught a mouse, which she adopted. and is now mothering with great ten derneas. A man at Allentown, Pa.', has two tree frogs which dwell contentedly in a glass jar containing water and a tiny ladder. When the weather is fair tho little fellows crawl up the ladder and gaze around, nut when c rain is coming they dive to the bottom O' tho jar. These movements aro made hdurs in advance or the change in the weather. It is reported at Reidsville, Gx, that lasi week a man in Tattnall county, while dipping turpentine, was struck about the corner of his mouth by a large rattlesnake. He seized the reptile and was struck oa tba - arm. He then tried to throw the snake from bin), and was again struck on the thigh. It is said he died before reaching a house.