Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 May 1896 — Page 2

THE FAMILY STORY

STORY OF A BACKWOODS WOOING.

UP sbe long and slanting liillslope a man's figure went slow ly, plodding onward after a «tually Wiu-k mare and turning up the ground between two tall rows of corn, iwbicb at times hid him completely irora Clip The shoulders under the I proclaimed him young and manly. Had the steadiness with whicn he went forward and his short stop at the top at the slope bespoke him a man of purI Thea came galloping through the pvhtte dust of the road below a lanky jfoqr on a roan horse, in whose veins (■an tile racing blood of generations. Clear and flutelike came the call, ‘ Mari; oh, Marion!” Marion, handsome Marion. came lei up to the rails. He did not'ey- ; eet any letters and was not excited. However, the boy knew his uftws was Worth attention and burst out impetjDaosly. “Yer won’t be so cool when ye foare* heerd it, either. Beck Baileys »uia is dead.” He had the gratification of seeing Marion gro w pale to his Upgr “What killed ’ipa?” “The doctors air callin’ it blood pl■en,” returned the boy. “Say, Marion, •hqy’re gittin' thar hot Jut. I seen Tom Mrnce hitchin' up and Cuniiel Will hez foeeu thar high an’ dry sence the turn Btffi Marion did not speak, but the (toy saw his lin» tremble. “Bin along. Pete, with the mail. Molka’ll all be waiting,” he said, and Peter, disappointed at nothing more Ifteftnite. dug his heeds into the colt and Hashed away. i) Then the man unhitched Dolly and, mounted on her bare back, rode down the lane into the sunlit woods, on, on, •Without path or guide post, deep into fche woods until he was sure he was far ■nough from human beings to be safe, '▲ad then, with a shout jubilant enough jto frighten the black mare, he threw ■ut his head and laughed, a sonorous Meal that astonished himself. ' He knew foe was happy and he had come awaj here to fight the impetuous demons of nesriy aroused passion and eagerness until he could subdue them enough to be decorous before the world. For he had loved Beck Bailey when she was ■ slip of a girl, and as a young woman,, ■nd when she had married another he had come away here In the, woods to Bght out his hatred and misery and rebellion. Nature, dear mother, had calmed him and he every became resigned. But Beck Bailey’s man was dead, ■nd she was free, and the heart of the ■Ban, went after her as a bird after the home nest. Beck! slim, sweet Book, .With her laughing, mocking moutlrnncl (wonderful, changful eyes! She should foe his— for what cared he for Tom Peace and even Colonel Will, the old, (bowing, smirking beau. He would go BoWn with the country side and see teeckat'lhe “berryin’,” but not before, •h^o!—he could wait awhile now. The “berryin’ ” was a great affair, the Baileys’ house had been thronged for days, and Beck kept up by~# eonUnual state of excitement. It was all grist to her mill, for she loved inethin' golf ’on,” and in this case was almost wild, besides, with a sense of itrwtom and relief. Her new black clothes made her look “mighty peart,” las the women said, and she was the adored and center idol of everyone, petlied and condoled with, cried over and ippealed to for advice and assistance jo planning the great funeral. Never had quiet Edward Bailey made each a stir in the world as now, when, quieter than ever, he lay in state in his fotoefc coffin, ene “with solid handles." The traditional ceremonies were all, gone through with, the weeping, wailing, the dolorous hymning of quavering voices, the sermon, long and full of eulogy, the farewell to the dead, at which Becky fainted dramatically Into her father's arms, and the slow walk to the graveyard near, a long procession of the country people following. It was all *>yer and as nightfall came on the crowd Misperaed, wondering what “Seek nrud do Jist at fust, an’ who’d git er." Por not one had missed Tom Pence at Hie “berryin’ ” with his pleasant, jo.vial face and smiling eyes, nor Marion Moore, silent and watchful, nor the “ole Cunnel m'ussfn’ aroun’.” They had ■II ben to “berryin’s” before and they all knew Becky Bailey. It was only four years since she set the country mad with her beaux and her fun and her daring escapades. And now she a* a widow, rich, handsomer than < -or. “An’ es the ole Nick hain’t let * ‘ose in these pairits, I’m a coon,” said her own uncle in the bosom of hia familyr - i In four weeks some one met Beck •nt riding with the “Cunnel.” The mwi went like wildfire. Aunt Dilsey .went over to see Beck. She found her In her white dress, lying in a bammock reading a novel. "Whatever air you doin’, Beck?” she mid. “What I please arid plum enjoyin' It,” sa»d Becky. “Yeh able to be lazy,” sighed Aunt Dilsey, “but I wouldn't go ridin’ jest Jit-” Beck’s handsome eyes smiled. “I .wild,” ahe said, “do Jist exactly what I pleased. I'm rich an’ I’m free, an’ Tub goin’ to enjoy life, an’ yer can mve yerselves a power by sbettin’ up.” “Then,” said Aunt Dilsey, “she curing up like a yeUßg eat an’ I cudn’t get ■Bother word out’n her.”

The next Sunday night there were tea saddle horses and buggies tied to Ike post* and the fence. Beck never enjoyed anything bo much In her life. Sbe treated everyone alike, gave them cake and home-made wine, laughed, Jaked and turned them all out at 10 afeloek, Inviting them to call again. ißut the next Sunday night there was Jna Beeky at home, and she electrified the small audience at the Methodist ,«kurrh at the cross-roads by appearing tamong them with a stripling cousin | During these days Marlon Moore

never,afkpeared at,, the Bailey house, nor formed one of the young men, aye, even the middle-aged and old men, who never-failed to crowd about the young widow whenever she rode into ,the county town on Sunday afternoon. Being the only man she .missed, Beck grew restive, and one October day, when Marion was clearing up a new bit of ground for the spring tobacco, ghe came riding down the lane tgward him, her black skirts flying, iier'cheeks blazing and hqr tendril-like curls all falling down from under her black cap. He saw her coming, away oft, and. he knew the errand on which she came, and he had to steel his heart against hqy to hold his vantage ground. Handsome, stalwart, brawny, he rested on his ax calmly, though the blood in his veins rAn as riotous a course as Is a brook’s after a storm. How Beck laughed as she drew up! “I haven’t been up here for years,” she said. “Come over to the cliff, Mar- - ion. I’ll walk Black Nell.” “I must work. Beck,” he said. “Life isn't play All around, ye know.” “Which means ye won’t,” she smiled. “But I know yer want to go, plum bad! Ye’re playin' a losin’ game, JiSrion, fur I know by yer eye that ye’re jest the same as ye were,” and she laughed tantalizingly. “Don’t think jor can fool me, Marion.” He threw his ax down with angry vehemence and stood looking at her. “I don’t know whether ye’re a witch or what.” he said;* hoarsely. “I am jest the same, Beck, an—yer want to lopk ©fitcan’t stand foolin’.” “I won’t marry ag’in. I’m goin’ to enjoy l'fe,” she mocked. “What’s the use of my marry in’? I’ve got money and land and years 'of good times, ahead o’ me. Wliat’d I git in exchange?” Marion never answered except by his persistent gaze. , *'Good-by,” she said presently; “ye’re In too bad a humor. Ye’re takin’ life too serious, Marion. There’s more’n gray skies above my bead. Give me

the* blue ones.” Then she galloped away to the bluffs and Marion's temple of nature, high in the woods above the river. He half fancied she would come back his way; but no. The afternoon wore away and no lithe, slim figure on a black mare appeared on his horizon, — So she knew, and, since she knew, she mocked him. Well, he had always loved the brier rose. How could he tame this untamable tigress, this guesser of men’s secrets and mocker of men’s loves? The intuitions of Marion Moore were better than his knowledge or his reason. He guessed that only a real, lasting affection would ever make her more faithful, more tender, more true than,any other woman—but how, how, indeed, was this to come'to her?" ~ The mad reports went flying hither and thither. Becky was here, there, everywhere. It was Colonel Will and Tom Pence and Arthur Smedley and Henry Carroll. The widow’s bonnet was now never worn* and b nvs of laveDdar and elaborate black and white toilets were sent for to Cincinnati, and cooking and feasting and fun went on in the Bailey house. Thanksgiving came and Beck was Ihe queen of the Pence family gathering that day. One morning Marlon Moore was near his favorite wood haunt, and stopped to look over the fair valley and the infinite hills spread out before him, like a beautiful winter picture. As he stood quiet there fell from the great tree beside him something rustling and dark and green, a lovely piece of the native mistletoe, with its waxen berries thick and plentiful. A smile came to Marion’s face. He had been sent a token, and one he would aceept. He would hesitate no longer. He took his bunch of mistletoe and walked away. He would become the wooer, for nature, whom he urisien, had sent him a token. He dressed himself with care and rode his fine chestnut horse up to the side gate in the lane, leading to the cluster of cabins that long ago have been the “quartet#,*” but now were turned to various uses. Becky, wrapped in a gay shawl he well remembered, was giving directions io some men at work inside the nearest building. It was just sunset. Perhaps nothing in the world had ever seemed so fair to Moore as this saucy and careless creature, who greeted him with a cool triumph which he had expected and ignored. He accepted her invitation to supper and walked by her side to see the promising colts in the barn lot. Then they went into the house, and Marion proceeded to make himself comfortable in a ,very matter of fact way. He looked critically about, much to Becky's astonishment. “Whatever air yer lookin’ about fur, Marlon?”

“Seein’ es this house is as comfortable as mine,” he made reply. “Well, It plum is, Marion,” , she replied, forced Into earnestness. "The outlook is better with yer all, but this house has more comforts.” "We could soon put some of ’em inter mine,” he replied musingly. "We?” "Yes. yer an’ L rt “Xer takin’ n deal fer granted, ’pears ter me. 1 don’t intend ter leave here.” “Oh, well, we could live here. It is nil one ter me, so It is where ye’re livin’.” „ “I’m bespoke yer askin’ by two, Marion. ’Pears like the men are all crazy.” “You’re good temptation, Beck, hut no one else shall have ye,” he said. Her eyea grew luminous, ' well, now, what would yer do es yer heard I was off on the marry with one o’ the other*?" “Don’t yer try It!” She was up In arms In a minute. “I’m not tellln’ you anything, but yer all air too heady with me, Marion. I

got an engagement to go to Cincinnati au’-ef I say the Word what's ter prevent me cornin' back mayied'” Marion was quite white, but was .equally determined. “Es yer go, of course I'll'know it's all up. I’ll he at the turn of the road at Any time set, That'll end it fer me. whichever way.. Lord! yer’re a hard orie! I won't stay to supper. I’ll never sit down ter supper here ’less "It’s as master. What time’ll yer go?” _ She set' her lips. “Noon!” was all she replied. He put on his coat and hat. ;‘I wish when-1 think o’ some things I'd -lever seen yer, little or big, girl or widder. I but when I go out in the woods and see the wild, sweet things Fundin' riot around I can’t help lovin’ yer. It is born in me.” Then he went out, having tossed to her the fresh branch of mistletoe, and thus left her the memory of a day', long ago, wheh they were little more than children and he had taken her out to gather some of the weird, waxenberried growth, and had kissed her, the first kiss of love and desire she had ever known, and the memory of which had never left her. The next day at noon Marion sat grim and silent on his horse at tue turn. He held his slight whip in his hand, but he grasped it like a wvtpon. He could not keep one thought from returning itself again and again. He could not let that man live who-would carry Becky Bailey away from him. When lie heard the sound of wheels lie got off from the restless horse ho rode, fastened ■ him, stood erect, and braced himself for the ordeal. Tito buggy came nearer. Be drew an awful breath as he recognized the horse. It was Colonel Will’s Flighty Dan, famed through the country. It was that old profligate, was it, who was to win the brier rose? An awful singing rhythm in his brain went saying: “Kill him, kill him, kill him!” What Marion would have done he uevm* knew, but. the buggy stopped an® Becky 1 , in all her dark furs and buttering feathers, camo running toward him, holding out her bauds and crying. “I don’t want ter go to Cincinnati, Marion, an’ we’ll live in whichever house yer like, for I’ve been figiitin’ my feelin’s for you all the time, an’ I won’t give up ter no other one. Xako me home, Marion, an’ I’m plum tired o’ bein’ wild. I want ter live quiofer’n anyone.” The colqnel drove Flighty Dan on .Into Cincinnati alone, and Becky west wfth Marion along the homeward road, she riding the chestnut and Marion Walking, and there was no wild bird that bad ever built nest in the woodlands near that was as contented as this wayward creature who had at last been conquered by her best feelings.— Household Words.

A Valuable Witness.

At a recent trial before a New York Judge, it wus 'tlioiight important by the counsel to determine the length of time certain “two quarters of beef, two hogs and one sheep” remained in an express wagpn in front of the plaintiff's store before they were taken away by the defendant. The witness was a German, whose knowledge of English was very limited, but he testified in a very plain, straightforward way to having carried it out and put it into the aforesaid wagon. Then the following dialogue ensued: “State to the jury how long ft was after you took the meat friom the store and pot it into the wagon before it was faTcena way;* , 'saidthc counsel; “Now, I cannot tell dot,” replied the witness. “I dinks ’bout dwelve feet. I not say near as dab” , . “You don’t understand me. How long was it from, the time the meat left the store, and was put in the wagon, before it was taken away by the defendant?” “Now, I know not vat you ask dat for. Der vagon he vas back up mit der siiWnifc- and tint’s shoost as it vas. You dell me how long der sidevaik vas. Den feet? Dwelve feet? Den I dells' how long it vas.” “I don’t want to find out how long the sidewalk was, but I want to know (speaking very slowly) hoW long this meat was in the wagon before it was taken away?” “Oh. dati Veil, now, I not sold any more meat so. I all time weigh him; never measure meat, not yet. But 1 dinks ’bout dree feet.” (Here the spectators and his honor and the jury smiled audibly). “I know not.shentlemans, how is dis; I dell you all I can as good ■■tmrl.isaam”--, “Look here, I want to know how long it was before the meat was taken away, after it was put into the wagon?” “Now you try to get me in a scrape,” the witness replied, looking very knowingly at the counsel. “Dat meat vas shoost so long in der vagon as he vas in der shop. Dot’s all I told you. Dat meat vas dead meat. He don’t get mooch longer in den dousand year, not mooch.” . “That will do.”

A Dog in Pawn.

Even dogs are pawned in New York!, write* a correspondent. In a place on Twenty-eighth street a lonely pug, separated from his fellows, gazed wistfully at customers yesterday. “How much for that one ?’ asked a sti-finger as he pointed toward the pug. “Can't sell him until Monday night,” replied the bird and dog denier. The man wanted to know why, and he was informed that the pug was in pawn, and ts he wasn’t redeemed prior to the time mentioned lie would be sold. “That pug’s been hocked three times and has always been redeemed. How much do I loan on him? A dollar’s the limit, sir, as pugs are nO longer popular, you know.” When a woman puts her pet dog in pawn it is quite safe ts conclude that the wolf has entered her apartment.

Two Sayings from Cork.

A Cork, town councillor la credited with having thus spoken C “There" can pe no doubt of the virulence of this epidemic, for I know of people lying dead from it who never died before.” The same gentleman thus chivalrously defended a colleague: “I strongly.protest against this attack on my absent friend, for surely it is not right to hang a man behind his back.” You have all read of the “girl whose thin nostrils dilated,” but -did you ever see a girl’s nostrils dilate? There la no hfgher pral& for a friend than to say that be Is faithful.

WORDS TO CONGRESS.

REV. DR. TALMAGE ON “BEFORE TItS¥~ADJOURN.” Tfil. '■ -He—Wants .Some Things Done and • Sdme More Undone —A Grand and Hopeful Sermon of Interest to National Lcgislntqrs. <f Our Washington Pulpit, Never was a timelier or more appropriate sermon than that preached by llev. Dr.* Talmagelast Sunday morning. The subjeef was 'They Adjourn.” having referenceto the early dissolution of Conrgress, and the test selected was Psalms' cv., 22, “And teach his senators wisdom.” Senators in this text stand for lawmak-, ers. Joseph was the lord treasurer of the Egypttan-Government, and, among other great things which he did, according to my text, was to teach his senators wisdom, and if any men on earth ought to be endowed with wisdom it is senators, Whether they stand in congresses, parliaments or reichstags or assemblies or legislatures. By their decisions nations go up or down. Lawmakers are sometimes so tempted by prejudices, by sectional preferences, Ly opportunity of personal advancement. and sometimes what is best to do is so doubtful that they ought to be prayed for and encouraged in every possible way, instead of severely criticised" and blamed and excoriated, as is much qf the time the case. Our public men arc so often the target to be shot at, merely because they ol; ta i n emlneiice which bther men wanted, but could not reach, that more injustices arc hurled at our national legislature than the people of the United States can possibly imagine. The wholesale belying of our public men is simply damnable. By residence in VYashington I have come to find out that many of our public men are persistently, misrepresented, and sonic of the best, of them, the purest in their lives and most faithful in the discharge of their duties, are the worst defamed. Some day I want to preach a ser r mon from the text il) Idv i’eter: “They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusations against them* before the Lord. But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not.” So constant and malignant is this Work of_ depreciation and scandulization in re-gard-to ottr public men that all over-the. land there are those who suppose that the city of Washington is the center of all corruption,? while, what with its parks, and its equestrian statuary, and its wide streets, and its architectural symmetries, and its lovely homes, it is not only the most beautiful' city under the sun, but has the Style at citizenship. I have seen hut one ThtoxLealed miiii m the more than six months of my residence, and 1 do not think any man can give similar testimony of aiiy other eify~ - dn -- ttie" American continent. —r-- — God in the Constitution.

The gavels of our two houses of national legislature will soon fall, and adjourn* ment of two bodies of men as talented, as upright, and as patriotic as ever graced the capitol will take place. The two or three unfortunate outbreaks which you have noticed onlytrrnkom-ere conspicuous* the dignity, the fraternity, the eloquence, the fidelity, which have characterized those two bodies during all the long months of important *aud anxious deliberation. We put a halo ground great men of the past because they were so rare 'in their time. Our senate and house of representatives have five such men where once they had one. But it will not he until after they are dead that they will get appreciated. The world finds it safer to praise the dead-than the living, because the departed, having a heavy pile of marble above them, xnay not rise to become- ' rivals. ’ ; ; : But before the gavels of adjournment drop, and the doors of Capitol hill shut .thffie-ttte'one of two things that ought to- 4 be done, and let us pray God that they’ may be accomplished. More forcibly than ever before congress has been implored to acknowledge God in our constitution. The Methodist Church, a church that is always doing glorious things, has in its recent Wilmington conference requested our congress to amend the immortal document, which has been the foundation and wall and dome of our United .States Gov■nmnient-.' hv innentimr the words “Trust-* ing in Almighty God.” If that amencT' ment is made, it will not only please all the good people of the "country, but will -please the heavens. It was only an oversight or a mental accident that the farthers who made the constitution did not insert a divinely worshipfuL sentence. They all, so far as they amounted to anything, believed in “God, the Father Almighty, the .Maker of beuven and earth, and. in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son.” The constitution would have been a failure had it not been for the divine interference. The members of the convention could agree on nothing until, in response to Benjamin Franklin’s request that the •moettofiSafee- •dpoaed by prayer, the Lqs , God was called on to interfere and help, and then the way was cleared, and all the States signed the document, a historical fact that all the rat terriers of modern infidelity cannot bark out of existence. I know that there was an exception to the fact that the prominent men of those times were good men. Tom Paine, a libertine and a sot, did not believe in anything good until he was dying, and Iheu he shrieked out for God’s mercy. And Ethan Allen, from one of whose descendants I have received within a few days a confirmation of the incident I men* tioued in a recent sermon, as saying to his dying daughter that she had better take her mother's Christian religion than his own infidelity. The article sent me says: “The story has been denieu by some of the Allen family, blit the Bronson family, some of whom were with the dying girl, affirm that it is substantially true. In such a matter one confirmation is worth more than many denials.” So says the article sent me. There is no doubt that Ethgn Allen was the vulgarest of an infidel, for, sitting in n Presbyterian church, his admirers say he struck the pew in front of him and swore out loud so as to disturb the meeting, and no gentleman would do that. Ido noL wonder that some of his descAidauts are ashamed of hTm, but Ts#| course they i;ouhi not help it and are not to blame. But all the decent men of the Revolution believed in God, and our American congress, now assembled, will only echo the sentiments of the fathers when they enthrone the name of God in the constitution. As a matter of gratitude to Almighty God, geutreinpn of the American eon-

gress, be pleased tet insert the four words" suggested by the Methodist conference! Not only because of the kindness of God to this nation in the past should such a reverential insertion be made, but because of the fact that we ire going to want divine intarposition still further in our national history. This gold and silver question will never be settled until God settles :1t This question of tariff and free trade will never be settled until God settles it This question between the East and the West, which Is getting hotter and hotter and looks toward a republic of the Pacific, will not be settled until God Betties It We needed God in tke 120 years

of our past national Tlfe, and we wQI need him still more in the next 120 years. Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates of Our glorioup constitution, and let the King Glory come in! Make o»e line of that immortal document radiant with omnipotence! Spell at, least, one 'word with thrones! At the beginning, or at the close, or in the center, recognize him from whom as a nation we have- -received all the blessings of the, past, and; upon whom we are dependent for the future. Print that word “God”', or “Lord" or “Eternal Father” or “Ruler of Nations” somewhere between the first word and the last. The great expounder of the constitution sleeps at Marshfield, Mass., the Atlantic ocean still humming near his pillow of dust its prolonged lullaby. But is there not some one now living Who, in the white marble palace of the nation on yonder hill not ten ißinutes away. will: become the irradiator of the constitution by causing to be added • the most tremdndous word of our vocabulary, the name of that being before whom all nations must bow or go into defeat and annihilation—“ God?” Solemn Scenes. Again, before the approaching adjournment of our_Amerfcan congress, it ought toEe decidedly and forever settled that no appropriations be made to sectarian schools, and that the courtship between church and state in this country be forever broken up. That question already seems temporarily settled. 1 wish —it might te completely and forever settled. All schools and all institutions as well as all denominations should stand on the same level before American law. Emperor Alexander of Russia, at hi* Peterhof palace, asked me how many denominations of religion there were in America,_ and _l_ recited their names as well as I could. Then he-asked mo the difference betwePn them, and there I broke down. But when I told him that no religious denomination in America had any privileges above the others he could hardly understand it. The Greek church first in Russia; the Lutheran church first in Germany: the Episcopal church first in England; the Catholic church first in Rome; Mohammedanism first in Constantinople. The emperor wondered how r it was possible that all the denominations in America

could, stand on the same fiiatform. But so Vt is, rend so let it ever be. Let there he no preference, no partiality, no attempt to help ouo sect an inch higher than another. 'Washington and Jefferson, and all the early presidents, and all the great statesmen of the past, have lifted their voice against any such tendency. If a school or an institution cannot stand without tne prop of national appropriation, then let that school or that institution go down; Gn-the other side of the sea the world has had plenty of illustration of church and state united. Let us have none of the hypocrisy and demoralization born of that relation on this side of the Atlantic. Let that denomination come out ahead that 'does the most for the cause of God and humanity, men, institutions and religions getting'What thoyaelneve~l>y their oivnfiglit arm of Usefulness and not by the favoritism of government. -As you regard the welfare ' and~perpetuilx_of our institutions keep politics out of religion. But now that I am speaking of national affairs from a religious standpoint, I bethink myself of the fact that two other gavels will soon lift and fail, the one at St. Louis and the other at Chicago, and before those national conventions adjourn I ask that they acknowledge God in the platforms. The men Who construct those platform.; are here this morning or will read those words. Let no political party think it can do its duty unless it acknowledges , that, God u built fhis continent .and revealed it, at the right time to the discoverer and who has reared here a, prosperity which has been given to no other people. “Oh,” says some one, “there sire people in this country who do not believe in God. and it would be an insult to them.” Well, there are people in this country who do not believe in common decency, or common honesty, or any kind of government, preferring anarchy. Your very- platform is an insult to them. You ought not to regard a man who docs uot believe in God any more than you should regard a man I who refuses to believe.in common decency. Your poeketbook is not safe a moment in the presence of an atheist. God is the only source of good government. Why not, then, say so and let the chairman of the committee on resolutions in your national conventions take a penful of ink and with bold hand head the document with one significant “whereas,” acI knowledging the goodness of God in the past and begging his kindness and protecl- - Why, my friends,

this country beiongs~T?rGo<b-afld we-ought in every possible way to acknowledge it. Prom the moment that, on an October morning, 1492, Columbus looked over the side of the" ship and saw the carved staff which made him think he was near an inhabited country and saw also a thorn and a cluster of berries (type of our history" ever since, the piercing sorrows and cluster of national joys) until this- hour our country has been bounded on the north, south, east and west by the goodness of God. The Huguehots took possession of the Carolinas in the name of God. William Penn settled Philadelphia .in the ,jname of God. The Hollanders took, possession of New The pilgrim fathers settled New England in the name of Goft Preceding the first gun of Bunker Hill, at the voice-of prayer all heads uncovered. Prayer at Valley Forge. Prayer at Monmouth. Prayer at Atlanta. Prayer at South Mountain. Prayer at Gettysburg. “Oh,” says some infidel, “the northern people prayed on oue side and the southern people prayed onlhe other side, and so it did not amount -to anything.” And I have beard good Christian people Confounded with the infidel statement, when it is as plain to me as my right hand. Yes, the northern people prayed in one way and the southern people prayed in another way, and God answered in bis own way, giving to the north the re-establishment of the government and giving to the south larger opportunities, larger than she had ever anticipated, the harnessing of her rivers in great manufacturing interests, until the Mobile and ghe Tallapoosa and the Chattahoochee are southern Merrimncs, and the untolling of great southern mines of coal and iron,- of which the world knew nothing, and opening before her opportunities of wealth which will give 99 per cent -fl)oy,e of affluence than she ever possessed) and instead of the black hands of American slaves there are the more industrious black, bunds of the coal and iron Ynhres-ot-thfl south, which are achieving for her fabulous and unimngined wealth. And there nre domes of white blossoms where spread the white Vnts* And there are plows in the track where the war wagons went, And there are songs where they lifted up Rachel’s lament. God’s Country. Oh, you are'a stupid-than if you do not understand how God answered Abraham Lincoln’s prayer in the White House, and Stonewall Jackson’s prayer in the saddle, and answered all the prayers of all the cathedrals on both sides of Mason and Dixon’s line. God’s country all the wuy past; God’s country now. Put his name in your prouuuciamentos; put his name on your ensigns; put his name on your city and State and national enterprises; put his name in your hearts. We cannot sleep well the last sleep until we are assured that the God of our American institutions in the past will be the God of oar American institutions in the days that

are to Come-. Oh. when all the rivets that empty into Atlantic and Pacific seas shall pull on factory bands; when all the great -mines_pf gold and silver and iron and coal shall be laid bare for the nation; when the last swamp shall be reclaimed, and the last’jungle cleared, and the last American desert Edenized, and from sea to sea the, continent shall be occupied by th-in 1 0(10,000.000 souls, may it be found that moral and religious influences were multiplied in more rapid ratio than population. And tiien there shall be four doxologies coming from north and south and east and' west, four doxologies rolling toward each other and meeting midcontinent with such dash of holy joy that they shall mount to the throne. And heaven’s high arch resound again Witjt peace on earth, good will to mep. I take a step farther and say that before the gavels of our senate and house of representatives and our political conventions pound adjournment there ought to be passed a law or adopted a plank of intelligent helpfulness for the great foreign populations which are coming among us. It is too-iate now to discuss whether we had better let them come. *" They are here. ; They are coming, this moment through the’ Narrows; They are this moment taking the first full inhalation of the free air of America. And they will continue to come as long as this country is the best place to liyo in.' Now, I say’, let the Government of the United States so commanded by’one political party or both political parties, give to every’ immigrant who lands here a volume, in rood-type and well bound for long usage—a volume containing the Declaration of Independence, the constitution of the United States and a chapter on. the spirit of our government. Let there be such a book on the shelf of every free library in America. While the American Bible Society puts into the right hand of every immigrant a copy of the Holy Scriptures, leb the Government of the United States, commanded by some political party, put into the left hand of every immigrant a volume instructing him in the duties of good citizenship. There are thousands of foreigners in this land who need to learn that the ballot box is not a footstool, but a throne —not something to put your foot on, bpt something to bow before. Word* of Hope. 'But whether members of the national legislature or delegates to one of the national conventions or private citizens, let us eultiv.ate - Christian patriotism. Oh, how “good God has beeii to us as a nation! Just open the-map of the continent and see how it is-shaped for immeasurable prosperities. Navagable rivers, more in number and greater than of any other land, rolling down all sides into the sea, prophesying large manufactories and easy commerce. Look at the great ranges of mountains, timbered with wealth: on the top and, sides and metaled with wealth underneath. One hundred and eighty thousand square miles of coalj One hundred ainLaiglitv thnnsnnd square miles at iron!- Tne irun to pry oat the coal. The coal to forge and smelt the iron. The land so contoured that extreme weather hardly ever lasts more than three dnvs—extreme heat or iextreme cold. Climate for iliemost part bracing and favorable for bratyn and brain. All fruits. All minerals. All harvests. Scenery displaying autumnal pageantry that no land on earth pretends to rival.' No South American earthquakes. No Scotch mists. No English fogs. No Egyptian plagues. The people of the United States are happier tliau any people on earth. It is the testimony of ■ every man that has traveled abroad. For the poor more sympathy! For trfe industrious more opportunity! Oh, how good God was to our fathers, and how good God has been to us and our children! To him —blessed be hit glorious name! To him of cross and triumph be consecrated the United States o£ America! There are three great reasons why you and I should do our best for this country —three great reasons; Our fathers’ graves, our cradle, our children’s birthrig'ht. When I,say your fathe*s v graves, your pulses run quickly. Whether they «dpop In .cltir cemetery or-conhtrr~g&Ttf-~ yard, their dust is very precious to you. I think they lived well and that they died right. Never submit to have any government over their tombs other than that government under which they lived anddied. And then this country is our cradle. It may have rocked us very roughly, but it was a good cradle to be rocked in. Oh, how much we owe to it! Our boyhood and girlhood;, it was spent in this blessed country,. Lnever have nnv patience with, a man who talks against this country. Glorious jilace to be born in, and a glori- ' ous place to live in. It has been, our cradle. Aye. It is to. be our children’* birthright. You and I will soon be through. We will perhaps see a few more spring blossoms, and we will perhaps see a few more summer harvests, and we will perhaps gather a few more autumnal fruits, but we are to hand this Government to our children as it-was handed to us —a free land, a happy land, a Christian land. They are not 10. be trampled by despotism. They are not to be lacerated by cruelties. They are not to be frightened by anarchies. We must hand this Government to. them over the ballot box, .axer,tbe schppi.desk, over the church altar, as we have received it, and chargethem solemnly to put their life between it arid any keen stroke that would destroy it. And thou, Lori God Almighty, we put, with a thousand armed prayer, Into thy protection this nation. Remember our fathers’ bleeding feet.at Valley Forge; remember Marion and Kosciusko; remember the cold, and th* hunger, and the long match, and the fever hospital; remember the fearful char'geat Blinker Hill; remember Lexington and Yorktowu and King's Mountain and Gettysburg; remember Perry’s battle on the lake, and Hampton Roads, wnere the Cumberland went

down; remember Washington’s prayer by the campfire; remember Plymouth Rock, and the landing amid the savages; reineim her Independence hall, and how much it cost our fathers to sign their names; remember all the blood and tears- of three wars—l77C, 1812, 18112—and, more than all, remember the groan that was mightier than all other groan 3, and the thirst that stung worse than all other thirsts, and the death that was ghastlier than all other deaths, the mount on whidk Jesus ’died to make all men happy and free. For the sake of all this human and' divine secrifice, O God, protect this nation I And whosoever would blot it out,, and whosoever would strike it down, and whosoever would furn his back, let him be accursed! Go home to-day in high hopes of the future. The Eternal God is on the side of this nation. Our brightest days are yet to come. He hath sounded forth the trumpet that will never call retreat^ He is sifting out the hearts of men before the judgment seat. ' Be swift, my soul, to answer him, be jubi- ” lni't f‘‘ ntT • '■ r, ~ Our God is marching on. Much of life Is only fragments-un-finished things, broken sentences, Interrupted efforts, pictures left uncompleted, sculptures only half hewn, letters only party written, songs only begun and choked In tears. But not one of these fragments is lost If It has love’s blessed life In It.—J. R. Miller. When you find a father who worship* his ancestors you don’t have to look far for a son who doesn't—Judge.

A Symphony Song.

The Return Home. I thought it Would be sweet to walk again The quaint old streets; to see- each well- , known scene, To lire again my childhood. Years of pain And tail had wrought great longing to erase , E’en memory of late days; my weary .brain ' And world-worn heart turned backward to retrace Life’s early morn—forgetting all between! Alas! how changed I find the dear old - ———-place! ■ ; / ’ " So many gone of friends that once I knew! Strange faces greet me as I pass along, Those whom I left so gladly ere the dew Was brushed from’ budding hopes of roseate bloofp Lie low where droop the cypress and the yew. And they, my kindred, spared as yet the tomb Are not . the same;, ties erstwhile close Are severed, and my spirit tastes 7o£~ gloom: ■ —_ * m - - < A. This is my coming home? Alas!: alas! Home is not home bereft of love andfriends, Its walls frown strangely on me os I pass. Old landmarks perished’are; the very air Lacks a familiar savor; ’neath the gras* Ig yon churchyard lies all'my heart now dare Enfold in thoughts of home. Thus fall •—life’s ends! ——— Thus perish dreams of -joy-! Thus dawns* despair! 1 - —Philadelphia Public Ledger. A Fantasy. While twilight vision groweth gray And beam of joy hath set — * While waitest thou at wane of day, In sleep thy pain forget. Forget—till eh met., through thine hearty. O sweet, a fairy bell Within whose echoes they who part In death and distance dwell. Again together, while the night Descendeth from above, And bringeth starry smile —O light, That. Uveth in thy love. Then need’st thou not mid gentle stir Of shadows flitting fast To search thy memory for her Who smileth through the past; Thy dreams her noiseless footsteps seek— Thy neck her arms entwine — With love’s dear messages, her cheek She presseth unto thine. Thou startest from thy dream in doubt. And from thy pillow’s dent Qf tear-rained darkness gazest out On face of night intent. n.v ; v Oh, then let courage dimless shine Upon thy sorrow’s fret. And in some eve of waning time At length thy pain forget. —Arthur Richmond, in Boston Courier. The Weeping Winds. Be still, ye winds that weep and sigh —- And flee o’er woodlands bleak and cold, As lovely lon, fled qf old. Haunted by.Jpve’s enamored eye! What power is it that, day and night. Pursues your mad, meandering fright? 4 Ye flee as portions of that force Revealed in sky arid land and sea, That pantheistic deity Which moves all things in ceaselMacourse; And, as from out its secret home, Your mystic voices, soul-like, gome, Oh, sprites divine! ye have the Icen To pierce the future, dark and deep; Wherefore by day and night ye weep. The woes that yet shall fall to men. Oh 1 tell me, tell me, what ye see, What’er it seem, what’er it be! Ye will not speak, but evermore Lament and sigh and madly flee! Weep on, weep on! Ah! woe is met I, too, would weep, and outward pour The soul of grief that in my breast Impels me on to mad unrest! —New York Home Journal.

Heidelberg:* jewel, Thou town to honor dear. On all the Rhine and Neekar None other is thy peer. Thy jovial sons are mellow With wisdom and with wine; Thy river laughs in ripples Where blue eyes jinnee and skinei W r hen genial spring comes northwardl To clothe the earth with green, She weaves for thee of blossoms A oridal robe of sheen. ~ Bride of my. heart! I cherish, For thee a constant flame; Still rings like love’s young echo The sounu of thy dear name. If thorns too sharply try me, If life’s fresh hue shall pale, I’ll Bpur my steed and hie me Back to- my Neekar vale. —Henry W. Brown, in Boston Transcript The Soul and Borrow. Ah, say me not, O sorrow! in April days. For when the skies are warm I fain When mounts the bluebirds’ song I too, would praise And lift my heart with every living thing. The weight thou bring’ st—yea, turn thy face away _ And journey from me yet a little while. But leave roe bright-faced joy in April's day . To wander with me through the forest aisle. One day, O sorrow! will I go with thee And learn the strength that thou alone must give. Yea, one day thou shalt come and call for me - • V Aod 1 will walk thy way and learn to live. But not In April days—when I would sing. When south winds roam the ever greening earth And joy tumultuous In my heart doth spring O’er every wild wood bloom that springe t to birth. . —Boston Transcript