Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1897 — Page 3

PRACTICAL WISDOM.

OR. TALMAGE CALLS FOR MORE OF IT IN DOING GOOD. Wants More Common Sense in Matters of Religion—Absurdities of Church Architecture and Management—The Great Need of the World. Onr Washington Pulpit. Dr. Talmage in this discourse advocates more practical wisdom in efforts at doing good and assails some of the absudities in church architecture and' management. The text is Luke xvi., 8, “The Children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” That is another way of saying that Christians are not so skillful in the manipulation of spiritual affairs as worldlings are skillful in the management of temporalities. I see all around me people who are alert, earnest, concentrated and skillful in monetary matters, who in the affairs of the soul are laggards, inane, inert. The great want of the world is more common sense in matters of religion. If one-half of the skill and forcefulness employed in financial affairs was employed in disseminating the truths of Christ and trying to make the world better, within ten years the last Juggernaut would fall, the last throne of oppression upset, the last iniquity tumble, and the anthem that was chanted over Bethlehem on Christmas night would be echoed and re-echoed from all nations and kindred and people, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will to men.” Some years ago, on a train going toward the southwest, as the porter of the sleeping car was making up the berths at the evening tide, I saw a man kneel down to pray. Worldly people looked on as much as to say, “What does this mean?” I suppose the most of the people in the car thought that the man was either insane or that he was a fanatic, but he disturbed no one when he knelt, and he disturbed no one when he arose. In after conversation with him I found out that he was a member of a church in a Northern city, that he was a seafaring man and that he Avas on his way to NeAV Orleans to take command of a vessel. I thought then, as I think now, that ten such men —men with such courage for God as that man had —ten such men would bring the whole city to Christ; 1,000 such men would bring this whole land to God; 10,000 such men, in a short time, would bring the whole earth into the kingdom of Jesus. That he was successful in worldly affairs I found out. That he was skillful in spiritual affairs you are well persuaded. If men had the courage, the pluck, the alertness, the acumen, the industry, the common sense in matters of the soul that they have in matters of the AA'orld, this would be a very different kind of earth in Avhich to live.

Common Sense Lacking in Churches. In the first place, my friends, we want more common sense in the building and conduct of churches. The idea of adaptiveness is always paramount in any other kind of structure. If meet together, nnd they resolve upon putting up a bank, the bank is especially adapted to banking purposes; if a manufacturing company puts up a building, it is to be adapted to manufacturing purposes, but adaptiveness is not always the question in the rearing of churches. In many of our churches we want more light, more room, more ventilation, more comfort. Vast sums of money are expended on ecclesiastical structures, and men sit down in them, and you ask a man how he likes the church. He says, “I like it very well, but I can’t hear.” As though a shawl factory ■were good for everything but making shawls! The voice of the preacher dashes against the pillars. Men sit down under the shadows of the Gothic arches and ehiver and feel they must be getting religion or something else, they feel so uncomfortable. Oh, my friends, we want more common sense in the rearing of churches. There is no excuse for lack of light when the heavens are full of it, no excuse for lack of fresh air when the world swims in it. It ought to be an expression not only of our spiritual happiness, but of our physical comfort when we say: “How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord God of hosts! A day in thy courts is better than a thousand.”

Again, I remark we want more common sense in the obtaining of religious hope. All men understand that in order to succeed in worldly directions they must concentrate. They think on that one object, .on that one subject, until their mind takes fire with the velocity of their own thoughts. All their acumen, all their strategy, all their wisdom, all their common sense, they put in that one direction, and they succeed. But how seldom it is true in the matter of seeking after God. While no man expects to accomplish anything for this world without concentration and enthusiasm, how many there are expecting after awhile to get into the kingdom of God without the use of any such means! f. Wisdom in Soul Saving. A miller in California many years ago picked up a sparkle of gold from the bed of a stream which turned his mill. He held up that sparkle of gold until it bewitched nations. Tens of thousands of people left their homes. They took their blankets, and their pickaxes, and their pistols and went to the wilds of California. Cities sprang up suddenly on the Pacific coast. Merchants put aside their elegant apparel and put on the miner’s garb. All the land was full of the talk about gold. Gold in the eyes, gold in the ears, gold in the wake of ships, gold in the streets—gold, gold, gold! Word comes to us that the mountain of God's love is full of gold; that men have been digging there and have brought up gold, and amethyst, and earbuncle, and jasper, and sardonyx, and chrysoprasus, and all the precious stones out of which the walls of heaven were builded. Word comes of a man who, digging in that mine for one hour, has brought up treasures worth more than all the stars that keep vigil over our sick and dying world. Is it a bogus company that is formed? Is it undeveloped territory? Oh, no; the story is true. There are hundreds and thousands at people who would be willing to rise and testify that they have discovered that gold and have it in their possession. Notwithstanding ail this, what is the circumstance? One would suppose that the announcement would send people in great excitement up and down our streets, that at midnight men would knock at your door asking how they may get those treasures. Instead of that m%ny •f us put our hands behind our back and

walk up and down in front of the mine of eternal riches and say, “Well, if I am to be saved, I will be saved, and if I nm to be lost I will be lost, and there is nothing to do about it.” Why, my brother, do you not do that way in business matters? Why do you not to-morrow go to your store and sit down and fold your arms and say: “If these goods are to be sold, they will be sold, and if they are not to be sold, they will not be sold. There is nothing for me to do about it.” No, you dispatch your agents, you print your advertisements, you adorn your show' windows, you push those goods, you use the instrumentality. Oh, that men were as wise in the matter of the soul as they are wise in the matter of dollars and cents! God’s Sovereignty. This doctrine of God’s sovereignty, how it is misquoted and spoken of as though it were an iron chain which bound us hand and foot for time and for eternity, when, so far from that, in every fiber of your body, in every faculty of your mind, in every passion of your soul, you are a free man—a free man—and it will- no more to-morrow be a matter of choice whether you shall go to business through Pennsylvania avenue or some other street, it will be no more a matter of choice with you to-morrow whether you shall go to Philadelphia or New York or stay at home, than it is this hour a matter of free choice Avhether you will accept Christ or reject him. In all the army of banners there is not one conscript. Men are not to be dragooned into heaA’en. Among all the tens of thousands of the Lord’s soldiery there is not one man but will tell you, “I chose Christ; I Avanted him; I desired to be in his service; I am not a conscript—l am a volunteer.” Oh, that men had the same common sense in the matters of religion that they have in the matters of the world —the same concentration, the same push, the same enthusiasm! In the one case, a secular enthusiasm; in the other, a consecrated enthusiasm. Again, I remark we want more common sense in the building up and enlarging of our Christian character. There are men who have for forty years been running the Christian race, and they have not run a quarter of a mile. No business man Would be Avilling to have his investments unaccumulative. If you invest a dollar, you expect that dollar to come home bringing another dollar on its back. What Avould you think of a man who should invest SIO,OOO in a monetary institution, then go off for five years, make no inquiry in regard to the investment, then come back, step up to the cashier of the institution and say, “Have you kept that SIO,OOO safely that I lodged Avith you?” but asking no question about interest or about dividend? Why, you say, “That is not common sense.” Neither is it, but that is the Avay we act in matters of the soul. We make a far more important investment than SIO,OOO. We invest our soul. Is it accumulative? Are we growing in grace? Are we getting better? Are Ave getting Avorse? God declares many dividends, but we do not collect them. We do not ask about them. We do not Avant them. Oh, that in this matter of accumulation we were as wise in the matters of the soul as we are in the matters of the world! Eternity in the Bible.

How little common sense in the reading of the Scriptures! We get any other book and we open it, and we say: “Now what does this book mean to teach me? It is a book on astronomy. It will teach me astronomy. It is a book on political economy. It will teach me political economy.” Taking up this Bible, do we ask ourselves what it means to teach? It means to do just one thing. Get the world" converted and get us all to heaven. That is what it proposes to do. But instead of that we go into the Bible as botanists to pick flowers, or we go as pugilists to get something to fight other Christians with, or we go as logicians trying to sharpen our mental faculties for a better argument, and we do not like this about the Bible, and we do not like that, and we do not like the other thing. What would you think of a man lost on the mountains? Night has come down. He cannot find his way home, and he sees a light in a mountain cabin. He goes to it; he knocks at the door. The mountaineer comes out nnd finds the traveler and says: “Well, here I have a lantern. You can take it, and it will guide you on the way home.” And suppose that traveler should say: “I don’t like that lantern. I <jon’t like the handle of it. There are ten or fifteen things about it I don’t like. If you can’t give me a better lantern than that, I won’t have any?” Now, God says this Bible is to be a lamp to and a lantern to our path, to guide us through the midnight of this world to the gates of the celestial city. We stop and say we do not like this about it, and we do not like that, arid we do not like the other thing. Oh, how much wiser we would be if by its holy light we found our way to our everlasting home! Then, we do not read the Bible as we read other books. We read it perhaps four or five minutes just before we retire at night. We are weary and sleepy, so somnolent we hardly know which end of the book is up. We drop our eye perhaps on the story of Samson and the foxes or upon some genealogical table, important in its place, but stirring no more religious emotion than the announcement that somebody begat somebody else and he begat somebody else, instead of opening the book and saying, “Now I must read for my immortal life; my eternity is involved in this book.”

Gifts from Heaven. How little we use common'sense in prayer! We say, “O Lord, give me this,” and “O Lord, give me that,” and "O Lord, give me something else,” and we do not expect to get it, or, getting it, we do not know we have it. We have no anxiety about it. We do not watch and wait for its coming. As a merchant, you telegraph or you write to some other city for a bill of goods. You say, “Send me by such express or by such a steamer or by such a rail train.” The day arrives. You send your wagon to the depot or to the wharf. The goods do not come. You immediately telegraph: “What is the matter with those goods? We haven’t received them. Send them right away. We want them now or we don’t want them at all.” And you keep writing and you keep telegraphing and keep sending your wagon to the depot or to the express office or to the wharf until you get the goods. In matters of religion we are not so wise as that. We ask certain things to be sent from heaven. We do not know whether they come or not. We have not any special anxiety as to whether they come or not. We may get them and may not get them. Instead of at 7 o’clock in the morning saying, “Have I got that blessing?” at 12 o’clock, noon-

day, asking, “Have I got that blessing?’* at 7 o’clock in the evening saying, ‘‘Have I received that blessing?” and not getting it, pleading, pleading—begging, begging—asking, asking until you get it. Now, my brethren, is not that common sense? If we ask a thing from God, who has sworn by his eternal throne that he will do that which we ask, is it not common sense that we should watch and wait until we get it? But I remark, again, we want more common sense in doing good. Oh, how many people there are Avho want to do good and they are dead failures! Why is it? They do not exercise the same tact, the same ingenuity, the same strategem, the same common sense in the work of Christ that they do in worldly things. Otherwise they would succeed in this direction as well as they succeed in the other. There are many men Avho have an arrogant way with them, although they may not feel arrogant in their soul. Or they have a patronizing way. They talk to a man of the world in a manner which seems to say: “Don’t you wish you were as good as I am? Why, I have to look clear doAvn before I can see you, you are so far beneath me.” That manner always disgusts, always drives men away from the kingdom of Jesus Christ instead of bringing them in. Imitate Jesus Christ. When I was a lad,. I was one day in a village store and there was a large group of young men there full of rollicking and fun, and a Christian man came in, a very good Christian man, and without any introduction of the subject and while they were in great hilarity said to one of them, “George, what is the first step of wisdom?” George looked up and said, “Every man to mind his otvn business.” Well, it Avas a very rough nnsAver, but it Was provoked. Religion had been hurled in there as though.it AA-ere a bombshell. We must be natural in the presentation of religion to n the world. Do you suppose that Mary in her conversations with Christ lost her simplicity, or that Paul, thundering from Mars hill, took the pulpit tone? Why is it people cannot talk as naturally in prayer meetings and on religious subjects as they do in worldly circles? For no one ever succeeds in any kind of Christian work unless he works naturally. We want to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ, who plucked a poem from the grass of the field. We all want to imitate him who talked with farmers about the man who went forth to soav, and talked with the fishermen about the drawn net that brought in fish of all sorts, and talked with the vine dresser about the idler in the vineyard, and talked Avith those newly affianced about the marriage supper, and talked with the man cramped in money matters about the two debtors, and talked with the AA-oman about the yeast that leavened the whole lump, and talked with the shepherd about the lost sheep. Oh, we might gather even the stars of the sky and twist them like forget-me-nots in the garland of Jesus! We must bring everything to him—the wealth of language, the tenderness of sentiment, the delicacy of morning dew, the saffron of floating cloud, the tangled surf of the tossing sea, the bursting thunder guns of the storm’s bombardment. Yes, every star must point doAvn to him, every heliotrope must breathe his praise, every drop in the summer shower must flash his glory, all the tree branches of the forest must thrum their music in the grand march which shall celebrate a world redeemed.

Blasted by Fin. Now, all this being so, what is the common sense thing for you and for me to do? What we do I think will depend upon three facts —three great facts: The first fact, that sin has ruined us. It has blasted body, mind and soul. We want no Bible to prove that we are sinners. Any man who is not willing to acknowledge himself an imperfect hnd a sinful being is simply a foot and not to beargued with. We all feel that sin has disorganized our entire nature. That is one fact. Another fact is that Christ came to reconstruct, to restore, to revise, to correct, to redeem. That is a second fact. The third fact is that the only time we are sure Christ will pardon us is the present. Now, what is the common sense thing for us to do in view of these three facts? You will all agree with me —to quit sin, take Christ, and take him now. Copyright. 1807.

Short Sermons.

The Christian Sabbath.—God did not Intend any of the ordinances of his kingdom to be burdensome to the human soul. When he said keep the Sabbath day holy, he did not mean to keep it sad and gloomy, but there are spirit ual joys more satisfactory than earthly pleasures.—Rev. John Stephens, Methodise, San Francisco, Cal. Keep Sentiment Alive.—Keep the tender sentiment alive in your heart and in your home. The man who lets them die is by so much less the man. Man was made to love, and to be loved. Fling aside business and all the cares that harass and perplex your life, and revel In the delights of home.—Rev. G. B. Yosburg, Denver, Colo. The Praise Service.—Only a life of praise here will prepare us for the life yonder. Praiseful service is the keynote. “His • people shall serve him; there shall be no more death.” I think Handel must have caught the heavenly strain when he suddenly breaks into a chorus which none but a genius would have dared to put Into an oratorio.— Rev. C. E. Barbour, Baptist, Rochester, N. Y. Tangible Religion.—ln the orthodox churches the organization Is every thing, the man a mere Incident. Preachers come and go, but the church goes on forever. It has a positive object in view, and la!x>rs to attain it. This is an age when the negative is not popular or profitable. Even the non-believers are not satisfied with a negative, J>ut seek something tangible.—Rev. Frank Crane, Independent, Chicago, 111. Conversion. —I do not find much difference between converted people and unconverted. There is no difference at the bank. There is a natural kindness. Maybe on the Jericho road there Is a thief; there is also a good Samaritan. There Is a cruelty of civilization unknown in a savage jungle. A child decently born needs no conversion. Natural people suit me. We are overlaid and soaked in with a lot of foreign stuff that we must get rid of. lam getting to be fond of a plain heathen.—Re r. M. W. Reed, Independent, Denver, Colo.

TOPICS FOR FARMERS

A DEPARTMENT PREPARED FOR OUR RURAL FRIENDS. Best Way to Feed Corn Fodder—How to Banish the Rats-Amount of Water a Cow Brinks s a Test of Her Milk Value. Feeding orn Fodder. I last winter put the cows into a feed lot adjoining the farm. Three pigs for each coav were also placed in the lot. The cows Avere taken into the barn twice a day, fed ear corn, broken, and, after being inilked, were turned into the lot and given unbusked corn fodder. In this Avay each cow received one and one-third bushel ear corn per week and one bushel of corn In the fodder. The pigs, in addition to what they picked up, AAere given buttermilk and some sklm-milk. In return for this feed I received four and one-half pounds butter and ten pounds of pork per week per cow, or about tAvo pounds butter and four pounds pork per bushel of corn. The cows were provided with a good shed and a thick layer of straw to lie on.—Agriculturist. Getting Rid of Rats. An unusual interest has been aroused in the destruction of rats this season because of the great number found in corncribs and in the vicinity of poultry houses. The loss from this source has been considerable, to say nothing of the annoyance. If trouble in* corncribs is to be avoided next year, set the buildings on posts eighteen inches high, and around the top tack a strip of old tin or invert a tin pan and place it over the top of the post. This will not always keep them out, but will do much towards preventing their entrance.

Where cribs are on the gi-ountl and have been undermined by these pests, a number of methods of getting rid of them, more or less successful, have been suggested. If a well-trained ferret and a good rat dog can be secured, great numbers can be killed in a short time. The ferret will go into the holes under the crib aud run out the rats, which can then be disposed of by means of the dog or guns. After the rats have been avcll cleaned out by this means they seldom return, or at least not for a long time. In closed bins, where carbon bisulphide can be used, they can be got rid of in short time. Merely place an open dish full of the chemical on top of the grain and permit it to evapoi-ate. It will permeate every point aud kill all living creatures. In using the bisulphide, remember that it is \-ery inflammable, and all lights and fires must be kept away fi-om the building while it is being applied.—Orange Judd Farmer.

The Water a Cow Drinks. ~ M. Dancel reported to the French Academy of Sciences his experiments to determine the effect > f the quantity of water cows drink upon quantity and quality of milk. “He says,” writes Dr. Galen Wilson, to Practical Farmer, “that, by Inducing cows to drink more water, the quantity of milk yielded can be Increased without injuring its quality. He asserts that the amoun; of milk Is proportioned to the quantity of water drunk. In experimenting upon cows fed in the stall With dry fodder that gave only nine to twelve quarts of milk a day, that when this dry food was moistened with from eighteen to twenty-three quarts of water daily, their yield of milk was increased up to twelve to fourteen quarts a day. Beshles this water taken with the food, the cows : were allowed to drink the same as before, and their thirst was excited by adding a little salt to the fodder. The milk was of good quality, and the amount of butter satisfactory. He"found, by a series of observations, that the quantity of w r ater habitually drunk by each cow was a criterion to judge of the quantity of milk that she would yield.

Traction Engines. The self-propelling steam engines to be used on ordinary roads are not nearly so much in favor as they \yere when they first began to be used. An eight or ten horse power engine put upon a suitable truck can easily be drawn by an ordinary farm team. It does not frighten teams along the highway as the puffing traction engine is sure to do. As the traction engine costs several hundred dollars extra, and is several hundred pounds heavier, it Is net now in much favor. Many good country bridges that would staqd ordinary loads have been broken down by the traction engine, entailing loss both to the owner of the engine and the county. In many places notices are put up that if traetion engines cross certain bridges they must do so at their own risk.

Linsced vs. Cotton Seed Meal. While fully growh animals with strong digestive organs can eat cottonseed meal properly diluted with straw or hay without serious injury, it Is doubtful whether It is advisable to m!ake this part of their ration. Linseed meal can be purchased at about the same price as cottonseed meal, and has equal nutritive value. The new process meal is the kind generally used. It is not so fattening as the old process meal, because more of Its oil has been expressed. Faxseed whole is a very rich feed, and If boiled so as to swell it out all that hot water can do It may be given to cattle, sheep or horses with safety. Only a very little should be given at a time, as the oil in it makes it very laxative.

To Farm Driveway. The entrance drive or “lane,” as it Is usually called, is an Important feature in the surroundings of a country home. The success of landscape effect depends largely upon its judicious location and arrangement. While the shortest line Is the most practical course for travel

between two points; artistically considered, a long, narrow, straight line, fenced on both sides, unadorned by trees, is something to be avoided, If possibly. If the driveway must be straight, let It be through an open field or fenced on one, side only, and lined with trees, or If inclosed by two fences let them be fifty feet or more apart, with a row of trees on each side. It may then answer for the family orchards of all kinds of fruit and nut trees, or If planted with maples, beech or oaks, will eventually form a magnificent avenue. —American Gardening.

Winter Window Plants. The plants for mldwinVr and early spring-blooming should be brought Into the house, but the room should be only moderately heated. Give abundance of air every mild day. The temperature of the room at night should be twelve to eighteen degrees lower than during the day. Remove all dead leaves. Give only enough water to moisten the earth in the pots. The earth should not be made pasty. Chrysanthemums.—To prolong the period of blooming, take up the choicest specimens with a large ball of earth, and set them In tubs or boxes. Keep the plants upon the porch In a protected situation for a few days until they recover. They may then be brought into the house. Beds of plants should be covered over with a large muslin sheet during frosty nights. Insects.—For the aphis and plant lice, smoke Avith tobacco stems. Window plants can be easily'fumigated by placing them under a barrel. Rose bushes in the greenhouse can be kept free of the aphis by the free use of the syringe. —American. Pigeon Notes. We Avould caution beginners, better invest your money in one or two good birds than in half a dozen cheap scrub birds. “ As soon as you see a pigeon in your loft that is sick or out of condition, remove it from the other pigeons at once, and treat, and, if too far, use a hatchet. A handful or two of hemp seed given each day to a flock of pigeons Avill help them through moulting. Every fancier should have leg bands, arid keep a i-ecord of your birds, as this is the only AA’ay we can pre\-ent inbreeding, as they are cheap. Look! Look for the little red mites that infest the young bix-ds in their nests, as they kill more young pigeons than disease this time of year. Nests should be cleaned frequently, and sawdust and tobacco stems put In.

Weaning Foals. Foals that are about to be weaned in the fall of the year, should, preparatory to the time of isolating them from their dams, be taught to eat freely of grain, pulse and other highly nutritive food. The loss of the dam's milk Is a severe check to their constitution and growth, which even an abundant supply of hay or grass will not wholly compensate. A variety of food is not only permissible, but to be advocated, although grass or good hay and corn should form their staple diet. Too many different sorts of food can hardly be tried, says a high authority on the matter, “but, of course, they must be given judiciously, at various times and in small quantities.”—Live Stock Journal.

Small Potatoes. . Save all the small potatoes for seed that are of the regulation form. These may be the only seed available, in the spring, while if they are not needed when planting time comes they can then be discarded. We would not have it understood that we are indorsing small potatoes for planting. Large seed Is preferable every time. Drain the Land. A farmer can raise more bushels of better grain, com and wheat, or any other produce, on fifty acres of well underdrained land than he can on 100 acres of wet land, and he can do it with less than half the labor and expense. Farm Notes. A good pedigree always adds to the value of a horse for any purpose. When wheat is sold buy back bran and shipstuff enough to feed out the straw. The average farm can be run a good deal better without a dog than without a pig. Hard work is not so apt to Injure horse* if they receive proper attention afterwards. There are some good butter cows in all breeds and they are even found among scrubs. The most clear profit in raising good horses is in the fact that you have raised them yourself. The farmer who cannot supply comfortable shelter cannot afford to winter stock.

One advantage In having the manure reasonably fine is that It can be more evenly distributed on the land. A short-leggect, short-haired sheep Is often heavier and will produce more wool than one that looks much larger. The restless spirit of a growing colt is a sufficient guarantee that it will take exercise if the opportunity Is afforded. In order to make good beef and to make it easy steady feeding of the most suitable food from the first Is essential. Every kind of a crop grown on the farm te needed, and somebody will produce it and realize a profit in producing and marketing. In selecting farm stock to use as breeders, secure only such animals as are healthy themselves and have sprung from healthy! vigorous stock. To injudicious feeding may be credited a large amount of the fatality among hogs and with care in feeding a large amount of disease may be avoided.—Fanners’ Union.

INDIANA INCIDENTS.

RECORD OF EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK. Fire Barns the Heart Out of a Small ToAA-n— Missing Man Found Buried In the Band Counterfeiters Get Five Years Koch—Robbery and Arson. Farmland in Flames. At midnight on a recent night fire broke out in the heart of the town of Farmland, and the entire business part of the town was destroyed. The amount of loss cannot tie estimated. Mancie Was called on for protection, and fire engines on flat cars werfc sent to the town. The fire started in the rear of Robert Meeks’ drug store. Farmland has 2,500 people, with only a hand chemical engine as protection from fire. Missing Man Found Dead. The body of William Montgomery, a Aveli-to-do farmer of Ghent, Ky., who disappeared from the steamer Lizzie Bay on the night of Aug. 6, while returning from a business trip to Cincinnati, and for whose recoA-ery a reward of SSOO was offered by his relatives, was found by two fishermen buried in the sand one mile above Vet-ay. Looted and Burned by Robbers. The gerferal store of Botven & Dimmitt at West Middleton was pillaged by robbers, avlio, after getting Avhat they wanted, set fire to the building. The Clover Leaf Railway office Avas in the same building, and with contents was destroyed. Loss, $2,000; insurance, SI,BOO. Bach Given Five Years. H. A. BroAtyi and Theodore Hansen of Valparaiso, regarded by the secret service officers as very dangerous counterfeiters, AA-ere both sentenced by Judge Baker of the Federal Court at Indianapolis to five years at the penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio. Young Baker Fatally Hurt. Edgar Baker of Fortvilie, aged 17, and two companions, returning from Indianapolis in a buggy, Avas thrown from the rig by a sudden jolt, receiving injuries from Avhic-h he died.

All Over the State. Three hundred nnd fifty striking miners have returned to work in the Sullivan County district. Chris Haller, who had trouble with his wife and then disappeared, was found in Pigeon creek, near Evansville. It was a case of suicide. At Kings Station, Ora Bennett leaned his gun against a tree. It fell and was discharged, the entire charge striking Bennett in the upper part of the body. C. Wolf, while crossing the Grand Trunk tracks west of Valparaiso, was run down by the local accommodation and thrown forty feet, receiving fatal injnries. Telegrams receive.-! by relatives in Anderson and at Daleville state that James Home of Spartansville is expected to die of blood poisoning. A week ago he was bitten by a rat. Nineteen prisoners confined in the Gibson County jail mutinied against; Sheriff Murphy and but for prompt action in suppressing the disturbance the sheriff would have been killed. The Pennsylvania Railway Company paid Samuel Lindsey of Kokomo $1,500 for damages resulting from a collision. Suit was not brought, the amount being fixed by mutual agreement. William O. Sidener and Guy O. Steele, the two postofflee clerks from Crawfordsville who were caught stealing money from the mails, -were each sent to the penitentiary for one year. At Terre Haute, Alexander Owens, a marble deaVer, became enraged at Alexander Lawrence, an employe at the cemetery, and struck him a fatal blow as they stood on opposite sides of a grave. An appointment of a receiver- for the Masonic Mutual Benefit Association at Indianapolis is asked. The executor of the estate of George W. Leighton, of Jasper avers that the association is unable to pay a death claim of $2,000. Ex-County Treasurer Holdeman of Elkhart, whose accounts are short about $25,000, has disappeared. He is believed to have gone to Chicago. Before his departure he turned over all his property, amounting to $40,000, to his bondsmen. A circular saw burst in the spoke and heading factory of B. G. Ackerman at Marion, resulting in the instant death of Will Patterson, 19 years of age. Piece* of the shattered saw split him almost in twain from his waist to the top of hi* head.

John Day, an evangelist, while speaking at Prairieton, said there were only two men in the town who were not hypocrites, whereupon Justice of the Peace; Smith called him a liar. He had the justice arrested for disturbing a religion* meeting. Will Perdue, while riding to hi* home six miles south of Muncie in an open buggy, fell out of the seat upon his head nnd broke his neck. The attending physicians say it is a complete fracture of the spinal bone and are mystified at the man being still alive, James T. Sturgeon, a prominent farmer and stock buyer, was shot and instantly killed at Rockford by Harry Horter, 1G years old. The cause of the killing was the attentions paid by the dead man to the boy’s mother. leave* a widow and a large family of children. Rev. F. X. Logan, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church at Rushville, was held up and robbed in his own house by a well-dressed stranger, who asked the priest to go on a sick call. Father Logan was then pushed from the house and compelled to seek assistance in bis night clothes, while the robber took his own time in going through the bouse. He escaped. Alexander Wilhelm, one of the bestknown young member* of the bar of South Bend, has mysteriously disappeared, and it is feared he may have committed suicide. His disappearance is due to * financial troubles. Center lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows has filed a suit in the Circuit Court at Indianapolis to prevent the carrying out of the present plans to build the new $200,000 grand lodge Odd Fellows’ temple. It claims an ownership in the present grand lodge property and demands that the property be sold for th* partition of the proceeds.