St. Joseph County Independent, Volume 21, Number 17, Walkerton, St. Joseph County, 16 November 1895 — Page 7

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CHAPTER XI. “What are you laughing at?” “Murder! look at him,” cried Bart, taking his pipe from his lips, “ruffling up like a gamecock. Not laughing at you, my dear boy, but at myself.” “Oh!” said Paul, “1 thought ” “That 1 was grinning at you for coming on such a wild-goose chase.” “Bart!” “Steady, old man. I tell you I was not, but at myself. My dear old Paul, I can't afford to laugh at you because I am just as bad. Here we are, two days out on the briny sea, tossing about like mail, and I’m bound to confess that it seems quite natural. Only it does seem strange to me. Instead of attending lectures and seeing operations and waiting patiently till six months are over and I can succeed to my practice, here I am, bound । for a savage island in the Caribbean Sea.” “Nonsense! Savage island! The place is cultivated enough." “Oh, it is. You’ll see.” “But I realy feel it, Bart. It is kind I of you to take this freak into your head. I I've said nothing before, but i am glad of your companionship, and very grateful.” “Oh. bosh!” “But I am. I never was more aston- i ished in my life than when 1 came on ' deck and found you here, just as 1 was I cursing you by my gods as a false friend for not coming to see me off." “Needn't thank me.” “What?” “Thank your sister when you write.” “Luce! Her doing?" “To be sure. Said you would be getting yourself scalped by savages or down ; with fever, and she gave me my onVrs ; to come with you as special surgeon and ; physician in ordinary, to grow you a fresh scalp and administer your Cockle's i pills!” “My darling girl!” “Steady! My darling girl now, if you please. For it's all right, Paul. You ; won t object, will you? She is as good as . promised me. Wonderful, isn’t it? Such i ■a girl as she is, so—so—so—l don't know i what to say, oh. murder!” For at that moment there was a heavy thud and a rush. The groat steamer had been smitten on the bows by a wave, and •a tremendous shower of spray had drenched the two young men. “Well!” cried Bart, “this is nice, and no umbrella up.” “Only salt water, man, and it will not hurt you." “Perhaps not,” replied Bart, pettishly. ' “but it wets as much as fresh. I don’t ' like to bathe with all my clothes on. Hang it all! Gone right down my back.” “Let's get a little more under shelter.” “No, I don't care; but. Paul, old chap, you will not mind much. I know. I’m not pretty to look at. but I’ll try to make her the happiest little woman in the world, and there- honor bright. I'll never try to doctor her myself." "What?" said Paul, smiling for the first time since he had heard that Aube was to leave Paris. “Well. I mean as some fellows do. I know medical men who try ail kinds of experiments on their wives before they > give the remedies to their patients." “My dear Bart,” said Paul warmly, “there's only one man in the world to ! whom I would like to see Luce married, j and that man is you.” Bart tried to speak, but the words j would not come, and he took his friend's । hand, grasped it warmly for a few mo- i ments, and then made a dart to get into shelter, for another wave struck the j bows. “Going to have a rough night, seem- ' ingly,” said Paul, after a few minutes' j pause. “Looks like it,” replied Bart. “It will be handy my being on board in ease of accident.” “Ob. we shall have no accidents.” “So much the better; but now, see- ; ing how rough the weather is. don't you i think we are behaving very well?” “We've had good practice, Bart. After i all our channel crossings we ought to be i trained for any weather." “To be sure; that's it. Well, I never thought of that. Come, that's the only ; good thing I ever knew come from the I channel passage.” “Well, gentlemen,” said a bluff, cheery : man in oilskins, "got a bit wet?" “Ah, Captain, I did not know you,” j said Paul. “Yes, we had a splashing ' just now. Is it to be a rough night?” , “Oli. nothing bad—nothing particular. I Making the boat dance a bit. and the seats a little creepy at dinner. Good Bailors I see—you two.” “Don't halloa till you are out of the wood,” said Bart, laughing. “We are all right so far.” “If you can stand this you can stand anything. Thanks,” said the Captain, taking the cigar Paul offered. “We shall soon run through it, and then you will have hot sun and smooth water.” The Captain lit his cigar, took a look round, said a few words to the officers in charge, and then came back to the sheltered spot where the two young men were standing, to smoko his cigar and have a chat, for as far as the passengers were concerned, the saloon deck was empty. “So you are going to Hayti, sir?” he said. “Yes,” replied Paul, quietly. “To paint, eh? Well, you'll never paint the place so black as it deserves.” “Perhaps it is not so black us it is painted,” said Paid, coolly. “Blacker, my dear sir—blacker. Y'ou’ll have to take care of yourself.” “Oh. I shall do that.” “Don’t know so much about that." said the Captain, dryly. “There’s the fever.” “Well,” said Paul, smiling, “I am traveling with the doctor here.” “You are lucky, sir, very lucky.” “But is the place so very unhealthy?” said Bart.

“No, not worse than any of the other islands, sir,” replied the Captain. “Os course everywhere in those seas there are epidemics of old Yellow Jack, and if you are not careful, you may expose yourself and catch one of the malarious fevers; but the wretched people do everything they can to poison the place. The port is a perfect horror, and 1 never stay an hour longer than I can help for the sake of my crew.” “But that’s from ignorance—the place being in such a state.” "Oh. yes, that's from ignorance, sir.” said the Captain, dryly. “Plenty of that in Hayti. Superstition and brutal immorality, too. Ah, they’re a bad lot.” Bart glanced at Paul, who was pale, and he tried to change the topic, but the Captain ran on, and it was evident that the young artist was listening eagerly and encouraging the sturdy old salt to tell him everything he could about the island that would be his destination. “I wouldn't stay long, sir. if I were you." said the Captain. “The country is lovely, and you'll pick up some glorious scenes, and some quaint, strange characters to paint; but of all the evil-mind-ed, weak, conceited beggars, that ever ex isted, they're about the worst. They believe themselves to be the most civilized people under the sun, while all the lime they're a set of poor. weak, ignorant children—yes. children as far as their brains are concerned, and I don’t know which is the worst—the whites, the blacks, or the colored folk; they're all as bad as bad can be.” “A nice character you are giving them." said Paul, uneasily. “Well, sir, they deserve it; they're as superstitious as the savages of the west coast of Africa. They don’t stop at using knife, pistol, or poison against any one j who offends them, and they make the place miserable by their filthy habits.” “ ‘Manners none; customs beastly,' ” ■ said Bart. “Exactly, sir. The young middy who , wrote that might have been describing some of the people of Hayti.” "Pleasant place for us, Paul, old man.” “Tako my advice, gentlemen, and don't go. Try one of the other islands. They're quite as beautiful, and you may come back safe from them.” “Oh, no wo will not alter our plans," said Bart, after a glance at Paul. "But I say. what is that we read about the Voudoux worship?” "Be on the lookout and try and seo for yoursches. It's a savage kind of faith the blacks brought with them from the west coast of Africa, and the colored folks and the whites, some of them, join in it because it is an excuse for drunkenness and debauchery. Ah. there are nil kinds of rumors about that sort of thing. They have wild feasts at tinuN and off. r saeritice. I'm told, to a serpent. Bather a queer idea, that, gentlemen, worshiping the serpent, eh?” “But it would be interesting (.• ; !ivpo ; gate ,".11 the old superstitions," said Bart, thoughtfully; ”1 should not dislike seeing one of th, :r meetings." "W ♦-!!. if you go to one. 1 should mb i e you to be careful," said the Captain. "We look down upon that sort of thin,; j as a degrading superstition; but to a | fanatical negro under the thumb of his . black priest it is a mystery, and be is ready enough to reset^. nnj slight upon i his religion.” "How?" said Bart. "Well, they tell me." said the Captain. I "that people who play the spy at their I feasts give offense to the serpent, ami it | they offend it. they are seized with a lin gering disease and die." "Indeed!" said Bart, eagerly. "What ' disease?” "Well, sir, if it were in your country, i you being a medical man. would lie for 1 a post-mortem examination, and it's my I belief that the evidence you would give ! at the inquest would be that the sufferer \ died of poison.” I "Yes, that is what I supposed," said Bart. “Os course. All these black pe^. i pie are pretty clever in their knowledge ! of poisonous plants." I "That’s quite right, so I should advise 1 you to be careful. Take my word for it, j Hayti is not the place for ordinary civ- ! ilized people, especially when we consider i they have freed themselves from the ' white rule, set up one of their own, and in spit.* of their conceit and contempt for the white races, are going back fast into a state of savage barbarism." "poor wretches!” said Bart. "Yes, sir, you are right. The place would be a paradise under a good go\ - eminent; but that is wanting, ami all i goes wrong. If you keep to your intention, be careful. Don't say or do anything to hurt their vanity. They think Hayti the finest place in the world, so if you want to get on mind and praise everything, especially the native himself.” The Captain had finished his cigar, and Paul offered him another. “No, thank you, not now.” he said. “I must have a few of the loose tackle made fast; we are going to have a rougher night than I thought.” He went forward, and was soon busy giving orders, while the two young men sat in silence under the shelter of the weather bulwarks. "Yes, that's what I'm most afraid of,” said Bart, suddenly. I Paul started. "Os what?” he said. "You did not speak before, did you?” "No, but 1 was thinking hard." “What about?" “You, old fellow. I as good as promised Luce that you should not come to harm. Mademoiselle Dulau is very beautiful, and it makes me afraid.” "What are you driving at?” said Paul, impatiently. “I’ll tell you. old fellow. She is sure to be very much admired, she will have been there a month before we arrive, and I fear that you will be getting into some trouble with these hot-headed —oh, what

a blundering fool I am to say a thing like that, ' he continued, as Paul sprang up impatiently and walked across the deck and back. “I say, 1 meant it for the I best, old fellow.” j “Os course, of course you did,” cried ! Paul. "But it did sting, Bart, old boy. ■ You are in love, too, and you can feel : for me. It is that which I fear, and it I is horrible to bear. How do I know to i what danger my poor darling may be I exposed. What plans her mother may i have made, or how she will be situated there. It maddens me, and I call myself fool, idiot, a hundred times, for not going over in the same vessel, even if it had been as a stowaway.” “Oh, nonsense! don't mind my foolish talk." "It was the honest truth, man. A. whole month parted! Bart, I must got her away from this horrible place at all hazards.” “But it may ffot be so bad; and sho is with her mother.” “How do I know what sort of a woman her mother may be? Then there's Madame Saintone. I distrust and hate that woman.” “Don’t be unjust man. You are not in a position to judge.” "No, I am not. But all this is unbearable. and even the winds and waves are lighting against me.” "And being beaten by our sturdy engines, as we'll beat the winds and waves of bad fortune. Come, man, don’t make yourself miserable by imaginings. I dare say Mademoiselle Dubin’s mother is a very nice, lady-like woman; and if she is, she will appreciate you, and sec that it is all for her child's happiness. Thore, cheer up.” Paul laid his hand upon his friend's shoulder and gripped his hand. "Thank you. Bart,” ho said. “I will hope for the best; but it is hard very hard work.” As night fell the storm increased, but Paul Lowther heard neither the creaking ot the rigging, the hiss of the wind through the ropes, nor tin* heavy dash oi the waves against the steamer’s bows, for there was a mental storm raging within him. and when toward morning he at last fell asleep it was to dream of Aube away in this strange land, exposed to some terrible danger and stretching our her hands to him for help. (To be continued.) EATING MEAT RAW. A t iir. oUh 11 al>1 1 Said to Be Increusing in London. Ihe well-known favor with which Englishmen regard underdone beef brings to notice a curious habit which is said by the New York Advertiser to be on the increase in f^mdon, that of eating meat raw. or nearly so. The habit started from a belief that it was conducive to health. < H late years there has been a great run on the gravy or Juice expressed from raw beef by the latter being squeezed into pulp; but. quite apart from this, many regular customers buy the fittest cuts with a special view to eating the hitter raw, each customer having an earnest belief that he benefits In health from the practice. In most cases it is more a matter of health than of actual taste. There are two remarkable points about raw meat eating. one of them being that n uretit many butchers themselves constantly cut prime hits off and chew them. The other point is thus a great many people. who do not nt home eat in a raw state the meat that they buy. Judge the quality when buying by chew ing a bit of raw m-at. Just ns they might taste of Imtor or cheese, A celebrated Lund m burr -icr vats quantities of the . best steak fmeli mimed with salad, and in a great many other cases tin* meat i cut inti wry : t shreds and made in’o sandwiches. with sea-, ning added. Resiau:ant keepers say that the chief .all is for tma. w ry much underdone, but there are great numbers of faddy people who eat meat absolutely raw. Cuban Coffee Making. In a letter to the New York Tribune by an expert ou coffee, the writer, after speaking of the different varieties of the bean and their comparative merits, gives tite details of making coffee as it is done in Cuba, where the most delii clous coffee obtainable anywhere is to - found. "It is prepared by firs, half Ulli ing a coarse llaauel bag with finely pulverized. roasted coffee, and suspending it from a hook over the pot or other vessel. Cold water is poured on the bag at intervals until the entire mass is ; well saturated, then the first drippings, । which have fallen into the receptacle. ' are pmireirngain over the bag until the i liquid becomes almost thick and very black. One teaspoonful of this extracted liquid, placed in a cup of boiling milk, will yield a draught of coffee that is simply delicious—a nectar lit for the gods. In Cuba this flannel bag hangs day and night on the wall, the process of pouring on the cold water and allowing it to drip being almost ; ceaseless in its operation. All classes, I ages and conditions drink coffee there as freely as we do v ater." The A s nt-Minded Professor. Prof. C. had gone to spend the evening at a friend's house. When he was about to leave it was raining very heavily, wherefore the hostess kindly offered him accommodations for the night, which he readily accepted. Suddenly the guest disappeared, nobody knowing what had become of him. and the family was about to retire for the night when ITof. C. walked in. as wet as a drowned rat. He had been home to fetch his night shirt! Male and Female Vanity. Women and the mirror have long been the subject matter of fun by the column, but if the dear creature can beat her brother she is most remarkable. The radiant, mirrored elevator is responsible for the demonstration of this. It takes but the most superficial observer to note that nine out of ten men who ride in the elevators take a peep into the reflecting glasses, give the mustache a twist, push back a . lock or two of hair or shake out coat lapels.

THE FARM AND HOME. matters of interest to farmer AND HOUSEWIFE. Cheep Wheat la Valuable as Hay Feed How to Take Care of Calves—lrriffating Side-Hill Land—Good Food for Poultry—Eat Cream. heat, Worth 86 Cents as Hog Feed. H. F. E. Ludden, North Dakota, writes: On the first day of January, , 1894, I had thirty-six hogs weighing on an average 154 pounds; fifteen of them were bred sows. During the year, says the Agriculturalist, I fed them 492 bushels of wheat. For four months they ran on a pasture consisting of rye and barley, and during which time they had a small feed of soaked wheat. All the grain fed was carefully weighed, lu September I sold 2,500 pounds at four and a half cents, 5,000 pounds in November at three and a half cents, and the remainder in January, 1595, at three cents. I received for the thirtySix hogs and their increase $ti00.43. From January, 1894, to January, 1895, thes|fcj|ogs cost me $249.45. I received for wheat $850.98; deducting the costr f Fl'inding. the wheat yielded me 08 per bushel. If the price for hog^liad been maintained, the November sales would have been four and a half cents and the closing sale four cents. In that case the wheat would have had a value of eighty-six c6nts per bushel. The question does it pay to raise hogs on wheat seems to be answered by this experiment, extending over twelve months. Care of the'Calves. I should like to toil discouraged farmers what I did with two of those 200pound cows, writes one to the Country Gentleman. They were sold out of a dairy herd because they were not supposed to be worth keeping over winter. The second spring after, six weeks before dropping calves, the purchaser began feeding the cows better. When tile calves were dropped, he fed them milk right from the cow four weeks; it did not hurt them. Then gave sweet skimmed milk, oilcake and oatmeal, with good pasture and feed till they wore two years old. They calved, being milked, one ten. the other eleven months a year for three years. Milk, tested at Institute, went I'L and 5’.... and the director said their mother must bo extra good. Farmers try to raise cows for $25; those tiro worth $75, and cannot be bought for that. Sidehill IrrlKntins. My farm is nearly all on a sldchlll, with a slope of about one foot in llfteen. Our ditch runs diagonally through my place, leaving about seventy acres under water. My delivery hoadgate is Just halfwny from either end of the sew^nty acres, says a writer In the A glMflfltoMKLk ; niu my laterals on a rA•tour Uno east and west from the nJLbtcral. which runs straight down tiw»>.*il. The laterals are about 150 feeiapart, and run ou a grade of about one font to a thomaml feet. Then, to distribute the water over the land, I put in dams about every 200 feet, and cut the lateral about every fifteen feet. It requires much more steady work for the man to irrigate on a sidehill, but there is rm danger of n crop being killed by flooding, or by standing water. My i experience with alfalfa on a skiehlll Is ' that It Is far better than on level ground j In that It Is earlier ami matures quicker. I fi< ct of Good Food. Eggs from h ns that are fed largely on stops and refuse are not as good for cooking purposes as those which are laid by hens having a liberal ration of corn or wheat, and of the two, corn makes the richest eggs, says the Genesee Farmer, as it adds to the fat contents ami gives the contents of the shell a consistency that makes it especially valuable for baking and kindred uses. A meat ration also adds to the value of the eggs, and It is because ducks are such ravenous hunters of frogs and the many insects on land and water that their eggs are preferred to all others by bakers and confectioners. Guinea eggs are specially rich in this quality, and are better for baking and making icing than those of almost any other fowl. The production of good eggs is a comparatively new idea, and it has not been discuss ■ ! half as much as its merits deserve that it should be. Eat Cream in Winter. Churn in the fall and eat the cream In tvinter, writes Mrs. L. J. P. Langley, of INew York, to the Agriculturist, '•^nnot afford it? No one has a better riSht to a good living than the farmer family, nor has anyone better facilities. There are four persons in our family. Last fall I had the milk of one fresh cow and two strippers to j take care of. I could pack enough buti ter in one week to last four. Use sweet, new Jars or put down in rolls, and cover with brine. Set in a cool, dry place where no foul air will reach tt. Continue packing until enough to last until spring is put down. The boy who gets cream is more likely to stick to the farm than the one given skimmed milk. The farmer’s wife is not obliged to churn all day. Try the experiment, and I am sure you will find it a success.” The objection to this plan is that the winter dairying is the most profitable for those who make butter for market. Keeping of Winter Squashes. The keeping of winter squashes requires careful management. They should be thoroughly ripened before taken from the vines, and the shell should be hard and well glazed over. Gather them before they are nipped by frost. If left on the vines until they are chilled enough to change color, they will not keep well. Gather them on a sunny clay, to be sure that they are perfectly dry. Handle carefully. If intended for winter use, they must not

be bruised, or the stem broken, as tno slightest injury will increase the liability to decay. Discard all the softshelled or unripe ones. Much depends on keeping them from moisture. Dampness and an uneven temperature are fatal to good keeping. If kept in a warm, damp cellar, they will soon rot. The best plan is to place them on a shelf or on tlie floor In a frost-proof garret. If stored in heaps, the under ones will send out the moisture, and cause the whole lot to rot in a short time.—M. E. Keech. Keep Stock Off Newly Seeded Land. ' sVhen the established pasture fields during fall present a burned appearance, it takes considerable will power to resist the temptation to turn slock on to the newly seeded fields in which the young clover and timothy present an inviting appearance, but the pasturing off of tlr.s new growth close to the ground will cause the whole plant to perish if drouth prevails. The pasturing off of this tine top growth should be avoided, as it is just this mat that is required to protect the roots during the severe cold winter, and when frozen solid this growth of leaves and stalks pressed close to the ground prevents the dally spring thawing and freezing, such as would be the case were this covering pastured off. This top growth is not lost, but as the spring growth progresses, it decays, and is added to the fertility of the land. Whey and Buttermilk. Handling whey and buttermilk is a problem at buiter and cheese factories. At the Lawrence factory for making fancy cheese, a pipe is laid from the factory to the top of a hill about fifty feet higher than the factory and 3.(100 feet away. On the summit are commodious and well-con-structed hogpens, with rooms for the attendants. The pens are comfortably arranged and easily kept clean, and in winter are warmed by steam heat. To this place ail the whey and buttermilk is forced by a steam pump, and a main from the village waterworks furnishes unlimited supplies of pure, fresh water for drinking, washing, etc. The hogs are bred on the place, and two crops of 300 hogs each are raised and marketed annually.—Agriculturist. To Root Cuttings. There Is a simple process of rooting cuttings which is by far the most convenient for amateurs, called the saucer system, says the Philadelphia Ledger. This consists in filling plates or saucers with sand, inserting tiie cuttings close together (an inch or so apart), giving water, so the sand gets into a semiliquid state, then placed in a sunny window of the dwelling-house or on the stage of the green house, entirely exposed to the sun ami never shaded. All that Is further required is that the sand must be kept in the condition of mud until the cuttings are rooted, which will be In from ten to twenty days, according to the temperature or state of cut- | tings. Great care must be taken that they never go dry. or the whole operation will fail. This is a safe method <>f rooting cuttings, and one that during hot weather is preferable to others. Crops for Green Manuring. Several times 1 have tried plowing In bm-kwheat. It Is another fraud. It s un s the land so nothing will grow after 1 it for years and not even then until ■ something.is put on to correct the acidity of the buckwheat. Have plowed in rye and thought it paid to do so. Have four acres of cowpeas now in field and two acres of soja beans. In my opinion they are not worthy the Northern' ■ farmers' attention. I should rather ■ try sowed corn for a crop to plow I | under (or even bitter weed), which is J i sure to grow, and costs less for seed i ami to plant. The reversible Syracuse sulky plow will put anything under—be it rye, buckwheat, weeds or corn. First-class Dairy Stock. The most salable farm animal to-day is a first-class dairy cow, says the Maine Farmer. We often wonder why more farmers back on the hilly, rough pasture farms do not make a business of raising heifers of good milking strains to supply milkmen in the milk producing counvies. Let the milch cow pass the first two years of her life on cheap land, and not try to pay Interest on costly land until she gives milk. Last year we told of a Massachusetts farmer who takes his heifers by rail to cheap pastures in Maine every spring, wintering them on grain-hay and oil and cottonseed meals. Wet the Fodder When I’ut in Silo. Mr. W. F. Bealls, Martinsville, Ya., says: “When the season has been dry, and the corn for silo is without moisture, we dampen it down by sprinkling ' it well witli water as we pack it. With our arrangement of the cutting machine in the barn on the floor above the silo, we can feed from the cutter i direct to the silo. A man is in the silo ( to pack it as it comes, and to wet it well at about every twenty inches packed. We have done this for the । past four years .and never saw better I silage or had cows do better.” Y’alne of Ground Rye. One of the great virtues of rye as a food for hogs is that it Is a grain possessing more of the elements of growth, rather than fattening properties, and the people now demand a bacon hog. The day of large, fat hogs is over, and ‘ there is a call for lighter and better de- ’ veloped pigs of about 200 pounds ’ weight. Japan Clover. r For land too dry for alfalfa. Japan r clover has been found a good substitute, • and In the South and Southwest it is i grown to some extent for hay and fodder. It is good for pasturage and - makes good hay if cut early, before the t stem becomes woody.

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL; THOUGHTS WORTHY OF CALM REFLECTION. A Pleasant, Interesting, and Instructive Lesson, and Where It May Be Found—A Learned and Concise Review of the Same. Lesson for Nov. 17. Golden Text.—“To obey is better than sacrifice.”—l. Sam., 15:22. This lesson ia found in I. Sam., 15:10-23. “How are the mighty fallen?” YVhen David sang thus on Saul, he voiced for us a lament that speaks not only of physical but of moral decay and dissolution. We have just two lessons in our series regarding Saul. They might be termed the making and the unmaking of a man. In one Saul stands forth grandly i.nd with many of the marks of nobility. In the other he appears a weakling and shorn of his power. And what is the secret of the sad declension? The same that we discover in most falls of a moral sort still —disobedience toward God. “Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. ” Saul's selfishness and self-conceit have been growing until nt last in the campaign against the Amnlekites he is brought to open and conspicuous declaration. From this time on his course is downward and God is bringing forward, slowly but surely, another man to take the place of the stalwart Saul upon the throne of Israel. The lesson is plain. It pays to obey God; it does not pay to disobey him. “Blessed are the undqfiled (single-hearted) in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.” Lesson Hints. “It reponteth not.” Does God change? No; but relations change. God abides the same, always righteous and faithful and true, but when hearts turn away from him, everything is altered, everything; and it is as though he had withdrawn his face from us ami reversed his gracious doing. But the real root of it all is to bo described at Isa. 59: 2. “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God. and your sins have hid his face from you. that he will not hear.” “lie is turned back from following me. ’ Here was the turning. It was not God but man that turned. In an absolutely true sense with God is “no‘variableness, neither shadow of turning,” (as of a heavenly body going into eclipse). I’ut Saul turned and a shadow came upon the brightness of his shining. Saul “turned back.” O that a king should.do this! Kings were meant to lead forward. Saul was at the head, and when the head of the flock swerves and turns back, it goes ill with all the sheep. Saul's misdoing was all the more iniquitous because of his high station. “And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all the night.” That was true grief, and there was occasion for it. AN ould God we might have somewhat of it to-day, on the part of God’s prophets. Siu, disobedience there is, all about us, and in high station. AVho is weeping about it? Where is there a Samuel crying all night over it? Alas for them who are at ease in Zion! If there were more tearful vigils of the night, there would be more weeping between the porch and the altar. Tearful prayers make tearful | preaching, and there are no strong cries in the pews where there are none in tho pulpit. “Saul came to Cannel, and behold he set him up a place.” i. e., a stone or a hand. Afterward he went to Gilgal to acknowledge the Lord. It was Carmel । first. Gilgal second; Saul first, afterward God. Here was the core of the King's ' off< tiding. Ue had grown proud and selfcentered. God's interests, and God's behests were secondary considerations with him. But the man that j>uts God anywlwre save first puts himself none elsa than last and least. Saul is a sorry sight here. How he cries in his excuses, how he falters! Seo the use of the pronouns in his lame response to Samuel's challenges regarding the bleating sheep and loving oxen. “They hare brought them," i. e., "The people ; spared the best,” “and the rest we (i. e. i Saul) have utterly destroyed.” Guilt is j written doubtless upon every feature of the face as upon every syllable of the language of the false king. “Be sure y our sin will find you out.” And his second apology is no better. See how Saul contradicts himself. “Yea 1 have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which tho Lord sent me and have brought Agag the King of Amalek. ’ The last part of his declaration gives the lie to the first part, for he was sent out to utterly destroy tho Amalekites; why then has he brought-the king? And now we have Samuel the Judge ascending the bench and giving utterance to law and sentence. How bold and strong it is! “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected thee from being king.” Terrible words but true. Saul's rejection of God was a virtual rejection of himself. Little in his own sight, lie let God lead him, great in his own esteem, he threw God’s guiding and restraining hand aside and plunged into his own destruction. There is a lesson here for king and people, for nations and individuals. Man's own way is always worst; God's way is best. Illustrations. Lot us not criticise Samuel here and name him truculent or cruel. There is a weak sentimentalism abroad that depreciates his summary treatment of .Agag. But he had obliterated himself, slain himself first. He was simply God’s instrument for destroying Israel's hereditary foe and saving the nation. There are men in the sacred desk to-day, who, rather than take up the weapon and hew the Agags of sin, will let Israel herself be hewn to pieces of the Lord's enemies. Brave old Samuel. In his whole conduct here in their demand for a king, he stands forth, a hero in his self-renun-ciation and self-forgetfulness. He counted himself out for the sake of the people. Next Lesson—“ The Woes of Intemperance." —Isa. 5: 11-23. Heroism. The heroes of to-day are the men and the women who do their duty faithfully. as they find it laid out for them, caring for family and home and doing what they can for their neighbors. We have our opportunities in the daily walks of life. Men are growing better every day; more chivalrous than before. The race Is “falling up” and thousands of unsung heroes all around us are enlisted in the work, —Rev, Geq^ L. renin.