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RELIGIOUS ^READING. Strength for To-day. Strength for to-day is all that we need. A* there never will he a to-morrow: For to-morrow will prove bufc another today, Wi h its measure of joy and sorrow. Then why forecast the trials of life With such sad and grave persistence, And watch and wail for a crowd of ills That as yet have no existence? Strength for to-day?w hat a precious boon For the earnest souls who labor, For the willing hands that minister For the needy friend or neighbor. Strength for to-day?that the weary hearts, In the battle for right, may quail not, And the eyes bedimmed with bitter tears In their search for light, may fail not Strength for to-day?on the downhill track, For the travellers near the valley, That up, far up, the other side Ere long they may safely rally. Strength for to-day?that our precious youth, May happily shun temptation, And build, from tha rise to the set of the sun, On a strong and sure foundation. Strength for to-day?in bouse and borne, To practice forbearance sweetly; To scatter kind words and loving deeds, Still trusting in God completely. A Notable Tilt. A ] rominent business man of St. Louis, who had lately returned from New York, tells the following story: Some time since, a month or so ago, Col. Ingersoll was thrown accidentally into the society of Henry Ward Beecher. There were four or five gentlemen present, all of whom were prominent in the world of brain3. A. variety of topics were discussed with decided brilliancy, but no allusion made to religion. The distinguished infidel was, of course, too polite to introduce the subject himself, but one of the party, finally desiring to see a tilt between Bob and Beecher, made a playful remark about Col. Inger Boll's idiosyncracy, as he termed it. The Colonel at onco defended his views in his usual rapt rhetoric; in fact, he waxed eloquent. He was replied to by several gentlemen in very effective repartee. Contrary to the expectation of all, Mr. Beecher remained an abstracted listener, and said not a word. The gentleman who introduced the topic, with the hope that Mr. Beecher would answer Col. Ingersoll, at last remarked: Mr. Bcecher have you nothing to say on this question?" The old man slowly lifted himself from his attitude and replied: "Nothing; in fact if you will excuse me for changing tho conversation, I will say that while you gentlemen were talking my mind was bent upon a most deplorable spectacle which I witnessed today." "What was it?" at once inquired Ingersoll, who, notwithstanding his peculiar views of the hereafter, is noted for his kindness of heart. "Why," said Mr. Beecher, ''as I was walking down town to-day, I saw a poor, lame man, with crutches, slowly and carefully picking bis way through a cesspool of mud, in the endeavor to cross the street. He had just reached the middle of the filth when a big, burly ruffian, himself all be spattered, rushed up to him, and, jerkr lng tne crutches irom under the unfortunate man, left him sprawling and helpless in the pool of liquid dirt, which engulfed him." "What a brute he was!" they all echoed. "Yes, said the old man, rising from his chair and brushing back his long white hair, while his eyes glittered with their old-time fir^ as he bent them on Colonel Ingersoll, "yes, Colonel Inger soil, you are that man. The human soul is lame, but Christianity gives it crutches to enable it to Dass across the Dathwav of life. It is your teachings that knock these crutches from under it, and leave it a helpless and rudderless wreck in the Slough of Despond. If robbing the human soul of its only support on this earth?religion?be your profession, why ply it to your heart's content. It requires an architect to erect a building; any incendiary may reduce it to aslics." The old man sat down, and silence brooded over the scene. Colonel Inger soil fcund that he had a master in nis own power of illustration, and said nothing. The company took their hats and separated. If we do not go by the door of grace, we shall not find the door of the kingdom of glory. Slippery placoa may fling up the heels of great giants, and little temptations may overthrow well-grown Christians. ?[Lee. Of all the means placed by Providcnce within our reach whereby we may lead souls to Him, there is one more blessed than all the others?intercessory prayer. In speaking of the spirit, Christ uses the simile of the wind. You know the wind always blows towards a vacuum. If we can make a vacuum in our hearts the Holy Spirit will fill them.?[A. J. Gordon. Nothing can be truly termed my own But what I made my own by using welL Those deeds of charity which we have done Shall stay forever with us; and that wealth Which we have so bestowed wo only keep, The other is not ours. ?Middleton. The I.aw and Order League, of Newark, Ive.v Jersey, has been lately rein forced by tne aciauioa iu us uieuiui-iship of many leading citizens. The associated liquor dealers of the city have also been perfecting their organization in view of the war that seems likely to be renewed against thesaloong. During 1885 there were 17,804 persons arrested in New York city for intoxication, the smallest number in thirteen years. In 1876 the number was 25,296, and the average for the thirteen yean 22.'J 90. REV. DR. TALMAGE. THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Subject: "Are We Deluded?" Test: "He made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver."?Ezekiel xx., 21. Two modes of divination by which the I King of Babylon proposed to find out the will of God. He took a bundle of arrows, I put them together, mixed them up, then I pulled forth one, ana by the inscription on it decided what city be should first assault. | Then an animal was s'xain, and by the lighter i or darker color of the liver, the brighter or darker prospect of success was in ferred. That is the meaning of the text: "He made his | arrows bright, he consultel with images, he looked in the liver." Stupid delusion I And yet all the ages have been hlled with delusions, it seems as if the world loves to be hoodwinked, the delusion of the text only a specimen of a vast number of deceits practiced upon the human race. In the latter part of the last century Johanna Southcote came forth, pretending to have divine power, made prophecies, had chapels built m her honor, and one hundred disciples came forth to follow her. About five years before the birth of Christ, Apollonius was born, and he came forth, and after five years being speechless according to the tradition, be healed the sick and raised the dead, and preached virtue, and, according to the myth, having deceased, was brought to resurrection! The Delphic Oracle deceived vast multitudes of people: the Pythoness seated in the Temple of Apollo uttering a crazy jargon from which the people guessed their individual or national fortunes or misfortunes. The utterances were of such a nature that : you could read them any way yoii wanted j to read them. A lienerai going iortn to Da&tle, consulted the Delphic Oracle, and he wanted to find out whether he was going to be safe in the battle, or killed in the battle, and the answer came forth from the Delphic Oracle in such words that, if you put the comma before the word "never," it means one thing, and if you put the comma after the word "never," it means another thing, J'ust opposite, The message from the )elphic Oracle to the General was: "Go forth, return never in battle 6halt thou perish." If he was killed, that was according to the Delphic Oracle; if he came home safely, that was according to the Delphic Oracle. So the ancient auguries deceived the people. The priests of those auguries, by the flight of birds, or by the intonation of thunder, or by the inside appearance of slain auimals, told the fortunes or misfortunes of individuals or nations. The sibyls deceived the people. The sibyls were supposed to be inspired by women who lived in caves and wrote the Sibylline books afterward purchased by Tarquin the Proud. So lateas the year 1829,a man arose in New York, pretending to be a divine being, and playing his part so well that wealthy merchants bicame his disciples and threw their fortunes Into bis discipleship. And so in all ages, there have been necromancies, incantations, withcrafts, sorceries, magical art?, enchantments, divination.1) and delusions. The one of the text was only a specimen of that which has been transpiring in all ages of the world. None of these delusions accomplished any gocd. They deceived, they pauperized the people, they were as cruel as they were absurd xney openeu no nospicais, they healed no wounds, they wiped away no tears, they emancipated no serfdom. But there are those who say that all these delusions combined are as nothing compared with the delusion now abroad in the world, the delusion of the Christian religion That delusion has to-day over four hundred million dupes. It proposes to encircle the earth with its girdle. That which has been called a delusion has already overshadowed the Appalachian range on this side the sea; and it Das overshadowed the Balkan and Caucasian ranges on the other side of the sea. It has conquered England and the United States. This champion delusion, this hoax, this swindle of the ages, as it has been called, has gone forth to conquer the islands of the Pacific; the Melanasia and the Micronesia and Malayan Polynesia have already surrendered t"> the delusion. Yea, it has conquered the Ind an Archipe'ago, and Borneo and Sumatra and Celebes and Java have fallen under its wiles. In the Fiji Islands, where there are 220,000 people, 102,000 have already become the dupes of this Christian religion, and if things go on as they are now going on, and if the influence of this great hallucination of the ages cannot be stopped, it will swallow the globe. Supposing, then, that Christianity is the delusim of the centuries, as some have pronounced it I propose his morning ^ show you what has been ac complisbed oy tnis cnimera, mis lauacy, iuis hoax, this swindle of the ages. And in the first place, I remark, that this delusion of the Christian religion has made wonderful transformations of human character. I will go down the aisle of any church in Christendom, and I will find on either side that aisle these who were once profligate profane, unclean of speech and unclean of action, drunken and lost. But by the power of this delusion of the Christian religion they have been complet -1}' transformed, and now they are kind and amiable and genial and loving and useful. Everybody sees the change. Under the power of this great hallucination they have quit their former associates, and whereas thev once found their chief delight among thrse who gambled and swore and raced horses, now they find their chief joy among those who go to prayer meetings and churches; so complete istbedeluui n. Yea. their own families have noticed it?the wife has noticed it, the children have noticed. The mciev that went for rum now goes for books and for clothes and for e luca*ioiL He is a new man. All who know him JAY there has been a wonderful chauge. What is the c au?e of this change > This great hallucination of the Christian religion. There is as much difference between what he is now and what he once was, as between a rose and a nettle, as between a clove and a vulture, as between day and night. Tremendous delusion! Admiral Farraeut, one of the most admi red men of the American navy, early became a victim of this Christian delusion, and, seated, not long before his death, at Long Branch, he wa; giving some friends an account of his early life. He said: "My father went down in behalf of the United States Government to put an end to Aaron Burr's rebsllion. I was a cabin boy and went along w th him. 1 could swear like an old salt. I could gamble in every style of gambling. I knew all the wickedness there was at that time abroad. One day my father cleared everybody out of the cabin except myself, and" locked the door. He said : 'David, what are you going to do# "What are you going to be?' 'Well,' I said, ' father, I am going to follow the sea.' 'Follow the sea! and be a poor, miserable drunken sailor, kicked and cuffed oKi-?r*f fV?a trni?Mon^ rlianf Q fflVAr l'n ft fftPAlVn hospital!' 'Oh! no,' I said, 'father, I will not be that; I will tread the quarter-deck and command, as you do.' 'No, David,'my father said; 'no, David, a person that ba3 your principles and your bad habits will never tread the quarter-deck or command.' My father went out and shut the door after him, and I said then: 'I will change, I will never swear again. I will never drink again, I will never gamble again;' and, gentlemen, by the help of God I have kept those three vows to this time. I coon after that became a Christian, and that decided my fato for time and eternity.*' Another captive of this great Christian delusion! There goei Saul of Tarsus on horseback at full prallop. Where is he going! To destroy Christians. He wants no better playspell than to stand and watch the hats and coats of the murderers who are massacring God'3 children. There goos the same man. This time he is afoot. Where is he going now? Going on the road to Ostitt to die for Christ. They tried to whip it out of him, thev tried to scare it out of him, thev thought thev would give him enough of it by putting him into a windowloss dungeon, and keeping him on small diet, and denyiug him a cloak, and condemnine him as a criminal, and howling at him through the street: but tbey could not freeze it out of him, audthey could j not sweat it out of him, and they could not I pound it out of him, so thoy tried the sur: ? r-TT-zwrl nnrl nno ciimmpp rifivill t,hG ' gttt'J Ul KUO 9?>VIU.I.UMV..V..MM...V. J . year 65 ho was de agitated. Perhaps tho ' mightiest intellect of the {>,000 yeai-s of tho | world's existence hoo<lwinked, cheated, c-a' joled, duped by the Christian religion. Ah! that is the remarkable thing about this delusion of Christianity, it overpowers the strongest intellects. Gather the critics, secular and relizious, of this century together, : and put a vote to them as to which is the j greatest book ever written, and by large , majority they will say "Paradise Lost." Who wrote "Paradise Lost?" One of the i fools who believed in this Bible, John Milton. Benjamin Franklin surrendered to this delusion, if you may judge from the letter j that he wrote to Thomas Paine begging him ' to destroy the "Age of Reason" in manu I script and never let It go Into type, and writ ing afterward, in his old days: "Of this Jesos of Nazareth I have to say that the system of morals Ho le't, and the religion He has given us are the best things the world has ever sean or is likely to see." Patrick Henry, the electric champion of liberty, enslaved by this delusion, so that he says: "The book worth all other books put together is the Bible. Beniamin Rush, the leading physiologist and anatomist of his day, the ereat medical scientist? what did he say? "The only true and perfect religion is Chrisfianity." Isaac Newton, the leading philosopher of his time?what did he say? rhat man surrendering to this deluI sion of the Christian religion, crying out: "The sublimest philosophy on earth is the philosophy of the Gospel" David Brewster, at the pronunciation of whose name every scientist the world over bows his head, David Brewster saying: "O, this relig:on has been a great light to me, a verv great light all my days." President. Thiers, the great French statesman, acknowledging that he prayed when he said: 4*I invoke the Lord God in whom I am glad to believe." David Livingstone, able to conquer the lion, able to conquer the panther, able 13 conquer the sava?e. yet conquered by th:s delusion, this hallucination, this great swindle of the ages, so when they find him dead they find him on his knee^. William E. Gladstone, the ftrong?a :-i.n?i J... * * JUioir't't iii jDii^iauu wj-uujr, uuauio vu id* sist this chimera, this fallacy, this delusion of the Christian relieion, goes to the house of God every Sabbath, and often, at the invitation of th9 rector, r<?ads the prayers to the people. 0, if those mighty intel'ects are overborne by this delusion, what chance is there for you and for me? Beside that, I have noticed that first-rate Infidels cannot be depended on for steadfastness in the proclamation of their sentiments Goethe, a leading skeptic, was so wrought upon by this Christianity that in a weak moment he cried out: r'My belief in the Bible has saved me in my literary and moral life." Rousseau, one of the most eloquent champions of infidelity, spending his whole life warring against Christianity, cries out: "The majesty of the Scriptures amazes me." Altamont, the notorious infidel, one would think he would have bean safe against this de'usion of the Christian religion. Oh, no! After talking against Christianity all his days, in his last hours he cried out: "Oh, thou blasphemed but most indulgent Lord God, hell itself is a refuge if it hide me from Thy frown." Voltaire, the most talented infldel the world ever saw, writing two hundred and fifty publications, and the most of them spiteful against Christianity, himself the most notorious libertine of the century?one would have thought he could nave Deen aepenaoa upon ior su?anfastness in tne advocacy of infidelity and in the war against this terrible chimera, this delusion of the Gospel. But no; in his last hour he asked for Christian burial, and asks that th^y give him the sacrament of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why. you cannot depend upon these first-rate infidels?you cannot depend upon their power to resist this great delusion of Christianity. Thomas Paine, the god of modern skeptics, his birthdav celebrated in New York and Boston with great enthusiasmThomas Paine, the paraxon of Bible haters?Thomas Paine, about whom his brother infidel, William Carver, wrote in a letter which I have at my house, saying that he drank a quart of rum a day and was too mean and too dishonest to pay for it?Thomas Paine, the adored of modern infidelity? Thomas Paine, who stole another man's wife in England and brought her to this landThomas Paine, who was so squalid and so loatbesome and so drunken ana so profligate and so beastly in his habits, sometimes picked out of the ditch, sometimes too filthy to be picked out?Thomas Paine, one would have thought that he could have b?en depended on for steadfastness against this great delusion. But no. In his dying hour, he begs the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy. Powerful delusion, all-conquering delusion, 11 ? ? ??? -a it., eamuquaicing aeiusiun 01 iuo uurubiau i ulig'on. Yea, it goes on, it is so impertinent, and it is so overbearing, this chimera of the Gospel, that having conquered the great picture galleries of the world, the old masters and the young masters, as I showed in a former sermon, it is uot satisfied until it has conquered the music of the world. Look over the programme of that magnificent musical festival a few years ago in New York and see what w?re the great performances, and learn that the greatest of all the subject? were religious subjects. What was it one night when three thousand voices were accom anied with a vast number of instruments? "Israel in Egypt" Yes. Beethoven deluded until he wrote the High Ma<? in D. Ma'or. Haydn deluded with this religion until he wrote the "Creation." Handel delu'e i until he wrote the oratorios of "Jephthah" and "Esther" and "Saul" and "Israel in Eeyj t," and the "Messiah." On the closing night three thousand deluded people s'neing of a delusion to eight thousand deluded hearers. Yes, this chimera of the Gospel is not satisfied until it goes on and builds itself into the most permanent architecture, so it seems as if the world is never to get rid of it. What ? ? * f i are suiuo ui me uui?i uunumum iuv St. Paul's, St. Peter's, the churches and cathedrals of all Christendom. Yes, this impertineuce of the Gospel, this vast delusion is not satisfied until it projects itself, and in one year gives, contributes, $6,250,000 to foreign missions, the work of which is to maVe dunces and fools on the other side of the world?people we have never seen. Deluded doctors?two hundred and twenty physicians meeting week by we.'k in London, in the Union Medical Prayer Circle, to worship Gcd. Deluded lawyers?the late Lord Cairns, the highest legal authority in England, the ex-adviser of the throne, spending his vacation in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the poor people of S 'ot'and. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, once the Secretary of Btate of the United States, an old-fashioned evangelical Christian, an elder in the Reformed Church. Jonn Bright, a deluded Quaker. Henry Wilson, the Vice-President of the United States, dying a deluded Methodist or Cc n^regationalist. Earl of Kintore dying a deluded Presbyterian. The cannibals in South 8ea, the Bushmen of Terra del Fuego, the wild men of Australia, putting down the knives of their cruelty, and clothing themselves in decent apparel?all under e at. _ J ,1 Nirlortn onrl flnhf itie power oi mis uoiuaiuu. u uuo><u,uu>* ? , and Abeol, and Campbell, and Will'am, and the three thousaud missionaries of the cross, turning their backs on home and civilization I and comfort,and going out among the squalor of heathenism to receive it, to save it, to help it, toiling until they drop into their I graves, dying with no earthly comfort about them, and going into graves with no appropriate epitaph, when they might have lived in this country, and lived for themselves, and lived luxuriously, and been at last put into brilliant sepulchres. What a delusion! Yea, this delusion of Christian religion shows itself in the fact that it goes to those who are in trouble. Now, it is bad enough to c heat a man when he is well, and when ne is prosperous; but this religion comes to a man when he is sick, and says: "You will be well again after a while; you are going into a land where there are no coughs and no f>leurisies and no consumptions and no anguishing; take courage and bear up." Yea, this awful chimera of the Gospel come3 to the poor and it says to them: "You are on your way to vast estates and to dividends always declarable." This delusion of Christianity comes to the bereft, and it talks of reunion before the throne and of the ces ation of all sorrow. And tben to show that this delusion will stop at aDsoiuteiy nothing, it goes to the dyln? bed and fills the man with anticipations. How much better it would be to have him die without any more hope than swine aud rats and snakes. That is all. Nothing more left him. He will never know anything again. Shovel him under! The soul is only a superior part of the body and when the body disintegrates the soul dis, integrates. Annihilation, vacancy, everlasting Dlank, obliteration. Why not present all that boatitiful doctrine to the dying, instead of coming with this hoax, this swindle of the Christian religion, and tilling tho dying man with anticipations of another life, until some in the last hour have clapped th?ir hands, and some have shouted, and some have sung, and some have been so overwrought with joy they could only look ecstatic. Palace gates opening, they thought; diamond coronets flashing. hands beckoning, orchestras sounding. Little children dying, actually believing tney saw their departed parents, so that,although the little children had been so weak and leeble and sick for weeks they could not turn on the dying pillow, at the last, in a j aroxayin of rapture uncontrollable, they spi ang | to their feet, aud shouted: "Mother, catch me, I am coming!" And to show the immensity of this delusion, this awful swindle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,I open a hospital and I bring into that hospital the death-bods of a great many Christian people, and I taue you by the hand this morning, and I walk up and down the wards of that hospital, and I ask a few questions: ' Dying Stephen, what have you to say!" "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." "Dying John Wesley, what have you to Bay?" "The best of all is, Cod is with us." "Dying Edward Fayson, what have you to sayi" "I float in a sea of glory." "Dying Job 11 Bradford, what have yon to sayr 'If there be any Tray of going to Heaven on horseback, or in a fiery chariot, it is this." "Dying Neander, what have you to say?" "I am going to sleep now?good-night." "Dying Mm. Florence Foster, what have you to say?" "A pilgrim in the valley, but the mnnnfofn.t^TKJ aid nil otrlaAm from tv^aW tn peak." "Dying Alexander Math.iT, what bave yon to say?" "The Lord who has taken care of me tiity years, will not cast me off now; glory be to God and to the Lamb! Amen, amen, airien, amen!" "Dying John Powson, after preaching the Gospel so many years, what have vou to say?" My death-bed is a bed of roses.,r "Dying Doctor Thomas Scott, what hay* you to sayr" "This is Heaven begun." "Dying soldier In the last war, what Lave you to say?" "Boys, I am going to the front" "Dying telegraph operator on the battle-field of Virginia, what have you to say?' "The wires are all laid, and the poles arei up frcm Stony Point to headquarters." "Dying Paul, what have you to say?" ''I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand; I have fought the good fight, I have finished'my course, I have l;ept the faith. O Death, where is thy ating? 0 Grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be unto God wjo giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" O, my Lord, my God, what a delusion, what a glorious delusion! Submerge me with it, fill my eyes and ears with it, put it under my dying head for a pillow?this delusion?spread. itrover me for a canopy, put it underneath me for an outspread wing, roll it over me in ocean surges ten thousand fathoms deep! 0, if infidelity,and if atheism, and if annihilation are a reality, and the Christian religion is a delusion, give me the delusion? The strong conclusion of every man and woman in the house is that Christianity producing such grand results cannot be a delusion. A lie, a cheat, a swindle, an hallucination cannot launch such a glory of the centu* riea. Your logic and your common sense convince you that a bad cause cannot produce an illustrious result; out of the womb of "such a n/Miotnr nn antrol nnrt Ha hnm Tharrt are many in this house this morning, in the galleries and on the main floor, who bejjan with thinking that the Christian religion was a stupid farce, who have come to the* conclusion that it is a reality. Why are you here to day? Why did you sing this song! ! Why did you bow your head in the opening prayer? Why did you bring your familywith you? Why, when I tell you of the ending of all trials in the bosom of God, do there stand tears in your eyes?not tears of grief, but tears of joy, such as stand in the eyes of homesick children far away, at school when some one talks to them about going home? Why is it that you can -be so calmly submissive to the death of your loved on e, about whose departure you once were so angry and so rebellious? There is something the matter with you. All yoar friends have found out there is a great change. And if some of you would frive your exDerience, you would give it in scholarly style, and others giving your experience would give it in broken style, but the one experience would be just as good as the other. Some of you have read everything. You are scientific and you are scholarly,and yet if I should ask you: "What is the most sensible thing you ever did?" you would say: "The ir.ost sensible thing I ever did was to trive mv heart to God." But there may be others here who have not had early advantages, and if they were asked to give their experience, they might rise and give such testimony as the man gave in a prayer meeting, when he said: "On my Way LIU It) HU'llIguu, 1 mob o? mau nuv cui^uu me where I was going. I said: 'I am going to prayer-meeting.' He siid: 'There are a goodmany religions, and I think the most of them are delusions; as to the Christian religion, that is only a notion, that is a mere notion, the Christian religion. I said to him: 'Stranger, you see that tavern over there? 'Yes,' he said, 'I see it.' 'Do you see meP 'Yes, of course I see you.' 'Now, the time was, as everybody in this town knows, that if I bad a quarter of a dollar in my pocket I could not pass that tavern without going in and getting a drink; all the people of Jefferson could not keep mo i out of that place; but God has changed ray j heart, and the Lord Jesus Christ has' destroyed my thirst for stronc. drlak, and there Is my wnole week's wages, ana 1 nave no temptation to go in there; and, stranger, if this is a notion, I want to tell you it is a mighty powerful notion; it is a notion that has put clothe* on my children's back, and it is a notion that has filled my mouth with thanksgiving to God. And, stranger, you had better go along with me, you might get religion, too; lots of people are getting re- . ligio'n now.'" | Well, we will soon understand it alL Your life and mine will soon be over. We will soon come to the last bar of the rnusic:, to the last act of the tragedy, to the last page of the book?yea, to the last line and to the last word, and to you and to me it w ill either be midnoon or midnight FACTS FOB THE CURIOUS. Every sixty-ninth person in Scotland is a Smith and every 3eventy-oighth a MacDonald. During the year 1886 there w?;re 3,223 racei run in the United StateB, and 11,238,900 won. "Within the limits of the Roman Empire, under Augustus, there were at least 100.000,000 of human being9. The teeth of a citizen of North Strahave. Penn., are all double. He can crack a walnut, bite a two-penny nail in two or lift a quarter of beef with his teeth with ease. When the President of the United State:) proclaimed war againts Great Britain on .July 10, 1812, the navy of the United States consisted of only twenty vessels, exclusive of gunboats. | A Glasgow yacht, destined for pearl Bshing in South Australian waters, has been titted with electrical apparatus expected to light up the "water to the great depth of seventeen fathoms. James Hoa:r, of Cedar Springs, Mi ll., is the: smallc t man of his age now living. He is. forty-live inches in height, wei.hs seventy-six pounds, and is seventy-two years old. *:e was born in 1815. irome one wi:h a mathematical mind has figured it out that all the gold on earth to-day, in whatever shape?that is, mined gold, or to put it plainer, the gold in use in all nations and the product of all ages - if welded in one mass, would be contained in a cube of less than thirty feet. The discovery of nitro-glycerine was made by a young Italian or Spanish chemist named Sobrero, at Taris, in 1 S4C?, the year after that in which guncotton was discovered. But for many years it was regarded only as a chemical i curiosity, itsi practical value not beiDg ' re.ogni cd till 1?03. Although 'the production of lead pipe j has commonly been regarded of quite | nr'rrin OlPrP nnnPfirB tO be CV1- I b"> -ri , , dcnce that the Romans'were acquainted , with the article, w.th >ut, however, having appliances for making anything of . largo dimensions or sufficiently strong to withstand pressure from the fountain head. In the C'hcrchcl museum is a piece of lead pipe made by rolling a sheet of metal, turning the edge over, and then running molten load along the joints There is a curious < ustom practiced summer and winter in Northern China of u^ing hot water every morning to wash the face and hands. Men, women, and children must have a basin of clean hot water when they get up, or before they eat their breakfast, :n which to bathe their feet aud hands at least, j Even beggars have hot water or use none | I at all. .No one would insult his guest by offering cold water to wash in. The water is almost scalding hot. Foreigners think this hot-water bathing weakens the eyes. Certainly no one can live in China without noticing the number of sore! eyes which he sees. Ben: Perley Poore thinks Ceneraj Grant was never happier in his life thin when, cheered by his young wife, he farmed sixty acres, labored in the] fields, chopped wood at "iiardscrabble," hauled it to St. Lc'is and sold it lor |4 a cord. VIENNA VIEWS. < SIGHTS AND SCENES IN THE , AUSTRIAN CAPITAL. I r House Numbers?Street Cars?The Cafes?Imitating Paris ?The Military and Barracks? The Middlo Classes. The manner of numbering iu Vienna is practical, writes a correspondent of the San Fraacisco Chronicle. Over every door is a cast-iron plate of good size, bearing the name of the street and the number of the house. As the plates are oblong, or oval, they indicate direction. So by consulting these plates one knows at once where he is, aud by observing their form he understands what course he must take to bring him into a familiar quarter. . There is a certain individuality about everything in Vienna. It is German-like without being German, like the speech, which with its queer accent and its local forms, is colloquially little more than a dialect of the German language. The street-car lines are well systematized and the service generally good, though there are exceptions. The conductor, a person uniformed in blue and as neat as those on the horse cars in San Francisco, gives the stranger all the information that is possible in the absence of a common tongue, and takes willingly in return three or four kreutzers, if they are offered. If they are not, he looks pathetically after the inquiring passenger ?.1. /v- U? Knf ootra rnthi n Cf The fare is eight kreutzers?a little over { three cents, and for this amount, by ? taking a "correspondence" ticket, one 1 can go to any part of tho city, changing i cars two or three times if necessary. The cars are unlike those seen elsewhere in c Europe! The front and rear platforms < occupy each about one-third or the vehicle. They are covered and have a few i seats, sometimes all on the side next the < midile of the car, sometimes a part of t them at tho front or* rear railing. The 1 inclosed portion is provided with seats < of the usual pattern. i Though the cafes are a marked feature i of Vienna life, their clientele is small i compared with those of Paris. The best ] furnish only coffee, with tea if it is de- < sired, and a few liquors. At those of the 1 second class it is coffee and beer or wine, i and at those that are still inferior, princi- < pally beer. The garoon is generally a i good-natured fellow, with a plain, i peasant-like face and feet that form a 1 sort of Bedloe-Island base for a person i that is far from statuesque. In cafes of | the first class he is decently attired I always in the conventional swallow-tail. i The Vienna cafe is an architectural cu- < riosity. Those at Paris have a flat or paneled ceiling, artistically frescoed and ] profusely bronzed or gilded. The ground 1 story of most Vienna buildings is lofty 1 and vaulted, and under these great i arches, which are ornamented with frcs- i coas, assemble nightly a crowd gathered < to gossip and read the newspapers. \ Where the collection of newspapers is ] large the assemblage is polygot. Here i are seen Americans. English, Russians, i Germans, Spaniards, Italians, Hun- t garians, Turks, Roumanians and French, 1 for, though the latter find Germany now < off fheir route, Vienna still has its i charms. It buys French goods, it imitates Paris and it is inferior to Paris, all 1 of which peculiarities form claims to < consideration in the eyes of patriotic < Frenchmen. The Cafe Central has on its list several hundred daily and weekly i papers, printed in all languages. The i traveler who does not read German < fluently, and who is perishing for news, first inquires for the London papers,then i for those of Paris. There are none of i them, perhaps, forthcoming, and looking I < about for the cause, he discovers th m ! piled up about some one who ha9 the i appearance of an Englishman, who, 1 when the garcon timidly approaches and ] asks that some of them bo released, i growls in an<jry refusal. i The military idea is as prevalent in 4 L - -1 ?^ ? fn.Ana Thftra ' t Austria as UlStwucic til uuiujra. auv?v i is good food for powder to be found in I the Tyrol, in Styria, in Bohemia, in Hun- | gary?in fact, in all the outlying prov- ] inces. The peasantry are stalwart and . not wanting in soldierly qualities, but ] they are not over-anxious to fight the ' Hapsburga' battles. The uniforms have j 1 more or less of the variety of the races [ < that go to make up the empire. The i 1 Hungarian soldiers retain their national I characteristics of dress, the Styrians and < Tyrolese their short breeches, their < mountain-green and rooster's feather, i The private uniforms are neat and con- * venient, the jacket or blouse short and ] the pantaloons either made to fit the leg i like a long stocking, or very narrow and i having little play about the ankk. The j uniforms of officers are trim, and, like i those in Italy, made to fit closely. The i officers themselves are not so handsome* ? ?s their Italian confreres, but they have 1 a general air of neatness and careful 1 keeping. Their pay is wretched, those i of the line receiving from $225 to $240 a i ,'a ?/ >* nnnuorh to aunnort I i jrcu?, " ? ? 0- ? 1 , them decently. They are, in consequence, I often in debt, and frequently compelled i to resort to disreputable practices to eke < out a precarious existence. But the military effort of the people is not alone manifest in the army aud navy, whose representatives are seen everywhere. There are immense barracks, not only in ; ' Vienna, but iu every important city of 1 the country, which impress the visitor by their immense size and their architec- f tural pretensions. ] There is such a gentleness of de- ' meanor among the portion of the popu- J lation of Vienna, properly called German, that one wonders how the Haps- ! burgs, who belonged to the same cliss, 1 could ever have acquired their bad repu- j totion for cruelty and oppression. The I' Vienna burgher is as modest in dress as J I quiet in manner. His clothing is of; ' plain material, substantially but not I ( showily made. He rarely wears the tall! 1 silk hat. which is considered essential to : ' a finished personal ensemble in London ; ' and Paris. A round-topped felt hat ! contents him. The young wo:nen of the , 1 middle and lower classes essay certain j1 coquetry in attire, which shows that .she * has aspirations in the direction of good j ' taste, not always successtul. She has aX- - ? r\f Viofw? o nrl fhp rrr.aPAflll I not cue jjuisc ui ?..v. ?? D figure common among the young women ! of Paris, nor the same skillful modiste to < fit thereto neat and tasteful garments, j ' Bat whether the daughter of a pretty ' i burgher or a shop girl she hai piquant j ways. She converses without embarrass- ! ' ment, greeting the stranger kindly and < i bidding him ad'euat parting. It sounds ' queer, this French word adieu,heard j everywhere among all classes throughout < Austria and Bavaria. One wonders; when it could have come in and how it < could have become so universally dis-. ' fnr if is hpftrd alike in citv i aciuiitui.^vAt -? ? - # streets and lonely inns among the moun-: < tains. ?* I I The candied sweet potato ii a Phil-' < adelphia confection. It is nothing but j sweet potatoes carefully boiled and quar- < tercd and then candied in boiling syrup, | but it is said to be dainty aud tender and ; of delicious flavor. \ | THE HOME DOCTOR. " Zfense and Care of Nasal Catarrh. Melville C. Keith, M. D., gives in Health and, Home the subjoined explanaion of the cause and cure of that comnon trouble, nasal catarrh: First. Take two glasses and fill one >lass with clear dry starch. Fll the >thcr glass with acid of any kind. Now urn the two glasses mouth to mouth and hake the contents together vigorously or thirty minutes. When this is finished -oil will find that all the starch has been ihanged to sugar by the action of the .cid. This is a law?a chemical law vhich is so well understood that hunIreds of thousands of dollars are exjended in the construction of manufac;ories to turn the starch of com into glu:ose, thence into sugar. Kow this process is also a physiologial Law.' t or all the starch taken into he stomach, as food, must be changed >y an acid into dextrine, and next into iugar. When the starch has been .hanged by this acid into sugar, the iugar is used up by the body to furnish leat. When it is not used up as heat ;he sugar thus formed from starch can je turned into fat. It does not matter whether we regard the saliva, the gas;ric juice, the pancreatic juice or the suc:u9 entericus (juice of the intestines), as icids or 4 'ferments." The acid must be in he body and musi be placed in contact with the starch, or the starch remains un 'hanqed. This is a law jast as much as it is a law :hat you can take two glasses full of itarch and shake them together through til the eternal ages, and you would have ;wo glasses of starch when you finished, starch requires an acid to change it to lugar and this law holds good as well in ;ho human bo Jy as it does in the glucose nanufactory. Now apply this law to the diet of the >rdinary individual and you have the ;ause of catarrh. The human being who takes in starch is a food, and does not have a sufficient luantity of acid to change the starch info dextrine and thence into sugar, will lave that starch either passed otf as undigested starch or it remains in the body is undigested starch. But in any event it is starch, starch, star h, and so renains. As long as it is well diluted and kept at the body temperature of ninetysight to ninety-nine degrees it will be Utiid, and, in the case of a laboring man, \ portion of it may be spit up and spit ? ?'-n- i i-i t>i.i )H, especially uy uscra ui luuauuu. uUb i cold ia the head partially congeals this itarch and it becomes a thick exudation from the mucous membrane. There is i dropping of this undigested starch whicn is exuded or thrown out through ;he mucous membrane) into the throat, ind the unfortunate wretch has the catarrh. Starch then is the basis of catarrh. Hundreds of people go to see some "specialist in catarrh," and pay a big fee :o have their catarrh cured. The specialist (who usually travels and advertises in all the leading papers) has a powerful louche and forces a spray of an acid, jsually alum, but sometimes diluted sulphuric or nitric acid, through this powertill douche into the nostrils and throat ind clears out the otfendiog excess of itarch. The patient thinks himself or herself cured. But the mucous membrane [>f the nostrils and throat are Bimply leadened and tanned. . The sense of smelling is lost and the rictim of the specialist will "have the :atarrnh return again if the same classes food are eaten. In countries where rice is eaten, tne natives have a sufficient quantity of acid from the fruits and vegetable to assist in changiug the starch into sugar. Bu in th 8 country where potatoes are i very common article of diet, 1 he starch is in excess, and there is not enough acid jaten to change the starch into sugar. Hence potato eaters are usually thet persons who have an excess of starch in the body and who suffer from catarrh. The potato contains one-fifth of pure starch and is eaten without any regard its dietic qualities. The little ones who are unknowingly fed upon an excess of potato are those who have enlarge 1 tonsils, enlarged lymphatic ijlauds, lengthened uvula and running noses. Other secretions of the body are supplemented by this exudation of starch. Ladies suffer more than men because of their confinement indoors. A volume could easily bs written upon this topic, but let the readers of this article save their fees to physicians for the cure of catarrh, and study well the cause or causes. Avoid excess of starchy food, and drink a glass of acid (lemonade) each night. Not a "patent acid," but a pure acid, as from lemons, currants or cranberries. Do not make the meal of starchy potato, but take a portion of gluten (bread) or nitrogen (cabbage) and acid (any kina 01 sour sauce.; wuu mo meal, and this, with cleanliness, will j 3ure any case of catarrh in the known world. B y the way. please to remember that any alkali, which neutralizes the icid in the body, is detrimental to the icid necessary to digest or change the Jtarch of the food into sugar. Hence the alkali in the baking powder is a direct assistant to the production of that jommon, filthy disease, catarrh. Logan's Swarthy Complexion. "It is a physiological fact," says Dr. Roberts, '-that the first child by a second carriage often resembles the deceased svife or husband to an extraordinary decree. Geueral Logan's case is the most wonderful illustration of this fact I ever heard of. The General's father, Dr. Logan, was rather dark, but not swarthy, while hid mother was blue-eyed and fairliaired. Vet. General Logan^ strange as j it m:iy seem, inherited tho.Indian lea* Lures and complexion or Dr. Logan's Iialf-brced wife, who died several years previously. The first Mrs. Logan was beautiful, as those half-breed women jften are, and was comparatively fair, nuch fairer, indeed, than her daughter, Ereneral 1 ogan's half-sister, or than the General hiiusclf. The grandchildren cf ,he General's half-sister, by the by living here in Carbondale. show strongly narked traces of their Indian descent. :hough down to the fourth generation." ? Chicago Tribune. Handy Interest Rnles. The answer in each case being In :ents, separate the two right-hand figarcs of the answer to express in dollars lad ccuts: Four percent.?Multiply the principal jy the number of days to run, separate right-hand figure from the product, and TEMPERANCE. Give Us a Call. rSnwwted br >eeliie lhe?? words In i?Iooni4? vertliement.] Give us a call! We keep good beer, Wine, brandy, gin and whiskey hero; Our doors are open to boys and men, And even to women, now and then, We lighten the parses, and we taint their breaths, We swell up the columns of awful deaths, All kinds of crimes we sell for dimes, In our sugared poisons, so sweet to taste. If you've money, position or time to waste, Give us a call. Give us a call 1 In a pint of gin, We sell you more wickedness, shame and sin Than a score of clergymen preaching all day, From dawn to darkness could preach away, And in our beer, (though it may take longer To get a man drunk than drinks that are stronger.) We sell our property, shame and woe. Who wants to purchase? Oar prices are Give us a call. Give us a call! We'll dull your brains, We'Jl give you headaches and racking pains, We'll make you old while you jet are young, To lies ana slanders we'll turn your tongue. We'll make you shirk from useful work, Make theft and forgery seem fair play, And murder a pastime sure to pay. Give us a call. Give us a call 1 We are cunning and wise, We are bound to succeed for we advertise In the family papers, the joufnals that claim To be pure in morals and fair of fame. Husbands, brothers and sons will read Our kind invitation, and some will heed And give us a call; we pay for all The space in the papers we occupy. And there's little in life that money won't buy. If you would go down in the world, and not up, If you would be slain by the snake in the cup, Or lose your soul in the flowing bowl, If you covet shame and a blasted name, Give us a calL Paul's Law of Charity. Dr. Howard Crosby, of this city, has a sharp and spicy article in the Edmiletie Review for January, in which he discusses the following question: "Is Paul's law of charity a fair argument in favor of total abstinencef' Tfce law referred to f ii J- (rri _ j i. til... is in tuese woraa: is guuu t>u ueiuu? eat flesh nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth or is of* fended, or is made weak." "Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world stand eth, lest I make my brother to offend." < Dr. Crosby is of opinion that these passages do not lay down an absolute rale in virtue in which Christians are required to practice total abstinence from the drinking of wine. He says nothing about total abstinence from beer-drinking, whisky-drinking, gin-drinldng or brandy-drinking, but confines the discussion entirely to the drinking of wine. How far his argument is a success or a failure we will not here undertake to determine. Alcoholic liquors do not all bear the same name, yet they are alike in the _ fact that alcohol is the one ingredient that makes them intoxicating. They differ in this respect only in the quantity of alcohol ' which they contain. One can get drunk by drinking any of them, provided he will drink enough; and so one can form the habit of drinking such liquors by drink ing any of them. Drunkards are made gradually, and not in a moment. And inasmuch as no well man needs any alco holic stimulation for any purpose relating to the health of the body and mind, it is certainly perfectly safe for him to abstain altogether from the use of such beverages; and, moreover, this is the only course that is absolutely safe for him. If he is a moderate drinker now, he is just what all drunkards once were, without ever intending to become drunkards at last; and he has no guaranty that he will not imitate their sad example. The drinking of wine may lead him to the drinking of whisky or brandy; and ' thus he may goon from step to step until he achieves his own ruin. Totai absti- * nence is the only sure salvation from this peril, whether Paul's law of charity requires it or not; and this we regard as s sound and all-sufficient reason for sucb abstinence, and also a good reason why the friends of temperance should preach the doctrine, and get as many people to adopt it as they caa. The doctrine does not by any mians rest on "Paul's law of charity" as its sole support, but upon facts of human experience. Grant to Dr. Crosby all that he claims for his argument, and it still remains true that total abstinence is the wise and proper course for every man to pursue, not only for his own safety, but for the good of society. This is a plain dictate of common sense. It may be better to drink wine than to drink whisky; but it is much better to drink neither as a common beverage.?Independent. livide by nine. l ive per ccnt.?Multiply the number clays and divide by seventy-two. Six per cent.?Multiply the number of 3:iy% separate right-hand figure, and divide by six. Eight per cent.?Multiply by number - - J i? ol days anu uivmu uj iuhj-utc. Niuc per cent?Multiply by number of days, separate right-hand figure, and divide by foui. Ten per cent.?Multiply by number of days and divide by thirty-five. Twelve percent.?Multiply by number of days, separate right-hand figure., and divide by three. The Saloon Must Go. The saloons must go, or respect for law must go. The saloon must go, or the respect for the Sabbath be lost. The saloon must go, or the institutions founded by our forefathers upon intelligence and self-retraint and respect for the rights of society, must topple. The saloon must go, or the reign of terror must come, and mob-law take possession of our cities. Which shall it be, old men, who have seen precious blood spilt in behalf of this country until there was hardly a heart left that did not ache? ^Which shall it be, young men, who are to be the citizens of this nation for years to come? "Which is it to be, Christian people, who arc already looking around with anxiety, and wondering why the Church is losing its power over men, and why the epidemic of unbelief and disbelief is sweeping on and on?? The Voice. Moving Againpt Cider. Notwithstanding the State law which allows tne sale OI ciacr in quauuut.? ui five gallons and more, but forbids its sale in less quantitie, the juice of the apple is sold all over the State of Maine by the glass, and cider tippling has become a great evil, especially in the ? country. The Good Tcznplers of Maine are about to try and stop this, and will ask the Legislature to make the law more stringent. Remember that the stuff you drink, Upon the outside shows. Bo always let your intellect Shine brighter than your nosa.