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m w: / !^A ; y* IBEV. DR. TALMAGE. THE BROOKLVN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Subject: "The Fire Worshipers." ?V V '* T*tt ! "There came wise men from the Xast to Jerusalem."?Matthew it., 1. These wise men were the Parsees or the ?-called lire worshipers, and I found theft descendants In India last Ootober. Thett heathfntem Is more tolerable than any of the ??? ll~l --J I... mA.? (uiuur ioiao ronyiuuo auu uoa uivio o>tu v mtlons, and 'while la this round the world series I have already shown you the worst forms of heathenism to-day I show you the least-offenstve. The prophet of the Parsers was Zoroaster. | of Persia. He was poet and philosopher and reformer an well as religionist. His disciples thrived at first in Persia, but under Mohammedan persecution they retreated to India. ^ where I met them, and in addition to what I saw of them Rt their headquarters in Bombay, India, I had two weeks of association With one of the most learned and genial of 'their people on shipboard from Bombay to jBrindisi. The Bible of t ho Parsees, or flro worshipers, as they are inaocurately called, i3 the Zend-Avesta, a collection of the strangest books that ever came into my hands. There (were originally twenty-ons volumes, but ' (Alexander the Oreat, in a drunken fit, set Are to a palace which contained some of them, and they went into ashos and forgetfulness. Bat there are more of their sacred volumes left than most people would have patience to read. There are many things in the religion of the Parsee that suggest Christianity, and some of its dootrines are are in rooord with our own religion. Zo {roaster, who lived about 1400 years before Christ, was a good man, suffered persecution for his faith and was assassinated while worshiping at an altar. He announced the theoryj "Ho is best who is pure of heart," and that there are two great spirits in the world, Ormuzd, the good spirit, ,.|?nd Ahximan, tho bad spirit, and taat all "who do right are under the influence of U Ormuzd, and all who do wrong are under Ahriman; that the Parsee must be "born on the ground floor of the house and must be buried from the ground floor; that the dying man must have prayers said over him and a sacred juice {riven htm to drink; that the good at their twcease go Into eternal light and the bad Into eternal darkness: that, having passed out of this life, the soul lingers near the . <oorpse three days' In a paradisaic state, enjoying more than all the nations of fvth put together could enjoy or in a pandemonlao state, suffering more than all the nations put together oould possiblv uffer, but at the end of three days departing for its final destiny, and that theft will be a resurrection of the body. They .are more eareful than any other people about their j ablutions, and they wash and wash and iwaab. They pay great attention to physical jhealtb, and it is a rare thing to see a slok iPanee. They do not smoke tobacco, for they consider that a misuse of fire. <. . ; At the close of mortal life the soul appears ' ?t the bridge Cbinvat, where an angel pre* tides and questions the soul about the , thoughts ana words and deeds of its earthly ptate. Nothing, however, is more intense In the Parsee faith than the theory that the Beady body is Impure. A devil Is supposed fsf fit a tflaarl HaH r All KV (IIB.O |IVW03IVU Vk IMV WWMU www,;. ?... rwho ton oh It are unclean, and henoe the jrtrange style of obsequies. Bat hers I mast give three or four questions and answers v. ; bom one ot the Parsee catechisms | Question?Who is the most fortunate man to the world? . L Answer?He who is the most Innocent. , Q.?Who is the most innocent man in the Urorld? f - A.?He who walks In the path of God and \ 'ic Anns that of the devil. > Q.?Whloh Is the path of God and whioh ',r that of the devil? W&: A.?Virtue is the path of God and vioe that \ bfthedevlL , ! Q.?What constitutes virtue and what I A.?Good thoughts, good words and good Ideeds constitute virtue, and evil thoughts, - ?vil words and evil deeds constitute vice, j Q.?What constitute good thoughts, good words and good deeds and evil thoughts, evr- 1 .. * j > * J.1) <TU woros ana bvu uooubi i A.?Honesty, charity and truthfulness constitute the former, and dishonesty, want of charity and falsehood constitute the latter. And now the better to show you these Parages I tell you of two things I saw within a short time in Bombay, India. It was an M'. afternoon of oontrast. < We started for Malabar hill, on whloh the Wealthy classes have their embowered homes (and the Parisoes their strange temple of the ' - |dead. As we rode along the water's edge I jthesuft was descending the sky. and a disB cflple of Zoroaster, a Parsee, was in lowly I posture and with reverential gase looking I into the sky. He would have been said to have been worshiping the sun, as all Par* I Isees are said to worship the fire. But the * intelligent Parsee does not worship the ft fire. Ho looks upon the sun as the emK. bleth ol the warmth and light of the { ft |Orealor. Looking at a blaze of light, HH whether on hearth, on mountain height or M in th* sky, he can more easily bring to mind the glory of God?ar least so the Parsees Indeed they are the pleasuntest MHheathen I have met. They treat their wives ||H|?a eqaals, while the Hindoos and Buddhists 77 jheat them as cattle, although the cattle and : / Isheep and swine are better off than most of the women of India.; ' This Fusee on me roaosiae on oar way 10 > * Malabar hill was the only one of that religion I had ever seen engaged in worship. Jgto knows bat that beyond the light of the tun aq. whioh he gazes he may oatoh a glimpse of the God who Is light and "In whom there Is no darkness at alIV We passed on up through gates Into the garden that surrounds the place where the Panees dispose of their dead. This garden was given by Jamshldji Jljibhal and is beautiful with flowers of all fans and foliage of til styles of vein and notch and stature. There is on all sides great opulence of fern snd cypress. The garden is 100 feet above the level of the sea. Not far from the entrance is a building where the mourneis of the funeral procession go in to pray. A light is here kept burning year in and year out. We asoend the garden by some eight stone steos. The body of a deceased aged woman was being carried in toward the chlet "tower of silence." There are five of these towers. Several of them have not been used for a long while. Four persons, whose business It Is to do this, carry the corpse. They are . followed by two men with long beards. The tower of silence to which they oome cost 150,000 and Is twenty-five feet high and 276 feet around and without a roof. ' The four carrier* of the dead and the two bearded men come to the door of the tower, enter and leave the dead. There are three rows of places for the dead? ?' the outer row lor the men, the middle row for the women, the Inside row for the children. The lifeless bodies aye left exposed M fur down as the waist. As soon as the $-v employes retire from the tower of silence the vultures, now one, now two, now many, iwoopupon the llttlese form. These vultures fill the atr with their discordant voloes. We saw them in Jong rows on the top of the whltnr?shed wall of the ^ tower 'of silence. In a few minutes v they have taken the last particle of flesh . from the bones. There had evidently been other opportunities for them that day. and some flew away, as though surfeited. They \ sometimes carry away with them parts of a \ body, and it Is no unusual thing for the gentlemen in their country seats to have dropped Into their dooryards a bone from the tower :of silence. . Ia tbe centre of this tower is a well, into {which tbe bones are thrown after they are bleached. The hot snn and tbe rainy season 'and charcoal do their work of disintegration and disinfection, and then there are aluloes that oarrr into the sea what remains of the dead. The wealthy people of Malabar bill have made strenuous efforts to have these strange towers removed as a nalsance. .but they remain and will no doubt for ages remain. ' : I X talked with a learned Parsee about these aaartuary customs. He, said: "I suppose -T" .you consider them very peculiar, but the | >fact is we Parsees reverence the elements of ? j nature and cannot consent to defile them, f ' iWe reverence the Are, and therefore will not 'ask it to bum our dead. We reverence the water and do not ask it to submerge our 'dead. We reverence the earth and will not asc it to bury our dead. And so we lot the vultures take them away." i He confirmed me in the theory that the Panees act on the principle that the deal j are unolean. No one must touch such a body. The earners of this "tomb of silenou" must 1 "-If,, * ' V f not pat their hands on the torm or tne departed. They wear gloves lest somehow they should be contaminated. When the bones are to be removed from the sides of the tower and put In the well at the center, they are touohed carefully by tongs. Then these people besides have very decided theories about the democraoy of the tombs. No snoh things as caste among the dead. Philosopher and boor, the affluent and the destitute must go through the same "tower of silence," lie down side by side with other oocapants, have their bodies dropped into the same abyss and be oarrlel out through the same canal and float away on the same sea. No splendor of Necropolis. No sculpturing of mausoleum. No pomp of dome or obelisk. Zoroaster's teacnlng reunited in these "towers of sllenoe." He wrote. "Naked yon came into the world,and naked you must go out." As 1 stood at the close or day In this gar* den on Malabar hill and heard t&e flap of the vultures' wings coming from their repast, the fnneral custom of the Parsee seemed horrible beyond compare, and yet the dissolution of the human body by any mode is awful, and the breaks of these fowl are probably no more repulsive than the worms of the body devouring the sacred human form in cemeteries. Nothing but the resurrection day can undo the awful work of death, whether It now be put out of eight by cutting spade or flying wing. Starting homeward, we soon were in the heart of the oitv and saw a building all aflash with lights and resounding with merry voices. It was a Parsee wedding in a building erected especallly lor the marriage ceremony. We came to the door and proposed to go in, but at first were not permitted. They saw we were not Parsees, and that we were not even natives. So, very politely, they halted ua on the doorsteps. This temple of nuptials was chiefly occupied by women, their ears and necks and hands aflame with jewels or imitation of jewels. By pantomime and gesture, as we had no use of their vocabulary, we told them w? were strancrera and were curious to see by what process Parsees were married. Gradually we worked oar way Inside the door. The building and the surroundings were illumined by hundreds of oandles in glasses and lanterns, in unique and grotesque holdings. Conversation ran high, and laughter bubbled over, and all was gay. Then tbere was a sound of an advancing band of muslo, but the instruments for the most part were strange to our ears and eyes. Louder and louder were the outside voioes and the wind and stringed instruments. until the prooession halted at the door or the temple and t&e brlftegroom mounted the steps. Then the musio oeased, and all the voioes were StilL* The mother of the bridegroom, with a platter loaded with aromatics and articles of food, oonfronted her son and began to address him. Then she tookirom the plattar a bottle of perfume and sprinkled his face with the redolence. All the while speaking in a droning tone, she took from the platter a handful of rioe, throwing some of it on his head, spilling some of it on his shoulder, pouting some of it on his hands. She took from the platter a coooanut and waved it about his head. She lifted a garland of flowers and threw It over bis neck and a bouquet of flowers and put it in his hand. Her part of the ceremony completed, the band resumed its musio, and through another itnnrtha hrHftcrnnm was AOndncted into the center of the building. The bride was in the room, but there was nothing to designate her. "Where is the bride?' I said. "Where is the bride?1' After awhile ahe was made evident. The bride and groom were seated on chairs opposite each other. A white cartain was dropped between them so that they could not see each other. Then the attendants put their arms under this curtain, took a long rope of linen and wound it around the neck of the bride and the groom in token that they were to be bound together for life. Then some silk strings were wound around the conple, now around this one and now around that. Then the groom threw a handful of rice across the curtain on the head of the bride, and the bride responded by throwing a handful of rice across the curtain on the head of the groom. Thereupon the ourtatn dropped, and the bride's cnalr was removed ana pat beelde that of the groom. Then a priest of the Parsee religion arose and faoed the cou pie. Before the priest was placed a I platter of rice. lie began to address the young man and woman. We could not hear ! a word, bat we understood just as well as if we had heard. Ever and anon he punctuated his ceremony by a handful of rice, which he picked up from the platter ana flung now toward the groom and now toward the bride. The ceremony went on interminably. We wanted to hear the conclusion, but were told that the oeremony would go on for a long while, indeed that it would not oonolude until 2 o'clock in the morning, and this was only between 7 and 8 o'clock in the evening. There would be a recess after awhile in the oeremony, but it would be taken up again in earnest at half past 12. We enjoyed what we had seen, but felt Incapacitated for six more hours of wedding oeremony. Silently wishing the coaple a happy life in each other's companionship, we pressed our way through the throng of congratulatory Parsees. All of them seemed bright and appreciative of the occasion. The streets o at side joyously sympathized with the transactions Inside. We rode on toward our hotel wishing that carriage in all India might be as much honored as in the ceremony we had that evening witnessed at the Parses wedding. The Hindoo women are not so married. They are simply cursed. Into the conjugal relation. Many of the girls are married at seven and ten years ot age, and some of tbem are grandmothers at thirty. They con never go torth into the sunlight with their faces uncovered. Ttoey must stay at home. All styles of maltreatment are theirs. If they become Christians, they become outcasts. A missionary told me in India of a Hindoo woman who became a Christian. She had nine children. Eer husband was over seventy years of age. And yet at her Christian baptism he told her to go, and she went out homeless. As long as woman is down India will be down. No nation was ever elevated except through the elevation of woman. Parsee marriage is an Improvement on Hindoo marriage, but Christian marriage is an improvement on Parsee marriage. A fellow-traveler in India told me he had been writing to his home in England trying to! K?t a law passed that no white woman oould be legally married in India until she had been there six months. Admirable law would that be t If a white woman saw what married life with a Hindoo Id. she would never undertake ir. un wiui iuo thick and ugly veil from woman's fac. Off with the orushing hardens from her shoulder ! Nothing but the gospel of Jesus Christ will ever make life in India what it ought to be. But what an afternoon ot contrast in Bombay we experienced ! From the temple of alienee to the temple of hilarity. From the vultures to the doves. From mourning to laughter. From gathering shadows to gleaning lights. From obsequies to wedding. But how much or all our lives is made up ot such opposltes! I have carried In the same pocket and read from tbem In the same hour the liturgy of tbe dead and the ceremony ot espousals. And to the tear meets the smile, and the dove meets the vulture. Thus I have set before the best of all the religions ot ibe heathen world, and I have done so in order that you might come to higher appreciation of the glorious religion which has put its benediction over us and over Christendom. Compare the absurdities and mummeries of heathen marriage with the plain "I will" ot Christian marriage, the hands joined in pledge "till death do yoa part." Compare the dootrlne that the dead may not be touched with as sacred andjtender ana loving a kiss as VI f Ufc l,uu IHOl AIM VI ilj/o % uai UO t^L ngain will speak to as. Compare tbe narrow bridge Chlnvat over waloti the departing Paraee soul must tremblingly cross to tbe wide open gate ot heaven through which the departing Christian soul may triumphantly enter. Compare tbe twenty-one books of the Zend Avesta ot the Parseo which even the soholars of the earth despair of understanding with our Bible, so much ot it as is necessary lor our salvation in language so plain that ''a wayfaring man, though a fool,need not err therein." Compare the "tower ot silence." with its vultures, at Bombay with the Greeenwood, of Brooklyn, with its sculptured angels of resurreotion. And bow yourselves In thanksgiving and prayer as you realize that if at the battles of Marathon and Saiamla Persia bad triumphed over Greece instead of Greece triumphanting over Persia, Parseelsm, whioh was the national religion of Persia, might have covered the earth, and you and I instead of sitting In the noonday light of our glorious Christianity - "'H ?^4?~~ might have been groping in the depressing shadows of Parseelsm, a religion as Inferior to that whloh is oar inspiration in life and our hope in death as Zoroaster of Persia was inferior to onr radiant and superhuman Christ, to whom be honor and glo^jr and dominion and victory and song, world without end. Amen. CURIOUS FACTS. Bermuda farms bear three successive crops in one year. A house in Calhoun County, Georgia, has been struck by lightning thirteen times. A fair article of molasses can be ? J - / it. _ e xi. _ mauo irurn (uh bmiiis ui tut) uummuu maize. The Greeks had oats B. 0. 200, bat used them only as food for their horses. The Russians make a soup of sardines. It is said to be as rich as the Rothschilds. Jefferson McKenley, colored, of Great Barrington, Mass., is 100 years old and the oldest person in the State. The "Ministry of Old Boots" supply 30,000 garments and 2000 pairs of boots to the neefly ones of London annually. There are about 100,000 islands, large and small, scattered over the oceans. Amerioa alone has 5500 around its coasts. A Minnesota sheriff spent $1000 and traveled 5000 miles to capture a man who stole a $40 wheel. He got the man and the wheel. m "Wefc-grouud snuffs are always allowed to ferment after grinding, and various perfumes and essenoes are then added to give the desired flavor. From 18S7 to 1881 Russia sent 621,000 persons to Siberia, fully 100,000 relatives of prisoners having accompanied the exiles of their own accord. Edible birds' nest, prepared for use, are worth from $1 to $5 per pound, according to quality. There is a constant demand in CJhina for all that can be obtained. Darius Hyataspes in 480 B. 0. introduced a system of assessment and taxation of land, and made himself so obnoxious by it that he was called Darius the Trader. xne xowers 01 ouence in Persia ara stone structures provided with gratings within on which bodies are exposed to be devoured by the flooks of vultures that always infest the locality. Lemons are iu season all the year roun3, but March and April in the spring, and September and October, in the autumu, are the times when the crops are gathered in large quantities. Qrand Duke Alexis, of Bussia, a brother of Alexander IIL, is the most elaborately taitooed Prince in Europe. A huge Japanese dragon extends almost from wrist to shoulder of his right arm. In a i hurricane at Bathurst, A us trana, a mass or timber weigning eiga* tons was detached from the show ground pavilion and carried 200 yards. The timber in the pavilion was all splintered like matchwood. There is a timber ohnte ont in the Oregon Mountains 3328 feet long, where the logs oome whizzing down the mountainside into Columbia River with a velocity of a cannon-ball and make the distanoe, which is abont three-fifths of a mile, in twenty seconds. There are only 450,000 persons in the State of Washington. If that State was as closely settled as Switzerland it would have 12,000,000 persons; as Franoe, abont 17,000,000; as Holland, about 25,000,000; as England, at least 40,000,000, and as Belgium more than 50,000,000. Ttr T " JLJ, JLO^U, UL J.lUW?ib0j fruou.f AO exhibiting oat there some samples of seal and sea lion leather, also shoes of the same material, made bj him. He Bays the seals and sea lions are very valuable for their hides and oil, and that they are easily procured. The leather is very tongh and soft and takes a fine finish. EngllsITaad American Postmen. The difference in compensation between the postmen in London and the United States is remarkable, the highest sum paid to a London postman being $34 a month and the lowest paid to postman in the United States being $50. The pay of a London postman is only from eighteen to thirty-four shillings, or from $4.50 to $7 a week in our money. But he nay obtain three good-conduot stripea, each of which entitles him to one shilling, or twenty-live cents, a week extra. The firat stripe is given for five years' faith?~m\ f Kn n A Sk j-t T* sJ ^f on o T1 /I + K 11 J.UL ODi?WC| tuy dduuuu xv; vou ?u-JL vuo ; third for fifteen. He receives fall pay when absent from duty on account of sickness, is provided with gratuitous medical attendance and is awarded a pension when he iB too old or too disabled to work. He also is furnished with two suits of uniform eacii year, one for winter and one for summer. Thus a London postman oannot get, even after fifteen years of faithful service, a larger salary than $3^2 a year, while the pay of an American postman is $600 at first, then $300 and finally 01000. The number of auxiliary postmen or "subs" in London is 2361:, who manage to earn from six to sixteeen shillings a week?that is, from 01-50 to $4? according to the amount of work thAy perform. Twelve deliveries a day are made in the downtown or business districts and from six to eight in the residence section. Postmen are employed for eight hours a day, but their work isn^t con I* ? martonn nf twnop thrBB WUUUUO. AV AO w. ... or sometimes four turns of duty of two to four hour6 eacii.?Chicago xidcord. Triumph of Antl-Toxlne. The first praotical test Ht 8t. Louis, Mo., Of the benefits of the recently discovered anti-toxine us a cure for dipntherla was made, a few days ago,and was proved a success. The subject upon which the experiment was made is tho three-year-oM child of Fioyd Sohock. The child's condition was fcuch that tracheotomy had been decided uj.ou as a lnst resort to save Its life. The parents, however, consented to the experiment of antl-toxine and its effect was instantly apparent. The ootid breathed easier, and in twelve hours all diphtheritic symptoms had passed away. Queen Victoria's Eyesight Falling. London Truth says that Queen Victoria'a ?yesl?ht is faWng, \ RELIGIOUS READING. THE COUNTY IXSTITUTIOKS. Miss Grace Dodge has written an article on a subject too important to be passed oy, even if it did not offer to many people lust the opportunity for "Christian effort that they are looking for. How many of our readers, dwelling in oountry towns and villages, have ever seen their own county institutions? How many have viBited their inmates? How many have so much as given a thought to their existenoe? We admire those men and women in our great cities who devote time nnd thought to the condition of those who are ehut up in the great institutions?the almshouses, refuges,penitentiaries,and many of us who ao not live in cities envy them their opportunities. Yet it is possible that the small institutions that lie within an hour's walk or a morning's drive need such ministrations still more. To begin with, the wardens and matron* of county institutions are often of a lower Intellectual grade than those In city and State Institutions; they may be even more wellmeaning and conscientious, but they have a narrower experience and none of the quickening influences that come from contact with other people, attendance on public meetings, access to the literature of the subject, ana the like. Your visit may be most welcome to tbem, not to speak of those under their charge, and most valuable, spurring them to new interest in their charge, giving them a new motive for well-doing?tne consciousness of the interest and sympathy of others? and Inspiring them with a desire for a better knowledge of methods ?nd principles. And the inmates of tbese institutions, how much they need a "Friendly Visitor" I " What sadness and gloom are found In a small county prison or poorhouse," says Miss Dodge. These people are usually not monsters of iniquity. If they were they would still need lo. king after in a judicious way, but most of them are as much sinned against B8 sinning, ana tne unionunntes?an: now unfortunate they are! In the lonely, gloomy almshouse may be, as Miss Dodge says, some little, lame child. What a life for it! What a blessed day for it when some unknown but never-to-be forgotten friend drives up, talks kindly to it, lifts it Into the carriage or wagon and takes it away for an hour's outing, leaves it a picture book and bids it good-bye with a kiss or a kindly pat on the head. Can we imagine the brightness of that day to such a ohild? Or there may be, Miss Dodge reminds us some blind man or woman to whom an hour of pleasant chat, a bit of news read out, or a pleasant story from a simple book would be a comfort ndescribable. And then, if there Jhould be abuses, neglect, inadvertent or deSigned, such visits would go far to remedy the evil, though no word of reproof were uttered aDd no complaint made. "Siok and in prison, and ye visited me" applies to these country institutions as well as to those great centres of Iniquity and cruelty which a Howard and an Elizabeth Fry purified and blessed by their Christ-like labor. And here is an opportunity that lies near the hand of many a oue who desires to do good.?Messenger. THE MOTHEB TOO, - . A blue-eyed slip of a girl gnve her heart to the Lord Jesus in our cliildren's meeting, one afternoon, and the following week I was led to go to tne cni.as morner who I knew was not a Christian. Bat how could I spare an hoar or more from my own precious little parish on that busy afternoon? However, I started with my bit of paper containing the address that had been given me, and reached 16 street, to find it a shop with the rooms above quite vacant The man in the shop knew no one by the name I gave, bnt the woman next door, at number 14, said, "Oh, yes; she lives in the roar of this house, go through that gate and you'll find it." So through tne gate I weut, and down some 6teps and along a narrow walk, and up some more steps and I had reaohed the home. Such a noma! Lots of dirt and disorder, but very little sunshine and not much air. The woman had such a tired, disheartened look and no wonder. She was sick and lonely and times were hard, and no one knew her here in th:s great city, and no one cared. And oh, wasn't it sweet to tell her about One who had himself been homesick and tired, and lonely, and poor, and who knew her and who '""rod"?wb^ cared so much that he went to Calvary?for her. cue leaiizeu net hopeles, helpless condition and her need of such a Friend as this, and in a most childlike way she received him, begfAMtlvA hop un/4 intra hot l?_ UltU IU 1V15*<V MVk *MUV> ?? ? UM There were tears in her eyes and on her chpfkc when she said pood-bye, but they were glad tears, and the discouragement look was all gone. jl ati> *tek now she is in her place at our mother's meeting, for it lightens the burden and biightens the way, to come and rest at his feet. And there are so many, many in these homes in Chicago, just as ready as he ehe to hear of a Saviour. I wonder why we are slow to go to them??J. E. Hand, in Record of Christian Work. THE BUSINESS MAN 8 LE880N. He was an upright business man. In his heatt he believed the religion of Christ to be true. But he was very busy, and when Sunday came he was thoroughly tired. He had become interested, too, in his Sunday paper, so he gradually dropped off going to church. His wife went regularly, and sometimes the children. One morning, just after his wife had set out, he was comfortably seated reading the money article, when he heard his boys talking in the next room. Said oight-year-old Willie: "When you grow up, shall you goto church as your mother does, or stay at home like j father?" "I shall do neither," said the one, decidedly. "When I'm a man I Khali have my horses, and be on the road Sundays, and enjoy myself." The newspaper suddenly lost its attraction. Between the father and it ti ere came a picture of his boys associating with loose men. and drifting Into a godless, reckless life, and of himself looking on it in bis old age as the fruit of his self-indulgence. Five minutes after he was rapidly walking toward the church. When the service was over, bis wife, coming down the aisle, saw him waiting at the door. Thert> was questioning, glad surprise in her eyes, but he only remarked that he had taken a walk, and thought be would join her on her way home. Next Sunday, however, the whole family were in their pew, and all the rest of the day there was a kind of peace about the home that reminded him of his boyhood happy days in hi? father's home. , And who will say that he was the less fitted for another week of business life by bis share in the services of God's house, instead of staying at home all Sunday to rest?''? , 8unday School Times. I OUB SINS AS TBB EANDS. A poor fisherman's wife came to the minister with her hands full of bund saying, "Do you see?" Oh, my sins, my Bins, as the oands of the seashore for multitude, as the sands of ineHetusuure: n um yuu not- iir snidhe. "Down by the beacon." "Go down by the beacon and dig up a pile of sand an high as ever you can," said the minister and wnit for the tide to come in." She went down by the beacon and heaped up the sand. She watched the waves as they crept higher and higher and swept over iier pile of sand, and ir was gone; then she clapped her bands for joy. It was a pantomime of tho glorious gospel. The tide, tho crimson tide, rolls in, which taketh away the sins oi the world. "It cleanseth me,it cleanseth me! Oh praise the Lord, it cleanseth me!" We may not all be able to say with St. Paul: "I have fought a good fight; I have kept the faith!" But, thank God, we ctin all say with him : ' I know whom I have believed. and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day." Low Prices of Living. No. 1 Oregon flour is P9lHng at $2.75 per barrel of 200 pounds; earned tomutoo3 are selling at sevenly cents oei dozen, though canners say that the onns cost that sum, without allowing a cant for the contents t dry eranulated sugar is solllnar in New York at cents; middling ^plpnds cotton is changing hands at New Yo? ? at b% cents. These are prices whioh have never been paralleled; thny command the thoughtful attention of all who are tfoaoerned for the future. Cast Lots for the Shrievalty. At Ellzabetbtown, Ky., the rote for Sheriff in Larue County was a tie. Lots were cast for the offloe and the Republican won. E* Immediately appointed his opponent his ohlef deputy. % r SABBATH SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR JANUARY 13. Lesson Text: "Feeding the Five Thousand," Mark vl., 30-44? Golden Text: Luke 1., 53 ?Commentary. 30. The apostles, having been sent forth to heal the sick and to preach the gospel. re. tarned and told Jesus all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. They went forth in His name and wrought and taught In His came and returned and reported to Him. This Is just the thin? for every worker to do?go forth from Him, work and apeak in His name, and then tell Him all and leave it with Him. v 31. No leisure even to eat. What n description of the life of Him who went about doing good! Truly He pleased not Himself (Bom. rv., 3). He lived wlnwly unto God and sought to lead wear? ones into His own rest and peace, even to rest in God and la His pleasure. No leisure for Himself, but every moment for others and their good. Though He considered not Himself, He did consider His apostles and their comfort; hence His Invitation to come aside and rest awhile. 83. They went by ship, and Ho went in the shin with them. Thev were n little nomtmnv. yet one was an unbeliever, bat He Io7ed them all and sougottbolr welfare. Tbereare aboat 1200 souls on this ship, and He loves them all. and many of them love Him, bat there are many unbelievers. We can tell them as far as possible of His love and leave results to Him. 33. The people saw them crossing the lake and ran afoot and outwent them and oame unto Him. Would not multitudes oome unto Him to-day if He were kept before them in somewhat of His loveliness by the doing and teaching of His followers? Multitudes in heathendom woald come to Him if they only knew of Him aud His.love for them. 84. He was neither angry nor grieved when JJe saw the multitudes, although He had K..ftight His disciples apart to rest, but He had compassion, was sorry they had no shepherd ana began to teed their hungry souls. In Ezefc. xxxlv., 2, we read of shepherds who feed themselves instead of their flocks and scatter and neglect the sheep instead of caring for them. 85. It did not prove sach a resting time as many seek, for He taught them till the day was far Bpent, and the disciples began to iqidk mac it waa time 10 aenu mem away. How little ot their Master's spirit these men had?how little we have! He oame not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ruD3om for many (Math, xx., 28), 36. The disciples felt sorry that the multitudes were hangry, bnt bad no thought of feedlngthem, only of sending them away to get something. It la so muoh easier to send people away than to spend oar thoughts and time and strength in oaring for them. If Is so muoh more like Jeans to care for them, even though it takes time and strength and care and denial of self. 87. How surprised the disciples must have been, when instead of sending them away, as th<?y suggested, He said: "Give ye them to eat I" Their surprise is manifest In the question of this verse. John says that Jesus, to prove Philip, asked Him whence they should buy bread to feed this multitude. And Philip suggested that 200 pennyworth might give every one a ' little. Thus vain and fruitless are all our calculations and plans in reference to the Lord's work. 88. He asks what they have lu the way of Andrew riiiuwppra that a InH hnn flm loaves and two small fishes, but thinks the fact hardly worth mentioning (John vl., 8, 9). We are such creatures of sight that we seem unable to believe that the thing can be done uBless we see the wherewithal. Moses failed in this matter wben he asked if nl the flocks and herds should be slain to give the people the meat the Lord promised (Num. xl., 21, 28). Sarah failed when she laughed at the Lord's promise (Gen. xvili,, 18,14). Let us walk by faith, not by sight, and let our hearts cry out, "Ah, Lord God, there is nothing too hard for Thoe" (Jer. xxxU., 17). 89. He now begins to work, they having calculated and looked around, apparently in vain, ai d having come to their wits' end, but everything must be done in order; hence they are commanded to sit down in com[mnies. There is no peace nor vlotory by ooklng wltbin or around, but only by looting unto Him. 40. In oompanles convenient to be waited upon they are now seated upon the green grass, for there was much of it. See last verse and John vl., 10. "Let all things be done decently and irr order" is a law of Scripture (I Cor. adv., 4), for, although we read in Gen. i., 2, that 4,the eurth was without form and void," we read in L?a. xlv., 18, that the Lord did not make it that way. See B. V. 41. The loaves and fishes pass from the lad's hands into fhn hnnrta of Joana. Th? tad gives them wholly and unreservedly up. Then Jesus acknowledges the Fathor'by looking up to heaven for a blessing upon them, after which Ho passes the food to the disciples to be passed on to the people. All can see that the disciples are not doing this, but are simply the messengers or waiters, and Jesus acknowledges that He is not doing it, but the Father in heaven, even as He said in John xlv., 10. 42. "And they did all eat and were filled." Not eaoh one a little, as Phillip had suggested, but each as much as they would (John vl., 11). It is not the Lord's way to give a little, but rather to fill full, "fie filled with the Spirit," "Let the Lord dwell in you rlohly," "Drink abundantly, 0 beloveil!" are some of His words which* indlcnte His pleasure He would have us full of joy and peace (Rom. xv., 18) to oar good and to His great glory?no cares nor anxieties nor Silons nor worries, bat the quietness and oyfulness of children. 43. He will have nothincr of His lost (John vi., 12), and if bo careful "about loaves and fishes how much more about His redeemed ones bought by His precious bloo.l! Yet there at e saved ones who cannot seem to trust Him to keep that which Ho has redeemed with so great a price. Let all such consider their own carefulness of precious things and ask It they are better than He. Let them eat and rest on John x., 23, 29; II Tim. I., 12. 44. The number fed and filled was 5000 m&n, besides women and children (Aluth. xlv., 21), but It was not wonderful to Him, svho for forty years had fed millions miraculously. He is the very same Jesus still,nnd :an usb you, dear reader, to feed and bless hunprry thousands If you will only put yourjelf ns unreservedly in His hands as the lad put his loaves, and be willing to live wholly knd onlv for His pleasure. This seems to be :he only miracle recorded by each of the four JvanKellsts. May it not be to teach us that :he great mission of every bsliever is to have sompasMon upon and save and tend the perjshing??Lesson Helper. We Rat too much of One Kind. The nutritive value and cost of food is discussed at length In a bulletin of the Agricultural Department, based on investigations maria hv th? Rnrann nf Animal Tnriiifi. try. The results of these studies, says the bulletin, -confirm the general Impression ot hyglenists that our diet is one sided and that we eat too much. Owing to the large consumption in this oountry of sugar and the use ot large quantities of fat meats, the food which we actually eat has relatively too little protein and too muoh fat, starch and ugar.' It is luund that the protein of ordlnary meats, fish anl milk is readily and completely digested ; that of vegetable loods is much less completely digested than of animal foods. One-fourth or one-third of potatoes, wholewheat and rye flour may escape digestion anil thus be useless for nourishment and one-sixth of the protein of wheat flower, corn meal, beans and peas may be assumed to be undigested wheu cooked and eaten in the usual way. "Of the meat extracts In the market," continues the report, "some contain very little and others practloally no material which builds tissue or yields energy. Animal 10003 gratify the palate In many ways whloh the vegetable foods do not, Hnd wliat is perhaps of greater weight in regulating the uctual usage of communities by whose demand the prices are regulated, they satisfy a real need by supplying protein <\nd fats, which vegetable foods lack." Wheeled a Mile la 1.21. John J. McLaughlin, a Columbia (Penn.) bicycle rider, rode an unpaced mile over the [ro'ivllle Pike, in 1.2! flat. This beats the paced and unpaced records held respectively >V .l'ohntton In 1.25 2-5 and Penseyer 1.532-5. .MrL.iuifhlin's first attempt was made la L36. Six watches were held on him. AGRICULTURAL. TOPICS OF INTEREST RELATIVE TO FARM AND GARDEN, DOCKING PIGS* TAILS. The pig's tail is too small to be of mnoh service to it in keeping off flies. Nor is the tail good for anything to whoever eats it off. Most old farmers, however, dock their pigs ttrViwn t/hav ata eiclit to tfin warVh old. j r*? ? 1 thinking that the animal thrives better for it. The story is that one old farmer remarked that it cost an extra bnshel of corn to maintain the growth of the pig's tail, and at last it wasn't worth anything for any purpose.?Boston Cultivator. QUANTITY OP MANUKE THAT HAT BB TSED. The quantity of mannre nsed on the land is regulated generally by the supply of it. The quantity that may be usefully applied has never yet been discovered, for market gardeners who have made use of aj much as 100 tons to the aore have thought that they might profitably have UBed still more, and some have even nsed a ton of fertilizer on an acre in addition to the manure. A great deal depends on the method of cultivation, for it is this that enables plants to make use of more food. It is a common thing for persons who try to grow prize vegetables to plant the seeds in actual beds of manure, and the mammoth equtshes and cabbages shown are grown in this way, and by the help of liquid manure as well. Thus it cannot be said that the ultimate quantity of manure that may be profitably applied has ever been settled by experience.?New York Times. WINTERING IDLE HOBSES. On most farms there is not enough work during the winter season to keep conotantly employed half the number of ttiams kept busy during seed time and harvest. Many farmers think it economical to winter the idle horses at th<a straw stack, but such economy is mure imaginary than real. If these horses had their shoes removed and were allowed to run loose in a twelve by fourteen ground floor box-stall and fed a less qantity of straw than they er* and trample under foot in the open yard, their condition would be fur better at the opening of spring. It should also be remembered that only young horses whose digestion ia good and that are known to be easy keepers, can be successfully wintered on straw alone. Oats aze the natural food of the horse and should be fed during enforced idleness rather than grain or meal of a more stimulating nature. If keiit in a stable they should I have new bedding as needed, and be curry-oombed and brushed daily ?-L-Al XT WUtniier iiuojr mo dubuicu ui m uuo open air. A feed of potatoes, carrots, tor nips, beets, or apples should be given weekly. Suoh food is fully worth the market price for feeding to horses in winter.?American Agriculturist. WORKBENCH AND TOOL CLOSET. The ordinary workbench is too often a litter of tools, shavings, bits of wood, nails, screws and other articles, affording no little inconvenience whenever it is desired to nse the bench, says the American Agriculturist. Tools are thus frequently lost, and many of them made dull by contact with each other, and with nails and other hard substances. There is frequent rusting also when the A HAND! TOOL OLOSET. weather becomes damp. A plan is shown in the illustration by which the tools may be kept each in a safe place, and yet conveniently at hand the moment one is wanted. Nails and screws should be kept in boxes with apartments for the various sizes, and these boxes may also find a place in the closet at the head of the benoh, or, if desired, a drawer for nails, screws, etc., may be made below the bench. STORING HONEY. Mrs. Jennie Atchley, in American Bee Journal, says the public, for some reason or other, especially the consumers of hooey, have oometo believe it wnn't. dr> to hnv honev in lar^a quantities, thinking it will soar and spoil. Bat it is a mistase, for good, ripe honey kept in a good vessel will keep for a lifetime and be good. It will no doabt solidify, bat it can be brought back to its liquid state by melting it in boiling water, by placing the vessel containing the honey in another with the water, and let it remain until all is melted; and the honey will be as clear and as good as the day it was put up. I would keep the the barrels in the cellar or some cool place, but a warm place will not hurt it, only the barrels may shrink, and eventually leak if kept where it is too warm. But a warm room will not affect the honey. Now, the foregoing directions are for keeping honey for home use, and for you to tell your customers how to keep their honey when they buy a i barrel or kecr from vou at a time. Of course I do not expect you to keep ' your honey any longer than you can find sale for it, and sometimes we may have our honey engaged before we extract it. You may say that people ought to know how to keep honey, but I tell you the public need schooling, and they look to you to tell them how, etc. Some bee-keepers fail to build up a honey (home) market just by not schooling people about honey, and being ready and free to advise. Comb honey is somewhat more troublesome to keep than extracted, J , ' ! V > /-A and ought to be kept in a warm, dry room instead of a cellar. Keeping section honey free from moth and ant# in Southern countries is sure enough a problem. But I have kept it nioe and good for years, by keeping it ia tight cases on benches or tables, with the legs in water to keep ants front getting in it. Preserves can be kept free from ante the same way. Just place a table in the centre of a small * room, for instance, or any room, anJ keep the legs in pans of water, and ? little kerosene oil put into each pair will make it all the better and surer, as ants can spoil honey quickly, so we cannot well be too carefoL Stone jars or crooks are splendid to keep honey in for family use, bnt are j a little hard to keep corered tightly; m but I can place a beeswaxed cloth H over the top, then the cover, and it 9 does splendidly. I have kept grees M fruit in jars for a season by sealing tight with beeswaxed cloth*. HOME-MADE BOLLBB. ' I have had a oheap and convenient hand roller in use for some time, says a writer in American Gardening. It is made of a piece of stove pipe, say. three feet long and from five to eight ' , inches in diameter., Circular pieces of wood, the heavier the better, are fitted in both ends, and the pipe i* fllled with sand or old pieces of lead and dirt and rammed down to keep it solid. The handle is a heavy oak or hickory sappling, split up far enough to make the bow as shown m she out. An axle may be made of. an iron rod running through the blooks in the ends of the pipe, and completely through the cylinder, or thej may be screw bolts running into the blooks. The block should be put in one end of the pipe and securely nailed; then the pipo should be filled with sand, or ' . 'VV: A 9 f V IHi HOHB-MADB BOLLEBS. other heavy matter, and then the block should be put in the other end and this should also be wjell nailed. An old piece of store-pipe, the larger in diameter the better, a hiokory sapling, say eight feet long, a rod or bolts for the axle and a couple of ronnd blocks of the same size as the pipe, and an hour's time will make as good a hand-roller as can be bought for $4 CR of tViA KanlvaTS abtm Thtt roller may be put in a framework made of old boards, and an old lawn roller- -~\ handle used instead of a sapling. Ik is well to paint the stove-pipe to keep it from rusting. Such a roller is very ;useful when putting in radishes, turnips of any small or light seed. Figure A shows how the handle is made with a sapling. Figure B shows a handle made of board with an old handle from a lawn mower or something of the sort. FARM AND GAHDKST NOTWL Twenty hens will give -as much yearly profit as a cow. Give the hen house a good cleaning up and whitewashing. Fresh cut bones as a poultry feed are gaining friends every day. Don't forget that "green food" you mean to feed daily now that the ground is frozen. In order to hare plenty of eggt' fresh blood should be introduced into the flocks every year. In breasting a mgn-scruag con, uua with a nervous temperament, think twice before yo& strike him with the whip. Crowd the fattening stook with all they ean be made to digest and don't wait too long before disposing oi j&kH them. - . Short-necked horses never look well, and when added to this unbecomI ing feature is a big coarse head they have no attractions at aiL Regularity in feeding and exercising, together with good grooming and ^ proper shoeing, will prevent you paying many a veterinary bilL It is stated that a horse can live five days on solid food witboat drinking, seventeen days without eating or drinking, or twenty days on water alone. If the hen housa is so cold as to freeze water solid daring the day, give it twice a day and a little warm at that?not so hot as to soald the fowls in their eagerness to get a ' drink. After the flowers perish, carry the plants back, and keep them oool until the weather in May and Jane allows you to keep them oat of doors. No success can be obtained with them without careful watering. Have you "banked up" the hen { house yet? It is getting late and fresh eggs are bringing good prices. Hens don't lay eggs while they are huddled up in a oold, dreary hen house trying to keep warm. The noble, intelligent horse will not be lost sight of in the advanoe of civilization. Belief from the heavier duties will leave more energy for the driving, of which every American citizen of means and leisure is fond. An eminent veterinary authority oottq . "ftran stumiK decidedlv fore most as the food most generally in use for the working horse. It aots as a laxative, is frequently tempting to the appetite and easy of digestion." Flowering plants which may be introduced from titne to time, oat whioh cannot be easily grown in the house, are chrysanthemums in the autumn i and early winter, followed by oycla- I men, lioman hyacintu, paper-wnite narcissus, liiy of the valley an J canary broom or cytisus. If Dutch bulbs, hyacinths, tulips narcissus and crocus can be grown at home without much trouole. Th* story is a simple one, but too long to tell now. With the aid of a cool cellar or a cold frame the windows tilled ] with the foliage plants ua.nei aoovo J may be turned into a gay m&aa oL m bright bloom. J|