fcF0R GOD, FOR COUNTRY AND FOR TRUTH.".
W. FLKfCHER ACST303, EDlTi'K.
C, V. W. AUSBON, BUSINESS MA3AG1CR.
JL IV.
PLYMOUTH, N. 0., FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 1892.
NO. 1.
lishcd by, Roanoke Publishing Co.
SUNLIGHT OF SPRINO. . '
anllght of spring, whuthavs you seen
i 1 't jcu smile so? ' , ;"'
vi'owdsof hepaticas, .. .
i r (h. from their napv '
'! owing down coverlets,
t
. ' : .. "'ing off caps, ,
r ttttiQx Ibgethpr, . ' '
'Ge ne are bad weather
:, CL i .and mishaps. ' v '
i ijn'ihtof spnn what have you seen
T" -,ty u smile so " .. t
"T '! " ings ' ,
;t- i','v ii'jfurled," 1 .
Lifted on high," ' - r
Di .fted and whirled" "
i- -Freighted with son'-'
. , Fh-ating (onflV' . V
j3fpy world r"'; '
( Thatou smile so? -y
"Mak with their lovers, J
, Chilctj at play, ,. j.
Hopes of 'April,
Joyas-f.May; .
White begotten, . :
N'ght forgotten, " '..
In thia Tiirht dav." '
Alice t. Bailey, in Harper's BaVar.
,.;The Gsat Lane Freshdt,
BY JARRT HOWARD.
V TJVTT'-O "DAT TlTtrTTV
Josiah Glint han beeu
good friends am;a neigb-
bors from tttcir boy.
hooddays. fTheygrew
lip togoth'k married
sisters, a jid settled on
uljoi'iing faring. There
thoy lived monotonous
A4d uneveutful lives for
iBftre than twentvVears.
Tcn came a season of
estrangement.
Josiah lived on a fiac
farm in the angle formed by the junction
;f Salt Creelt and Lane River. Aoner's
farm was just above Jpsiah'son the bank
of the riven ' Both' farms were for
the. most part what --.is called llbot
, torn land." and subject to pverflow
' during protracted rainy weather.
Besides being.sometimes flooded by tho
river, Josiah's farm was occasionally in
. undated by Salt Creek, the turbulent lit
tle stream which flowed along hissouth-
ern boundary line. Salt Creek seldom
rose very high, but when, it did so its
nipw . current .wrougnt mucn greater
dahtiRe than the rises of the larger but
, mere siufrnh Lane.
' This rr weuldJjaiJsea&l more des
tructive had it not been in sonie decree'
controlled by a great levee on the"' farm
next abore Abner's. This, levee acted in
such a way that the water from the Lane,
when it did cover the lands of Abner and
Josiah, spread over a wide expanse and
moved with very little current.
''-'But even a 6light current will carry
wooden, things a long distance.' Abner's
rail fences, together with brush, logs, and
debris from his woodland, were some-,
times lifted by the water of the Lane
River and set down on various part3 of
JoBiah's farm. Then Abner would haul
his rails back and rebuild his fences,
while Josiah would burn the debns.
But one unlucky spring, when Josiah's
corn had just appeared above the ground,
the Lane came over its banks and wrought
'unusual harm. Not only were Josiah's
fences rempved and Abner's brought into
their places, but, Josiah's cornfield was
thickly strewn with treetops from the
great quantity of timber that Abner had
cut on his farm during the winter.' '
! After the water had subsided, Josiah
was looking 'about his cornfield one
morning. . Tree tops, logs, big chips,
long sections of bark, fence rails, all
coyered with slime and mud, were re
posing on - his newly sprouted corn.
Many days of hard , labor would be
needed to cut and pile up all 'this drift
wood, which would not burn for weeks.
Much of "his corn, which had been the
1 firicst in the neighborhood, would be
ruined. And by the removal of Abner's
fences much of Josiah'a corn would be
trampled into the ground.
No wonder Josiah was out of sorts.
. If he had been left to himself all
fit
might have been well, and I should have
bad no story to write. ; But - as Josiah
was gloomily viewing his flooded prop
erty, Abner came across the tield.
, '"'Mornin Si." ; ,
Si grunted..," :
'Things looks kind o bad, don't
' they, Si?"
Si said nothing. -
V'How soon kin I come an' get my
rails?" VvW'
"Don't know as ye'll get 'em at all,"
said Josiah. :
,I thought them was mioo over yan
der." Abner pointed to a mass of rails
and cornstalks which were undeniably
:: his.. '' -: ' ,
'Ain't them yourn, too, then,' aa'
them, au them?" Josiah pointed
, eloquently to the mud-coated logs and
.treetops, '
m ' 'B'leeve they air,, Si, most of 'era."
J' Wal, when ye tak.Q the last 5' of
'cm oil o' my corn we'H. talk aboiit .leb-
. l. ti i' you tak
f-fV Abner wf
' "I don't
x i ,i t.Vn ilium mi lo nn " ' f
as astoinsnea. .
mind helpin' ye clear off that
', Si, et ye asK it. uut ia line to
- in to-mcrrer or nex' day an' git
lerbid ye ,Bcttin' fopt oil my land
j" f.houted Josiah. - "If ll've get ter r
' yiT log-ro!lin' fer ye, i ii' do in my
'nrnlield to loot, l'il keep te
al'Tig 'th tbr; rrH-.h."
"Sue an' be hanged! I'll sue ye fer
damage fer lettia' yer trash in here, an'
fer ruinin' my corn, if ye come in after
yer rails."
Abner did not ' brio;? suit as ho had
threatened, for he saw that the expense
would outweigh the , profits. He- made
new rails and rebuilt his fences.' . ; ,i
Josiah rebuilt his own fences from the
rails brought down from Abner's farm,
together with those which remained of
his own. : For weeks his cornfield was
in , a fog of smoke from the slimy log
heaps, and in the autumn his crop was
far below the average.; '
. During all this time Josiah and Abner
shunted each other. Their wives and
children were not allowed to exchange
visits, .. " . '.
. One night of the following spring Salt
Creek rose to a height many feet above
any point it had ever "reached in the his
tory of the ' valley. There had been a
week of rainy weather, bo that the tur
bulent stream was much swollen, and on
this "particular night there was a tre-i
mendous rainstorm.
As the Lane River was swollen greatly,
there was no adequate outlet for the
turbid flood which swirled and 'rushed
down the Salt Creek valley. Conse
quently, the current of the Lane was not
only stopped, but turned back,' so that
for some hours the river actually flowed
on stream. , V v. .w-', '
Then the brawling little stream, like a
person -of . passionate impulses, calmed
down almost as quickly as it had risen.
The light of morning reveavel a
strange state of affairs to Jo3iah.V Ex
cept the very small area of high ground
about the house, . his entire farm had
been flooded. ' Everything "that would
float was carried away and stranded on
Abner's farm-- Here was retribution m
deed! ". . . ' ' -'
. Who could have dreamed that - the
current would set up stream and carry
back to Abner that which it had once
taken from him? " But there it was. ",
Josiah walked along to the upper edge
of his farm and saw thousands of .his
rwh-v-those he had made as well as
those, he had taken from Abner piled
up on the low knolls of Abner's farm. x
Josiah also saw Abner , looking over
his unexpected acquisitions.,; . Among
them was Josiah's own stalk-rake. Ab
Ber was contemplating it with smiles of
welcome. - - '. .-. - ' v,--. ''
Then, for the first time in almost a
year, Josiah set foot on his neighbor's
land, and walked over to where Abner
stood grinning.
"I'll come and git that rake after a
whlie," said Josiah, shamefacedly.
' "Don't think ye will," answered Ab
ner. . ' .
"An' why don't ye think I will?': (
" 'Cause I ferbid ye to Bet foot on my
land." V ,
"Ain't that myrake?" ,
."Wasn't them my rails ye jist the
same as stole las' spring?" '
"Didn't I put in a hull month clearin'
yer logs outo' my cornfield?"
"What d'ye call them, then, an whose
air the,y?"
Abner pointed to his oatSeld, thickly
studded with logs and drift which had
undeniably come ; from Josiah's wood
land, f .( : ':'
"I 'low we're about even, Ab, so
lemmejiave my rake and we won't say
nothin about the rails,'? said Josiah.
I guess ' we're : nigher even as we
stand, so ye kin let the rake stay right"
whar it is." ,1 . ' . ; ..
. Josiah walked home without a word
in reply. Abner stood chuckling over
the discomfiture of his brother-in-law.'
Late in the afternoon the Lane, fed
fuller by countless creeks farther up,
crept over its banks and came gliding
gently into the little depressions of the
adjacent fields. , " - ' ' w
No sooner was it dark than Abner.
Baldwin, armed with a shotgun, took his
stand ' behind a tree near the pile of
drift where the rake lay.
No sooner was it dark than Josiah
Qlint, telling his hired man to follow
him with a wagon and team as soon as
the moon was up, started for the scene
of his late encounter with his neighbor.
Josiah intended to clear away the rub
bish from his rake and .have it ready to
load into the wagon when it arrived. "
Abner had divined Josiah's intention,and
was prepared to keep him away,even by
using the shotgun.
Meantime the river was . creeping,
through the fields and across the wood
lands. Josiah had : no little' trouble in
making bis way " in the darkness. , At
last, when there was but one ; little de
pression between him and the, rake, he
found that hollow filled - with water,
and sat down to await the coming of
the wagon.
Long he waited therein the. darkness,
no sound audible save the roar of the
river at a distance, and the ; lapping of
the water a it rose higher and higher.
The moon was just casting her first faint
beams across the land, when, above the
sounds of the rushing current and of the
nearer water which had risen almost to
his feet, Josiah heard something of a
stilt more alarming natarc. A contin
uous crashing as of splintering timbers
came from a point up the - Lane River.
Btent with this was a loud roaring,
which grew momentarily louder and
came on. ;
What could it be? "Josiah rose from
the ground and peered anxiously a the
direction of the sounds. Louder and'
"ider, nearer -and nearer, and more
Awompreheusiblo! Surely that was a
falling trf.e he heard.
Aroti r an-1 'hrr.fel!, f ach nearer
tr-n '.-t! J-". ll.'n t' jvioii n '
line of white foam racing madly toward
him across Abner's oat field. . .,
. Then the truth was plain. Deming'sj
great levee had broken, the Lane was i
coming down like a low wall moving at
speed, and Josiah was caught in the
flood.
He stood for a few moments without
power to fly or even to take his eyes from
that wide crest of water charging down
upon him. Next instant he was whirled
away by the torrent, scarcely able to keep
his head above the;water. Soon he man
aged to grasp a solid timber and steady
himself enough to look around..
Josiah had already drifted considerably
behind the crest of the wave, and was
now being carried rapidly across his own
farm, in company with brush, logs, corn
stalks, and his rails and Abner's. ! ,
But to what was Josiah - clinging for
support? : He could hardly belie7e it,
but it was his stalk-rake, the very thing
he had gone to bring away. V Still more
astonishing, there was a man clinging to
the other end of the rake, and e looked
wonderfully like Abner Bald wia. Josiah
had begun to think it was only some ter
rible nightmare after all, when la voice
hailed him: ;
"That you, Si!"
"Yes. That you, Ab?"
"Yes, but I don't b'leeve I kii hold
on much longer." "
."I'll help ye ; jisthang on a bit longer."
Josiah. edged his way along tb the
place where Abner was clinging, placed
an arm around him, and grasped a rake
tooth firmly with each hand.
"I don't deserve it, Si," said Abner. ,
"I was goin' to keep this here rake."
No,ye wasn't,, Ab. ' I was goin to
steal it this very night."
"No, ye wasn't Si. I was goin' to fill
ye full o' bird shot." i '
"Wal,: it seems to be a sort of a
pardnership affair jist now,' as we've both
got consider'ble interest in it," said
Josiah, grimly. ,: ' . ."' .:
Rapidly they drifted over Josiah's
farm until they came to Salt Creek, whose
swift cross-current bore them out into
the main channel of the Lane. Both
men were nearly exhausted when they
were drifted into an eddy, whence they
managed to climb on a great log, and
from there into a scrubby tree.
- Abner had been . struck by a piece or
timber when the flood caught him, and
now Buffer ed great pain. : Josiah held
him in the tree. ,
All night long the flood roared past
them, bearing uprooted trees, . buildings
and various wreckage. But the two
men were happy in their reconciliation;
for though neither said a word on the
subject, each understood that they were
firmer friends than ever before. ,
Next, day their neighbors rescued
them, badly '"chilled,' and thoroughly
worn out with the long night's watch
ing, o -. -
The story of the terrible havoc wrought
by the Great Lane Freshet is told in the
history of the valley, and does not be
long to this narrative, v.- But neither of ;
the two men who drifted down on the
stalk-rake ever regretted his experience
on that night. :
The Baldwin and Glint children now
play together every day; their mothers',
are happy in the reconciliation, and
nowhere can be found two firmer friends ;
than Abner and Josiah. Youth's Com
panion. . , , , -
Care of Snake Bites. ; '
It seems likely that by the time all the
venomous snakes have been killed off the
face of the earth-, science will have dis
covered a means oi neutralizing the effect
of their poison. 'Bur, in the mean time, ,
every remedy that d6es this even' partially ,
means a saving of human life. A child
who was bitten in Queensland by a
"death adder" has just been saved from
death by the administration of strychnia.
The child on being bitten was taken to
the nearest house, the end of the finger
in which the fangs of the snake had been
fastened was removed, the stump being
sucked and drenched with ammonia, and
ligatures being applied to the arm; ' la
three hours the child was almost, coma-,
tose, the body and the extremities cold,
pupils dilated and insensitive to ' light ,
and the pulse rapid and irregular. The
child was then wrapped in hot flannels,
heat was applied to the limbs, while four
minims of .liquor strychnia were admin
istered hypordermlcally and a strong
faradaic current applied to the nape of ;
the neck and along the spine. Fifteen
minutes, later another four minims of
liquor ' strychnia . were injected, and :
almost immediately a change began to
manifest itself in all the symptoms. - . In
a short time the child . recovered
consciousness and improved so rapidly
that the next day she was, appareutly
well, ' and none ; the .worse for her
dangerous experience except the loss of
her linger. It is stated that hypodermic .
injection of strychnia has been adopted
in many similar cases, with almost
unvarying success, and it is now regarded
by the medical profession as a most
valuable remedy for the deadly poison ot
snakes. Courier Journal. ,
Don't Whip a Friffhtepcd Morse.
Never whip your 'horse f-r becoming
frightened at any object by the roadside,
for if he sees a stump, a log or a heap of
tan-bark in the road, and while he is eye
ing it carefully and about to pass it, you
Rtrike bim with the' whip, it is the log,
or stomp, or the tanbar k that is hurtiag
him, in his way o reasoning, and the
next time he wiiljfbe more 1 frightened.
Give him time to ell all these objects
nnd use the brid: l, j- assist you ia briog-
; BEY. ,DB. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Son.
day SermoiL
Subject: " The Dumb Spirit."
Tkxt: "Thou dumb and dtaf spirit, I
charge thee, come out of him." Mark ix.,
25. ;
Here was a case of (Treat domestic an
guish. The son of the household was pos
sessed of an evil spirit whicd, amonz other
things, paralyzed his tongue and made him
speechless. Whsa the influence was on the
patient he could not sav a word articula
tion was impossible. The spirit that cap
tured this member of tha household was a
dumb spirit so called by Christ a spirit .
abroad to-day and as lively and potent as in
New Testament times. Yet in all of tha
realms of sermonology I can not find a dis- .
course concerning this dumb devil which
Christ , charged upon my text, saying,
Come out of bim." ;
There has ben much destructive supersti
tion abroad in the ; world concerning posses
sion by evil spirits. Under the form of belief
in witc icraft : this delusion ; swept tbe
continents. Persons were supposed to be
possessed with some evil spirit which made
them able to destroy others. In the six
teenth century In Geneva 1500 persons were
burned to death as witches. Under one
judge in Lorraine 900 persons were burned
to death as witches. In one neighborhood of
France 1000 persons were burned. In two
centuries 2 00, COO persons were slain as
witches. So mighty was the delusion that
it included among its victims some of the
, greatest intellects of all time, such as Chief
justice Matuew Hale and bir .Edward Coke,
and.such renowned ministers of religion as
Cotton Mather, one of whose books, Benjamin
Franklin said, shaped his life and. Richard
'Baxter and Archbishop Cranmeand Mar-,
tin Luther, and1 among writers rjad philoso
phers, Lord Bacon. vJi hat belief, which has
become the laughing stock at all sensible
people, counted its disciples exnong the wisest
and best people of (Sweden, Germany, Eng
land, France, Spain and New England. Bug
while we reject witchcraft any man who be
lieves the Bible must believe that there are
diabolical agencies abroad: in to-world.
While there are ministering spirits to bless
there are infernal spirits to hinder, to poison
and destroy. Christ was speaking to a spir-
itu.il existence when, standing before the
afflicted one of the text, He said, "Thou
dumb and deaf spirit, come out of him."-
Against this dumb devil of the text, I put
you on your guard. Do not think that thia
agent of evil has put his blight on those who,
by ommission of the vocal organs, have had
the golden gates of speech bolted and barred.
Among those who have never spoken a word
are the most gracious and lovely and tal
ented souls that were ever incarnated. The
chaplains of the asylums for the dumb can'
tell you enchantiug stories of those, who
never called the name of father or "mother
or child, and many of the most devout and
prayerful souls will never in thia world
speak the name of God or Christ. ; .Many a
dent mute have I seen with the angel of in
telligence seated at the window of the eye,
who never came forth from the door of the
xnoutb. .J.-i----:- -. ,' A , -i
What a miracle of loveliness and knowU
edge was Laura Bridgman, of New Hamp
shire r Not only without faculty of speech,
but without hearing and without sight, all
these faculties removed by sickness when
two years of age, yet becoming a wonder at
needlework, at the piano, at the sewing ma
chine, and an intelligent student of the
Scriptures, and confounding philosophers,
. who came from all parts of the world to
study the phenomenon. Thanks to Christi
anity for what it has done for the amelior
ation of the condition of the deaf and the
dumb. Back in the ages they were . put to
death as having no right, with such paucity
of equipment, to live, and f or centuries they
were classed among tbe idiotic and unsafe.
But in the Sixteenth century came Pedro
Ponce,, the Spanish monk, and in the Seven
teenth century came Juan Pablo : Bonet,
anothor Spanish monk, with dactylology or
the finger alphabet, and in our own century
we have had John Braid wood and Drs.
Mitchell and AckerJy and Feet and Gallau
det, who have given uncounted thousands of
those whose tonrnies were forever silent the
power to dpell out on the air by a manual,
alphabet their thoughts about this world and
their hopes for th9 next. We rejoice in the,
brilliant inventions in behalf of those who
were born dumb. U :
One of the most impressive audiences I
' ever addressed was in the far west two or
three years ago an audience of about 600
persons who had never heard a eouad or
spoken a word, an interpreter standing: beside
me while I addressed them. I Congratulated
that audience on two advantages they had
and over tbe most of us the one that they
escaped hearing a great many disagreeable
thing?, and on the other fact that they es
caped saying things they were sorry for af
terward. Yet after all the alleviations a
shackled tongue is an appalling limitation.
But we are not this morning speaking of
congenital mutes. We mean those who are
born with all the faculties ot - vocalization
and yet have been struck by the evil one
mentioned in the text the dumb devil to,
whom Christ called when He said, "Thou
dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come
out of him. . ; v,' i- ;
There has been apotheosization of silence.
Borne one has said that silenca is golden, and
sometimes the greatest triumph is to keep
your mouth shut. But sometimes silence is
a crime and the direct result of ttfe baleful
influence of the dumb devil v of our text.
There is hardly a man or woman in this
house tflpday who has not been present on
sVm6 occasion wlietf the Christian religion
became atarget fur raillery. Perhaps it was
over in the store some day when there was
not much going on and the clerks were in a
group, or it was in the factory at the noon
spell,or it was out on the farm under tbe.trees
while you were resting, or it was in the
clubroom, or it was in a social circle, or it
was in the street on the way home from
bu sines?, or it was on some occasion which
you remember without me describing it.
Home one got the laugh on the Bible
and caricatured the profession , of re
ligion as hypocrisy, or made a pun out
of something that Christ said. The laugh
started and you joined in, and not one word
of protest did you utter. What kept you
silent? ' Modesty? '- No. Incapacity to
answer? No. Lack of opportunity? No.
It was a blow 6ji both you hps by the wing
of the dumb deil. It sonue one should ma
lign your fatheror mother or wife or hus
band or child ; oil would flush up quick, and
either with an indignant word or doubled
up nst make response.' And yet nere is our
Christian religion khich has done so mnoa
for you and so muf
tor the world that it
will take all eterti
when it was attac
as say r "J. diffeif
hear you say tnatf
thia." ,; -. .
You Christian f
as these to go
weapons, but wit J
You ought -to hi
with wir.cli yon I:
v. to attacks Cb
o celebrate it, and yet
you did not so much
vject, I im sorry to
ght In such times
ot with earthly
d of the Spirit,
, or ; nye questions
toimi any rna
A nisi rsnity
"i few ,; ago
friend said to the' skeptic, "Did you ever
read the history of Joseph in the Bible1
"Yes," said the man, ,it is a fine story, and
as interesting a eiory as I ever read."
"Well, now," said my old friend, "sup-
fose that account of Joseph stopped
alf way?" "Oh," said tbe man, "then
it would not be entertaining.' "Well,
now,", aald my friend, "we have in this world
only half of everything, and do you . not
think that when we hear the last half things
may be consistent, and that then we may
find that God was right? '
' Ob, friends, better load up with a few in
terrogation points. You cannot afford to
be silent when God and the Bible and tbe
things of eternity are assailed. Your silence
gives consent to the bombardment of your
Father's house. You allow a slur to be cast
on your mother's dyintr pillow. In behalt
of the Christ, who for youwent through
the agonies of assassination on the rocky
bluff back of Jerusalem, you dared not face
a sickly joke. Better load np with a few
questions so that next time you will ,be
ready. ' - . . ' .
i, Say to the scoffer: "M7 dear sir, will you
tell me what mikes the difference between
the condition of woman in 'China and the
United States? 1 What do you think of ths
sermon on the mount? How do you like the
golden rule laid down in the Scriptures? Are
you In favor of the ten commandments? In
your large and extensive reading have you
fome across a lovelier character than -Jesus
Christ?. Will you please to name the triu-n-phant
deathbeds of infidels and atheists? '
How do you account for the fact that among
the out and out believers In Christianity
were, such .persons as Bejjamin Franfclhv
John RuskinTTdmas'CaflyTe; "Babiogton
Macaulay. William Penn, Walter Scott,
Charles Kingsley, Horace Bushnell, James
A. Garfield. Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jack
son, . Admiral: Foote, Admiral . Farragut,
Ulysses S. Grant, John Milton, William
Shakespeare, Chief Justice Marshall, John.
Adam?, Daniel Webster, George Washing
ton How do you account for their fondness
fer the Christian religion?. Among tha in
numerable colleges and universities of .the
earth will you name me . three started by
Infidels y and now supported by infidels? ,
Down in your heart are you really happy in
the position you occupy antagonistic ito the
Christian religion? When do you have the
most rapturous views of the next world?
i Go at him with a few such questions and
he will get so red in the face as to GUggest
apoplexy, and he will look at his watch and
say he has an engagement and .mustgo.
You will puffiunlh a sweat that wuTbeaX a
Turkish , bath. . You will put him
pn a rout compared with which our
trewtjat Bull Run made no time
at ali's 9Arm yourself, not with argu
ments bufinter rogation points, and I promise
you victory. Shall such -a man as you, shall
Buch a woman as you surrender to one of tha
meanest spirits that ever smoked up irofb
tbe pit the dumb devil spoken-or In the
text?, .. -
But then there are occasions when this par-
ticular spirit that Christ exercised when Ha
said, "I charge thee to coma out of him,"
takes people by the -wholesale. In the most
responsive relisious audienca hava you no
ticed how many people never sing at all?
They have a book, and they have a voice,
and they know how to read. They know
many of the tunes, and yet are silent while
the great raptures of music pass by . Among
those who sing not one out of a hundred
sings loud enough to bear his own voice.
They hum it ..They give a sort of religious
gruut. They make the lips go, but it is in
audible. ; With a voice strong enough to stop
a street ear one block away, all they can af
ford in ,t&e praise- of God is about half a
whisper With enough sopranos," enough
alto ertkragh bassos to make a small heaven
between the four walls, they let the oppor
tunity go by unimproved.
The volume of voice that ascends from the
largest audience that ever assembled ought
to be multiplied about two thousand fold.
But the minister rises and gives, out the
hymn; the organ begins; the choir or pre-;
centor leads; tbe audience are standing so
that the lungs may have full expansion, and
a mighty harmony is about to ascend, when
tbe evil spirit spoken of in my text the
dumb devil spreads his two wings, one over
the hps of one-half the audience and tha
other wing over the lips of tha other half 7f
the audience, and the voices roll back into
tbe throats from which they started, and
only here-and there anything is' heard, and
nine-tenths of the holy power is destroyed;
and the dumb devil, as he flies away, says;
"I could not keep Isaac Watts from writing
that hymn, and I could not keep Lowell
Mason from composing the tune to which
it is set, but I smote into silence or half
silence the lips from which it wonld have
spread abroad to bless neighborhoods and
cities, and then mount the wide open heav
ens." Give the long meter doxology the
lull support of Christendom, and those four
lines would take the whole earth for God.
During the cotton famine in Lancashire, '
England, when the suffering was something
terrific, as the first wagon load of cotton
rolled in, the starving people, unbooked the
horses and drew tbe Toad themselves, sing- .
In, until all Lancashire joined in with tri
umphant voices, their cheeks sopping with
tearF, "Praise God from whom all blessings
flow." When Commodore Perry, with his
warship, the Mississippi, layoff tbe coast of
Japan, he bombarded the shores with "Old
Hundred," played by the marine band..
Glorious "Old Hundred," composed by Will
iam Franc, of Germany. In a war prison,
at ten o'clock at night, the poor fellows far
from home and wounded ana sick and dy-
Ing, one prisoner started the "Old Hundred
Doxology," and then a score of voices joined,
then all the prisoners on the floors took np
the acclaim until tha building, from founda
tion to topstone, fairly quaked with the
melodious ascription.
A British man-of-war, lying off a foreign ;
coast, heard a voice singing tbat doxology, r
and immediately guessed, and guessed
aright," that there was an Englishman ' in
captivity to tbe Mohammedans; and in the
small boats the sailors rowed to shore and
burst into gaurd-house and set the captive ,
free. I don't know what tune the trumpets
of resurrection shall play, but it may be the '
doxology which is now sounding across
Christendom. How much more hearty we
would be in our songs, and how easily we
could drive back the dumb devil from ail our
worshiping assemblages, if we could realize
tbat nearly ad our hymns have a stirring his
tory. v '
That glorious hymn, 'Stand Up for
Jesus," was suggested by the last words of
Dudley Tyng, wno was dyinr from having
his right arm torn off in a thrashing ma
chine. That hymn, Wbat a Friend We
Have in Jesus," heard through a telephone,
converted an obdurate soul. .. "Shall We
Gather at the River?' was a hymn first sung
In our Brooklyn Prospect Park, at't.he chil
dren's May anoiversarry, and then started
to encircle the world. "Where la Mj Ai-fl-i-
.1. T ..i,.V,tr o a , ama that fc4
laved hundreds of dissipated young mf l
1 T010, the drummer boy in the armyl
foun-t crying, and an oflLr asked himl
was tiM matter 1 "Oh," he said, "I hkV i
dream last night. My sistr died tan yvH
$o, and my mother never was herself agany
ana shedied soon after. Last night I dreamf
I was killed hi battle, and that mother a
sister came down to meet me." At
the next battle- was orer, soma one cross 4f
th tiel'i herd a voice that he reooniz-! t
the vok Tom, tho JruuiUer boy. sinia-f
; . Lover ot"-Mr fu," But tit tm
feeble, and at the end of th sicon J "vers iu -stopped,
and they went.up and found Tom,,
the drurK"2sr boy, leaning against a: slump
and dead. !
. That hymn,. "Ob, for a Thousand Tohjum
to Slug," was suggested to Charles Wwley
by Peter Bonier, who, after his converiou.
said, "I had better keep si Unit about it."
"Wo," said Wesley, "if you had teu thousand
tongues you had better use thorn lor Clinst,"
And then that angel of hymnolosy panned
the words; . -
Oh. for a thousand tontrae to sin? ,
jjy dear Ketteemer' prm, .,..
The glories ot my God Bad King, . -.
The triumphs ol His grams. ...
Jexns, the name tbat calms onr fears,
Tbat bids our sorrowi cease:
1 Tig mtialc In the iinm.r's ears, '
Tta life and health and peace.
. While much of the modern music is a'
religious doggereI a consecrate! nonsense, a
sacred tomfoolery, I would like to see some
great musician of our time lutthe baton and
marshal Luther' Judgment Hymn, Yar
mouth, Dundee, Ariel, Brattle Street, Ux
bridge, Pleyel's Hymn,, Harwell. 1 Antiocb,
Mount Pisgah and Coronation, with a few
regiments of mighty tunes made in oar time,
and storm Asia. Africa and America for tbe
kingdom of God. But the first thing to do
is to drive out the dumb devil of the text
from all our churches. 1
Do not, however, let us lose ourselves in ;
generalities. Not one of us but has had our
lives sometimes touched by the evil spirit of
the text this awful dumb devil. We had
just one opportunity of saying a Christian
word that might have led a man or woman
into a Christian life. The opportunity was
fairly put before us. The 'word of invita-
tion or consolation or warning came to thra
inside gate of the mouth, but there it baltad. '
Some hindering power locked the jaws to
gether so that they did not open. Th
tonsrue lay flat and still in the bottom ot tho' -
mouth as though struck with paralysis. We
were mute. Though Go 1 had given us the. j
fihysiological apparatus for speech, an f h
ungs were filled with air which, 1 f
command ot our will, could have in 1 h
laryngeal muscles move and tf "-,-oeaf
organs vibrate, we were wic ,ly anv s
-fatally silent. For all time and j Vrnity we; i
missed our chance. 1 I j
Or it was a- prayer meeting, ?d th sr- i
vice was thrown open for pnJr aud re-A
marss, ana mere was a o-j iiait every
thing silent as a gravjp? . midniahtJ
Indeed it was a gravjff and midnight. V
An embarassing pansfutt place that put a 1
wet blanket on all th$ meeting. Men. bold; '
enough on businessAuhansa or in worldly
.uwra, duu. gjgg Bs fcfKUlgO IDcj WffFtJ
crayiniLin BjJenca but they were not pray
ing at aaT They "Were busy booing som
b' else would do his duty. Tbe women,
d under th awful pause and mai.
fJir ' fans more rapidly flutter., botnfti
brother with no cold "joughed, by thut sound'
tryinz to ,fill up the time, and thv: "tstin
was slain. But what killei it? tbt - 'T.o
devu. v ' .
This is the way I account for tha fach' i
the- stupidest v places on earth are svf,j.
prayer meetings. 1 do not see now a
keeps any gracetif Jie reula.-'v tf-3nA
them . ; ; They areXspiritual 1-. 1 ar tote
Religion keDt on ice. How nufav of as hare
lost occasions of us&f ulness? In a eulptor's
studio.stood a figure of the god Optort;umty.
The sculptor had made the hair fall down
over the face of the statue so as tacpmplete-
ly cover it, and there were wings w the feet. '
When asked why he so represeut ftd ; Opoor
tunity, the sculptor answere.V -The face of
the statue is thus covered up because we do
not recognize.Ciortunity when it comes,
and the wings to the feet show tbatj Cppov
tunity i swiftly gone."
But do not let tOe world deride the charch.
because of all this, for the dumb devil is just
as conspicuous in the world. . The two greau
political parties will soon assemble to bust i
plattorms for the president U candUatas t
stand on. Acommittaa 01 eaca party wiu
be aDDointei. to make the i.Iatform. After
proper deliberation tbe committees will coma
in with a ringing report; " vVheres" and
"Whereas" and Whereas Pronuuciii
I mentoes all shaped with the one idea of get
ting the most votes. All expression ia re-
gartetnegreatrnToraI evils of the country
ignored. No expression about the liquor
wamc, j;or caat would lose the rum vols. .
Iso expression in regard to the universal at
tempt at the demolition of the Lord' dKv
No recognition of God in tha history bT this
nation for that would lose the votf.' of athe- -ists.
But u Whereas" and "Whereas' and
' "Whereas." Nine cheers will begivenfor
the platform. - The dumb devil ct the text
will put one wing over the Republican plat
form and the other .wing over (the Demo
cratic platform. Thera is nothinb involved
in the next election except ofiiceaTThe great
conventions will be opened with prayer r-v
their chaplains. If they avoid platitivl. .
and tell the honest truth. In their prayei s
they will say: "0 Lord, we want to be fo;,t
masters and consuls and foreign ministers
and United States district attorneys. For
that we are here, and for that we wrr strriv)
jttll the election next November, (iiva tm
office or we die, for ever and ever. Amen."
.' The world, to say the least, is no better
than tbe church on this subject of silence ut
the wrong time, in other words, ia it notv
time for Christianity to become pronouns 1
and aggressive as never before? Vake shIim
for God and sobriety and righteousheV "If
the Lord be God, follow Him; if Baal. tL-
follow him." Have you opportunity of r-w
baking a sin? Rebuke it. Have you a
, chance to cheer a disheartened soul? Cher
it. Have you a useful word to jspeaL?
Speak it. '
Be out and out, up and down for riht
ousness. If your ship is afloat on the Pa
cific Ocean of God's mercy, hang out your ,
colors from masthead. Show your pa--port
if you have one. Do not smuggle your so .1
Into the harbor of heaven. Speak out tor
Godf This morning close up the chapter rt
lost opportunities, and pitch it into the .Ea.-s
River and open a new chapter . , Befor y u
get to the door on your way out tM
morning shake ; hands with some o; -.
and ask him to join you on the ro v 1 - ,
heaven. Do not drive up to hea.vt.-n in a t.-., ...
wheeled "sulky" with room only for or- ,
and that yourself, but get the biggest Gosri
wagon you can find and pila it fuil of J i ,
and neighbors, and shout till thy he sr y,.n
all up and down the skies, 'Corna . !i ,
and w will do yoo good, for the L.?r,t i.
promised good concerning Iffl-aeL"
The opportunity for good whieti y a s .
consider insigniflcmnt may -be from.. .
for results, as wiiea on sea Captain H . -swore
at the ship's trew with an -i'n 1
wished them all in porditioo, av..l a : '
sailor touched h cap, an t ; ;
God hears prayer, aud wa woui i to
if you're wish-Mero answered." i'
Holdane waiv -convicted by tlio i
remark and converted, '' and beenmn
means ot; the.atyatioa; of "his brct: r
Itobert, who biiyv;n an ioH Ic"!, aal t)
Robert becaiii aJataister at tb t.opn. (mX .
andT his minisajrthe godless -
-"1 world renownifd nisi ion-sry ! 1
t.hor.:.-V
hi