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VOL. X. , . PLYMOUTH, N. C., FEID AY, JANUARY 27, 1899. ; NO. 19.
V
f
i
jf ...
A WEATHER
The rain is In tne valley, the mist is on the
hili,
But the soul is In the sunshine, and the heart
is happy still ;
For love is ever springtime, and knows not
wintry chill,
'And the wrld will be brighter In the
morning ! "
The river ha3 no music as It ripples to the
sea,
But the soul Is in the sun9hine,and as happy
as can be ;
JFor love Is ever springtime, with the blos
' soms blowing free,
And the world will be brighter in the
morning !
A FIREPROOF MAN. I
.
i
BY ADDISON
My horse bad cast a shoe, and I
stopped for repairs at a blacksmith's
shop iu Lime Eo3k, a qttain little
hamlet in tha northern part ot one of
onr New England states. The village,
& couple of miles distant from the
nearest railroad, consists of the post
office', smithy aad a baker's dozen of
rural dwellings; a pretty and peaceful
placa with rustic views that a man ac
customed to the bustle of city life can
fully appreciate.
While waiting for my horse to be
shod, I learned that a few rods further
on, over the crest of the hill, were the
famous lime kilns. I had heard of the
kilns at Lime Rock siuce my boyhood,
but I had never chanced to come that
"way before, so, telling the loquacious
blacksmith that I would return for
my horse soon, I strolled over the hill
to investigate.
I was met by the kiln-teuder, a
.strong, robust man about 50 years of
age, who welcomed me cordially and
, volunteered to show me the modus
operandi of the affair, which he did
thoroughly. I can remember that
when he flung the big iron door of his
furnace open with the words, "This
fire burns night and day and never
goes out," although I was teu feet
away from the door, I was glad to
screen my face with my hands from
the terrible heat; and yet, as if the
fire were not hot enough, he com
menced to throw on . great sticks of
cord wood, which blazed up instantly.
Having finished the inspection of
the place, I was about to thauk him
and wishdraw, when I chanced to
make the remark that iu this quiet
little village of Lime Rock one could
forget all the caves of life, all its ex
citements and tragedies.
"Young man," he said, "for 15
years I have burnt lime in this place,
and although my previous years were
spent in far more exciting places, yet
the nearest approach to a terrible trag
edy happened to me in this same
quiet, peaceful village."
Scenting an interesting nai-rative, I
. hastened to assure him that I should
feel honored if he would favor me
with the particulars of his adventure.
Offering me a stool and filling and
lighting his pipe, he told me the fol
lowing tale:
"It will be ten years ago the 15th
of next December that the exciting
incident in which I figured occurred.
As I have already explained to you,
we have a gang of men here through
the day, but only one man through the
night, his duties being to tend the fire
and draw the lime, which latter is done
three times in each 21 hours. I was
then the night man and was on duty
on the 15th of December of which I
speak
"It was a cold, clear moonlight
night about 10 o'clock. I was alone,
the last lounger having gone home,
and I had just replenished the great
fire, when the latch was lifted, and a
stranger walked in. He was a tall,
musculf well-built mau, I should say
about 4j'years of age, clad iu a large
overcoat and wearing a silk hat; he
had a rine,intellectual face, with flow
ing side whiskers and sharp black
eyes; eyes that seemed to have the
faculty of looking beneath tha surface;
in fact, they attracted my attention
almost before I observed his other
features.
"Now I like company in the long
winter nights, and as I pushed forward
a stool I bade him a cordial 'good
evening.' " 'Good evening.'he returned pleas
antly, and throwing off his overcoat
he seated himself opposite to me.
" 'I do not often have callers at
night,' I said, 'but they are always
welcome.'
" 'Well,' he replied, 'the fact is I
am walking down to the station to take
the midnight train into P . As
I had plenty of time and saw the re
flection of your fire I thought I would
drop in, get warm and have a chat
with you before finishing my walk.'
"Well, he was a good talker, and
time passed 2leasantly, and after we
had conversed some 20 minutes I had
learned that he was a professor cf
chemistry iu B university in
p and that he was an enthusiast
in his profession.
"Suddenly he asked me if I would
let him see my fire. I stepped around
and threw open the big furnace door;
the heat was intense, but although he
stood - within three feet of the open
di"'" unlike most visitors, he neither
jrrJved away nor seemed to pay any
attention to it, but drew nearer.if any-
SONG OF HOPE.
What though the sktes are solemn, end
singing-birds have flown?
Love knows a sweeter music than the birds
have ever known ;
For love is ever springtime, and the roses
are his own.
And the world will be brighter In the
morning !
Oh, love it is that leads us from the sorrow
of the night
To the beauty of the morning to the splen
dor of the light ;
And every garden blossoms, and every sky
is bright.
And the world will be brighter in the
morning!
P. HUNROE.
X
thiug, with his sharp, black eyes
fixed intently on the flames.
"Shutting the door I said:
" 'You are different from most peo
ple, professor; everyone cannot stand
the heat as you did. '
" 'I should be able to stand it,' he
replied, 'it has been the study of my
life.'
"He paced back and forth excitedly,
his fingers woikiug convulsively, and
his eyes still fixed on the furnace
door. The sight of that fire had had
a strange effect on him.
"The study of your life? What do
you mean?"
" 'I will tell you,' he replied, calm
ing himself with an-effort aud resum
ing his seat. 'As I have said, I have
made chemistry my life study, but I
have studied it with a fixed purpose,
and that purpose is to invent a com
pound that will render the body of
any living auinial impervious to fire.
Think of the renown that await- the
man that can render the human body
fireproof! Think of the sufferings and
deaths caused by fire that he could
vanquish! I have labored hard for 20
long years, aud at last, at last,' he al
most shouted, 'I believe I have per
fected it!'
"With trembling hands he drew
from his pocket a bottle filled with a
thick, black fluid and a small syringe
with a needle point, such as physi
ciaus use for hypodermic injections.
' 'Man,' he exclaimed, 'a thimbleful
of this elixir, injected into a man's
veins, five minutes after injection will
render him so impervious to fire that
he could crawl into your furnace and go
to sleep there without a particle of in
jury; could iuhale the flames without
injury to throat or luugs! Why,' he
shouted, stepping in front of me, 'it is
the invention of the century! Doyou
wouder that the heat from your fire
had no effect upon me? I am fire
proof! I have taken the injection, and
all the fires of Hades could make no
impression on my flesh!'
"I began to be alarmed at this en
thusiast, he was getting so nervous
and excited, but I inquired:
" 'How do yon know it will work to
the extent you claim, professor?'
" 'I made my last experiment last
flight,' he replied, 'aud it was a glo
rious success. I took a large dog, ad
ministered a powerful opiate, so that
he would not resist, injected the proper
amount of the elixir and placed him
in my large furnace and shut the
door. When I get home tonight I
shall let him out,'
" 'And r you expect to find him
alive?' I burst out incredulously.
" 'I most certainly do, and he. will
be none the worse for his experience,
except that he will be pretty hungry;
two hours after I lef', him my assistant
told me he was sleeping peacefully.
Now only one more trial is necessary to
convince the world that it can be done
nay, that it is done and that is to ex
periment on ahumn being! After this
last experiment I shall introduce legis
lation making inoculation compulsory,
so that death by fire will forever be a
thing of the past, and my name will
be handed downto future generations
as the greatest benefactor of the hu
man race. And now, having taken the
injection, and with that magnificent,
glorious fire of yours at hand, I pro
pose to test it on myself, with your
permission.'
"I started to my feet. My eyes
were opened at last; I was talking to
a lunatic, a determined madman. I
looked at him with horror and made
up my mind that he should not thus
commit suicide; I would knock him
dowu with a stick of cord-wood first.
"Meanwhile he had drawn a small
bottle from his pocket, removed the
cork and saturated a handkerchief
with its contents; I smelt the fumes
of ether. In a second, before I could
think further, he sprang upon me. In
stantly it flashed upon me that he in
tended to experiment upon me, not
himself. With the cunning of a mad
man he had thrown me off my guard
and intended to etherize me and then
to inject some of his compound into
my body.
"Now, as you see, I am a pretty
rugged man, and I was still more so
ten years ago. Without a weapon of
auy kind, it was to be a struggle in
which strength and strength alone
would count, and to my dying day I
shall never forget the desperation of
that combat. I fully realized that if
he succeeded in placing that handker
chief against my nostrils all would be
ended; so. shouting loudly for help, I
put forth my strength in my fight for
life. In less than a minute I realized
that I had found my match.
"I had succeeded in grasping his
wrists, and I dared not release them
for fear of the ether. Back and forth
we pushed, round and round we cir
cled; we tripped, fell, broke apart an?
rose again both at the same instant,
"He rushed at me again with wild,
unearthly cries; he bore me backward.
I struck against a barrel of lime, and
over I went with him on top; some
thing pressed down hard on my mouth
and nose; I struck out blindly, then a
great blackness came over me, and
knew no more.
"When I came to myself I was lying
on a pile of old bags, right where you
are sitting now, with a man working
over me; near the door was my pro
fessor, securely manacled between two
other men iu uniform. The pro
fessor was bewailing his ill fortun
and pouring out curses upon his cap
tors for interrupting him.
" 'Well, neighbor,' said the man
who was attending me, 'that was a
pretty close call; wait until your head
gets a little clearer and I will explain.'
"In a short while they told me thai
the 'professor' was au inmate of a lu
natic asylum in P , where the
were employed as keepers. He had
succeeded in escaping that morning,
and they had tracked him with great
difficulty, as he was -wonderfully cun
ning. When in the neighborhood ol
our kiln they had heard his wild
shouts as he made his last attack on
me aud rushing thither had arrived
just as I fell, overpowered. After a
desperate struggle they had secured
him.
" 'He is sound enough except on
this subject of fire,' said the keeper.
'Only last night he poisoned one of
our pet dogs with some chemical mix
ture, treated the body with his elixit
and then put it in the furnace. The
only way we could quiet his frenzy
was to tell him the dog was sleeping
quietly. And now, as we must get
him back to the institution, is ther
anything we can do for you?'
"I requested him to go to a certain
farmhouse and call one of my helpers
to take my place, as I did not feel
able to finish out the night. This ho
did; aud then taking the madman, whe
had relapsed into a sullen fit, into then
carriage, the men bade me good night
and drove away, and I never set eyes
on the 'professor' again. Yes, you
may rest assured I never forget the
15th of December."
Thanking him for his story I bade
the iime-burner good-by aud left him
piliug the wood on his great fire, which
threw a lurid glow on the interior of
his shed. Waverley Magazine.
The Serenade.
It is the confession of the young
man himself, a Detroiter who went to
a country village in the state to learn
business in a general store.
"I dote on music. Out there were
some good players aud we organized a
string band. I can't perform on any
thiug more difficult than a jewsharp,
but I was promoter, organizer, con
ductor and all that, so they named
the band after me. We never played
for money, but went to the houses ol
friends, where we always had pleasant
entertainment, or took later turns at
serenading. We were out on the lat
ter errand one night when I took the
band to one of the largest and most
pretentious homes in the town. It
was brilliantly lighted up, and we
played our catchiest selections, but
there was no response. We went
away mad, but finally gave the family
the benefit of the doubt, and went
back later, but with no better re
sult. "Next morning I was busy at the
store wheu the village physician, an
old school gentleman, came in smil
ing, lifted his hat and said, 'Good
morning, doc,' aud intimated that I
might send in a bill if I wanted to. 1
was dnmfounded, for a nodding ac
quaintance was all I had with the doc
tor and the idea of liis being so de
ferential was incomprehensible to me.
There appeared to be a rush of cus
tomers that morning, and they all
wore a peculiar smile that I could not
interpret. At last I got hold of the
little daily published there. It told
of tbe serenade at the big house, con
cluding with the thanks of the doctor
aud the familv, aud the assurance
that mother aud sou were both doing
well. The band never met again and
they named the boy Dewey." Detroit
Free Press.
A Marriage Test.
Both in the northern aud western
islauds of Scotland the natives have
some peculiar customs unfamiliar to
the dwellers on the mainland. One of
these, known as the "marriage test,"
is practiced iu the Island of St. Kilda,
whare the population barely exceeds
100. Every man, beforo he is deemed
suitable for a husband, has to perform
au evolution attended with no' little
bodily risk. The St. Kildans are, of
course, adept rock-climbers, and the
aspirant for matrimony is therefore
subjected to the test of balancing him
self on one leg on a narrow ledge
overhanging a precipice, bending his
body at the same time iu order to hold
the foot of his other leg iu his hands.
If found lacking in courage the
maiden withdraws from her betrothal,
and should the man fall over the ledge
it is presumed that in that case ha
will ba disaualified.
MET THE MAN OF STATISTICS.
His Cold Facts Were. Too Much Eveu
for a Klondiker.
When a Lake street elevated train
stopped at Madison, relates the Chi
cago Inter-Ocean, a large man, whe
wore a heavy ulster with a fur collar,
hastened into the smoker. He threw
back his top coat, disclosing a watch
chain, to Avhich was attached a good
sized gold nugget. A large diamond
occupied the centre of his shirt front.
The new passenger dropped into a
seat near a Chicago citizen, who was
small, thin, and meek looking. Meek
ness is a characteristic seldom found
in Chicago, and a hint of it doubtless
. encouraged the stranger to enter intc
conversation.
"They don't have much coldei
weather than this in Alaska," he re
marked in a sociable tone.
"Don't mistake facts," replied the
meek man. "In Skaguay and Daw
son City, 60 degrees below zero is nc
uncommon thing. This temperature is
not severe."
The traveler with the fur collar
looked slightly abashed, but he ral
lied quickly in order to inquire:
"Have you lived in Alaska !"
"JSo." The answer was in a tone
that insinuated an intention to staud
by any assertion that might have been
made regarding the thermometer.
"Well, I have. I'm from Circle
City," declared the stranger. "This
nugget is from one of my properties.
We have taken out a cartload since
the district was opened."
"Statistics prove that there has not
been a cartload of nuggets taken out
of all Alaska. Most of the gold is iu
the form of a fine powdery dust," said
the meek man. He felt in his pocket
aud produced a note book from which
he quoted a lot of figures.
The Circle City miner fairly gasped,
but he made another attempt at con
versation. "Chicago has grown a lot since l
was a boy. Why, I was born here,
and when I was a little fellow the city
wasn't much larger than Juueau. " It
was evident he was almost nervous,
for he cast rather an anxious look at
the meek man.
"You couldn't have been a boy more
than thirty years ago," declared the
statistical citizen. "In 1S68 there
were teu times as many people iu
Chicago as there are today iu the
whole territory of Alaska."
There was a moment's silence. The
conductor yelled the name of a street.
The strauger rose to his feet, turned
up his fur collar, and looking down
upon the meek man said between his
teeth:
VI n Circle City we don't make muck
parade of etiquette, but if a man contra
dicted me there the way you have
here he'd have one or two bullets in
him, aud he wouldn't have swallowed
them, either. I just want to say that,
compared with your manner of meet
ing the well-meant advances of a gen-
tleman, a Klondike freeze is a warn
thing. Contradict that now !"
The Danger of Curbing; Emotions.
We have all seen the man with sc
diplomatic a countenance that an
earthquake would hardly produce anj
change in his imperturbable face. We
are apt to infer that those sphynx-like
persons never feel emotion, whereas
they do not betray their feelings like
the generality of people.
Columns have been written about
theiuipassiveuess of Disraeli's expres
sion. A Germau philosopher once
went to Berlin for the sole inn-pose ol
studying his character aud discovered
what everyone had searched for iu
vain. "Likp all men," wrote the
keen observer, "he has one sign ol
emotion which never fails to show it
self, the movement of the leg that is
crossed, aud the foot."
But if there was ever a man of "iron
self-control'' that man was Lockhart,
the famous biographer. He formed
the idea in youth that it was unmanly
to make auy violent display of joj
or grief, and he succeeded so well in
repressing his feelings that when he
grew up he could not show them.
Wheu his brother and sister died
within a few days of each other, Lock
hart did not cry or otherwise relieve
his deep aud terrible feelings, and th(
consequence was that he became so ill
that his life was in jeopardy. Detroi
Free Press.
!?ea Kobbers Who K.xtort lilackmail.
"Wreckers is but another name foi
sea. robbers," said a prominent naval
officer, when discussing the casting
away of the Maria Teresa. His re
marks were directed toward those who
tried to obtain some title to the vesse'
in order to get salvage. "Every mar
iner kuows," he continued, "what
these wreckers are like. If a vessel
is discovered in the least distress thej
at once put off and try and board her
If they get their feet upon her deck,
no matter what is afterward done,thej
at ouce claim salvage and libel the ves
sel, compelling her owners to go iutc
court at great exrense. Thesepirates
are little better than blackmailers, foi
many seafariug men prefer to paj
something rather than go into the
courts. There are many captains of
vessels who, as soon as they see the
wreckers approaching, arm their men
with handspikes and beat them off il
they attempt to board in order to avoid
the blackmail or the expense of de
fending a case in the iouvts." Wash
iaaton Star, I
DE. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BYTHE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: "Cling to the Cross" The Mul
tiplicity of Opportunities For Doing
Good That Men of Talent Have Within
Their Reach Brave Stay-at-Homet.
Text: "Thou art worth 10,000 of us."
II Samuel xviil., 3.
' One of the most wondrous characters of
his time was David. A red haired boy, he
could shepherd a flock or carry "ten loaves
and ten slices of "milk cheese to his brothers
in the regiment,'.' or with leathern thong,
stone loaded, bring down a giant whose
armor weighed two hundredweight of
metal, or cause a Hon which roared at him
In rage to rear with pain as he flung it,
dying, to the roadside, or could marshal a
host, or rule an empire, or thumb a harp
so skillfully that it cured Saul's dementia
a harp from whose strings dripped pas
toral elegies, lyrics, triumphal marches,
benedictions. Now, this man, a combina
tion of musio and heroics, of dithyrambs
and battle fields, cf country quietudes and
statesmanship, is to fit out a military ex
pedition. Four thousand troops, accord
ing to Josephus, were sent into the field.
The captains were put in command of
the companies, and the colonels in com
mand of the regiments, which were dis
posed Into right wing, left wing and
center. General Joab, General Abisnal
and General Ittai are to lead these three
divisions. But who shall take the field
bs commander in chief? David offers
his services and proposes to go to the
front. He will lead them in tbe awful
charge, for he has not a cowardly nerve
in all his body. He did not propose to have
his troops go Into perils which he himself
would not brave, and tne battlefield re
quired as much courage then as now, for
the opposing forces must, In order to do any
execution at all, come up to within posi
tive reach of saber and spear. But there
came up from the troops and from civilians
a mighty protest against David's taking
the field. His life was too important to
the nation. If he went down, the empire
went down; whereas, if the whole 4000 of
the ranks were slain another army might
be marshaled and the defeat turned into
victory. The army and the nation practi
cally cried out: "No! No! You cannot
go to the front! We estimate you as 10,000
men! 'Thou art worth 10,000 of us!' "
That army and that nation then and
there reminded David and now remind us
of the fact which we forget or never ap
preciate at all that some people are moral
ly or spiritually worth far more than
others, and some worth far less. The cen
sus and statistics of neighborhoods, or
churches, of nations, serve their purpose,
but they can never accurately express the
real state of things. The practical subject
that I want to present to-day is that those
who have especial opportunity, especial
graces, especial wealth, especial talent,
especial eloquence, ought to make up by
especial assiduity and consecration for
those who have less opportunities and less
gifts. You ought to do ten times more for
God and human uplifting than those who
have only a tenth of your equipment. The
rank and the file of the 4000 of the text
told the truth when they said, "Thou art
worth 10,000 of us."
In no city of its size are there so many
men of talent as are gathered in the capital
of the American nation. Some of the States
are at times represented by men who have
neither talents nor good morals. Their
political party compensates them for parti
san services by sending them to Congress
or by securing for them position In the war
or navy or pension or printing depart
ments. They were nobodies before they
left home, and they are nobodies here, but
they are exceptional. All the States of the
Union generally send their most talented
men and men of exemplary lives and noble
purposes. Some of them have the gifts and
qualifications of ten men, of a hundred men
yea, of a thousand men and their con
stituents could truthfully employ the
word9 of my text and say, "Thou art worth
10,000 of us." .
With such opportunity, are they aug
menting their usefulness in every possible
direction? Many of them are, some of them
are not. It is a stupendous thing to have
power political power, social power, of
ficial power. It has often been printed and
often quoted as one of the wise sayings of
the ancients, "Knowledge is power." Yet
it may as certainly be power for evil as for
good. The lightning express rail train has
power for good if it is on the track, but
horrible power for disaster if it leaves the
track and plunges down the embankment.
Tbe ocean steamer has power for good,
sailing in right direction and in safe waters
and under good helmsman and wide awake
watchman on the lookout, but indescrib
able power for evil if under full head
way it strikes tbe breakers. As steam
power or electricity or water forces may
be stored in boilers, ia dynamos, in reser
voirs, to be employed all over a town or
city, so God sometimes puts In one man
enough faith to supply thousands of men
with courage. If a man happens to be ttius
endowed, let him realize his opportunity
and improve it. At this time millions of
men are a-tremble lest this nation make a
mistake and enter upon some policy of
government for the islands of tbe sea that
will founder the republic God will give
to a few men on both sides of this question
faith and courage for all the rest. There
are two false positions many are now tak
ing, false as false can be. The one is that
if we decline to take under full charge
Cuba and Porto Rico and the Philippines
we make a declination that will be disas
trous to our nation, and other nations will
take control of those archipelagoes and
rule them, and perhaps to our humiliation
and destruction. Tbe other theory is that
if we take possession of those once Spanish
colonies we invite foreign Interference and
enter upon a career that will finally be the
demolition of this government. Both posi
tions are immeasurable mistakes. God has
set apart this continent for free govern
ments and the triumphs of Christianity,
and we may take either the first
or the second course without ruin.
We may say to those islands, "We
do not want you, but we have set you
free. Now stay free, while we see that the
Spanish panther never again puts its
paw on your neck." Or we may invite
the annexation of Cuba and Porto Rico and
say to the Philippines, "Get ready by edu
cation and good morals for free govern
ment, and at the right time you shall be
one of our Territories, on the way to be one
of our States."
A vast majority of men have no surplus
of confidence for others and hardly
enough confidence for themselves. They
go through life saying depressing things
and doing depressing things. They chill
prayer meetings, discourage charitable in
stitutions, injure commerce and kill
churches. They blow out lights when they
ought to be kindling tbem. They hover
around a dull Are on their own hearth and
take up so much room that no one c.n
catch the least caloric, instead of stirring
the hearth into a blaze, the crackle of
wbos backlog would invite the whole
neighborhood to" come In to feel the
abounding warmth and see the transfigur
ation of the faces. As we all have to
guess a great deal about the future, let us'
guess something good, for it will be more
encouraging, and the guess will be just as
apt to come true. What a lot of ingrates
the Lord has at His table! People who
have had three meals a day for fifty years
and yet fear that they will soon have to
rattle their knife and fork on an empty
dinner plate. How many have had win
ter and spring and summer and fall
clothing for sixty years, but expect an
emptySwardrobe shortly! How many have
lived under free institutions all their day's,
but fear that the United States may be
telescoped in some foreign collision! Oh,
but the taxes have gone up! Yes, but
thank God, it is easier with money
to pay the taxes'--now that they
are up than it was without money to pay
the taxes when they were down. We want
a few men who have faith in God and that
mighty future which holds several things,
among them a millennium. Columbanus
said to his friend. "Delcolus.why are you al
ways smiling?" The reply was, "Because no
one can take my God from me!" We want
more men to feel that they have a mission
to cheer others and to draw up the corners
of people's mouth3 which have a long
while been drawn down, more Davids who
can shepherd whole flocks of bright hopes,
and can play a harp of encouragement,
and strike down a Goliath of despair, aad
of whom we can say, "Thou art worth 10.
000 of us." '
I admit that this thought o my text
fully carried out would change many of the
world's statistics. Suppose a village is
said to have 1000 inhabitants, and that
one-half of them namely. 500 have for
years been becoming less in body, and
through niggardliness and grumbling less
in soul. Each one of these is only one-halt
of wDat he once wa3or one-half of what
she once was.
That original 500 have been reduced one
half in moral quality and are really only
250. Suppose that the other 500 have
maintained their original status and are
neither better nor worse. Then the
entire population of that village i3 750.
But suppose another village of 1000, and
500ofthem,as the years go by, through
mental and spiritual culture, augment
themselves until they are really twice the
men and women they originally were,
and the other 500 remain unchanged and
are neither better nor worse, then the pop
ulation of that village is 1500. Meanness
is subtraction and nobility is addition.
According as you rise In the scale of holi
ness and generosity and consecration, you
are worth five or ten or fifty or 100 or 100
or 10,000 others.
Notice, my friend, that this David, war
rior, strategift, minstrel, master qf blask
verse and stone silnger at tbe giant, whom
the soldiers of the text estimated clear up
into the thousandfold of usefulness on this
particular occasion, staid at home orinhls
place of temporary residence. General
Joab, General Abishal and General Ittai,
who commanded the boys in tne right wine
and left wing and centre, did their work
bravely and left 25,000 of the Lord's ene
mies dead on the field, aud many of the
survivors got entangled in the woods ,of
Ephralm and mixed up in the bushes and
stumbled over the stumps of trees and fell
Into bogs and were devoured of wild beasts
which seized them in the thiekets. But
David did his work at home. We all huzza
for heroes who have been in battle and
on their return what processions we
iorm ana wuki .tnumpuui arcues we
spring and what banquets we spread and,
what garlands we wreathe and what ora
tions wo deliver and what bells wo ring and
Wiini caujiuunum wo juio; juui uu wo ur
justice to the stay at homes? David, who
was worth 10,000 of those who went out tc
meet the Lord s enemies in tha wools ol
Ephralm, that day did his work in retire
ment. The warrior David of my text showed
more self control and moral prowess ia
staving at home than he could have shown
commanding in the field. He was a na
tural warrior. Martial ilrs stirred him.
The glitter of opposing shields fired him.
He was one of those men who feel at home
in the saddle, patting the neck of a paw
ing cavalry horse. But he suppressed him
self. He obeyed the command of the troops
wnom ne wouia use io nave commanaea.
Some of the greatest Sedans and Aus
terlltzea have been in backwoods kitch
ens or in nursery, with three children
down with scarlet fever, soon to join
the two already In the churchyard, or
amid domestic wrongs and .outrages
in commercial life within their own count
ing rooms ia time of Black Friday panics,
or in mechanical life in their own carpen
ter shop or on the scaffolding of the walls
swept by cold or smitten by heat. No tele
graphic wires reported the crisl9 ot. the
conflict, no banner was ever waved to cele
brate their victory, but God knows, and
God will remember, and God will adjust,
and by Him the falling of a tear is as cer
tainty noueeu as tne purning oi a worm,
and the flutter of a sparrow's wing a3 the
flight of the apocalyptic archangel.
Oh, what a God we have for small things
helped at the front than helped at home.
The four regiments mobilized for the de
fense of the throne of Israel were right ia
protesting against David's expose of hia
life at the front. Had he peen pierced of an
arrow or cloven down with abattleaxor
fatally slung for snorting war charger, what
ft rlicnfr f nr thft thranfl nf Tsrftfil! Ahnlrim
his son. was a low fellow and unfit to
reign; his two chief characteristics were
his handsome face and his long hair s,o
long that when ho bad It cat that whleb.
was scissored off weighed "200 shekels,
has nothing but a handsome face and an
exuberance of hair there Is not much of
him. The capture or slaying of David
unci iuu aiuk a y 1 ii v , ou.ii nucu a jl4u
wouia nave oeen a calamity irreparame.
Unnecessary exposure would have been &
crime for David, as it is a crime for you.
Some people think it is a bright thing to
put themselves in unnecessary peril. They "
like to walk up to the edge of a precipice
contagions when they can be of no use but
to demonstrate their own bravado, or with
giee drive horses which are only harnessed
whirlwinds, or see how closethey can walk
in front of a trolley car without being
crushed, or spring on a rail train after it
has started, or leap off a rail train before it
has stopped. Their life Is a series of
narrow escapes, careless ot what predica
ment their family would suffer at their
sudden taking off or of the misfortune
that might come to their business partners
or the complete failure of their life wort,
if a coroner's jury must be called in to de
cide the style of their exit. They do not
take into consideration what thair life is
worth to others. Taken on through
such recklessness they go criminals.
There was not one man among
those four full regiments of four
thousand IsrKlites that would have so
much enjoyed being in the fight as David,
but he saw that he could serve his nation
best by not putting on helmet and shield
and sword, and so he took the advice of tha
armed men and said, "What aeemeth to.
you best I will do." I warrant that you
will die soon enoug'e, without teasing an-t
bantering casualty to see If it can launch
vou into the next world.
Tha KaUer'K Vltit to Rome.
Emperor William of Germany will visit
Ernie. Iti.lv. next AorU.