THE- Ji.ti EXCELLENT ADVERTISING MEDIUBlJ Official Organ of Washington County. FIRST OP ALL THE NEWS. Circulates extensively in the Counllos cl Job Printing In ItsVarious Branches. J.OO A YEAR IS ADVANCE. "FOR GOD, FOR COUSTRY, AND FOR TRUTH." SIXGLK COPY, 5 CENTS. VOL. X. PLYMOUTH, N. C, FRIDAY, MAY 5, 1899. . , NO. 33. THE COLD The panting steamer slowly dreps Away from the crowded pier ; The blaokened decks recede from view And leave me musing here. Away where the gold so warm and red, Lies hid tn the dark earth's breast; Little they reck of danger and cold, Aglow wih the golden quest. The rosy youth with kindling eye, In his manhood's early dawn, The pale man with the student's stoop, The stalwart man of brawn. All. each and all, with fevered gaze Fixed on the fields of gold; Ah, well-a-day I for a faith that's firm And a heart that is brave and bold. 1 THE COMING OF 4 13 V MARY 8PRAGUE. VVVVVVVVVV'VVVV'VVVVVVVWV The soft whir of a spinning wheel came through aa open window, min gling pleasantly with the singing of birds and the hum of bees. Within the room a slim, round figure stepped gracefully to and fro. Without, watch ing the pretty scene with a smile of admiration, not unmixed with mischief, on his handsome, ruddy face, stood a tall young continental soldier, cocked hat in hand. His horse was close beside him.nib bliug, unrebuked, the clover which grew in abundance near the weather beaten house. Presently the crunching of his strong white teeth on the luscious mouthf uls caught the maiden's ear. Like a flash she turned aud saw the silent onlooker. "Well done, William Foskitt!" she cried, tartly. " 'Tis the act of a brave man,' no doubt, to spy upon his neighbors! Is it from the redcoats you have learned such ways? Me thinks they Lave apt pupils!" A vivid flush mounted to the young man's forehead. After an instant's liesitatiou he vaulted over the window sill and approached the fair spinner, whose look of pretended indignation changed to one of great demureness and whose cheeks crew rosy red. "We've scarcely seen the redcoats enough yet to learn ..anything from them, sweetheart, but the chance is near at hand. General Washington is determined to lie idle behind his trenches no longer. Within a few days" '"Oh, William!" Her voice was trembling now and as loviug as he could wish. Her win some blue eyes were full of tears. The thread, no longer truly held, broke with a snap. "Nay, now, sweetheart," he said, caressing the sunny hair- which lay against his shoulder, "calm these foolish fears. Likely enough we shall , stay these next three months as the last. Let us not borrow trouble. See! I am come with a message to you from Anna Stedman. Here it is. Come out under the trees and read it. I know already something of it3 con tents, I doubt not." He drew a scrap of paper from his big-flapped pocket and led the way to a bench under an old elm in the door yard. "Dear Polly My brother and some other young men who are at home from camp on two or three days' leave are going to give a ball here, at ray father's tavern, next Thursday night, 'Twill be quite a grand affair. "I wish you to come over Wednes day aud spend the night. Bring your finest gown. I shall wear my pink gauze and the gold beads Aunt Mercy gave me. "Milly Brewster and Priscilla Nick erson will be here. Milly left Boston just before the siege began, and she Knows me ittteab nijiea ui incooiu hair. She learned it from on English lady her aunt knows. Nothing like it has ever bsen seen in this neighbor hood. 'Twill be most becoming to your pretty head. "William Foskitt stopped here on an errand, and I make use of him to bring this to you. I have no fear that his coming will anger you. Tour true friend, "Anna Stedman." The blue eyes and the gray ones met in a smile of perfect understand ing as the' last words were reached. The next Wednesday afternoon Tolly set forth on horseback for Sted man's tavern, accompanied by her younger brother, a lad of 15. Tied to thir .saddles were several large bundles containing her ball costume. , They met few travelers on the three miles of their ride until within a short distance of their destination, when half a dozen horsemen were seen ap proaching at a rapid pace. "Be not afraid, Polly," said Daniel, with au air of protection. "We will rein our horses to one gide till they pass. " "But who can they be, Jjan.' wnis pered Polly. "Very likely one of the . expresses General Washington sends all through the colonies to carry and bring tidings. I have heard my father say they ride swiftly aud in small companies." There was time for no further ex change of words. The galloping riders were close by. The lad took off his cap, and Polly, blushing,involuntari!y frWcd in response aa every man of the Aiipany raised his cocked hatand one SEEKERS. For those then be who will come again, All broken and worn and van, While others left in the Arctic snows Will slumber forever on. And some will empty-handed come, Who have missed the golden goal. And some with gold too dear, alas 1 The price of a sinless soul. And those at home will sit at night And the wind sweeps where it wills With hearts away in a shambling shack In the wild Alaskan hills. Tis thus I muse on the lonely quay, Whence the hurrying crowd is gono While far away for the frozen north A flag of smoke trails on. Carrie Shaw like, in Overland Monthly. 1 THE WHITE OWL of them, the youngest and handsomest, spoke a word of respectful greeting. Daniel turned in his saddle to look after them. His hazel eyes were glowing. "I wish I was a man!" he cried. "I'll be a soldier the minute father thinks I'm big enough!" "'Tis a brave life indeed," answered his sister. The silence seemed deeper than ever after the sound of quick hoof-beats died away, but soon they began to as cend the loug hill leading to Sted man's tavern. As they approached the great rambling gray house with its protecting row of elms three gir-ls ran out to meet them, laughing aud chid ing Polly for her late coming. "We thought some accideut had be fallen," said Anna, the tallest and mo3t buxom of the group. She mounted the broad horse-block aud assisted Polly in untying the parcels. "Here, girls, do you take these inside. Daniel, you can help. Timothy will see to the horses. What! You can't stay, Daniel?" "No, Anna. My father said he would need me in the field tomorrow." "Be sure you come tomorrow night with your brothers, then. 'Twill be a merrymaking long to be remem bered. What do you think of this, Polly? Two officers from General Washington's own colony, who lately came on to join the continental army, are staying at Isaac Merrick's and have promised my brother to be here. They say that open war will soon begiu.and we'd better make the most of this ball. There! the last knot is untied! Come right iu! Supper is all ready. You, too, Daniel. 'Tis moonlight now, and the road will be all the lighter an hour hence." . So, well laden with Polly's finery, they disappeared within the hospitable tavern. Two hours later, Daniel being well on his homeward way and the house hold tasks disposed of, the four maid ens bade the family good night and repaired to the large double bedded chamber where they were to sleep. Several caudles were lighted and placed on the high, narrow mantel piece, whence they threw fantastic shadows over the spindle-legged fur niture and the opposite wall. "Now, Milly," began Anna in her brisk fashion, "you do my hair, and let Polly and Priscilla see how we do ours. "lis all with rolls and cushions, which we made today, and with puffs and curls wonderful to behold. I've a full supply of powder, too." So saying she brought forth from a cupboard a large paper bandbox piled with numerous articles ready for use, at which the girls looked with spark ling eyes. Anna soon had her beauti ful dark hair unbound, and when she had seated herself in a low chair, with an .apron tied around her plump shoulders, Milly began operations. Very deftly her slender fingers flew like white birds iu and out among the long, shining tresses, smoothing.part ing, weaving, rolling, curliug, pow dering.until a tall, elaborate structure, truly marvellous to the sight, arose in stately grace upon Anna's head. She sat quite patient! v during th pro tracted ordeal, encouraged now aud then by glimpses of her growing adornment iu a bit of broken looking glass held before her eyes by one or the other of the admiring girls. "I'm sure I can never do that in the world," sighed Polly, envious of Milly's skillful touch. "How did you ever learn, Milly?" Milly's thin, dark face glowed with satisfaction, "Oh, Mis not so hard when once you have tried it!" she responded, as suming an air of indifference. "My Aunt Bethia has a dear friend in Mis tress Alice Montford, wife to an Eng lish merchant. Her maid taught me how to do Aunt Bethia's hair. There! Is that not truly becoming to our Anna's face? Rise.fair maid, and view thy charms!" Laughing, they led her to the long, narrow mirror hanging against the wall, in which, by dint of turning this way and that, she was able to see her mass of white puffs and curls. "Now, Polly, it is your turn next," Said Milly. "Why, I thought" began Polly. "Oh, I'd just as lievedo them all as not, interrupted Milly, good, natured ly. "I love to see what new wayu I can discover. ' Polly took her place in the chintz covered chair without further ado. Her golden locks received a differeut treatment from Auna's dark ones, but in due time she, too, emerged from Milly's hands with a triumph of archi tecture nicely balanced ou her pretty head. "How shall we ever be able to go to bed?" she suddenly asked, while cran ing her neck to view her newly ac quired possession. "I feel as though this would all fall off if I don't keep very straight and stiff." "You'll soon get used to that," re plied Anna, with a confidence born of experience. "But, of course, as for going to bed, that is not to bo thought of. Come, Prissy!" Blank astonishment looked from Polly's blue eyes. "Not go to bed! Who ever heard of such a thing?" she cried iu wonder. "How will we look tomorrow night if we don't get any sleep?" "Oh, that is another thing! We can sleep well euough sitting up and lean ing back in our chairs. Ladies of fashion often do that. I'll show you how my Aunt Bethia does." Polly made no answer. Her neck was already aching from her continued efforts to bu'ance her "tower" prop erly. For a few minutes she wished she had not come, but very soou her naturally sweet temper reasserted it self, and she made the best of an un comfortable prospect. "We. might have waited uutil to morrow afternoon, " said Anna, "but there'll be so many things to do. We can manage to sleep pomehow. " By the time Priscilla's auburu hair was dressed she had tardy qualms of conscience. "What think you, girls?" she in quired, with au anxious wrinkle in her white forehead. "Is it altogether seemly for us to ape the fashions of our country's enemies? How will our continental soldiers like to see us thus?" "Have done with such foolish no tions, Priscilla Nickersou !"co:nmanded Milly with more than her usual de cision. "You will learn, some of these days, that men know nothing of fash ion. If we only look to their pleasing that is all they care. And I'll warrant there'll be no finer appearing girls at the ball than we four. There's small con nection, to my thinking, between the way we do our hair and this unchris tian war. So. put away your silly fears, Prissy, and be sensible." Milly was older than the others. She lived in Boston. Her sharp, posi tive way aud words had a great deal of weight with her companions. So Prissy dropped the matter and was soon engrossed in trying on her new blue satin slippers. Not so Polly. "What will William Foskitt think?" she kept asking herself over aud over again, until her heart grew so heavy that but for the shame of self-betrayal she would have torn the mass of rolls and ribbons from her head and braided her soft hair in its accustomed bands. At last each head was dressed. Then the girls sought comfortable chairs against whose high backs they could lean propped up with cushions and pillows. The candles were extin guished. Wrapped in blankets they established themselves and for a time talked of the morrow's gaieties. But finally wearied nature claimed her due. The moon peeping in through tne open window at tna mi.u August midnight saw four sleeping beauties. High in an elm tre9 opposite this same window sat a great white owl. For a long while he had been keenly observant of all that was going ou within the chamber. What he thought of the proceeding can never be known, but true it is that he slowly descended from his perch aud with noiseless, movements stepped inside the window. Gravely scanning each bedecked top knot he selected Polly's as the most to his liking. With a flut tering whir of his big wings he made swift and sudden descent upon it, div ing his strong claws sharply within it and, after careful balancing, settling down into a steady position. And poor little Polly! Alas! her light slumber, already disturbed by uneasy thoughts of possible disloyalty to her lover, had a rude awakening. A confused sense came over her of being carried off by the top of her head; a stab, a pain; a startled con sciousness of the near presence of some awful thiug, some heavy weight. Then she gave piercing shrieks which brought the terrified girls to their feet, the household to the room. Candles being hastily lighted re vealed to the incredulous eyes of all the huge white owl sitting on Polly's head, blinking wisely aud evidently in no mind to leave his dainty resting place. Muscular hands carefully dislodged him, Polly's golden hair was soou combed smoothly out aud laid in a long, glistening braid over the pillow on the bed to which they carried her. For hours she suffered severely from the nervous shock, and it was several days before she was'able to go to her home. She did not feel entirely herself again until she had told the whole story to William Foskitt and had heard him say that he forgave her. "I will say the words to please yon, sweetheart, br.t I do not consider that jqu did grievous wrong," the stalwart young sontinental replied to his in sistent petitioner. " 'Twas only a trifling matter. Yon charge yourself too heavily, my Polly." "No, Williain," she "made answer, smiling up at him with happy eyes. " 'Tis the part of a woman to be true even' in very little things." Waverlej Magazine. FOOTBALL AS PLAYED IN CHINA. Fifty Giant on Kuch Side, and All Is Fail but I'igtail I'ulling. Chinamen are generally not credited with being quick to accept innova tions, so that when it is said thai northern Chiria boasts of several foot ball teams a good deal of surprise will be evinced. Yet football is no new game among the Celestials, at least among those who inhabit northern China, and has been in existence t number of years. Of course, the game is not played exactly according- to intercollegiate rules, and a basket, or something which looks like one, replaces the modern football. The Chinamen, be sides, have no goals, and the gridiron is replaced by the .streets of the town in which the deadly combat is waged with 50 lusty Celestials on a side. There is not a man among them, however, who is not six feet in height, and several of them are three inches taller, while their average weight is 200 pounds. The men who form the teams are inhabitants of northern China, and are typical of the race of giauts produced iu that part of the world. Lined up against tfeem the knights of the gridiron of" Yale and Princeton would appear as a team of pigmies, and the Chinese giauts would give the collegians a battle. royal if they could be induced to appear on an American field. A club with a collective weight of 20v00 pounds could carry everything before it. The main idea in the Chinese game of football, as iu the American, is to carry the wickerwork basket into the opponents' end of the town, and this is often done by stealth as well as by brute force. -. There. are no 20-minute halves, but the game is coutinued un til one skle accomplishes its purpose, and it often lasts for days. The 100 combatants are scattered over the town, and are each provided with whistles, which they blow m or der to bring assistance. When a scrimmage occurs the Chinamen give vent to their feelings in the most peculiar uoises, frequently shrieking with delight. Their yells of triumpb, ' which resound through the air when the ball is discovered, are likened, by one who has heard them, to the "plaintive cry of a pig that has been speared. " The charging is ' generally done with the head. The only precaution taken by them on the football field is for the; preser vation of their pigtails, which are cared for as though they were 'worth a thousand times their value. With this exception they throw caution to the winds and devote themselves with all their strength to the play. Any game where brute strength is required they would excel iu. 1 On the day when a football match ia to take p!ace the streets of the town are cleared and the non-participants sit at their wiudows to watch the game if it should come their way. A con siderable quantity of opium is given the wiuniug team. The Itecord for Staying Under Water.' A week or so since the Daily Tele graph mentioned ..the great surprise Miss Elsie Wallenda recently created at the Alhambrn, London, by staying under water iu a glass tank 4 minutes 9 3-5 seconds, defeating the previous ladies' record, held by Miss Annie" Johnson, who in 1889, at Blackpool, remained beneath the surface of the water 3 minutes 18 1-1 seconds. The other day Miss Wallenda made au at tempt on the remarkable record held by James Finney of 4 minutes. 29 1-4 secouds, accomplished by him at the Canterbury in 188P, and that put up by Beaumont, the 'English swimmer, in Melbourne, where he is said to h'ave been immet'sed'4 minutes 33 1-2 sec onds in 1893. So that there should be no mistake, Messrs. H. H. Grif fin, the official timekeeper of the Northern Couuties union;- J.Campbel.' Muir of the Bath club, and W. Henry, the honorable secretary of the Lite Saving society, were requested to at tend and take the time. Miss Wallenda, niter a series of tricks iu the water, which made up her usual nightly perforciauce, at tempted the record anl. was eminently successful, for she remained 'under neath 4 minutes 45 1-2 secouds, which constitutes a world's record, lowering that of Finney's by 10 1-4 seconds aud Beaumont's by 10 seconds. Miss Wallenda was rather exhausted at the finish, but she quickly recovered. Sydney Daily Telegraph: Inventor of I lie Lucifer 3Ia'ch. St. Lothaire, in the Jura mountains, has erected a monument to Charles Marc Sauria, the couutry doctor, who iu 1831 invented the lucifer match, but was too poor to patent his inven tion. There are Austrian and Hun garian claimants to the priority of the invention. The first postoffice was opened in Paris in 1642, in England in 1581, at d in Amaiica in 1710. DR. TALM AGE'S SERMON, SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED DIVINE. Subject: "Parental Heedlessness" The Vow of Jephthah Typical of Much That la Distressing in Modern Life Chil dren Sacrificed to Worldly Ambition. Text: "My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me ac cording to that which hath proceeded out of tby mouth." Judges xi., 36. Jephthah was a freebooter. Early turned out from a home where he ought to have been cared for, he consorted with rough men and went forth to earn his living as best he could. In those times it was con sidered right for a man to'go out on inde pendent military expeditions. Jephthah was a good man according to the light of his dark age, but through a wandering and predatory life he became reckless and pre cipitate. The grace of God changes a man's heart, but never reverses his natural temperament. The Israelites wanted the Ammonites driven out of their country, so they sent a delegation to Jephthah, askiDg him to become commander in chief of all the forces. He might have Baid, "You drove me out when you had no use for me, and now you are in trouble you want me back," but he did not say that. He takes command of the army, sends messengers to the Ammonites to tell them to vacate the country, and getting no favorable re sponse, marshals his troops for battle. Before going out to the war Jephthah makes a very solemn vow that if the Lord will give him the victory then, on his re turn home, whatsoever first comes out of his doorway he will offer in sacrifice as a burnt offering. . The battle opens. It was no skirmishing on the edges of dangers, no unlimbering of batteries two miles away, but the hurling of men on the points of swords and spears until the ground could no more drink the blood and the horses reared to leap over the pile of bodies of the slain. In those old times opposing forces would fight until their swords were broken and then each one would throttle his man until they both fell, teeth to teeth, grip to grip, death stare to death stare, until the plain was one tumbled mass of corpses from which the last traoe 'of manhood had been dashed out. Jephthah wins the day. Twenty cities lay captured at his feet. Sound the victory all through the mountains of Gilead. Let the trumpeters call up the survivors. Home ward to your wives and children. Home ward with your glittering treasures. Homeward to have the applause of an ad miring nation. Build triumphal arches. Swing out flags all over Mizpah. Open all your doors to receive the. captured treas ures. Through every hall spread the ban quet. Pile up the viands. Fill high the tankards. The nation is redeemed, the in vaders are routed and the national honor Is vindicated. Huzza for Jephthah, the conquerorl Jephthah, seated on a prancing steed, ad vances amid the acclaiming multitudes, but his eye is not on tho excited populace. Remembering that he had made a solemn vow that, returning from victorious battle, whatsoever first came out of the doorway of his home that should be sacrificed as a burnt offering, he has his anxiou3 look upon tho door. I wonder what spotless lamb, what brace of doves, will be thrown upon.the fires of the burnt offering! Ob," horrors! Idleness of death blanches bis cheek. Despair seizes his heart. His daughter, his only child, rushes out the doorway to throw herself in her father's arms and shower upon him more kisses than there were wounds on his breast or dents ou his shield. All the triumphal splendor vanishes. Holding back this child from his heaving breast and pushing tho locks back from the fair brow and looking Into the eyes of inextinguishable affection, with choked utterance he says: "Would to God I lay stark on the bloody plain! My daughter, my only child, joy of my home, life of my life, thou art the sacrifice!". The whole matter was explained to her. This was no whining, hollow hearted girl Into whose eyes the father looked. All the glory of sword and shield vanished in the presence of the valor of that girl. There may have been a tremor of the lip, as a rase leaf trembles In the sough of the south wind; there may have been tho starting of a tear like a raindrop shaken from the anther of a water lily. But with a self sacrifice that man may not reach and only woman's heart can compass she surrenders herself to fire and to death. She cries out la the words of my text, "My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do unto me whatsoever hath proceeded from thy mouth." In the first place, I remark that much of the system of edu:ation in our day is a system of sacrifice. When children spend six or seven hours in school nnd then must spend two or three hours In preparation for school the next day, will you tell me how much time they will have for sunshine and fresh air and the obtaining of that ex uberance which is necessary for the duties of coming life? No one can feel more thankful than I do for the advancement of common school education. The printing of books appropriate for schools, the mul tiplication of philosophical apparatus, the establishment of normal schools, which provide for our children teachers of largest caliber, are themes on which every philan thropist ought to bo congratulated. But this herding of great multitudes of chil dren in ill ventilated schoolrooms and poorly equipped halls of instruction is making many of the places of knowledge in this country n hugo holocaust. Politics In many of the cities gets into educational affairs and while the two political parties are scrabbling for the honors Jephthah's daughter perishes. It is so much so that there are many schools in tho country to day which are preparing tens of thousands of invalid men and women for1 tho future; so that, in many places, by the time the child's education is finished the child is finished! In many places, in many cities or tho country, there are large appropria tions for everything else nnd cheerful ap proprlationSj but as soon as the appropria tion is to bo made for the educational or moral interests of the city we are struck through with an economy that 13 well nigh the death of us. You may flatter your prido by forcing your child to know more than any other children, but you are making a sacrifice of that child it by the additions to its intelli gence you are making n subtraction from its future. The child will go away from puch mnUroatmeut with no exuber ance to fight tho battle ot life. Such chil dren may get along very well while you take care of them, but, wbou you are old or dead, alas for thorn if through the wrong system of education which you ndopted they have no swarthlnesj or force tot character to take care of themselves! Be careful how you make the child's bead ache or its heart flutter. I hear a great deal about black man's rights, and China man's rights, and Indian's rights, and woman's rights. Would to God that some body would rise to pload for children's fights! The Carthagenians used to sacri fice their children by putting them iuto the arms of an idol which thrust forth its band. The child wa p-it luto tuo arms ot the Idol, and no sooner touched the arms than it dropped Into tna Are. But it wns the art of the mothers to keep the chlldrei smiling and laughing until the moment they died. There may be . a fascination and a hilarity about the styles of eduea tion of which I am speaking,' but it is only laughter at the moment of sacrifice; Would God there were. '.only one Jeph. thah's daughter! ... . Again, there are many parents who are sacrificing their children with wrong sys tem of discipline too great rigor or too great leniency. There arechildren infamW lies who rule the household. .. The nig chair in which the Infant sits Is the throne, and tho rattle Is the sceptre, and the other children make up the parliament where father and mother have no vote! , Such; children come up to be miscreants. There Is no chance In this world for a child that has never learned to mind. Such people become the botheration of the church of God and the pest of the world. .Children that do not learn to obey human authority are unwilling to learn to obey divine au thority. Children will not respect parents whose authority they do not respect. Who are these young'men that swagger through the street with their thumbs la their vest talking about their father as "the old man," "the governor," "the squire." "the old chap," or their mother as "the old woman?" They are those who in youth, in childhood, never learned to respect au thority. Ell, having heard that his sona had died in their wickedness, fell over back ward and broke his peck and died. .Well he might! What is life to a father whose sons are debauched? The dasi-of the vaU ley is pleasant to his ta3te, and the driving , rains that drip through the roof of the sepulcher are sweeter than the wines of Helbon. In our day most boys start out with no.. Idea higher than the all encompassing dol lar. They start in an age which boasts it can scratch the Lord's Prayer.on a tea cent piece and the Ten Commandants -on a tea '' cent piece. Children are taught to .reduce muruia uuu reiiK'ou, iiuie ana eternity, to vulgar fractions. It seems to be their chief r attainment that ten cents make a dime and ten dimes make a dollar: .' How ' to get money is only equaled by the other art how to keep it. Tell me, ye who know, " what chance there is for those who start, out in life with such perverted sentiments! The money market resounds again and -again with the downfall of such people. If I had a drop of blood on the tip of a pen, I would tell you by what awful tragedy many t of tho youth of this country are ruined. r utiuor uu, muusauua uuu ions 01 tnou- ' sands of the daughters of America are sacrificed to worldliness. They are taught ' to be in sympathy with all the artiflclalties t of society. They are inducted into all the . hollowness -of what Is called fashionable life. They are taught to believe that .his- , tory is dry, but that fifty cent stories of ' adventurous love are delicious. With, capacity that might have rivaled a Flor ence Nightingale in heavenly ministries or made the lather's hou.se glad with, filial " and sisterly demeanor, their life is a waste, their beauty a curse, their eternity a de molition. In the siege ot Charleston, during our Civil War, a lieutenant of the army stood on the floor beside the daughter of the ex Governor of the State of South Carolina. rm. . 1 - . 1 . . .' a nnmnnfii Rrrnpir rnfl rnnr nrnnnni mtA . tne group, ana nine were wounded ana slain, among the wounded to death tho bride. While the bridegroom knelt on the "' carpet trying, to stanch the wounds the bride demanded that the ceremony be com pleted, that she might take the vows be- said: "Wilt thou bo faithful unto death?" with her dying hps she said: : "I will," and in two hoursshe bad de parted. That was the slaughter and the sacrifice ot the body, but at thousands of marriage altars there are daughters slain for time and slain for eternity. it is not a marriage, it is a massacre. Affianced to some one who is only waiting until his father dies so he can get the prop erty; then a little while they swing around ' in the circles, brilliant circles; then the property is gone, and, having no power to earn a livelihood, the twain sink into some corner of society, the husband an idler and a sot, the wife a drudge, a slave and a sacrifice. Ah, spare your denunciations from Jephthah's head und.expend them all : on this wholesalo modern martyrdom! . , I Hit up my voice against the sacrifice of children. I look out of my window on a Sabbath, and I see a group ot children un- washed, uncomnea, un-uurlstlanized.. Who cares for them? Who prays for them? Who utters to them one kind word? When thei city missionary, passing along the park in JNew loric, saw a ragged iaa and beard.' him swearing,, he said to him: "My son.' stop swearing! You ought to go to the house or uod to-day. iou ought to be good. You ought to be a Christian." The iau looseu up in ms lace ana saia: "Au! It is easy for you to talk, well clothed as you are aud well fed. But we chaps hain't got no chance." Who lifts them to the altar for baptism? Who goes fcrth to snatch them up from crime and death and woe? wno to-day wui go rorta and brins them into schools and churches? No, heap them up, great piles of rags and wretchedness and nltn. rut underneath them the fires ot sacrifice, stir up the blaze, put on more fagots, and, while we sit in the churches with folded arms and indifference, crime agonizing sacrifice. , ,. , During tne early Irench revolution at Eourges there was a company of boys who used to train every day as young soldiers,) . and tnoy earned a u;ig, anl thev had en'. -the laa this inscription; "Tiemble.tvrants '. tremble! We are growing-up." Mightily., :1, suggestive! tdis generation is passing offJ , and a.: mightier generation is coining on.; Aviutney De tue roes or tyranny, tbv. toes of sin and the foes of death, or will they' be the foes of God? Thy are cominf ; up! I congratulate all parents . who ar$ doing thoijp best to keep their childrerf awav from tho altar of sacrifice.. Your nravors are coinc to be answered. Youi children may wander away from God; but they will come back again. A .voic comes from tho throno to-day, encourag-, ing you "I will be a God to thee and to thv seed after thee." And. thoutrh when you lay your hoad iu death there-may bJ some wanderer of tho family far away from' God, and you may bo twenty years in' heaven before salvation shall come to. hia heart, ho will bo brought Into the king dom, and before tho throne of God you will rt'joico that you were faithful. Come at last, though so long postponed his com ing. Come at last! I congratulate all those' who are toiling for the outcast and the wandering. Your ' work will soon be over, but the influence you are setting in motion will never stop. Long after you have been garnered for ... tho skies, your prayers, your teachings! and your .Christian influoace will goon1 1 I. ! . 1 I, n ...... rolfh ln-t.ll- , uuu limp Movinu in inhabitants. Which would you rather, see, which scene would yon rather mingle in in the last great day being able to say, "I added house to house and land to land and manufactory to -manufactory, I owned haif the city, what I had. whatever I wanted; I got," or on that day to have Christ loot you full in the face and say, "I was hungry! and ye fed Me; I was naked ana yo eioiuau. Me; I was sick and in prison ye visited Me; inasmuch as ye did it to the least ot the My brothren. yo did it to Mo?"

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view