THE CHRISTIAN SUN.
RELIGION WITHOUT BIGOTRY; ZEAL WITHOUT FANATICISM; LIBERTY WITHOUT LICENTIOUSNESS.
Volume XXX.
SUFFOLK, VA„ FRIDAY, MAY 11, 1877.
Number lO.
THE HEART’S SONG,
BY ARTHUR C. COXK,
In the silent midnight watches,
List—thy bosom-door I
How it hnocketh, knocketh, knocketh,
Knocketh evermore !
Say not’t is thy pulse’s beating ;
'T is thy heart of sin—
'T is thy Saviour knocks and crieth :
Rise, and let me in I
Death comes down with reckless footstep
To the hall and hut,
Think you death will stand n-knocking
Where the door is shut?
Jigut wai eth, waiteth, waiteth,
But thy door is fast!
Grieved, away the Saviour goeth :
Death breaks in at last.
Then ’t is thine to stand entreating
Christ to let thee in :
At the gate of heaven beating,
Wailing for thy sin.
Nay, alas ! thou foolish virgin,
Hast thou then forgot?
Jesus waited long to know' thee,—
But he knows thee not!
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
Stagnation of Metropolitan
Politics—A. H. Stephens Be
fore the Supreme Court—The
Extra Session of Congress—
Who Will be Speaker t—Cor
ruptions in the Navy Affairs
etc., etc.
[From our Regular Correspondent.!
Washington, D. O.jjJay 2d, 1877.
Political matters are at an apparent
standstill. There is nothing sensa
tional ill civil service reductions,
changes,—reform, as it is called. Still
for those who have an eye for the his
toric and histrionic, there is ever oc
curring something for comment, (a
dignified name for gossip) and reflec
tion. Yesterday a little, withered,
rheumatic old man was carried into
the Supreme Cour^>#m where he ar
gued in a remarkably able manner a
complicated case involving the ques
tion* whether the money of the late
Southern Confederacy had any rights
under the laws of a State which the
Federal government . was bound to
protect. A mortgage had been fore
closed after payment had been ten
dered in Confederate scrip aud re
fused. The plaintiff claimed that the
tender was legal and that all rights
of property accruing under the act
of foreclosure should be set aside.
The treatment of the case by the
plaintiff's attorney was very remarka
ble, displaying marvellous faculties of
memory. He spoke in a shrill, clear
voice arguing the case at length, re
ferring constantly to dates, figures*
and incidents, without using notes;
his language was energetic aud plain
recalling the best days of the speaker
when, twenty years ago, he was pro
minent as a possible President of the
United States before he had become
Vice President of the Confederate
Stales, aud long before he had figured
in obituary literature.
THE EXTRA SESSION.
The-President has not yet issued a
call for an extra session of Congress,
but, since the cabinet meeting yes
terday, it seems to bo pretty well un
derstood that the call for an extra
session will be made to-morrow, and
that the 15th instead of the 4th of
June will be the time fixed for the
convention of the 45th Congress.
There is still some'speculation in re
ference to the probable organization
of the House, whether it will be Dem
ocratic or Republican, and who in
either or any case will be the speaker.
In the Democratic caucus Mr. Ran
dall will doubtless, on first ballot,
poll more votes than any one of his
competitors. The opposition to him
will be divided betweeu Morrison
who will have the support of the
Northwestern States aud Mo.; Sayler,
who will have the support of Ohio aud
scattering votes in other States; Cox
of New York, who will have a divided
Southern support; and Walker of
Virginia who will have a few votes
heiAad there. Among the Repub
li^^Bspirants Garfield has by far
tlflHret prospects aud it is thought
winsecure the caucus nomination on
first or second ballot. The Republi
cans are, however, by no means as
hopeful of controlling the organization
of the House as they were two weeks
after the close of the 44th Congress.
The general belief is that the Demo
crats will have it their own way and
that the* speaker will be Randall.
There is much difference of opiniou
in reference to the duration of the ex
t.a session. The President and some
members of his cabinet are quoted as
«ay}ng that it will not continue longer
than the 4th of July; while certain
senators and members are of the
opinion that it will be an ocsasioti for
jobs and special legislation, and ex
tend far into the fall. The heat of
summer will have something to do
with the length of the session, es
pecially since “Blue Jeans” has sealed
tbo fountains of lemonade.
There is much talk about the dis
covery of corruption and fraud in the
recent administration of the affairs of
the Navy, aud the inland marine who
now has that Department in charge
expresses both by Xrord and deed a
determination to make the most thor
ough soundings, and if necessary to
dive to the bottom of things. The late
secretary was too much disposed to
favor contractors, and to accumulate
naval stores for which we have no
immediate or prospective use. There
are now in the different Navy Yards
wasting for want of proper means of
preservation hundreds of thousands of
cubic feet of live oak for which the
European governments are now send
ing agents to this country. Then ex
secretary ltobeson was too ingenious
in his construction of the bill making
appropriation for construction and
repair. He was ever disposed to mend
an excellent old ship by taking a
small piece of it and workiug it into
an entirely new vessel, which, when
finished, had little that was peculiar
to the original ship except its name ;
and all this not in the interest of the
service but of the contractors. G.
THE INDIANS.
“Red Cloud” and “Spotted Tail”
appear to bo doing a good service in
the interests of peace, and as a conse
quence tbo best and lasting good of
tlieir race, for it is quite clear to all
wliite people that the only way left,
to save a remnant of the aborigines
will bo for them to settle down to
habits of civilized life. The adminis
tration taking advantage of the acts
of the noted chiefs above named, who
are doing their best to bring the tribes
to surrender, deem the present a fit
ting time to break op the wild life of
roaming savages and offer them homes
for their families. It is to bo hoped
as they accept the well meant offers
of the Government, that they will bo
protected from the rapacity of unprin
cipled whites who have robbed them
in various ways, but chieily in cheat
ing them:f out of the supplies which
Congress appropriated for their use.
Some years ago I heard a speech from
‘Red Cloud,” in which he explained
the shameful treatment by Indian
agents in giving them shoddy supplies
in place of (he good articles as stipu
lated. In that speech Red Cloud said
the time was coming when the pro
gress of the white men would compel
his people to give up their roaming
life, but as long as possible they would
cling to the hunting grounds of the
past of their race, and yield at last
when necessity compelled it. It is evi
dent that the leaders among the In
dians recognize the fact that the time
has come to give up and settle down
to civilized habits. J. Ji. Brush.
THE WAR IN THE EAST.
The Eastern war will bo watched
and studied by us with deep interest.
A. very general sympathy is felt for the
success of the Russians who, whatever
may be their ambition to obtain con
quests, are fighting for Christians
against a race of people that are cruel
in the extreme to all who will not ac
cept the Korau. Russia’s bold ad
vance in Asia aud European Turkey
renders it probable that the conflict
will quickly become a war for the lib
eration of the Holy Land in which
the spirit of the crusades will be re
vived and once more electrify Eu
rope. The immediate effect upon our
country has been to-advance the price
of graiu and all supplies that are re
quired by armies. This must help re
store our industries which have so se
riously languished during these years
of depression. So long as our coun
try keeps out of the strife, aud we
are so far removed from tlp^jgeat of
war, our agriculturists and maiiu
lecturers can safely calculate that
they will be called upon to furnish
the supplies. Other interests also
Will bo likely to feel the stimula
ting effect of an increased demand
for ship building, &o.
J. E. Brush.
Looking over the wide, Paul, with
the vision of a prophet, and with a
comprehensiveness almost divine,
declared that there abide three new
graces, Faith, Hope, Charity, and al
though eighteen hundred years have
passed since t£e award was made,
years of unrivalled thought, and infi
nite joy and sorrow, there is no baud
that would dare touch this sacred
group. We add nothing, we take
nothing away. These there will
“abide” forever,
election*?,
LOOK UP AND ON.
BY LAURA SANFORD.
“KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE GREEN
GRASS, MATTIE.”
’Twas a bright September after
noun—one of those loveliest of days
when summer and autumn meet to
gether—and our stay in the country
was almost ended. Our passage in
fact had already been taken, at a
city a few miles distant, on the wor
row’s night-boat for New York.
We were school children then, my
cousin Mabel and I; and in tlie
dear, old-fashioned farmhouse on hap
py “Creekside” had been enjoying
our vacation, as she in her jubilant
spirit would have told ycu “glorious
ly.”
We wandered to the water-brink
under the great elms on this Sep
tember afternoon to say “Good-by” to
the scene we had learned to love so
dearly; or at least to say my “good
by,” for Mabel was not going to the ci
ty with me. This was her home,
this valley-faim in the midst of the
wild and lofty hills—mountains al
most—that on every side overlooked
it.
The creek, as people in its re
gion named the broad stream that is
on the map a river, ran along at the
foot of the bank but a few rods from
the front-door of the homestead.
Haifa mile farther down the road, a
substantial bridge crossed the cur
rent; but here the only passage was
by a little foot-bridge, so narrow that
venturers needed to be. very careful
of their steps; and I for one had never
attempted it.
Beyond, lay a beautiful slope of
meadow, hedged by the great hills.
The road that bordered this meadow
wo could not, from our side of the
creek, see; but we did see, on the
bright afternoon of which I am speak
iug, a loi)ig row of gayly-decked car
riages turning from the defile and
passing rapidly along the edge of
the green level.
A number of young friends belon
ged to this gay party, which had been
improvised for the climbing of “Sun
set Kook,” and for a picnic supper in
the forest. As soon as they descried
us, they called to us to come over
the water and join them. “Plen
ty of room for you,” they cried, aud
two of the wagous waited.
Mabel, quick and light as a bird,
had already flown halfway across the
Creek. The narrow foot bridge was
a familiar path to her; and she
had readied the other side before she
turned to know how closely I had fol
lowed her.
I was then about midway, aud the
security which I felt at first over the
shallow water by the shore, was fast
vanishing. Here the stream was
deep. The water rushed along tu
multuously under the slender foot
path with aloud confusing sound, and
flashed wildly in the light. My head
grew dizzy and my limbs trembled.
1 felt a painful sensation of faintness,
aud a desire to fling myself into the
waves.
Just then tbe clear ringing voice of
my cousin Mabel readied me across
tbe water; and seemed with its inspir
ing strength fairly to catch and clasp
me: “lveep your eyes on tbe greeu
grass, Mattie.”
Beyond the puzzling, eddying
stream lay tbe long soft pasture
where she stood in safety. Happily
I had not so far lost my senses, but
that I could mind her. I lifted my
eyes from tho dazzling water and fix
ed them on tbe quiet land. My
glance still wavered, and my steps
hesitated ; but presently the distrac
ted nerves became more calm. “There
is the green grass,” 1 kept saying to
myself, “I shall reach it very soou if
I keep on.” As indeed I did reach it
iu a few moments.
Mabel overwhelmed me with ex
pressions of congratulation and affec
tion. We joined the merry party,
supped at “Sunset ltock,” and bad a
delightful time.
It was not until we were home
again at night that my cousin told
me how seriously I had been iu dan
ger. Kot many mouths before, a
woman crossing the “upper bridge,”
a similar construction nearer the ra
pids, bad become dizzy midway and
fallen into the stream. She had a
baby in her arms; and woman and
child were both drowned.
And then Mabel embraced me
agaiu with tbe greatest affection. She
was thinking, I suppose, bow nearly
she had lost me.
Dear, bright, loving Cousin Mabel!
How little I thought then of losing
her. Yet we were at that moment
vary near our parting, and this was
the last summer we ever spent to
gether. When next I visited Creek
side Mabel was sleeping under the
green grass and the waters were
singing along by her grave.
But those words of hers were never
forgotten. More than once I have
seemed to hear them since in the
same clear, ringing tones in which
that summer afternoon they were;
wafted over the water.
After we had parted, and I had re
turned to New York with my mother
and my brother, there came to my j
life many sad changes. My father
died suddenly, and his estate was so
involved that we wefe obliged to
give tip our home. My brother a
year later, went to India, and my
mother’s health failed.
It was then that my duty lay clear
ly before me—to shelter and solace
my mother. An opportunity was of- j
fered by which we could enjoy a qui- j
et home together, and the steady em- j
ployment of my time would make us !
both comfortable. Just as f bad de-j
eided upon this course there came aj
dazzling eounterplau, a very shining j
path opened to me. Perfect it would
have been had it included, as it cor-;
tainly did not, the happiness of my
mother.
I must confess that I wavered, and
that I almost yielded to the tempta
tion. In the midst of my indecision,
while I stood dazzled and trembling
as once upon the narrow footbridge
crossing the dangerous current, I
heard the voice of my cousin Mabel,
“Keep your eyes on the green
grass, Mattie.”
I did lift my eyes then, and fixed
them away from temptation upon du- ;
ty; and years afterward I learned
from what hitter misery that brief
act saved me.
Last night I heard the haunting
little sentence once again. I was sit
ting by the bedside of a dying friend;
one so gently good, so always kind
even to enemies, it seemed that her
last hours should have known no sad
reproaches. But instead of peace all
was dark and troubled. Her mista
ken ways, her neglected duties, all
the puzzling possibilities of bei~i*te
giided before her distracted vision,
and the promises she had trustediu
vanished altogether. How could 1
help her in this hour of mortal trem
bling ? ^
I brought to her bedside that little
Book which one might almost wisjj'!
to carry into the grave, it is so [ire'
cions, and read the verse, “Come un
to me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest;” read
that one verse over and over again,
until she fixed the fading eyes of her
faith upon it and became calm.
For—hut this I did not tell her—I
had seemed to see again a midsum
mer scene, vanished years ago, and to
hear the clear, ringing voice of my
cousin Mabel reaching me Iron “green
pastures” beyond the fleetiug river:
“Keep your eyes on the green
grass, Mattie!”—Illustrated Christian
Weekly.
A THRILLING SCENE.
The London Standard recently pub- j
lished the following beautiful and j
thrilling incident:
“The following incident occurred}
during a general review of the A us- i
trian cavalry a few months ago. Not
far from 30,000 cavalry were in line.
A little child, a girl of not more than
four years, standing in the front line
of spectators, either from fright or
some other cause, rushed out into the
open held just as a squadron of hussars
came sweeping around from the main
body. They made the detour for the
purpose of saluting the empress,
whose carriage was drawn up in that
part of the parade ground. Down
came the flying squadron charging at
a mad gallop, down directly on the
child. The mother was paralyzed, as
were others, for there could be no
rescue fiom the line of spectators, j
The empress uttered a cry of horror, (
for the child’s destruction seem iuev-}
itable, and such terrible destruction! j
the trampling to death by a thousand
iron hoofs. Directly under the feet of
the horses was the little one. Another
instant must seal its doom, wheu a
stalwart hussar, who w as in the front
line,without slackening speed or loos
ening his hold, threw himself over by
the side of the horse’s neck, seized
and lifted the child and placed it in
safety upon His saddle-bow, and this
he did without changing bis pace or
breaking the correct alignment of the
squadron. Ten thousand voices hailed
with rapturous applause the gallant
deed, and other thousands praises
whenthey knew. Two women there
were who could only sob forth their
gratitude in broken acceuts—the
mother and the empress. And a
proud and happy moment it must
have beeu for the hussar when his em
peror, taking from bis own breast the
richly enameled cross of the Order of
Maria Theresa,hung it upon the breast
of his brave and gallant trooper.”
Christian workers, who are laboring
to snatch the little children from the
iron hoof's of sin and temptation,
remember you are working under
the eye of the Master; that the
smallest deed of kindness done to
one of these littleones Clnist reckons
as done to himself, and those who
are instrumental in saving them shall
be honored at last, not by the cross
of Maria Theresa or of the Legion of
Honor, bestowed by the hands of an
earthly monarch, but bp the King im
mortal, who shall deck the brows of
his faithful servants with a crown of;
glory that fadeth not away.
MAY I DANCE?
Do you mean a round dance or a
square dance? If you mean a round
dance, stop and think a while first.
1. Is the round dance consistent
with the refined delicacy of a true
woman or a true man ! Is there not |
involved in it an undue degree of free
dom and familiarity? If any gentle
man should offer, to take the same
liberties with a lad* while sitting in
the parlor, that he (toes take in danc
ing, it would be regarded as an of
fence. This undue freedom becomes
the more objedtionalilh because it is
used at a time when the excitement
of the music am] of the, occasion
tempts one to forget the bounds of
decorum.
2. The etiquette of the ball-room or
the dancing assemblage contains one
very objectionable feature. Suppose
that Miss A. be introduced in such a
company, to Messrs, lb, C. and D.
Suppose that B. and C. are perfect
gentlemen, and that D. is a man with
whom it were prudent for her merely
to exchange civilities and avoid inti- j
inacy. If he asks her to dance and
die refuses, he becomes offended.
Therefore the etiquette of the room
jompels her to treat with the intirna-'
jy of the dance, a man who is not
worthy of her confidence. As the
lady has probably had no control of
the -invitations issued, if she attend
she is forced into intimate relations
with unworthy rneu.
3. The high excitement and over
ratigiftjSf this amusement does very
>fteiifS®flfo the health.
4* have many times had testimony
iftom those who formerly danced, that
ihey had found it decidedly injurious
to them. And we have no right as
Christians to lead fellow-men into
temptation.
If you mean the square dances, then
let us think awhile. Is it best for me
to engage in them ?
1. I may engage in this kind and
not go to the excess of the other kiud.
But in so doing I may start ray broth
er, who has little self-control, on a
downhill track, and he may go into
the excesses described above. For
liis sake I will refrain.
2. Daucing has a bad name. For
the sake of the honor of Christ, I will
avoid associating the name of a dis
3ipfe with that which the world does
not consider worthy of a Christian.
3. Dancing does lead to dissipation,
especially to the dissipation of seri
ous thought about our own soul. It
is fascinating, and I fear it may make
me (or my brother) cold and formal in
religions duties.
These considerations may fail to
carrry weight with some sincere inqui
rers. The fascination of the amuse
ment may have given a little uncon
scious bias to their minds. Many
men will say that it was once so with
them. What then f
The grand test of duty in all cases,
is to carry the question to God. Car
ry this question, “Shall I dance or
not V’ upon your knees to the Sav
iour. Ask Him whether it will add
to his honor, or promote his kingdom,
whether he would rather you should
go or stay. Stay upon your knees,
and keep on asking him till you feel
his answer in your heart; then with
a good conscience follow that answer.
And what thou doest, whether thou
eat or drink, do with thy might, as
unto the Lord.—Jeffersonian liqrubli
eu it, *
There is only oue thing that
makes it worth while to live—it is
love. Kot the wild passion that pla
gues us iu our youth, but the tran
quil happiness, the solid peace to
which that is but the tumultuous
prelude—the joy of living with peo
ple whose mere presence rests, cheer,s
improves and satisfies ns. Ilo who
achieves that uecds no catechism
to tell him what is the chief end of
mau.
Men’s lives should be like the days,
more beautiful iu the evening; or like
the spring, aglow with promises; and
like the autuuiu, rich with golden
sheaves, where good works and deeds
have ripened on the field.
GREAT THINGS AND LITTLE THINGS.
Little and great are to the human
mind merely relative. Of magnitude,
quality, or size, absolutely, we know
nothing. Of numbers, used in com
puting magnitudes, onr conception is
clear and absolute, but our faculties
are too limited to comprehend any
very hyrge number. What conception
has any man of a million ? A single
hundred, unit by unit, we can get into
our heads with tolerable distinctness,
but a million has ten thousand sepa
rate hundreds apd no bead was ever
large enough to hold all these hun
dreds, side by side, in plain view.
Frof. Croll, in his treatise on “Cli
mate and Time” lelt the need even
in addressing scientific men, of arti
ficial aid to enable them to realize
how enormous a period of time was
included in a single million of years.
This much preliminary to an at
tempt to gather into one view a few
things great and small.
We speak of the vast ocean, of
boundless deserts, of mountains grand
and sublime, of our stupendous globe.
If the sun were a hollow sphere and
the earth placed at its center, the
moon, at its present distance, could
revolve with 200,000 miles of space to
spare, and our “stupendous globe,1’
with its mountains and seas, becomes
insignificant.
The earth is distant from the sun
more than ninety millions of miles.
Proceeding outwards from planet to
planet, at thirty times this distance
we reach Neptune on the verge of our
system—a distance so great, that at
a railroad speed of thirty miles an
hour, the journey could not be made
in ten thousand years. Beyond Nep
tune, astronomers tell us thetas is a
“vast vacant space.” How vast?
We have had this word before—the
ocean was vast. From our outward
plauet to the next resting place there
is more than twenty millions of mil
lions of miles of blank space. At the
?nd of this line is the nearest fixed
star. We know these figures are cor
rect, and yet what meaning do they
have to faculties that utterly break
town on the first million ? Ot two
incomprehensible quantities we oniy
know that one is enormously greater
than the other. Nevertheless, by the
ase of some diminutive scale to ac
iommodate our feeble powers, we can
jet the relative differences of these
listauces clearly in mind.
With a kind of stupid wonder we
have been looking up to the sun as a
huge affair vastly too big to get inside
the moon’s orbit; but as we shall
<0011 seejiow really insignificant the
sun is, lot us reduce him at once to
the size of a pea, and place a millet
seed live feet distant to represeut the
earth. This scale will bring Neptune
within one hundred and fifty feet, and
we have the entire solar system on '
a two acre lot. Our nearest star is
nowr two hundred and fifteen miles
away.
as one fiuuiired ami htty jeet is to
Neptune’s distance, so is two hundred
and tifteeu wiles to that of Alpha Ceu
tanri from the sun.
If from this flying journey to the
stars we return to our millet seed with
an oppressive feeling of humility,
there are considerations sufficient to
restore our mental and spiritual equi
poise. There is an infinite range in
the other direction—there is an infi
nity of the descending scale. The
disparity of measurements and magni
tudes is as great on the earth, as in
the infinite space beyond.
Au ocean cable and ocean steam
ship are standing wonders of human
handiwork, but uot more so than the
feat of marking sixteen millions of
exact squares on one inch Of surface,
or writing distinctly with a diamond
point on glass the Lord’s Prayer, in
letters so minute, that every word in
the Bible could be incribed twenry
two times on one square inch. This
inch of glass to the eye or touch
would be perfectly smooth—under
a microscope of great power every
word and letter would be plain and
legible.
Let us instance a few things in the
organic world comparatively great and
little.
At St. Helena there was discovered
in the ooze at the sea bottom, the re-v
mains of a fish, so small that the
bodies of 50,000 of them would be
held in one cubic inch of space—the
unassisted eye could scarcely per
ceive that this was a fish. Near
Charleston, S. C., there is a stratum
of phosphate rocks composed of ani
mal remains containing, with numer
ous other specimens, a great number
of teeth of sharks that exceeded a
hundred feet in length. The bulk ot
the body of such a shark, would be at
least 0,000 cubic feet. Here are two
organic beings of the same class and
order (vertebrates), and it hardly
means anything to the tiuito jnimJ tc
[ say that one is more than Are hun
dred thousand million times larger
than the other. Imagine the scene
when the huge, hungry shark, de
manding for its breakfast half a hun
dred fish as large as the human body,
chases its prey through the foaming
waters; and imagine, if yon can, the
scene Where the little fellow, ravenous
for his megj, is foraging the water
with a multitude of living creatures
fleeing from the pursuit of the devour
ing monster.
There are fossil- anionite shells,
and, I believe, shells of existing spe
cies of mollusks, as large as cart
wheels. The stratum of rocks form
ing the basin in which the city of
Paris stands is almost entirely com
posed of nnmulite shells, a large por
tion of which are less than mustard
seeds. A large extent of country
around the cities of Richmond aud
Petersburg, in Virginia, has a forma
tion averaging twenty feet in thick
ness, of marl consisting exclusively of
almost silicious or flinty shells ranging
from one hundredth to one thousandth
of an inch in diamter-of course visible
only under the microscope. Each of
theseshells has been the house or shield
of an animal. One species has a saucer
like shape, and, under a magnifying
power of several hundred diameters, is
richly ornamented with markings
much like the geometric eftrves on
watch eases, each curve not a simple
line, but a row of hexagonal indenta
tions.
It is as impossible to conceive the
minuteness of shells that were the
abodes of living beings as it is to
comprehend the distances of the stars.
A lady’s thimble will hold hun
dreds of thousands of millions of in
dividual shells or shields that can be
examined only by experts who have
trained their eyes to the use of pow
erful magnifiers. Of such remains a
large portion of the crust of the globe
is made. Mountain ranges, as the
Amies, and strata, as chalk, that cov
er or. underlie whole countries, are
masses of fossil animalcules.
Of living infusoria, a drop of water
will have iifgnbers equal to the popu
lation of'v and a glass of water
more than the entire human popula
tion of the earth. When we consid
er that the waters of all oceans, seas,
lakes, rivers, and rivulets are filled
with these invisible beings, each
grade of which are monsters to lower
ones, and that when we get to the
limit of microscopic vision, we have
uo reason to suppose we are at the
end of the descending series, we are
overwhelmed in wonder, aud bank
rupt, a thousand times over, in imag
ination, as we were in the immensity
of space.—Ch. Standard.
WHAT IT IS COSTING US.
According to the census and the
internal revenue reports, the evil re
sults of drinking intoxicating liquors
may be summed up as follows:
It is costing our people a yearly ex
penditure of ovor *1,500,000,000, all
of which might be spent-for far more
useful purposes.
It is making yearly 130,000 confirm
ed drunkards,
It is sending yearly about 150,000
persons to drunkards’ graves, and re
ducing to want and beggary 200,000
children.
It is sending yearly to prisons 100,
000 persons, and is causing a large
proportion of the loss of life on land
and sea.
It is converting millions upon mill
ions of bushels of grain, which God
has given as food to preserve life, into
vile stuff that destroys life.
It is endangering the fair and rich
inheritance left ns by our fatherland
fixing a foul blot on the fair name of
America.
The above sum of money would pay r;
off our National debt in two years, or
it would furnish to the starving poor
220,001',(KM) barrels of flour at $7 a
barrel.
It would build 50,000 miles of rail
road at §,30,000 per mile.
It would send a Bible to every in
habitant of the globe.
It would build 150,000 dwelling
Ilduses or "chinches at §10,000 each.
It would furnish 150,000,000 suits
of clothing at §10 each.
There are 110,000 saloons in the
; country, against 128,000 schools and
54,000 churches. Manufacturers and
sellers of strong drinks. 560,000—
twelve times the number of clergy
men, four times that of teachers,
nearly double all the lawyers, physi
cians, teachers and ministers com
bined.
Iu a word, if intoxicating liquors
; were abolished entirely from our
laud, crimes, poverty and misery of
! all kiuds would be greatly reduced,
aud our people sober, industrious and
economical, would soon become the
most happy, wealthy and intelligent
1 of auy iu the world.