text: iK ' I \A-? I 2\ POIN ? j??J& 3 BY V jj ANNIE %, 1 <j EDWARDS. \^ CHAPTER IV. 4 Continued. oifTord had said something1 to her 1hafc morning, in his tender, indefinite .way, about the first dance; but, owing to some mistake of the village flyman's, they had missed not only thu first, but' the commencement of the second dance; and so the first thing she happened to see of Mr. fllohun was his handsome, smiling l'/ice, bending low over Miss Agnes Tennant, as they rwhirled round and round the room together in the pleasant evolutions of a yery last and spirited waltz. At which sight Jane Grand's heart turned quite sick. She knew nothing . whatever about the laws that govern society. She was ignorant that meneven when seriously in love?felt it incumbent upon them, sometimes, to re jspona to me smues oi omcr prcnj faces "besides the oue they liave pledged themselves to adore. She took everything earnestly?as children and yery single-hearted people will do. Gifford could not look so happy and unconcerned with Aggie Tennant if he really cared for her. She had been mistaken?foolishly, madly mistaken? and there was an end of it! Only she iwished she was in the little parlor at Jiome, not standing here among this crowd of people she did not kuow, and iwith the prospect of watching Mr. Mohun making himself charming to iiis guests, as her sole amusement for ihe evening. The waltz seemed interminable, but at length its eternally lively refrain came to a welcome sudden stop, and Miss Lynch and Jane managed to iironrt tiipir \riiv throurrh the crowd to on unpretending looking ottoman near the door. Mrs. Tennant, a very stout and very vulgar woman, in a regal brocaded silk, chanced to be sitting with other dowagers of importance—on a sofa exactly opposite them; and, at their approach, gave the very faintest indication of a bow in the direction of Miss Lynch. Jane felt quite a thrill of indignation against the honest creature for returning this bow with such compound interest of nods and smiles, and grateful humility, and uncalled for empressment. Would she have to submit to a similar condescension at the hands of Miss Agnes Tennant, when Mr. Mohun should bring her back to her mother's side after this walking up and down the room, which he seemed so thoroughly to enjoy, was over? Almost the bitterest feelings she had ever known burned in Jane's heart at this moment. After expecting so much—after lying awake for so many nights in a state of excited anticipation—to be, in reality, only a unit, and a very plain, unnoticed unit, among the crowd of Gifford's guests. Above all, and when he had said so much about the Tennants, to see him now, dancing and talking to Aggie, just with the same manner, and, no doubt, the same meaning, with which for well-nigh these three past weeks he had been talking to herself! The utter vanity and nothingness of all human desires was borne with such force upon Miss Grand's mind, that it was with great difficulty she could force back her tears; and when, at last, the vicar made his way through the crowd and began some of his nine kind stated speeches upon her appearance. and dress, the smile was a very forced one with which she strove to answer him. "I came here exclusively to see you, Jane. I have not been in a ballroom for nearly twenty years; but I was determined to come to you first. I have been in a dance for the first time in my life, and I am very well rewarded for my pains." And the vicar gazed with genuine admiration at the waxen, oval face, covered with its fagile breath of natural flowers, and set off in such pure relief by the commonplace crowd of every day, fashionably set up young women who surrounded them. "I doubt if I feel rewarded, Mr. Follett," she said, rather trembling. "I don't think a great ball is at all the same thing that I expected it to be." "Have you seen Mr. Mohun yet?" "We have seen him, but not spoken to him. He was dancing when we came in, and he has not passed this way since we have been sitting here. I dare say he has a great deal upon his hands," she added, in a tone that she meant to sound extremely cheerful, Miss Lynch, and I meant to amuse ourselves all night by looking on!" "Miss Lynch and I are going to play Whist in the card-room and you are wondering if this paper is not in the paper," cried the vicar, with decision. "Why, Mohun was fretting himself to death about your usual arrival not ten minutes ago. I should like to hear what Mohun would say if you were to talk to him about looking on!" It was good to watch Mrs. Tennant's face when she caught the vicar's concluding words; it was better still to watch it when, a minute later, Clifford himself came up, and after remitting Miss Aggie very hastily to the parental side, rushed away, in a manner about whose eagerness there could be no mistake, to Jane Grand. Utterly indifferent to the way in which Mrs. Tennant or any other person in the room might interpret his conduct, Clifford was looking radiantly happy as he stood by Jane's side, and (after a very old-established custom among lovers) had already commenced making amends for his own ill-doings by preferring some counter charge against her. "I really did not think you would have forgotten your promise so soon, Miss Grand. It was worse treatment than I expected at your hands." "What treatment, Mr. Mohun?" "For her father's sake?" "Not being here for the first dance, as you promised me." She turned her face up to him with a smile that Gilford thought to be irresistible; that Miss Agnes Tennant considered painfully forward for a person in Miss Grand's position. "It is not my fault. I was dressed an hour before the carriage came, but I did not know you really meant to dance it with me, and I thought you seemed to be enjoying that last waltz pretty well. Mr. Mohun." Whereupon Gifford bent down over her, and said something in too low a voice for anyone but Miss Grand to hear. Whatever it was, it set Jane busy to work upon picking small pieces from her bouquet, and gave Miss Agnes Wanant a worse opinion than ever of her extremely objectionable manner toward the heir of Yatton. "Is such a thing as a whist table to be found, Mohun?" asked the vicar, but his eyes were on Jane's blushing face. "Miss Lynch and I are bent upon having one of our accustomed battles, and mean to leave you young people to take care of your own amusements." "Jane, of course, knowing where to find me between the dances," interposed Miss Lynch, with decorum. "I will see to that myself," cried Gifford. "At the end of each dance, Miss Grand shall be brought back instantly to your charge without incurring any of those horrible dangers to which staircases and refreshment rooms expose young people. Mr. Follett, let me show you the way. The card tables are established upstairs in the drawing room." And perhaps the proudest, the most golden moment in Miss Lynch's life was this; when, leaning upon the arm of the vicar of Chesterford, she followed Jane and Mohun across the entire space of the Yatton ballroom, and with all eyes, or so, at least... Her imagination fondly, hoped, beholding her on the summit and pinnacle of her fame! CHAPTER V. Two or three sleepy-looking old gentlemen, already wearied of the ball, were assembled in the card room: so Gifford found no difficulty in getting the vicar and Miss Lynch launched into their evening's occupation. Mohun and Miss Grand felt mutually sensible of relief when, having watched the deal into Miss Lynch's hands, they were free at last to leave the card room, and to think solely of themselves and of their own interests. For a minute or two they were silent; then, as is not unfrequently the case when two persons are equally embarrassed, each began to speak at precisely the same moment. "How very pretty Aggie Tennant looks tonight!" was Jane's remark. "I felt so angry with you for breaking your promise," was Mohun's. Which irrelevant observations went to prove that their thoughts were, in reality, occupied with the same subject? Mr. Clifford's little flirtation. "Sweetly pretty," repeated Jane, pursuing her own subject pertinaciously. "Now that I see her of an evening I don't wonder at all the admiration she receives. And how well she dances, Mr. Mohun!" "Does she, Miss Grand?" "As if you did not know it! Now, do you really mean to say that you don't think Aggie Tennant dances well?" "I mean to say that I never did, and never shall, admire either of the Teynants" (Oh, Gilford, what were you telling that poor little Aggie, not half an hour ago?), "and at this moment, especially, I prefer not thinking of them at all." Miss Grand had immediate recourse to the further despoiling of her bouquet. quet. "Is that for me?" said Gilford, taking a minute piece of myrtle from her hand: "thank you, it is very sweet, indeed," and in his botanical fervor he bowed down his head till his lips touched Jane's little wrist as it lay upon his arm. She felt her breath coming singularly thick, and stammered out something about returning to the ballroom. "Yes; you are going to dance this time with me," answered Gifford; it was significant that he was beginning to grow calmly superior, "Tane shy and embarrassed, reversing the order of the earlier stages of their intimacy. "It is a waltz. Do you hear? They are just beginning the first note. Your waltz, of course, Jane? I mean? Miss Grand?" Jane did waltz?if performing the step in time, with persons of one's own sex, can be called waltzing. She had learned as a little girl from the itinerant dancing master of the neighborhood, and had since kept up the accomplishment with the Miss Gillets, the miller's daughters, when, two or three times a year, she went to take tea with them. But on the polished floor of the Tattoo ballroom, and in an atmosphere brilliant with light and laden with the scent of flowers, and with excellent music, and ought I to have put it first or last?with Gifford for her partner it scorned to Miss Grand that she was waltzing now for the first time in her life. She forgot all her former mortifications: she forgot the little triumph that she had pictured to herself she would feel if Mohun danced with her; she only knew that she was with him? clasped by him? Her hand in his? His breath down upon her forehead! She, Jane Grand, who, till the last three weeks, had scarce ever spoken to any younger man than Mr. Follett in her life. When they paused at last, Gifford's first words gave her quite a chill. "Your waltzing is capital! For the solo time in my life I think I nearly kept time. I must introduce that Austrian with the lone name to you? These Austrian fellows dance the deux temps better than any Englishmen do." "Austrian!" repeated the Austrian, mechanically. "Yes, some fellow in the Austrian service that the Marshes brought. He is passing before us at this moment." And Gilford pointed out a very tall, well-looking young gentleman, with a saffron-colored mustache, who was gyrating, at the rate of a great many miles an hour, round the room with the elder Miss Tennant. "I am very much obliged to you," said Jane, when a moment's thought had told her what Gifford meant. "I am very much obliged, but I don't want to waltz with the Austrian, or with any other stranger." "And when I am obliged to dance with anyone else, then?" Jane could not see the positive necessity for his doing so, and her crystal clear eyes told Gifford what she meant. "You are unlike all other women," he whispered tenderly, for her intense simplicity ministered most deliriously to his self-love, chaining him closer than all well-instructed encouragement could have done. "You don't care for admiration a bit." You are the rest of the sentence was only whispered in Jane's ear, as his arm inclosed her slender waist again, and it made a well-pleased smile break instantly about her mouth. A quadrille followed next, which it was Mohun's duty to dance with the wife of one of the county members, and which, at his wish, Jane walked through in company with Mr. Robert Nash, who, until this right, had never before (though, living in the same parish) been more than remotely aware of such a humble person as Miss Grand's existence. Then came another fast dance—and Gifford was at her side again. "It is very hot here," he remarked after they had taken one or two turns in silence. "Suppose we go upstairs and look after those whist players. I don't think it right of you to lose sight of Miss Lynch and the vicar as you do." Jane laughed, and was ready to do anything Gifford proposed. When they reached the first landing, however, a sudden, or it appeared to Jane a sudden thought made Moliun wish to visit his ancestors in the picture gallery instead of the vicar and Miss Lynch in the card room. "The gallery is sure to be cool, and a dim lamplight is the best time of all for first seeing the grim old pictures. You have never been there, Miss Grand?" "Never mind, Miss Jane, I have never been inside the house at Yatton." "The first, but not the last, I hope," whispered Gifford, softly, as he opened and closed after them the door of the long, dim-lighted gallery. "Miss Grand, let me introduce you to my ancestors generally; sometime by daylight you can become acquainted with them one by one." The light from the single lamp upon the centre table mingled faintly with the soft flood of the summer moonlight that was filling all the room through the open window toward the south. For a moment Jane drew back. "It is very dark here, Mr. Mohun. I think, perhaps, I had better wait to see the pictures by daylight." "You like the noise and glitter of the ballroom better than the somber silence of my poor library? Very well, we will return there." And, in furtherance of this design, Gifford led her away to the furthest where she could see all the well-known Yatton-woods lying calm and lovely in the exceeding stillness of the summer midnight. "Jane, what do you think of Yatton?" She dropped her hold upon his arm. She turned from him with whitening cheek and trembling lips. "Mr. Mohun, I believe I like Yatton." "You believe? You are not quite sure about it, then?" "Oh, I am sure I like it. I have known no place but Yatton since I was a little child." "Why do you turn away from the window? Are you?" You cold?" She was striving to hide her face from him, but he leaned over her, and saw enough to bid him not despair. (To be Continued.) " Snare Coated Profanity. A lady used the expression "Gee!" the other night. It had never occurred to her that this was taking the name of the Lord in vain, and probably few of the many who indulge in sugar-coated profanity realize that they are swearing. What is "Gee," though, but a euphemism for "Jesus?" "Dear me!" is nothing but the Latin "Deo Meo" (my God). "For goodness' sake" is only "for God's sake;" "For land sake" is "for Lord's sake;" "Drat it!" is "God not it;" "Judas Priest" is Jesus Christ; "Golly," etc., are only corruptions of "God;" "Darn it!" "Dash it!" "Ding it!" Blame it! etc., are only variations of "Damn it." In short, there is probably not an expression of this sort that cannot be traced back to an oath for its origin. Notwithstanding this, you will every day hear people using them thoughtlessly who would be terribly shocked by a genuine oath. Western Fubber. Another Jefferson Story. Joseph Jefferson stocked the lake on his Louisiana farm with bass and other game fish. Not long ago he came upon a stranger fishing in his lake. "See here!" said the great comedian, "what do you mean by catching my fish?" "Begorra," replied the fisherman, slowly removing his pipe from his mouth, "Oh'm not fishing, Oi'm not fishing these waters, how to swim!" Atchison (Kan.) Globe. Bunyan In 105 Langnages One book alone, the "Pilgrim's Progress," holds the record for English literature, having been reproduced in 303 different tongues. Pall Mall Gazette. With the Funny As to the Blonde. "She's an ox-eyed queen," the poet said in a highly soulful way; but the other girls were not misled? "She's peroxide," cried they. Secret of His Happiness. Bounder? You seem to be remarkably happy since your marriage. What's the explanation?" Rounder?" My wife is a firm believer in fairy stories." Chicago News. Wonderful Woman. "She's a remarkable woman. She was married at fourteen." "Nothing so remarkable about that." "No; but she never imparts the information to new acquaintances." Louisville Courier-Journal. Short Call, Too. Mrs. Sharpley?" Next time you call, I want you to give me your opinion of my new dog." Mr. Bore-"Delighted. I'm sure. When do you expect it?" Mrs. Sharpley?" Oh, not for three months, at least." London Tit-Bits. As a Starter. "Poor man!" said the sympathetic woman. "Tell me how I can alleviate your troubles?" "Well, ma'am," replied the unlaundered hobo, "you might begin by telling me what I can alleviate means, seeing you I haven't got me dictionary with me." Chicago News. His Suffocation. "What were that I saw your boy Mike?" "Oh, to tell you, Mr. DnUM) "Well, he's golf outfit. What do you think of it?" "Well, it struck me at the time that all it wanted was a pick and shovel to be a fine kit of tools." A Lucky Blander. "Ponsonby has a charming wife." "Yes, and he got her by mistake." "How was that?" "He was trying to propose to..." The younger sister, but he's so cross-eyed that the older sister thought he was looking at her and promptly accepted him. "Cleveland Plain Dealer." Hard to Find One. Sapleigh?"Do you think it would be wrong for me to marry a girl who was my inferior intellectually? Miss Cutting? No, but I think it would be impossible."?Illustrated Bits. Not a Financier. "I did, dear; and he says he is going to investigate you." Clarence?Investigate me? Goodness, does he think I am rich enough to be investigated?"?Chicago News. Very Different Characters. "He must be a good fellow." "Nonsense! Where did you get that idea? He never goes to a club and?" "But his wife says he is a very good fellow." "Oh! that's another thing. There's a big difference between 'a very good fellow' and 'a good fellow.'"?Philadelphia Press. Real or Fancied. "What can I do for you, sir?" asked the drug clerk. "Well," replied the man. "my tooth was full of rats last night, and I was in a hurry." "Via high prices, Sill, I'll tell you, clerk, "bromo for yourself or strychnine for them?"?Catholic Standard and Times. And So Forth. "Having discovered a projectile that will pierce any armor," said the seeker for information, "what will the next step be?" "To find an armor." That no projectile will pierce," answered the naval expert. "And then?" "We must find a projectile that will pierce any armor."?Washington Star. Mode?ty. "Do you know that if you had an income of $1 a minute, night and day it would take you 1900 years to accumulate a billion?that is, of course, not." figuring in the interest?" "How much would one have in a year with an income of $1 a minute?" "Well, just top off the other $100 years from my allowance, will you?" Chicago Record-Herald. This One Dies Hard. The man in uniform passed through the car, returned and discovered Pat still with the pipe in his mouth. "Didn't I tell you to stop smoking in this car?" shouted the conductor. "I ain't smoking," replied the man. "What are you doing with that pipe in your mouth, then?" "What if I have the pipe in my mouth, sure I have the feet in my boots, but I ain't walking, am I?" Wisconsin. THE GREAT DESTROYER How startling facts about the vice of intemperance." The Rev. Thomas B. Gregory Tells in the New York American What Moderate Drinking Is Doing For France? A Terrible Enemy to Personal Health. The French Government is face to face with the most serious problem it ever had to deal with. France is dying from "alcoholism," or will be pretty soon unless something is done to prevent it, and that something the authorities are trying hard to do. All France is being placarded with large posters describing the evils of alcoholism, and imploring the people to refrain from the use of all alcoholic beverages. Quinox. Tracts upon the blessings of temperance and the evils of the drink habit THE SUNDAY SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS FOR NOVEMBER 19. Subject: Nehemiah's Prayer, Neb. 1. Golden Text, James 10: Hemurj Verges, 8, 9?Commentary on the Day's Lesion. Nehemiah hears of the distress in Jerusalem (vs. 1-3). "The words of Nehemiah." Rather the narrative on record. "Son of Hachaliah." Probably the tribe of Judah and of the royal family of David. He was empowered to King Artaxerxes at Shushan, the capital. This title implied that Nehemiah was a counselor, statesman, courtier and favorite. For twelve years he was Governor of Judea, leading a great religious revival and rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. At the end of twelve years he went back to Persia, but after a time he again returned to Jerusalem and effected some reforms there. "Month Chisleu." Ninth month, corresponding to the end of November and the beginning of December. The Hebrew months varied according to the moon. "Twentieth year." Of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus, who reigned from B.C. 465 to 423. It was under this king that Ezra was granted letters to go to Jerusalem. "Game." From Jerusalem to Shushan. "I asked them." Respecting Jerusalem and its people. "That had escaped." From captivity. "Which were left." The word "left" points more specifically to such as survived the persecutions to which the community at Jerusalem had been exposed. In the province of Judea, now a province of the Persian empire. "Great affliction and reproach." Their subjection to Persia forced itself on the Jews at every turn. The tribute imposed on them was a heavy burden to a poor people. Jewish recruits had doubtless been forced into the Persian armies. The country was pillaged in open day, and many Jews were carried into slavery by nightly surprises, while the corpses of murdered men were often found on the road. "Wall-down." The wall and houses had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar more than 140 years before (2 Kings 25:10), and their rubbish still lay in sight. They were partially rebuilt at one time (Ezra 4:12). The neighboring races, infuriated at the rejection of their friendly offers of assistance by Zerubbabel, years before, and still more so by Ezra's recent act in sending back to their homes all the wives of non-Jewish races found in Jerusalem and Judea, had attacked Jerusalem, and after fierce struggles had broken down the newly built walls and burned the gates. II. Nehemiah prays for help (vs. 4,11). 4. "Wept." Perhaps now for the first time a deep, keen sense of his people's woes came over his soul. "Mourned." Over the condition of his people, the desolation of the holy city, the reproach upon the name of God, and the sins which had brought them to this low estate, which had not yet been put away, "certain days." From Chisleu to Nisan, four months, until the king noticed his grief. "Fasted." A token of the genuineness of his sorrow. "Prayed." In earnest, protracted prayer that God would favor the purpose which he seems to have so secretly formed of asking the royal permission to go to Jerusalem. 5. "Beseech Thee." The prayer of Nehemiah deserves critical study as a model of blended adoration, invocation, confession, supplication, and confident appeal. "Covenant and mercy." Covenant refers to God's definite promises, mercy refers to His loving character, which gives more than is pledged. G. "Eyes" attentively tears open. Let Thine ear hear our confession and mercifully pardon. Let Thine eye behold our suffering and send speedy succor. "Day, find night." His grief was doubtless increased at the thought that all this evil existed in spite of Ezra's work. He withdrew from his court duties and spent a time in retirement in most sincere sorrow. "I and my father's house." Nehemiah had a clear sense of his identification with his people in sin as in misery. "Dealt very corruptly." Some of these sins are mentioned in Neb. 5:1-7, 10, 11; 13:15; Ezra 5:1; 2 Chronicles 36:14-17. "Commandments." The moral precepts by which all lives should be regulated. "Statutes." What refers to the rites and ceremonies of thy religion. "Judgments." The precepts of justice relative to our conduct to each other. If ye transgress. This is not a quotation, but a reference to the general sense of various passages, such as Lev. 26:27-30; Deut. 28:45-52, etc. The fact that God had fulfilled His word of threatening was a proof that He would fulfill His word of promise. "Turn unto Me." When we turn to sin, God turns to discipline; when we turn to righteousness, He turns to mercy. "Gather them." God had a place demoted to His people; this promise had already been partially fulfilled. "Thy servants." Who will devote themselves to do Thy will. "And thy people." With whom Thou hast made covenant. They are the descendants of those whom Thou hast delivered from Egypt. "Who desires are: 1. Constant, not lashes. 2. Hearty, strong and grown." 3. Include the favor of God and the spiritual grace. 4. Regard the means of salvation, "Prosper? Thy servant." He had in mind to ask of King Artaxes that he might go to Jerusalem and help his people. He asked definitely for exactly what he wanted. "Grant him mercy." Nehemiah prayed that he might have favor in the sight of the king. "King's cupbearer." An important officer, having charge of the vines of the royal household, standing by the king's side at meals, and singing from the cup to prove that it was not poisoned. Helped the Snake Shed Skin. Battling with a twenty-foot python, two men were watched by a breathless crowd at New York Zoological Garden in Bronx Park. The keeper's perilous task was made necessary by the condition of the python, one of the largest in captivity, and the especial pride of the curator. About this time of the year, these reptiles shed their skin. When caged, assistance becomes necessary, and the keepers face grave peril. While one-covered the head of the reptile with a blanket and sat upon it, the author proceeded to remove the dead skin. "Boy Growers So Fast He Dies." Growing so rapidly that his stomach was unable to assimilate him, Jertold Wemhagen, Jr., died at Denver, Col. His case has puzzled a number of the best physicians, for, though not fourteen, he was six feet one inch in height when he died. Indian Moorman. A full-blooded Indian named Curcell Powles, grandson of a chief of the tribe, has just been appointed a motorman on a street railroad in St. Louis. Are being scattered throughout the Republic; the clergy are preaching upon the ravages that alcoholism is working among the people, and the whole force of the Government is being centered in the one grand effort to save the nation from the destruction with which it is threatened. Let it be said just here that the trouble in France is not that of drunkenness, as that term is generally understood. The claim, long made with pride by the French people that they are a nation of "moderate drinkers" is perfectly correct one. It is this "moderate drinking"?not drunkenness, but continuous, respectable alcoholism, the screwing up of nerves and heating of blood, day and night, yet in and year out?that is today threatening the very existence of the French nation! A drunken man, other than a foreigner, is a rare sight in France, and yet while very few Frenchmen drink excessively, nearly all Frenchmen "drink moderately"?with the result that they are being actually threatened with national extinction! It is an open secret that, for a generation or more, France has been losing its vitality. It was only a little while ago that the fact appeared that the decreased vitality was due to alcoholism, the poisoning and weakening and general demoralization of the system by the steady, though moderate, use of spirituous liquors. That France is in a most dangerous way is clearly shown by the statistics gathered by her own Government officials. Suicide, insanity, tuberculosis, diabetes, Bright's disease, epilepsy and idiocy are alarmingly on the increase. The physique of the French people is being undermined. Their blood is turning white. Moderate drinking is killing them. For a decade or so the birth rate has been abnormally low, as compared with the death rate. The "desire to live" and to perpetuate oneself is losing its hold upon the French mind. Government, alarmed by the steadily decreasing birth list, is obliged to offer rewards for maternity! Many in France, to be sure, are few spots that are unalcoholized, and in those areas the Human animal is still strong and vigorous, as he was in Caesar's day, as he was even so late as the time of Napoleon the First. In the unalcoholized departments, there are not only a great many more children, but a much greater percentage who reach the adult age. The comparatively temperate department of Gers loses annually but ninety-one children in their first year; the Nord, strongly alcoholized, loses 284 out of the same number; the Seine Inferieure -56, and so on in proportion. And so, it appears, the moderate drinking of the great French people is slowly but surely destroying them. Brilliant, affable, generous, brave, among the oldest of the friends of liberty and of man, with a past that is glorious to reflect upon, the French people must soon do one of two things wipe out their alcoholism, or at the hands of that alcoholism perish! We of America would do well to carefully note one of the posters that are now being placed throughout France. It reads as follows: "No one requires alcohol either as food or tonic. Alcohol weakens a man's self-control while exciting his passions, hence the number of crimes committed under its influence. Whisky rapidly produces a consumption, but milder drinks, such as beer and cider, produce, after a time, alcoholic poisoning with equal certainty. The sins of alcoholic parents are visited on their children. If the children survive infancy, they are threatened with idiocy, epilepsy, and consumption. In short, alcoholism is the most terrible enemy to personal health, to family happiness and to national prosperity." New York American. The Fifth Vice. "Four great vices confront the United States," said Dr. Lyman Abbott to the students of Columbia University, the other Sunday. Then the doctor gave a list of the "vices." to-wit: Materialism. Self-conceit. Lawlessness. While we are not disposed to deny that these "vices" are more or less abundant in the country, we are inclined to suspect that the vice of drinking alcohol visits upon the country as great a burden of distressing results as either "self-conceit" or "caste." New Voice. Keep Them Out. Moundsville, W. Va., a prosperous city of 7000 people, not counting the penitentiary inmates, chased out their green saloons in their recent municipal convention. Now keep them out. Daughter Awarded, Mrs. W. K. Renner has obtained a verdict of $5000 against a brewery company of Atchison, Ivan. Her husband shot and killed two men, for which he is serving a life term in the penitentiary. The shooting was the result of trouble while the men were drinking beer. Mrs. Renner alleged that the beer came from the brewery, that it led to the tragedy which caused the imprisonment of her husband, and that she was therefore deprived of his support and entitled to damages. Masonic Order of Iowa in its recent annual gathering at Sioux City, a seed a resolution debarring liquor sellers from membership in that order and making special provision surrounding those who are now Masons and engaged in the liquor traffic. The same order in Georgia a few months since passed a prohibitory clause, without any limitations debarring liquor vendors and Dealers from membership. On the opening night of a temperance crusade in Melbourne, Australia, Hays secured the pledges of 200 people. CROSS NO CROWN! I sometimes think when life seems dreary, When gloom and darkness gather here, When Hope's bright star forsakes a skies, And sorrow o'er my pathway lies, It would be sweet—it would be best, To fold my tired hands and rest; But then, God sends an angel down, Who whispers oft?"No Onward Grown!" Last night I heard the river moan "With sad and melancholy tone; I saw its waters glancing free And floating in the sky, I would have plunged beneath its tide, And on its friendly bosom died, But then, God sent the angel down, Who whispered still?"No Cross, 2? Crown!" Then I turned from the river shore, To seek the lonely world once more, With aching heart and burning head, To battle for a crust of bread? But Hunger came who knew me well, And fainting by the way I fell, But still the angel fluttered down, And, weeping, said—"No Cross, N Crown!" "No. Cross, No Crown!" As standing there, The cross too heavy seemed to bear; And for the crown—I could not see That it was ever meant for me! The words I could not understand Even while I clutched the angel's hand; But still he looked with pity down. And still he said—"No Cross, No Crown, Back to the world I turned again, To court life's joys, to bear its pain; But All the sweetness that it gave, I followed, weeping, to the grave! And from the cold and quiet sod I lifted my pale hands to God, And saw the angel coming down. And in his hands a golden crown! Then did I laugh at earthly loss, And, kneeling, lifted up the cross; Though all that once large life so sweet Slept 'neath the lilies at my feet, A radiance from the realms of light Flashed for a moment on my sight, "A still, small voice" came fluttering down The cross had then become the crown! F. L. Stanton. With Children. Most of us show our best side to children. We do so because we know that they do not believe us to have another side, and we shrink from disappointing them, and from losing their good opinion. A child has not learned to look for deceit or unkindness of double dealing. Therefore grown people who think at all are more careful to be scrupulously truthful to children, and keep to the letter their promise to children, than they are told ones who, as they know, will "maintain allowances." An unsnolled child does not "make allowances" for evil. He knows no standard but the simplest. Occasionally a grown man, a woman, seems to have retained the unspoiled confidence in the best side of every one. And to such a man as a woman, we all try to do our best when we are with them, we try to be our best. Suppose we all lived with each other as with children! Won't the world be better or worse for it? The kingdom of heaven has been... Sal to be of such? Sunday-School Times. The Union Church. I have not a shadow of doubt that all our eyes could be opened today should see our homes, and our places of business, and the streets we traverse, filled with the "chariots of God." There is no need for anyone of us to walk for the lack of chariots. That cross inmate of your household, who has hitherto made life a burden to you, and who has been the jigger naut car to crash your soul into the dust, may henceforth be a glorious chariot to carry you to the heights of heavenly patience and long suffering. That misunderstanding, that mortification, that unkindness, that disappointment, that loss, that defeat—all these are chariots waiting to carry to the very heights of victory you have so longed to reach. Mount into them, then, with thankful hearts and loss sight of all second causes in the shining of His love who will carry you in His arms safely and triumphantly over it all. H. W. Smith. God is Leading You. Let it fill you with cheerfulness and exalted feeling that God is leading you on, girding you for a work, preparing you for a good that is worthy of His Divine magnificence. If God is really preparing us all to become that which is the very highest and best thing possible, there ought never to be a discouraged or the treacherous being in the world. Horace Bushnell. The True Test. The minister, considering a call, must be careful that money does not drown the can or the minister, and the congregation selecting the man must remember that a "trial sermon" may either do the man an injustice or may greatly overestimate him. The minister's past record in the church he has been serving is the best record of what the man is, for a "trial sermon" tells nothing about the man as a pastor. Rev. DeWitt M. Benham, Presbyterian, Baltimore. Faith of the Heart. It is as true that penitence, purity, humility, goodness, self-sacrifice, in the heart is the divinest joy and glory, as if all the treasures and splendors of the universe drew near and gathered around to pay homage. The faith of the heart is a stronger assurance than all the visions of the outward senses. Orville Dewey. The Christian Principle. Christianity, practically applied, has the power radically to change the whole aspect of our social life, and to make social evolution peaceful and profitable to all. No economic principle is more practical than that of personal life. The Christian principle of love to God and love to neighbor as to self. Philip Moxom. Never Out of Mind. God's servants may often be hidden, but they are never forgotten toil. Dined Their Seventeen Children. The seventeen children of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse R Middleton sat down to dinner with their parents at Chicago. The children range in age from three to thirty-seven years, the elders. Coming from Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Arizona to attend the reunion. It was the first time the entire family had been together. The Smallest Church, inlington Church, near Eastbourne, England, is said to be the smallest church in England. It rests eight persons. " I ^J. 