I
_ _
Ek > •
I • 7 $ > B B ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
If INTERNATIONAL PRESS ASSOCIATION.
W ) 3HAPTER L
HEY had sent for
K R ii
/ / ? the doctor from
fj - ? tlBourron before six.
' iv\\ About eiSht some
/ / \
/lSl\ ( ! \ villaSers came
/ Jyl Iroun < 1 for tne per"
\JAA \ formance and were
= * J told how matters
? > / stood. It seemed a
for a
fcv < WzT liberty
B -/wiP mountebank to fall
II T" > Lnj ill like real people ,
m isuid they made off again in dudgeon.
L.2Jy ten Iadame Tentaillon was gravely
\&g \ banned , and had sent down the street
mf for Doctor Desprez.
P ? The Doctor was at work over his
manuscripts in one corner of the little
* ' dining-room , and his wife was asleep
I over the fire in another , when the mes-
v senger arrived.
i "Sapristi ! " said the Doctor , "you
i should have sent for me before. It was
\ / a case for hurr } ' . " And he followed
the messenger as he was , in his slips -
\s * 1 l > ers and skull-cap.
v The inn was not thirty yards away ,
* but the messenger did not stop there ;
i he went in at one door and out by an-
[ ' bther inlo the court , and then led the
! way by a flight of steps beside the
i stable , to the loft where the mounte-
f bank lay sick. If Doctor Desprez were
* to live a thousand years , he would never
1 forget his arrival in that room ; for not
X only was the scene picturesque , but
the moment made a date in his exist-
) ence. We reckon our lives , I hardly
1 know why , from the date of our first
jj sorri' appearance in society , as if from
fe a first humiliation ; for no actor can
§ come upon the stage with a worse
ft grace. Not to go further back , which
would be judged too curious , there are
. subsequently many moving and decis
is ive accidents in the lives of all which
W would make as logical a period as this
j of birth. And here , for instance ,
f Doctor Desprez , a man past forty , who
had made what is called a failure in
8e life , and was moreover married , found
? himself at a new point of departure
Bj when he opened the door of the loft
K above Tentaillon's stable.
Mr It was a large place , lighted only by
W a single candle set upon the floor. The
m mountebank lay on his back upon a
m * pallet ; a large man , with a Quixotic
aft nose inflamed with drinking. Madame
* * l Tentaillon stooped over him , applying
m a hot water and mustard embrocation
K to his feet ; and on a chair close by sat
K a little fellow of eleven or twelve , with
K his feet dangling. These three were the
If I'll/1' ' / '
'
' -ilk. . * . ! ! - / / • $ | '
gF felt his pulse.
only occupants , except the shadows.
But the shadows were a company in
b themselves ; the extent of the room
% exaggerated them to a gigantic size ,
f \ and from the low position of the candle
the light struck upward and produced
deformed foreshortenings. The mounte
bank s profile was enlarged upon the
wall in caricature , and it was strange
* . to see his nose shorten and lengthen
I W as the flame was blown about by
i draughts As for Madame Tentaillon ,
f her shadow was no more than a gross
hump of shoulders , with now and again
% a hemisphere of head. The chair legs
j § were spindled out as long as stilts , and
\ the boy sat perched atop of them.
} It was the boy who took the Doctor's
fancy. He had a great arched skull ,
the forehead and the hands of a musi
cian , and a pair of haunting eyes. It
' was not merely that these eyes were
V large , or steady , or the softest ruddy
Jl brown. There was a look in them , be
ll sides , which thrilled the Doctor , and
, made him half uneasy. He was sure
t lie had seen such a look before , and
J yet he could not remember how or
\ where. It was as if this boy. who was
,
jr1 quite a stranger to him , had the eyes
\ -of an old friend or an old enemy. And
ft the boy would give him no peace ? he
Hi seemed profoundly indifferent to what
*
was going on , or rather abstracted
W from it in a superior contemplation ,
heating gently with his feet against
the hars of the chair , and holding his
bhands folded on his lap. But. for all
that , his eyes kept following the Doc-
| 'iior about the room with a thoughtful
fixity of gaze. Desprez could not tell
whether he was fascinating the boy ,
or the boy was fascinating him. He
busied himself over the sick man : he
i. put qur .Jons. he felt his pulse , he
i jested , he grew a little iot and swore :
i and still , whenever he looked round ,
there were the brown eyes waiting for
his with the same inquiring , melan
choly gaze.
At last the Doctor hit en the solu
tion at a leap. He remembered the
look now. The little fellow , although
he was an straight as a dart , had the
eyes that go usually with a crooked
back ; he was not at all deformed , and
yet a deformed person seemed to be
looking at you from below his brows.
The Doctor drew a long breath , he wa3
so much relieved to find a theory ( for
he loved theories ) and to explain away
his interest.
For all that , he despatched the in
valid with unusual haste , and , still
kneeling with one krfee on the floor ,
turned a little round and looked the
boy over at his leisure. The boy was
not in the least put out , but looked
placidly back at the Doctor.
"Is this your father ? " asked Des
prez.
"Oh , no , " returned the boy ; "my
master. "
"Are you fond of him ? " continued
the Doctor.
"No , sir , " said the boy.
Madame Tentaillon and Desprez ex
changed expressive glances.
"That is bad , my man , " resumed the
latter , with a shade of sternness
"Every one should be fond of the dy
ing , or conceal their sentiments ; and
your mastei here is dying. If I have
watched a bird a little while stealing
my cherries , I have a thought of dis
appointment when he flies away over
my garden wall , nnd I see him steer for
the forest and vanish. How much more
a creature such as this , so strong ,
so astute , so richly endowed with facul
ties ! When I think that , in a few
hours , the speech will be silenced , the
breath extinct , and even the shadow
vanished from the wall. I who never
saw him , this lady who knew him
only as a guest , are touched with some
affection. "
The boy was silent for a little , and
apjiearea to be reflecting.
"You did not know him , " he replied
at last. "He was a had man. "
"He is a little pagan , " said the land
lady. "For that matter , they are all the
same , "these mountebanks , tumblers ,
artists , and what not. They have no
interior. "
But the Doctor was still scrutinizing
the little pagan , his eyebrows knotted
and uplifted.
"What is your name ? " he asked.
"Jean-Marie , " said the lad.
Desprez leaped upon him with one
of his sudden flashes of excitement ,
and felt his head all over from an
ethnological point of view.
"Celtic , Celtic ! " he said.
"Celtic ! " cried Madame Tentaillon ,
who had perhaps confounded the word
with hydrocephalus. "Poor lad ! is
it dangerous ? "
"That depends , " returned the Doctor ,
grimly. And then once more address
ing the boy : "And what do you do for
your living , Tean-Marie ? " he inquired.
"I tumble , " was the answer.
"So ! Tumble ? " repeated Desprez.
"Probably healthful. I hazard the
guess , Madame Tentaillon , that tumb
ling is a healthful way of life. And
have you ne-er done anything else
but tumble ? "
"Before I learned that , I used' to
steal , " answered Jean-Marie gravely.
"Upon my word ! " cried the Doctor.
"You are a nice little man for your
age. Madame , when my confrere
comes from Bourron , you will com
municate my unfavorable opinion. 1
leave the case in his hands ; hut of
course , on any alarming symptom ,
above all if there should be a sign of
rally , do not hesitate to knock me up.
I am a doctor no longer , I thank God ;
but I have been one. Good night ,
madame. Good sleep to you , Jean-
Marie. "
CHAPTER n.
/ OCTOR DESPREZ
alwa vs rose early-
/ TO WTOr - -
kM lf 7 | ' Befor& the smoke
/fC P > ) | ( ar ° se , before the
JkrWilh ) Jfirst ) Cirt rattled
§ J /MLJff / over the bridge top
/p / TffiSr / the day's labor in
\tft&/ < \ the fields , he was to
( Itt f/ x e f ° und wandering
T ? in his garden. Now
( he would pick a
bunch of grapes ;
now he would eat a big gear under the
Jllllllllll.lJIIwaBWWM 1PPP i ,
trellis ; now he would draw all sorts ot
fancies on the path with the end ol
his cane ; now he would go down and
watch the river running endlessly past
the timber landing-place at which he
moored his boat. There was no time ,
he used to say , for making theories like
the early morning. "I rise earlier than
any one else in the village , " he once
boasted. "It is a fair consequence thai
I know more and wish to do less with
my knowledge. "
The doctor was a connoisseur of sun
rises , and loved a good theatrical effect
to usher in the day. He had a theory
of dew , by which he could predict the
weather. Indeed , most things served
him to that end ; the sound of the bells
from all the neighboring villages , the
omell of the forest , the visits and the
behavior of both birds and fishes , the
look of the plants in his garden , the
disposition of cloud , the color of the
light , and last , although not last , the
arsenal of meteorological instruments
in a louvre-boarded hutch upon the
lawn. Ever since he had settled at
Gretz , he had been growing more and
more into the local meteorologist , the
unpaid champion of the local climate.
He thought at first there was no place
so healthful in the arrondissement. By
the end of the second year , he pro
tested there was none so wholesome in
the whole department. And for some
time before he met Jean-Marie he had
been prepared to challenge all France
and the better part of Europe for a
rival to his chosen spot.
"Doctor , " he would say "doctor is
a foul word. It should not be used tc
ladies. It implies disease. I remark
it , as a flaw in our civilization that we
have not the proper horror of disease.
Now I , for my part , have washed my
hands of it ; I have renounced my laur-
eation ; I am no doctor ; I am only a
worshiper of the true goddess Hygeia.
Ah , believe me , it is she who has the
cesius. And here , in this exiguous
hamlet , has she placed her shrine ; here
she dwells and lavishes her gifts ; here
I walk with her in the early morning
and she shows me how strong she has
made the peasants , how fruitful she
has mads the fields , how the trees grow
up tall and comely under her eyes , and
the fishes in the river become clean
and agile at her presence. Itheuma-
tism ! " he would cry , on some malaper )
interruption. " 0 , j-es. I believe we dc
have a little rheumatism. That could
hardly be avoided , you know , on s
river. And of course the place stands
a little low ; and the meadows are
marshy , there's no doubt. But mj
dear sir , look at Bourron ! Bourron
stands high. Bourron is close to the
forest ; plenty of ozone there , you would
say. Well , compared with Gretz , Bour
ron is a perfec- chambles. "
- The morning after he had been sum
moned to the dying mountebank , the
Doctor visited the wharf at the tail of
his garden , and had a long look at the
running water. This he called prayer ;
but whether his adorations were ad
dressed to the goddess Hygeia or some
more orthodox deity , never plainly ap
peared. For he had uttered doubtful
oracles , sometimes declaring that a
river was a type of bodily health ,
sometimes extolling it as a great moral
preacher , continually preaching peace ,
continuity , and diligence to man's tor
mented spirits. After he had watched
a mile or so of the clear water running
by before his eyes , seen a fish or two
come to the surface with a gleam of
silver , and sufficiently admired the long
shadows of the trees falling half across
the river from the opposite bank with
patches of moving sunlight in between ,
he strolled once more up the garden
and through his house into the street ,
feeling cool . .nd renovated.
( TO US COXTIN'UED. I
AFTER TWENTY YEARS.
Mira IJascom Found She Was Still
Beautiful.
4
He did not call on her that first even
ing , thcugh he walked past the gate
four times , unaware of the fact that
behind one of those slanting shutters a
pale woman stood watching him pass
and repass , says Lippincott's. The
nun in her self-elected cell had and
made use of means of communication
with the world , in the shape generally
of Jimmy the choreboy. She knew
whose was the tall figuie on the side
walk. She stood at the window when
she could no longer see him ; she heard
his slow footsteps go by for the last
time and die away. Half an hour later
she went upstairs to her bedroom. Be
tween its two windows hung a long ,
old-fashioned mirror with carved
- , can
delabra on either side. She lighted the
three candles in each. The mirror
showed a tall , slim figure , a face as col
orless as an anemone , an abundance of
auburn hair carefully arranged. Mira
Bascom studied this reflection closely.
Then she unlocked a black-walnut
chest which stood in a corner and
lifted out its contents till she came tea
a mass of pale muslin , which diffused
an odor of lavender as she shook it out.
It was a white gown with lilac sprigs ,
made with the full skirts and sleeves
of a bygone fashion. She put it on ,
fastened the belt of lilac ribbon ,
which still fitted exactly , and , standing
again before the mirror , loosened
slightly the bands of her beautiful
wavy hair and pulled it into little curls
about her face. It was a vision of
youth which looked back at her from
the glass. Not a thread of gray showed
in the hair ; the fine lines about the
placid eyes were invisible. The skin
had the dead whiteness of things kept
from the sun. But as she gazed a del
icate flush overspread her face , her
red-brown eyes lit up till their color
matched her hair ; she' smiled in
startled triumph. She was still beau
tiful.
Then a swift change came over her.
She blew out all but one of "the candles
and , turning her hack on the mirror ,
took off her gown with cold , shaking
fingers.
1 CM
TALMAGE'S SERMON ,
"THE BREAD QUESTION" LAST
SUNDAY'S SUBJECT.
from the Text "An J tlio Kiivriw
Drought Him Itrr.nl and I'Jrsh In the
Morning , and IIru < l anil I'lt'nh In the
livening" 1. Kluc * 11:0. ,
*
* HE ornithology of
( J1T lie Bible is a very
/
V\l l/rfVh interesting study.
\ / ,
'
A\ . 'l//k&7 The storlc whIch
< " WW5 knoweth her ap-
time. The
YtY pointed
/ Y-
l jLzJrf common sparrows
i&p SX teaching the lcs-
% ? § ? % EOn of Gocl's Prov-
3yl idence. The ostriches -
triches of the des
ert , by careless
Incubation , illustrating the reck
lessness of parents who do not take
enough pains with their children. The
eagle symbolizes riches which take
wings and fly away. The pelican em-
blemizing solitude. The bat. a flake
of the darkness. The night hawk , the
ossifrage , the cuccoo. the lapwing , the
osprey , by the command of God 'n
Leviticus , flung out of the world's bill
of fare.
I waul- : liked to have been with Au
dubon as he went through the woods ,
with gun and pencil , bringing down
and sketching the fowls of heaven , his
unfolded portfolio thrilling all Chris
tendom. What wonderful creatures of
God the birds are ! Some of them , this
morning , like the songs of heaven let
loose , bursting through the gates of
heaven. Consider their feathers ,
which are clothing and conveyance at
the same time ; the nine vertebrae of
the neck , the three eyelids to each
eye , the third eyelid an extra curtain
for graduating the light of the sun.
Some of these birds scavengers ani
some of them orchestra. Thank God
for quail's whistle , and lark's carol ,
and the twitter of the wren , called by
the ancients the king of birds , because
when the fowls of heaven went into
a contert as to who should fly the high
est , and ( he eagle swung nearest the
sun. a wren on the back of the eagle ,
after the eagle was exhausted , sprang
up much higher , and so was called by
the ancients the king of birds. Con
sider those of them that have golden
crowns and crests , showing them to be
feathered imperials. And listen to the
humming bird's serenade in the car o
the honeysuckle. Look at the belted
kingfisher , striking like a dart from
the sky to water. Listen to the voice
of the owl. giving the key-note to all
vroakers. And behold the condor
among the Andes , battling with the
reindeer. I do not know whether an
aquarium or aviary is the best altar
from which to worship God.
There is an incident in my text that
baffles all the ornithological wonders
of the world. The grain crop had been
cut off. Famine was in the land.
In a cave by the brook of Cherith sat
a minister of God , Elijah , waiting for
something to eat. Why did he not
go tc the neighbors ? There were no
neighbors ; it was a wilderness. Why
did he not pick some of the berries ?
There were none. If there had been
they would have been dried up. Seated
one morning at the mouth of his cave ,
the prophet sees a flock of birds ap
proaching. Oh , if they were only part
ridges , or if he only had an arrow
with which to bring them down ! But
as they come nearer , he finds that they
are not comestible , but unclean , and
the eating of them would be spiritual
death. The strength of their beak , the
length of their wings , the blackness of
their color , their loud , harsh "cruck !
cruck ! " prove them to he ravens.
They whirr around about the proph
et's head , and then they come on flut
tering wing and pause on the level of
his lips , and one of the ravens brings
bread , and another raven brings meat ,
and after they have discharged their
tiny cargo they wheel past , and others
' come , until after awhile the prophet
has enough , and these black servants
of the wilderness table are gone. For
six months. and > some say a whole
year , morning and evening , a break
fast and a supper bell sounded as these
ravens rang out on the air their
"cruck ! cruck ! " Guess where they go :
the food from. The old rabbins say
they got it from the kitchen of King
Ahab. Others say that the ravens got
their food from pious Obadiah , who
was in the habit of feeding the perse
cuted. Some say that the ravens
brought their food to their young in
the trees , and that Elijah had only
to climb up and get it. Some say that
the whole story is improbable ; for
these were carnivorous birds , and the
food they carried was the torn flesh
of living beasts , and therefore ceremonially
menially unclean ; or it was carrion ,
and would not have been fit for the
prophet. Some say they were not ra
vens at all , but that the word trans
lated "ravens" in my text ought to
have been translated "Arabs ; " so it
would have read : "The Arabs brought
bread and flesh in the morning , and
bread and flesh in the evening. " Any
thing but admit the Bible to be true.
Hew away at this miracle until all
the miracle is gone. Go on with the
depleting process , but know , my
brother , that you are robbing only
one man and that is yourself of one
of the most comforting , beautiful , pa
thetic and triumphant lessons in all
the ages. I can tell you who these
purveyors were they were ravens. I
can tell you who freighted them with
provisions God. I can tell yon who
laiinched them God. I can tell you
who taught them which way to fly
God. 1 can tell you who told them
at what cave to swoop God. I can tell
you who introduced raven to prophet
and prophet to raven God. There is
one passage I will whisper in your
ear , for I would not want to utter it
aloud , lest some one should drop down
under its power "If any man shall
take away from the words of there
-ro < : v of this hook , God shall take
away his part out of the book of life
and out of the- Holy City. "
While , then , we watch the ravens
feeding Elijah , let the swift dove of
God's spirit sweep down the sky with
divine food , and on outspread wing
pause at the lip of every soul hunger
ing for comforL
On the banks of what rlvcr3 have
been the great battles of the world ?
While you are looking o\er the man
of the world to answer that. I will
tell you that the great conflict to-day
is on the Potomac , on the Hudson , on
the Mississippi , on the Thames , on the
Savannah , on the Rhine , on the Nile ,
on the Ganges , on tbe Hoang-Ho. It
is a battle that has been going on for
six thousand years. The troops en
gaged in it are sixteen hundred mil
lions , and those who have fallen by
the way are vaster in number than
those who march. It is a battle for
bread.
Sentimentalists sit in a cushioned
chair , in their pictured study , with
their slippered feet on a damask otto
man , and say that this world is a
great scene of avarice and greed. It
does not seem so to me. If it were not
for the absolute necessities of the
cases , nine-tenths of the stores , facto
ries , shops , banking houses of the land
would be closed to-morrow. Who is
that man delving in the Colorado hills ?
or toiling in a New England factory ?
or going through a roll of bills in the
bank ? or measuring a fabric on the
counter ? He is a champion sent forth
in behalf of some home-circle that haste
to be cared for , in behalf of some
church of God that has to be sup
ported , in behalf of some asylum of
mercy that has to be sustained. Who
is that woman bending over the sew
ing machine , or carrying the bundle , or
sweeping the room , or mending the
garment , or sweltering at the washtub -
tub ? That is Deborah , one of the
Lord's heroines , battling against
Amalekitish want , which comes down
with iron chariot to crush her and
hers. The great question with tbe vast
majority of people to-day is not "home
rule , " but whether there shall be any
home to rule ; not one of tariff , but
whether there shall be anything to tax.
The great question with the vast ma
jority of people is , "How shall I sup
port my family ? How shall I meet my
notes ? How shall I pay my rent ?
How shall I give food , clothing and
education to those who are dependent
upon me ? " Oh , if God would help me
to-day to assist you in the solution of
that problem the happiest man in this
house would be your preacher ! I have
gone out on a cold morning with ex
pert sportsmen to hunt for pigeons ; I
have gone out on the meadows to hunt
for quail ; I have gone out on the marsh
to hunt for reed birds ; but to-day 1
am out for ravens.
Notice , in the first place in the storv
of my text , that these winged caterers
came to Elijah direct from God.
"I have commanded the ravens tha !
they feed thee , " we find God saying ir.
an adjoining passage. They did no !
come out of some other cave. Thej
did not just happen to alight there ,
God freighted them. God launched
them , and God told them by what cave
to swoop. That is the same God that
is going to supply you. He is you :
Father. You would have to make an
elaborate calculation before you could
tell me how many pounds of food and
how many yards of clothing would be
necessary for you and your family ;
but God knows without any calcula
tion. You have a plate at His table ,
and you are going to be waited upon ,
unless you act like a naughty child ,
and kick , and scramble , and pound
saucily the plate and try to upset
things.
God is infinite in resource. When
the city of Rochelle was beseiged and
the inhabitants were dying of the fam
ine the tides washed up on the beach
as never before and as never since ,
enough shellfish to feed the whole city.
God is good. There is no mistake
about that. History tells us that in
3555 in England there was a great
drought. The crops failed ; but in Es
sex , on the rocks , in a place where they
bad neither sown nor cultured , a great
crop of peas grew until they filled a
hundred measures ; and there were
blossoming vines enough , promising as
much more.
But why go so far ? I can give you
a family incident. Some generations
back there was a great drought in Con
necticut , New England. The water
disappeared from the hills , and the
farmers living on the hills drove their
cattle toward the valleys , and had
them supplied at the wells and foun
tains of the neighbors. But these after
awhile began to fail , and the neighbors
said to Mr. Birdseye , of whom I shall
speak , "You must not send your flocks
and herds down here any more ; our
wells are * giving out. " Mr. Birdseye.
the old Christian man , gathered his
family at the altar , and with his fam
ily he gathered the slaves of the house
hold for bondage was then in vogue
in Connecticut and on their knees be
fore God they cried for water ; and the
family story is , that there was weep
ing and great sobbing at that altar
that the family might not perish for
lack of water , and that the herds and
flocks might not perish.
The family rose from the altar. Mr.
Birdseye , the old man , took his staff
and walked out over the hills , and in
a place where he had been scores of
times , without noticing anything par
ticular , he saw the ground was very
dark , and he took his staff and turned
up the ground , and water started ; and
he beckoned to his servants , and they
came and brought pails and buckets
until all the family and all the flocks
and th herds were cared for ; and
then they made troughs reaching from
that place down to the house and barn ,
and the water flowed , and it is a living
fountain to-day.
Now I call that old grandfather
Elijah , and I call that brook that be
gan to roll then , and is rolling still ,
the brook Cherith ; and the lesson to
me , and to all who hear it. is , when
you are in great stress of circum-
r
tl
tlI
[ I
stances , pray and dig , dig and pray ,
and pray and dig. How does that passage -
sage go ? "Tho mountains shall depart - H
part and the hills be removed , but my H
loving kindness shall r.ot rail. " 1 H
your merchandise , if your mechanism. H
if your husbardry fail , look out for ra- > H
vens. If > ou have in your dnpomlun- fl
ry put Otrd on trial and condemned fl
iilm aa guilty of cruelty. I inovo today - H
day for a new trial. If the biography '
of your life is ever written. I will tell '
you what the first chaDier. and the >
middle chapter , nnd the last chapter H
will be about , if It is written ar-
curately. The first chapter about H
mercy , the middle chapter about racr- H
cy , the last chapter about mercy. The H
mercy that hovered over your cradle. I
The mercy that will hover over your
grave. The mercy that will cover all
between. I
Again , this story of the text im- fl
presses me that relief came to this
prophet with the most unexpected and H
with seemingly impossible conveyance. I
If it had been a robin-redbreast , era
a musical lark , or a meek turtledove.
or a sublime albatross that had >
brought the food to Elijah , it would I
not have been so surprising. But , no.
It was a bird so fierce and inausplcata
that we have fashioned one of our most I
forceful and repulsive , words out of it I
ravenous. That bird has a passion % M
for picking out the eyes of men and > I
of animals. It loves to maul the sick
and the dying. It swallows with vul-
turous guzzle everything it can put :
its beak on ; and yet all the food Elijah ,
gets for six months or a year is from H
ravens. So your supply is going to I
come from an unexpected source.
You think some great-hearted , generous -
erous man will come along and give
you his name on the back of your note ,
or he will go security for you in some > M
great enterprise. No. he will not.
God will open the heart of some Shylock - I
lock toward you. Your relief will come I
from the most unexpected quarter.
The providence which seemed ominous H
will be to you more than that which
seemed auspicious. It will not be a
chaffinch with breast and wing dashed I
with white and brown and chestnut ; it M
will be a black raven. '
Here is where we all make our mistake - * H
take , and that is in regard to the color -
or of God's providence. A white providence - I
idence comes to us , and we say. "Oh.
it is mercy ! " Then a black providence '
comes toward us. and we say , "Oh. that
is disaster ! " The white providence
comes to you , and you : iave great H
business success , and you have a hundred - H
dred thousand dollars , and you get H
proud , and you get independent ol H
God , and you begin to feel that the H
prayer , "Give me this day my daily H
bread , " is inappropriate for you , for
you have made provision for a hundred H
years. Then a black providence comes H
and it sweeps everything away , and H
then you begin to pray , and you begin - H
gin to feel your dependence , and begin -
gin to be humble before God. and you fl
cry out for treasures in heaven. The H
black providence brought you salva- H
tion. The white providence brought H
you ruin. That which seemed to be
harsh and fieice and dissonant was
your greatest mercy. It was a raven
There was a child born in your house I
All 5-our friends congratulated you I
The other children of the family stood I
amazed looking at the new-comer , and H
'
asked a great many questions , g n-
ealogical and chronological. You
said and you said truthfully that a I
white angel flew through the room and
left the little one there. That little
*
one stood with its two feet in the
i very sanctuary of your affection , and '
I with its two hands it took hold of the
altar of your soul. But one day there
came one of the three scourges of children -
dren scarlet fever , or croup , or diphtheria -
| theria and all that bright scene van-
| ished. The chattering , the strange I
! questions , the pulling at the dresses as I
5'ou crossed the floor all ceased. I
Mrs. Jane Pithey , of Chicago , a well- M
known Christian woman , was left by I
her husband a widow with one half I
j dollar and a cottage. She was palsied. I
i and had a mother ninety years of age I
i to support. The widowed soul every 1
| day asked God for all that was needed I
i in the household , and the servant even I
I war astonished at the precision with
which God answered the prayers of I
i ! that woman , item by item , item by 1
j item. One day , rising from the fam-
j ily altar , the servant said , "You have I
I not asked for coal , and the coal , ' s
i Then they stood and prayed for the I
coal. One hour after that the servant I
J threw open the door and said , "The I
I coal has come. " A generous man. I
I whose name I could give you , had sent I
J as never before and never since a I
J supply of coal. You cannot understand 1
j it. I do. Ravens ! Ravens ! I
j Japanese in Ilauaii. I
j The little republic of Hawaii is em- 1
| harassed by an extraordinary influx of I
' Japanese immigrants , stimulated by I
j immigration societies working with the 1
• encouragement if not actually as agents
of the government of Japan. The Japanese -
, panese in the islands already are more
' numerous than the people of any other
nationality , except the native Hawaii-
ans. Various forms of restriction im
posed by the Hawaiian government
were evaded by the immigrants , until
at last the government forbade the land
ing of a ship load of Japanese , and or
dered them sent back. Japan claims
the privileges of free immigration un
der an old treaty , and appears to be
using them to carry out a plan of vir
tual colonization.
A Gentle Hint. .
"Nice dog ! Have you taught him ?
any tricks since I was here last ? " i
"Oh. yes. He will fetch your hat if
you whistle , " said she sweetly. Dublin - I
lin Y 'orld.
A CIooil Word for Johnny.
Mamma Sh , Johnny : You must not
interrupt papa in the middle of a sen- *
tence. Papa He doesn't. He never .
lets me get is far as that. New Yorfc. I
Ti 'bune. 1
*
r