Shell A ROMANCE
Wilden
CHAPTER XI. ( Continued. )
"A man has no right to build such
a house as this , and impoverish his
family by so doing , unless ho has
means sufficient to leave them com
fortably provided for , " he muses impa
tiently. "This house must be a white
elephant to Mrs. Wilden , and yet she
capnot bear the idea of letting it , and
moving into a place more suited to her
means ! Well , I can sympathize with
( her weakness , for , though the country
round looks upon her late husband in
the light of a selfish spendthrift , I
dare say she still contemplates him as
a departed saint" Then , no answer
Tiaving come to his summons , he rings
again , wondering vaguely at the great
stillness which pervades the house.
I Presently , however , that stillness is
broken by the sound of heavy bolts be-
png withdrawn , ending with a grating
turning oC the iron key ; then the door
Js opened , and Susan stands revealed.
"I knowed it was you , sir , through
peeping beside the window-blind , " she
explains with a slow broad smile , "or
lse I shouldn't ha' opened. "
"Quite right , Susan , " agrees Mr.
Champley , stepping into the hall with
out waiting for an invitation "quite
right to be cautious. I want to speak
to Miss Shell for a moment. Is she
In ? "
"Eh ? " asks Susan , putting her "hand
behind her ear , and assuming a list
ening attitude for she is a little hard
of hearing , and the question is uttered
rapidly.
Robert Champley again expresses his
wish for an Interview with Shell , and
what Is more , the old woman's eyes
being fixed steadily on him as he makes
his demand , he feels himself growing
red as he makes it. When Susan's
face finally relaxes into a broad smil
he feels that it would afford him in
finite relief to box her ears.
"Miss Shell ? " the old woman repeats
still smiling at the joke. "Her isn'
here her went away two hours ago. '
"Went away went where ? " de
mands her visitor , looking bewildered
, "Her's gone to join her ma and Miss
Ruby-sure , " explains Susan , in a tone
which denotes that such a question al
most merits contempt. "Her's main
fanciful , is Miss Shell ; and this morn
ing she took it into her head all of a
hop as her'd go to the moor , and car
ry along with her the wraps as was
wanted. So nothing would do but she
had me up a-helping pack at six
o'clock , and running errands for books
to the town till I'm fair off my legs. "
"Oh , indeed gone to the moor , has
Bhe ? Well. I am very glad to hear
it , " answers Robert Champley , with a
strange and unaccountable feeling of
keen disappointment. "Mrs. Wilden ,
I know , was feeling anxious about her
this house is so lonely. "
"No , I shan't be lonely , " remarks
Susan , who , only catching the last
word , applies it to herself and her own
affairs. "I've got permission from Miss
Shell to have up my married niece and
her baby to keep me company. "
"A very good arrangement , " remarks
Robert Champley in a slow thoughtful
voice ; then he slips a half-crown into
Susan's hand , and reluctantly retraces
his steps down the weed-grown drive.
"What a will-o'-the-wisp that girl
is ! " he muses , a little resentfully. "She
might have told me she was going ,
and so saved me the trouble of this
most unnecessary walk. "
Man-like , he does not pause to con
sider that Shell unless gifted with
second sight could have known noth
ing whatever of his intended visit , see
ing that he himself decided on it only
in the early morning.
He finds his brother still sprawling
on the grass , still half hidden beneath
the Times.
"So soon ? " cries Ted , emerging with
a tragic air. "I opine that your recep
tion was not all your fancy painted it ;
and yet let me investigate" screw
ing up one eye in a scrutinizing way
"you look intact ; there doesn't seem to
: be a bite , out of you. "
"Probably because Miss Shell was
wet at home , " retorts Robert , with a
lazy yawn.
"How providential ! If I had known
that I might have gone. But where
has the bird flown ? I trust not in this
direction. "
"No fear of that ! " laughs Robert , a
little sorely. "She has flown to Oak-
moor. "
"What a blessing she didn't take
wing before we left ! " muses Ted.
"What has the poor girl done to you
that you should hate her so ? " asks
Robert , with a sudden burst of wrath.
Ted raises himself on his elbow and
stares at his brother in solemn won
der.
der."I
"I say , the morning air doesn't seem
to agree with you , old boy ! " he re
marks in a meditative tone. "I don't
hate Shell ; I know she is a brick to
the children they adore her ; but , see
ing that she does nothing but snub me
when we meet well , I don't adore
her ! "
"It is of no use to waste more words
on the subject , " says Robert , impa
tiently "we are neither of use likely
to see her again for a month or so. "
"Tant mieux ! " remarks Ted , placid
ly.
" ' French better
. "If I couldn't pronounce
ter than you do I'd stick to English ! "
-ild Robert in a tone of irritation.
1C
"Never mind I shall set that all
right when we are on the other side
of the Channel , " returns Ted , with
comic confidence. "How is a fellow
to speak French if he has never been
abroad ? "
"He needn't attempt it , " says Robert ,
severely.
"H'm ! I think I will retire behind
the newspaper till the wind has chang
ed quarter , " remarks Ted , in loud con
fidence to the world in general.
"Well , I do feel out of temper , " ad
mits Robert , in a self-deprecating
voice , as he turns and enters the
house.x
CHAPTER XII.
It is three o'clock. The early din
ner Is over at Gorse Cottage ; as Violet
puts It , the one excitement of the day
has come to an end.
Before a freshly-lighted fire Mrs.
Wilden sits enveloped in a white knit
ted shawl ; she has established herself
for an afternoon doze , and looks upon
the whole tolerably comfortable. The
same cannot be said of her niece Violet
let , who is established beside the low
casement window in. a folding Amer
ican chair with carpet seat. A look of
utter boredom mars her pretty face ,
whilst her pale pink costume is inartistically -
tistically finished off by a woolen anti
macassar striped scarlet and black ;
she holds a book in her hands , but
seems to be thinking rather than read
ing , and evidently her thoughts are netlike
like her dress , rose colored.
"Good gracious me ! " cries a laugh
ing voice , suddenly breaking In upon
the silence which has reigned in the
room for the last half-hour. "What is
the matter ? Has everybody got colds
or what , that you are all wrapped up
like Egyptian mummies ? "
"Shell , " cries Mrs. Wilden , starting
out of her half doze with a frightened
look"what ; has happened. ? Why have
you come ? "
"Only a freak of mine , mother dear !
I just thought I should like a mouthful
of bracing air ! " laughs Shell , as she
kisses her mother half a dozen times ,
and then turns a scrutinizing gaze all
round the room.
Mrs. Wilden returns the kisses with
interest If one corner of , her heart is
warmer than another , Shell possesses
that corner.
"I was afraid something had hap
pened , " she says , with her eyes still
fixed lovingly on her daughter's face ;
"but I am very glad that you decided
to join us only you might have writ
ten , dear. "
"You are welcome as the flowers in
May , " cries Violet , who has left her
chair , and at this .juncture gives Shell
a cousinly hug , "only you were an aw
ful goose to come ! If I ever get back
to Mudford , wild horses shall , never
drag me to a moor again. "
"But what is the matter with the
moor ? " asks Shell. "I thought it per
fectly lovely as we came along so
fresh and free and wild and breezy ;
then the village itself is so quaint I
could spend six weeks in sketching it. "
"But I can't sketch , you see , " yawns
Violet ; "and as to its being fresh and
wild and breezy , why , it is like mid
winter. I doubt if I shall ever get
thoroughly warm again. By the way ,
did you see Mr. Champley , and did you
bring the wraps I asked for ? "
'I did ; and , what is more , I brought
your velveteen dress. "
"You thoughtful darling ! I believe I
ehall find courage to go out of doors
again , now you have come. " '
"We certainly do find it very cold
here , " interposes Mrs. Wilden's gentle
voice ; and the house is so scantily '
furnished that one seems devoid of :
comfort. "
"Comfort ! " cries Vi , with a laugh'1 '
of scorn. "Do those American chairs
represent comfort ? There is no couch
and no coal-box , the windows and
doors are simply draught-traps , and the
carpets are so full of holes one is in
constant danger of tripp i. Wait till
you have seen the window curtains on
a windy night it Is a case of perpetual
motion and , as a climax , I have only
two blankets on my bed ! "
"Poor , persecuted Vi ! " laughs Shell ,
much amused at her cousin's tragic
face. "oHw does Ruby stand it , and
where is she ? "
"Here she comes ! " responds VI , who
is standing with her elbows on the
broad window-sill. "She has been over
at Meadowcroft seeing to the children. "
As. she speaks , Miss Wilden enters the .
room she starts slightly on seeing '
Shell , but there Is no look of welcome a
on her face. ' n
"What brought you here ? " she asks ,
°
Imprinting a ceremony-kiss on Shell's
upturned face.
' ° '
" ' "
"The carrier's wagon , answers Shell
naively. P
There issues a simultaneous exclama- ' a
tlon of surprise and horror from the
ladies present.
"What in the world induced you to
come by the carrier's wagon ? " de
mands Ruby , with a face the color of
beetroot.
"The spirit of economy , " answers
Shell coolly. "I found a fly would be
twelve and sixpence ; I didn't feel jus
tified in spending all that on myself ,
so I came with the carrier I and the
parcels together were only one-and-
3ix. "
"You wore certainly not justified in | "V
. < ? . . v
becoming a disgrace to us all and ca'us-
Ing the finger of scorn to be pointed
at our poverty ! " exclaims Ruby hotly.
"There was only one old woman be
sides myself , " explains Shell calmly ;
"and I don't think she'll point the
finger of scorn because she called me
'dearie' all the way , and seemed quite
a pleasant old body. "
"Don't scold her , Ruby the child
meant well , " interposes Mrs. Wilden ,
with a smile at Shell. "And how did
you leave things at home" , dear ? "
( To be Continued. )
HOW TO TELL A HORSE'S AGE.
Much Experience Keqalrcd and
Thinga URVO to He Considered.
To distinguish merely between the
young horse and the old , it is only
necessary to remember a few salient
facts. The first is that the milk teeth
are present in the horse's mouth until
he is between 4 and 5 years old. The
second fact is that the "mark , " or
dark central depression on the surface
of the incisors becomes gradually worn
out , and In a horse over 8 years old
has nearly always disappeared from
the teeth of the lower jaw. The third
fact is that the shape of the tooth Is
much wider from side to side than
it is from front to back. As the horse
becomes older the surface becomes pro
gressively narrower , from side to side ,
and thus , instead of remaining always
oblong , it becomes triangular , and
then in veryold animals flattened from
side to side. In young horses , then ,
we judge the age by observing which
of the milk teeth are present , and
which have been replaced by perma
nent ones. To distinguish between
the milk" teeth and the permanent , re
member that the milk teeth are small
er , whiter , and have a distinct neck.
Until a colt is over 2 years old his
teeth are all milk teeth , and the age
is estimated from the amount of wear
shown on the crowns of the teeth. Be
tween 2 and 3 the first of the perma
nent teeth make their appearance , and
push out the middle two teeth in both
upper and lower jaws. A horse is
said to be 3 years old when these cen
tral permanent incisors are fully in
wear. During the next summer the
second pair of permanent teeth appear ,
and when they are fully grown and in
wear the horse is 4 years old. Be
tween 4 and 5 the last pair makes its
appearance , and now the horse has
what is called a full mouth. So far
both mares and horses are alike , but
at or near 5 years old the canines , or
"tushes , " appear In the male sex only.
Up to the end of this period the de
termination of the age is a compara
tively easy matter , and any one who
is at all observant can readily give the
age of horses by looking at their teeth.
After a full mouth is attained it is a
more difficult matter , and the difficulty
of accurately telling the age of old
horses is greater in proportion to their
age. So much is this the case that it
is popularly supposed that it is im
possible to tell the age of horses after
they are 8 years old. This may be
true to a great extent among the un
trained and inexperienced , but to an
expert it is not difficult to tell the age
up to 15 years with a fair degree of ac
curacy , and after that age to approx- [
[ mate it within a couple of years. To
do this successfully requires much ex
perience and a careful inspection of all
visible indications of age. To rely
upon one only , such as the "mark , " is
to court defeat. All should be ob
served the mark , the shape of the
teeth , their length and the angle at
svhlch they meet those of the other
[ aw. Pall Mall Gazette.
JACKY ON SHIPBOARD.
Bed "Which Is Provided hy a Paternal
Government.
Jacky's bed is a hammock , and it is
L folding , portable bed of the most im-
) roved kind , says Scribner's. People
vho swing hammocks on verandas in
he summer know nothing whatever
ibout Jacky's style of bed. His is
nade of an oblong piece of stout can-
as , fitted with eye-holes in the ends.
11 the eye-holes are made fast small
opes , called "clews , " and these are
ashed at their outer ends to a ring.
Vhen Jacky's folding bed is open for
se it hangs by these rings from ham-
nock-hooks fitted to the beams under
he decks.
Jacky has a mattress and a blanket
n his bed , and he has to keep them
here. When he "turns out , " as get-
ing up Is called , he rolls his hammock
p on its longest axis and lashes it
rith a rope provided for that purpose ,
'here must be seven turns in the laah-
ng , with one exactly in the middle ,
'he ' clews are tucked in under the lash-
ag , Jacky is allowed ten minutes to
urn out and lash his hammock. Then
e goes up on the spar deck and hands
lie hammock to one of the stowers ,
'ho drops it into the nettings. The
nettings" are simply troughs in the
flip's rail. A tarpaulin is hauled over
iie hammocks and laced down to keep
lie rain out , and there they stay till
ley are served out again at night. In
le meantime , if Jacky desires to sleep ,
nd in war times he does very often
eed a nap , he must perforce seek the
entle caresses of a steel battlehatch
r an oily alley-way , where cookg and
mrines do break in and coal-passers
orrupt. But a paternal government
rovides the hammock for Jacky and
Iso allows him the use of the decfc.
Awkward.
"Dey means well , " said the newly
nlisted colored soldier. "I hasn't no
omplaint ter make 'bout deir inten-
ions. " "Who is yer troublin * 'bout ? "
De brass band leaders. When do
rhite troops goes out dey plays white
alk's chunes , like 'Farewell , My Own
'rue Love , ' an' 'Her "Bright Smile
launts Me Still , ' but when us troops
oes out dey plays "All Coons Look
.like to Me , ' an' 'I Don't Care If You
'ever Comes Back , ' and seen like , "
Washington Stsr. ;
TALMAGE'S SEBMON.
'ACROSS THE CONTINENT , "
LAST SUNDAY'S SUBJECT.
The Eootateps of tlio Creator Scon ou
Every Hand TVhllo Journeying Over
Our Vast Expanse of 1C in pi re. Strange
Bights.
Texts Isaiah 35 : G : "Streams in the
desert ; " Psalms 104 : 32 : "He toucheth
the hills and they smoke. "
My nrst text means irrigation. It
means the waters of the Himalaya , or
the Pyrenees , or the Sierra Nevadas
poured through canals or aqueducts
for the fertilization of the valleys. It
means the process by which the last
mile of American barrenness will be
made an apple orchard , or an orange
grove , or a wheat field , or a cotton
plantation , or a vineyard "streams in
the desert. " My second text means a
volcano like Vesuvius or Cotopaxi. or
it means the geysers of Yellowstone
Park or of California. You see a hill
calm and still , and for ages Immov
able , but the Lord out of the heavens
puts his finger on the top of it , and
from It rise thick and Impressive va
pors : "He toucheth the hills and they
smoke ! "
Although my journey across the
continent this summer was for the
eighth time , more and more am I im
pressed with the divine hand in its
construction , and with its greatness
and grandeur , and more and more am
I thrilled with the fact that it is all
to be irrigated , glorified and Edenized.
What a change from the time when
Daniel Webster on yonder Capitoline
Hill said to the American Senate in
regard to the center of this continent ,
and to the regions on the Pacific coast :
"What do you want with this vast ,
worthless area , this region of savages
and wild beasts , of deserts and cactus ,
of shifting sands and prairie dogs ? To
what use could we ever put these great
deserts of these great mountains , im
penetrable and covered with eternal
snow ? What can we ever hope to do
with the western coast , rock-bound ,
cheerless and uninviting , and not a
harbor on it ? I will never vote one
cent from the public treasury to place
the Pacific coast one inch nearer Bos
ton than it now is. " What a mistake
the great statesman made when he
said that ! All who have crossed the
continent realize that the states on the
Pacific ocean will have quite as grand
opportunities as the states , on the At
lantic , and all this realm from sea to
[
sea to be the Lord's cultivated posses
I
sion.
sion.Do
Do you know what in some respects
;
is the most remarkable thing between
the Atlantic and Pacific ? It is the
figure of a cross on a mountain in
Colorado.It Is called the "Mount of
the Holy Cross. " A horizontal crevice
filled with perpetual snow , and a per
pendicular crevice filled with snow ,
but both the horizontal line and the
perpendicular line so marked , so bold ,
so significant , so unmistakable , that
all who pass in the daytime within
many miles are compelled to see it.
There are some figures , some con
tours , some mountain appearances
that you gradually make out after
your attention is called to them. Sea
a man's face on the rocks in the White
Mountains. So a maiden's form cat
in the granite of the Adirondacks. Sea
a city in the moving clouds. Yet you
have to look under the pointing of your
friend or guide for some time before
you can see the similarity. But the
first instant you glance at this side of
the mountain in Colorado , you cry out :
"A cross ! A cross ! " Do you say that
this geological inscription just hap
pens so ? No ! That cross on the
Colorado mountain is not a human de
vice , or an accident of nature , or the
freak of an earthquake. The hand of
God cut it there and set it up for the"
nation to look at. Whether set up in
rock before the cross of wood was set
up on the bluff back of Jerusalem , or
set up at some time since that assas
sination , I believe the Creator meant
it to suggest the most notable event
in all the history of this planet , and
he hung it there over the heart of this
continent to indicate that the only
hope for this nation is in the cross on
which our Immanuel died. The clouds
were vocal at our Saviour's birth , the
rocks rent at his martyrdom , why not
the walls of Colorado bear the record
of the crucifixion ?
The valley of the Yosemite is eight
miles long and a half-mile wide and
three thousand feet deep. It seems as
If it had been the meaning of Omnipo
tence to crowd into as small a place
as possibV some of the most stupendous
deus scenery of the world. Some of
the cliffs you do not stop to measure
by feet ; for they are literally a mile
high. Steep so that neither foot of
man nor beast ever scaled them , they
stand In everlasting defiance. If Je
hovah has a throne on earth , these
ire its white pillars ! Standing down
In this great chasm of the valley you
look up , and yonder is Cathedral rock ,
vast , gloomy minster built for the
silent worship of the mountains ! Yon-
3er is Sentinel rock , 3,270 feet high ,
bold , solitary , standing guard among
ihe ages , Its top seldom touched , until
i bride , one Fourth of July , mounted
it and planted the national standards ,
ind the people down in the valley
looked up and saw the head of the
mountain turbaned with stars and
stripes ! Yonder are the Three Brothers ,
! our thousand feet high ; Cloud's Rest ,
Morth and South Dome , and the
iieights never captured save by the
iery bayonets of the thunder-storm !
No pause for the eye , no stopplng-
ilace for the mind. Mountains hurled
m mountains. Mountains in the wake
) f mountains. Mountains flanked by
nountains. Mountains split. Mountains
ground. Mountains fallen. Mountains
riumphant. As though Mont Blanc ani { j 1
the Adirondacks and Mount Washing
ton were here uttering themselves in
one magnificent chorus of rock and
precipice and water-fall. Sifting and
dashing through the rocks the water
comes down. The Bridal Veil Falls so
thin you can see the face of the moun
tain behind it. Yonder is Yosemite
Falls , dropping 2,634 feet , sixteen times
greater descent than that of Niaga
ra. These waters dashed to death on
the rocks , so that the white spirit of
these slain waters ascending in robe of
mist seeks the heavens. Yonder is
Nevada Falls , plunging seven hundred
feet , the water in arrows , the water
in rockets , the water in pearls , the wa
ter in amethysts , the water in dia
monds. That cascade flings down the
rocks enough jewels to array all the
earth in beauty , and rushes on until it
drops into a very hell of waters , the
smoke of their torment ascending for
ever and ever.
But the most wonderful part of this
American continent is the Yellowstone
Park. My two visits there made upon
me an impression that will last for
ever. Go in by the Monelda route as
we did this summer and save 250 miles
of railroading , your stage-coach taking
you through a day of scenery as cap
tivating and sublime as the Yellow
stone Park itself. After all poetry has
exhausted itself concerning Yellow
stone Park , and all the Morans and
Bierstadts and the other enchanting
artists have completed their canvas ,
there will be other revelations to make ,
and other stories of its beauty and
wrath , splendor and agony , to be re
cited. The Yellowstone Park is the
geologist's paradise. By cheapening
of travel may it become the nation's
playground ! In some portions of it
there seems to be the anarchy of the
elements. Fire and water , and the
vapor born of that marriage , terrific.
Geyser cones or hills of crystal that
have been over five thousand years
growing ! In places the earth , throb
bing , sobbing , groaning , quaking with
aqueous paroxysm. At the expiration
of every sixty-five minutes one of the
geysers tossing Its boiling water 185
feet in the air and then descending
into swinging rainbows. "He touch
eth the hills and they smoke. " Cav
erns of pictured walls large enough for
the sepulchre of the human race. For
mations of stone in shape and color of
ealla lily , of heliotrope , of rose , of
cowslip , of sunflower , and1 of gladio
lus. Sulphur and arsenic and oxide of
iron , with their delicate pencils , turnIng -
Ing the hills into a Luxemburg , or a
Vatican picture gallery. The so-called
Thanatopsls Geyser , exquisite as the
Bryant poem it was named after , and
EvangeTine Geyser , lovely as the Longfellow -
fellow heroine it commemorates.
Wide reaches of stone of intermin
gled colors , blue as the sky , green as
the foliage , crimson as the dahlia ,
white as the snow , spotted as the leop
ard , tawney as the lionr grizzly as
the bear , in circles , in angles , in stars ,
In coronets , in stalactites , in stalag
mites. Here and there are petrified
growths , or the dead trees and vegeta
bles of other ages , kept through a pro
cess of natural embalmment. In some
places waters as innocent and smil
ing as a child making a first attempt
to walk from its mother's lap. and
not far off as foaming and fren
zied and ungovernable as a ma-
niae in struggle with his keepers.
But after you have wandered along
the geyserite enchantment for days ,
and begin to feel that there can be
nothing more of interest to- see , you
suddenly come upon the peroration or
all majesty and grandeur , the Grand
Canon. It is here that it seems to me
and I speak it with reverence Je
hovah seems to have surpassed him
self. It seems a great gulch let down
into the eternities. Here , hung up and
let down , and spread abroad , are all
the colors of land and sea and sky.
Upholstering of the Lord God Almigh
ty. Best work of the Architect or
worlds. Sculpturing by the Infinite.
Masonry by an omnipotent trowel.
Hanging over one of the cliffs 1
looked off until I could not get iny
breath , then retreating to a less exposed -
posed place I looked down again
Down there is a pillar of rock that in
certain conditions of the atmosphere
looks like a pillar of blood. Yonder
are fifty feet of emerald on a base o !
five hundred feet of opal. Wall of
chalk resting on pedestals of beryl.
Turrets of light trembling on floors of
darkness. The brown brightening in
to golden. Snow of crystal melting
into fire of carbuncle. Flaming red
cooling into russet. Cold blue warm
ing ito saffron. Dull gray mingling
into solferino. Morning twilight
flushing midnight shadows. Auroras
crouching among rocks.
Yonder is an eagle's nest on a Shalt
of basalt. Through an eyeglass we
see among it the young eagles , but the
stoutest arm of our group cannot hurl
a stone near enough to disturb the
feathered domesticity. Youder are
heights that would be chilled with horror
ror but for the warm robe of forest
foliage with which they are enwrap
ped. Altars of worship at which na
tions might kneel. Domes of chalced
ony on temples of porphyry. See all
this carnage of color up and down the
cliffs ; it must have been the battle
field of the war of the elements ! Here
ire all the colors of the wall of heav-
sn. neither the sapphire , nor the chrys-
alite , nor the topaz , nor the jacinth ,
nor the amethyst , nor the jasper , nor r
the twelve gates of twelve pearls ,
fi ;
wanting. If spirits bound from earth fiQ fic
to heaven could pass up by way of this Q
? anon. the dash of heavenly beauty I
would not be so overpowering. It
tvoulrt only be from glory to glory.
Ascent through such earthly scenery ,
in which the crystal is so bright.
\roulrt be fit preparation for the "sea
3f glass mingled with fire. "
Oh , the sweep of the American con
tinent ! Saillns up Puget Sound , its
shores so bold that for fifteen hundred
miles a ship's prow would touch the
shore before its keel touched the bet
tom. On one of my visit * I said ,
"This is the Mediterranean of Ameri
ca , " Visiting Portland and Tacoma
and Seattle and Victoria and Fort
Townsend and Vancouver and other
cities of the northwest region I
thought to myself : "These are the
Bostons. New Yorks , Charlestons and
Savannahs of the Pacific-coast But
after all this summer's journeying , and
ray other journeys westward in other
summers , I found that I had seen only
a part of the American continent , for
Alaska is as far west of San Francisco v ?
as the coast of Maine is east of It , so
that the central city of the American
continent is San Francisco.
As soon as you get In Yellowstone
Park or California you have pointed
out to you places cursed with suctt
names as "The Devil's Slide , " "The
Devil's Kitchen , " "The Devil's
Thumb , " "The Devil's Pulpit , " "The
' " " Devil's TeaKettle -
Devil's Mush-Pot , "The
Kettle , " "The Devil's Saw-Mill , " "The
Devil's Machine Shop , " "The Devil's
Gate , " and so on. Now It is very much
needed that geological surveyors or
congressional committee or group of
distinguished tourists go through Mon
tana and Wyoming and California and
Colorado and give other names to these
places. All these regions belong to
the Lord , and to a Christian nation ;
and away with such Plutonic nomen
clature ! JJnt how is this continent to
be gospellzed ? The pnlplt and a
Christian printing press harnessed to
gether will be the mightiest team for
the first plow. Not by the power of
cold , formalistic theology , not by ec
clesiastical technicalities. I am side
of them , and the world is sick of them.
But it will be done by the warmhearted
ed , sympathetic presentation of the
fact that Christ is ready to pardon all
our sins , and heal all our wounds , and
save us both for this- world and the
next. Let your religion of glaciers
crack off and fall into the Gulf Stream
and get meited. Take all your creeds
of all denominations and drop out of
them all human phraseology and put
in only scriptural phraseology , and
you will see how quick the people will
jump after them.
On the Columbia river we saw the
salmon jump clear out o the water In
different places , I suppose for the pur
pose of getting the insects. And 1C
when we want ta fish for men we could
only have the right kind of bait , they
will spring out above the flood of their
sins and sorrows to reach it. The
Young Men's Christian Association of
America will also do part of the work.
They are going to take the young men
of this nation for God. " These institu
tions seem In better favor with. God
and man than ever before. Business
men and capitalists are awakening to
the fact that they can do nothing bet V
ter In the way of living beneficence erin
in last will and testament than to do
what Mr. Marquand did for Brooklyn
when he made the Young Men's Chris
tian palace possible. These institu
tions will get our young men all over
the land into a stampede for heaven.
Thus we will all in some way help on
the work , you with your ten talents ,
I with five , somebody else with three.
It is estimated that to irrigate the arid
and desert lands of America as they
ought to be Irrigated , it will cost about
one hundred million dollars to gather
the waters intoreservoirs. . As muca
contribution and effort as that would
irrigate with Gospel influences all the
waste places of tills continent. Let us
by prayer and contribution and right
living all help to fill the reservoirs.
You will carry a bucket , and you a cup ,
and even a thimbleful would help. And
after a while God. will send the floods
of mercy so gathered , pouring down ,
over all the land , and some of us on
earth and some of us In. heaven will
sing with Isaiah , "In the wilderness
waters have broken out , and streams-
in the desert , " and with David , "There-
is a river the streams whereof shall
make glad the sight of God. " Oh. fill
up the reservoirs ! America for God !
So Indemnity for Armenia's Horrors.
Turkey has again- sounded a defiance
to Europe in repudiating absolutely all
responsibility for losses occasioned by
the Armenian massacres and refusing
in consequence to consider any claims
'or indemnity. The United States ,
3reat Britain , France and Italy were
lirectly concerned In , the massacres
jecause of their missionary interest * ,
ind each government demanded rep-
iration for losses of life and property ,
in the present state of European af-
"airs it would be Impossible to secure
i union of interests to exert a pres
sure on Turkey : hence it is almost
: ertain that no coercive action will be
aken en this blunt refusal. It is to
) e noted that since Great Britain and
Russia became seriously Involved in
heir respective Chinese interests Tur-
cey has done about as she pleased.
3ecause of her great unpaid debt
rurkey is today practically a vassal
if Russia , and' ' the latter , by threats
o force or promise to let up on the
lebt settlement , can wield her as it
rishes. Just now Russia's lead ins ;
iclicy is to embarrass Great Britain
s much as possible.
How Girls Take
WMPplncu
According to a
correspondent of a
.ondon paper there is as much whip-
img in the girls' schools as in the
) oys' schools , but the girls make no
uss about it. Says the
correspondent-
They know they deserve their punislT-
nent , so they
take it with a good
race , dry their eyes and smooth their
urls and don't let
any one know not
ven their parents , that they have had
taste of the rod. "
Unlike Cncsnr's AVlfo.
Smith "Jones says there is som -
liing suspicious about his wife's
ac-
ions. " Brown "Is that so ? " Smith
-"Yes ; he says she insists on.getting
whiff of his breath every timehe Is
etained down-town late at night. "
Ihicaso News.
