LIKE SHEEP ASTRAY.
AND REV. DR. TALMAGE SAYS IT
MEANS EVERYBODY.
Taw First Half of the Text la aa I
dirtMent, bat the Last Opeaa tae
Door Widely to Heaven-A Glad Ooa
pel So and at the Nation's Capital.
Sermon from the Capital.
The gospel sends oat iu gladdest sound
la this nernion from tbe nation' capital.
Immense throng pack and overflow the
church to which Or. Talmage preaches
twice each Sabbath. His text this morn
ing was Isaiah hi, 6: "All we, like sh-ep.
have gone astray. We hare turned every
one to his own way. and the Lord hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Once more I ring the old gospel bell.
The first half of my next text is an indict
ment. "Afl we, like sheep, have gone
astray." Some one says: "Can't you drop
that first word? That is too general ; that
sweeps too great a circle." Some man
rises in the audience, and he looks over
on tbe opposite side of the house and says:
'There is a blasphemer, and I understand
how he has gone astray, and there in an
other part of the house is a defaulter, and
he has gone astray, and there is an impure
person, and he has gone astray." Sit
down, my brother, and look at home. My
text takes us all in. It starts behind the
pulpit, sweeps tbe circuit of the room and
comes back to the point where it started,
when it says. "All we," like sheep, have
gone astray."
I can very easily understand why Mar
tin Luther threw up his bands after he
had found the Bible and cried out, "Oh,
my sins, my sins:" and why the publican,
wording to the custom to this day in the
east when they have any great grief, be
gan to beat himself and cry as he smote
upon his breast, "God be merciful to me,
a sinner." I was, like many of you,
brought up in the country, and I know
some of the habits of sheep, and how they
get astray, and what my text means when
it says, "All we, like sheep, have gone
astray." Sheep get astray in two ways
either by trying to get into other pasture
or from being scared by the dogs. In the
former way some of us got astray. We
thought the religion of Jesus Christ put
us on short commons. We thought there
was better pasturage somewhere else. We
thought if we could only lie down on the
banks of a distant stream or under great
oaks on the other side of some hill we
might be better fed. We wanted other
pasturage than that which God, through
Jesus Christ, gave our soul, and we wan
dered on, and we wandered on, and we
were lost. We wanted bread, and we
found garbage. The farther we wandered
instead of finding rich pasturage we found
blasted heath and sharper rocks and more
stinging nettles. No pasture. How was
it in the club house when you lost your
child? Did they come around and help
you very much? Did your worldly associ
ates console you very much? Did not the
plain Christian man who came into your
house and sat up with your darling child
give you more comfort than all worldly
associates? Did all the convivial songs
you ever heard comfort you in that day of
bereavement so much as the song they
sang to you perhaps the very song that
was sung by your little child the last Sab
bath afternoon of her life?
There is a happy land
far, far away,
'..Where saints immortal reign
Jiright, bright as day.
' ' A Man. a Bout.
Did your business associates in that day
of darkness and trouble give you any es
pecial condolence? Business exasperated
you, business wore you out, business left
you limp as a rag, but you got no peace.
God have mercy on tbe man who has noth
ing but bnsiness to comfort him! The
world ifforded you no luxuriant pastur
age. A famous English actor stood on
the stage impersonating, and thunders of
applause came down from the galleries,
and many thought it was the proudest mo
ment of all his life, but there wag a man
asleep just in front of him, and the fact
that that man was indifferent and somno
lent spoiled all the occasion for him, and
he cried: "Wake up! Wake up!" So one
little annoyance in life has been more per
vading to your mind than all the brilliant
congratulations and success. Poor pas
turage for your soul you find in this world.
The world has cheated you, the world has
belied you, the world has misinterpreted
you, the world has persecuted you. .-It
never comforted you. Oh, this world is a
good rack from which a horse may pick bis
food; it is a good trough from which the
swine nay crunch their mess, but it gives
but little food to a soul blood bought and
immortal! What is a soul? It is a hope
high. as the throne of God. What is a
man?T You say, "It is only a man." It is
only a man gone overboard in sin. It is
only a man gone overboard in business
life. What is a man? The battleground
of three worlds, with his hands taking
hold of destinies of light or darkness. A
man! No line can measure him. No limit
can bound him. The archangel before
the throne cannot outlive him. The stars
shall die, but he will watch their extin
guishment The world will burn, but be
will gaze at the conflagration. Endless
ages will march on. He will watch the
procession. A man! The masterpiece of
God Almighty. Yet you say, "It is only
a man." Can a nature like that be fed on
busks of the wilderness?
Substantial comfort will not grow
On nature's barren soil;
All we can boast till Christ we know
Is vanity and toil.
Some of you got astray by looking for
better pasturage, others by being scared
by the dogs. The bound gets over into the
pasture field. The poor things fly in every
direction. In a few moments they are
torn of the hedges, and they are plashed of
the ditch, and the lost sheep never gets
borne unless the farmer goes after it.
There is nothing so thoroughly lost as
lost sheep. It may bare been in 1857,
during the financial panic, or during the
financial stress in the fall of 1873, when
" you got astray. Too almost became an
atheist You said, "Where ia God that
honest men go down and thieves prosper?"
You were dogged of creditor, yoo were
dogged of tbe banks, you were dogged of
worldly disaster, and some of you west
Into laisa nth ropy, and sons of yoo took to
treat drink, a ad others of fon fled out of
Christian association, aod yoa got as-ray.
Ok, saea, that waa tba last tins when you
otgJrt to kare foraakea Oodl Bunding
mbM t)M fomfefiac of roar earthly fail
MM, Ww coald jr t along without a
Ji to eeaafert yen, and God to dell? er
gs aad Gei to kiato yea, aad Ood to
through enough business trouble almost
to kill yoo. I know it I cannot under
stand how the boat could live one hour in
that Chopped sea. But I do not know by
what process you got astray, some in one
way and some in another, and if you could
really se the position some of you occupy
before God your soul would burst into so
agony of tears, and you would pelt the
heavens with the cry, "G-xl hsve mercy V
Sinai's batteries have been unlinibered
above your soul, and at times you have
beard it thunder: "The wages of sin is
death." "All have sinned and come sburt
of the glory of God." "By one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men, for that
all have sinned." "The soul that sinneth,
it shall die." When Sevastopol was being
bombarded, two Russian frigate burned
all night in the harbor, throwing a glare
upon the trembling fortress, and some of
you, from what you have told me your
selves, some of you are standing in the
night of your soul's trouble, the cannon
ade, and the conflagration, and the multi
plication, and the multitude of your sor
rows and troubles, I think, must make the
wings of God's hovering angels shiver to
the tip.
A Debt Payer.
But the last part of my text opens a
door wide enough to let us all out and to
let all heaven in. Sound it on the organ
with all the stops out. Thrum it on the
harps with all the strings atune. With all
the melody possible let the heavens sound
it to the earth and let the earth tell it to
the heavens. "The Lord hath laid on bim
the iniquity of us all." I am glad that
the prophet did not stop to explain whom
he meant by "him." Him of the manger,
him of the bleedy sweat him of th" resur
rection throne, him of the crucifixion
agony. "On him the Lord hath laid the
iniquity of us all." "Oh," says some
man, "that isn't generous, that isn't fair;
let every man carry his own burden and
pay his own debts." That sounds reason
able. If I have an obligation, and I have
the means to meet it and I come to you
and ask you to settle that obligation, you
rightly say, "Pay your own debts." If
you and I are walking down the street.
both hale, hearty and well, and I ask you
to carry me, you say rightly, "Walk on
your own feet But suppose you and I
were in a regiment, and I was wounded in
tne battle and 1 fell unconscious at your
feet with gunshot fracture and disloca
tions, what would you do? You would
call to your comrades, saying: "Come and
help! This man is helpless. Bring the
ambulance. Let us take hitn to the hos
pital." And I would be a dead lift in your
arms, and you would lift me from the
ground where I had fallen and put me in
the ambulance and take me to the hos
pital and have all kindness shown me.
Would there be anything bemeaning in my
accepting that kindness? Oh, no. You
would be mean not to do it That is what
Christ doe. If we could pay our debts,
then it would be better to go up and pay
them, saying: "Here, Lord, here is my
obligation; here are the means with which
I mean to settle that obligation. Now
give me a receipt Cross it all out" Tbe
debt is paid.
But the fact is, we have fallen in the
battle; we have gone down under the hot
fire of our transgressions; we have been
wounded by the sabers of sin; we are help
less; we are undone. Christ comes. The
loud clang heard in the sky on that Christ
mas night was only the bell, the resound
ing bell of the ambulance. Clear the way
for the Son of God. He comes down to
bind up the wounds and to scatter the
darkness and to save the lost. Clear the
way for the Son of God. Christ comes
down to us, and we are a dead lift. He
do not lift us with the tips of his fin
gers. He does not lift us with one arm.
He comes down upon his knees, and then
with a dead lift he raises us to honor and
glory and immortality. "The Lord bath
laid on him the iniquity of us all." Why,'
then, will a man carry his sins? You can
not carry successfully tne smallest sin
you ever committed. You might as well
put the Apennines on one shoulder and
the Alps on the other. How- much less
can you carry all the sins of your life
time? Christ comes and looks down in
your face and says: "I have come through
all the lacerations of these days and
through all the tempests of these nights;
I have come to bear your burdens and to
pardon your sins and to pay your debts.
Put them on my shoulder, put them on my
heart" "On him tbe Lord hath laid the
iniquity of us all." Sin has almost pes
tered the life out of some of you. At
times it has made you cross and unrea
sonable, and it has spoiled the brightness
of your days and the peace of your night.
There are men who have been riddled of
sin. The world gives thera no solace. Gos
samery and volatile the world, while eter
nity, as they look forward to it, is black
as midnight. They writhe under the stings
of a conscience which proposes to give no
rest here and no rest hereafter, and yet
they do not repent; they do not pray; they
do not weep. They do not realize that
just the position they occupy is the posi
tion occupied by scores, hundreds aud
thousands of men who never found any
hope.
A Letter.
If this meeting should be thrown open,
and the people wno are nere could give
their testimony, what thrilling expert
ences we should hear on all sides! There
is a man who would say; "I had brilliant
surroundings, I had the best education
that one of the best collegiate institutions
of this country could give, and I observed
all the moralities of life, and I was self
righteous, and I thought I was all right
before God as I am all right before man,
but the Holy Spirit came to me one day
and said. 'You are a sinner.' The Holy
Spirit persuaded me of the fact. While
I had escaped the sins against the law of
the land I had really committed the worst
sin a man ever commitsthe driving back
of the Son of God from my heart's affec
tionsand I saw that my hands were red
with the blood of the Bon of God, and
began to pray, and peace came to my
heart, and I know by experience that wha
you say is true." "On him the Lord hath
laid tbe iniquity of us all!" Yonder is a
man who would say: "1 was the worst
drunkard in tbe city; I went from bad to
worse; I destroyed myself; I destroyed my
home: my children cowered when I en
tered the house; when they put up their
lips to be kissed, I struck them; when
my wife protested against the maltreat
ment I kicked her into tbe street. I know
all tbe braises and all tbe terror of
drunkard's woe. I went on farther and
farther from God, until one day I got a
letter, saying:
"My Dear Husband I hare tried every
war. done everything and prayed earnest
ly and fervently for your reformation, but
It seema of no avail. Bine onr little
Henry died, with tbe exception of those
few heavy weeks wka you' regained
eober, toy Hf had beeu m of sorrow
Many of tbe nlghte I have set by the wto
dow, with my face bathed in tears, watch
ing for yotir coming. I am broken heart
ed, I am skk. Mother and father have
been here frequently and begged me to
come borne, but my love tor you and my
tp for brighter days have always mado
me refuse them. That hope seems now be
yvnd realization, and I have returned to
thetn. It is bard, and I battled king be
fore doing it May God bless and pre
serve you and -take from yoa that ac
cursed appetite, and hasten the day when
we shall be again living happily together.
This will be my daily prayer, knowing
that he has said, 'Come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest' From your loving wife,
"MAKY.
And so I wandered on and wandered
on, say that man, until one mgnt l
passed a Methodist meeting bouse, and I
said to myself, 'I'll go in and see what
they are doing,' aud 1 got to the door, and
they were singidg: .
"All may come, whoever will
This man receive poor sinner still.
"And I dropped right there where I
was, and I said, 'God, have mercy T and
he had mercy on me. My home is restor
ed, my wife sing all day kng during
work, my children come out a lung way
to greet me home, and my household is a
little heaven. I will tell you what did all
this for me. It was the truth that this
day you proclaim, HJn him the Lord hath
laid the iniquity of us all.' "
Yonder is a womun who would
say: "I wandered off from my
father's bouse; 1 heard the storm
that pelts on a lost soul; my feet Were
blistered on the hot rocks; I went on and
on, thiuking that no one cared for my
soul, when one night Jesus met me, and he
said: 'Poor thing, go home! Your father
is waiting for you; your mother is waiting
for you. Go home, poor thing!' And, Bir,
I was too weak to pray, and I was too
weak to repent but I just cried out I
sobbed out my sins and my sorrows on the
shoulders of him of whom it is said, "The
Lord bath laid on hiui the iniquity of u
all.' "
A Christian Grip.
There is a young man who would say:
"I had a Christian bringing up; I came
from the country to city life; I started
well; I had a good position a g'Hd com
mercial position but one night at the
theater I met some young men who did
me no good. They dragged me ull through
the sewers of iniquity, and I lost my mor
als, and I lost my osition, aud I was
shabby and wretched. I was going down
the street thinking that no one cared for
me when a young muii tupped me on the
shoulder and said, 'George, come with
me, aud I will do you good.' I looked at
him to see whether he was joking or not.
I saw he was in earnest and I said, 'What
do you mean, sir?' 'Well,' he replied, 'I
mesu that if you will come to the meeting
to-night I will be very glad to introduce
you. I will meet you at the door. Will
you come?' Said I. 'I will. I went to
the place where I was tarrying. 1 fixed
myself up as well aa I coujd. I buttoned
my coat ver a ragged vest, and I went to
the door of the church, and the young man
met me, and we went in, and as I went in
I beard an old man praying, aud he looked
so much like my father, I sobbed right
out, and they were ull around so kind
nd so sympathetic that I just there gave
my heart to God, and I know that what
you say is true; I know it in my own ex
perience." "On him the Lord hath laid
the Iniquity of us ail." Oh, my brother,
without stopping to look whether your
hand trembles or not without stopping to
look whether your hand ia bloated with
sin or not put it in my hand and let me
give you one warm, brotherly, Christian
grip and invite you right up to the heart,
to the compassion, to the sympathy, to
the pardon of him on whom the Lord hath
aid the iniquity of us all. Throw away
your sins, uarry tuem no longer, i pro-
laim emancipation to all wno are bound,
pardon for all sin and eternal life for all
the dead.
A Mlichtr Loud.
Some one comes here to-day, and I stand
aside. He eouie up three steps. He
conies to this place. I must stand aside.
Taking that place, he spreads abroad his
hands, and they were nailed. You see his
feet; they were bruised. He pulls aside
the robe aud shows you his wounded
heart I say, "Art thou weary?" "Yes,"
he says, "weary with the world's woe."
I say, "Whence couiest thou?" He says,
i came from Calvary. I say. " ho
Comes witn tuee He says, .no one; i
have trodden the wine press aloue." I
say, "Why eomest thou here?" "Oh," be
says, "I came here to carry all tbe sins
aud sorrows of the people." Aud he
kneels. He says, "Put on my shoulders
ail the sorrows and all tbe sins." Aud,
conscious of my own sins first, I take
them and put them on the shoulders of tbe
Son of God. I say, "Canst thou bear any
more, O Obrwt?", He says,-"Yea; more."
And I gather up the sins of nil those who
serve at these altars, the officers of the
church of Jesus Christ I gather up all
their sins, and I put them on Christ's
shoulders, and I say, "Caust thou bear
any more?" He says, "Yes; more." Then
I gather up all the sins of a hundred peo
ple iu this bouse, and I put them on the
shoulders of Christ, and 1 say, "Canst
thou bear more?" He says, "Yea, more."
And I gather up all the sins of this as
sembly and put them on the shoulders of
the Sou of God, and I say, "Canst thou
bear them?" "Yea," tie says; "more."
But he is departing. Clear the way for
him, the Son of God! Open the door and
let bim pass out He ia carrying our sins
and bearing tbem away. We shall never
see them again. He throws them down
Into tbe abyss, and you hear the long,
reverberating echo of their fall. "On
him the Lord bath laid the iniquity of us
all." Will you let him take your sins to
day, or do you say, "I will take charge
of them myself, I will fight my own bat
tles, I will risk eternity on my own ac
count?" I know not how near some of
you have come to crossing tba line.
In this day of merciful visitation while
many are coming into the kingdom of God
join the processicisj heavenward. Heated
in my church was a man who came In who
said. "I don t know that there is any
God." That was on Friday night I said,
"We will kneel down aud find out whether
there is any God." And In the second
seat from the pulpit we knelt ' He said
"I have found bim. Tbers Is a Ood, I
pardoning God. I fee! him here." Ht
knelt in tbe darkness of sin. He arose
two minutes afterward iu the liberty of
tbe gospel, while another sitting under tbe
sailer? on Friday nignt said: "My oppor
tunlty is gone. Last week 1 might bar
been saved; not now. The door Is shut."
"Behold tho lamb of Ood, who takefh
awar the sin of the world." "Now Is tbe
accepted time. Now is .the day of salva
ilea." "It ia atwoiDted unto all men
I one to ds and hfter that tba judgment."
EVENING AND NIGHT
Tbe air k very still,
Ob yonder wooded bill; - '
The old day slowly dWa -
la Paradise
What colors manifold!
I ted molten with the gold.
Islands of amethyst.
In lakes of azure mist
The hour whispers peace.
The tired reapers cease.
And rudely sweet and strong
liiaeth the harvest song.
Tbe evening star above
Kindles her lamp of love.
And lends her light to bless
Their song of thankfulness.
And from the utmost rim
Of the horizon dim,
Tbe harvest moon comes sweet
Over the sheaved wheat
Her chaste and boly light.
The stilly hush of night
Tbe incense in the air.
Proclaims God's presence here.
Still is the starry East
Sleeps every bird and beast.
Still is the faded West,
Best, gleaner, rest
-Pall Mall Budget
STORY OF A GOLD MINE
Stories of gold strikes st Cripple
Ctvek have revived those ancient le
gends of accidental mineral finds which
lend such a clamour to tbe avocation
of the prospector. If one can find an old
miner with an unoccupied half an hour
Hen rare and picturesque and sufficient
u number to freight a train can be bud
for the asking. Colonel Thomas Jeffer
son Maloney, now an operator In Crip
ple's properties, has been through all
tbe flush times Colorado has known,
and has likewise tightened his Itclt for
lack of a more satisfactory dinner In
those time when Colorado was not so
flush.
"There have been so such strikes lu
the last Ave or six years," said Colonel
Maloney. "us we used to have In the
good old days when old manTalKir grub
staked the two Gi-rman shoemakers,
Hook and Hk'he, aud went to sleep In
bis clothes tw o nights afterward a mill
ionaire owner of tbe Little Httsburg.
It was hard getting him to bed. too. I
think he would have leen celebrating
the strike yet If the boys hadn't chlo
roformed him. Now when a man makes
a find he Rocs and covers It up until he
can 'con' bis neightmr out of their
claims. In the other days I speak of
a man who struck it rich went out on
the causeway and proclaimed his great
luck. He Hjtent all his money In add
ing to the general Joyousness of the
camp and made no bluff at work until
his means for Inducing celebration were
wholly exhausted.
"Nearly all tbe bonanza strikes have
been made by accident There was Ad
ams' famous luck over In the Sandla
range. Adams said he was a descend
ant of the family that had so many
Presidents and signers of the declara
tion In It I always set him down for a
liar he came from Elgin, 111. He was
Invariably making this dixiasatlon of
Independence play when he should have
been doing assessment work. This
man's name was John Qulney Adams
same as the last President of the
name and he never let you go to sleep
In Ignorance of the fact. Why Provi
dence should pick out such a man to
shower favors on 1 never could Imag
ine. It was his Idiotic carelessness that
made him a plutocrat Any man with
a morsel of sense would never have got
rich as he did. He was always pros
lectlng around in the most unpromising
spot. He packed a Jack-load of plun
der with him, pans and picks andshov
els and powder, beside his grub. One
day he wasprojectlngaround the Sandla
hills, thinking he was looking for float
anil letting his heart swell with family
pride. He hud bis haversack slung
over his shoulder, and among other
truck In it were ten or twelve cartridges
for Masting. His magnifying glass
lay at the top of the bag. Adams sat
down against a rock to rest, and the
glass focused the sun so It set fire to
the canvas Img. Adams said subse
quently he made the quickest play of
bis life in getting from under that hav
ersack strap. He hit one ridge and
lauded forty rods away behind another
"I COfLU SEE INS CANDLE FLICKER.
rock. He had Just reached cover, and
blng! off went bis blasting powder. Ad
ams went back out of the Idlest curios
Ity to see what kind of a hole It had
made. He found the rock be had lean
ed against scattered at large over tbe
face of the earth. Tbe haversack had
fallen Into a sort of crevice at the foot
and Die explosion had lifted everything
Into the air. Among other things It
had opened a vein of free milling ore
running .',S00 to tbe ton. That man
Adam sold a tenth Interest for $16,000,
It was worth ten time aa much, bnt be
needed money for development He
made more than a million, and they
are working on the rein yet Adams la
blooding It hack lu Massachusetts. He
bought some of the old property of the
family hack, and naturally glided and
Tarnished It He says tbe Ad am sea are
on earth fur tbe eeoood time.'
I never let fewer than three men
work In one of my mlnea," said aa own
er of property In tbe Clear Creek dis
trict. "It may be an Idle notion, but I
have been haunted by tbe Idea that I
came near committing murder of tbe
mrt cold blooded character a few years
ago. If there had been three of on, In
stead of two partner, the thought
never would have come to roe, and I
wouldn't have tbe bad dreams that dis
turb me occasionally. I have never
since put myself In a position where a
possible homicide would not have at
least one witness. I will not work alone
with another man in a mine.
"I got my start up in Farncomb Hill.
Jim Souther was my partner. We had
a fairly good claim; nothing of the bo
nanza In Its nature, Just a good, honest
ounce-and-a-half or two-ounce proposi
tion that beat day wages by a shade
only. There Is one thing -about Farn
comb Hill, that U Its uncertainty. Y'ou
never know what the next wallop with
the pick or the next shot with a car
tridge will uncover. Souther was down
In tbe hole and I waa on the windlass
hoisting the buckets he filled with ore.
We had a soft thing so far as labor waa
concerned, and could almost shovel the
ore up. It was a soft tak, a cross be
tween chalk and putty. I got a bucket
at last along about 2 In the afternoon
that weighed like a ton. I could scarce
ly lift It I dumped It and almost drop
ped dead. The ore was so rich In gold
I could see It shine. I examined the
bucket and found little strings of wire
gold hanging to It Jim had struck one
of those celebrated Farncomb freaks,
and It was so dnrk down there he hadn't
'IJE HAPE THE QUICKEST PI.AT OF HIS
LIFE."
noticed tbe alteration in the chracter
of the Btuff he waa sending up. Do you
recall that fine-twisted wire Rold exhib
ited at the World's Fair? Much of that
was what Souther and I took out of
that shaft I called to Jim to stand
from under, for I aimed to come down
and see him awhile. I broke the news
to him and then we began to figure out
how we stood. As nearly aa we could
decide we had a pocket or chamber of
this stuff extending Into the side of the
shaft about eight feet We could reach
In and get out handfuls of finespun
gold that looked like It came from un
der a red headed girl's hat But we
couldn't stand In the shaft and admire
It all day. There wan at least ?l!i,i""'
worth of the stuff. The metal that
was not free could easily enougb b
j.i,b rated from tbe rest of the ore. It
was Inclosed In decomposed quartz ana
required nothing but rubbing between
the fingers to get It We decnn-a u
raise It all that night that Is unless It
turned out a bigger find than we
thought We figured It best not to go
about beating the drum to advertise our
strike, but hoist the ore and do our talk
ing later.
"Jim stayed In tbe mine and I went
back on the winch. Then my tempta
tion came to me. There was a good
hie tdece of money there for one man
and Just half as much each for two. I
have read somewhere that every man
has bis price If you keep on bidding" you
can reach bim sure at some siot. Since
that day I have shuddered to think how
cheap I am. A measly $15,000 in ore
ame near getting me. It all came to
me as If It were printed In Wg litters
ami held before my face. I could can
to Jim and get hlni out of the drift Into
the bottom of the shaft and let go the
windlass. There wouldn't be a kick
left In a man who bad been smashed
on the head with a seventy -five jMtund
bucket, with 20 pounds of ore In It,
after a fifty-foot fall.
Tlie first time I called I couldn't
raise mv voice over a whlsiier. It re
minded me of the time I had tbe piieu
monln my first year In the mountains
and Jim nursed me out of It. He
walked twenty mlleg over the hills In a
snowstorm to get medicine for me, and
It's the surest thing In the world
wouldn't have been hoisting pure gob
out of a Farncomb Hill shaft If Jim
Souther hadn't sat up with me day and
night for a week four years before.
thought of all this while I was llmlx-r
Ing up my voice for the second try at
calling him. That time I did it
"'What is It, Bllir he hollers back
I could see 'his candle flicker as
looked down the shaft ready to let go
the winch, when I had hliu placed right,
'What's eating of you now? he keem
ou. 'We ain't got any time for merry
making or visiting If we get this ss-nd-Ing
money out to-day,' he says. 'Mukc
your talk nulck, Bill.'
"I had to try three times again be
fore I could make a noise. 'Shake a
bush.' says Jim, 'If you can't speak.'
" 'I want you to come up and work
the winch,' I yells back. 'I don't like
to !e so far away from tbe stuff.'
'"All right' he hollers up, 'If you
prefer It But you know you can't
tand It down here ai well aa I can,
and I'm some afraid you'll get the
worst of It'
"Ho Jim came up and I took his place.
When I waa going down the shaft he
ay a:
" 'Yon look like you hat) seen a dead
friend, Bill. I think another atrlke like
this would give you heart failure.'
"What did tbe find do? We took oat
f22,(iO from that pocket and aaad the
claim fur M-'.USi. Yea, Soother hi atll!
in the mining business) with me. I
told biro about tny plan to dhsaorre
partnership when he waa In th abaft.
He aaldr Tki von know. B11L I kU a
strong notion to belt you on the bead
with a pick when you came down tba
shaft and I found what kind of a plla m
of putty I had dug into.' "Chicago
Times-Herald.
True-Hearted.
It makes all the dlffrence In the
world what a person marries for. I'm
bo thankful that I didn't make any
mistake," said a small, shabbily-dressed,
tlred-looklng woman, who waa cane-
seating chairs at a house where abe
bad asked for work. Her tongue waa
aa nimble aa her fingers, but ber viewa
on all topics were so cheery and hope
ful, notwithstanding her manifest pov
erty, that her garrulity did not become
tiresome. Her opinions on marriage,
coming aa they did from a woman
to whom marriage had brought pov
erty and unceasing labor for an Inval
id busliand, were refreshing, and bad
the ring of a true heart
Yes," she said, "folks that marrlea
for but one thing makes a dreadful
mistake. I often think to myself, 'What
if I had married for anything In tba
world but love, real, genuine, sure-
enough love! What a fix I'd be In to
day r
"You see, my husband's been an In
valid for nine years. He went Into
alow consumption four years after wo
were married, and he alu't worked six
weeks, all told, since; aud I've had all
the support of bim and our three chil
dren for nine years, and I've done It
iy trail In' 'round from house to honso
cane-seatln' chairs; and all the feelln'
I've had about It has lx-en one of thank
fulness that I was able and wlllin' to
do It
'S'posln' I hadn't married for love?
S'postn' I'd married for riches, and
they'd taken wings and flew away?
S'posln' I'd married for beauty, aud
sickness and mls'ry had robbed my hus
band of his good looks? Wouldu't I lw
In a nice fix? .
"But I didn't marry for a thing on
earth but respect and love for a good
man, and I ain't regretted it and I
ain't a bit unhappy or discontented,
exceptln' in the sorrow that comes from
the certainty that I ain't goln' to have
my husltand with me much longer.
"He's fnllln' fast now, poor dear! I
ain't never-looked on him aa a burden.
I ain't throwed It up to him that I've
hnd the livln' to make. I ain't fretted
nr complained, nor done any of the.
things I would surely have done If I'd
made the dreadful mistake of marryin'
for anything but real affection.
Folks that marries for anything else
has got a lot of uuhnpplnesa In-fore 'em
that I dou't know anything about."
Qn er Kffect of Light.
It Is asserted by one of the leading
authorities on light and beat that the
beams of the sun and moon have a
very deleterious effect upon all kinds
of edged tools. An exposure of a few
hours to sunlight will "turn" tbe edge
of the best razor ever made, and one
night's exposure to the ray a of the full
moon will ruin auch an instrument
forever. Similar exposure to light will
finally spoil knives, scythes and dick
ies, the premonitory signs of coming
usclcssnesg being noted In the blue
color which the metal assumes. When
the edge of such tools once disappears
as a result of continued exposure to
the light of either the sun or the moon,
they are absolutely useless until they
have been retempcred.
Because of tlds ttecullar action of
light on steel purchasers should always
be on their guard against buying from
peddlers who carry their wares ex
lioscd, or from retail dealers who have
such tools on display In show windows,
cseclally If such windows be located
so that they receive the full glare of
the sun or moon at any time of day or
night. The unservlcenbleness of tools
acquired under such circumstances Is
generally wrongfully attributed to bad
material or Inferior workmanship.
Bismarck and the Doctor.
Prince Bismarck Is fond of asking
questions, but does not like to answer
them. On one occasion, saye 'London
Million, the Chancellor called In a
young physician who, indifferent to bis
patient's rank and prestige, coolly pro
ceeded to put him through an exhaust
ive professional examination.
Bismarck became Impatient and final
ly declared ho would not answer anoth
er question.
"Very well," calmly replied the dots
tor, "If you do not want to be ques
tioned you hnd lxtter send for a vetcr
Innry. He Is accustomed to treat bla
patients without requiring answers
from them to any questlous."
The audadfy of the young doctor
caused the Chancellor to remain dumb
for a moment; then he grimly said, "If
you are as skillful as you are Imperti
nent young man, you must be a great
physician."
No Alligators.
An American naval officer, wishing to
bathe in a Ceylon river, asked a native
to show hlni a place where there wero
no alligators. The native took bim to
a pool close to the estuary.
The officer enjoyed his dip; while
drying himself, he asked his guide why
there were never any alllgatora In that
pool.
"Because, sah," tbe Cingalese replied,
"they plenty 'frald of shark!" '
America's lad In Kleotrlo laveatlon
During 1804, 3,315 patent relating
to electricity were granted in Great
Britain, the United Htatea and Ger
many. Of theae 1,180 were Brittab,
being one-twentieth of all British pat
ents, 1,701 were American, and 481
were German.
It la much easier to make that which.
Is ugly uglier etlll than It la tottaprora
that which la already nanism aw.
ftmi ssu an jvi "
