a
V
i4:
i.
I
ft-
1
r
WINDS THAT HINDER.
RfcV. DR. TALMAGE TO THE
WEARY AND DISCOURAGED.
lie Give Worda of Con fort to All
Wko Labor Under Adverse Circum
stances, Both Pbyaical and Mental
'ihe Overburdened and Overworked.
Our Waahinirtoa Pulpit.
Dr. Talmage's sermon this week is one
of good cheer. It will give encouragement
to many struggling souls. The subject
i "Contrary Winds," and the text Mat
thew xiv., 24, "Tlie wind was contrary."
As I well know by experience on Lake
Galilee, one hour all may be calm anil the
next hour the winds and waves will be so
boisterous that you are in doubt as to
whether you will land on the shore or on
the bortom of the deep. The disciples in
tne text were caught in such a stress of
weather and the sails bent aud the ship
plunged, for "the wind was contrary."
There is in one of the European straits a
place where, whichever way you sail, the
winds are opposing. There are people who
all their life seem sailing in the teeth of
the wind. All things seem against them.
It may be said of their condition as of that
of the disciples in my text, "the wind was
contrary."
The Divine Physician.
A great multitude of people are under
seeming disadvantage, and I will to-day,
in the swarthiest Anglo-Saxon that I can
manage, treat their cases; not as a nurse
counts out eight or ten dni of a prescrip
tion and stirs them in a half glass of wat
er, but as when a man has by a mistake
taken a large amount of strychnine or
pans green or belladonna, and the patient
is walked rapidly round the room and
shaken up until he gets wide awake
Many of you have taken a large draft of
the poison of discouragement, and I come
out by the order of the divine Physician
to rouse you out of that letbar.ry.
First, many people are under the disad
vantage of an unfortunate dfime given
them by parents who thought they were
-doing a good thing. Sometimes at the
baptism of children while I have he'd up
one hand in prayer I have held up the oth
er hand in amazement that parents should
have weighted the babe with such a dis
sonant and repulsive nomenclature. I
have not so much wondered that some
children should cry out at the christening
font as that others with such smiling face
should take a title that will be the burden
of their lifetime. It is outrageous to af
flict children with an uudesirable name
because it happened to be possessed by a
parent or a rich uncle from whom favors
are expected or some prominent man of
the day who may end his life in disgrace.
J t is no excuse, because they are Scriptnre
names, to call a child Jehoinkim or Tig-lath-I'ileser.
I baptized one by the name
of Bathsheba! Why, under all the circum
ambient heaven, any parent should want
to give to a child the name of that loose
creature of Scripture times I cannot im
agine. I have often felt at the baptismal
altar, when names were announced to me,
like saying, as did the Rev. Dr. Hichards
.of Morristown, X. J., when a child was
handed him for baptism and the name
given, "Hadn't you better call it some
thing else?"
Impose not upon tnat babe a name sug
gestive of flippancy or meanness. There is
no excuse for such assault and battery on
he cradle when our language is opulent
with names musical and suggestive in
meaning, such as John, meaning "the
gracious gift of God," or Henry, meaning j
"the chief of a household," or Alfred, ;
meaning "good counselor," or Joshua,
meaning "God, our salvation," or Am
brose, meaning "immortal," or Andrew,
meaning "manly," or Esther, meaning
"tar," or Abigail, meaning "grace," or
Victoria, meaning "victory," or Rosalie,
meaning "beautiful as a rose." or Mar
garet, meaning "a pearl," or Ida, mean
ing "godlike," or Clara, meaning "illus
trious," or Amelia, meaning "busy," or
Bertha, meaning "beautiful," and hun
dred of other names just as good that are
a help rather than a hindrance.
' The Family Name.
But sometimes the great hindrance in
life is not in the given name, but in the
family name. While legislatures are will
ing to lift such incubuses, there are fami
lies that keep a name which mortgages all
the generations with a great disadvant
age. You say, "I wonder if he is any re
lation to So-and-So," meaning some fam
ily celebrated for crime or deception. It
is a wonder to me that in all such families
some gpirited young man does not rise.
Baying to his brothers and sisters, "If you
want to keep this nuisance or scandaliza
tion of a name, I will keep it no longer
than until by quickest course of law I can
lough off this gangrene." The city di
rectory has hundreds of names the mere
pronunciation of which has been a life
long obstacle If you have started life
under a name which, either through ridic
ulous orthography or vicious suggestion,
has been an incumbrance, resolve that the
next generation shall not be so weighted.
It is not demeaning to change a name.
Saul of Tarsus became Paul the Apostle,
lladassah, "the myrtle," became Esther,
"Ihe star." We have in America, and I
suppose it is so in all countries, names
which ought to be abolished, and can be
and will be abolished for the reason that
tbey are a libel and a slander. But if for
any reason you are submerged either by a
given name on hy a family name that you
must bear, God will help you to overcome
the outrage by a life consecrated to the
good and useful. You may tiruse the curse
from the name.
Again, many people labor under the
misfortune of incomplete physical equip
ment. We are by our Creator so econorn
loafly'Built that we cansot.afford the ob
literation1 of any physical faculty. We
want our two eyes, our two ears, our two
bands, oar two feet, our eight fingers and
two thumbs. Yet what multitudes of peo
ple have but one eye, or but one foot! The
ordinary casualties of! life have been
quadrupled), quintupled, sextupled. aye,
centupled, in our time by the civil war,
and at tbe North and South a great mul
titude are fighting the batUe of life with
" half, or less than half, the needed physical
arouiuanta. I do not wonder at the pa-
tkos of a soldier during tbe iar, who,
wtofi told that he must have bis band
amputated, laid, "Doctor, can't you save
itr and wlien told that if wa iupoMi
, tic, mM. with tear rolling down hi
'rtwkaf uWa3, then, food-ky, old band.
' fist t part wkh Oft, Ton have done
r4 Merka tot many yean, but it
; j r-A ft. uood-by.M
a scene
J -"2t of of the
3 !"
the students to ) opi r,i?ed .n. Tbe ar
g"on was pointing out tn: and that to"1"
indents and handling the wounded ! g,
arid Wus about to proceed to stipulation
when the poor man leaped from the table
and hobbled to the door, and said, "Gen
tlemen. I am sorry to diMtjoint jmi, but
by the help of God I will die uitU my leg
on." What a terrific los is the loss of our
physical faculties!,
The w ay the battle of Crecy wi decid
ed g:iit:st tLe French was by the Welsh
men killing the French burses, auJ that
brought their riders to the ground. And
when you cripple this body, w hirh is mere
ly the animal on which the soul rides,
you may sometimes defeat the soul.
Physical Jllo.
Yet how many suffer from this physical
taking off! Good chet r, my brother! God
will make it up to you somehow. The
grace, the sympathy of God will be more
to you than anything you have lost. If
God allows part of your resources to be
cut off in one place, he will add it on some
where else. As Augustus, the emperor,
took off a day from February, making it
the shortest month in the year, and added
it to August, the month named after him
self, so advantage! taken from one part of
your nature will be added on to another.
liut it is amazing how much of the world's
work has been done by men of subtracted
physical organization. S. S. Preston, tbe
great orator of the southwest, went limp
ing all his life, but there was no foot put
down upon any platform of his day that
resounded so far as his club foot. liee
thoven was so deaf that he could not hear
the crash of the orchestra rendering his
oratorios. Thomas Carlyle, the dyspeptic
martyr, was given the commission to drive
cant out of tbe world's literature. The
Ilev. Thomas Stockton of Philadelphia
with one lung raised his audience nearer
heaven than most ministers can raise
them with two lungs. In the banks, the
insurance companies, the commercial es
tablishments, the reformatory associa
tions, the churches, there are tens of thou
sands of men and women to-day doubled
up with rheumatism, or subject to tbe
neuralgias, or with only fragments of
limbs, the rest of which they left at Chat
tanooga, or South Mountain, or the Wil
derness, and they are worth more to the
world and more to the church and more to
God than those of us who have never so
much as bad a finger joint stiffened by a
felon.
Put to full use all the faculties that re
main and charge ou all opposing circum
stances with the determination of John of
Bohemia, .who was totally Wind and yet
at a battle cried out, "I pray and beseech
you to lead me so far into the fight that I
may strike one good blow with this sword
of mine." Do not think so mijch of what
faculties you have lost as of what facul
ties remain. V'ou have enough left to
make yourself felt in three worlds, while,
you help the earth and balk hell and win
heaven. Arise from your discourage
ments, O men and women of depleted or
crippled physical faculties, and see what,
by the special be!p of God,,you can ac
complish! A New Outfit.
And then remember that all physical
disadvantages will after awhile vanish.
Let those who have been rheumatisjned
out of a foot, or cataraeted out of an eye,
or by the perpetual roar of our cities thun
dered out of an ear, look forward to the
day when this old tenement house of flesh
will come down and a better one shall be
builded. The resurrection morning will
provide you with a better outfit. Either
the unstrung, wornout, blunted and crip
pled organs will be so reconstructed that
you will not know them, or an entire new
set of eye and ears and feet will be given
you. Just what k means by corruption
putting on ineormption we do not know,
save that it will be glory ineffable. Xo i
limping in heaven, no straining of the eye
sight to see things a little way off, no put- j
ting of the hand behind the ear to double I
the capacity of the tympanum, but facul- i
ties perfect, all the keys of the instrument
attuned for the sweep of the fingers of
ecstasy. But until that day of resumption
comes let us bear each other's burdens and
so fulfill the law of Christ.
Another form of disadvantage under
which many labor is lack of early educa
tion. There will be no excuse for igno
rance in the next generation. Free schools
and illimitable opportunity of education
will make ignorance a crime. I believe m
compulsory education, and those parents
who neglect to put their children under
educational advantages have but one right
left, and that is tbe penitentiary. Knt
there are multitudes of men and women
in midlife who have had no opportunity.
Free schools had not yet been established,
and vast multitudes had little or no school
at all. They feel it when as Christian
men they come to speak or pray in reli
gious assemblies or public occasions, pa
triotic, or political, or educational. They
are silent because they do not feel com
petent. They owe nothing to English
grammar, or geography, or belles lettree.
They would not know a participle from a
pronoun if they met it many times a day.
Many of the most successful merchants of
America and men in high political places
cannot write an accurate letter on any
theme. They are completely dependent
upon clerks and deputies and stenogra
phers to make things right. I knew a
literary man who in other years in this
city made his fortune by writing speeches
for Congressmen or fixing them up for
the Congressional Record after they were
delivered. The millionaire Illiteracy of
this, -ountry is beyond measurement.
Nov, stippos. a man finds himself in
midlife without education, what is he to
dot Do the best he can. The most effect
ive layman in a former pastoral charge
that 1 ever heard speak on religions
ttJes could within five minutes of ex-
'botfUtion break ail tbe laws of English
gMJinar, and if he left any law tinfrac
tu4 he would complete the work of lin
gual devastation in the prayer with which
he followed it. But I -would rather have
him pray for me if I were sick or in trou
ble than any Christian man I know of,
and in that church all tbe people preferred
him in exhortation and prayer to all oth
ers. Why? Because he was so thorough
ly pious aud had such power with God
he was irresistible, and as he went on in
his prayer sinners repented and saints
shouted for joy, and the bereaved seemed
to get back their dead in celestial com
panionship. And when he had stopped
praying and as soon as I could wipe out
of my eyes enourh tears to see tbe closing
hymn I ended the meeting, fearful that
some long-winded prayer meeting bore
would pull us down from the seventh
heaven.
Opportunity.
Not a word bar I to say againit accu
racy of spefoti or line elocution or high
mental cnltnre. Oct all those you can.
Bat I da any to those who wore brought
bp ia tat da, of poor school bosses sad
tseraat actootaawUra and no psort-
liit. : ion may have o uiiU'h ff good in
)"iir soul and i much of to-avi n in your
; rttry-djy l:fe thst yu tviII be mightier
! for g.Mid than ar.y w!i went through the
curriculum of Harvard or Yale or Oxford,
yet i.evi r graduated in the ohool of
'hrit. Win n you g t up to the gate of
bcaveu, no one will a-k you whether you
can pare the first chapter of Genesis,
but whether you have learned the fear of
the Lord, which i the beginning of wis
d m, m r w he h r y u Wn uv how to s'juaie
the circle, but whether you have lived a
square life in a round world. Mount Zioa
Is higher than Mount Parnassus.
But what other multitude there are un
der other disadvautagt s! Here is a Chris
tian wuiuaii whose husband thinks reli
gion a sham, and while the wife prays
j the children one way the husband swears
' theru another. Or here is a Christian
! man who is trying to do his best for God
j aud the ( hiiri-h, and his wife holds him
back and says on the way home from
prayer meeting, where he gave testimony
for Clirist: "What a fool you made of
yours.-if ! I hope hereafter you will keep
still." And when he would lie benevolent
ami give "( she criticises him for cot giv
ing rl) cents. I must do justice and pub
licly thank God that I never proposed at
home to give anything for any cause of
humanity or religion but the other part
ner in the domesiic linn approved it. And
when it seemed beyond my ability, and
faith in God was neces:arv, she had three
fourths the faith. But i know men who
when ihey contribute to charitable objects
are afraid that the wife shall find it out.
What a withering curse such a woman
must be to a good man!
Then there are others under the great
disadvantage of poverty. Who ought to
get things cheapest? You say those who
have little means. But they pay more.
You buy coal by the toh; they buy it by
the bucket. You buy flour by the barrel;
they buy it by the pound. You get ap
Irel cheap, because you pay eajdi; they
pay dear, because they have to get trust
ed. And the Bible was right when it said,
"The destruction of the poor is their pov
erty." Then tiiere are those who made a mis
take in early life, and that overshadows
all their days. "Do you not know that
that man was once in prison?" is whis
pered. Or, "Do you know that that man
once attempted suicide?" Or, "Do you
know that that man one absconded?"
Or, "Do you know that that man was
once discharged for dishonesty?" Per
haps there was only one wrong deed in tSie
man's life, and thai one act haunts tfce
subsequent hajf century of his existence.
Other Hindrance.
Others have a mighty obstacle in their
personal appearance, for which th-y are
not responsible. They forget that God
fashioned their features and their com
plexion aud their stature, the size of their
nose, and moutb, and hands, and feet,
and gave them their gait aud their gen
eral apiM-arance, and they forgot that
much of the world's best work and Che
church's best work has been done by
homely people, and that Paul the ajwstle
is said to have been humpbacked and bis
eyesight weakened by ophthalmia, while
mnny of the finest in apearance have
passed their time before nattering looking
glasses, or in studying killing attitudes,
and in displaying the richness of ward
robes not one ribbon, or vest, or sack, or
glove, or button, or shoestring of which
they have had bruine to earn for them
selves. Others had wrong proclivities from the
start. They were born wrong, and that
sticks to one even after he is born again.
Oh, this world is an overburdened world,
an overworked world! It is an awfuUy
tired world. It is a dreadfully unfortu
nate world. Scientists are trying to find
out tbe cause of these earthquakes in all
lands, cisatlantic and transatlantic. But
what about the moral woes of the world
that have racked all nations, and for COM
years science proposes nothing but knowl
edge, and many people who know the
most are the most oncomforted?
A Cheering Voice.
In the way of practical relief for all dis
advantages and all woes, the onJy voice
tfhat is worth listening to on tliia subject
is the voice of Christianity, which is the
voice of Almighty God. Whether I have
mentioned tlie particular disadvantage
under which you labor or not, I distinctly
declare, in the name of my God, that
there is a way out and a way up for all of
you. You cannot be any worse off than
tJiat Christian young woman who was in
tbe J'etnbcTton mills when they fell une
years ago, and from under the faUen tim
bers he was heard singing, "I am going
home to die no more."
Take good courage from ohat Bible, all
of whose promises are for those in bad
predicament. There are better duys for
yon, either on earth or in b-aven. I put
my hand under your chin and lift your
face into tlie light of the coining dawn.
Have Gxl on your side, and tiien you
have for reserve troops all the armies of
heaven, the smallest company of which
is 'Jl.'XiO chariots and the smallest brigade
144,(XK), the lightnings of heaven their
drawn sword. Tbe voices of your adver
saries, human and sat a trie, shall be cov
ered with confusion, while you shall be
not only conqueror, but more than con
queror, through that grace which has so
often made the fallen helmet of an over
thrown antagonist the footstool of a
Christian victory.
Short Keruons.
Conscience. Lrirth'u neatest truge
dy U the tragedy of tte who have
fallem from Integrity and virtue, an
stars fall out of Hie ale. A (drip nwjr
lom; It wills iijmI nuldor, but If It retail
IU cornpflMH it yet ir4iy reach tbe har
bor. But In life all la lost when man
Uwwn hl conscience. Iter. Dr. HIllU,
Iwleiend'!it, ClilcAgn, 111.
GovcriHiKrtit. If tto Htflto should nt
BUtne iwUeriin rnlat.k.n toward Ha citi
zen tbe result would be that it would
six mi 1 liNiked uMu as a gigantic nurse,
who.woiikl linve the mniMigctiicitLt and
direction of every thing. All energy, by
which wealth Is acquire! and art ami
lndutttrW advanced, would be deaden
ed, flJkd joclety would noon la.pc Into a
tate of Iwrliarlwn. Ilev. B, M. Palmer,
rrcabytcrbui, Nw Origins, La.
UnftktUod Iiflbor. New maHilHery la
more and more enabling unskilled labor
to re-place UIh1 labor. In a Califor
nia, city teat winter I waa told that
tbree-fdnmha of the men were out of
work. I hope it wa an exaggerate.
I wa told In Kaii Franc-laco by an em
ployer of labor that he could get any
jmonM of labor be wWhod by tm&oy
ta men who wero wtiliog to work.
Kr. W. D. P. tSm, CpteconallaaV Co
fTHE OTHER BOX.
A well broiiglit-up by learns at a
very curly age that practical
Jokes are dangerous tilings.
Soinctiiiies be learns It at Iris mother's
knee, sometimes on bis father's-face
down, otherwise he receives physical
demonstration from a bigjrer lxy.
From which It would appear that the
youngsters gazetted to the Irrepressi
bles were not well brought up. At all
events, they had the reputation of be
1ns the most rowdy crew in the army
list. Now. in India, a reputation is only
gained by lieim; deserved. And It was
!u a bill-station that the -'(mlterns of
the Irrepressibles reached the loftiest
pinnacle of their folly. The affair was
hushed up afterward, for the honor of
the regiment, as such things should be.
The Irrepressibles were unlucky hi
their quarters that year. They were
fixed ou the plains at a time when there
was nothing to do. no game, no society,
no anything. In a case like that they
were thrown back on themselves, aud
the result wns unfortunate. Men's tem
pers beau to give way under the strain,
and. from the commanding officer
down to the smallest boy capable of
lieating a drum, there was not one who
did not curse the hour he was born at
least seven times a day.
The trouble came. It all arose out of
the Junior Subaltern going out fishing
one day, or out of the fact that he
caught nothing. Coming back, bow
ever, he must needs run across a cobra,
which, with bis usual foolhardiness,
he duly forked and transferred alive
and wriggling into his creel. Thence,
ou arrival at quarters, it was removed
to a perforated box and tenderly fed.
Two of the subalterns began to de
velop a most astonishing degree of ha
tred tbe one for the other. They were
two men sufficiently alike In character
and capabilities to !e either the firmest
of friends or the bitterest of enemies.
As a matter of choice they were the
latter. Jealousy was at the bottom of
the trouble, no doubt. In the natural
order of things, this little feeling didn't
make life any the pleusauter for the
rest. At first it was treated as n wel
come diversion, and for a time the oth
er youngsters used to take an artistic
pleasure' in fanning the quarrel, fore
most luring the Junior Subaltern.
What was originally a variation of
the monotony of life, however, soon
came to be a nuisance, and the Irrepres
sibles tiegan to feel very sick. Then
they got to wishing that one or loth of
the men wonld die. This ia not a nice
sentiment to entertain toward any
man, especially If he is a brother-officer.
But, most of all, each of the men
wished that the other would go out, and
this waa even worse.
At last matters came to a head. The
two subalterns had a regular row one
night after mess. They would have
come to blows If It hadn't been for the
Interference of the older men. There
were eix men present, all aubalterna
except one, and it would have been bet
ter If they had let tbe two fight It out
then aud there. Probably tbe difficulty
might have been nettled finally. But
peace waa patched up for about three
days, and then. tbey broke out worse
tliao ever, and said things that half a
century ago would have led to pistols
next morning. In the meantime, th
Junior Subaltern and four other imps
of mischief bad matured a plan by
which they hoped to fix up the matter
once for all. And in this plan, natural
ly enougb, the snake took some part
It was a grim enough practical joke at
the bent, and they ought to have pos
sessed more sense between the five of
them than to think of such a thing.
The idea was nothing more or less
than to propose to the two men to
spend a night together, and with the
cobra, in a disused room In quarters.
They were to lie locked In and left to
settle the matter among themselves
during the night, and In the morning
the rest of the party would release the
survivors, If any. Of course there was
no thought, even for a moment, of let
ting loose the corba In that way, but,
as the Junior Subaltern said: "It won't
do them any harm to think It out, and
perhaps with reflection will come an
increase of wisdom."
While the two men were still In the
heat of anger, the Junior Subaltern pro
pounded to them his idea of settling
their difficulty by means of the snake.
The affair being thus decided, a dis
used room was chosen as the scene of
(he ordeal, and was hastily cleared of
what furniture was in it This being
done, the two men, who had not
changed color during the wene, were
stationed at opposite corners of the
room, propjM'd up In sitting positlous,
with a clear space between them of
something like fifteen feet
All preliminaries having lieen ar
ranged, the lioy brought In the fatal
ls)X and deposited It In the center of the
room, lii!irli a manner that the lid
should open sideways. Here again his
ingenuity came into play. It was ob
vious that the box must le opened
when all except tbe principals were
outside the door. Luckily, the box had
a sliding lid, and the Junior Subaltern
was able to arrange it so that, by at
taching a piece of string, any one
standing outside the door would baable
to slide back tbe lid 'and so release the
presumed occupant of the box.
During all these arrangement, tbe
Ave conspirator bad felt very serious.
Tbey bejfan io rJIlt that It was
rather a grin Jom tkgjr wen bavMg.
and It Is probable that the two men
who weren't behind the scenes, who
each 'doubted whether he might be
alive In the morning, were less nervous.
But then they, were still very angry,
and hadn't had time yet to think out
all the details.
At. last all t.'ie arrangements hnd
beeti settled with due exactness. The
Junior Subaltern had been an uncon
scionable time at work. It Is probable
that he was getting very sick of his
hoax, and would have been glad enough
to show it up If anyone had given him
the lead. After all. he knew that there
was an ugly side to the farce, and as
his first lavish enthusiasm dh-d away
he wanted to throw the thing up. But
no one helped him out of it, and for
very shame he could scarcely give him
self away. Besides, the two principals
wouldn't have thanked him.
Nothing more remained to be done.
There was solemn enough leave-taking
on all sides as the five youngsters filed
out of the room and locked the 'J'-w,
leaving the two men In their corners
and the box In the center of the room.
For a moment or two the five stood In
silence out In the passage, the Junior
Subaltern holding the end of the string
and shaking like an aspen leaf with
suppressed excitement Then he gave
it a sharp tug, and they could hear the
box-lid sliding back until It dropped to
the floor with a slight smack.
It was a bushed and rather conscience-stricken
band that dispersed to
the various rooms in quarters, and the
hours of that night hung heavily. It is
a fact that the five youngsters did not
average an hour ofrieep between them.
This was proved by the alacrity with
which they all .turned out at the first
break of dawn, and assembled, shiver
ing and drawn-looking and haggard,
ready to go and release their voluntary
prisoners.
They were. In fact so disturbed that
they took no notice of the Senior Cap
tain, who, for some reason best known
to himself, had turned out too, and fol
lowed them as they trod softly along to
the door of the disused room. He was
still unnoticed as they reached it, and
there made a marked halt; and his
curiosity to see their little game pre
vented him from announcing himself.
They stood for a moment In breathless
silence, showing a strange, sudden dis
inclination to stir.
Then, as was the case the night !e
fore. the Junior Sulmltern fook the
lead. There was a faint murmur as be
turned the key In the lock and stepped
tioldly into the room the rest following
in a crowd. The Senior Captain stood
for a moment outside, wondering and
trying to make out what It all meant
But a sudden, stifled cry caused him to
step quickly after them.
He was a man who had been In sev
eral actions. He had seen men killed
under all sorts of ghastly circum
stances, ne had commanded burial
parties sent out ofter the Afghan wo
men had been at their devilish work,
and had seen sights that, hardened as
he was, had made him feel sick and
full of horror. But those scenes were
In no way comparable with what met
his eyes as he entered tbe room lx-hind
his juniors.
The two men were no longer proppinl
np in the position In which they had
been left Their swollen, distorted
bodies were huddled on the floor in at
titudes that showed the awful manner
In which they had met their doom. But
the figures, almost grotesque In the
contortion which had attended the
last death agony, were as nothing. In
each case the face was upturned,
livid, with distended cheeks nnd crack
ed skin, with flecks of blood oozing
from mouth and nose, and with eyes
widely oen and a fear and horror in
them past oil description. It was not
so much the physical agony ns the ex
pression of terror In the fixed faces that
rendered these corpses so dreadful to
contemplate. Yet the two men, while'
alive, were as brave, with all their
faults, as any men should be,
As he looked In, the Captain was
glued to the ground by the nameless
horror of that death-stare. He seemed
forgetful of his companions, of where
he was, all bis faculties concentrated
on the two huddled masses on the floor.
A ghastly Incident aroused him. Tbe
Junior Subaltern burst into a laugh,
faint at first and then swelling Into
pt-al after peal of uproarious mirth.
' "Ha! ha!" he shouted, reeling from
foot to foot ad holding his shaking
sides. "Look at them! Don't they
sham well? Aren't they first-rate ac
tors?" Tbe Senior Captain stopjied up to
trim, and laid a hand roughly on bis
shoulder.
Then the lioy turned, and they could
all see In his eyes that he was mad.
But the touch had quieted him.
"They act beautifully, don't they?"
he whispered confidentially to his
senior officer, "I wonder when they
first found out the Joke."
"What do you mean?" asked the
other, soothingly.
"Menu?" the maniac replied. "Why,
don't you see? I had two Isixes Just
alike, and I put the empty Imx In here.
The snake Is still In tny own room.
It seemed something like a grim con
tradiction that, almost at the sim mo
mct,' a flat, sitcctacled head reared
Itaelf under one of the bodies, and t wo
baleful eyea surveyed the swe-struck
froup. gsn Francisco Argonaut
CAPIU31NG rtN LAOLi.
A V ii ii T- u I : r I ' i
m-rM for a
t In
t nnthrrti -1 riiio-ii.
lu M. .; -iiobn. Wol 'o't I Clear
p.-ard wrii.-s of "M-ses: A Tame Ka
g!e." one of bis pets w Irile he was en
gaged in i ii'Uiectl:ii in southern Ari
zoiu. Mr. B. aid gives the followim,'
ai-c iimt of its e-'pture;
1 s:iw ou 'lie rounded top of one of
the gmsit caeti with which these des
erts are thickly"' studded an eagle the
like of which, though familiar with the
fow ls of that region. I had never before
seen: and I may here add that we nev
er did with any certainly discover thu
species to which she belonged. I rode
lieur to get a better view, but she de
sired no c loser tieqiiaititance; for, after
unfolding her wings once or twice in a
hesitating sort of manner as I ap
proached, she finally spread them and
(lew heavily away, a couple of pistol
shots from the wagon having only the
effect of Increasing her sjieed. The cac
tus ou which she had been resting was
a very f.rr sample of the largest varb
ety in the world of that Interesting
plant. Of thp thickness of a man's
body, It rose straight from the ground,
a beautiful fluted column of vivid ap
pie-green, to a height of twenty-live
feet, where a cluster of branches near
ly as thick as the parent stem grew
out from It and turned upward, while
the main trunk, without a ls-nd,. roso
several feet higher.
Between two of these branches and
the trunk there was built a nest of
good-sized sticks, alxiut twice as large'
as a bushel basket; ami on this my eyes
happened to be resting when the nolso
of the shots brought nliove Its edge a
little head covered with grayish-yellow
fuzz, out, of which peered two big round
eyes with an air of anxious inquiry.
In that desert country, far from rail
ways and towns, we led rather dull
lives; so the several pets we possessed
in the big Jiermanent camp miles away
served In no small measure to amuse
us; and to these we wished to add our
young friend of the cactus. But how
to get hira down was a problem.
Somebody suggested that a volun
teer climb the cactus, but no one thrust
himself forward to do so. The Spanish
name by which it Is known Is Snjuarro,
which, put luto English, means "that
which scratches;" and as the spines
which thickly cover the outer edges of
the ridges are from one to four Inches
long, and as sharp as needles, It will
le seen that the name gives a good idea
of that plant.
, We did not like to put it down, fot
fear the fall might injure the fledgling",
but after some debate no is'tter method
presented itself, so tlie town axuien set
to work. As the first blows made tht
green shaft tremble, the head appeared
once more, trying, with an expression
of concern, to s-e what was going on
below; but this the thick sides of the
nest prevented. Then It looked at m
nnd said, ".lark!" This was the first
remark "Moses" ever made to us, and
there wns no time for more then; foi
the axes hud eaten through the pulpy
mass, which now liegan to bend to Hi
fall.
As the nest tilted we could sec the
thick body belonging to the head, with
two big claws clutching wildly, while
the weak, featherless wings flapped
niudly in an instinctive effort to support
their owner.
The coctus came down with a crash,
and running up we looked for our bird;
but only a little gray down was visible,
with one leg helplessly extended from
under a big branch which, broken by,
the shock, had fallen across aud almost
bid him. We feared he was killed; but,
when, by means of an ax-bead booked
around the prickly stuff, It was pulled
aside, he gatherexl himself together,
quite unhurt, and then, surveying the
strange beings who surrounded him,
made up his mind to them with that
philosophy we later learned to be on?
of his traits, and opening his great
mouth to its fullest extent, hinted that
he was hungry and wanted something
to eat
lie Wanted Little.
lU-preseutttUve Ellis, of Oregon, had
an amusing visitor at the Capitol the
other day. A young man from Eastern
Ohio called to see the Representative,
and after sending In a picturesque lit
tle card managed to corner Mr. Ellis In
the lobby, says the Washington Star.
"What can I do for you to-day?" snid
Mr. Ellis, smilingly.
' Mr. Ellis," KJild he, "I've cutiie a
good distance to see yon ami ask a
small favor; my family Is well con
nected In Ohio; we are friends of MaJ.
McKinley and personally acquainted
with Mr. Hanua," proceeded the young
man, with a serious air about him,
which aroused Mr. Ellis' curiosity.
"Now, I thought that as 1 am anxious
to go to Oregon to begin building up
my own fortunes I would ask for a
helping hand."
"I will help you all I can," said Mr.
Ellis.
"Well," said the Ohioan, "I thought
perhaps you would recommend me for
the post mastership ot either Portland
or Astoria, which ore In your dlsjrtct
as a starter. I think I could make out,
with such a start."
Mr. Kills' mouth opened at least two
Inches, his eyes watered, ho put hi
ha mis across Iris head In a bridge fash
Ion and looked at the young innn for
fully five minutes without uttering a
syllable, so great was his amazement,
and the young man walked off won
dering at Mr. Ellis silence;
Mr. Ellis' district contains but two
postmsstershlpH of great prominence
In the Stale, and they are Portland and
Astoria, and the scramble of Ida con
stituents after the places Js something
terrific when there Is n vacancy at
either; in fad, coupled with the Ohlo
an's request was more than he cotild
staiid, and he was too duinfounded to
talk.
Truth may be stranger than Qctiou
but a lie sells better. '
t.
f
I
&c-
