How Only Son of the World’s Richest
Man Devotes Himself to His Bible Class
Mr^JbHH D. P^CKEFEIr
LERsJRt.CfiNDUCTlH8
MlS DIBIXClASS.
D. |
«$CKEFELLERJ
item: It was shortly before lain the
morning. Fifth avenue was compara
tively deserted for three reasons,
namely,, it was Sabbath day, it was
ftlQ.pariy by some hours for an ease*
■’ and-iuxury-loving residential section
to be visibly astir, and it was raining
—raining as when gray and ragged
skies are being steadily unravded up
on an outwardly deserted city.
Standing—had there been any sun—
in the shadow of the modest Fifth
Avenue Baptist church spirfc in West
Forty-sixth street, just ofT the man
sioaed avenue, an observer might have
counted some hundred and fifty excep
tions to the prevailing rule of metro
politan desertion. An observer alsQ
might have noticed a modest coupe,
devoid of any crest or family insignia
just as the driver was minus a cock
ade and iivery, draw up at ttre church
«e at ranee and deposit a young man and
a young woman upon the pavement.
Had it not been raining,the couple
—the young man and his* wife—would* *
haw* walked from their* handsome
Fith aremte residence to the West
sixth Street church, instead of
riding even in such an unpretentious
conveyance as they used on this occa
sion. For the young John D. Rocke
feller is endeavoring to live—as he
preaches to his remarkable Bible class
in the Fifth Avenue Baptist church—
the simple life.
As founder, patron and leader of
what has come to bfelcno'hm generally
as the Rockefeller Bible class, w'hich.
mcHlentaUt>i& of more numerical* lag? *
instance than the entire remaining
Fifth Avfnue Baptist Sabbath' school,
the youhger Rockefeller oceupies i :
position At once comtnahdNrfc and
unique 4n.the public gqxe. Stray and
striking passages trom (iis weekly ad
dresses tq. his class—addresses that'
are tutitaonfidenUai discussions and
haif-sermons—wander regularly Intd
print. But the manner in which he
conducts his class, this young heir to
the five hundred or Wore Rockefeller
millions! of'its pefsdhfiel and attitude
toward hftn. comparatively few
glimpses have been obtained.
Httvin6 accompanied his wife, , a
daught r of Senator Nelson W. / Md
rieh of Rhode Island to the smalt wait
ing morn adjoining the church proper
the young multl-milHoaaire leader,
having bedn delayed a few minutes ou
awoont of the rain, hurried into the
main body of the church, where some
hundred and fifty class members arid
A Rainy Sunday Morning at the Bible Class of the Heir of Richest Man in
the World—Character Study of th e Leader and His Methods—An Hon
est, Impartial, Uncolored Account of Just What Happened During an
Hour of Bible Study with Young Mr. Rockefeller at the Fifth Avenue
Baptist Church, New York.
visitors were congregated.
Evidently the leader and the led
were thoroughly en rapport. For his
genial smile of greeting was vividly
reflected upon pearly every face pres
ent. His smile had in it a searching
warmth and cordiality that had the
same thawing effect upon the bene
ficiaries as might a touca of sunlight
upon the outside world. A3 a facial
expression it was in many respects re
markable, beginning at the corners of
the mouth, gradually taking in the
whole mouth in its progress, extending
to the shorn upper lip, and i-ien swift
ly‘enveloping the entire lower portion
of the face.
Several times the smile was repeat
ed, each time with the same revivify
ing effect upon the recipients, as >he
leader made his wray to his appointed
place in front of the congregated
class. But it never Quite reached nor
included the steel gray eyes which
possessed the extraordinary charac
teristic of never blinking, so far as
could be casually observed.
Smiling his sixth, or maybe his sev
enth, consecutive smile, the young
leader reached and ascended the
slightly elevated platform. Although
in doing so. he had has back to the
audience for a fraction of a minute
he conveyed a curious impression of
not having taken his eyes from the
assemblage. Choosing an ample chair
of -Titian plush the young man sat
down, folded his arms, and calmly pro
ceeded to survey the faces turned
toward him with their varying degrees
of age and experience. Simultaneous
ly with this movement, and as sud
denly as the genial expression had
appeared in his face on his entrance,
it was eclipsed as though by a tran
sitory cloud of some impenetrable tex
ture.
Something about the silent, thought
ful figure on the platform bespoke the
leader. His dominancy oyer the class
das nfever’for a moment weakened of
lost. Dtd any one present permit his
voice to touch an upper register or
bis foot to fall with a disturbing echo,
the transgressor immediately directed
an apologetic glance toward the plat
form as though to excuse the derelic
tion. Yet there was a homelike qual
ity in the atmosphere which even the
bleak and bare interior could not
quite dispel.
Glancing at his watch and noting
that it was time to begin, young
Rockefeller arose and announced the
processional hymn. Everybody stood
up, and, led by a male quartet of *x
qeptionally good voices recruited from
the fcfaSs' meifibers, 'joined hv the <=<.'• g.1
Vocally the leader could be diitin
guished by his manner of prolong!jig
the final notes after the other vcites
were lowered or hushed.
With the conclusion of the profes
sional he remained standing wrhile tke
class was seated. There was no Mig
Her Way of Dodging Duns.
7ne tenants of an uptown flat bouse
i a.- I>een greatly annoyed by persons
a b v rang their bells and yet rev r
came upstairs. Usually after a period
jf ivaiting.it would be decided that
jfc® postman had ealfefi and the.*®
tro’tfd foHcwv a fruitless trip down
fit ® ll'P.
The annoyance was finally traced
lo un apartment two flights up. tie
.al'fcrs invariably going to that ilc-cr,
jno a little quiet detective work dis
closed that the woman living thoie
nev*r answered a ring at her own boN.
letter it developed that she wfcs
i eiv ily in debt. Those persons she
warned to see rang her bell and some
else’s. The first brought the worn
fn 4l, the door; the S3cond gave the
ca» admittance. If they rapped m
jhi» 'opr the woman admitted them;
ff t»«re was a ring at her upstairs bell
•>h£. itnew it was a bill collector, and
.ei itim ring on until he concluded
... not in. Collect.™ rta«
.IU only her bell usually did nof gala
d>t.ittance unless the door were ua
"»ck'*d.
vejge, tipped off the collectors did
the annoyatce cease.-^New Yv>'k
Press.
Gold Collects Microbes.
"The poo'r man." said the scient.srti
"hasn’t everything against him. It Ms
been discovered that gold collects dis
ease germs to a greater extent tl: n
either silver or copper.
"Thus the poor man. with o:«*!v
quarters and dimes and pennies to
hardle, is safer than the rich man,
with his eagles and double eagles. And
the poor man, with his silver watch
can ascertain the time without half
the risk that the gold-watched rich
man runs.
“Seriously,” said the scientist, “it
has been proved that gold has a great
er attraction for disease germs thf.n
any other metal. Microbes crowd a
piece of gold as commuter* crowd the
trains in the rush hours. Silver and
copper, however, the poor man s
metals, are not so overrun with mi
crobes. On penries or dimes there Ir
always room for the little creatures to
stretch their legs and move about a
zestion of a smile now, as, locking his
hands behind him and squarely facing
his auditors while he swept them with
his eyes, he announced that the text
for the lesson would be the parable ol
the hidden treasure.
V\ hether it was a coincidence ot
whether the Rockefeller Bible cla^s
has a weakness for texts dealing with
strictly material subjects remained
unexplained. In a conversational ton<
young Rockefeller added that the text
for the following week would be based
upon the parable of the pearl. On the
preceding Sunday, as he said, the par
ables of the. mustard seed and the
leaven had been respectively under
consideration.
Raising his voice so as to reach
every corner of the audience room
and with a clear-cut, incisive tone
he repeated Matthew, xiv., 44: “Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like untc
treasure hid in a field; the which
when a man hath found, he hideth
and for joy thereof goeth and selloth
ad that he hath, and buyeth that
field.”
His discourse was full of interest
and apparently much enjoyed by the
class. At its close a general discus
sion of the subject took place. Then
Mr. Rockefeller again addressed the
class briefly.
‘Now let us sing.’’ he concluded
somewhat abruptly.
: Signaling to the quartet in the choir
loft with one hand and reaching for
a hymnal with the other, the class
leader joined in the hearty response
that followed. As the final notes of
the deep-toned organ concluded a '
trailing offertory, the young multi
millionaire class leader pronounced a
brief benediction.
This done, the secretary made a
number of announcements as to the
program for the coming week, and the 1
class adjourned, as customary, to the
adjoining reception room, where mem
tbers and visitors alike were to- meet
and converse personally with the ■
young magnate.
His hand clasp was no less cordial
than his smile on meeting a press ‘
representative until an interview was
broached. His hands swiftly vanished
behind his back. He glanced quickly
about. Yet the smile remained as he
said quietly: “I would prefer not to ‘
discuss the class, work. We are always
glad to welcome visitors and to show j
by our actions just what we are doing. \
But it is a family tradition that we
permit our actions to do our talking"
“You do not regard it as a sacrifice
to devote so much of your time to this
#ork?” was suggested. I
Again the mouth smiled while the I
iron-gray eyes remained immovable. 1
“In my talk this morning.” he replied i
“I said somethirg about the necessity l
of considering such things as a pleas
ure rather than as a sacrifice.”—New
York Times.
Speculating on Noah’s Ark.
The Danes have been modeling a
vessel on the exact lines of Noah's '
ark as described in Genesis. The mod
el is 50 feet long. 5 feet wide anti 3
feet high—one-tenth of Noah's meas
urements. It was floated on Oct. 30 1
with a party of engineers and profess
ors on board and proved to be an ad- 1
mirable sea boat.
The event confirms the theory that
the Babylonians had at an early peri- <
od a sea-borne commerce, and that
Noah’s ship was driven by a severe
storm into the Euphrates and high
and dry up into the mountains.
The remembrance of this great
storm, which destroyed whole cities, *
grew into the account of the flood as 1
we have it. says the learned pro
fessors. but as their speculations are
qnly suggestions, w-e know just as
much about it as before, and no more.
- To Study Land Question. I
It Is stated that Sir Gilbert Parker, <
author of “A Ladder of Swords,” has
gone to South Africa to make a spe
cial study of the lapd question there
■Humiiiiiiii'11... t imf^iwiiiliniifiiiiiiaiiiwii
HOW TO FIND GROUSE.
Uncertain Birds to Which Rules Do
Not Always Apply.
The ruffed grouse is one of the un
certain birds to which no hard and
fast rules will apply, says a writer in
Outing, yet he has a few small pe
culiarities of which advantage may be
taken. In wild, heavy woodland, his
original haunt, he has a weakness for
two things—an old toteroad, or any
seldom used road, and the bank of a
stream.
• A man trying a bit of woods with
which he is unaccustomed probably
will see more grouse near an old road
than anywhere else. In hilly country
the lower slopes of the ravines are
apt to be the best ground. In level
country the long strips of thicket bor
dering large blocks of standing tim
ber are ideal places and if the thicket
happens to mark the edge of a clover
field so much the better.
Never pass even a small thicket
which stands out in a clover field with
a wood upon any side. Grouse are
fond of clover and until the winter
sets in are apt to be in any fair shel
ter near the field. Later, in snow
time, the borders and interior of large
woodland swamps are the chosen
places. If there be a region of thick,
low-lying foiest. having close-grown
beech ridges here and there, these
surely will repay the labor of beating
them, for they are almost certain to
be the strongholds of all the ruffed
grouse of the neighborhood. Old
windfalls and slashings are good be
came they afford acres of the sort
of shelter the birds prefer in cold
weather.
Should a single bird flush, proceed
warily and ready for instant action,
for a second and perhaps three or
four stragglers may be within gun
shot of the spot. Ground good for
one bird may be as attractive to three
or four, although each individual re
mains some slight distance from the
others. When beating border thick
ets with a comrade, I prefer to work
in the cover about aiong the line
where thicket and forest join. Most
men will choose the outside, but
ruffed grouse almost invariably dash
for the wood, hence across the line
of fire of the inside man. Such shots
are none too easy and trees have a
knack cf getting in the way, yet as
a general thing the inside position
means the most fun.
What is a Typical American?
Every nation, or rather every his
toric race, has certain ~attribui.es .in,
addition to the great and more obvious
virtues it believes to be peculiarly its
own, and in which it takes an especial
pride, writes Henry Cabot Lodge in
McClure’s. We of the United States
like to think of the typical American
as a brave man and an honest man.
very human, with no vain pretense to
infallibility. We would have him sim
ple in .his home life, democratic in his
ways, with the highest education that
the world can give, kind to the weak,
tender and loyal and true, never quar
relsome, but never afraid to fight, with
a strong, sane sense of humor, and
with a strain of adventure in his blood,
which w'e shall never cease to love
until those ancestors of ours who con
quered a continent have drifted a good
deal farther into the past than is the
case to-day. These are the qualities
which all men admire and respect and
which thus combined we like to think
peculiarly American.
An Ingalls Story.
Mr. John J. Ingalls, who was always
stoical, who was not seemingly af
fected by passion and who was per
fectly indifferent to pleasure or pain,
was some years ago making a long
drive in the western part of the state
with a companion. They were out
campaigning, were fnll of gyp water,
were wholly enveloped in the dust of
the desert, their broncos being com
nleteb' fagged while wearily approach
ing the end of a fifty-mile drive. Not
a word had been spoken for half an
hour. Ingalls sat stiffly beside his
companion, his hair, his face, his
clothing thick w-ith the alkali dust that
floated in clouds above them. Clear
ing his throat as he turned his face
lo the west, he majestically waved his
hand to his companion, and, speaking
In his characteristic guttaral tones,
said: “What a magnificent snnset."—
Eldorado (Kan.) Republican.
By Comparison.
Not half *o' limpid are youn eye*
As mime that flash me soft replies.
Not half so tempting are your lips
As some, alas! as some I know:
Nor half so dear The chin that dips
Above your bosom’s timid show
As chins where dimpling lilies blow.
Vour smiles bewildering, your hair,
i'our woman's ways, the gowns you
wear.
Not half so heart-entangling they
As those of other ladies fair
With whom 1 meet most every day.
Not half—ah. no! but twice and thrice
As captivating, sweet and nice
in every charm are you than all
Who ever held me in their thrall!
—Town Topics.
Nine-Pound Potato.
Greeley, Colo., claims the largest
potato raised in the Centennial. State
this year. The tuber for which the
championship is claimed weighs
nine pounds and was sent to the ex
position at St. Louis. Roy Smith of
Montrose, Colo., has five potatoes
whose combined weight is twenty-two
pounds.
The Pleasure of Old Age.
Free from the distractions of life,
the aged are at leisure to observe and
admire. “I never knew," said Cornaro,
“that the world was beautiful until 1
reached old age.” This period was
frequently declared by him to -be the
most beautiful of his life. Writing at
the age of ninety-one, «e said that he
felt it his duty to^make known to the
world that man could attain to an
earthly paradise after the age of
eighty; but only Dy means of the two
virtues, self-restraint and temperance.
At that time he was writing eight
hours a day,, walking and singing
many other hours, enjoying the beau
ties of nature, and abundant in labors
for the good of mankind.—Good
Health.
Honors. Hunting Women.
The German Emperor has conferred
imperial court hunting costumes upon
three English noblewomen—the dow
ager Countess of Dudley, the Mar
chioness of Lansdowne and the Mar
chioness of Ormonde—whom his ma
jesty saw (hunting on the occasion oi
Viking Ship 1,000 Years Old
The Pleasure-Barge of Some Norwegu n Queen: A thousand-Year-Old Viking Ship Newly Discovered at
Norway.
Slagen,
w nat is supposed to have been the
pleasure barge of some Norwegian
queen has been unearthed at Slogen,
Norway. It is at least 1,000 years old
and was discovered on the coast west
of Christiana bay. Various circuni
stances point to its having been the
pleasure vessel of some viking mon
arch's queen. These proofs are said
to lie in the fact that no weapons were
discovered in the burial tumulus
where the ship lay. Other proofs are
the fine woodwork on the rails ant
prow, and a loom and an elegant
sledge, probably a woman's, whict
were also found inside the vessel. Tht
find has attracted the attention oi
scientists of Europe.
HE WAS OLD FOR THE GAME.
How Kindly Citizen Got Into Trouble
Helping a Boy.
A small boy was staggering under
the weight of a big wooden box along
Norris street, near Thirteenth yester
day, says the Philadelphia Record,
when a sedate, middle-aged man ac
costed him. ‘Til help you, sonny,"
=sid the man, kindly, and he grabbed
hold of the box. The boy looked sur
prised, but accepted the aid, and to
gether they marched ahead until, at
Thirteenth street, a policeman sud
denly appeared in view. “Cheese it!”
shouted the boy, scampering off. leav
ing the astonished Samaritan face to
face with the cop and in sole posses
sion of the box. “Ain't you a little
tit old for that game?” queried the
policeman. “Wh-what game?” gasped
he puzzled citizen. “Stealing.” re
lumed the cop, with a grin. “Swip
ng firewood for election.” “Gee
vhiz!” exclaimed the kindly dis
Dosed individual, mopping his brow.
\fter looking at the box and then at
he policeman, he remarked: “I guess
t’s up to me to take this back.” And
vhile the cop looked on he carried
he box back to where a grocer was
standing, laughing at his predicament.
WOUNDED JAPANESE A HERO.
With One Leg Shot Away He Crawled
Forward to Fight.
“I rushed by a fellow who was
down; bis left leg was shot away.”
says a Japanese officer writing in Les
/fe s Monthly. “He was bleeding co
piously. Through the din of rifle fire
and machine guns which gave us a
mantle of smoke and dust, I shouted
to him: ‘To the rear, to the field hos
pital. and he quick about it’
“The fellow looked at me. and upon
his face was a marked sign of sur
prise. His lips quivered in a half
smile. The expression of his face was
at once an interrogation point and a
mild rebuke. Then he began to wiggle
himself forward through the bodies of
his fallen comrades. I repeated my
order, which, seeing that he could not
walk very well with one leg. was a
rather foolish one—I was somewhat
exasperated at the evident Indifference
on his part to the order cf his su
perior officer.
“He raised his face in my direction
with the same old half smile and said
to me: ‘Lieutenant, I have lost one of
my legs, but don't you see I have two
hands? They ought to be enough to
strike at the Russians.’ ”
Judge Van Wyck Tells One.
Judge Augustus C. Van Wyck was
arguing with sundry members of the
North Carolina society against having
a constitution that was too elaborate.
He declared that he preferred a
strong society and a weak constitu
tion to a wTeak society and a strong
constitution.
v i“This reminds me,”.he said, “of the
reply made by Rufus Choate when a
friend congratulated him on having a
strong constitution. ‘Bless your life,’
said Choate, ‘T wore out my constitu
tion twenty-five years ago, and since
then I have been living on my by
laws.’ ”
Queer Symbolisms.
A Geneva professor who has been
experimentirg on the powers of sym
bolism possessed by his pupils secured
some marvelous results. It is long
since colors suggested sound, but the
vowels have each their equivalent,
color for the sensitive Swiss subject.
The letter A gives the impression of
red. I of white, O of black. The pro
fessor’s experiments resulted in the
identification of Sunday with white,
Monday with yellow and so on through
the scale to the blackness of Satur
day. The blind lady in Rudyard Kip
ling's story puzzle “They” identifies
purple and streaks with a mysterious
thought in the mind of her visitor.
One of the Geneva pupils drew a year
as a circle.
Public Spirited Citizen.
Gen. William J. Palmer, the found
er of Coiorado Springs. Colo., besides
spending $750,000 in a park extending
the length of the city, is completing a
new equestrian ard pedestrian trail to
Cry«tal park, which will open up cs
grand scenery as to be tad in the
PHYSICAL VALUE OF YAWN.
Expands Lungs and with Stretching
Aids Circulation of Blood.
During sleep the respiration is shal
low and the expansion of the lungs is
insufficient for active movement. It
J is necessary, therefore, says the De
troit News-Tribune, to fully expand
the lungs on waking before or as soon
as active mov'etoiehts comufbrice. This
is effected by a yawn, which Is a deep
respiration, assisted by the wide open
ing of the mouth.
The depth of the inspiration is often
assisted by raising the arms above the
bead and by throwing forward the
! chest and thus yawning and stretch
i ing are only parts of one inspiratory
effort.
Stretching also aids the return of
the blood to the muscles. During sleep
the circulation is feebler and the skin
seems to be supplied with blood at the
, expense of the muscles and on waking
1 the limbs are stretched to insure their
) being in working order and to restore
to them their normal waking blood
supply.
Toward night it is not uncommon
for a similar reduction in the depth
of the respiration and slowing of the
circulation to take place and this is
corrected by a similar yawning and
stretching as on waking.
Long as Sherlock Holmes.
Ex-Gov. Long of Massachusetts is a
political Sherlock Holmes. Not long
ago he was at a county fair, when a
j farmer approached him. Gov. Long
stuck out his hand-and said:
“I’m glad to see you again, sir. glad f
to see you. How's your wife? And
the boy.”
All was right and accurate, and the
farmer beamed with pleasure. Gov.
Long cpntinued:
“And say! How about the white
horse? Still have him. I suppose?”
The farmer beamed more than ever.
“Wall, now! Who'd of thought
; you’d remember a little thing like
that, guv nor! Yes. I still got the old
white hoss.”
When the farmer had passed out of
hearing a friend exclaimed:
“Say. governor, that ‘wife and boy’
question was all right and safe. But
how in the world did you know he had
a.white horse?” i
“Well” said Gov. Long. “I'll tell you.
1 I saw some w^hite hairs on his coat
and I took chances. That’s all.”—
Cleveland Leader.
In the Mexican Desert.
In the Botanical Gazette of recent
date Dr. D. T. MacDougal gives an ac
count of the expedition which he ar
ranged to explore the delta of the Rio
Colorado and that practically un
known portion of the Mexican desert
which lies on both sides round the
head of the Gulf of California.
Amongst the xerophytes, which were
found in the regions in extreme aridi
ty, were many perennials containing
latex and a large number of forms
Vhich secrete volatile oils or exude
resinous gums; but plants with mass
ive storage organs were absent, a fact
which Dr. MacDougal attributes to the
excessively small and even distribu
tion of the rainfall throughout the
year.
English Girl Political Economist.
One of the most interesting young
English women visiting America in
many a year is Lady Dorothy Legge,
daughter of the earl of Dartmouth, who
traveled from Boston to Hanover. N.
H.. with her parents to see her father
lay the corner stone of a new building
for the college bearing his name.
Lady Dorothy is a deep student of
political economy, and, like her broth
er. Viscount Lewisham, is a warm ad
mirer of the younger nations. The
viscount and his sister long have
watched the development of two won
derful peopl&s—the Americans and the
Japanese. Both believe the world's
progress hinges in large measure an
the mental trend of the Yankees of the
west and east.
Great Irrigation Dam.
i About l.OCO acres of valuable fruit
land has been brought under water by
the construction of the DeWeese dam
in the Wet mountaiji valley, near
Westcliffe, Colo. The reservoir is one
of the largest in the Centennial State,
and its waters will make valuable
much land in Lincoln park, near Can
FOOLED HIS FATHER-IN-LAW.
Story of Senator Elkins and Vice
Presidential Candidate Davis.
Many years ago the recent demo*
cratic \ ice-presidential candidate and
his son-in-law, Stephen B. Elkins, were
going through the mountain wilder
ness of West Virginia, buying coal
,lands.. It was a.-phagaptcristjc pro
ceeding of Elkins to get the best bed
at every little hotel where they
stopped. Try as he would, Mr. Davis
could never pick the best bed in a
room, while Elkins could always tell
at a glance which was the best, and
would throw his bag and coat upon
it as soon as they entered.
At one little town, however, Elkins
was detained down stairs by a man
who knew him, and Davis and another
man of the party went up to the room
where all were to sleep for the night.
Davis went about from bed to bed and
felt each very carefully, and found
one much better than the rest. He
deposited his overcoat and bag on the
good bed and went down stairs. He
could scarcely conceal the satisfac
tion he felt over his success in once
getting the best of Elkins. The lattei
went upstairs soon after, and his prac
ticed eye told him that his father-in
law had picked out the best bed.
Boy, he said to the colored man
who had show-n him the room. “Here
is half a dollar. Now I want you to
change those two beds. Just the bed
ding underneath, now, and fix them so
they will took just like they do now.
Do you understand?”
“Yes sah,” was the reply.
At night, after bargains had been
made, the party went to the room to
go to bed. Davis found everything
just as he had left it. Elkins soon
had his clothes off and was in bed
listening. Davis leisurely got ready
and. pulling down the covers, threw
himself down, expecting to land on a
soft and comfortable bed, but instead
it was hard and rough. He groaned,
and there was a suppressed snicker
from the corner where Elkins had
retired.
“O, Elkins, you have robbed me."
remarked Davis, pathetically, and
while Elkins declared he did not
know what Davis referred to, his ill
suppressed laughter -connected i him
with the charge.—Washington Post.
Rockefeller’s Lay Preaching.
Members of the Sunday school class
of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., tell il
quietly that he has changed much in
the last year and a half in his dis
quisitlons on morals. When he firsl
took up his father’s work as a teacher
he stuck closely to the Bible, studious
ly avoiding whatever suggested the
slightest leaning toward the sensa
tionalism of lay preaching. He stood
by his texts, which came mostly from
the Psalms, Proverbs and the foui
gospels. Talking of the parable of the
rich man was hig delight, being born
in the shadow of $200,000,000, and hie
class quickly learned that Lazarus wae
his ideal. Lately he has drifted into
a species of pleasant stimulation ol
the senses of his hearers, and now is
in danger of becoming a thriller.
One Birth the Rule.
Former Senator George F. Edmunds
recently visited one of the mountain
hamlets in Vermont, where he had not
been for many years. Despite the
fact that it was near a railroad, it ap
peared not to have increased in size
or changed a whit in thirty years.
“What’s your population now” the sen
ator asked the local hotelkeeper. "Oh,
somewhere between 1,200 and 1,400.”
“Why, the place used to have nearly
2,000, didn’t it?” “Yep. that’s so. ’Tain’t
so big as ’twas.” “Well, I guess babies
aren’t born here very frequently, are
they?” “Oh, ’bout once.”
New Colombian Minister.
Enrique Cortez, according to pri
vate information received in Washing
ton. is to be sent here by President
Reyes as Colombian minister to the
United States. Senior Cortez is said
to -be in favor of the construction of
an isthmian canal. A Pan-American
diplomate is authority for the state
ment that the new minister will en
deavor to sell to the United States
several islands off the isthmus, which,
It is believed, will be used by tho