flflflflflflflflflflflflflflk * * ! ' * ' wmmii 1 1 i iinwin * * ! , i .i.r..P M , - . . . - - iminnnmnU.
' ' ' 'IrrfTl-trTTVTillfcMnjni , - , , , , , ,
MH'J' in „ ni iT-rirnnn - - ! ! - L
BflflflflflB \ m S *
HflflBfJ-i'
HflflB-u ? *
B | | 3 A Tate of f
I j Three Lions
t
3 H' RiDER HAGGARD
M f \
Hfi/ ( CHAPTER I. ( Coktihtjed. * )
fl | $ "At last the crisis came. One Satur-
H\ \ | | -day I had paid the men as usual , and
flYflBnli' * ' bought a muid of mealle meal at sixty
KJwt' shillings for them to fill themselves
flB.ff'with ( \ * and then I went wIth my b ° y
flflYflHf § Harry and sat on the edge of the
?
H 1l | 'thundering great hole that we had dug
B ft in the hill-side , and 'Which we had in
flYflK. ' m bitter mockery named Eldorado. There
Bi > 1 we sat in tie moonlight with our feet
IVflYflir , \ hanging over the edge of the claim , and
HflflflV' ' 1 were melancholy enough for anything.
l
Bvfifi ! } Presently I pulled out my purse and
Bl % emptied its contents into my hand.
t \ 'There was a half sovereign , two florins ,
B . ' i nine pence in silver , no coppers , for
H.if copper practically does not circulate in
B'Jk which is of the
' , V -South Africa , one
yi > • things that makes living so dear there ,
§
Hh ) : in all exactly fourteen and nine pence.
Vfjk ' "There , Harry , my hey ! ' I said ,
BjfT 'that is the sum-total of our worldly
Pfjg . wealth ; the infernal hole has swallow-
m 'W ed all the rest. '
L If ' "Gracious ! " said Master Harry. 'I
t y say * you and 1 sua11 nave t0 let our
B'Y selves out to work with the Kafirs and
Hkbl Jive on mealie pap. ' and he giggled at
Vy\y his unpleasant little joke.
mm\ < \ "But I was in no mood for joking ,
Hlffor it is not a merry thing to dig like
Hr \ znad for months and be completely
BBflBTl * h ruined in the process , especially if
K < you happen to hate digging like poison ,
Hil flQd consequently I resented Harry's
V// | light-heartedness.
H ( < f " 'Shut up ! ' I said , raising my hand
K ( ' > as though to give him a cuff , with the
B , if result that the half sovereign slipped
H out of it and fell in the gulf below.
Br\ " ' 0h > confound it all , ' said I , 'it's
1 % gone. '
Bfr " 'There , dad , ' said Harry ; 'that's
Ejffe what comes of letting your angry pas-
H\ sions rise ; now we are down to four
jyp"I made no answer to these words
Blgl of wisdom , but scrambled down the
Em steep sides of the claim followed by
B AA _ Harry , to hunt for my little all. Well ,
BflH , ! ! ( we hunted and hunted , but the moon-
Bflflflri1 ? light is an uncertain thing to look for
m \ half sovereigns by , and there was some
Mts loose soil about , for the Kafirs had
Pu'v knocked off working at the very spot
H\v/ a couple of hours before. I took a
HkL pick and raked away the clods of
) j > earth with it , in the hope of finding
Hf7/ the coin ; but all in vain. At last in
H Bj&/ * sheer annoyance I struck the sharp end
A of the pick-ax down into the soil ,
BRy which was of a very hard nature. To
Kuff niv astonishment it sunk in right up
H4f ? to the haft.
KL * ' t * ' 'Why , Harry , ' I said , 'this ground
Bn must have been disturbed ! '
BK " 'I doa't think so , father , ' he
BkL answered , 'but we will soon see , ' and
H L h * began to shovel out the soil with
H iL his hands. 'Oh , ' he said , presently , 'it's
B W1 only some old stones ; the pick has
H'/p gone down between them , look ; ' and
H\r \ . he began to pull at one of the stones.
BvL " * say' "ad , > he sai(1 * Presentlv. al _
lv > most in a whisper , 'it's precious heavy ,
Hf'xTJf feel it. ' and he rose and gave me a
m\4 round brownish lump about the size of
f a very ar5e aPPle. which he was hoid-
Vl inS in both his hands. I took it curious-
B& ly and held it up to the light. It wasH
H- \ precious heavy. The moonlight fell
K/ ' upon its rough and dirt-incrusted sur-
Vgf face , and as I looked curious little
Bf\ thrills of excitement began to pass
BLm through me. But I could not be sure.
HE * " 'Give me your knife , Harry , ' I said.
Hf "He did so , and resting the brown
B > stone on my knee I scratched at its
fl Hit surface. Great heavens , it was soft !
K\ " "Another secret and the secret was
flf f\ . out ; we had found a great nugget of
Khfi pure gold , four pounds of it or more.
H $ / / t's gold , lad , ' I said , 'it's gold , or I'm
Hjf/ a Dutchman. '
H "Harry , with his eyes starting out of
HOj his head , glared down at the long
p gleaming yellow scratch that I had
H made upon the virgin metal , and then
Hw burst out into yell upon yell of ex-
BK ultation , that went ringing away
HE across the silent claims like the shrieks
/
HBflB 'fiV' ° somebody being murdered.
Bj uf " 'Shut up , shut up ! " I said , 'do you
Kf ft' want every thief on the fields after
Hpti1 you ?
iff "Scarcely were the words out of my
Kj f * mouth when I heard a stealthy foot-
„
Klr - step approaching. I promptly put the
KmW big nugget down and sat on it , as
Hylp though it had been an egg , and un-
Hpy . commonly hard it was , and as I did
Hrc/J | so I saw a lean dark face poked over
kST the edge of the claim and a pair of
KL heady eyes searching us out I knew
Hgfi the face , it belonged to a man of very
Bjjysft had character known as Handspike
H mI' Tom , having I understood been so
W Kt named at the Diamond Fields because
uUk he had murdered his mate , with a hand-
BBrof spike. He was now no doubt prowling
Bjj about like a human hyena to see what
BBeT he could steal.
H Bjfr , " 'Is that you , 'unter Quatermain ? *
HB/f lie says.
Kmf " 'Yes , that's me , Mr. Tom , ' I
B1 answered , politely.
K " 'And what might all that there
K yelling be ? ' he asked. 'I was walking
A along , a-taking of the evening air and
H\ a-thinking about my soul , when I 'ears
B/ 'owl after 'owl. '
B | " 'Well , Mr. Tom , ' I answered , 'that
B is not to be wondered at. seeing that
HB like- yourself they are nocturnal birds. '
Bv [ " "Owl after 'owl , ' he repeated , stern-
KLi\ " 3y taking no notice of my interpreta-
H -t tion , 'and I stops and smacks my lips
HtV and says , "That's murder , " and I lis-
BB tens agin and thinks , "No , it ain't- ' that
Hr. 'owl is the 'owl of hexhultatioh ; some
K • one's been and got his fingers into a
Btf gummy yeller pot , I'll swear , and gone
B off 'is 'ead in the sucking of them.
K * . vNow , "unter Quatermain , . is I right ?
K is it nuggets ? Oh , Lor' ! ' and he smack-
'
m
ed his lips audibly 'great big yellow
boys is it them that you have just
been and tumbled across ? *
" 'No , ' I said boldly , 'it isn't' the
cruel gleam in his black eyes altogether
overcoming my aversion to the lie , for
I knew that if once l" : found out what
it was that I was sitting on and by
the way I have heard of rolling in gold
being spoken of as a pleasant process ,
but I certainly do not recommend any
body who values comfort to try sitting
on it I should run. a very good chance
of being handspiked before the night
was over.
" 'If you want to know what it was ,
Mr. Tom , ' I went on with my politest
air , although in agony from the sug-
get underneath , for I hold it always
best to be polite to a man who is so
handy with a handspike , 'my boy and I
have had a slight difference of opinion ,
and I was enforcing my view of the
matter upon him ; that's all , Mr. Tom. '
" 'Yes , Mr. Tom , " put in Harry , begin
ning to snivel. ,
" ' is that a play
'Well , all I can say
ed-out old claim is a wonderful queer
sort of a place to come for to argify at
ten o'clock of night , and what's more ,
my sweet youth , if ever I should 'ave
the argifying of yer' and he leered
unpleasantly at Harry 'yer won't 'oi
ler in quite such a jolly sort o' way.
And now I'll be saying good-night , for
I don't like disturbing of a family
party. No , I ain't that sort of man. I
ain't Good-night to yer , 'unter Qua
termain good-night to yer , my argi-
fied young one ; ' and Mr. Tom turned
away disappointed and prowled off
elsewhere , like a human jackal , to see
what he could thieve or kill.
" 'Thank heaven ! ' I said , as I slipped
off the lump of gold which had left a
dent upon my person that did not wear
out for a week or more. 'Now then ,
just you slip up , Harry , and see if that
consummate villain has gone. ' Harry
did so , and reported that he had van
ished toward Pilgrims * Rest , and then
we set to work , and very carefully , but
trembling with excitement , with our
hands hollowed out all the space of
ground into which I had struck the
pick. Yes , as I thought , there was a
regular nest of nuggets , twelve in all ,
running from the size of a hazel nut
to that of a hen's egg , though of course
the first one was much larger than that.
How they all came there nobody can
say ; it was one of those extraordinary
freaks , with stories of which at any
rate , all people acquainted with al
luvial gold-mining will be familiar. It
turned out afterward that the Yankee
who sold me the claim had in the same
way made his pile a much larger one
than ours , by the way out of a single
pocket , and then worked for six months
without seeing color , after which he
gave it up.
"At any rate , there the nuggets were ,
to the value as it turned out afterwards ,
of about twelve hundred and fifty
pounds , so that after all I took out of
that hole four hundred and fifty pounds
more than I put into it. We got them
all out and wrapped them up in a hand
kerchief , and then fearing to carry
home so much treasure , especially as
we knew that Mr. Handspike Tom was
on the prowl , made up our minds to
pass the night where we were a neces
sity which , disagreeable as it was , was
wonderfully sweetened by the presence
of that handkerchief full of virgin gold ,
which represented the interest of my
lost half sovereign.
"Slowly the night wore away , for
with the fear of Handspike Tom before
my eyes I did not care to go to sleep ,
and at last the dawn came , blushing
like a bride , down the somber ways of
night. I got up and watched its perfect
growth , till it opened like a vast celes
tial flower upon the eastern sky , and
the sunbeams began to spring in splen
dor from mountain-top to mountain-
top. I watched it , and as I did so it
flashed upon me with a complete con
viction that I had not felt before , that
I had had enough gold-mining to last
me the rest of my natural life , and I then
' and there made up my mind to clear
out of Pilgrims' Rest and go and shoot
buffalo toward Delago Bay. Then I
turned , took the pick and shovel , and
although it was a Sunday morning ,
woke up Harry and set to work to see
if there were any more nuggets handy.
As I expected , there were none. What
we had got had lain together in a little
pocket filled with soil that felt quite
different from the stiff stuff round and
outside the pocket. There was not a
trace of gold. Of course , it is possible '
that there were other pockets full
somewhere about , but all I have to say
is I made up my mind that , whoever
found them I should not ; and , as a
matter of fact , I have since heard that
that claim has been the ruin of two
or three people , as it was very nearly
the ruin of me. (
" 'HarrjV I said presently , 'I am go
ing away this week towards Delago to
shoot buffalo. Shall I take j'ou with
me , or send you down to Durban ? '
" 'Oh , take me with you , dad , ' beg
ged Harry , 'I want to kill a buffalo ! '
" 'And supposing the buffalo kills
you instead ? ' I asked.
" 'Oh , never mind , ' he saj-s gayly ,
'there are lots more where I came
from. '
"I rebuked him for his flippancy , but
in the end I consented to take him. "
CHAPTER II.
"Something over a fortnight had
passed since the night when I lost half
a sovereign and found twelve hundred
and fifty pounds in looking for it , and
instead of that horrid hole for which ,
after all , Eldorado was scarcely a mis
nomer , a very different scene stretched
away before us clad in the silver robe
of the moonlight. We were camped
Harry and I , two Kafirs , a Scotch cart ,
and six oxen on the swelling side of a
great wave of bush-clad land. Just
where Tve had made our camp , how
ever , the bush was very sparse , and
only grew about in clumos while here
•
' ? ii ' ! i i .V ! 1 /-t ' ' ' ' mmthjjm * imtJ&Jym it mi MM *
1 . . . . . _
| r f -n 1111 1 1 > iin in 1 iiiinmi r
4
and there were single flat-topped mim
osa trees. To our right a little stream ,
which had cut a deep channel for itself
in the bosom of the slope , flowed mu
sically on between banks green with
the maiden-hair , wild asparagus , and
many beautiful grasses. The bed-rock
.here was red granite , and in the course
of many centuries of patient washing
the water had hollowed out some of
the huge slabs in its path into great
troughs and cups , and these we used
for bathing-places. No Roman lady ,
with her baths of porphyry or alabas
ter , could have had a more delicious
spot to lave herself than we had within
fifty yards of our skerm or rough in-
closure of mimosa thorn that we had
dragged together round the cart to pro
tect us from the attacks of lions , of
which there were several about , as I
knew from their spoor , though we had
neither heard nor seen them.
"It was a little nook where the eddy
of the stream had washed away a mass
of soil , and on the edge of it there
grew a most beautiful old mimosa
thorn. Beneath the thorn was a large
smooth slab of granite fringed all
with maiden-hair , and other ferns , that
sloped gently down to a pool of the
clearest sparkling water , which lay in
a bowl of granite about ten feet wide
by five deep in the center. Here to
this slab we went every morning to
bathe , and that delightful bath is
among the most pleasant of my hunt
ing reminiscences , as it is also for rea
sons that will presently appear , among
the most painful.
"It was a lovely night , and Harry
and I sat there to the windward of the
fire , at which the two Kafirs were
busily employed in cooking some impala -
pala steaks off a buck which Harry ,
to his great joy , had shot that morn
ing , and were as perfectly contented
with ourselves and the world at large
as two people could possibly be. The
night was beautiful , and it would re
quire somebody with more words on
the tip of his tongue than I have to
describe the chastened majesty of the
moonlit wilds. Away forever and for
ever , away to the mysterious north ,
rolled the great bush ocean over which
the silence hung like a heavy cloud.
There beneath us a mile or more to
the right rolled the wild Oliphant
river , and mirror-like flashed back the
moon , whose silver spears were shiver
ed on ite breast , and then tossed in
twisted lines of light far and wide
about the mountains and the plain.
Down upon its banks grew great tim
ber-trees that through the stilly silence
pointed solemnly to heaven , and the
Deauty of the night lay upon them like
a dream. Everywhere was silence si
lence in the starred depths , silence in
the fair bosom of the sleeping earth.
Now , if ever , great thoughts might rise
in a man's mind , and for a space ho
might lose his littleness in the sense
that he partook of the pure immensity
about him. Almost might he hear the
echoes of angelic voices , as the spirits
poised on bent and rushing pinions
swept onwards from universe to uni
verse ; and distinguished the white fin
gers of the wind playing in the tresses
of the trees.
"Hark ! what was that ?
"From far away down the river
there comes mighty rolling sound ,
then another , and another. It is the
lion seeking his meat.
"I saw Harry shiver and turn a little
pale. He was a plucky boy enough , but
the roar of a lion for the first time in
the solemn bush veldt at night is apt
to shake the nerves of any lad.
; TO B3 COXTIStJED.I
AN OLD MOSAIC.
Unearthed by a Tarty of Soldiers In
Tunis.
After Italy and Provence there is no
country where Rome has left moro
monuments in every state of preserva
tion of decay than in Tunis , says the
London Daily News. The largest
Roman circus after the Coliseum is
El-Djem , Aries ranking next and Nimes
coming fourth. At a recent sitting of
the Academy of Inscriptions in Paris
M. Boisier , our correspondent says
gave an account of a remarkable
Roman discovery at Susa , in Tunis
The French , who , unlike the English
in Egypt , have settled down in Tunis
for good , have got a camp at that sea
port which is "a mine of mosaics , "
where fresh discoveries are made every
year. The other day a party of soldiers
digging foundations unearthed a mosaic -
saic with three human figures in a per
fect state of preservation , covered with
only a few inches of soil. It is only
three and one-half feet square , but the
subject , "Virgil Writing the Aeneid , "
will interest all. There is a front view
of the poet loosely draped in the folds
of a white toga with a blue fringe , sitting -
ting with his feet in sandals resting on
a step. He holds on his knees a
papyrus roll on which is written in
cursive letters one of the verses of his
poem. With his right hand on his
breast , the forefinger pointing upward ,
his head erect in an inspired attitude ,
he listens to Clio and Melpomene , who ,
standing behind , dictate his cantos.
A Good Samaritan.
"There are several things in this
book of mine that I think are particu
larly good , " said the young writer. "No
doubt ; no doubt , " replied the man of
many experiences. "Have you submit
ted it to a publisher ? " "Not yet. I
; wanted to get your advice. " "My can
did advice ? " "Certainly. " "Well , if 1
were in your place I'd go through the
i book and pick out what I considered
the passages of striking excellence "
"Yes ? " "And throw them away. "
Washington Star.
Poor Soul.
An exchange announces on the death
of a lady that "she lived fifty years
with her husband and died in confident
hope of a better life. " Texas Sifter.
f
TALMAGE'S sekmon.
"A NATION AT PRAYER" LAST
SUNDAY'S SUBJECT.
From the Following Text ; "I Exhort ,
Therefore , That , First of All , Suppll-
catloim , 1'raycrn , Intercession and Giv
ing of Thanks. ' ' I Tlin. , 3:1.
HAT which Lon-
1 don is to England ,
> Paris to France ,
Berlin to Germany ,
Rome to Italy ,
Vienna to Austria ,
St. Petersburg to
Russia , Washing
ton is to the Unit
ed States republic.
The people who
live here see more
of the chief men of the nation than
any who live anywhere else between
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. If a
senator , or member of the house of
representatives , or Supreme Court jus
tice , or secretary of the cabinet , or
representative of foreign nation enters
a public assembly in any other city ,
his coming and going are remarked
upon , and unusual deference is paid
to him. In this capital there are so
many political chieftains in our
churches , our streets , our halls , that
their coming and going make no ex
citement. The Swiss seldom look up
to the Matterhorn , or Jungfrau , or ML
Blanc , because those people are used
to the Alps. So we at this capital are
so accustomed to walk among moun
tains of official and political eminence
that they are not to us a great novelty.
Morning , noon and night we meet the
giants. But there is no place on earth
where the importance of the Pauline
injunction to prayer for those in em
inent place ought to be better appre
ciated. At this time , when our pub
lic men have before them the rescue
of our national treasury from appalling
deficits , and the Cuban question , and
the Arbitration question , and in many
departments men are taking important
positions which are to them new and
untried , I would like to quote my text
with a whole tonnage of emphasis
words written by the sacred mission
ary to the young theologian Timothy :
"I exhort , therefore , that , first of all ,
supplication , prayers , intercessions and
giving of thanks be made for all men ;
for kings , and for all that are in au
thority. "
If I have the time , and do not forget
some of them before I get through , I
will give you four or five reasons why
the people of the United States ought
to make earnest and continuous prayer
for those in eminent place.
First , because that will put us in
proper attitude toward the successful
men of the nation. . After you have
prayed for a man you will do him jus
tice. There is a bad streak in human
nature that demands us to assail those
that are more
successful than our
selves. It shows itself in boyhood ,
when the lads , all running to get their
ride on the back of
a carriage , and one
gets on , those failing to get on shout
to the driver , "Cut behind ! " Unsuc
cessful men seldom like those who in
any department are successful. The
cry is , "He is a political accident , " or
"He bought his way up , " or "It just
happened so , " and there is an impa
tient waiting for him to come down
more rapidly than he went up. The
best cure tor such cynicism is prayer.
After we have risen from our knees we
will be wishing the official good in
stead of evil. We will be hoping for
him benediction rather than maledic
tion. If he makes .a mistake we will
call it a mistake instead of malfeas
ance in office. And , oh ! how much
happier we will be ; for wishing one evil
is diabolic , but wishing one good is
saintly , is angelic , is God-like. When
the Lord drops a man into depths be
yond which there is no lower depth
he allows him to be put on an investi
gating committee with the one hope of
finding something wrong. In general
assemblies of the Presbyterian Church ,
in conferences of the Methodist Church ,
in conventions of the Episcopal Church ,
in House of Representatives , and in
Senate of United States there are men
always glad to be appointed on the
Committee of Malodorswhile
, there are
those who are glad to be put on the
Committee of Eulogiums.
. After you
have prayed , in the words of my text ,
for all that are in authority , you will
say , "Brethren , Gentlemen , Mr. Chair
man , excuse me from serving on the
Committee of Malodors , for last night ,
just before I prayed for those in emi
nent position , I read that chapter in
Corinthians about charity which
"hopeth all things" and "thinketh no
evil. " The Committee of Malodors is
an important committee , but I here
now declare that those are incompe
tent for its work who have , not in
spirit of conventionalitj- in spirit
of earnest importunity , prayed for
those in high position. I cannot help
it , but I do like a St. Bernard better
than a bloodhound , and I would rather
be a humming-bird among honeysuck
les than a crow swooping upon field
carcasses. "
Another reason why we should pray
for those in eminent place is because
they have much multiplied perplexi
ties. This city at this time holds hun
dreds of men who are expectant of
preferment , and United States mail-
hags , as never before , are full of appli
cations. Let me say I have no sym
pathy with either the uttered or print
ed sneer at what are called "office-
seekers. " If I had not already re
ceived appointment as Minister Pleni
potentiary from the High Court of
Heaven as every minister of the Gos
pel has and I had at my back a fam
ily for whom I wished to achieve a
livelihood , there is no employer whose
service I would socner seek than city ,
" 11.11 Hi UW Wmi ! * MgwMw qw l l 'lU'llll ' '
ii i * * ww 1 \mmmmmiwwwiWi iMfcw ii n [
state or United States government
Those governments arc the promptest
In their payments , paying just as well
in hard time3 as in good times , and
during summer vacation as during win
ter work. Beside that , many of us
have been paying taxes to city , and
state , and nation , for years , and while
we are indebted for the protection of
government , the government Is indebt
ed to us for the honest support wc
have rendered it. So I wish success
to all earnest and competent men who
appeal to city or state or nation for
a place to work. But how many men
in high place In city , and state , and
nation , are at their wits' end to know
what to do , when for some places there
are ten applicants and for others a
hundred ! Perplexities arise from the
fact that citizens sign petitions with
out reference to the qualifications of
the applicant for the places applied
for. You sign the application because
the applicant is your friend. People
sometimes want that for which they
have no qualification , as we hear people
ple sing "I want to be an angel , " when
they offer the poorest material possi
ble for angelhood. Boors waiting to
be sent to foreign palaces as ambassa
dors , and men without any business
qualification wanting to be consuls to
foreign ports , and illiterates , capable
in one letter of wrecking all the laws
of orthography and syntax , desiring
to be put into positions where most of
the work is done by correspondence.
If divine help is needed in any place
in the world it is in those places where
patronage is distributed. In years
gone by awful mistakes have been
made. Only God , who made the world
out of chaos , could , out of the crowd
ed pigeon-holes of public men , devel
op symmetrical results. For this rea
son pray Almighty God for all those
in authority.
Then there are the vaster perplexi
ties of our relations with foreign gov
ernments. For directions in such af
fairs the God of Nations should be
implored. The demand of the people
is sometimes so heated , so unwise ,
that it must not be heeded. Hark to
the boom of that gun which sends from
the American steamer San Jacinto a
shot across the bow of the British
merchant steamer Trent , November 8 ,
1861. Two distinguished southerners ,
with their secretaries and familes , are
on the way to England and France to j
officially enlist them for the southern
confederacy. After much protest the
commissioners , who had embarked for
England and France , surrendered , and
were taken to Fort Warren , near Bos-
tion. The capture was a plain invasion
of the laws of nations , and antagonistic
to a principle for the establishment of
which the United States government
had fought in other days. However ,
so great was the excitement that the
secretary "of the United States navy
wrote an applauditory letter to Captain
Wilkes , commander of the San Jacinto
for his "prompt and decisive action , "
and the House of Representatives
passed a resolution of thanks for
"brave , adroit and patriotic conduct , "
and the millions of the north went
wild with enthusiasm , and all the news
papers and churches joined in the huz
za. England and France protested , the
former demanding that unless the
distinguished prisoners should be sur
rendered and apology made for insult
to the British flag within ten days ,
Lord Lyons must return to London ,
taking all the archives of the British
legation. War with England and
France seemed inevitable , and war
with England and France at that time
would have made a restored American
nation impossible for a long while , if
not forever. Then God came to the
rescue and helped the president and
his secretary of state. Against the al
most unanimous sentiment of the people
ple of the north the distinguished con
federates were surrendered , the law of
nations was kept inviolate , the Lion's
paw was not lifted to strike the Ea
gle's beak , and perhaps the worst dis
aster of centuries was avoided.
* * * * * *
You see there are always in places
of authority unbalanced men who want
war , because they do not realize what
war is , or they are designing men , who
want war for the same reason that
wreckers like hurricanes , and founder
ing ships , because of what may float'
ashore from the ruins. You see that
men who start wars never themselves
get hurt. They make the speeches and
others make the self-sacrifices. No
tice that all those who instigated our
civil war never as a consequence got
so much as a splinter under the
thumb-nail , and they all died peace
fully in their beds. I had two friends
as thorough friends as old men can
be to a young man Wendell Phillips
and Robert Toombs. They were not
among those who expeqted anything
advantageous from the strife , but took
their positions conscientiously. They
both had as much to do with the start
ing of the war between the north and
the south as any other two men. A
million brave northern and southern
dead were put in the grave trenches ,
but the two illustrious and honest men
I have mentioned were in good health
long after the ending of things at Ap
pomattox , and if those who advocated
measures recently that would have
brought on war between our country
and Spain or England or Turkey , had
been successful in bringing on the
wholesale murder , they themselves
would now have been above ground , as
I hope they will be , to celebrate the
birth of the twentieth century. If
God had not interfered we would have
had three wars within the last two
years war with England , war with
Spain , and war with Turkey , this
last joined by other nations
Translantic. To preserve the peaceful
equipoise which such men are disturb
ing , we need a divine balancins , for
which all good men on both sides the
sea ought to be every day praying.
Again , prayer to God for those in
1 '
, . _ . . . _ . . _ _ . . . _ JTY fc-rB
* - W
- " - ' 1 1 V1 • - - nfr-re" 1ii"rr 1' • * im 1.rn.i--.i.lii.il 11 lj..jji L >
if
authority is our only way of bcln ? ot I. |
any practical servlco to them. Our 1 • I
personal advice would bo to them , for i' I
the most part , an impertinence. They f : |
have all the facts as wo cannot have I I
thorn , and they nee the subject in all I I
its bearings , and wc can be of no help 1 II
to them except through the suppllca- I fl
tion that our text advises. In that I fl
way wo may be infinite reinforcement. j 11
The mightiest thing you can do for • | l
a man is to pray for him. If the old ? 11
Bible be true , and if It is not true it ) ' I
has been the only imposition that ever ; ; I
blessed the world , turning barbarism , I
into republics - -
into civilization and tyrannies
publics , I say if the old Bible be true. ! I
God answers prayer. You may get a I
letter , and through forgctfulnes3 or t fl
lack of time not answer it , but God
never gets a genuine letter that h v fl
does not make reply. Every genuine * | fl
prayer is a child's letter to his Heavenly -
enly Father , and he will answer it : fl
and though you may get many letters
from your child before you respond ,
some day you say : "There ! I have re- fl
celved ten letters from my daughter. fl
and I will answer them all now and at , fl
once , and though not in Just the way fl
she hopes for , I will do it in the best , ,
way , and though she asked me for a I
shee 't of music. I will not give it to '
her , for I do not like the music spoken fl
of ; but I will send her a deed to a
house and lot. to be hers forever. " So
God does not in all cases answer in - fl
the way those who sent the prayer _ fl
hoped for. but he in all casc3 gives -
what is asked for or something better.
So prayers went up from the North. HJ
and the South at the time of our civil
war and they were all answered at
Gettysburg. You cannot make me be- flj
lieve that God answered only the
Northern prayers , for there were just flj
as devout prayers answered south of flj
Mason and Dixon's line as north of it.
and God gave what was asked for , or > BJ
something as much more valuable , as flj
a house and lot are worth more than H
a sheet of music. There is not a good H
and intelligent man between the Gulf Bfl
of Mexico and the St Lawrence river.
who does not believe that God did the flfl
best thing possible when he stood this flfl
nation down in 18C5 a glorious unity , flfl
never to be rent until the waters of fl
the Ohio and the Savannah , the Hudflfl
son and the Alabama , are licked up by H
the long , red tongues of a world on H
fire. Yea ! God sometimes answers - . H
prayers on a large scale. In worse H
predicament nation never was than * IJ
the Israelitish nation on the banks of H
the Red Sea , the rattling shields and flj
the clattering hoofs of an overwhelmjflfl
ing host close after them. An army flj
could just as easily wade through the
Atlantic Ocean , from New York to
Liverpool , as the Israelites could havu
waded through the Red Sea. You need flj
to sail , on its waters to realize how big fl |
it is. How was the crossing effected ? flj
By prayer. Exodus 14 , 15 : "And the flj
Lord said unto Moses , Wherefore jflflj
criest thou unto me ? Speak unto the fll
children of Israel , that they co forflflj
ward. " That is , "Stop praying and
take the answer. " And then the waflflj
fll
ters began to be agitated and swung
this way and that way , and the ripple flBfl
became a billow , and the billow. flBfl
climbed other inflows , and now they H
rise into walls of sapphire , and inIBB
visible trowels mason them into firmfl
ness , and the walls become like inoun- fl
tains , topped and turreted and domed BBfl
with crags of crystal , and God throws , H
an invisible chain around , the feet of H
those mountains , so that they are H
obliged to stand still , and there , right fl
before the Israelitish army , is a turn- fl
pike road , with all the emerald gates fl
swung wide open. The passing host fl
did not even get their feet wet. They fl
passed dry-shod , the bottom of the sea fl
as hard as the pavement of Pennsylvania - H
vania avenue , or New York's Broadfl
way. or London's Strand. Oh ! What H
a God they had ! or , I think I will H
change that and say , "What a God wo j B
H
* * • Hfl
The prayer that the great expound- j HH
er wrote to be put in the corner-stone H
at the extension of the Capitol , I ejaculate - H
" H
ulate as our own supplication : "God
save the United States of America ! " H
only adding the words with which H
Robert South was apt to close his sermons - |
mons , whether delivered before the H
ccurt at Christ Church Chapel , or in H
Westminster Abbey , at anniversary of H
restoration of Charles the II. , or on |
the death of Oliver Cromwell amid the H
worst tempe = t that ever swept over fl
England : "To God be rendered and ascribed - H
cribed , as is most due , all praise. H
might , majesty and dominion , both |
now and forever. Amen. " flBflJ
Refused Without Froposin . flBflJ
Few women , outside of royalties. fl
ever "popped the question" to a man , H
and perhaps only one has had the ex- j H
perience of being rejected by a man H
without having proposed to him. There fl
was , one , and the Hon. L. A. Tolle- B
mache tells the story in his "Personal B
Memoir of Benjamin Jowett , " master |
of Balliol , Oxford. The master's personality - B
sonality was potent and penetrating. flVflfl
and good women felt its fascination. H
An undergraduate was ill at Balliol |
College , and his sister , coming to Oxford - | H
ford to nurse him , was invited by Dr. |
Jowett to stay at his house. She received - - B
ceived from him the utmost kindness B
and attention , and when leaving said , fl
with much hesitation , that she would fl
venture to ask a very great favor. She H
again hesitated ; the master grew uneasy - H
easy and looked interrogative. fl fl
"Will you marry me ? " at last she fl
HBflfl
He paced up and down , blushed deep- fl
ly , and replied , "That would not be H
good either for you or for me. " fl f
' * Oh ! oh ! " exclaimed the young lady. j H
blushing even more deeply. "I meant 1 |
to say I am going to be married , and l H
would you perform the service ? " She ; |
had been refused , poor girl , without ' |
having proposed. H
When there is a coffin in the bouse * |
there is a welcome for the preacher. H
fl flfl
' _ _ _ _ _ _ l
